An F-Rank Veterinarian Physically Heals an S-Rank Magical Beast - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 75
The VIP Section at the heart of the Greed Casino was utterly transformed from the vulgar main floor beyond its doors. The cacophony of cheap coins clinking, the raucous cheers of gamblers, and the shrill electronic wails of machines were completely absent. Instead, the air hung thick with the acrid smoke of expensive cigars, and the premium carpet beneath our feet gleamed in deep, blood-red hues as if saturated with fresh vitality.
As my entourage and I pushed through the heavy oak door, the murky demonic energy suspended in the air suddenly constricted around our throats.
“Ugh, how toxic! The stench is unbearable, but this entire space is vibrating with sticky illusion magic! Luna! Light the purification incense immediately and raise a barrier!”
“Yes, Chief Nurse! Spirit of clear water, protect the Director’s respiratory system!”
As Beris cried out irritably, Luna, the pharmacy director following behind, swiftly drew out a spirit’s incense burner from her waist and ignited it. The refreshing aura of the spirit enveloped me, cleanly blocking out both the acrid cigar smoke and the demonic miasma of illusion magic.
I was guided to stand before an enormous circular poker table. Across from me sat a demon dealer in an immaculate black tailcoat, his pale skin marked by vertically slit crimson eyes like a serpent’s, shuffling cards with leisurely composure. On his left chest, the name “Pago” was inscribed in ornate gold lettering.
“Welcome, honored guest. Consider it a privilege to sit at the VIP table of the 16th Floor – Greed Casino, where the highest stakes are wagered and the most genuine contests unfold.”
With a light flick of Pago’s fingers, dozens of playing cards erupted from the air as if alive, tracing dazzling trajectories before being sucked back into his hand in perfect order. It was no mere sleight of hand—it was high-level demon sorcery infused with magical power, a sophisticated illusion designed to captivate the eye.
“Genuine contest? That’s hilarious. If I catch you dealing from the bottom or attempting clumsy illusions, losing your fingers won’t be the end of it. I’ll scrape away the cartilage in your wrist joints with a scalpel and turn you into a tremor-ridden cripple for life. So stop being clever and shuffle carefully.”
I settled into the luxurious chair atop the crimson carpet, crossing my legs arrogantly as I delivered the threat with icy precision.
Behind me stood Ma Dong-tak with a steel crowbar slung across his shoulder, and the android Kim Chun-sam, whose tire-equipped front paws rolled menacingly as if ready to charge at any moment—both formidable bodyguards. The Murim Alliance masters carefully supported the mummified Gae Bang Bang-ju while maintaining sharp sword auras and vigilant perimeter surveillance. These martial artists, who had once received complete debt forgiveness from me, were now the most loyal unpaid security detail in the world, prepared to dedicate their remaining lives repaying that debt.
And directly beside me, Yoo Yi-soo, the Director of General Affairs, projected dozens of holographic charts into the air, her glasses gleaming.
“Director. I’ve completed a full data scan of the table’s tilt angle, the dealer’s finger muscle mass, and even the mana flow in the air. That demon dealer has already manipulated the card deck arrangement three times with magical power. Based on probability statistics, our winning chance is less than 0.001 percent.”
“Good work, Director Yoo. Even if the probability is zero percent, it doesn’t matter. This hand isn’t won through mathematics anyway—it’s won through anatomy.”
Despite my cryptic exchange with Yoo Yi-soo, Pago maintained his leisurely smile.
“Hoho, you are indeed formidable guests. However, the rules of this casino are quite simple and fair. Any deception that goes undetected by your opponent is merely skill, and luck itself is perfect skill. The stakes you’re wagering are those tremendous and alluring magical power chips you exchanged for earlier. And the stakes I’m wagering are…”
Pago placed two diamond-shaped chips that gleamed brilliantly on the table with a soft clink. They were the very crystallized essence of twenty years of lifespan and half of one’s inner power that had been forcibly extracted from Gae Bang Bang-ju just moments before.
“Your ally’s precious lifespan and inner power. Oh, and by the way, if you run out of chips mid-game, you must immediately take out a loan by placing your remaining organs or soul on the scale. Are you prepared?”
