Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 398

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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 398
Though I lay confined to bed, I could infer the circumstances around me.
First, the shadows.
As the sun descended and shadows lengthened, I could roughly estimate the number of passersby through the window based on their silhouettes.
Second, the contours of those shadows.
If they were warriors, they’d wear swords, creating distinct outlines. Whether attendant, doctor, or warrior—I deduced it all from my bed.
Third was sound.
Though my Master had forbidden anyone from entering the separate quarters where I lay, humans are creatures that constantly generate the noise of living.
More people meant more sounds; fewer people meant fewer sounds.
“….”
Through these three methods, I could roughly deduce the number and composition of people around me, as well as the personnel assignments.
My sharp mind quickly solved my Master’s riddle.
‘So my Master didn’t annihilate Oh Dok-mun with the sword.’
If he had, the warriors guarding me wouldn’t be of this caliber.
Even if the Demonic Cult caused division, a blood debt incurred must be repaid in blood—that’s the way of things.
Naturally, the number of warriors would have to increase.
Then what did my Master mean when he said Oh Dok-mun no longer existed as a sect?
Surely he wouldn’t confuse his disciple’s mind with falsehoods.
At least it was clear that Oh Dok-mun could no longer function as a sect.
“Hyeon, because of you, the Four Clans must have abandoned Oh Dok-mun. Why would they stay out of loyalty when they’re being discriminated against? They’d fly to the Golden Blood Chamber where the money’s better.”
“Hyeong. Stop theorizing and eat your porridge.”
I swallowed the porridge Sama Hyeon offered me.
‘Have I been bedridden too long? Even swallowing feels difficult.’
My body felt heavy.
It wasn’t merely from the pressure points.
The porridge Sama Hyeon prepared had a strong medicinal herb taste—utterly flavorless.
Yet I lacked the shame to complain, so I simply accepted it in silence.
Speaking as I ate the porridge, I continued.
“With the Four Clans gone, the remaining clans must have feared which would become the next target. Add the Demonic Cult’s agents to that mix, and they’d distrust each other completely.”
“Well, they probably couldn’t catch all the agents~?”
“Right. And with my Master’s involvement, the sect is essentially tearing itself apart.”
“Mun-ju shares blame for allowing this situation—he deserves a bitter end.”
I noticed the emblem symbolizing Oh Dok Medical Guild on the porridge bowl Sama Hyeon held.
“Oh Dok Medical Guild must have come under Baekrin Medical Guild.”
“Why do you think that?”
“My Master originally intended to bring them to his side. Without this incident, they’d have merely been allies, but now that everything’s exposed, he’d have taken every last asset without leaving a trace.”
Sama Hyeon laughed in disbelief.
‘This guy… he deduced all that while lying down~?’
On a bed barely wide enough for two people, even turning my head wasn’t easy.
And except for him, no one was permitted to speak to me.
That wasn’t all.
I’d even forbidden conversations near the annex, worried the patient might be distracted by outside matters.
Yet this man simply lay there watching the sun, gazing out the window, observing shadows—and from these alone deduced several moves ahead, grasping the unfolding situation.
“You’re right, hyeong. But I won’t tell you the answer.”
This compassionate yet cruel genius, confined and paralyzed with all human contact severed, still managed to pierce through the circumstances with relentless precision.
“If I were the culprit, you’d be terrified, hyeong. Many from the great families would fear you.”
Just as they once feared the Veiled Madman of old.
“What would you like to eat?”
“Hmm? You’ll make it for me?”
“Baek Rin-ui-seon said now that he’s gone, you only need to eat until today. You’ll continue the medicinal broths, but he said you can start eating what you crave now. Though if you eat only rice porridge, that’s apparently bad for your stomach too. For a warrior of your caliber, he said you should eat other things now.”
“Ooh~ Then I’ll cook it myself….”
At my words, Sama Hyeon’s eyes sparkled brilliantly as he smiled.
“Gaga. Would you like to see tears of blood streaming from the girl’s eyes?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Against Sama Hyeon’s wheedling voice, I couldn’t even bring myself to curse.
Besides, that face, though handsome, was deeply burdensome.
Seeing me dejected, Sama Hyeon smiled gently.
‘I wish hyeong would lie like this forever.’
Would it be madness if serving him felt more at ease in my heart?
“Hyeong, the common people were praising the Veiled Madman’s virtues.”
“Is that so?”
“They tried to build an altar to enshrine him, so Master completely demolished it.”
“Hahaha….”
It’s fine to praise a disciple’s martial prowess and virtue, but Master despises it becoming a religion.
After all, Master dislikes both Buddhas and immortals, doesn’t he?
As for Confucius… truthfully, Master merely tolerates him, and doesn’t particularly favor Confucianism either.
Master is someone with few things he actually likes.
