Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 266

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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 266
Following the attendant’s guidance to the Healing Room, I found musicians playing instruments and others tuning them with soft plucking sounds.
They adjusted their instruments, plucking and tuning them in preparation.
The room itself was thick with acrid smoke.
The moment I caught the scent, I immediately ordered Hwang-gu to wait outside.
‘This… no matter how I look at it, it seems like drugs are mixed in here.’
It appeared to contain opium components.
As a human, I could tolerate it, but I didn’t want to expose my animal companion to such things unnecessarily.
“What?! So that fellow finally showed up?”
“The Sangdan Master ordered it, so we had no choice…”
The Healing Sorcerer was a hunched elderly man wearing a turban of silk with gold embroidery on his head, dressed in Central Plains robes.
Truly a fusion of East and West.
All his garments gleamed with jewels embedded like mountains, clearly weighing quite heavily.
And he had wrapped himself in glittering gold necklaces.
If you threw him into the Gaebang, beggars from the neighboring villages and beyond would come running like ants to sugar, desperately trying to rob him—truly a noble edition.
He grumbled toward me.
“What does a mere Central Plains doctor think he’s doing, coming to observe our healing techniques? Can he even replicate what he sees?”
Hearing him grumble in Central Plains dialect, it was clear he intended for me to understand.
‘Still, since I came seeking knowledge, it’s best to maintain proper courtesy.’
I understood his displeasure—I could appear to be someone trying to steal another’s techniques.
“I will do my utmost to avoid being a hindrance.”
I lowered my eyes and spoke respectfully with clasped hands.
“Tsk tsk tsk, looking at you like that. Take this and tell your superiors you came to observe, then head back. It’s drinking money. Kid.”
With that, he tossed a coin at me.
‘Hmm, he must think I look young enough to be an apprentice doctor.’
Indeed, my age was too young to be considered a formal Medical Office doctor.
Clink.
I caught the coin.
Iron coin.
Despite being wealthy, he gave me an iron coin, not even a silver one.
‘I thought he was generous with his spending… yet he tells me to leave with just an iron coin? This fellow.’
Seeing his obvious attempt to test me, I smiled brightly.
And crumpled the iron coin in my hand right before his eyes.
“I understand you’re busy, but I would be most grateful if you would allow me. Please…”
This sort of thing required the utmost courtesy.
Crunch—
Without any visible effort, the iron coin crumpled like aluminum foil, and everyone in the Healing Room witnessed it.
In the tense silence, the Healing Sorcerer spoke.
“…”
“Ahem… it seems I have committed a grave discourtesy toward you. I apologize.”
I had transformed from a ‘child’ into a ‘master’ in Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes.
Only then did the Healing Sorcerer realize that while the Sangdan master was far away, my fist was dangerously close.
“Thank you for understanding.”
I politely crumpled the iron note and slowly unfolded it by concentrating my inner energy with courtesy.
Whoosh—
Unfolding something that had been crumpled back to its original shape wasn’t something that could be done with mere strength alone.
It was a feat that only a master of inner energy could barely accomplish.
Click—
The moment the iron note was completely unfolded, the face of the watching Healing Sorcerer turned pale.
The Healing Sorcerer spoke without taking his eyes off the iron note, which had been flattened as if by a steam iron.
“Great Master, your legs must be aching. Please sit here.”
His polite and gentle tone was like that of a Buddha who had forgotten the mundane world.
From the start, his speech had been elevated from casual to respectful.
I was moved to witness Confucianism being realized at the edge of Seoe, so far from home.
Creak—
I sat carefully in the chair and offered a respectful fist salute.
“Thank you.”
“Shall I bring tea? Great Master?”
“No need. I only require observation. Please be at ease.”
“Yes. Then I shall treat the patient from this angle.”
“The attendant’s face is blocking the view of the patient?”
Startled by those words, the Healing Sorcerer spoke up.
“Ah… then perhaps I should adjust the patient’s bed this way?”
I nodded, satisfied.
“Yes, now I can see clearly.”
“Hey, is anyone there! Bring refreshments for the Great Master!”
Though I had said tea wasn’t necessary, the Healing Sorcerer insisted on bringing refreshments.
Watching the increasingly humble Healing Sorcerer, I expressed my gratitude.
“I truly appreciate this. It seems this will be an excellent opportunity to observe.”
“Not at all. If you need anything, anytime…”
* * *
Once I settled in, a patient was brought in on a stretcher from the waiting area.
There was a long, deep wound on the leg.
No matter how I looked at it, it was a sword wound.
Fortunately, the bleeding seemed to have stopped, but the inflammation was severe—the thigh was swollen to twice its normal size.
“Ugh, aaaahhh!”
“!@#@!%!@#!… Ah, no. Please breathe calmly, patient.”
Though it was the Seoe dialect, from what I could gather, he had said something like ‘Don’t grab with your filthy hands! Do you know how expensive these clothes are?’
When his eyes met mine, the Healing Sorcerer quickly switched to the Central Plains language to calm the patient.