“Your tongue is too long. Deal now.”
I roughly shoved the pile of black VIP chips I’d exchanged into the center of the table. Pago’s slit eyes gleamed momentarily with greed. Those black chips contained the condensed energy of the vampire lord’s blood from Floor 13, the resentment of the Lich King, and the magical power of Behemoth from Floor 14—an enormous accumulation of power gathered by destroying floors. If he could extract all of that, Pago could transcend his position as a mere VIP dealer and ascend in a single leap to become a top executive of Floor 16.
“Then, let us begin the first game. The game will be Texas Hold’em—most familiar and fair to you.”
Pago’s delicate, elongated fingers slid cards across the table. Two cards were distributed precisely before me. I kept them face-down on the table, lifting only the edges with my fingers to check the numbers. Spade 2 and Heart 7. The worst possible combination in poker—the infamous “trash hand” with the lowest winning probability.
Meanwhile, a barely perceptible yet unmistakable smile of delight crossed Pago’s pale face. The moment he confirmed his own hand, he unhesitatingly pushed ten black chips toward the center of the table.
“The atmosphere is already heating up from the start. Will you accept the raise?”
Pago’s true specialty as a demon dealer was far more than mere manual dexterity. He was a master swindler who could read his opponent’s psychology and weave illusions through space to cultivate extreme terror. Pago subtly sent demonic energy like serpents beneath the table, attempting to quicken my breathing and cloud my vision. Any ordinary human hunter, no matter how excellent their hand, would fold and surrender under this inexplicable pressure and killing intent.
But I let out a scoff and shoved my entire massive pile of chips—organized by Yoo Yi-soo—toward the center of the table.
“Why probe bit by bit? Stop wasting time. All in.”
“N-no? All in?”
Pago’s composed expression froze instantly. All your chips on the first hand, before even a single community card was laid? This was madness—a complete departure from gambling fundamentals.
‘What kind of hand does this bastard have? Or is this the reckless bluffing of a complete novice who’s never played at these stakes?’
Pago’s serpentine eyes bored into me, searching for any tremor—a flicker at the corner of my eye, a change in breathing—any sign of wavering. But beyond my glasses, my gaze was utterly serene and cold. Like a surgeon standing over an operating table with a scalpel in hand, facing a bloodied patient, there was not even a single percent of emotional disturbance to be found.
“What, scared? If you’re scared, then fold and die.”
I twisted my lips into a smirk and tilted my chin provocatively. Pago ground his teeth inwardly. The hand he held was Spade King and Diamond King—the highest conceivable starting hand. To back down from this fool’s bluff would be to crumple the pride of a VIP dealer who had reigned for centuries.
“Very well. Call. Let me show you exactly what pitiful consequences your recklessness and arrogance will bring.”
Pago shoved his chips forward and irritably flipped his cards. The resplendent Spade King and Diamond King revealed themselves on the table.
“Gasp! Such an impossible hand from the very start! Director Kang has lost! It’s rigged!”
Namgoong Cheon and the Murim Alliance masters, who had been holding their breath in the background, let out sighs of despair, their faces drained of color. But I maintained my arrogant posture and casually flipped my own cards. Spade 2 and Heart 7.
“Kahahaha! What is that pathetic, garbage hand! Have you come to the casino as a charitable angel? I shall make excellent use of these tremendous magical power chips!”
Pago burst into manic laughter and reached out with both arms to greedily sweep the mountain of chips piled in the center of the table. In that instant, I brought my hand down sharply against Pago’s pale wrist.
“Tsk, didn’t you hear me? If you don’t want your hand joints flying off, sit still. The dealer hasn’t even laid down the community cards yet.”
“What, what did you say? The outcome is obvious anyway….”
Pago clicked his tongue irritably and swiftly drew five cards from the dealer’s deck, laying them out on the table one by one.
Club 2, Diamond 2, Heart 2, Spade 7, Club 7.
Silence.
A perfect silence where even breathing couldn’t be heard. A heavy, suffocating stillness descended upon the entire VIP Room of the Greed Casino, as if Siberian ice water had been poured over the space. Pago’s hand, suspended in mid-air, began to tremble uncontrollably.