He dislikes humans, dislikes animals, and doesn’t particularly care for plants either.
How such a person became so fixated on a disciple and wandered through this hellish field, I cannot fathom.
This insufficient disciple has nothing to say even with ten mouths.
‘Ugh…. I don’t know how to appease Master’s anger.’
He comes at set times each day to take my pulse and administer acupuncture, yet no matter what I say, he only tells me to shut up.
During that silent time, he savors the sight of this disciple’s living form for a long while, then performs the acupuncture and pulse-taking.
When I try to offer a simple greeting, he tells me again not to play around.
And when I fall silent again, he simply stares intently at this disciple’s surviving form.
‘This is love and hate. Love and hate….’
I don’t know what that feeling is like, having no father.
Parents never existed in my life to begin with, and once I dreamed that if I became someone needed in this world, my parents might appear from somewhere and take me away—but I’m an adult now.
I abandoned the notion of parents long ago.
So the affection between parent and child, I could only encounter through television, movies, the internet, video sites, and general hospitals.
The former are media outlets, so they tend to embellish quite heavily, while the latter allows you to witness all manner of sordid tales in the middle of treatment… You could see melodramas unsuitable for broadcast.
‘There was even a case where someone who had lived their entire life believing themselves an orphan got injured at work, and when workers’ compensation was processed, three people claiming to be parents showed up.’
We even conducted paternity tests, but the problem was that the father and mother were divorced, and both were saying, “I will take care of you.”
Naturally, regardless of who took care of him, it was difficult to call that love.
Because he was a son they had never once sought out until the workers’ compensation news broke.
Recalling these incidents and the countless panoramas of human depravity I had witnessed at the hospital, I let out a sigh.
‘I was wrong. My mind struggles to comprehend my Master’s state.’
And for good reason.
‘Throughout my entire life, no one has ever worried about me.’
It had always been that way since childhood.
At the orphanage, I never experienced the kind of abuse you see in movies or dramas.
But that didn’t mean I received any special affection either.
My Master’s heart was somewhat difficult for me to comprehend.
Yet, a sense of apology only continued to accumulate within me.
And so, the next day.
When I opened my eyes, my Master was watching me.
It seemed he had been keeping vigil beside me throughout my sleep, without making a sound.
“Master… I’m sorry.”
He would probably tell me to shut up again, but I continued to convey my feelings nonetheless.
“….”
My Master gazed at me for a long while without answering.
Then he reached out his large hand and stroked my head.
And he stroked again, and again, repeating the gesture.
Eventually, my Master spoke.
“When I was young, I annihilated an entire sect. That sect was a minor faction related to the destruction of the Jegallga, and while it was connected, it hadn’t actually played a crucial role in their destruction. The sect itself couldn’t even imagine that their actions had contributed to the Jegallga’s fall.”
“….”
“I knew this, but that knowledge didn’t give them reason to live. The dead do not return to life, and I had to receive blood debt. And once I had collected all that blood debt… I thought, perhaps I could sleep a little. Even just a quarter hour would suffice.”
My Master continued to stroke my head.
“I know how terrifying the debts of Gangho are, and simultaneously how futile they are, so I slaughtered every member of that sect. At that time, the final sect leader remaining said this to me: You have slaughtered all of my disciples, so I hope you will suffer the same pain as I do.”
“….”
It was quite a horrifying tale, yet my Master spoke calmly and gently, as if reading a fairy tale to a child.
“His qi channels ruptured, and he died on the spot. Yes, rage kills people. Some rage doesn’t even need to become heart disease—it can kill a person right there. He heard the sounds of his disciples dying, and that rage was sufficient to kill him.”
“….”
“At that time, I thought I would never have a disciple. After all, I was a man with not much time left to live, so I thought such a curse was nonsense. But then I met you.”
“….”
“Yes. I met you, Hope.”
“Master….”
“I truly hated that you were injured. What kind of physician’s path is this, what kind of benevolence is this? I wondered what would come after you ran about so recklessly. And then that curse from Jang Mun-in came back to me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Apologize a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times. You deserve nothing less.”
“I’m… truly… so sorry.”
“You cannot even imagine what color the world would be without you. I nearly witnessed that landscape myself. Master Gwon Je has lost his disciples many times over, yet I—with only a single disciple, and even while that disciple still lives—have already seen that world.”
“I truly…”
My tongue kept circling the same spot, unable to find the words.
My Master spoke to such a disciple as I.
“Still, I am grateful that you live. You are my karma and my joy.”
With those words, my Master left once more.
I watched the direction my Master had gone for a long while.
My Master had passed beyond my sight, gone to a place I could no longer see, yet I could not tear my eyes away.
Tears flowed, tracing past my temples and burrowing into my ears.
In that moment, I resolved to cherish myself a little more.
It was a far more effective punishment than hours of my Master’s nagging.

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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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