Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 1024

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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 1024
As I lifted the lid, steam rose up in wisps.
Seonsikeong spoke.
“This is clearly not a cold dish! Steam is rising! That’s a violation!”
“….”
Yet not a single judge responded.
They simply gazed down at the soup I had created.
“This is… compressed cold energy. I’ve compressed the frigid qi inside the lid.”
After observing the preliminary rounds with Sama Hyeon, I had intended to establish a rule prohibiting the use of ice techniques beyond basic ice-making.
However, Muyue had spoken up.
-If you change the rules now, there will be fierce backlash. Moreover, there are martial artist housekeepers like Soggakju who use blade energy and heat techniques. Restricting only ice techniques would be unfair. That would be discrimination against ice practitioners.
As I swallowed hard, Muyue continued.
-Rather than that, why not simply utilize such techniques yourself, as Soggakju does? Martial artists are competing to win, yet I fail to understand what you’re so concerned about, Chief Manager.
Perhaps I had been too rigid in my thinking.
Considering it further, allowing heat techniques while banning ice techniques was indeed inequitable.
Banning both heat and ice techniques would deny the lifelong cultivation that martial artists obsessed with cooking—like myself—had refined.
That would contradict the very principles of this world.
So be it then.
‘An unlimited battle it is!’
Let everyone transcend the mere constraint of cold cuisine!
With that resolve, ideas began flowing about how ice techniques could enhance the flavors of dishes.
One idea sparked another, and those ideas created this moment.
‘Fine dining establishments place dry ice beneath lids. They create ice cream with liquid nitrogen.’
All the judges felt that cool sensation.
Whoooosh—
“Oh, what is this?”
Gwak Jangja’s eyes sparkled like a child’s.
My cooking possessed that kind of fascination.
As the cool mist dissipated, what revealed itself was a golden-hued soup.
Jujubes and pine nuts floated upon it, arranged in the shape of a smiling face.
Seonsikeong exclaimed in astonishment.
“You’ve brought forth a sweet soup!”
A sweet soup!
Traditionally, sweet soup refers to a broth centered on sweetness.
It was used in medicinal and herbal cuisine, and served as a delicacy.
Rock sugar and honey were expensive, yet those with considerable wealth could obtain them.
It was eaten on cold days or when one caught a chill.
And nam.
This referred to pumpkin.
In modern terms, it was a sweet pumpkin soup!
Seonsikeong ground his teeth with a grating sound.
“You got me. Ilgwang of the Heavenly Realm. Daring to face me with Seonshik, my specialty!”
As he thought this, watching the scene unfold.
The judge lifted the first spoon with a racing heart.
“!”
The moment Gwak Jangja tasted it, he felt the sweet and refreshing flavor of pumpkin.
At the same time, the pumpkin patch where he had often played as a child came to mind.
How much his mother had scolded him for breaking open a pumpkin and eating it.
As he wept like that, she would sigh and make him pumpkin porridge.
‘It’s different from back then. Different, but….’
What his mother made was certainly hot pumpkin porridge.
Yet what touched his lips was cool and sweet pumpkin in syrup.
“Refreshing. So refreshing! Such a taste exists!”
He lost himself, continuing to move the spoon.
Looking to the side, Wuying Touguai was also eating without restraint.
“The thing I stole and ate most in my youth was pumpkin. And here’s that taste!”
She confessed her childhood crimes while radiating happiness.
Taeseong Bangjoo Ilgeol also added his words.
“Remarkable. Food can be this entertaining! If Seonsikeong has infused the wisdom of age into his cooking, then Ilgwang has brought the play of a child!”
With each spoonful, he sank deeper into bliss.
The Eunuch General spoke.
“…Hehehehe, I too am reminded of old days. Events from my youth.”
Watching this, Ju Wang understood.
‘Ah, so that old man… was remembering our childhood days.’
The Eunuch General’s youth would have been when he served Ju Wang himself and the young Emperors.
It was difficult and painful, yet there were certainly joyful times as well.
Before the true struggle for the throne began.
When he never imagined he would serve an Emperor, and the Emperors themselves dared not think they would become Emperor.