My hand held a 2 and a 7. And on the table lay three 2s and two 7s.
My seemingly unremarkable cards had formed a perfect four of a kind in 2s with a full house in 7s—an overwhelming and miraculous hand that crushed Pago’s king-high pair like a massive dump truck flattening an ant.
“Haha! Brother! Did you see that! Our director’s hand completely destroyed him! We won!”
“Long live the Alliance Leader! You’ve perfectly broken that wicked demon’s arrogance!”
Ma Dong-tak slapped my shoulder repeatedly with hearty laughter, and the Murim practitioners, including Gae Bang Bang-ju, threw their arms up in jubilation at the unbelievable reversal.
“This, this is impossible! How could you go all-in with the worst possible hand—a 2 and a 7! And the cards on the table were exactly 2 and 7….”
Pago’s eyes rolled back as he glared at me menacingly. It was cheating. This was blatant fraud. That cunning human must have used some advanced magic I didn’t know about to switch the card arrangement.
“You, what the hell did you just pull! This is a clear violation of the casino’s rules—fraud!”
“Fraud? That’s hilarious. You shuffled the cards with your own hands, and you laid them on the table with your own hands. How exactly am I supposed to commit remote fraud? Your luck just hit rock bottom, that’s all. Now stop spouting nonsense and hand over the chips. And transfer our Bang-ju’s life chips over here immediately.”
I raked in all the chips rolling in front of Pago like I was using a rake to gather them up. Pago could only watch numbly as his entire fortune—his lifeline in the casino—was swept entirely into my possession, tears of blood streaming down his face internally.
The shocking victory in the first hand could be dismissed as mere dumb luck. But the true biological hell that Pago was about to experience began in earnest from the second hand onward.
My gambling method completely destroyed every rule and convention Pago had accumulated over hundreds of years in the casino.
As the second hand began, I didn’t even bother checking my own cards lying face-down on the table. Once the cards were dealt, I simply rested my chin in my hand and stared intently at only one thing: the facial muscles of Pago sitting across from me, the subtle tremors in his fingers, and the pulse in his neck.
My eyes behind my glasses began to burn with a brilliant golden light. The ultimate skill that pierces through the anatomical structure and truth of disease in all living creatures like an X-ray—the Eye of Divine Insight—was activated, scanning the con artist’s biometric signals in real-time.
“Well. Don’t overthink it. Go ahead and bet, dealer.”
Pago swallowed hard and carefully checked his cards. This hand was a Diamond Ace and Queen—an excellent, powerful hand. I deliberately furrowed my brow and pretended to deliberate deeply. My plan was to disguise myself as someone holding a weak hand, confused about what to do, so that I would let my guard down and bet recklessly.
“Sigh. My hand seems a bit unfavorable this round. I’ll just check and pass without overextending.”
Pago let out a deep sigh and tapped the table twice without pushing any chips forward. The Murim practitioners behind me, fooled by his perfect and pitiful acting, let out sighs of relief, thinking we’d won this hand.
But I let out a soft chuckle and tapped my fingers on the table.
“Unfavorable my ass. You’re going crazy inside right now, practically screaming with joy.”
“What? What nonsense are you—”
“Patient. When you lie to me, you should have controlled your biometric signals more precisely. Every chemical reaction happening inside your body is visible to my eyes.”
I pushed my glasses up smoothly and began pouring out cold, objective medical analysis like a professor at a university hospital.
“Listen carefully. Your sympathetic nervous system is activating explosively right now. Your blood adrenaline levels have spiked a full 15 percent higher than your baseline before you checked the cards, and the evidence is that your sternocleidomastoid muscle in your neck is experiencing subtle spasms. Most decisively, your pupils. Immediately after checking your cards, your pupils dilated exactly 2 millimeters. Whether you’re human or demon, it doesn’t matter—when you feel extreme joy or excitement, your pupils dilate as an involuntary reflex of the autonomic nervous system that you can’t control through willpower.”
