Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 19

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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 19
“To think I would answer a question I’ve carried for so long with such ease.”
No matter how perfectly I treated them, martial artists always returned wounded.
It was because of that cursed debt of gratitude, grudge, and chivalry.
If at least they arrived with a thread of life still intact, there was something I could attempt, but often the thread was already severed before they even reached me.
To a doctor’s eyes, martial artists seemed like moths rushing toward their own demise.
Even if I treated them this time, would there be a next time? If so, did this act hold any meaning?
“You pierced through my long-held inner demon so effortlessly. It feels almost too refreshing, leaving me with a sense of emptiness.”
When I first saw that child’s suturing technique, I felt destiny.
It was entirely different from the common suturing methods used in the martial world.
Ordinary suturing involved striking pressure points to temporarily stop bleeding, then attempting further treatment afterward.
To accomplish this, even a doctor needed some inner energy. That’s why doctors capable of treating martial artists were rare.
But that young man was different.
It was a suturing technique that could be performed without learning martial arts.
“When did you become so completely smitten?”
“Love at first sight. That’s why I marked him. And now I like him even more. I should have made him my disciple. And perhaps there are things I need to learn from that child as well. I might very well become his student instead.”
“Will you do it even if I try to stop you? Well, even if the treatment fails, it becomes fertilizer, so if you claim that’s enough as a master, then there’s nothing more to say.”
Yoo Ho gazed at the ceiling and sighed. Then he brought forth the words he had been holding back.
“Do you think that treatment method has potential?”
“…There would be parts to refine, but theoretically, it’s not impossible.”
‘Theoretically, it’s not impossible.’ That alone was remarkable.
Because until now, I hadn’t even found the theory itself, so I had given up.
It was an entirely opposite approach. Among what the young man said were things Baek Rin-ui-seon was hearing for the first time.
“It will take a long time.”
“Then isn’t that a good thing? It means you can live longer.”
“It will be very painful.”
“I said I wouldn’t kill you gently, so that’s how it will be.”
At those words, Yoo Ho finally clicked his tongue.
“I really don’t like that child.”
“I never thought there would be someone you praised to that degree.”
“Please stop teasing me. Taking him as a disciple means I have to treat him exactly the same as you, Master. Please consider my position.”
“Hehehehe.”
Baek Rin-ui-seon, Jegalling, laughed heartily. Yoo Ho grumbled.
“Not killing your master gently—where in this world does such an impudent fellow exist? If he’d said something like that in another sect, his head would have already flown off.”
Jegalling spoke as if asking what nonsense that was.
“If a child is to become my disciple, he must have at least that much spirit. If he’s not even worth mentioning as a prospect, I wouldn’t have accepted him from the start.”
He said to win just once.
Just this one time.
For that single moment, the doctor always stakes everything.
Yoo Ho grumbled that doctors were truly a hopeless breed of people.
“I still don’t like that brat.”
* * *
Yoo Ho called for me, and I followed him.
‘What decision will Baekrin Uiseon make?’
There was no way to know.
Once, I believed I could predict what a patient would decide.
A so-called “intuition” would come to me.
But as time passed, I realized how utterly foolish that delusion had been.
Humans could not be predicted precisely because they were human.
Such decisions could only be understood by living through that person’s entire life.
People wish to live for countless reasons, yet they choose death for countless reasons as well.
I had seen people choose death for insurance money.
Conversely, I had witnessed those who chose death because they could not afford treatment, because they refused to become a burden to their children.
Some chose death purely from fear and pain of the treatment process itself, and I had even seen the elderly choose death simply because they no longer wished to live.
The more I understood, the more incomprehensible the human heart became.
At the end of where Yoo Ho had led me stood Baekrin Uiseon.
Without the walking staff he usually held, he stood with his back straight, facing the wind directly.
His long silver hair scattered in the breeze.
‘He’s taller than I expected.’
Was it because of the illness that had been weighing him down?
I had not noticed it at all until now.
“Would you walk with me for a bit?”
I answered more curtly than I intended.
“Is that an order?”
“No, a request.”
“Very well.”
Yoo Ho bowed deeply and withdrew.
Baekrin Uiseon walked forward slowly.
His tall frame made him resemble a great white bird.
A bird walking quietly through clear waters.
He spoke as he stepped upon the white stones of the garden.
“You said you wouldn’t kill me gently.”
“Yes.”
“Then I too must make a promise. Becoming my disciple means you will not learn gently. In Gangho, becoming a doctor—and reaching the realm of a true physician—requires a great many things.”
“So I’ll need to study a lot?”
In this world, there exists something called Qi.
It is not some charlatan’s far-infrared negative ion therapy like on Earth.
It truly exists.
It enters through breath and circulates throughout the body.
It affects humans, and it affects animals as well.
It affects plants as well, sometimes becoming poison and sometimes becoming a miraculous elixir.
“I understand there’s much I need to study.”
At those words, Baek Rin-ui-seon burst into laughter.
“It doesn’t simply mean studying alone.”
He flicked his finger lightly.
Thwip—
Finger flick energy projection.
A technique of releasing qi by flicking one’s finger.
