For the next several days, Jin Cheon-hee busied himself with tying up the final loose threads of his work. His master, having presented the compiled data on smallpox prevention to the Royal Inspector sent from the Imperial Palace, announced that his presence was required in the capital.

“I must visit the Palace, so you should return to the Medical Pavilion first.”

“The Imperial Palace?”

Zhuge Rin answered his disciple’s question with a calm gravity.

“Preventing smallpox is akin to lifting one of the world’s heaviest burdens. It isn’t called a Heavenly Punishment for nothing. You achieved that impossible feat; naturally, the Imperial Palace wishes to verify it.”

“Hmm. I suppose the Royal Inspector’s word alone isn’t enough.”

“Hahaha, well, while I’m there, I intend to lay a few foundation stones for future events.”

The embankment his master had already built was vast and sturdy, yet he remained engrossed in thoughts of protecting his disciple. Seeing the concern etched on Jin Cheon-hee’s face, Zhuge Rin sighed softly.

“You are likely the only one who worries about me like this. No, before that—I sent you to clean up the Unorthodox Path, and here you are fighting smallpox. Are you really in a position to worry about others?”

“Ugh, Master.”

It was a direct hit. Jin Cheon-hee quickly shifted the subject.

“You’re going with Manager Yoo, right?”

“You seem to trust Yoo Ho immensely for some reason.”

“Yes. Because it’s winter. If I’m not with you, I’d like Manager Yoo to be there at least.”

Standing behind Zhuge Rin, Yoo Ho stared at Jin Cheon-hee with a sour expression. This brat, his eyes seemed to say. The eternal graduate student, unable to go home, looked as though he wanted nothing more than to pummel the physician.

Jin Cheon-hee met his gaze with eyes full of clear, unadulterated madness and smiled.

“Love you, Yoo Ho.”

When a professor claims to cherish a graduate student, it is usually a precursor to terrible misfortune.

“…Please shut your mouth.”

“I mean it. Yoo Ho, take care of Master.”

“Haa… damn it.”

While spitting out a curse, Yoo Ho conceded that he would protect his master regardless of Jin Cheon-hee’s request. It was something to be grateful for.

Thus, his master departed for the Imperial Palace with the Royal Inspector. Along with the escort sent from the capital, a portion of the White Qilin Squad moved with them. With the two gone, the Hangzhou Branch felt somewhat hollow.

I should get moving too.

He didn’t plan to summon Sama Hye immediately. He intended to head to the main mountain to handle various administrative matters before calling for her to begin the formal education process.

As he was packing his belongings, Sama Hyeon approached him.

“Hyung. Busy?”

“Umm, not right now. Since the Hangzhou work is all finished.”

“Oh~ That’s a relief. Then, can you help me a bit~?”

It was extremely rare for Hyeon to ask for help first. Jin Cheon-hee looked at him, his expression turning serious.

“What is it?”

“Master is conducting a test.”

“The Golden King’s test?”

At those words, Sama Hyeon nodded. With the movement, his earrings swayed, making a sharp, flashy chime. Perhaps even this appearance—this love of luxury—was a high-level strategy.

The Sama Hyeon of the original novel, Supreme Heavenly Demon, never dressed like this. Usually, he stole the lives of others and lived in their skins: wearing the clothes the owner of the face preferred, donning their favorite accessories, and even mimicking their food preferences. He enjoyed wearing other people’s lives like borrowed robes and ruining the lives around them as casually as tearing apart a cooked chicken.

But what was the current Sama Hyeon?

“Hyung, what are you thinking?”

“Thinking your earrings are flashy.”

“Want one?”

“No thanks. They’d get in the way.”

Sama Hyeon giggled playfully at his brother’s rejection before bringing up the main topic.

“I don’t know what wind is blowing, but Master said she wants to firmly decide on a successor soon~ So the test is ongoing.”

The Golden King stepping up to pick a successor? This wasn’t in the original story.

“Of course,” Sama Hyeon continued, “we don’t need to kill each other like the Demonic Cult. For us, money is the most important thing. Uh… Although the conclusion might end up looking like that, the essence isn’t violence.”

“Then?”

“Earning money. By any means necessary.”

Aha. So you don’t ‘need’ to kill each other, but it might end up that way.

It meant that if one couldn’t earn honestly, it was acceptable to kill those earning better and extort their wealth.

Wow, that’s crazy.

It was a form of ruthlessness distinct from the Heavenly Demon. The Golden King was one who reigned before the altar of currency. There was no way she didn’t know that the best ingredient for refining gold was human blood. That was why she had added the caveat: ‘By any means necessary.’

“Just like the Golden King.”

“Right~?”

The Golden King.

In the original work, she was a figure who displayed the acumen to skim only the profits from the middle while Sama Hyeon and Yeo Ha-ryoon fought to the death. Even in the novel, her fate was never properly revealed; thinking from a reader’s perspective, she likely survived.

But back then, she hadn’t picked a successor. The Golden Blood Chamber remained hers, and she showed no particular inclination toward an heir. It wasn’t revealed until the end why she was gathering such immense wealth, or even where she used that money.

“So how are you supposed to earn this money?”

“Master~ gave each of us five thousand taels of gold. The one who increases this the most and returns it to Master within a year wins.”

“Hoh.”

“Surprisingly, it’s a traditional event in the Golden Blood Chamber, you know? Master said she increased the principal sixfold in this test in the past~”

“She turned five thousand taels of gold into thirty thousand in one year?!”

No, in this world without stocks or cryptocurrency, was that even possible…?

