Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 282

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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 282
“It seems Eun, the merchant lord, has already departed.”
Being a man of considerable affairs, he left for the imperial palace as soon as his business outside the city was concluded.
Ever since his treatment for intestinal cancer, he’s been cultivating his martial arts with obsessive fervor.
His body has improved tremendously, so a long journey like this is nothing for him.
“And the person behind him?”
“Ah, an escort.”
It was Ilkana.
Ilkana greeted him without changing her expression at all.
“I pay my respects to the Third Prince.”
A meeting between a former assassin and a former target.
Fortunately, the Third Prince was asleep at the time, so he didn’t recognize her.
The outside world seemed to have some murky undercurrents flowing through it.
“From your accent, it seems you’re from the Seorim religious nation.”
“Yes, that’s correct. I came to work together through a connection with my brother.”
“I see. It’s quite unusual for a warrior from that region to work alongside someone from the Central Plains… Indeed, you are the White Dragon. You draw so many people to you through your character.”
The Third Prince, raised in those murky undercurrents, fortunately didn’t sense the truth at all.
“Then I must return to the Dadu Kingdom for my duties. I won’t forget the kindness of the White Dragon. I wish to repay this debt somehow.”
Jin Cheon-hee immediately shook his head.
“If you wish to repay me, Your Highness, I would only ask that relations between the empire and your kingdom improve somewhat. That is… absolutely not a demand for unconditional concessions, Third Prince. Of course, the Dadu Kingdom must gain benefits as well.”
“So you desire peace.”
“Yes. I simply wish there to be no war. That way, the people can live in peace.”
At my words, the Third Prince fell into thought for a moment.
Soon after, he nodded gently.
“Diplomacy is heavier than the sword. Of course, there are factions in the kingdom that support allying with the Seorim religious nation to strike at the empire. But I too oppose war. Besides, we’ve already opened trade routes—we must earn profit, mustn’t we? For a merchant, peace is simply the best thing.”
I’m fortunate the Third Prince isn’t a warmonger.
And fortunately, he hasn’t converted to the Seorim religion either.
It was truly fortunate that I could save him.
“Then let us meet again someday. Please take care of yourself.”
“Yes, White Dragon. I look forward to meeting you again in the not-too-distant future.”
Since I’ve done what needed to be done, there’s no point in prolonging the farewell.
After all, meeting and parting is the nature of those in the Martial Arts World.
* * *
“What will we do now, brother?”
After the final farewell, I immediately gathered my belongings and headed outside.
In a sense, you could say I fled.
If I stayed any longer, the Third Prince would surely grab my ankle and ask me to stay longer.
It’s better to escape while I can, before being kidnapped on a whim.
“I must go to Hwangdo. I’ll need to ransack the imperial palace archives there. Before that, I should send a letter to my Master about the current situation. He must be worried.”
“Ah, so that’s why you’re buying gifts.”
“Yes. I’m planning to gather plenty of specialty items that my Master would enjoy. And I should pick up some things for my younger siblings too.”
The marketplace was filled with exotic sculptures and ornaments.
Since I’ve come all this way down, I should purchase items brimming with the essence of this foreign land and send them to everyone.
“I see. But there are already people following behind us. What will you do about it, Brother?”
“….”
Instead of answering, I brushed Hwang-gu’s head once.
I had already noticed the surveillance from the gesture Hwang-gu had made.
I thought only Hwang-gu had noticed because they were so discreet, but it seems Ilkana caught on as well.
I answered her in a soft voice that only she could hear amid the bustling marketplace.
“What can we do? We’ll have to deal with them. Once we leave the city, they’ll attack, so we’ll handle it then. Ah, though there is one thing we need to do before that.”
“What is it, Brother?”
“Hmm… the first step for you to become stronger…?”
At those words, Ilkana’s lips curved into a languid smile.
“How very intriguing, Brother.”
* * *
Desert nights are dark and cold.
With not a single guard, just two people sit before a campfire, having pitched a tent.
No matter how I looked at it, we were openly inviting them to attack—and these were not assassins who would refuse such an invitation.
‘Well, they probably have their next assignment scheduled after they kill us.’
This is what I heard from Ilkana.
Just as Doctors schedule which patients to examine first, assassins have such schedules too.
After killing one target, they don’t rest—they must move on to the next target.
Of course, assassins in this world would have learned martial arts or Chakra, so they wouldn’t tire easily, but they still maintain professional schedules in their own way.
‘Though it would be different for someone like the Third Prince….’
Against such an opponent, they say one doesn’t sleep for ten days straight, constantly searching for openings.
The target is the apostate Ilkana.
