Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 101

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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 101
Flames
016. Welcoming a Guest (2)
As I waited for the guest at the entrance of the tea room, I saw the Namgung siblings and what appeared to be a girl from the Tang Family climbing up.
She stood out even from a distance, dressed in black martial robes embroidered with crimson thread.
‘The youth of the Tang Family wears shadow garments even in broad daylight. That would make them more conspicuous rather than less—I wonder if that’s acceptable.’
Sichuan Tang Sect.
The crimson characters were striking.
This attire was what children of the Tang Family wore during their youth when they fell into darkness and entered an unfavorable state—most chose to wear it willingly.
The previous Gaju had personally commissioned the tailors to create it during his youth.
The few martial robes made that way have been passed down and are given to children of that age who suffer from similar conditions.
Children of that age were captivated by the mystique of those garments—dark as night, red as blood—and wore them willingly, while elders from other martial families understood and tacitly accepted it upon seeing such robes.
It was truly a garment steeped in tradition.
She gazed up at me intently.
Her dark eyes resembled those of a small beast.
If Namgung Un resembled a large dog and Namgung Yeon resembled a cat, then Dang-a resembled a small white puppy.
‘Ah, what was that called? I saw it on Earth… a Pomeranian!’
She resembled a Pomeranian.
With black fur and bright, spirited eyes, she was altogether adorably spirited.
‘Would she like candy? What do children that age like? Glutinous rice cakes? Pumpkin taffy? Would she be happy with dried persimmons?’
The middle-aged man’s instinct within me was commanding me to feed these children plenty of delicious things.
‘I wish I had a daughter like that.’
A dream I had abandoned long ago quietly stirred.
I fumbled through my sleeves searching for food.
I wanted to give her something delicious right away.
Then she spoke.
“Are you Seo Baek-ryong!”
Her voice was quite loud.
I answered.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I am Dang-a of the Sichuan Tang Sect. I request a match!”
‘Wow… a request for a match the moment our eyes meet. I’ve heard tales of wanderers in Gangho who challenge people like that…’
I had broken the bones of those who came at me for bounties, but a formal match was different.
I had never received such a match request before.
‘This is refreshing.’
Is this the scent of Gangho itself?
Have I reached a position where I experience such things now?
I recalled a romance I had cherished and hidden away in the past.
Dang-a spoke.
“A pharmacology match! Let us each poison the other and see who can detoxify first!”
At those words, my brow furrowed slightly.
‘That’s not the same kind of sparring, is it?’
This was poison technique sparring between those who had mastered poison arts.
However, I had never learned poison techniques, and my specialty was destruction, not detoxification.
“I’d rather not.”
Without realizing it, my voice had taken on a slightly sharp edge.
Dang-a’s face flushed, as if she hadn’t expected such a blunt refusal.
“This is ridiculous…!”
I ignored Dang-a and spoke to Namgung Un instead.
“Please, all of you come in.”
I guided everyone to the reception hall.
guided.
After we had taken our seats, I spoke to Namgung Un.
“Namgung Sohyeop, give me your wrist.”
Namgung Un readily extended his wrist.
The moment I took his pulse, Dang-a’s eyes widened in shock.
“Wait, he’s letting an outsider take his pulse? That means Un is trusting this fellow that much!”
At those words, both Namgung Un and I felt laughter bubbling up.
“Ahem, please don’t laugh. It makes it difficult to read the pulse.”
“Cough, cough, right. I’ll stay still.”
Namgung Yeon wrapped her arm around Dang-a’s neck from behind, embracing her.
“You’re heavy. Yeon, you’re heavy!”
I kept suppressing my laughter as it threatened to burst out. Namgung Un seemed to be in the same predicament, as his pulse kept wavering, stabilizing, then wavering again.
After finishing the pulse diagnosis, I spoke with a serious expression.
“You didn’t follow my advice, did you?”
“You mean drink plenty of water and avoid salty and greasy foods?”
“Yes.”
At my words, Namgung Un averted his gaze.
“Well… lately, the elders and my friends keep inviting me to drinking gatherings, so I couldn’t help it.”
“The calculus has grown larger. For now, its position is still manageable, but if you’d waited much longer, it would have started.”
“Started what?”
“The agony of hell.”
At those words, Namgung Un’s eyes widened.
Then Dang-a spoke up.
“I don’t understand. You can tell from a pulse diagnosis alone that calculus is forming?”
Certainly, calculus is difficult to detect through pulse diagnosis.
For internal or external injuries, I find the location where qi is severed through pulse diagnosis and trace the outline, but small calculi are difficult to detect this way.
Especially calculi in their small form before symptoms manifest.
Usually, people only discover calculus after it has grown large enough to begin damaging the urethra or kidneys.
‘If I mention my surgical knowledge of urolithiasis, it will only raise more questions.’
When Jin Cheon-hee didn’t answer, Dang-a spoke with confidence.
“I’ve never seen a doctor who could predict kidney stones through pulse diagnosis! This must be a scam!”
‘Well, she’s not wrong if we only consider the medicine of this era.’
In this world where surgical medicine hadn’t advanced, the causes of kidney stone formation remained unclear.
Though no one understood why stones formed, the lower abdomen would ache terribly, and by the time of pulse diagnosis it was either too late or required prayer while a blade touched the belly.
It was such a dangerous disease that it often led to death.
Especially in this period when the causes of infection were unknown and antibiotics hadn’t been invented, surgery was an equally perilous treatment.
