Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 299

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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 299
“My apologies. I failed to recognize you as Mudang Gwon-je’s direct disciple… I was remiss in my courtesy.”
“No, no. Now that you know, that’s all that matters.”
The challenger found himself equipped with Confucian virtue once more ten minutes later.
“Please forgive me for stepping forward first, as my elder brother was exhausted.”
“Not at all. Not at all. It was I who blocked the path and inconvenienced the passersby, obstructing the way of two great masters. All of it was shameful conduct on my part. Yes, yes…”
After experiencing overwhelming violence from a massive frame, people naturally become exceedingly courteous.
“Apologize to my brother.”
“Cheonwoo, I’m fine…”
While Cheonwoo tugged briefly at my sleeve, the ruffian cried out loudly.
“Baek-ui Sinryong, great master! I have committed a grave offense!”
Crack!
He smashed his forehead against the ground until blood flowed.
Cheonwoo spoke with satisfaction.
“Now it’s all resolved nicely, brother.”
Crunch.
Cheonwoo gently clenched his fist.
As the massive, wall-like frame of muscle tightened into a fist, the aura it emanated was decidedly ominous.
Even the onlookers who had gathered to watch the fight startled and retreated several steps backward.
Yet for Cheonwoo, this was not the primary concern.
‘I need to deal with anyone who bothers my brother.’
My brother is certainly strong, but his nature is that of a Doctor, not a warrior.
Unless the opponent is someone who slaughters commoners indiscriminately with dark methods, he tends to show mercy.
‘After all, my brother is strong and will handle things on his own, but who bears responsibility for that exhaustion?’
Right after a bloodbath, my brother looked like anything but a living person until the incident was fully resolved.
And even after it was resolved, seeing him sleep like the dead taught Cheonwoo much.
“Baek-ui Sinryong! I’ve been waiting! I won’t back down a single step unless you defeat me!”
Thud thud thud thud!
“Your martial prowess is said to be unparalleled, but your mouth is truly unparalleled…”
Smack smack smack!
“Stop, Baekui Gwangryong! The Jegallga are descendants of dogs, and you actually came from a cesspit…”
Crack, smack smack smack! Crunch!
“Brother, I’ll hit this bastard harder.”
“Yes. He insulted the master that much, so that much is warranted.”
“I’ll break his limbs too.”
“Ah… wait, just a moment.”
Before I could even respond, Cheonwoo simply went ahead and snapped his limbs with crisp cracks.
There are limits to what one can tolerate, even insults against shared parents.
‘My brother might forgive this too. But I can’t stand to see that!’
Meanwhile, watching this unfold, I began to have an ominous premonition that Cheonwoo would soon earn a new epithet.
“Come at me! Baekui Gwangryong!”
At those words, Cheonwoo sighed and spoke.
“Please call me Mudang Baekui or Mudang Gwangryong. At the very least, you should do that much.”
Thwack thwack thwack!
Even if they were called common soldiers, they were still warriors with some skill. Experience points accumulated inevitably.
However, the problem might be that I was sparring with them using only my fists, careful not to kill them since he was my brother.
‘Hmm, come to think of it, Cheonwoo is quite skilled with his fists too.’
The length of his limbs from his tall frame was more threatening than most swordsmen, and combined with the exquisite martial techniques he’d learned from Mudang Gwon-je, his fists were gradually becoming more familiar to him than a sword.
‘He’s still being called by various titles. It doesn’t seem like anything has been definitively decided yet.’
He was sometimes called Taesan Fist Dragon in reference to his large build, and he seemed quite pleased with that one.
Still, his striking power remained unchanged.
And so, before long, we both arrived safely at the Imperial Capital.
“So this is the Imperial Capital…”
Even standing before the city walls, the massive procession of people was overwhelming.
‘All the cities I’d seen until now were nothing compared to the Imperial Capital.’
The city walls seemed to have no end.
It was to the point where even walking for a day, the walls didn’t seem to get any closer.
‘No… how is the perspective even working here?’
This continent only had martial arts-style place names; unlike East Asia, it looked different and was enormously large.
As the capital of a place bearing the name of an empire in such a land, its scale was truly magnificent.
‘I’ll end up sleeping rough just looking at the city walls today.’
After spending a day that way, it was only on the second day that we could reach the water gate.
After showing our identification tokens to the guards and entering, even more people crowded densely ahead.
Cheonwoo spoke.
“Brother… I’ve never seen this many people before.”
The large man’s voice trembled.
“I… well… this is my first time in this lifetime.”
Jin Cheon-hee inadvertently let slip words tinged with truth in his confusion, but there was no reason to be suspected over this.
After all, who would be crazy enough to think of being possessed into a book?
“Even if I lived through three lifetimes, this would be my first time, brother.”
For some reason, I felt like a country bumpkin.
Passing through the people crowded like an ant colony, Jin Cheon-hee urged the horse toward the main road.
“Are you heading straight to the Imperial Palace, brother?”
“I’ve already wasted too much time. It’s best to go as quickly as possible. What about you?”
“…”
At my question, Cheonwoo fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
“Since I’ve come to the Imperial Capital, I’d like to broaden my horizons. I’ll wait while you handle your business at the Imperial Palace.”
“Then let’s decide which inn you’ll stay at.”
Woof!
Hwang-gu barked confidently.
I responded to that sight.
“Hwang-gu says he’ll pick out a good restaurant for us.”
“If it’s Hwang-gu, we can trust him.”
The two of us decided on an inn to meet at later, then parted ways.