Yoo Yi-soo beside me typed my diagnostic results in real-time on a holographic chart, nodding in agreement.
“The director is absolutely correct. The dealer’s body temperature curve has also risen 0.5 degrees. A perfect state of excitement.”
Under my relentless barrage of anatomical facts, Pago’s pale face had now turned as white as a corpse.
“And you—when you just tapped the table acting all composed while checking, the blood rushed to the capillaries at your fingertips and turned them red. That’s the classic extreme excitement state mixing tension and anticipation. It’s not that your hand is weak and you’re scared—it’s that you’re holding an excellent hand and got excited trying to trap me, so your body overheated. I’m right, aren’t I?”
I flicked a chip with my finger and tossed it into the center of the table.
“I fold. You go ahead and play both sides of the drum yourself.”
Pago’s jaw trembled as it clenched. Perfect facial acting and magical illusions to deceive and destroy opponents had been his specialty honed over hundreds of years, but this demon in a white coat sitting before me wasn’t secretly seeing through cards. He was taking the opponent’s heartbeat and hormone secretion levels, dissecting them anatomically, and perfectly piercing through the value of the hand.
In the third and fourth hands that followed, the results were devastatingly one-sided.
“Dealer. This time your hand really is in the gutter. Your temporal artery near your temple is bulging out, and your heart rate is going crazy at 120 beats per minute. You’re overwhelmed with extreme anxiety, your breathing has become very shallow. Medically speaking, this is textbook bluffing. I’m raising. Doubling the chips.”
“Ugh! I, I fold… I’m folding!”
Pago was experiencing a mental breakdown as his covert biometric signals were being relayed in real-time through Jin-hyuk’s mouth, exposing the numbers on his hidden cards. He couldn’t lie. Every blink of his eyes, the angle of his throat as he swallowed, even the slightest tremor in his fingertips—all of it served as far more vivid evidence of manipulation to Jin-hyuk than any MRI or X-ray could ever provide.
Before long, all the chips from the massive circular poker table had migrated to Jin-hyuk’s side, forming a towering golden mountain range, while only a handful of cheap coin chips rolled pitifully in front of Pago.
“Hahahaha! The Master’s medical diagnostic betting is flawless! There’s nothing quite like wielding a cold scalpel and stethoscope to catch cunning cheaters!”
Kim Chun-sam shook his body excitedly, the engine of his Ghost Rider form rumbling and roaring. Gae Bang Bang-ju clutched the recovered lifespan and inner energy chips to his chest, tears of gratitude streaming down his face as he prepared to bow deeply to Jin-hyuk.
“Well then, Dealer. It seems your impressive betting funds have run dry. You’ll need to take out a loan, won’t you? When you explained the rules earlier, you clearly stated that vital organs and souls could be used as collateral.”
Jin-hyuk tossed his medical bag onto the table, then withdrew a gleaming silver surgical scalpel and a menacing bone saw that glinted coldly in the light, placing them down with deliberate emphasis.
“Considering the egregious crime of draining our elders’ inner energy, I’ll personally extract one kidney, half your liver, and your gallbladder without anesthesia, converting them into premium chips for you. Now, lie down on the operating table like a good boy.”
At Jin-hyuk’s chilling and capitalistic surgical announcement, the taut thread of Pago’s rationality finally snapped.
Beyond the collapse of his pride and dignity as the undefeated ace dealer of the casino, a primal biological terror gripped his brain—the instinctive fear that if he remained seated, he would leave this room with his abdomen split open and still breathing.
“Y-you demonic bastard! How dare you show such insolence before me, a mere human! I am Pago, the chief dealer protecting the 16th Floor – Greed Casino, a high-ranking demon! Forget the rules—I’ll gouge out those arrogant eyes of yours right now and reclaim every chip you’ve stolen!”
Pago let out a horrific shriek and violently overturned the table, revealing his true nature.
The neat human disguise that had enveloped him tore away, and a grotesque demonic form burst forth. A typical combat-type incubus with crimson skin, massive bat wings, and fingernails grown long like a beast’s daggers. As he roared with a sound like tearing fabric, the massive orc bodyguards and mana golems waiting outside the VIP Room smashed through the doors and came pouring in.
