6th Episode
Press the Pressure Points and They Won’t Budge
006 – <Press the Pressure Points and They Won’t Budge>
“Um, well, just a little longer then.”
Finley, her face red with embarrassment, spoke as if she were about to burst into tears.
That’s settled!
Finally getting her consent, I couldn’t help but feel a secret triumph inside.
However, since I didn’t want to startle Finley, who was cowering like a frightened deer, I pretended to be nonchalant as I gently removed her sandals.
As soon as I did, her small, soft soles appeared.
Though I thought I had already seen everything there was to see, having stared at Elpride’s feet until I was tired of it, assigning meaning to Finley’s feet made them feel as though they had turned into something secretive and mysterious.
Pook-.
Finley buried her face in the pillow, hiding her expression.
Perhaps she was trying to hide her embarrassment, but it was a relief for me as well that I didn’t have to look at her face directly.
“Um, then I’ll start touching them.”
“….”
There was no reply from Finley. Taking her silence as consent, I placed my hand on her foot.
Mallang-.
Her soft and squishy soles felt like a baby’s skin. Contrary to the coldness of Elpride’s feet, her feet emitted a pleasant warmth, making the act of touching her feet quite enjoyable. Perhaps due to her petite figure, the size was also adorably small.
“Huuu….”
I could hear Finley’s groaning-like sound from beneath the pillow. I could see her ear, peeking out between strands of her blue hair, flushed red as if it would burst.
“Um, then I’ll finish it quickly.”
I focused my gaze on Finley’s small and adorable feet that completely fit into the palm of my hand.
Then, I spotted a light red mark, about the size of my thumb, on the slightly upper central part of her left foot, just where the toes curve inward.
It was as if this spot was urging me to press down on it.
Placing my thumb on the spot, I pressed down firmly like I had done before, and didn’t forget to make small circular motions in a clockwise direction.
“Huh, hoo, huu….”
A sound akin to sobbing came from Finley, her face still buried in the pillow. I felt a strange sense of guilt, as if I were a culprit violating her innocence.
But contrary to the guilt, my stiffened member was becoming harder, making me feel as if it would burst at any moment. The excitement I felt while forcibly touching a woman and hearing her cries of anguish was unmistakably animalistic.
No, no, this is a medical procedure.
That’s what I tried to convince myself.
“Hyuk, hyuk….”
The only sounds filling the softly darkened treatment room were Finley’s cries and the occasional moans of the other patients.
Everything was still.
Did I imagine it?
I was pondering this when:
Ding-.
[Finley’s insomnia has been cured.]
[Mission Success +10]
As the now-familiar messages appeared, I felt something being drawn out from the tip of my thumb, like a whoosh, as if it were being pulled away.
Though my head felt slightly dizzy, that was the end of it.
“Ugh, ah….”
Finley, who had her face buried in the pillow, sobbed a little before rolling her shoulders wildly and collapsing onto the bed.
Worried that something went wrong, I quickly put my hand on her neck, but thankfully, she hadn’t lost consciousness. She just seemed to have fallen into a deep slumber.
Finley woke up the next day when the morning sun was high in the sky. She approached me cautiously, as if realizing something, while I was sweeping near the treatment room.
“Um, what happened to me yesterday…?”
“She suddenly fell asleep. I thought it would be better to let her rest.”
“I feel like I had an unprecedented deep sleep. I can’t even remember the last time I slept this well.”
“Did you have a good sleep?”
“Good sleep?”
“In my hometown, we call a deep, restful sleep a ‘honey sleep.'”
At my words, Finley repeated “honey sleep” a few times in her mouth before nodding.
“That’s right. Honey sleep, it fits perfectly. I literally had a honey sleep. Since becoming a healer, it’s been years since I’ve slept properly. It’s truly amazing…”
Suddenly, Finley started to cry. Confused, it was hard for me to understand her emotions.
Was this a side effect of the treatment?