It sounds simple, but ordinarily it’s weaker than using a sword or spear, ending at the level of striking pressure points.
However, the moment Baek Rin-ui-seon flicked his finger, a hole pierced through the massive granite.
The space vanished as if a bullet had torn through it.
“You need the strength to protect yourself. And at the same time, to apply it to medicine, it must be precise.”
Thwip-thwip-thwip—
He sent several more finger flick projections toward the small hole.
The energy passed through the hole he’d created before, piercing through the massive tree behind it. The next projection penetrated both the granite and the tree, then bored through another granite stone beyond.
It was far from as simple as it sounded.
Setting aside the destructive power created so effortlessly without any preparation stance, it required mechanical precision and delicate control.
Baek Rin-ui-seon, who had produced such technique with merely a single finger without even exerting his full strength, spoke gently.
“Learning martial arts will be quite difficult.”
‘What… this performs better than a sniper rifle. If I used this to pierce someone’s skull, they wouldn’t even know why they died, dying with their eyes open?’
I was freshly reminded of the absurdity of martial artists.
Baek Rin-ui-seon continued speaking.
“It will differ from ordinary martial family training. Succeeding me means you’ll also inherit the secret techniques of the Jegalling family.”
“I’ll give it a try.”
I’m human too, so I couldn’t help but feel fear. But more than that, I felt a desire to make this ability my own.
“You don’t hesitate. Good. You must be ambitious. That’s how you obtain many things.”
Baek Rin-ui-seon gazed at the child who would become his disciple.
It had been that way from the first meeting.
There wasn’t a single part from head to toe that displeased him.
It felt as though heaven itself had orchestrated this to bring a disciple to him.
“One last thing. Already
I see you as a proper doctor. There will be much for me to learn from you as well.”
“That is….”
“There’s no point in concealing it now.”
“Hahaha.”
I simply laughed.
“I won’t ask what you’re unwilling to speak of. Nor will I investigate your origins. Just one thing.”
“What is it?”
The wind blew. Flowers swayed.
Dandelion seeds from the flower bed drifted far away.
It symbolized the death of one flower,
and marked the beginning of another.
Baek Rin-ui-seon spoke.
“Do not kill her gently.”
“Yes.”
“Can you promise this?”
“Yes. I promise. I will do everything within my power.”
“Good. Then it is settled. Bow nine times.”
Jin Cheon-hee gazed upon Baek Rin-ui-seon.
‘Is this man truly so immense?’
A mountain reveals its true scale only as one draws near.
Jin Cheon-hee could not fathom the full measure of Baek Rin-ui-seon’s presence.
And the young man bowed nine times.
* * *
The next day, Gongseon Yeong awakened. Thus the two sisters came to see Jin Cheon-hee.
Master Baek Rin had left to submit various requests to the Yunlong Courier Bureau.
Having accepted a disciple, proper preparations were necessary. And all that was needed to combat the prolonged illness.
“You’re leaving soon?”
“Yes. Master said we should depart as soon as preparations are complete. His schedule has already fallen quite far behind.”
Baek Rin-ui-seon is sought by every martial artist in the realm.
It was rare for him to remain in one place for so long.
Gongseon Hyeon reflected.
‘How unfortunate. Ui-seon marked him as his disciple first. Yet… that is not without merit. Ui-seon will not live long due to his chronic ailment, and without Jin Cheon-hee, all that precious knowledge would be lost.’
In a sense, he could be called the future Baek Rin-ui-seon.
An opportunity had come to make contact with such a child before the other great families.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance. It could not be missed.
Yet this thought was not hers alone. Gongseon Yeong asked,
“There’s quite a lot back there?”
Numerous boxes wrapped in silk were visible, each bearing the mark of the Yunlong Courier Bureau.
“The Gukju seemed reluctant to part with it all, so he gave many things.”
“Did he give you that ornament in your hair as well?”
“Yes. It was carved from ice coral that comes from the North Sea.”
“Heavens… that alone is worth several estates.”
At those words, Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Is it truly that precious?”
“Of course it is!”
One might wonder why such a treasure need be bestowed upon a child. Yet the Gukju’s judgment was sound.
Gongseon Hyeon reflected.
‘Yes. Kindness shown in youth is never forgotten in adulthood. What good is it to show favor late, after the other great families have already swarmed?’
Moreover, observing Jin Cheon-hee’s expression, he clearly knew the item was precious and had no intention whatsoever of returning it.
‘It seems he’ll eat everything given to him and then die.’
Behind that innocent and bright expression, he had already finished his calculations.
Given the situation, the Gongseon Family had to do something. And during the time Gongseon Yeong lay unconscious, she had already made her preparations.
“Sohyup, would you accept what we’ve prepared for you?”
Jin Cheon-hee waved his hand dismissively.
“Oh, Gongseon Hyeon, please speak casually with me too!”
“If I speak casually, will you accept it?”
“Hmm, let me think about it.”
‘A middle-aged man with a childish concept—how gauche!’
As expected, he didn’t say he wouldn’t accept it.
Just how many schemes were hidden behind that innocent expression of his?
“Fine. I’ll accept it.”
She set down a small wooden box.

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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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