When Ju Wang himself was merely a troublemaker in the palace, unable to imagine accomplishing anything.
Of course, the Eunuch General of all under heaven would never speak of such memories aloud in a place like this.
He simply laughed, saying it was delightful.
Yet that alone made Ju Wang’s mood brighten.
It was a treasure belonging only to these two people, or rather four if you counted those absent from this place.
And Ju Wang took a spoonful.
‘Ah….’
It was similar to when he ate candied pumpkin.
A delicacy of the Hua Empire made by coating fried pumpkin with honey syrup and hardening it, extremely popular among the young imperial family.
Yet precisely because it was popular, those without power like them rarely received a portion.
Especially since his mother was treated coldly even within the imperial palace.
A life where merely being able to avoid peaches was a blessing.
So I sucked on my fingers and desperately wished that the other imperial relatives would tire of that snack, that my turn would finally come.
And then one day, the Eunuch General brought it.
I wondered how he’d obtained it, but his face was covered in bruises. My siblings immediately understood.
‘He must have been beaten by the other court attendants.’
It seemed he’d been caught stealing. Yet he still managed to bring back the pumpkin candy—such determination.
A third-rate court attendant who couldn’t even steal properly, coming back beaten like that.
That was the Eunuch General’s assessment at the time.
Scatterbrained and lacking any sense, not a single lady of the palace would take him in. A worthless wretch.
Eventually, he was picked up by a lady destined for the Cold Palace.
But to the three of us children, he was a hero.
Not even noticing the honey coating my fingers, I sucked on it eagerly—and that memory remained vivid even now.
I never knew how warmly the younger Eunuch General watched us then.
And the next time he stole, he came back with his face unmarked and pristine.
He had improved at thievery.
That was when Ju Wang saw it. In the empty back courtyard, the young Eunuch General practicing the Golden Finger Technique alone.
Not for self-defense.
For stealing.
Watching him, young Ju Wang finally understood: to avoid going hungry immediately, one needed strength. It didn’t matter if it was actual power rather than authority.
If the Golden Finger Technique was needed just to steal pumpkin candy, how much more would be needed in the future?
I was the eldest daughter, and my two younger brothers had no talent for martial arts.
So I began teaching myself martial arts alone.
Until the day I would be called a living god of war.
That day’s events were a secret shared by only four people.
It was painful, yet sweet.
‘We stole so many tangerines back then too.’
I would occasionally give some to that wretch before me as well.
‘He was the sole survivor of that ‘palace’ from the past. Inhaling so much smoke had left him an idiot, and burn scars covered his face, wrapped in bandages.’
With such severe pain, everyone said he wouldn’t last long.
‘….’
But fortunately, he didn’t die.
His growth didn’t stop either; he continued to develop normally.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, he survived without encountering assassins amid the fierce struggle for the throne—precisely because of this.
After all, it made no sense to send an idiot covered in burns into such a conflict.
But that didn’t mean there was any place for him to belong.
It wasn’t hard to guess what happened to him.
The imperial palace becomes uninhabitable once the Emperor passes away.
‘Countless imperial heirs perished during that period.’
A strange tale, but now it’s common sense and tradition in this mad empire.
Someone once said the empire grows by drinking the blood of the imperial family.
Ju Wang thought it wasn’t wrong.
But how did Euni ever recognize such a person?
Someone who had grown so much that everything about them had changed.
‘If the food had been poor, I was planning to use that as an excuse to drag him to the palace to learn cooking… but this.’
He had made it well. It was delicious.
And above all, it was joyful!
I never knew that food could be such a delightful experience.
Clang!
Ju Wang set down her empty bowl with deliberate flair.
She spoke.
“Exquisite.”
Delicious.
The moment those two words left her lips, the crowd erupted into cheers.
The referee announced the judges’ scores.
“By unanimous decision of all judges, the winner is Jin Cheon-heeeeee!”
우와아아아아아아—-!
Seonsikeong clenched his fists.
“Curse it—I failed to account for the tastes of the younger generation.”
Though I had captured the palates of the four elders before her, I ultimately failed to win over Ju Wang’s heart as well.
But what of Ilgwang?
