The Eunuch Regains His Manhood in the Second Round

15. A Man with a Broad Heart

Now, the full moon had completely risen in the night sky.

Unlike the night sky of Seoul in my previous life, where stars couldn’t be seen properly due to light pollution and air pollution, the beautiful medieval Murim night sky was literally pouring with starlight. Under this sky, I skillfully gathered firewood and dry grass, lit a bonfire with flint, and placed a portable pot on top.

I put the cleaned viper into the clear water I had drawn from a nearby stream and started boiling it.

The true saengsatang (生蛇湯) is made by boiling only the snake in clear water without any seasoning or additional ingredients.

That’s how the medicinal effects are properly extracted.

For saengsatang, a venomous snake is much better than a non-venomous one. According to the principle of using poison to treat poison, continuous heating removes the venom and only retains the yang energy.

‘Even in modern Korean health centers, they said that the venom of a viper becomes medicine in snake soup.’

Recalling memories from my previous life, I stirred the portable pot with a twig.

Bubble bubble.

The clear snake soup boiled under the night sky, and smoke rose.

The savory smell of protein cooking spread.

Although my senior brother hated snakes, his mind seemed to change when the smell of cooking meat wafted from the snake soup, and his gaze kept flicking towards it.

Gulp.

My senior brother swallowed dryly.

The Gongdong sect was a poor sect, so it was hard to come by meat.

The carp we caught and ate today was the first animal protein we had in almost two weeks, so to my senior brother, this snake soup must have seemed like a delicacy.

“Junior. Is it okay for us to eat this by ourselves?”

Yujinhwi, hugging his knees with his arms, raised his flushed cheeks from the heat of the bonfire and asked me.

His handsome face was unnecessarily flushed due to the heat from the bonfire.

Although the subject was omitted, Yujinhwi’s words meant whether it was okay for us to eat this without our master.

During the three months of living in the Gongdong sect, I had observed Yujinhwi treating our master Jeonyeong with utmost care and respect, just as he had learned in his previous life.

In Murim, the relationship between master and disciple was originally like that of serving one’s parents and king, so the master was to be respected and served like a parent, which was the universal ethical consciousness of this Murim world.

—

—

But just as ideals are high and reality is a cesspool, there were plenty of master-disciple relationships in this world that were worse than those of strangers.

However, Jeon Yeong and Yoo Jin-hwi were far from such relationships. In their past lives, they could be said to have had a very ideal master-disciple relationship.

So he felt guilty about eating meat alone.

‘Give this to Master?’

But I was different.

Since my senior brother had no choice but to give up his share under compulsion, he had no choice but to share the life-saving candy.

But Master?

The life-saving candy was more precious than gold. It wasn’t something that could be shared recklessly just because of a master-disciple relationship.

Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to tell my senior brother, who was looking at me with eyes full of guilt as if he was about to shed tears, about these inner thoughts.

“It’s okay.”

“But…”

“…If Master knows that we cooked and shared food together to strengthen the bond of brotherhood, he would be rather pleased.”

I brought up brotherhood to my senior brother.

During the long or short time living in the communal sect, I had perfectly grasped the personalities and tendencies of my senior brother and Master.

Compared to the officials of the Eastern Forest Party who sharpened their knives at me with smiling faces in the court of the Forbidden City, where honeyed words and hidden daggers were the norm, Master and my senior brother were still innocent children untouched by the world’s filth.

In such a situation, it was easy for me to fully understand the two characters, Jeon Yeong and Yoo Jin-hwi, by combining the information from my past life and the experiences of my current life.

‘Yoo Jin-hwi and Jeon Yeong both value the bond of brotherhood.’

Jeon Yeong was Jeon Yeong, but Yoo Jin-hwi had a particularly strong obsession with the word brotherhood.

To put it metaphorically, Yoo Jin-hwi treated me like an older brother doting on a much younger sibling.

It didn’t feel good to be treated like a younger brother by a boy who was only fourteen years old when my mental age was over sixty.

