Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 273

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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 273
At my signal, the nursing staff and physician assistants immediately began preparing for surgery.
‘Whenever I step into the ring, there’s nothing quite like a good meat dish.’
In a sense, humans are merely a type of beast.
Before a fight, few things boost morale quite like talk of meat.
This would be another long battle where no mistakes could be tolerated.
I chanted my own mantra silently in my heart.
‘Tonight! Spicy braised chicken! Boiling hot! …lots of potatoes!’
Others might laugh at such a thought, but in a prolonged battle, no mantra proves more strengthening than this.
‘To save a life,’ or ‘this patient’s survival rests on my shoulders,’ or
‘I want to see the patient smile again.’
The human heart wears down more easily than one might think, and when you focus solely on ‘life,’ there comes a moment when your hands freeze at the most critical instant, unable to move.
How trivial my medical skill is compared to life itself.
How hypocritical my meager abilities become before the vast plague of disease.
Humans are like newborn kittens, while the death pursuing them is like a blizzard in the depths of winter.
The moment one realizes this, even the most seasoned surgeon’s mind goes blank.
-It’s okay to look away for a moment then. You just need to keep your hands moving.
My senior said this to me.
At that time, I was just another common intern crumbling under exhaustion and pressure.
-After all, humans aren’t made to be such magnificent creatures. The crown of creation? Even crows use tools.
Back then, I was sitting on a toilet seat in the bathroom, hugging my knees for a long time.
-Not even the staff bathroom, but you actually ran all the way to a patient’s bathroom?
With a pager clutched in one hand, wondering if a call might come, and wiping my wet eyes with the other.
These days hospitals use 2G phones, but back in my time, it was pagers.
Even if my mind was breaking, I had to run when called, so I couldn’t let go of the pager even while crying.
-Hey, they say a ghost appears here.
Maybe the hospital’s feng shui is poor.
Exhausted medical staff sometimes see things here, but I had never experienced anything like that.
Back then, I didn’t even have the mental capacity to think about such things.
-What are you going to eat today?
I responded with a confused ‘What?’ to the sudden question.
-Something delicious. Imagine the thing you most want to eat. It’s a small reward that comes after this is over.
Could a mere dinner really bear the weight of burden that comes with a life?
It hardly seemed to reach me.
That day, the child died.
The father had placed the child on the back of his motorcycle and raced through a highway tunnel for reasons unknown.
A motorcycle is the sort of thing that gets shaken by the wind from a large dump truck.
There was no way to avoid the sudden accident.
The father died instantly, while the child barely survived, struggled desperately, and eventually died from multiple organ failure.
The father had raced down the road with both the helmet and the motorcycle jump suit placed on the child.
Yet even such safety equipment is merely an attempt to hold back a typhoon with a ladle before a true accident.
The expressions on everyone’s faces when the child was brought into the emergency room remained etched in my mind.
As an intern, I could do nothing, and neither could anyone else in the hospital.
Even if the child survived, they would have to live with severe disabilities for the rest of their life.
And if they died… who would bear that weight?
On the back of the child’s hand was a stamp from a dinosaur exhibition.
A Tyrannosaurus.
‘Senior, I really hate motorcycles.’
Not yet knowing that the true villain—the kick scooter—would emerge later, young Jin Cheon-hee had clasped his hands together, praying that those motorcycles would disappear from the earth.
My senior, trying to ignore me as I wept in distress, said this instead.
-Chicken is best for dinner. It’s hard to fail frying chicken.
My senior never did say he’d pay. Only.
-Put aside grand ambitions for now. Focus on the small joys right in front of you. The road ahead is long, and you’ll grow weary otherwise.
Soon after, came a knock on the bathroom door.
-…Well, have you thought about it?
At that moment, the dinner I imagined was fast-food fried chicken.
I ultimately opened the door and stepped out with just one thought: to survive somehow until dinner.
My senior grabbed both my shoulders as I emerged and spoke solemnly.
-Alright. You buy.
My senior managed to snatch the fried chicken from his junior after all.
And thanks to that advice from back then.
I’ve been seeing its effects quite clearly here in the martial realm.
‘When things are tough, it’s chicken.’
Diplomacy and war—the pressure feels like it could crush me at any moment.
Yet because there’s a chicken leg to tear into tonight.
‘Perhaps that’s how a person endures a single day.’
* * *
Eun Wang-ya decided to observe the surgery personally.
‘Well, I suppose it’s only natural.’
A VIP without a guardian present.
This surgery would change the course of many things.
It was only natural that Eun Wang-ya would observe directly, and that the patient themselves would permit it.
The other doctors initially thought they were simply treating a wealthy merchant, but upon hearing he was the Third Prince of the Datu Kingdom, they all tensed considerably.
All preparations for the surgery were complete, and the patient had entered anesthesia and fallen into sleep.
Yet as expected, all the doctors’ expressions were filled with anxiety.
And I, who had called them together, said this.
“I met a healing sorcerer in Wanong, and they were absolutely incredible. Before you leave after this is done, you should definitely go see them once. It’s worth watching. They’re really skilled, I’m telling you.”
I forced out an exaggerated laugh.
“If things go well, I’ll prepare something delicious for you. Ah, would you prefer I just recommend a famous restaurant?”
At those words, one of the nursing staff opened their mouth.
“I’ve heard that Patriarch Soggakju’s culinary skills are exceptional.”