“Kill them! Grind those insolent human bastards’ bones and flesh into meat chunks and feed them into the slot machine coin slots!”
At Pago’s vicious command, a dozen massive figures simultaneously drew their weapons and descended upon Jin-hyuk’s group.
But Jin-hyuk didn’t even lift his buttocks from his chair, merely adjusted his glasses and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Sigh. This is why lowborn cheaters always call thugs from the back when they get caught palming cards. Whether it’s martial arts novels or casinos, their repertoire hasn’t changed in centuries.”
“Hahahaha! Director! Don’t worry! Dealing with troublesome patients causing a ruckus in the hospital lobby is my specialty as the security chief!”
Ma Dong-tak, standing behind Jin-hyuk, laughed heartily and gripped a steel crowbar firmly in both hands. As he twisted his thick neck left and right, the sound of bone cracking echoed. The muscles of the legendary former Ares Guild Master, once ranked number one among South Korean Hunters, bulged monstrously, causing the black shirt he wore to stretch to the point of tearing.
“Hey, you mindless muscle-bound idiots! Did you rent out the entire gym for yourselves? Mind if I borrow some dumbbells too!”
Ma Dong-tak exploded forward with devastating leg strength, grabbing the thick horns of the massive minotaur bodyguard who had charged first, radiating killing intent, with his bare hands.
“Uuuaaah!”
Ma Dong-tak’s crude, pure strength and latissimus dorsi muscles erupted. The minotaur’s massive frame, weighing several tons, was lifted absurdly lightly into the air, then hurled headfirst onto the orc guards who had rushed in swinging clubs from the side.
Kwaaaang!
With a sound like a building collapsing, the minotaur and three orcs tumbled like bowling pins, shattering the roulette table to pieces. Following that tremendous destructive force, Kim Chun-sam came charging in with his engine overheating, spewing hellfire.
“Buaaaaaang! Ambulance roadkill dispatch arriving! Everyone in the way, move aside!”
Kim Chun-sam’s massive centaur hind leg kick struck the approaching giant golem’s solar plexus with perfect accuracy. The impact was so tremendous that the golem’s thick steel armor crumpled like tissue paper, and its core components scattered in all directions.
Simultaneously, Namgoong Cheon and the Murim Alliance elders unleashed fierce sword energy, forming a perfect iron defense behind Jin-hyuk. Their loyalty, having had their debts forgiven, was more steadfast than any steel shield.
Merely one minute.
It took only that long for the casino’s elite bodyguards, its pride and joy, to be mercilessly trampled by Ma Dong-tak’s brutal bat strikes and Kim Chun-sam’s steel hooves, reduced to scrap metal and chunks of meat rolling across the crimson carpet.
“Well, the annoying minions are dealt with.”
Jin-hyuk circled the table and firmly seized the collar of the demon dealer Pago, who sat on the floor with legs trembling in terror.
“P-please! Spare me! I made a terrible judgment! Take all the chips! Please, just spare my life!”
“Of course I’m taking all of it—it’s my money I won fair and square. Why are you being so presumptuous, as if you’re doing me a favor? I warned you clearly earlier: if you run out of betting funds, sell your organs to pay. I just conducted a precise ocular diagnosis, and since you’re a demon, your liver regenerates far better than humans. If I remove half your liver and one of your two kidneys to sell, that should easily fetch about a hundred chips.”
Jin-hyuk smiled coldly and cruelly, pressing the cold blade of his scalpel against Pago’s abdomen. Only then did Pago viscerally realize that the human he had touched was no ordinary gambling hunter, but a master of anatomy with no blood or tears, a mad surgeon who would unhesitatingly cut open a demon’s belly for money. He began urinating in his pants.
“No! Please! Don’t cut my abdomen! I’ll pay! I’ll call the casino boss!”
It was at that moment when Pago desperately thrashed about, trying to escape the scalpel while screaming.
Clap, clap, clap.
From somewhere, slow and unpleasant applause echoed from the ceiling of the VIP Room where the chandelier hung.