By crafting a delightful experience using the fresh and sweet flavors of pumpkin, had he not won over everyone’s hearts!
The referee announced.
“The victor will now prepare one hundred servings of their dish. Audience members, please form a line to draw lots!”
The hundred people selected by lottery would have the privilege of tasting the winner’s creation!
Though additional labor awaited even in victory, not a single housekeeper resented it.
‘This is true honor, after all.’
I had won.
I could showcase my cooking!
In modern times, the perspective might be different, but in this era, there was such a thing as romance.
“I’ll draw first.”
“No, me! Let me go first!”
People began rushing to form a line.
The Three Scholars also ran over to join the queue.
Jin Cheon-hee’s preparation of one hundred servings had begun.
The first main round concluded!
* * *
After the main round where sixteen supreme masters had clashed came to an end, what remained was a battle of eight.
Remarkably.
In the quarterfinals, Jingbonghyeolmi Jongriecheolsan fell to an unknown cook without the title of Great Cooking Master of the Yellow Dragon.
“This… how could this be…?”
“Golden Seal Blood Eyebrow. You may be a master of dumplings, but you are no master of other cuisines, it seems.”
“Gasp!!”
Everyone is engulfed in shock.
“Wasn’t it Jingbonghyeolmi Jongriecheolsan who fought on equal footing with Ilgwang through that dumpling competition in the past?!”
“The Great Cooking Master of the Yellow Dragon, acknowledged even by the Emperor, defeated by a nameless cook?!”
“Where is this competition even heading?!”
Jingbonghyeolmi Jongriecheolsan had created water dumplings!
Yet he lost to his opponent’s fan-cooled noodles.
This fan-cooled noodle dish originated from Suzhou in Gangso Province!
After boiling the noodles and coating them with oil, one fans them to dry the strands with air.
Then, the noodles are mixed with pre-prepared seasonings, vegetables, and meat toppings—that’s the essence of this dish.
In truth, a refrigerator isn’t necessary for this dish, but this nameless cook had chilled all the ingredients except the noodles themselves, amplifying the refreshing sensation on the palate.
Especially since noodles become chewier the more they dry in the wind—with proper preparation, it deserves to be called a masterpiece under heaven!
Against such flavor, Jingbonghyeolmi’s cold water dumplings could only yield!
And what’s more astounding is this.
Geonheon wasn’t even a martial arts master!
“The victor! Geonheon, Great Cooking Master of the Liangpi Noodle House!”
우와아아아아아—!
People cry out in astonishment.
“Our neighborhood noodle shop was this good?!”
Indeed. This was the very place I had visited before with Sama Hyeon.
A place that made liangpi, a type of mixed noodle soup.
He had never trained in martial arts, nor was he a housekeeper at some grand inn.
Simply a housekeeper renowned in the neighborhood for his delicious food.
However, there were limits to how cold he could make liangpi during summer.
He didn’t have the money to buy a small ice-making technique manual.
Possessing such a technique manual was proof of belonging to a major inn’s faction!
For someone starting with nothing, such a manual was a luxury.
Yet this time, the ice-lake cold confection I created elevated his skills to new heights.
Truly, a nerve for taste itself!
That skill with which he had openly provoked me—it hadn’t gone anywhere.
“If one learns martial arts, it would certainly aid cooking. But do you think I, who have devoted my entire life solely to cooking without martial arts, would lose?”
“Damn it…!”
Crash!
Jingbonghyeolmi Jongriecheolsan slammed his cutting board in fury.
He had been confident in this competition.
If the Great Cooking Master of the Yellow Dragon were to lose, he thought it would only be to Ilgwang.
Ilgwang was the only one who had ever toppled his cooking.
‘Has the Heavenly Mechanism changed? Has it truly changed?!’
Cooking skill and the Heavenly Mechanism have little correlation, but Jongriecheolsan chose to believe it anyway.
For this situation was simply too absurd to comprehend.
A mere commoner conquering everything with just a single kitchen knife?
That makes no sense whatsoever!
‘Ilgwang, you be careful too. Your opponent is someone who defies all understanding by the standards of the martial world!’
It was summer.

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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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