“I want to eat!”
“Me too!”
Wahahahaha!
Everyone forced themselves to muster energy and create an atmosphere.
“Yes. Once we finish the procedure well, let’s all enjoy something delicious together. I’ll do my best.”
Jin Cheon-hee laughed with an arrogance that bordered on shamelessness, then picked up his scalpel.
“Then I’ll begin the incision.”
* * *
Opening the patient’s abdomen, I immediately located the cyst attached to the liver.
“Could it be an inverted position…?”
“No. It’s parasites. If I had to describe it, a parasitic village?”
Parasitic cysts and tumors share certain similarities, so they often appear alike during examination.
Moreover, from an external appearance, both look like abnormal growths distinct from normal cells, so confusion is entirely understandable.
But the fundamental difference lies in what’s contained within.
Even as a physician assistant, I was merely someone trained at the Baekrin Medical Hall’s main branch, and I needed to accumulate far more surgical experience.
Especially since I was witnessing an endemic disease from another region with my own eyes, confusion was only natural.
I carefully separated the area around the cyst with my knife.
The goal wasn’t to cut, merely to open it up.
“You must never rupture something like this. No tension… and no rushing.”
I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if this cyst tore open.
If the eggs scattered, it would be all for nothing.
After carefully opening it, I injected saline solution around the cyst.
“Ah, using water pressure…?!”
“Yes. Sometimes water works better than a blade. Especially when dealing with something like this. Fortunately, the shape is holding up well…”
The cyst floated upward, pushed by the water pressure.
At that moment, I gestured and an assistant quickly handed me a metal bowl.
Clang.
The cyst rolled directly into the metal bowl.
“…!”
The doctors stared at me in shock.
“Indeed, it grew quite plump and healthy, having consumed healing sorcery. A fine specimen.”
I continued moving my hands without concern, making the remark casually.
“We should add this to the curriculum too. Later, who wants to dissect this? Then we’ll all skip dinner tonight. Does anyone not want to eat dinner? I’m thinking of losing some weight. Hands?”
The cyst writhed.
It was certainly different from a normal tumor.
The physician assistants stared at Professor Jin with hollow, gaunt expressions.
Not a single hand was raised.
“Haha, I’ll need to dissect it later for research samples anyway, but I’ll do that after eating.”
With that, I immediately moved on to another area.
“Well then, since we’ve already opened her up, let’s finish everything today. The patient has a chronic condition and can’t endure multiple surgeries. If we’re going to do this, we need to do it properly.”
* * *
I steadily and swiftly removed the cysts one after another.
Simply extracting the cysts themselves was manageable, but the triple-pulse condition…
The real problem was that this surgery had a time limit due to the patient’s chronic illness.
Despite this, I guided the surgery forward, occasionally cracking jokes and teaching the medical staff as we worked.
Clang—
“Let’s see now. Is it a son or a daughter?”
With those words, I succeeded in extracting the final cyst.
“How is the patient?”
“The pulse remains steady. I believe we can proceed with closure now.”
“How much time has elapsed?”
“One hour mark has passed—approximately two hours total.”
“Oh, we finished faster than expected? I was worried with so many cysts. We’ll have plenty of time to prepare dinner.”
To the medical staff, I seemed almost like something other than human.
Even while treating the Third Prince of the Dadu Kingdom—a patient with the triple-pulse condition—I showed not a trace of tension or fatigue from the pressure.
Rather, the way I moved while attending to everything around me seemed utterly inhuman.
“Patriarch, you seem to be naturally bold by temperament.”
“Haha, do I seem that way?”
I said this and deliberately laughed loudly. Then, quietly, I murmured to myself, ‘Then it’s a success.’
After confirming the medical staff’s gazes filled with respect and Eun Wang-ya’s satisfied expression, I spoke in the brightest voice I could muster.
“Now, let’s proceed with closure.”
* * *
Dinner was a meat festival.
Originally, we had planned a simple spicy chicken stew, but to show gratitude to the medical staff from Buntta who had traveled so far.
We ended up slaughtering chicken, cattle, and pork.
‘Oh, it seems my butchering skills are becoming quite natural now.’
Normally, dozens of different knives are used when butchering a single cow.
The more skilled the butcher, the fewer knives they use, and eventually only a single kitchen knife remains.
If one can bone every part with just that single kitchen knife, then that person can truly be called a master.
I had now reached the level where I could bone with three knives.
‘If I push myself, I think I could probably manage with just one kitchen knife…’
Still, three knives felt more comfortable for now.
I butchered one cow and roasted it over the fire with a whoosh.
The chicken I breaded with flour and pepper, then deep-fried.
The pork I boiled.
The medical staff grabbed the meat I had prepared with chopsticks overflowing and shed tears.
“Patriarch… I think I came all this long way just to eat this. Sob!”
Such delicious food calls for alcohol to perfect it.
When I passed around cups of spirits made from the region’s specialty—goat’s milk—songs naturally began to flow.
Watching the medical staff eat, I scooped portions onto my own plate and settled into a quiet corner.
The banquet had reached its peak, and everyone was now engrossed in conversation—slipping away unnoticed would be easy enough.
As I ate while keeping my presence as inconspicuous as possible, someone sat down beside me.
It was Eun Wang-ya.
“It seems you don’t particularly enjoy crowds.”
“Well… they’re pleasant enough at times, but exhausting at others.”
I answered deliberately vaguely.

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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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