“For now, identifying kidney stones is quite simple in the current state.”
“What do you mean?”
“Namgung Sohyeop, can you endure a bit of pain?”
“Brother Jin, I don’t mind such things—just proceed directly with treatment.”
However, Dang-a held a different opinion.
“If you’re a doctor, prove it at once!”
“Hmm… well, let me hear what you intend to do first. It is my body, after all.”
Jin Cheon-hee answered calmly.
“It’s nothing complicated. I’ll infuse my inner energy and gently press above where the stone is located within Namgung Sohyeop’s body, moving it slightly. Though small, the edges are sharp as a blade, so even this much should cause considerable pain—enough to confirm it.”
“Brother Un! That’s an excellent method! Otherwise we’d be robbed blind with our eyes open!”
“It’s my body, I’m telling you. Yeon, you…”
Namgung Yeon’s eyes gleamed.
“Oh, verifying whether my elder brother has stones in his body is an important matter… I must clarify this is absolutely not revenge for how often my elder brother teases me.”
Jin Cheon-hee laughed cheerfully.
“Two against one, then. So I’ll press—”
“…Wait, hold on!”
Jin Cheon-hee pressed firmly below the area where the stone was located.
Infusing inner energy and touching slightly above it, I felt the sensation of the stone.
“Huh… huh-ack!”
Kidney stones.
Patients brought to the emergency room said it hurt like being shot.
Some said it felt like being stabbed with a knife, others like being torn with an awl and then scraped.
Though Jin Cheon-hee had never suffered kidney stones, I knew well how excruciating the pain was.
Namgung Un couldn’t even scream, only gasping and choking for three seconds.
Jin Cheon-hee quickly withdrew his hand.
Dang-a spoke.
“That’s… not acting. A genuinely agonized expression. I felt the scream of Brother Un’s very soul.”
“Dang-a, and Yeon. You two… will have no snacks for three days.”
Namgung Un growled low.
Even from that brief moment of pain, cold sweat dripped from his hands.
“Do you see, Brother Jin? I can’t tell if I’m caring for two girls or two demons.”
Yeon gazed toward distant mountains, feigning indifference.
Jin Cheon-hee reflected.
‘So these are true siblings.’
They would seek revenge after death, but in the meantime, they took every opportunity to land blows on each other—exactly like people on Earth.
‘People everywhere live the same way, it seems.’
“Namgung Sohyeop, you should cultivate a gentler heart. Since you tease Namgung Yeon so relentlessly, isn’t it only natural that she retaliates whenever the chance arises?”
“Ugh… but teasing my sister is my greatest pleasure. An outsider has no business interfering.”
At those words, Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“Namgung Yeon, shall I press once more? One time hardly seems enough to truly understand, does it?”
“Spare me! Please spare me!”
* * *
Namgung Un decided to be admitted for a brief stay to undergo the kidney stone fragmentation procedure.
During that time, Namgung Yeon and Dang-a stayed together as well.
The two were such close friends that they were never apart for even a moment.
Namgung Yeon, who was normally reserved and hesitant in speech, would laugh brightly whenever she was with Dang-a.
Though Dang-a was entering adolescence and displayed some peculiarities like other Tang Family members, her fundamentally kind nature earned her decent regard within the Medical Hall.
Her only eccentricity was claiming she was practicing new martial techniques while wrapping the Medical Hall’s bandages around her uninjured arms.
The Medical Assistants taught her the proper way to wrap bandages, and she learned with shining eyes.
Meanwhile, Jin Cheon-hee conducted a thorough examination of Namgung Un’s condition.
‘Natural expulsion is absolutely out of the question.’
This man lived on alcohol and meat.
It was truly remarkable how such a dissolute fellow had become the leader of the Martial Arts Alliance and was now discussed as the greatest swordsman under heaven.
Fortunately, during his stay at Baekrin Uigak, I could restrict all alcohol, fatty foods, and salty dishes.
‘According to the original story, the kidney stone did eventually grow, but he somehow resolved it regardless…’
Jin Cheon-hee rubbed his chin.
‘Surely he didn’t manage it while carrying the stone, using inner energy like my Master does.’
Setting aside inflammation or obstruction, the pain itself was unbearable for any human.
Suddenly, Jin Cheon-hee reconsidered.
‘This is the Gangho. These people will do absolutely anything.’
Take Yu Rang-hu alone—didn’t he pull out the hair pin that held his own leg in place, claiming he would commit suicide, just to stab Ju Wang?
These people endure torture that tears living flesh, keeping their lips sealed to protect secrets.
‘This place… is a surgeon’s hell.’
When matters involve conviction, patients won’t even fully disclose their symptoms, and the moment something happens, they either risk their lives for their beliefs or resign themselves to death for debts of gratitude.
‘How Namgung Un resolved his kidney stone isn’t something the novel covers anyway. From the protagonist Yeo Ha-ryun’s perspective, Namgung Un is simply an extraordinarily formidable opponent.’
Jin Cheon-hee reached a clean conclusion.
‘I’m a doctor, so I should do my work as a doctor. Let me focus on the patient before me.’
Jin Cheon-hee examined Namgung Un’s pulse for quite some time before opening his eyes.
“Why did the stone grow so much in the meantime… and how on earth did you manage to drink alcohol? You didn’t consume medical-grade distilled spirits, did you?”
“Does that show up in a pulse diagnosis?”

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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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