If she ventures deep into the Central Plains, the assassination difficulty multiplies several times over.
They’re in no position to be choosy.
“Besides, many of the brothers in this region have been killed by our comrades, creating a manpower shortage. It will be quite tight.”
‘Hmm, the organizational world is all the same, isn’t it.’
Even those in the Martial Arts World who live and die by pride actually work while collecting monthly wages behind the scenes—ultimately no different.
As long as we’re human, we need meal expenses to eat three times a day, and as long as we sleep under a roof, it’s the same.
Even maintaining one’s own house requires money.
How long had we been sitting?
I let out a small yawn and asked.
[I feel their gaze, but they’re not attacking. Should I pretend to sleep?]
“There’s no need for that, Brother.”
She rose to her feet.
She drew her curved twin blades and spun them in a circle like juggling before catching them on her fingertips.
“After all, we both know what we need to do next. Let’s just fight.”
That was not the language of the Central Plains.
However, I am a genius who wielded Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong as naturally as breathing.
Having spent so long in Wanong, understanding foreign languages was hardly a challenge.
By now, foreign tongues flowed from my lips as naturally as my native speech.
At her words, countless shadows emerged from the darkness, slipping forward silently.
“May light and darkness walk with you, Brother.”
“May the desert’s compassion walk with you, Brother.”
Each offered their greeting as they emerged from the shadows—a sight that was rather unsettling.
Ilkana exchanged greetings with them in kind.
“May the crescent moon’s blessing walk with you, Brothers.”
These were people who would soon pierce each other’s bellies and examine the color of each other’s organs.
Yet how could such a moment be so quiet and peaceful?
The wrinkled-eyed assassin opened his mouth.
“I received orders to eliminate you, Brother, but finding no opening, I simply waited.”
Ilkana answered without a trace of surprise.
“Father has come himself.”
“Indeed. Though I did not birth you from my own body, all technique and sorcery have been passed down through me. Is it not proper that he who sows the seed should reap the harvest?”
His eyes were clear and bright, shining with conviction.
It was strange.
Their work was the work of killing.
I had heard that the assassination cult was created for such purposes, a place that worshipped the god of destruction.
Yet they were remarkably composed.
Ilkana spoke.
“You took me in as a child and taught me. Though you did not birth me from your womb, you are my father. It is fitting that you, who gave me a second life, should reap what you have sown. However… you are no farmer, Father, and I am no rice plant.”
“Brother.”
Ilkana’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I am a person, Father. I do not wish to end myself.”
The one called “Father” nodded his head.
“Brother. Among your peers, you have always possessed the strongest sense of self. I knew you would prioritize your own path over the teachings of this sect.”
Without ever showing anger at Ilkana’s words.
He gently drew curved twin blades identical to those Ilkana held.
Shiiing—
His twin blades, older and worn with the patina of use, had surely slaughtered far more souls than those Ilkana had ever felled.
Yet the fact that he could look upon Ilkana with such eyes, even as she defied him, was undoubtedly fanaticism.
Only a true believer, one who had devoted themselves completely to the sect, could speak and act in such a manner.
Ilkana drew a deep breath and spoke to me.
“You said you would make me stronger, Brother?”
“Yes.”
I answered.
“Then please do not interfere from this moment forward.”
Whether the foster father kills the foster daughter or the foster daughter kills the foster father in this mad world.
She wanted to settle it alone, without anyone’s help.
“….”
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes gleamed blue beneath the moonlight.
The one called ‘Father’ answered thus.
“How unfortunate, Brother. You cannot defeat me now, the one who taught you these techniques. The Baek-ui Sinryong alone remains your lifeline….”
“It’s fine, Father. I feel wonderful right now. Better than when you dropped me into a scorpion’s den and starved me for five days to teach me.”
Ilkana bared her fangs in a radiant smile.
It was not the twisted smile from before.
“How amusing, Father. Ever since you branded my back with the heated symbol of the sect. I’ve wanted to kill you too.”
There is still a long road to killing the first father.
But the second father—I could kill him right now.
Even if I fail and die in the attempt, I harbor no resentment.
She glanced sideways at Jin Cheon-hee’s worried eyes.
‘A kind person.’
With such a beautiful face, he must have stirred many hearts.
There is a part of me that wishes to lean on that kindness and cling to it.
But I know that if I cannot even settle my own affairs, I will forget not only revenge, but even the ability to walk alone forever.
“Haha, come at me, Father. There’s no better night than this to grind that dog-bone face of yours into dust.”
“How sad. How sad… my daughter.”
At those words as a signal, ‘Father’ and the assassins under him moved simultaneously, leaving afterimages in their wake.

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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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