Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 221

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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 221
“Hee, the moment I heard your story, I became quite curious. Why did they go to the Mudang Sect? Simply to weaken their faction and use them as sacrifices?”
Of course, that’s a worthy goal.
Though the Mudang Disciples are said to be corrupt, they don’t covet material wealth.
Moreover, they pursue the pure Way of the sect, so they would be a thorn in their side.
“But that’s not all there is to it, is it?”
“Correct. If the sole purpose were to massacre the Mudang Disciples, there would be easier methods. Dispersing their forces and ambushing them when some emerge from Mudang Mountain would be far more convenient.”
Tak—
A black stone found its place among the empty white stones.
“There had to be a reason they absolutely needed to enter Mudang Mountain.”
My Master placed another white stone.
Tak—
Then placed a black stone again.
The moves continued through the muddy chaos of the board.
Once the deadlock shattered, each move led inexorably to the next, one following another.
“That’s why I summoned Jang Mun-in to speak with him.”
“Did you ask him directly?”
“Haha, of course not. That would be impossible. Every sect has secrets they cannot reveal, even with a blade at their throat. Ask the wrong question and raise their guard, and I’d lose the third move. So I decided to shake things up just a little.”
And so my Master made the third move.
“I merely spoke one phrase. I said it seemed clear they had reason to ascend Mudang Mountain and take something, so he should be cautious. And I seriously warned him that as long as they coveted it, a second fire could consume Mudang Mountain.”
If it were the Mudang Sect’s martial techniques, there would be no need to hide them. The Mudang Sword or the Taiji Blade.
If it were related to the Primordial Celestial Worthy or the sect’s founding patriarch, no one would be ignorant of it.
Moreover, since it must be protected at the cost of life, it would be wise to seek help from other sects to safeguard it.
‘But if they remained silent…?’
Then it would likely be something related to the Mudang Sect’s shame or hidden history.
“Master, you sat like a strategist and offered your counsel.”
Tak—
“Haha, Hee. You speak such words knowing how people regard the Jegallga. In that moment, I was a brilliant strategist indeed. Yes. To those old monsters who’ve survived long, my warning would feel like a crow’s omen.”
Ominous, yet impossible to ignore.
Especially after experiencing calamity once, humans find it difficult to maintain composure.
My Master cast a stone through the cracked ice.
He watched with pleasure as the pond beneath the ice rippled.
The fourth move brought the black stone down, and the white stone followed again.
Tak-tak—
A board once broken, seemingly impossible to overturn.
What does Baek Rin-ui-seon see?
“After that, it was simple. I merely had to watch which object they moved.”
“Something interesting emerged.”
The disciple noticed the playful glint in his Master’s eyes.
Whenever his Master had that look, he would casually accomplish something tremendous.
“…Why would artifacts of Dalgi be in the Mudang Sect?”
“…!”
My pupils dilated at the revelation.
My Master whispered to me like a serpent.
“Mudang Gwon-je is away, and Jang Mun-in is here—isn’t this the perfect time for a little theft? Hee.”
The day bandit wearing the face of a strategist spoke with such delight.
“You’ve obtained the bait, Master.”
“I’ll return it someday. If they make their demands known.”
“Indeed. However, I suspect many will be curious as to why artifacts of Dalgi are in the Mudang Sect.”
“They will.”
My Master muttered softly, “Yoo Ho would turn the world upside down if he knew.”
Tak-tak—
The black stone and white stone settle into their new positions once more.
In that instant, my eyes widened.
What I had thought was a weakness had become an exquisite trap.
The white stone captures the black stone and settles gracefully into place.
The movement unfolds like iron rails, claiming the Heavenly Center with precision.
“Even if we use this as bait, not all of them will appear. We’ll likely only eliminate a portion. But that will be the beginning. Beyond that, I intend to accept some of Dokgo Seon’s strategies.”
“The Imperial Army?”
I suddenly turned my gaze and answered, having thought that far ahead.
“Since you said ‘some,’ it wouldn’t be the Imperial Army, but rather the Imperial Administration.”
“Correct. You understand quickly. If it’s merely a matter of finding the missing, Ju Wang’s administration can assist. Gaps will become visible. And when we overlay the pictures, an interesting landscape should emerge.”
“….”
I could not respond.
‘This strategy emerged in merely a week?’
After my disciple confessed the truth to me, I devised five moves that I could execute.
Through the movements of those five stratagems, Baek Rin-ui-seon succeeded in playing a subtle move that no strategist of the Murim Alliance had ever conceived.
“Master, when did you offer such counsel to the Mudang Sect?”
“When do you think it was?”
My Master said that after the martial duel with Mudang Gwon-je, he would cultivate his disciple like weeds.
The disciple departed to search for the elixir.
My Master remained there.
Jegalling had certainly said he would handle the “cleanup” before leaving. Was that not merely the duties of a Medical Guild Patriarch?
“…You offered that counsel at that time.”
My Master enjoyed watching my expression shift moment by moment.