‘Is this the Imperial Palace?’
At the end of the main avenue, a massive palace with golden roofs came into view.
The walls encircling the palace stretched endlessly from end to end, making it impossible to take in at a glance.
I dismounted from my horse and headed not toward the main gate of the palace, but toward the rear entrance.
“Halt. What is your business?”
The gate commander was clearly a master of considerable skill, with military discipline etched into every movement.
I immediately unfastened the golden dragon bracelet on my wrist and showed it to the gate commander.
Upon confirming the Imperial Inspector’s insignia, the gate commander summoned a court attendant.
“Oh my, we’ve been expecting you! Baek-ui Sinryong!”
The beardless court attendant bowed to me with a hunched posture.
I returned his courtesy with respect and thought to myself.
‘They say all the court attendants who live in the palace have different faces and hearts. Is it really true?’
I understood it was inevitable to survive in a place where schemes flourished.
Witnessing scenes I’d only seen in foreign historical dramas was simply fascinating.
“Lay down your weapons.”
I handed over all the weapons I carried.
“The two spirit beasts are also forbidden entry.”
Hwang-gu and Noeji.
They were beings who could become weapons if circumstances demanded it.
I furrowed my brow.
“Go stay with Cheonwoo.”
Clang! Squeak!
Noeji immediately climbed onto Hwang-gu’s head.
Hwang-gu didn’t seem to mind, wagging his tail and panting happily.
I stretched out and pinched Hwang-gu’s plump cheek, then followed the hunched court attendant inside.
Entering through the rear gate, the narrow alleyways connecting the various pavilions resembled a maze.
The scent of ink and something burning.
The smell of powder used for cosmetics, the aroma of medicinal herbs, and faint traces of poison.
Passing through palaces each with their own distinct sounds and scents was a rare experience.
I made an effort not to direct my gaze anywhere.
It was because of my Master’s teachings—that I should only move with the palace based on mutual interest and avoid becoming deeply entangled in any direction.
In fact, the sweet fragrance I caught in passing was a bewitching scent.
I couldn’t fathom why the palace would use poisons typically employed by heterodox sects.
‘Don’t pay attention to it.’
Finally, we arrived at an unnamed palace located at the very heart of the imperial compound.
I was about to look at the nameplate, but quickly lowered my eyes as much as possible.
‘Sometimes not knowing is better—less involvement, fewer complications.’
Even if I committed minor breaches of etiquette, they wouldn’t constitute serious offenses.
Being a martial artist visiting the Imperial Palace for the first time afforded certain conveniences.
The Court Attendant glanced sideways at me, deliberately avoiding the plaques.
‘Peculiar… Most would be curious, wandering about trying to see everything they could.’
Instead, I covered my eyes, blocked my ears, sealed my lips.
The moment I crossed the palace gates, I hadn’t uttered a single word—just kept my mouth shut.
My deliberate detachment actually pleased the Court Attendant.
‘Now I understand why His Majesty favors him.’
This man didn’t seem like a young warrior.
He carried the seasoned bearing of a veteran—one who’d wielded both the blade and political intrigue.
Even his characteristic inscrutability began to seem appealing.
Soon the Court Attendant stopped before a crimson door.
“Please enter.”
It was quite large, though not the largest.
Though secluded, it connected to the central palace where the King conducted affairs and the main thoroughfare, making passage convenient.
‘…I should stop thinking about this.’
My mind kept trying to deduce something anyway, whispering inferences to me despite my resistance.
Suddenly, I spotted helmet flowers below the steps.
They served as pain-relief ingredients, yet were also used for poisoning.
Growing like weeds in a spot one wouldn’t notice without careful attention.
I climbed the steps and stood before the door.
The Court Attendants flanking either side neither verified my identity nor announced my arrival to whoever waited within.
A place eerily silent.
The door simply opened without sound.
I stepped inside.
“You’ve come.”
A man gestured from behind the curtain.
Inside, Eun Wang-ya sat reading through a stack of memorials.
I’d seen him move without his mask before at the mountain villa, but seeing him in this golden dragon robe was unfamiliar.
“This humble one pays respects to Your Majesty, radiant as heaven itself. Long live Your Majesty, long live—”
“…Are you mocking me again?”
“Hehehehe.”
I laughed deliberately in jest.
“Today is Geum’s day off, so I’m handling state affairs in his stead. Being twins allows us such things.”
“I see.”
So Geum Wang-ya was handling matters somewhere else in the empire while Eun Wang-ya worked.
I couldn’t quite imagine one lounging while the other labored.
Just recently, while Geum Wang-ya worked, Eun Wang-ya was outside the palace getting blood on his hands, orchestrating schemes to prevent war.
And incidentally, he’d driven a wedge between Seryim and Gyoguk.
“So you intend to enter immediately?”
He hadn’t named the subject, but its meaning was singular and clear.
The Imperial Palace’s secret vault.
I nodded.
“There are no physical concerns, so I wish to proceed at once.”
“Not even resting from the journey, are you? Well, you’ve always been that way.”
Eun Wang-ya—no, His Majesty Eun chuckled softly and gestured.
“You there, escort the Patriarch of Baek Rin Medical Guild to the Imperial Palace’s secret vault.”
Before those words had even finished, someone came rushing out from the quiet palace.
Eunuch General Han Gwang.
Unlike our first meeting, when he wore a black infiltration suit and mask, here he was dressed as an ordinary court attendant with a bundle strapped to his back.
“Yes, I obey Your Majesty’s command.”

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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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