Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 292

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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 292
Dawn broke, and people continued to die.
The villagers who were fortunate enough to escape injury or suffered only minor wounds helped me, but they were merely ordinary commoners.
There were limits to what they could accomplish.
Ultimately, there was no way to stop the dying.
For every person I saved, another died in that same moment.
It was unbearable.
People continued to perish. More than I could save.
‘The smell…’
A peculiar, acrid stench began to emanate from the village.
Cheonwoo realized at some point that his brother had stopped smiling.
His brother had always been attentive to those around him, displaying an almost shameless composure.
But now, lacking even that composure, he was consumed entirely by maintaining the life of whoever stood before him.
Cheonwoo began to sense that his brother was being ground down, becoming smaller with each passing moment.
Just when he thought he could endure no longer…
“We are from Baek Rin Medical Guild! Where are the patients!”
The Bundata Master of Baek Rin Medical Guild and the Gungwi Unit, their escort, arrived together.
I staggered to my feet. Then, with a voice so powerful it was hard to believe it came from someone so depleted of strength:
“Here–!”
I cried out loudly.
“Soggakju! Are you unharmed?”
The Bundata Master’s doctors quickly dismounted and rushed toward me.
“I’ve already classified the patients by emergency priority… so please allocate your personnel accordingly…”
From first to last.
I issued instructions in a familiar tone.
“We obey the command of Busul Dangju!”
From the Sang Ui-won to the Ha Uiwon, they began moving with purpose.
It was a relief.
Until I saw my body bend at an unnatural angle.
“Brother.”
As Cheonwoo hastily grabbed my shoulder, I returned to my proper posture.
“Ah, I’m fine.”
Without saying anything, I felt him respond first by hitting the wall.
* * *
Lunchtime.
Cheonwoo first grabbed an appropriate Sang Ui-won and attempted to discuss his brother.
“It’s unavoidable. Well, it may be a sensation difficult for martial artists to understand.”
The Sang Ui-won paused mid-bite of his rice ball, lost in thought.
“Intellectually, I know that no matter what I do, this person will die. Yet shouldn’t I still try something? I continue with the devotion of prayer, but behind me, those I cannot tend to are perishing. The patient I desperately cared for also ends up dying. Hmm…”
Wrinkles creased the Sang Ui-won’s face.
With eyes that held the weight of years, I fell into thought for a long moment, carefully choosing my words before speaking.
“Doctors who have experienced blood slaughter are typically given several days of rest once the work is done. For severe cases, we let them rest for ten days. The Bundata Master forces money into their hands and pushes them to go see their families.”
When I asked why, Sang Ui-won laughed bitterly.
“If we don’t, around the next month many of them hang themselves from the main beam. Yes, suicide.”
Cheonwoo’s head felt momentarily numb.
“Among martial artists who have experienced blood slaughter, aren’t there those who later cannot endure and take their own lives? Even venerable monks with perfected spiritual cultivation sometimes break suddenly, don’t they? Doctors are no different. And… while the sensation of a blade cutting is merely an instant, the sensation of struggling and failing lasts for several hours.”
It was truly strange.
The debt of martial artists was ultimately their own affair, yet a doctor with no prior connection was unable to bear saving lives and took his own life.
Sang Ui-won stopped eating his rice ball, having apparently lost his appetite.
“That’s why seniors often advise that one should always cultivate some hobby to cling to.”
“A hobby?”
Suddenly, I recalled my brother’s deep absorption in cooking.
Sang Ui-won nodded.
“If one only practices medicine, the mind breaks. Isn’t that so? No matter how divine the physician, one out of every ten patients dies. See a hundred, and you send ten away. With blood slaughter, it’s even worse. I experienced it once when I was a junior doctor…”
Cheonwoo, listening, also lost his appetite.
Sang Ui-won continued.
“I managed to endure because the Bundata Master and the senior doctors who guided me were by my side… but… the Patriarch was in a situation where the doctor who could have helped was an injured patient, and practically speaking, there was only one medical practitioner who could move. On top of that, he directly suppressed the blood slaughter himself. Hmm… well, I suspect he’ll have a difficult time for a while.”
Right now, my brother had even abandoned cooking, which he loved so much.
The man who used to ask at every meal what he wanted to eat was now skipping his own meals and clinging to work as if possessed.
“Still, the Jegalling Family members are strong. The Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong possesses the most excellent function for enduring such things. There should be no serious problems.”
Is the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong truly that versatile?
Capable of making one feel no emotions?
Since that time, my brother’s eyes had not once returned to their original light.
Saving patients, sending them off, saving again, sending off—the blue radiance never dimmed through this cycle.
His thinking speed showed no abnormalities.
His health seemed largely unaffected.
He simply no longer ate the rice he loved so much, no longer cooked the dishes he adored.
He only ground himself away in work.
‘What lies at the end of that path?’
Watching him like this, Cheonwoo felt his own powerlessness.
He had grown this strong, thought he could finally be of help.
Yet still, he could not help his brother grinding himself away there.
Unaware of the emotions Cheonwoo felt, Sang Ui-won took a sip of water and opened his mouth to continue.
“In the current situation, nothing we say will reach him, so I think it’s best to simply leave him be…”
Finally, Cheonwoo uttered the real question he had been holding back.
“…So when will he come back? My brother?”
“That is…”
At that moment, the sound of horse hooves rang out.
* * *
‘Heavy.’
I exhaled softly.
It felt as though shackles weighing dozens of pounds had been wrapped around my entire body.