If only Yoo Jin-hwi’s gender was not male but female, if he was not a senior brother but a senior sister!

I would have been more than willing to become a cute younger brother and act charming.

The situation of being petted by a beautiful senior sister after acting cute.

Isn’t that the ultimate reward in the industry?

So, by planting the affection called brotherhood, we would naturally have developed a good relationship after growing up.

But unfortunately, Yoo Jin-hwi was a man and a senior brother.

Damn it.

Anyway, Yoo Jin-hwi longed for an ideal senior brother relationship, a brotherly relationship.

So, if I just uttered the magical word brotherhood…

“Brotherhood… Uh-huh…”

—

—

Blushing like that, twisting his body like a pretzel.

What kind of thoughts Eugene Hwi might be having after hearing my words… I don’t care.

There’s no point in opening up a man’s mind.

In the capacity of my brain, there was no room allocated for a man.

“That’s right. Building camaraderie is important. The camaraderie between my master and me! Yes. My master is right. As expected, my master has a broad perspective. Amazing.”

My senior brother smiled and praised me.

That night, after being forcibly confined in my senior brother’s arms and having my first hug stolen, shedding tears of humiliation.

My senior brother started praising me for the most trivial things.

For instance, when I was eating, he would say, “I like how our disciple looks so blessed while eating.”

I don’t understand what’s so good about the way I eat or why he praises it.

Even now, it’s the same.

What’s so broad about my perspective?

‘It’s beyond burdensome, it’s embarrassing.’

It’s like those otherworldly stories where the protagonist is excessively praised for flipping meat.

Was the world I fell into not medieval murim but medieval fantasy?

No, I’d rather it be an otherworldly story. In otherworldly stories, the ones giving such praises are usually beautiful heroines.

But in this damned medieval murim, the one praising me was a dark-skinned man.

If it were a woman, it would be different, but a man’s praise is utterly useless.

I should have gone to a medieval fantasy world overflowing with busty elf beauties, tsundere blonde princess knights with rolled hair, and cat-eared beast girl slaves.

In a fantasy world, there wouldn’t be eunuchs, so there wouldn’t be a chance of becoming impotent by having my manhood cut off.

Thinking about eunuchs suddenly sent a chill down my spine. I stealthily reached out and touched my manhood over my pants.

Fortunately, unlike in my previous life, it was still firmly attached between my legs.

“Ah, yes…

—

Alright.

Finally, the Saengsatang (生蛇湯) is complete.

“It’s done, senior brother.”

I took out two sets of bowls, which could be used as both cups and rice bowls, from the luggage I had brought. I handed one set to my senior brother.

I had brought them to refine the elixir, but I didn’t expect to use them like this.

“Please, have some.”

“Yes. I’ll enjoy it. Thank you, junior brother.”

Smiling, my senior brother took the bowl and spoon from me.

He scooped a spoonful of Saengsatang and put it in his mouth.

Watching him, I scooped up the Saengsatang with the bowl.

The mushy snake meat and the oily, clear broth floated in the bowl.

I slurped it down as it was.

Since it was a soup without any additional ingredients like seasoning, spices, or vegetables, I couldn’t expect it to taste good.

It was fishy and bland, but I didn’t mind.

“Ahh.”

As the medicinal effects of the Saengsatang spread, I felt a faint warmth coursing through my body.

Yes.

This is it.

This is why I went through all that trouble to make the Saengsatang.

It was worth it.

I already felt a surge of energy rising from below.

“It’s delicious, junior brother! Your cooking skills are the best! My body is already heating up! This… must be a good soup for men!”

My senior brother, sitting across from me, said with a glowing face, his nose and cheeks flushed red.

He knew it was good for men.

Although I regretted not being able to have the Saengsatang all to myself, I quickly let go of my attachment.

After all, this vast Gongdong Mountain didn’t have just that one snake.

