Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 422
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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 422
The loud explosion startled Wang Gak-yeon, and she hastily shut the inner chamber door.
She was worried that the server might catch sight of this spectacle.
Gongseon Yeong was also startled and dropped the wine he had been drinking.
In the midst of this mad situation, the foreign princess spoke in a calm voice.
“Please remain still. I am employing the Subtle Internal Qi Heavy Water Technique. I shall certainly cure that intelligence of yours.”
“What on earth is this…?!”
The stone lute came flying again. Namgung Un tried to knock the stone lute away by throwing his wine cup.
Clang!
A wine cup infused with internal energy should normally have caused the lute to bounce away or shatter.
However, nothing of the sort happened.
The stone lute remained as immovable as Mount Tai and simply struck Namgung Un’s crown once more.
Smack!
“Ugh. How is it… I cannot see the motion of the swing…?”
“Because I am using the Subtle Internal Qi Heavy Water Technique. Your intelligence is being healed. Nam. Gung. So. Hyeop.”
Smack, smack, smack, smack, smack!
“This is… save me… save me!”
Namgung Un finally drew his sword.
At this point, he intended to cut down that stone lute.
Crash!
However, Namgung Un’s bright blade shattered against the stone lute that carried no sword energy.
‘In just one exchange?!’
The princess spoke calmly.
“Do not resist. You have only wasted a precious sword.”
“But how could intelligence possibly improve by striking the head with the Subtle Internal Qi Heavy Water Technique!”
“Then do you believe that striking the lower abdomen with it would cure kidney stones?”
“Gasp?!”
The princess calmly and repeatedly beat Namgung Un once more.
‘Is she truly healing intelligence?’
He knew it was nonsense, but she was striking with such composure that it became confusing.
Wang Gak-yeon stopped the princess, and Gongseon Yeong drank wine again.
Watching her older sister laugh heartily and blow a horn with the bottle, Wang Gak-yeon revised her assessment of Gongseon Yeong.
‘One week? She would ruin it in three days. My older sister would!’
Smack, smack, smack, smack!
Remarkably, no blood stained the stone lute.
And the princess continuously caressed Namgung Un’s intelligence with calm demeanor, calm voice, and graceful movements.
Smack, smack, smack, smack! Smack!
* * *
“It is truly dangerous for a non-medical person to perform medical procedures with mere scraps of knowledge.”
“Jin, my younger brother. What you just did a moment ago was…”
“I only struck the acupoints and severed the blood vessels.”
Jin Cheon-hee removed his mask and finally revealed his true identity as Seo Baek-ryong.
Namgung Un knelt respectfully on both knees before him.
To any onlooker, it would appear that the young patriarch of the Namgung Family was kneeling before a princess of the Hwangbo Sega.
Wang Gak-yeon not only shut the door but paid everyone off to ensure not even a mouse would dare peek inside.
Because Jin Cheon-hee’s anger was not something that could be easily appeased.
And there was no way she could allow the young patriarch of the Namgung Family to be seen being beaten with a pipa by a foreign princess.
Thus, only four people remained in the inn.
“Well… the acupoint striking and blood vessel severing…”
Now that he thought about it, despite being struck that way, his body felt strangely refreshed.
It was strange, considering it had been agonizingly painful before.
It seemed she had struck only the acupoints with precision.
The fact that she had done this to his head was remarkable.
‘Could she have truly struck using the Subtle Internal Energy Concentration Technique?’
Namgung Un, unaware that he had developed the skill from being beaten by Yoo Ho so many times, could only make such a guess.
‘She really is… impossibly beautiful.’
It was madness, but even while being struck with the pipa, her beauty captivated him.
Even under the threat of death, she was simply breathtakingly gorgeous.
Of course, the beating from that moon-like beauty was far from painless.
She had shown him a hell he never wished to experience twice.
“Well… Jin, younger brother. If one is a martial artist, they generally memorize the basic acupoint meridians, and emergency treatment and trauma care are possible…”
“Tsk.”
“No, I apologize.”
“Do you understand? Kidney stone fragmentation seems easy, so you just strike any organ, but even doctors must practice extensively for this treatment. Does it seem easy to use internal energy to shatter only the stone while leaving the organs intact? Do you think a non-professional can simply strike the abdomen a few times and accomplish it?”
“Could the organs be damaged?”
“Yes. The prostate could rupture, or the ureter itself could tear.”
“What is the prostate?”
Jin Cheon-hee explained as simply as possible for understanding.
“It’s an organ that wraps around the base of the genitals. If it ruptures… aside from life and death, it won’t stand.”
“What?”
“It won’t stand, you fool. You become a eunuch!”
“Gasp…?!”
“What do you think will happen if the ureter tears? Will urination function properly? Even with sutures, will there be no aftereffects? This time, shall I make you experience pain assuming rupture?”
“That… that’s…!”
Jin Cheon-hee spoke to Namgung Un, who was breaking into a cold sweat.
“Do you understand? That’s why performing such procedures based on information picked up from somewhere by a layperson is truly dangerous. Multiple people die.”
“I never intended to do it to anyone from the start.”
“That’s fortunate. Since only Namgung Sohyeop needs to die.”
Unlicensed medicine is dangerous.
Even on Earth, wasn’t it common for unauthorized medical practices born from personal speculation to kill multiple people?
I said to him, “From now on, don’t spout such insane nonsense about pounding your organs with your fists to remove stones. If you really must do it, learn properly from an expert from the beginning, step by step. And besides, most doctors don’t perform procedures on themselves.”
