Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 1029

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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 1029
“I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re saying~”
But only for a moment.
Sama Hyeon donned his mask and played dumb.
At those words, I let out a small sigh. I could feel Sama Hyeon’s heart closing off completely.
He concealed his shadow, his darkness.
“Hmm? Eun Gong. Is something the matter?”
Sama-hye’s eyes sharpened. And she also sensed Sama Hyeon’s discomfort.
In the end, I had no choice but to change the subject.
“This isn’t the kind of flavor that comes from just practicing once or twice, but this….”
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“To run an inn, you need to know cooking fairly well~ And if you practice the Cheonbyeon Geomman Gong, you can mimic the movements of housekeepers too, right? There’s even the Great Cooking Master of the Yellow Dragon who belongs to the Golden Blood Hall~”
“No. If someone’s reached the level of the Great Cooking Master of the Yellow Dragon, why would they work under the Golden Blood Hall…?”
Unless they were given a certain share of the profits from cooking, like in this competition.
In modern terms, it would be like having a Michelin three-star chef as a manager of a BBQ chicken franchise.
And even pulling the full franchise deal at that.
If they had their own recipes, why would they need to do this?
Wouldn’t it be a disgrace to their entire culinary career?
But then Sama Hyeon said:
“That’s what happens when you become addicted to gambling~”
“Ah… I see…. Gambling truly is the shortest path to ruin and destruction.”
“Exactly. Whether you’re the Great Cooking Master of the Yellow Dragon or a great literary master, once you fall into gambling, you become nothing but a slave. Well, I’m one to talk, but I treat them fairly well. But if they fall into the hands of other Black Dao cultivators, then there’s no hope.
They’d have to add opium to the dishes.”
“…?!”
I widened my eyes in shock.
Sama Hyeon whistled and continued.
“In Gangso Province, such things don’t happen. But sometimes the Black Dao cultivators use people that way. Those housekeepers who are dragged into it learn to mask the taste of poison and cook.
“You mean they’re killing people?”
“…The act of eating is actually quite a fatal thing, you know. You’re putting something unknown into your own body. Everyone forgets that. Even those who’ve been rolling around in Gangho for a long time forget it when faced with hunger.”
Suddenly, I recalled a memory from the past when Sama Hyeon had forcibly put sleeping medicine in food to make his brother sleep.
At that time, sleep was indeed necessary for me, and Hwang-gu had agreed to it, or so he said.
‘But that doesn’t mean it’s something a normal human would do—putting medicine in their own brother’s meal.’
Whether he knew his brother’s thoughts or not, the youngest brother laughed bitterly.
Even at this very moment, the madness of the Cheonbyeon Geomman Gong was trying to consume him.
Indeed, demonic cultivation is demonic cultivation.
No matter how much more stable it is compared to other demonic arts, that’s only true on the physical level.
On the mental side, it whispered for him to forget himself and dance together in this place.
Why was the abyss so sweet?
Crack—
Sama Hyeon cracked his gloved knuckles, producing a sound.
I cannot go there.
They called him Baekcheon-gun.
My echo must be dancing joyfully in that place.
It matters not in what mire that wretch wallows. He is merely another possibility of Sama Hyeon, not my future.
“Hyeon-a.”
I opened my eyes slightly toward the sound, and there were my brother’s blue eyes watching me.
Soon Sama Hyeon spoke with a faint smile.
“Hmm?”
My brother regarded me with steady eyes.
“I’m telling you again—if you have something to discuss, talk to me.”
….
The madness of Cheonbyeon Geom Man Gong is different from other madness.
It stems from becoming a different entity, from forgetting myself.
It manifests distinctly differently from the Heart Demon spoken of in Gangho.
The Muyeong Yeonhwa Beom Sim Gong that my brother and I both cultivate could not resolve this problem at all.
Yet I cannot lower my realm. If I did, it would be I who died.
Becoming the master of Hao-mun means riding upon the Beast’s back.
Rather than that….
“No matter how I look at it, this isn’t enough, so I’m thinking of making more. Brother~”
I still do not wish to confess this darkness to my brother.
Of course, I know that even if I spoke of it, my brother would not treat Sama Hyeon differently.
