Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 16

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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 16
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Huh…?”
Yeo Ha-ryun wiped his face with his sleeve.
The sleeve was already drenched in blood, so wiping his face only made it filthier.
‘That’s what he’s really like.’
I had forgotten his true nature.
He loves slaughter. The blood of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon craves it.
Even if he had never killed anyone before, that doesn’t change.
“Hold this.”
As the candied fruit skewer nearly fell to the ground, Yeo Ha-ryun quickly caught it.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke indifferently.
“Let’s go.”
“Do more.”
Beneath Yeo Ha-ryun’s feet lay Three Dogs, his limbs twisted at grotesque angles, blood streaming from his shattered skull.
I understood immediately what he meant by “do more.”
“Stop.”
“This bastard used martial arts to oppress the weak. So it’s fine to kill him.”
With injuries like that, even modern medicine might not save him. He would live a life worse than death.
‘I have no reason to help him.’
I’m a physician, but that doesn’t make me a saint.
There are plenty of other doctors in this area—let him find one if he wishes.
‘But I can’t. If his first kill happens here, it will draw too much attention.’
While there are factions targeting Yeo Ha-ryun, there are also moderates who prefer to leave him alone.
If intelligence reaches them that someone’s already been killed, my future difficulty level would triple.
‘How do I calm down this mad dog? This little Heavenly Demon hasn’t fully acknowledged me as his older brother yet.’
Even now, the instincts of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon were goading him on.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke casually.
“Ah, your candied fruit is melting.”
In that instant, Yeo Ha-ryun unconsciously brought the skewer to his lips.
Lick—
There’s no helping it. This is human instinct.
Whether the sugar from the syrup stirred his brain or not, his expression softened.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“If blood gets on the candied fruit, you have to throw it away.”
“But…”
“You’re going to eat that? Are you a beggar?”
At the question about being a beggar, Yeo Ha-ryun’s eyebrows twitched.
He finally pushed himself up.
“Fine.”
‘Thank goodness. The little one responds well to sweets because of her age.’
I exhaled in relief.
I couldn’t afford to let my guard down until I reached the Demon Sect.
In the Demon Sect where power reigns supreme, such behavior might be considered a virtue (?), but the ordinary world still has standards.
* * *
I took Little Heavenly Demon to a nearby well and washed her off.
I couldn’t return to the Yunlong Courier Bureau with blood smeared across her face.
Little Heavenly Demon seemed too busy eating the candied fruit skewers I’d given her to care.
‘I’m done for. Completely done for.’
The blood staining her clothes was stubborn, but I managed to get her to the point where she looked like a wet child rather than a bloodstained one.
Yeo Ha-ryun seemed puzzled as to why I was going to such lengths.
“That’s what you call social conduct. My friend.”
“Social conduct?”
‘Yes. It’s a story too distant for you to understand. Then again, why should the Heavenly Demon worry about social conduct? You could just snap the necks of all those bothersome fools. Darkness conquers all, darkness, darkness conquers all.’
It was the Demon Sect’s motto.
One could say it embodied the will of the first Demon Sect Master to dye the world in black.
Just thinking about witnessing that with my own eyes made my hands tremble.
An uncontrollable sense of shame washed over me.
No matter how I thought about it, I had no confidence I wouldn’t laugh.
“Oh my! Here you
are!
Master!”
A voice called out. Looking up, I saw a familiar bearded man approaching, carrying a child.
“Ah! Uncle?”
It was Woon Ji-sang, the director of the Yunlong Courier Bureau, and his sworn brother Dam Ja-gang.
The first patient I had treated. He had not only protected his money among the bandits but had even entrusted me to deliver it to his wife.
It was truly a terrifying determination.
“I heard about you at the marketplace and came looking.”
All the couriers spoke casually to me, but this uncle alone refused to speak informally to his benefactor, addressing me as Master and using respectful language.
In Dam Ja-gang’s arms lay a baby wearing pretty little shoes.
“Ah, that child is…?”
“When I returned from a courier run, the child was already born and had grown this much. It’s not uncommon among us couriers.”
The child stared at me with wide, round eyes.
“Byaa…”
The child sucked on her thumb.
“Cheon-hee. Look. This is the benefactor who saved your father.”
“Cheon-hee?”
“We named her after the Master. Dam Cheon-hee.”
Before I could even react in surprise, the baby cried out.
“Kyaa!”
The child reached out its arms toward me. I caught the baby without thinking.
‘It’ll be walking soon at this rate.’
At a glance, the baby was a remarkably robust and healthy infant.
“Byah! Abyah byah byah!”
The baby drooled on my clothes, but I didn’t mind.
The baby was healthy, and Uncle Dam Ja-gang looked happy.
‘Yes. This is why I became a physician.’
Others know that being a physician is a rewarding profession.
They think daily life becomes a meaningful human drama. But in reality, such fulfillment rarely comes.
Usually there’s just too much work, so I just keep working, and working, and working. Drowsy, exhausted, wanting to go home, then back to work again…
“Young Master.”
“Yes?”
My final delivery run ended well thanks to you, Young Master. This humble one now wishes to spend his days at a desk in the Pyoguk.
“Is it because your leg was injured?”
His life was saved, but he had become crippled. For a courier, that was quite fatal.
Dam Ja-gang shook his head.
“My elder brother had been planning to seat me as a manager in Buntta from long ago. But I still harbored regrets and requested one final delivery run. Since I’ve returned with my life saved by your grace, Young Master, I shouldn’t be greedy anymore. I’m grateful to have returned like this and be able to care for my child and wife.”