As Jin Cheon-hee widened his eyes in shock, Sama Hyeon giggled and provided the answer.

“She said she set fire to other competitors’ mulberry fields and monopolized the silkworms~ She could have earned ten times more, but the government office intervened at the time, so she couldn’t take excessive profits.”

No blood or tears there. If the government hadn’t spoken up, she would have squeezed the market until it turned into dust.

“Hyeon, what are you going to do?”

“Hmm~ I have various thoughts too, but I wanted to ask if Hyung had any good ideas. Hyung comes up with a lot of amazing things, right?”

“Aigoo, I’m a physician, how would I know such things? Unless it’s new drug development. Hey, but new drugs don’t just pop out because you try. No one knows if it’ll take a year or ten years. Banging your head against the wall is how it works in this field.”

“Eyy~ You made Blue Jade and Red Jade, and you made ondol too, right?”

At those words, a strange premonition washed over Jin Cheon-hee. It was no exaggeration to say this was an intuition only someone living a second life could possess.

For some reason, I feel this will be an important crossroad deciding Sama Hyeon’s life.

Only when the intuition hit the back of his head did his logic circuits begin to move. It was unlikely this guy came simply because he didn’t know how to make money. The Golden King said any means were acceptable. If things went wrong, there was always the method of ripping off faces, and the Sama Hyeon of the original work was a master of that art.

The Golden King had once burned mulberry fields and ruined the market economy. However, if Sama Hyeon implemented either method—murder or economic devastation—his brother Jin Cheon-hee and his sister Hye-ah would hate it.

…I see. Logical.

Did this guy come here as a last resort? If Jin Cheon-hee didn’t provide an idea here, Sama Hyeon might spend the year plundering people’s faces and lives as in the original Supreme Heavenly Demon, or he might ruin the livelihoods of thousands to fill his coffers.

Both are original history! This!

As expected, even if history was diverted to some extent, if he let his guard down, the world seemed determined to revert to its original, bloody path.

To solve it peacefully, I have to squeeze something out…

Sama Hyeon spoke, breaking his train of thought.

“Ah, Hyung. I’ll say this in advance, but I won’t borrow thirty thousand taels of gold from you. That would be meaningless.”

…Hmm. So the ‘show me the money’ cheat code is blocked.

“First… I think I need time.”

“It’s okay~ Hyung. Plenty of time~ I’m grateful just that you’re thinking with me~ Let’s play together a bit in my hometown and keep worrying about it~”

“Right. Let’s think together. Then I’ll have to delay my return a bit.”

Jin Cheon-hee wrote a message to the main pavilion, stating that something had come up and he would be returning late. He felt like the kids back in the lab would throw a party at the news.

***

How to make money.

While they walked through the market, Sama Hyeon communicated via sound transmission, his voice echoing directly in Jin Cheon-hee’s mind.

[There’s already a guy who achieved a sixfold increase.]

[By what means?]

[His parents liquidated their entire merchant guild into cash.]

[…Wow… How dangerous.]

[He bet everything. Because the position of the Golden King is worth it.]

The Golden King’s disciples occupied quite diverse positions in society.

[There’s a guy from the Unorthodox Path too. He’s buying all the wandering vagrants with that money.]

[Hmm… It’s clear what he wants to do.]

[If he’s going to use swords anyway, he doesn’t need to go that far. Foolish act.]

Even amidst the bloody telepathic conversation regarding assassination and bribery, Sama Hyeon smiled gently on the outside and handed an accessory to Sama Hye.

“How about this?”

“Oppa, do you think I’m still a child?”

“Umm. Then what’s popular these days?”

Sama Hyeon wasn’t one to be ignorant of current trends; he was likely genuinely curious about what Hye-ah liked. Sama Hye picked up another item from the stall. He wasn’t sure if it could be called an accessory, but strictly speaking, it was.

“A Throwing Star… hairpin.”

“Yeah. This is popular these days. Good for self-defense too.”

On the blade of the Throwing Star, [Sichuan Tang Clan Blood Whip Queen] was engraved in red letters.

Wow, even I didn’t know this.

Since it was unlikely she had given a license to sell these in this era, Tang Ah probably didn’t know her name was being used for merchandise in distant Hangzhou. Looking around, hidden weapons and accessories shaped similarly to the mask Tang Ah used were lined up in rows.

Sama Hyeon asked, “Do you know how to use a Throwing Star?”

“What do you take me for, Oppa? I learned the basics at the Hundredfold Benevolence Foundation.”

Jin Cheon-hee interjected. “In the Gangho, even physicians need to protect their own bodies. Of course we taught them.”

Sama Hyeon smiled bitterly. “That’s a relief.”

[Hye-ah is stronger than you think. Much stronger,] Jin Cheon-hee sent via sound transmission.

[Still, I don’t want to let her know about this Golden King’s test. Who knows what might happen~ Everyone has fire in their eyes.]

That was true. No matter how well she could protect herself, she was a physician, not a warrior. Exposing her to danger at this stage, before the test was decided, would be truly foolish. He really cherished his sister terribly.

Still, there was one fortunate thing: Hangzhou was Sama Hyeon’s hometown and now the territory of the White Qilin Medical Pavilion.

[Still, isn’t cross-dressing too much?]

[Darling~ Hye-ah says she likes it because she feels like she has an older sister~]

Sure enough.

Sama Hye picked up the ‘Tang Ah’ Throwing Star hairpin and held it against Sama Hyeon’s hair.

“Wow~ Oppa, it suits you well.”

“Does it? Should I get one too? Give me two of the same! No. Three!”

…Me too?