But I do not wish to soil the lighthouse before my eyes with mud.
This moment is my treasure, the only way I can remain human.
Because this moment is precious, so very precious.
Sama Hyeon decided to become a fool.
A fool who knows not what to do because this moment is so precious.
‘Because I fear the madness might touch even slightly.’
My brother blinks his eyes twice.
What does Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong think with those blue eyes?
“Oh, is that so?”
An ordinary conversation.
Though he must have grasped many variables from my answer just now, my brother treats me as he always does.
Perhaps he knows I am not one to yield the truth easily, even under coercion.
Jin Cheon-hee also rolled up his sleeves to make food together with Sama Hyeon.
Sama-hye was in charge of eating.
Then the door creaked open and Muyue entered.
“Soggakju, congratulations on your victory. So Sama Dangju was here too!”
“Oh… Come in. Come in.”
As Jin Cheon-hee welcomed him, Muyue entered.
The moment Muyue took his seat, Yoo Ho came in.
“Hm? What do you mean? I was just playing around here.”
“Yoo Ho! Yoo Ho ho ho ho! I’ve already prepared the beef tartare!”
At the mention of beef tartare, Yoo Ho sat down with a reluctant expression.
There was no helping it. Even if he devoured an entire cow, he could never achieve that particular sensation of beef tartare.
That taste was something only humans could create—a delicacy that emerged when his divine chef prepared it.
There was no ‘noble being’ who could refuse it.
Once the two of them were seated, Chuna Dangju arrived, pleasantly intoxicated, and gradually more people began to gather.
Watching the Medical Professionals clamoring and laughing, Jin Cheon-hee smiled softly.
“It seems we’ve turned this into quite the small banquet.”
“That’s perfect, brother~”
In the end, both brothers loosened up completely.
A signal to cook together.
Good people and good times.
How many moments in life were there to celebrate so purely and wholly?
The Doctor found himself wishing that time would simply stop here.
* * *
And so the cooking competition came to an end.
Yoo Ho’s refrigerators began selling like hotcakes.
“Every wealthy merchant in Gangso Province has procured at least one or two.”
“Those fellows can obtain even Xiao Bing Ding, yet their greed knows no bounds.”
“Perhaps they’re simply following the trend. Besides, with nearly every inn trying to purchase Yoo Ho’s ice boxes, where else could one find such an opportunity?”
“Indeed, the Yoo Ho ice box is far more affordable than Xiao Bing Ding, and with the Golden Blood Hall actively offering installment plans, it’s no wonder everyone is interested.”
“I’ve heard that even commoner households are beginning to acquire them.”
Sales rapidly expanded beyond Gangso Province into the surrounding regions.
The distribution was handled by the Gongseon Family, which had earned renown as Pyo Guk, and particularly by the Golden Blood Hall, which was aggressively promoting installment purchases.
Gangso Province, Nanjing.
A great metropolis serving as the stronghold of Ju Wang’s domain and the provincial capital of Gangso.
It was also the second most developed major city in the empire.
Among the inns that had recently become famous in Nanjing, Nanjing Inn was certainly one of them.
They too had ordered a commercial-grade Yoo Ho refrigerator.
The commercial-grade Yoo Ho refrigerator was quite large! And one could say its cooling capacity was considerably stronger.
I heard the liquid inside emits quite a cool chill, though not quite as much as Xiao Bing Ding, but what it’s made from is supposedly classified.
Because of this, countless families have been taking apart the ice boxes trying to discover the secret of this liquid.
‘But for ordinary inns like ours, it’s not our concern.’
In any case, the housekeeper removed meat from the refrigerator and proceeded to slice it before everyone’s eyes with great fanfare.
Shing—
The elasticity of the meat. And unmistakably the aroma of fresh meat!
The housekeeper spoke.
“Despite considerable time having passed since slaughter, it hasn’t spoiled at all. Quite remarkable, isn’t it?”
“At this price, how many items of this quality exist? There’s a reason other inns rushed to purchase them.”
With this method, both meat and vegetables could maintain their freshness for extended periods.
“Go ahead and try making some as a test.”
