Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 269
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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 269
“Ugh…!”
“I’m almost done, Your Majesty. Just a bit longer.”
“You said that just now… didn’t you! Did you not!”
Yes, that was a lie.
Still, since this wasn’t ordinary pain, I continued inserting the needles while coaxing and soothing him.
Even if Eun Wang-ya possessed an extraordinary tolerance for pain that transcended the limits of ordinary humans as an Emperor, undergoing the Bloodline Purification Ritual in an adult body was something else entirely.
It was torture in the truest sense.
‘Well, it’s better than saying there’s still a long way to go.’
The Doctor inserted needles while repeating like clockwork: “It’s almost done. It’s going well. Not much left.”
“And my younger siblings have grown remarkably well. I knew they were developing nicely, but seeing their martial achievements, they’re all so talented it’s remarkable.”
“You… care for… your siblings… ugh!”
“Yes. They’re my pride. Speaking of which, my eldest brother sent gifts and a letter this time. They’ve already arrived at the Baekrin Uigak headquarters, so I’m planning to open them as soon as I return.”
“….”
“I understand you’re in too much pain to speak. Just listen.”
Jin Cheon-hee continued moving his hands.
“Oh, and I made spicy chicken ribs on the way here, and the guards’ reactions were amazing. Should I make some for you too, Your Majesty?”
“Are you really trying to tempt me with food?”
“Well, after the Bloodline Purification is done, you’ll be incredibly hungry. Just say the word. I’ll make anything you want. Hahaha!”
“You say the most ridiculous things while piercing my body with needles.”
“Well, it’s all done now.”
Yes, this time it’s really true~
Jin Cheon-hee inserted the final golden needle at the Emperor’s solar plexus.
Thud!
“Krrrrgh!”
“Yes, it hurts, doesn’t it? Just endure for one more hour like this.”
Eun Wang-ya finally let out a curse.
‘Ah, but he still hasn’t asked me to stop.’
No matter how necessary the Bloodline Purification Ritual was, the patient was the King—no, His Majesty.
If he asked me to stop, I would have to cease immediately.
Yet Eun Wang-ya had never once asked me to stop.
After an hour passed, Jin Cheon-hee withdrew the inserted needles.
Black toxins began flowing from the puncture marks where the needles had been.
‘This is proof the Bloodline Purification worked properly. But there’s more waste coming out than I expected? I thought the imperial palace would only consume the finest foods. Ah, it must be from stress and irregular eating habits.’
Indeed, it was strange for his body to be clean when he was scheming with the Emperor’s trusted aide number one and the newcomer number two about who to eliminate within the palace.
‘Well, it must be difficult.’
The Bloodline Purification was complete.
Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“Your Majesty. You need to enter a bath, but I should call an attendant…though there aren’t any. Um, could those ‘Shadows’ who are secretly protecting you perhaps carry you there?”
“….”
He didn’t respond.
Exhausted from the intense pain.
At that moment, something pitch-black appeared from somewhere.
This sensation was similar to when I encountered the Cheonma.
Visible to the eye, yet completely undetectable by any other sense—that peculiar feeling.
I couldn’t discern what method was used, but the fundamental nature seemed comparable.
The man with the black shadow lifted the King and headed toward the bathing chamber.
I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand.
“Phew, so he’s helping after all.”
* * *
Eun Wang-ya remained unconscious, submerged in a massive marble bathtub.
I added toxic medicinal herbs to the water and infused it with vital energy, bolstering the qi flow.
This aided in maintaining the purified body for an extended period.
‘Even now, qi remains difficult to fully comprehend.’
Though I’d been in this world for quite some time, the more I researched qi, the more new mysteries emerged.
I continued nursing Eun Wang-ya until he awakened.
“Ugh… Is it finally over?”
“Ah, you’re awake.”
“You performed acupuncture on me that was practically torture. What would you do if I came to hate you for it?”
“I knew you wouldn’t.”
My retinas glowed with a blue light.
Eun Wang-ya chuckled bitterly for a long while.
“True. I couldn’t. If I killed you, I’d die as well.”
“Well… there’s my Master as a replacement, but you’d become sworn enemies.”
“Indeed. That’s obvious. Finding another doctor besides Baek Rin-ui-seon would be one option, but there aren’t many I could trust then.”
I nodded.
“And you know I didn’t intentionally pierce painfully! This is simply an unavoidable part of the treatment!”
“I know, but I thought I would die.”
It’s the same principle as having to go to the dentist and it hurting.
Come to think of it, the expense is similar too.
‘The cost of Eun Wang-ya’s treatment alone rivals a prefecture’s monthly budget.’
Truly, only possible because he’s the Emperor.
“Now you should rest in your chambers.”
“Will you make dak-galbi?”
So he did remember.
“Yes. I have the ingredients, and I’ll grill it deliciously. Do you enjoy spicy food?”
“I don’t particularly avoid any foods.”
“Then I’ll make it moderately spicy.”
I can adjust the numbing spice level. If it fails, I’ll top it with cheese.
Cheese is best for spicy flavors after all.
‘Ah, I really want some honey pie.’
Can’t make that in the Central Plains.
* * *
Cheese spicy chicken with egg soup.
This time I added rice cakes to the chicken and stir-fried them together.
On the side, I served butter potatoes sliced paper-thin and fried crispy on a griddle.
‘Phew, eating this will kill me. Absolutely kill me.’
Plain potatoes are already delicious, but butter-fried potatoes?