Simultaneously, dazzling golden light poured down from the void so brilliantly that eyes could not open, and countless gold coins and diamond jewels rained down like a shower, beginning to form a single massive silhouette.
“Splendid. It has been quite some time since a guest has achieved a perfect biological victory against my casino’s prized chief dealer without a single cheap trick, and furthermore, so pleasantly and thoroughly demolished this casino’s physical security infrastructure.”
Where the golden rain had ceased, there materialized a hologram of a colossal man draped in a resplendent golden suit woven from pure magical energy, his left eye adorned with a geometric-patterned black and white eye patch.
A smile played at the corners of his mouth—one that exuded composure yet concealed an unfathomable darkness of greed. The true proprietor of this magnificent gambling establishment, the absolute sovereign of the 16th Floor, had finally revealed his overwhelming presence.
“B-Boss! Boss! Please save us! Those insane bastards broke the rules and assaulted our security personnel—!”
Pago crawled toward the hologram with trembling hands, desperately pleading for salvation, but the man in the golden suit merely flicked his fingers dismissively.
“Silence, Pago. As the casino’s head dealer, you failed to read your opponent’s moves and lacked the strength to subdue them. You are incompetent. Those who lose in the casino should keep their mouths shut.”
Before his cold words even finished, Pago’s body—still sprawled on the ground—was instantly engulfed in searing hellfire, and with a final, agonized scream, he dissolved into ash scattered across the carpet. The martial artists who witnessed this horrific display of betrayal gasped and swallowed hard.
“I am the owner who dominates this city of greed—Mammon.”
The man in the golden suit removed his hat and bowed with utmost courtesy toward Jin-hyuk.
“Director Kang Jin-hyuk. Your notorious reputation has reached even the lower floors. They call you the ruthless specter of capitalism—a surgeon who carves through monsters’ lives with a scalpel. Today, I was deeply impressed by your magnificent and audacious gaming etiquette.”
“I appreciate the courtesy, but spare me the pleasantries. That indebted dealer refused to repay his loan and turned to ash. As his joint guarantor, will you repay his debt instead? Or shall I slice open your belly for amusement?”
Jin-hyuk wiped his bloodless scalpel with a white cloth and replied bluntly. It was an extraordinarily arrogant capitalist provocation—one he hurled despite knowing full well that the opponent before him was merely a hologram he couldn’t pierce.
“Hahaha! Your personality is every bit as fiery as the rumors suggest. I find myself quite fond of you.”
Mammon laughed with delight and pointed his golden cane beyond the ceiling of the VIP Room.
“Director Kang, would it not be a waste of your magnificent skills and capitalist ambitions to depart satisfied with merely a pittance of chips stacked on that table? I formally invite you and your companions to my private Penthouse at the very pinnacle of the 16th Floor. What do you say to settling everything in a single, all-or-nothing game against me directly?”
The single eye visible beyond Mammon’s eye patch gleamed with a greed so intense it was almost palpable.
“Should you prevail, I shall surrender all the wealth and magical power held by the 16th Floor Casino, the vast life-extension chips, and even information regarding the Tower’s greatest hidden secrets. But should you lose the wager… your overwhelming power and souls shall become my eternal slave chips, condemned to tumble endlessly within the slots of my machines.”
It was a devil’s death game proposition—one with stakes so astronomical that an ordinary human should either refuse outright or never dare accept.
Namgoong Cheon and Beris seized Jin-hyuk’s collar in shock, desperately trying to dissuade him, but behind his glasses, Jin-hyuk’s eyes were already hurtling toward the apex of capitalism without brakes.
“The truth of the Tower and all the riches of the 16th Floor Casino.”
Jin-hyuk pocketed his scalpel and flashed a wicked smile. The scent of mega-capital emanated from him—the kind that would devour mere trillions of human wealth as a trivial snack.
“As long as the stakes are confirmed, of course I’m in. Show me the way. To that Penthouse or whatever it is—I’ll strip you bare, soul and all, and leave you destitute on the streets.”
The final gamble between a corrupt surgeon and a greedy demon boss—one where life and fortune hung in the balance—awaited them at the very summit of the 16th Floor.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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