The Head Chef began preparing hongshao pork with it.
Similar to dongpo pork, this dish involves stir-frying various vegetables, spices, maltose, or sugar together before braising everything slowly in chicken stock.
The spices and stock used vary from region to region.
Yet it remains delicious.
Legend has it that the poet Su Dongpo himself created hongshao pork by modifying this very dish, and when properly prepared hongshao pork is served over rice, there’s nothing quite like it.
As the Head Chef continued simmering the dish, everyone in the kitchen swallowed hard.
‘Wow, that aroma is absolutely incredible.’
Just then, an order came in.
“Two plates of mapo tofu!”
At the server’s call, the Head Chef plated the freshly completed hongshao pork and began preparing the mapo tofu.
When I retrieved the tofu from the Yoo Ho Ice Box, its firmness and freshness were unparalleled.
‘Wow, this is incredible.’
As I cut the tofu with a knife, the cross-section showed such elasticity that I wanted to take a bite immediately.
I began making mapo tofu with it.
Sizzle!
The spicy aroma scattered in all directions.
After quickly preparing two bowls of mapo tofu and turning back to check on the hongshao pork….
“Where did it go?”
The bowl was empty.
Pieces of hongshao pork were smeared all over the kitchen staff’s mouths.
“You couldn’t resist and ate it all?”
“How could we leave something so glossy alone? It would be disrespectful to the meat.”
“Was it good?”
The kitchen staff nodded in response.
“Wow, it’s addictive! The meat quality is completely different when properly refrigerated. Honestly, it tastes like it was just butchered.”
“That’s right. And the vegetables! They look like they were just cut fresh!”
“You all do exaggerate.”
Though I was annoyed they’d secretly eaten the hongshao pork, their reaction—that they’d never tasted anything this delicious before—felt wonderful. My shoulders lifted with satisfaction.
‘There’s no going back to the old days now.’
I couldn’t even remember how I’d managed before the Yoo Ho Ice Box, despite it being just yesterday.
Now I understood why the other housekeepers all praised the Yoo Ho Ice Box in unison.
This was a revolution!
* * *
The Yoo Ho Ice Box was spreading like wildfire.
As a result, both the Gongseon Family and the Golden Blood Hall lately
were raking in money hand over fist.
Especially the Golden Blood Hall—with overflowing profits, they began hiring numerous wanderers and, imitating Jin Cheon-hee, started recruiting orphans in large numbers to expand their forces.
Of course, this differed somewhat from what Hao-mun had done before, purchasing orphans to put them to work.
This is the Golden Blood Hall’s subsidiary—the Golden Blood Orphanage located in Zhejiang Province.
Children were taking an examination.
The orphanage instructor walked around and spoke.
“Anyone who fails this test goes straight to the martial arts training program. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
The Golden Blood Orphanage modeled itself after Baek Hwan-hu, providing education from a young age.
However, they hadn’t created customized curricula quite like Baek Hwan-hu did.
First, all children learned literacy in common, and those who showed no aptitude here were immediately sent to the warrior cultivation program.
Next came arithmetic and business management, and those whose grades fell short were also sent to the warrior cultivation program.
Why did children in such circumstances cling so desperately to their studies?
Because the Golden Blood Orphanage fostered a strong atmosphere that one must study to earn money well.
In reality, the probability of a merchant earning good money and that of a third-rate martial artist earning good money were vastly different.
Unless one was born into a prestigious family or possessed an exceptional constitution, one had to know how to read and learn arithmetic to earn money.
That’s why the children studied diligently.
“In the end, earning money is the best way to avoid being looked down upon, right?”
“Isn’t money the greatest thing?”
“Right. Once we become adults, we have to leave here, so we need to build a foundation to gather capital before then.”
Such words from a child were precocious and worldly.
Definitely a different atmosphere from Baek Hwan-hu’s institution.
In Baek Hwan-hu’s case, many were children of poor martial artists or orphans who lost their parents due to silver poisoning.
But here, there weren’t many children with such dramatic backstories.
Because of this, the Golden Blood Orphanage had more pragmatic children rather than those who yearned for the martial world, and it served the role of cultivating such orphans to supply manpower to the Golden Blood Hall.