I was his only true confidant.
Without elaborate words, I could perceive his intentions through mere glances.
“You couldn’t have known such events would occur in the future.”
“True. But I knew something was amiss with the Hyeolseonggyo, and I understood that my disciple would poke his nose into every corner. So shouldn’t this Master also make some ‘preparations’?”
From where had the survivor of the Jegallga begun reading the board?
My Master laughed, saying, “Of course, the real implementation only began after hearing from you. Until then, I merely laid down a single stone. Whether to nurture or destroy it depended on how the game would be played.”
“Samjeolchuho provided tremendous assistance. He and his friends, and his friends’ friends—they all helped greatly.”
The man with a serpent’s body temperature stroked his disciple’s head.
“Did I not tell you? You save people, and I will protect you.”
“Master.”
“There is no need to thank me so. If the path I walk is one of iron, then the place where you must tread is the very depths of hell.”
Still, I hope the Yongbongjihoe will be enjoyed sufficiently. It is an opportunity to witness different martial arts.
My Master whispered thus softly, praying for his disciple’s wellbeing.
* * *
My Master had stolen a rare treasure from Mudang Mountain in this manner.
It was truly madness.
After committing such an audacious act, he boasted before his disciple as casually as an old fisherman who had caught a prize fish.
‘They say genius and madness are separated by only a sheet of paper.’
He did not explicitly tell his disciple, but it seemed he had also prepared contingencies for if he were caught.
‘I can hear the sound of holes being drilled in Jang Mun-in’s stomach.’
To escape from demonic obsession, ultimately one must only correct one’s heart.
Yet merely saying, “It is important to accept the past and observe one’s emotions,” does not heal the suffering that the Mudang Sect endured.
Jang Mun-in requires acupuncture from Baek Rin-ui-seon.
Even now, he must receive needles regularly.
What had my Master been doing while administering acupuncture to Jang Mun-in? And what would he do going forward?
‘Ah, I am grateful that our Master is a good person.’
Before meeting Jin Cheon-hee, Baek Rin-ui-seon had abandoned the world.
Now, having met his disciple, he came to know the joy of being a master, and began to move for his disciple’s sake.
Of course, his methods strayed far from common sense.
And if one were to ask whether he only employed righteous methods… there was also a certain pursuit of efficiency.
Perhaps if Jin Cheon-hee had not spoken of saving people, the Master might have simply lived as he pleased.
But regardless! He possessed a greater purpose! And he moved for his disciple’s sake, did he not!
‘Ah, my headache… ah, my stomach…’
This was not the time to worry about Jang Mun-in’s stomach.
My Master was such a person. Where an ordinary person would apply the brakes, if he thought it efficient, he would simply press the accelerator and crash through.
There was no sentiment of the common man within him.
With merely five moves, he had seized one axis. There were no deaths within it, nor were there injured.
In a sense, what would have caused someone to bleed, he had resolved as casually as a child playing a prank.
The reason he had restrained himself was purely because of his disciple.
Jin Cheon-hee understood this.
“…”
If the disciple had been a warrior instead of a doctor.
If he possessed the nature of a warrior, the self of a warrior, and was one who did not think deeply about someone’s blood.
‘He would have found an easier method.’
A chill crept through one corner of my heart.
It was an instinctive wariness that anyone possessing reason would feel.
But I quickly shook my head.
‘I know my Master would do anything to protect me.’
I was well aware that “anything” didn’t mean merely stealing a single artifact from the Mudang Sect.
‘To prevent my Master from resorting to ruthless measures, ultimately I must become stronger.’
Should the day ever come when my Master must weigh the life of a single disciple against the lives of ten thousand people.
Jegalling would choose his disciple’s life without hesitation.
My Master was one of the ten greatest masters under heaven, with only the Three Elites standing above him in this vast martial world.
The self forged through such circumstances was difficult for ordinary people to comprehend, and by the time one realized it, it would already be too late.
I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly.
‘I must become stronger.’
Strength simplified many things.
It meant not only treating patients as a doctor, but also preventing patients from ever appearing in the first place.
How grueling it was to live as a doctor in the martial world.
I grasped my trembling hands and exhaled deeply.
* * *
“Brother, what are you thinking about, leaving me here~?”
Sama Hyeon looked at me with a worried expression.
The morning after my deep conversation with my Master.
Sama Hyeon had come looking for me since dawn.
‘Yeo Ha-ryun has matters with the Demonic Sect, and Cheonwoo has matters with the Orthodox Faction, but you, Sama Hyeon… do you have no work?’
When I awoke from my forced slumber(?), the mountain of ledgers before Sama Hyeon was truly enormous.
Not merely account books, but land contracts, purchase agreements, and even a black ledger that seemed like something I shouldn’t see, along with blood-written documents whose purpose and origin I couldn’t fathom!
Here he was, having worked like a wooden puppet in the mad tide of tasks, now rushing over at dawn to pester his brother for entertainment.

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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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