“Don’t say crazy things like you’re going to beat your organs with your fists to remove stones. If you really want to do it, learn step by step from the beginning under a professional. And even doctors don’t typically perform procedures on themselves.”
“Why is that?”
“Because it’s your own body, subjective judgment inevitably creeps in. Of course, in urgent situations, there’s no helping it.”
“I see. So doctors entrust their bodies to other doctors as well.”
‘They’re also the most troublesome patients.’
Since they’re doctors themselves, they’re stubborn, and even when a colleague diagnoses them, they insist it seems wrong, that they’ll probably be fine, and just do whatever they want.
They’ve studied medicine, so they argue persuasively.
I continued my nagging, carefully omitting that observation.
“So stop drinking from now on. In all my years, I’ve never seen a warrior who would deliberately crush his own abdomen by striking it.”
“No, I’ve made a decision.”
Namgung Un answered with a solemn expression.
I grew anxious.
‘What is this man deciding on?’
Namgung Un continued, “I’m going to learn medicine.”
“I’ll learn medicine.”
‘What…?’
Namgung Un went on, “If non-medical personnel can’t lay hands on it, then wouldn’t it work if I become a medical professional? Of course, you said self-treatment isn’t ideal, but you also clearly said it’s done in urgent situations. So I’ll learn it properly and treat myself!”
“If non-medical professionals aren’t allowed to touch, then I’ll just become a medical professional! Of course, self-treatment usually doesn’t work well, but Jin’s younger brother clearly said you do it in emergencies. So I’ll learn it properly and treat myself!”
‘…This madman.’
As I stared at him silently, Namgung Un asked nervously, “Ah, younger brother?”
“Huh, older brother?”
He glanced at me once, then at the stone lute beside me, seemingly afraid that I might lose my reason and perform the Pursuing Blood technique.
I said, “I was reciting the Heart Sutra silently in my mind for a moment.”
For a moment, I was reciting the Heart Sutra silently in my mind.
“Why would you recite such a thing?”
“What I wish for Namgung Sohyeop is ultimately emptiness. In the end, this too is a delusion born from attachment!”
“No, is learning medicine really that serious of a matter?!”
“It is not. I’m reciting scripture now to acknowledge the obsession to drink no matter what it takes. This too is affliction. Whoosh, whoosh. Whoosh!”
The peerless talent controlled his mind through Lamaze breathing.
Namgung Un pondered for three seconds whether his actions were truly so wrong.
However, he could not abandon his love of alcohol! His love of refinement!
I recited the Heart Sutra at length, breathing deeply as I gazed upon the sentient being before me.
In the end, this anger stemmed from my expectation that Namgung Un would improve.
Without expectation, there is no anger.
This too is affliction.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
* * *
Whether Namgung Un would learn medicine and drink alcohol or not, no one knew.
By common sense, the probability he’d abandon his studies and head to a tavern to drink was nine out of ten.
Even if he somehow broke through those odds and genuinely studied medicine, there was no way he’d think, “Ah, alcohol harms the body, so I should abstain.” Not with that personality of his.
‘It’s not my concern. He lives his own life as he sees fit. I’m not going to chase after him and confiscate his drinks.’
I tried to simply watch Namgung Un destroy his own body without interfering.
So what if he’d become the Sword King in the future, the Martial Arts Alliance Leader, a talent who would protect Gangho? What did I care?
If he developed another kidney stone, he’d come running to Baekrin Medical Guild anyway.
‘As long as he doesn’t try some back-alley treatment with his own hands, that’s enough.’
Working as a doctor, you see all sorts of patients.
Of course, some came with serious illnesses, but there were also frequent cases where patients did something inexplicable with their own hands.
-Mm… I understand. The reason the disc-shaped battery is lodged in the patient’s nostril is because the patient accidentally fell forward and it went in. Yes, guardian… Yes. I won’t tell the grandchildren.
-Ah… So the magic wand visible in the photograph… accidentally entered the patient’s rectum. I see. While bathing and falling backward. Yes…
And it wasn’t just children.
Among adults too, there were occasionally brave souls who tested how far their bodies could endure.
Still, this was relatively innocent.
-I see. So you received an illegal procedure. You don’t know exactly what the practitioner did or with what. And the practitioner is unreachable…
That’s where the real problems began.
The world was full of people who trusted someone they knew over a doctor’s words.
Many of them went far beyond simply consuming health supplements.
Some claimed they could cure cancer while tearing into bodies with filthy instruments, or inserted drugs claiming they were completely safe.
There were cases where people struck disc patients’ spines with jade, claiming it would heal them.
When accidents happened, patients came to the hospital, but nine times out of ten the illegal practitioners were unreachable, and the doctor ended up having to treat such people.
That was what Namgung Un had been about to do.
‘No… To crush stones precisely, you’d need to study a lot.’
I’d prevented him from rupturing his own organs with his own fists, and that was enough.
‘At least he didn’t try to perform some crude internal technique on someone else.’
I thought about it that far and roughly put my mind at ease.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Well… as you know, I didn’t come to meet my younger brother Jin. Actually, I never expected my younger brother Jin to transform into such a beautiful princess… *cough*… Don’t look at me like that. The spot where I hit my younger brother Jin still aches. Anyway, the Hwangbo Family, who got into some dispute with the Gongseon Family, requested our help…”
He took a sip of tea instead of alcohol and continued speaking.
“…I came to mediate.”
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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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