Good students became administrators or merchants.
Poor students all went to the martial arts training program.
Of course, the martial arts training here was somewhat different from the sacred techniques taught at Baekrin Medical Guild.
Heterodox faction martial arts.
Though called heterodox, even with such origins, combining some of the sacred techniques left by the past Martial Emperor with the Infinite Lotus Heart Demon Art that Jin Cheon-hee left behind made the stability unquestionable.
“Hmph. I’m going to become one of the sixteen greatest masters under heaven. I don’t need to take this test.”
There’s always a rebel wherever you go!
Then.
One of the children—a boy with a build two heads larger than the other children—covered his test paper and crossed his arms.
The instructor glanced at him but said nothing.
If one’s path was already decided, there was no need to scold them.
Unlike Baek Hwan-hu’s institution, the teachers here were more cold-blooded.
And shortly after.
The test ended.
When the boy stood up and walked out, a girl followed along beside him.
These two had lived next door to each other when they were younger.
Both lost their parents to plague and entered the Golden Blood Orphanage, and because of their connection as former neighbors, they remained best friends even now.
“Jeong-sik, did you turn in another blank test paper again?”
“Anyway, I’m going to become a master of the martial world. So it doesn’t matter. I’m the best in the martial arts training class too. What about you?”
“I did well on the test. I’m going to become a doctor like Sama-hye, the Medical Officer of Baekrin Uiseon.”
“A doctor, huh….”
The Golden Blood Hall orphanage didn’t only produce merchants.
It also produced doctors. And children who became doctors at the Golden Blood Hall orphanage entered under Baekrin Uiseon’s jurisdiction.
And they repaid the money they spent while living in the orphanage as a debt.
The amount wasn’t large. And they weren’t being pressured to repay it either.
It was a modified version of the three acts of grace that Jin Cheon-hee had once discussed with Baek Hwan-hu, taking the form of something closer to sponsorship.
But recently, children who had first become independent and grown into adults established themselves and sent that money back.
For the next children.
Even though they hadn’t entered as young as the others, merely seeking shelter for a brief time before reaching adulthood, they did it anyway.
So when she grew up, the girl thought she wanted to do the same.
“Yes. Become a doctor. It would be wonderful if you became as excellent a doctor as Sama-hye.”
Sama-hye was the star of the harbor and also the star of these Golden Blood Hall orphanage children.
Modern Earth was the same, but Gangho was even more so.
Parentless children didn’t become masters of the world through constitution or fortuitous encounters.
Because those who simply studied ordinarily from the bottom and succeeded were extremely rare.
“If you become a doctor at Baekrin Uiseon, you make a lot of money.”
“But you have to study so much, don’t you?”
“I heard you have to do it your whole life. But… I still want to try.”
Even if a star is far away, it still shines.
Light sparkled in the girl’s eyes.
Thus another stone cast by Jin Cheon-hee was spreading ripples throughout Gangho.
Furthermore, Hao-mun was originally a group that operated nationwide without a fixed headquarters.
But it was rapidly expanding its power in Zhejiang Province.
These growing children would become the strength of Hao-mun again.
And soon Zhejiang Province would become Hao-mun’s territory.
This was one of the things Sama Hyeon was doing while fighting against his madness.
One of the three acts of grace he was bestowing upon Gangho.
“By the way, didn’t Somun-ju visit recently?”
“Yes. He always came in disguise, but today he came and went plainly.”
The greater his madness grew, the more stubbornly Sama Hyeon clung to his own essence.
He hardly even used small disguises anymore. Because the moment he lost himself, he would be swept away in an instant by the current of madness.
Long ago, a promise I made with my brother at the edge of the harbor cliff.
To keep that promise.
“Is it possible that… you’re in pain?”
The girl pierced through to the truth. Without any logic or knowledge, relying only on intuition, she was truly the makings of a doctor.
“How could that be? How great is he, and it’s not like he doesn’t have money to go to a medical clinic.”
At the young man’s words, the girl nodded obediently.
“I must have felt wrong.”
One of three debts of gratitude.
Here, a flower blooms.

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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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