Sliced thin, sprinkled with a bit of sugar, and pan-fried over direct heat?
Eating that together with spicy chicken?
This is the beginning of a spicy-sweet-spicy triathlon from hell.
Eun Wang-ya puts a bite in her mouth and makes a sucking sound.
“You certainly cook in unusual ways.”
“Honestly, it’s not very healthy. But since Eun Wang-ya won’t gain weight, please enjoy it anyway.”
After the Bloodline Awakening, there’s concern about severe weight loss, so eating high-calorie, carbohydrate-rich foods is beneficial.
For dinner, I’ll fry up some chicken!
If I brush it with my secret soy-garlic sauce, it’ll be to die for.
If lunch is spicy-sweet-spicy, dinner will be sweet-salty-sweet-salty.
“For a late-night snack, I’m planning to make pancakes and savory crepes with ingredients from this area.”
I found something like scallions, and I’m thinking of making beef and scallion pancakes with them.
‘Should I make some meat patties too?’
Since I have no family, I’ve never celebrated Chuseok or Lunar New Year.
But when holidays approached, the hospital always served beef skewers, pancakes, and rice cake soup.
Consideration for doctors who couldn’t see their families and spent holidays in the ER… yeah, right.
Usually I was too exhausted to even taste the food.
Dealing with the flood of patients before holidays, the worn-out medical staff would grumble about how their bodies couldn’t digest rice cake soup, that it would cause indigestion.
Jin Cheon-hee found pancakes just so-so, but loved their taste and would ask for them, collecting all the pancakes from comrades who had no appetite.
‘Pancakes are really about the egg taste. The egg flavor on the tongue comes first, then the texture, and finally the taste of the ingredients.’
While planning this fusion Korean (?) three-course meal, Eun Wang-ya spoke.
“I’ve heard roughly about the Third Prince’s condition from him.”
“Ah, I see.”
“It’s similar to gu poison.”
Jin Cheon-hee knows well what gu poison is.
It divides into two main types.
One is making venomous insects eat each other, then using the last surviving one as poison.
It’s used when manufacturing extreme toxins.
The other type of gu poison is something like blood gu used by the Demonic Sect.
These crazy things live in the body and periodically self-destruct if you don’t consume special medicine, melting your organs.
The Demonic Sect and evil sects use this, feeding it to humans they want to control, using it to blackmail their lives.
‘Ah, right. Blood gu should be considered a type of parasite too.’
It’s a parasite that doesn’t exist in modern Earth.
“By the way, are parasites really that dangerous?”
“It depends on the type. The one currently in the Third Prince’s belly is somewhat dangerous.”
The King stretched the melting cheese with his chopsticks, pulling it out in a long strand.
‘Yes, I can’t resist this.’
Even an eighty-year-old Hermit who claimed to understand all worldly matters couldn’t help but pull at the cheese.
“I see. Then what do you plan to do with the remaining time?”
There was quite a bit of time remaining before a doctor from Baekrin Uigak in Buntta would arrive.
“I was thinking of learning some shamanic magic. Could you introduce me to someone?”
“Hmm, good. Is there someone in particular you have in mind?”
At those words, I answered without hesitation.
“I’d like to learn from the Healing Shaman that Eun Wang-ya introduced me to at first.”
Though he was greedy for money, his skills were certainly reliable.
As the most expensive, he was renowned throughout the region for having the most exceptional healing abilities.
* * *
“Oh my, how delightful to see you.”
The Healing Sorcerer greeted me while still wearing heavy, glittering clothes.
“Please, you don’t need to stand.”
He had his hands clasped respectfully and was kneeling.
“No, no. Aren’t you this year’s Yongbong Tournament champion? I must show proper respect. Yes indeed.”
After I left, it seemed he had conducted his own investigation.
Rumors that I had defeated Myo Hu-gi-su, a formidable rival from the Demonic Sect, and won the Yongbong Tournament, with martial skills as exceptional as my cooking and medicine.
Rumors that I had taken the life of one of the Hyeolseonggyo’s Sip Cheon-gun, who were said to rival the ten greatest masters under heaven.
Rumors that I ruthlessly trampled anyone who interfered with my obsession with medicine.
Rumors that I turned troublesome heterodox sect demons into dog food and fed them to the dog I carried around.
Rumors are naturally distorted, and passed from mouth to mouth across regions until it’s impossible to tell what’s true and what’s false.
What remained certain and consistent was this:
The Baekui Gwangryong before my eyes was a man obsessed with medicine, possessed formidable martial prowess, and would show what’s more terrifying than death itself if necessary.
Facing such a man, the Healing Shaman Ratu felt his knees naturally buckle.
Even if the martial disciples he employed attacked in numbers, they couldn’t even brush the hem of the Baekui Gwangryong’s robes.
“There’s no need to show such excessive respect.”
“That… thank you for understanding. But I find this posture comfortable. Great Hero.”
The memory of throwing iron coins and telling him to take it and leave kept surfacing in my mind.
I spoke firmly.
“If you keep doing this, I won’t be able to learn shamanic magic.”
Growl!
Hwang-gu was displeased.
The longer we stayed here, the later his meal time became.
“Y-yes, of course.”
As Hwang-gu wrinkled his snout, Ratu reluctantly got to his feet.
A massive wolf’s growl was not something an ordinary person could bear with a steady heart.
Beep beep!
Noeji praised Hwang-gu for his display.
Hwang-gu felt his mood lift slightly.
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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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