Either way, the patient seemed confused, as if he didn’t understand the Central Plains language.
A musical ensemble that had been waiting in advance began to play.
The drum beat was steady and slow.
The Healing Sorcerer sang in an incomprehensible language while circling the patient, then held narcotic smoke in his mouth and blew it forcefully toward the patient’s face.
The patient inhaled the smoke, and his expression relaxed.
‘Hmm, so it has some analgesic effect. It’s similar to the effects of pressure point striking.’
The Healing Sorcerer waved palm leaves soaked in what he called holy water while tapping the patient’s wound.
Despite tapping quite forcefully, the patient showed no signs of pain.
After a long stretch of singing and dancing, he suddenly spoke in the Central Plains tongue.
“The art of purification!”
‘Ah, he’s translating for me so I can understand.’
What a humble and considerate Healing Sorcerer.
I wasn’t moved to tears or anything—I simply decided I’d need to keep folding and unfolding that coin in the future.
It wasn’t magic. If one could understand mutual respect by watching a coin fold and unfold, wouldn’t that be wonderful?
There was no need for curses or shouting.
The Healing Sorcerer spoke in a theatrical tone so I could hear him.
“The wound shall be completely purified!”
“?”
The patient, not understanding the Central Plains tongue, simply continued gripping his wrapped leg.
Yet I could clearly see the inflammation subsiding rapidly.
I asked.
“Would it be alright if I took the patient’s pulse from beside you?”
“Yes, yes. Please, do so. Great Master.”
How grateful I felt!
I immediately took the patient’s pulse at the wound site. And I could immediately discern the effect of the sorcery.
‘It’s certain. I don’t know the principle, but it definitely has a disinfectant effect.’
Then the Healing Sorcerer spoke with great dignity.
“Now I shall commence the true sorcery!”
“?”
The patient still stared with wide eyes, wondering what on earth was being said.
As the Healing Sorcerer gave a signal, the drum beat grew increasingly intense.
Following that rhythm, the Healing Sorcerer danced and sang rapidly with an expression as though he were entering nirvana itself.
After the incomprehensible language ended, he explained once more, carefully and distinctly, for my benefit.
“Receive it. The art of healing!”
Remarkably, the wound began to close at a rapid pace.
Of course, it hadn’t completely healed down to the epidermis, but the muscle and fat seemed to be filling in as if time itself were fast-forwarding, the flesh regenerating and healing before my eyes.
“…!”
‘Wow, this was real?!’
No matter how I looked at it, I thought it was a charlatan, yet he truly healed a person through sorcery.
Such rapid recovery was impossible, no matter how skilled a Doctor of the Central Plains might be.
‘But then, why couldn’t he heal the Third Prince?’
This is rather intriguing.
* * *
I watched as the Healing Sorcerer treated patient after patient.
Witnessing him deploy purification sorcery on a patient whose flesh was beginning to necrotize was truly a spectacle.
‘This goes beyond mere sterilization, doesn’t it?’
Whether in modern medicine or the medical practices of the Central Plains, the standard approach when flesh begins to necrotize is amputation. Yet he reverses it with purification sorcery.
“How much does this treatment cost?”
“Ah… well… I cannot save many people, sir. At most, I manage ten cases a day.”
So how much is it?
The Healing Sorcerer’s eyes rolled about before he spoke.
“Well, there is no fixed amount, you see. It varies depending on the ailment.”
‘It seems he’s uprooting entire family fortunes.’
In an age without medical insurance, it is all too common for families to collapse when a mother, father, son, or daughter falls ill.
If one pays the price and the patient survives, that would be fortunate. But more often, the money is spent and the treatment fails regardless.
I have no intention of prying into others’ finances, but observing the glittering garments that change with each incantation, the Black Kitty outside, and the solid marble garden—it appears he must extract considerably more to make the accounts balance.
‘Ah, so that’s why the gatekeepers were so formidable.’
If one pays and the family survives, that would be one thing. But if treatment fails and the patient dies—
Wouldn’t they blame the Healing Sorcerer rather than heaven itself?
In any case, they would likely reach for the kitchen knife at home.
The next patient arrived.
This time, a fracture case.
The assistant aligned the broken bone.
The smoke’s anesthetic effect proved weaker than acupoint strikes, and the patient screamed as if losing consciousness.
Once the bone was set, he began his incantation with vigorous gestures.
Observing this, I grasped the approximate mechanism at work.
‘I see… it’s a technique that greatly enhances the body’s regenerative capacity. If the bone sets incorrectly, it would fail, so he performs manual reduction first, then applies the sorcery.’
I rose to my feet.
“My, sir, are you leaving already?”
Already, he says—the sun had long since set.
He gestured frantically with his incantation, clearly hoping I would leave quickly.
“Thank you for today. I’ve witnessed something truly remarkable.”
“Please visit anytime. Are we not both saviors of life, as close as dear friends? I cannot express how delighted I am by this meeting.”
His courtesy seemed rather excessive, I thought.

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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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