Suddenly, Dam Ja-gang’s eyes reddened.
Embarrassed, he turned his gaze away.
“My wife must be waiting. I’ll head back now. Come, Cheon-hee.”
“Byah! Byah byah byah!”
When I looked over, the baby was holding Yeo Ha-ryun’s hand.
The drool-covered hand clung stickily to his fingers, but Yeo Ha-ryun didn’t pull away or avert his gaze—he simply stared at the sight for a long time.
“….”
Eventually, the child released his hand.
I returned the baby to its father.
The baby, reluctant to let go, babbled unintelligibly several times and laughed.
“Kyarr!”
I laughed along with that laughter and waved my hand.
“Grow up healthy.”
* * *
We headed back toward the Pyoguk that way. On the way back, Yeo Ha-ryun, who had been staring at his own hand for a long time, spoke.
“You… have the qualifications of an elder brother.”
“Hmm?”
“I—we martial artists know only how to kill. We believed that eliminating the wicked constitutes righteousness. But ultimately, the essence is murder. We reach enlightenment through learning how to kill humans well, and we ascend through that enlightenment.”
Yeo Ha-ryun closed his eyes heavily, if only for a moment. Then he continued.
“The sword of righteousness is ultimately just a pretty word. Whether it’s the Daoist Wudang sect or the Buddhist Shaolin, it’s all the same. We learn martial arts in order to kill humans.”
Yeo Ha-ryun opened his dark eyes and looked at me.
“You saved me, and you saved that man. You saved a martial artist of the Gongseon Family, and you saved someone from the Yunlong Courier Bureau. And today, you even saved Three Dogs, whom you happened to meet.”
I felt the weight of Yeo Ha-ryun’s words. It far exceeded the weight of life that an ordinary child could comprehend.
“I’ll probably keep killing people. That’s all I’ve ever learned, and only the act of taking life excites me. So… you’re better than me. You deserve to be my older brother.”
I stared at Yeo Ha-ryun for a moment before responding.
“I like that. Say it again. Older brother.”
“Older brother…?”
“Well done. Haha.”
I felt my face flush as I spoke.
I desperately wanted to lighten this atmosphere somehow.
The life of Yeo Ha-ryun that I’d read about in books was the quintessential protagonist of a martial arts novel.
1. His beloved family dies.
2. Because of the secret of his birth, he’s hunted by pursuers at every crucial moment.
3. He battles the madness of the Heavenly Killing Star and is drawn into the center of a blood catastrophe.
Every time such an ordeal arrives, this man grows stronger through the absurdly overpowered Heavenly Killing Star, slaughtering his enemies and celebrating victory, but in the process loses those dear to him, weeps in anguish, vows revenge, and plunges into an even greater blood catastrophe.
The Heavenly Demon.
Usually referring to the sect master of the Demon Sect.
On his path to that position, he’d never once lived comfortably, never once experienced such small moments of happiness.
‘It’s not the modern martial arts novel style.’
Though Yeo Ha-ryun called himself a murderer, I found his life to have its own charm.
‘That’s right. It’s not the modern martial arts novel protagonist style.’
Someone might say he’s outdated. But I had no intention of denying it now. Even so.
I cannot provide a translation for just “처” as it is an incomplete Korean word or character. It could be part of various words depending on context. Please provide the complete word or sentence for an accurate translation.
‘Things you love remain lovable even as time passes.’
I lamented that nothing new was appearing. But since I didn’t dislike new things either, I ended up becoming a complainer.
This complainer decided to wander around a bit more with Yeo Ha-ryun.
A book matching my tastes that I’d read after so long, the protagonist who’d rolled around in it to his heart’s content.
I wanted to repay him somehow for helping me endure this difficult reality.
It could be called a fan’s heart.
Or it could be called the foolishness of an adult wanting to return to childhood and play without a care.
Perhaps sensing something, the fellow seemed to have genuinely decided to regard me as his older brother.
‘Still, I won’t give you the same enlightenment I gave Gongseon Yeong.’
Not now, when he can’t control his power. He’d only be consumed by his own madness.
What he needed was this kind of small warmth.
“The sorghum tea arrived for me too. Older brother.”
The word “older brother” was starting to come naturally to him now.
His cheeks were completely stuffed like candied fruit on a stick.
“Eating it all alone usually makes you sick. You should look after the people around you too.”
“Gongseon Yeong turned the garden upside down, so you’re trying to smooth that over, aren’t you?”
‘He caught on. True to his protagonist nature, his mind is sharp.’
Still, a child is a child. He’s weak to food.
Once I fed him plenty of delicious things, his sharp tone softened.
After feeding him plenty of delicious food, even his sharp tone of voice softened.
Jin Cheon-hee laughed playfully.
“Killing two birds with one stone. Hehe.”
“The Gongseon Family’s servants offered mugwort tea while apologizing awkwardly. It could have become serious, but thanks to you, it all ended with laughter. Some people even started praising Gongseon Yeong’s character, saying how much he cares for his elder sister from the main house.”
“Of course they did it while laughing, right?”
“Yeah, the situation was funny. And the mugwort tea tasted good, so everyone was surprised. That made it even funnier.”
“Then it worked out perfectly. That’s what social interaction is all about.”
“Social interaction? That’s the topic we briefly discussed earlier.”
It seemed he’d been influenced once, for now he listened to Jin Cheon-hee’s words with genuine interest.
‘A perfect opportunity for some brainwashing(?)’
Jin Cheon-hee thought this to himself and cleared his throat.

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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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