While I was thinking that, Finley wiped her tears and said,
“I keep crying. It’s strange because I’m not sad at all. Since I woke up, I couldn’t stop the tears. Could something be wrong..?”
“It’s probably bad energies leaving your body. Your insomnia is being expelled in the form of tears.”
“Is that really so?”
Really so?
Well, how should I know?
I just spouted off something plausible-sounding.
After all, the makeshift bone setters or quack doctors I’ve imagined were all like this. For example, my father would’ve said something like this. What would he say in a situation like this?
“Actually, tears are harmful to the body. So, your body keeps trying to push them out. Just cry when you feel like it.”
“Really?”
Her eyes were shinier due to the tears she’d shed, and for some reason, I felt as though they were filled with trust or something similar.
Though the words from a quack without accomplishments are trivial, the words of a medicine seller who shows visible proof can mislead people.
Also, many false messiahs often begin by claiming they can heal ailments, and it’s said that some have truly performed miracles.
Of course, I have no intention of becoming someone like that. Thinking about it, I’m furious that I’m in this world because of some fraudster.
“A, here, I have something to give you.”
Rattle.
Finley, who had been crying for a while, reached into the loose folds of her white healer’s robes and pulled out a bundle, handing it to me.
It’s probably money.
Even though I knew it was money, I didn’t want to make it seem too obvious by taking it directly. So I pretended not to know and asked.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the agreed-upon amount. 30 silver… I wish I could give you more, but this is all the money I have.”
“Ah, I see. This is plenty. Rather, I feel a little bad about not teaching you much.”
“That’s not true!”
Instead of modestly brushing off my statement, Finley shouted.
“Huh?”
“That’s not true! It was really amazing! I’ve been studying at the shrine as a healer, thinking I understood a fair amount about the human body. But… what Mr. Hassan showed me was different. From realigning the 7th vertebra, fixing a twisted pelvis, and strengthening ligaments…”
Finley listed off difficult medical terms I didn’t understand.
From what I could vaguely figure out, the things I did required knowledge far deeper than I imagined.
Finley continued talking.
“And that thing you did with the pressure points on the neck and feet… It’s impossible without a perfect understanding of the magical flow within the body. It’s incredible. It feels like taking a step closer to the mysteries of the human body!”
“Umm… really?”
“Anyway, it was truly amazing! It was like Clepios descending right in front of me!”
When was the last time someone gave me such sincere praise?
I didn’t know how to respond. My stomach felt a bit ticklish, and my face was burning. I was unsure what expression to make.
Since becoming an adult, I hadn’t done much to earn praise. And after ending up as an orphan-like figure in this incomprehensible world and becoming a slave, praise was something I found very distant.
Receiving Finley’s gratitude and commendation was heavier and more meaningful than the weight of the money she handed me.
“Honestly, I don’t think I can replicate it, but if I keep trying, maybe I can eventually perform such amazing skills too?”
“If you work hard, Ms. Finley, you will surely achieve that one day.”
Whether that’s truly possible, I don’t know. But compliments come cheap.
Watching her radiant smile, her face clear from sleep and dark circles faded, I wished she would indeed become that remarkable healer someday.
Because I’m not a bad guy.
“Anyway, Ms. Finley, I’ll use this money well. I’ve some things to do today, so I’ll leave for a bit.”
“You have something to buy?”
“My freedom.”
Whew-.
Thinking I said something reasonably cool, I tucked the 30 silver into my pocket and stepped out of the treatment room.
Clomp, clomp.
In front of me stretched the city of Kolkata, its muddy and waste-filled alleys, bustling with pigeons and enormous rats scurrying around what looked like a corpse lying in the street — a city of adventurers filled with thieves, heretics, rogues, and fraudsters who kept a close eye on my pockets and behind.
This was a world where no one cared much about that drunk or that corpse on the street.