Each step felt heavy, and my hands trembled faintly whenever I ceased to focus on them.
The number of patients I had treated since last night had already reached dozens.
If I included even minor treatments where I merely gave instructions, the count would surely exceed three figures.
The formidable inner energy that transformed ordinary people into transcendent beings expanded my five senses, allowing me to perceive precisely how many people inhabited this village.
‘Last night, there were 2,891 people alive. Now there are 2,798. Still… at least no one else is dying now. I suppose that’s something to be grateful for…?’
Since I arrived in this village, drove out the bandits, and began treating the wounded, exactly 93 people had perished.
The Five Elements Divine Art granted me senses beyond imagination, and thanks to the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, my mind moved with genius-level precision, making me acutely aware of all of this.
So I stood there dazed, gazing at my surroundings—still chaotic, yet gradually stabilizing.
The worst crisis had passed.
Now the important thing was managing their care to prevent aftereffects.
Some patients would carry permanent disabilities for life, and others required continued observation to see how they would recover.
‘Did I treat them well? Did I make the right choices?’
My unfocused eyes surveyed the surroundings while my heightened senses perceived everything around me, yet a corner of my mind kept asking myself questions.
Could I have saved even one more person? What if I had done it differently then?
Would that patient have lived?
If my battle with Yo Cheon-gun was a trial staking my own life, then this treatment was a trial staking the lives of others.
‘If only it had been my own body on the line…’
…it wouldn’t have been so agonizing.
As I continued these dazed thoughts, my senses detected the sound and vibration of multiple horses galloping toward me.
Like a well-tuned machine, I reacted instinctively, turning my body to gaze into the distance.
I could see roughly a hundred mounted soldiers approaching.
My eyes, tinted with cyan light, instantly discerned their uniforms.
‘Imperial soldiers. But not regular army troops. Law enforcement… it appears the Patrol Guards from the Patrol Bureau have arrived.’
The Patrol Guards, belonging to the Patrol Bureau—an organization tasked with maintaining public order rather than conducting professional warfare like the military.
It was clear they had come rushing here.
‘If only they had arrived sooner…’
Then so many people wouldn’t have died. If only… if only they had…
Crack.
I slapped my own cheek.
‘Get a grip. Yes. Focus. There’s still so much to handle.’
“Protective forces, assemble.”
“We obey the Soggakju’s command!”
I spoke quietly, but someone who heard my words shouted out.
“Assemble! Form up!”
“All doctors, fall back!”
“Move the patients!”
Everyone was doing their part.
In the midst of this, I walked forward toward the approaching horde of mounted soldiers.
“Brother, are you alright?”
At that moment, a heavy and warm hand came to rest on my shoulder.
‘Ah, yes. I’ve caused this fellow worry. I’m sorry.’
Even in such a situation, I smiled gently at Cheonwoo with concern.
‘I should reassure him a bit.’
A relaxed tone would be good. Whenever I spoke like this, even the most difficult surgeries would lift the spirits of the staff.
“Sorry for worrying you. My apologies. I’m fine~”
“Brother….”
‘Hmm, Cheonwoo’s expression still doesn’t look right….’
It seemed this level of expression wouldn’t do.
I deliberately patted his back with exaggerated force.
“I’m fine, man. I’m your brother. Right?”
Though Cheonwoo’s expression remained strange, I turned my head away.
My body felt hollow and empty, making it difficult to continue paying attention to someone.
Right now, maintaining my state of consciousness was already consuming everything I had.
Soon, the group of mounted soldiers gradually slowed their pace and came to a halt at a certain distance.
Then one of them approached on horseback and stopped before me.
“All of you, halt! The Provincial Governor is passing through, so all of you stop and discard your weapons! The laws of the Daeha Empire are stern, and those who disobey orders shall be punished according to the empire’s strict laws!”
The ringing voice carried a faint trace of true energy.
However, those belonging to Baek Rin Medical Guild showed proper courtesy, yet none displayed any sign of tension.
They say the martial world and the government regard each other like a chicken and a duck, but ultimately it is a matter between people.
If the world’s affairs could be severed as cleanly as cutting vegetables with a blade, how convenient life would be.
Once a faction reached the level of the Nine Great Sects or the Eight Great Families, they inevitably had connections with the empire’s high officials and nobility.
Just as the massive corporations of the twenty-first century provided donations to politicians to exercise influence.
The great sects of this world also operated trading companies, conducted trade routes, and necessarily maintained certain connections to earn money through the blade.
Naturally, Baek Rin Medical Guild possessed multiple such connections.
Due to the nature of a medical guild, in certain respects it wielded even more powerful political influence than other sects.
Patients once considered incurable could be saved by Baek Rin Medical Guild.
That alone was enough to demonstrate vast influence.
Especially recently, the fact that Ju Wang was fully backing Baek Rin Medical Guild was something all imperial officials knew.
Ju Wang was the Emperor’s brother and simultaneously a top-tier power holder with independent military authority.
No official could dare treat Baek Rin Medical Guild, which enjoyed such protection, carelessly.
Those belonging to Baek Rin Medical Guild understood this well.
And the eyes of the official who stepped forward twitched at such an attitude.
He had not yet recognized them as Baek Rin Medical Guild.
“You wretches! Are you saying my words don’t sound like words! How dare you….”
“I am Jin Cheon-hee, holding the position of Soggakju of Baek Rin Medical Guild. Might I ask who you are and from where?”
I stepped forward and offered a martial salute.
I did not lower my head; instead, I raised it and looked directly at the official on horseback.

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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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