There were plenty of snakes, so I could catch and cook them whenever I wanted.

‘Not just snakes. Hehe. Bears, deer, and wasp nests too…’

Bear gallbladder, deer antlers, and even wasp nest wine!

As expected of Gongdong Mountain, one of the most renowned spiritual mountains in the world, it was full of ingredients for aphrodisiacs. I just needed to take my time and find them one by one.

—

—

I will wipe out all the animals in my mountain that are good for vitality.

With that determination, I devoured the snake soup mindlessly.

“Disciple, eat slowly. You’ll get indigestion.”

I heard my senior brother’s worried voice, but I ignored it and continued to gulp down the snake soup.

The more I ate, the hotter my body felt, and I liked it very much.

Was it because I ate the snake soup so mindlessly? The pot was soon empty.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Me too… Haah.”

My senior brother let out an excited sigh.

His cheeks were flushed red like a carrot.

“It’s hot…”

He muttered in a low voice, fanning the front of his robe with his hand.

The night weather on the mountain in March was cold, but because of the snake soup filled with yang energy, my senior brother’s body seemed to be burning up.

“Ugh… Disciple… My body is hot… Why is it so hot?”

As he said that and fanned the front of his robe,

Snap.

The front of his old robe came undone, revealing his upper body under the moonlight.

His androgynous, slender yet manly flat upper body was wrapped in bandages like underwear.

Our eyes met.

—

In order not to remember the man’s chest, I deliberately tried not to look at my senior brother’s appearance. So I didn’t properly see his upper body. Still, there was nothing particularly unusual about his upper body.

He had an excessively slender, androgynous physique for a man, but that was how he had been in his previous life as well.

If there was something strange, it was the bandages.

Wait, an androgynous physique and… bandages on the chest?

No way…

‘Gynecomastia?’

Gynecomastia.

If he was suffering from a condition also known as gynecomastia, it made sense why he reacted so sensitively.

One of my friends in modern times had gynecomastia, and every summer when he wore short-sleeved shirts, his nipples would constantly protrude, making it really disgusting to look at.

That friend eventually had to use nipple bands to cover them, and later I heard he had surgery for gynecomastia at a plastic surgery clinic after getting a job.

But in this medieval Murim, there were no nipple bands, the essence of modern engineering, nor gynecomastia surgery, the pinnacle of modern medicine.

So, to cover gynecomastia, wrapping it with bandages was the best option. I knew this from experience.

‘Damn eunuch martial arts!’

Thinking about gynecomastia brought back bad memories from my previous life.

‘That eunuch martial art’ had countless side effects, but the most fatal one was that as the internal energy deepened, the yin energy accumulated, causing the body to transform into that of a woman.

Yes, as you might have guessed from the fact that the body transformed into that of a woman, gynecomastia was a side effect of ‘that eunuch martial art.’

So, in my previous life, eunuchs who learned the Guihua Baojian all wrapped their chests with bandages to cover their gynecomastia.

I, too, who originally had a sturdy body without gynecomastia, developed it after learning the Guihua Baojian.

After reaching the realm of Hyeongyeong and completely overcoming the side effects of the Guihua Baojian, the gynecomastia disappeared, but perhaps because I had wrapped my body for so long, I still felt the sensation of the pressure bandages on my chest.

I shook my head to erase the terrible memories. I was no longer a eunuch, nor did I have gynecomastia.

Anyway, I remembered the look in my senior brother’s eyes, which had shone unusually brightly at the sight of a good man earlier.

Here, in this medieval Murim, where the machoistic mindset that men must be manly still dominated.

But since he had gynecomastia, it made sense that he was obsessed with men and excessively ashamed.

Even in modern times, where there is no machoism, if a man walked around with his nipples protruding from his shirt due to gynecomastia, people would talk behind his back, calling him unappealing. Let alone in this prejudice-filled medieval Murim? No need to say more.

I turned my back on my senior brother and looked at my own chest.