On ordinary days, I would’ve dragged my feet along the street with my head buried low. But today, with money and pride restored, I moved forward with steady steps, feeling lighter and happier than usual.
With my freedom secured, there’s no longer anything stopping me.
If only Elpride wasn’t around, the world was surprisingly beautiful.
“What?! What the hell did you just say? You little cr*p of a slave!”
A nasty bald guy screamed at me.
Just moments ago, my pride and sense of self soared high, but now they felt as if they sunk deep into my gut.
This was Kolkata’s Slave Management Office.
I had come here to buy back my slave document, the document of my freedom.
However, the office chief, with a slick forehead and bulging veins, was loudly berating me.
“The hell? You want to be free?”
“Yes, indeed. I have the money here. Here’s 30 silver. According to the regulations, anyone who pays this price becomes a free person—right?”
“Right… but, can a slave possibly gather 30 silver easily? Where did you get this money, huh?”
sh*t.
Figured this would happen.
I mean, if a slave in this world suddenly shows up with a pile of money, it’d be weird not to suspect him.
“I earned it honestly.”
“Every other idiot says that. But if this is stolen money, you’re not just a slave—you’re the lowest of criminals and are heading straight to jail. Jail—you know what that is?”
The words “criminal” and “jail” immediately brought to mind dark underground dungeons infested with rats and maggots, where prisoners rot away in iron bars.
While I hadn’t been in jail myself, I knew several people who disappeared into it, never to emerge.
Certainly, jail wasn’t a place anyone should end up in.
While I was thinking this, the bald office chief dumped the coins in bundles of ten on the table and asked,
“Can you prove where this money came from?”
“Yes, indeed. It’s from Healer Finley. Please confirm.”
“The Finley who’s the healer at White Deer’s Three Crossroads?”
“I don’t know what the street’s called, but the young lady with blue short hair suits her wonderfully.”
Thinking of Finley’s face made me miss her. Somehow, I had grown fond of her soft kindness.
“Blue hair. If it’s her, that should be the place. Hey, kid, go check.”
The bald office chief ordered a young errand boy listening nearby, whose neck was chained, marking him as another slave.
“Understood, sir!”
The boy bolted away so fast I couldn’t even see his legs moving.
“Checking now. Don’t try to escape in the meantime, or else I swear, Hassan, you’re dead.”
“Yes… sir.”
The bald guy had something about him that made me tremble uncontrollably.
Like how guilty people are terrified when they see a police car, this was how frightening the slave office chief was to me as a slave.
What’s more, he looked muscular and tough as hell.
If his skin were darker, he could easily pass for a wrestler.
I’d probably lose to him in a straight-up fight 9 times out of 10.
“Anxious? You might as well confess that you stole it, right here.”
“I didn’t steal it.”
“You seem sure of yourself. But don’t think that fools me.”
The bald guy was being as picky as ever.
Of course, he was doing his job, so it wasn’t all on him, but it was still incredibly uncomfortable for me, nerve-wracking and exhausting.
As I sat anxiously in the chair, waiting for an extended period:
Clang!
The warning bell on the door rang, and the boy who had disappeared earlier rushed in with a frantic expression.
“Sir, I’ve confirmed it! Puffed breath… Really, it’s true. Here, I also brought the transfer slip.”
“What? It’s true? Really, this is his money?”
Though the clerk seemed dissatisfied, my mind felt like a weight had been lifted as I received a sort of absolution.
“See? This is my money.”
“Okay, so you’re officially freed. A slave becoming free is something that happens once a year, if that. Nevertheless, the kingdom’s laws are laws. Here, take your document.”
The chief pulled out a tiny scroll from a large drawer and handed it to me.
Accepting it, it had been roughly two years since I last held freedom in my hands.
I was finally free.
“See you, Hassan. Once a slave, they say you’ll always fall back into it. Whether through debt or mishap.”
I’ll see you, you b*stard.
I let it slide because I’d probably lose in a fight, you punk.