A solid, broad man’s chest without any gynecomastia shone under the moonlight.

‘Heh heh heh, Sword Saint Yoo Jin-hwi has gynecomastia?’

Indeed, the world was fair.

Heaven had given my senior brother a perfectly handsome face, but also a body that was not manly and the heavenly punishment of gynecomastia.

So, his manhood must also be 3cm.

—

On the other hand, me? Unlike my past life, with broad shoulders and a solid chest.

As a result of dedicating myself day and night to external training, the form of the ultimate physical beauty I sought began to gradually manifest on my body.

Moreover, my own… after repeating the Zelke exercises, it was becoming even more impressive than before.

While I was lost in such thoughts.

“Sa, s-senpai… I’m sorry. It’s okay to look back now.”

I heard the voice of my senior.

When I turned my head, there stood my senior, adjusting her top and properly fixing her front.

Her face still bore a vivid blush from embarrassment.

“I showed a disgraceful scene… I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine. It’s okay, senpai.”

I burst into laughter at her timid voice.

Having found a weakness in my perfect senior’s composure, I felt as if I could soar with joy.

Of course, the memory of my senior’s dirty masculine chest had long been erased from my mind.

The eyes of my senior, who was looking at me, widened slightly.

As he fumbled, wiggling his fingers, he spoke to me.

“Um, senpai… do you think… I’m strange… or something?”

Strange?

Is he talking about his composure?

Of course, with the sensibilities of a modern person, I simply disliked the sight of it, but I didn’t think it was strange.

Moreover, there was no reason for me to say it was strange.

In any case, I was feeling really good right now.

Because I had finally found a field where I could hold a comparative advantage over my perfect, handsome senior.

Indeed, the ultimate physical beauty was the only way to surpass my senior’s charm.

“No, it’s fine. That can happen, senpai. I don’t think it’s strange at all. After all, we’re like brothers.”

I added the phrase about the magical brotherhood as I spoke.

Upon hearing my words, Yu Jin-hwi’s eyes sparkled.

“Y-yes! That’s right! We’re like brothers… that’s right…”

Yu Jin-hwi repeated the phrase about our brotherhood a few times, taking a deep breath.

“Great! Thank you! Senpai. Even after showing such disgrace, you say it’s okay. It’s getting late, isn’t it? Master might be worried. Let’s hurry back to the main temple.”

My senior said with a bright smile.

—

The Main Mountain.

I had no intention of going there today.

Because I had to go to Gwangseongdan Cave to obtain the fortuitous encounter and the elixir.

Therefore.

“Yes, senior brother. I will guide the way.”

I had to take on the role of guiding the way.

To reach Gwangseongdan Cave, where the fortuitous encounter awaited, while pretending to head to the main mountain, pretending to make a mistake, pretending to get lost.

“Thank you, junior brother.”

Senior brother replied to me with an innocent voice and eyes, without a hint of suspicion.

Nodding at senior brother’s words, I cleaned up the utensils left after eating the campfire and the remaining candy.

Now that I had replenished my strength with snake soup, it was finally time to go and seize the fortuitous encounter and the elixir.

*

Thus, I wandered the mountain at dawn with senior brother.

“Junior brother. Wh-where are we? This doesn’t seem like the main mountain…”

Finally, we arrived.

Hearing the voice of senior brother behind me, I looked at the cave below the steep cliff that came into view.

Gwangseongdan Cave.

This cave, with its black maw swallowing the dim dawn light, was the very place where the sage Gwangseongja, who was said to have founded the sect in ancient times, practiced his Dao, and where the legend of Mugukja, the Sword Emperor of the world 300 years ago, ascending to immortality was passed down.

It was also the place where the mysterious elixir that Yujinhwi of my past life consumed and the fortuitous encounter of the sect’s lost ultimate technique lay dormant.

Finally, my true destination revealed itself before my eyes.

I smiled inwardly.

It was now time to consume the elixir to replenish my strength, no, my internal energy.