Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 43

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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 43
As expected, the moment Yoo Ho set down the teapot, I grasped the true nature of the tea.
“Buckwheat tea.”
It promoted restful sleep and was beneficial for arteriosclerosis.
However, since it carried a cold property that could be harmful to my Master, he had compensated by adding twelve additional medicinal herbs.
Finding the coincidence almost uncanny, I shook the teapot gently.
The fragrance of buckwheat rose delicately.
Like the night sky above the Medical Hall.
* * *
“This will become a battle against time allocation.”
“Even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.”
The next day, I was able to meet my Master with a refreshed expression.
Fortunately, my Master had accepted my intentions and seemed to have slept properly that night. Yet the darkness in his expression likely stemmed from regret that he hadn’t accomplished more the previous day.
I spoke.
“One can only be busy if one is healthy enough to be busy, can’t one?”
“Only you in this world would worry so much about me, who is called the Pillar of Gangho, Hee.”
If the people of Gangho saw this, it would appear as though a fledgling were worrying over a white tiger. Such was the depth and power of Baek Rin-ui-seon’s martial prowess.
Though it was said he wouldn’t live long due to the Nine Yin Meridian Reversal, that was merely a matter of days.
Decades had passed since this news spread throughout Gangho, yet he remained alive and well, serving as a pillar supporting Gangho itself.
In a sense, I had become a shepherd boy crying wolf.
Because of this, only the Medical Assistants and a few close friends genuinely worried about my Master.
Yet even they could not directly take his pulse.
They could only hear, see, and know from a distance.
I alone directly grasped his meridians, observed what lay within, and as a physician, formulated treatment plans.
I furrowed my brow.
“Caring for patients is a doctor’s duty. If it troubles you, you need only cast me out.”
“Haha, it’s simply that I’m unaccustomed to receiving concern from others. But you truly make no compromises when it comes to matters of my health.”
“I’m concerned because you yourself seem to have forgotten about your own body.”
At that moment, Jegalling coughed dryly several times.
Fortunately, this time no blood appeared.
Jegalling spoke.
“Do not worry. I will not die until you are ready.”
“You must not die even after I am ready.”
“…Yes. I have promised not to die easily.”
Yoo Ho quietly poured tea while listening to their exchange.
It was a truly peculiar master-disciple relationship. Reflecting on his not-insignificant life, Yoo Ho had never witnessed such a bond.
For Jegalling, who had lived his entire life within his own isolated world, there had finally appeared someone with whom to share it.
It was not merely the sharing of knowledge.
It was something deeper and more profound than that.
In a world composed of black and white, I alone was a being made of a different color.
That was why Jegalling wanted to give this young man everything without reservation.
Walking through his world, what the young man demanded was simple.
Not to die easily. Under any circumstances.
For the young man, Jegalling was the first warmth he had encountered, bearing the name of master. That is why the young man refined himself all the more fiercely.
Yet even so, whether that wish could be fulfilled within time remained unknowable.
“Humans will die someday. But that doesn’t mean it has to be now.”
The young man was desperately trying to protect the world that the two of them had created.
What the outcome of that effort would be, even Yoo Ho could not know.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“We’ll need time for sleep, training time, and time to write medical texts for establishing the Potion Guild.”
“That’s not all. You’ll need time to teach others directly, and time to learn yourself as well.”
“At night, I’ll need to share knowledge with you, so that time must be set aside too.”
Jin Cheon-hee grasped a writing instrument in his hand. He had sharpened charcoal and wrapped it in a strip of cloth.
Jin Cheon-hee called it a “pencil.”
It was difficult to control pressure, so he couldn’t write in elegant script, but it was excellent for fast and accurate writing.
This “pencil” was what Jin Cheon-hee wanted to supply to the Medical Hall first.
Since there was no need to grind ink, it was easy to maintain, and it was good for quickly writing characters on bamboo tablets.
For doctors who always had to write abbreviated disease names and prescriptions, the pencil was quite a convenient tool.
“Dividing it day by day would be inefficient, wouldn’t it, Master?”
“Since it won’t be just your schedule alone, it will be even harder to manage.”
Jin Cheon-hee furrowed his brow and fell into thought.
Soon he began drawing lines across the rice paper.
Jegalling spoke.
“What if we use ten days as a cycle—five days devoted entirely to martial arts training, and the remaining five days to classes and Medical Hall duties?”
“….”
Jin Cheon-hee fell into thought. Soon he spoke thus.
“Rather than continuous five-day martial arts training, I think alternating days would be better. That would be more effective for muscle development.”
He spoke with the supercompensation curve in mind.
Health training was one of the most effective modern physical conditioning methods. There was no reason not to use it.
Jegalling spoke.
“Then while you’re training, I can assist with writing the medical texts.”
“If you would do that, my hands would be much freer.”
Due to the nature of medical knowledge, most of it was in foreign languages. Because of this, translating it into the local language in an understandable way was also a great task.
What couldn’t be substituted would have to be written phonetically as is, but still, everything that could be done had to be attempted.
The two continued filling the rice paper.
The master’s large and flowing script and the disciple’s small, angular handwriting covered the white with black.
Erasing, revising, and erasing again in repetition.
Yoo Ho continued pouring tea beside them.
Taking special care not to disturb the concentration of the two.
* * *
This is my first public training session as the leader of the Medical Hall.
My Master, the Martial Arts Guild Master, and Dokgo Junghu would all be observing this training.
While I expected my Master to attend, Dokgo Junghu’s presence was quite surprising. On the other hand, it made me nervous.
“You’ll need to perform well, Young Master.”
Before we began, Yoo Ho adjusted my training robes and collar as he spoke. I replied.
“Who wouldn’t know that? If I make a mistake, he’ll probably teach me directly through that mistake. That seems to be the Martial Arts Guild Master’s purpose, doesn’t it?”
“As expected, you grasp the deeper meaning from a single hint. It seems eavesdropping last night was worthwhile.”
His tone was as sharp as ever, but I was not one to miss his meaning.
“There’s nothing to worry about, Chief Administrator Yoo.”
“Young Master, you don’t realize how much the Four Pillar leaders covet you. They say you’re like ants between the sect and its foundation.”
“I appreciate the high regard. I thought they’d at least harbor some jealousy or envy, so I’m grateful they don’t.”
Yoo Ho responded as if exasperated.
“Does that put food on the table?”
Surprisingly, there are places where it does. Such things happen when internal politics intensify. But I simply kept quiet and smiled.
Yoo Ho spoke.
“They are people who have long borne responsibility for their patients’ lives. They’re not the type to afford the luxury of choosing their methods. If they could save even one more patient of the Medical Hall, they would do anything.”
I asked.
“In that sense, shouldn’t the Martial Arts Guild Master be different? They’re responsible for the Medical Hall’s security, not for caring for patients.”
Yoo Ho shook his head.
“If they had the martial prowess to end warriors without killing them, they wouldn’t worry about such things. The methods differ, but their concern for talent is identical to the other Medical Halls.”
‘This is interesting.’
Perhaps it was because of the world of Gangho.
Even doctors had their own code of chivalry.
They told themselves they were different from warriors. Yet what truly mattered remained unchanged.
I said.
“Chief Administrator Yoo.”
“Yes?”
“I really do like this place.”
When my true feelings emerge, casual speech slips out naturally.
Yoo Ho showed little reaction to my sudden informality.
Cute on the surface but dark inside—what else would you expect? There was nothing surprising about it.
“Like master, like disciple, they say. You like this dungeon, you say. Well, I suppose that’s fortunate.”
Yoo Ho’s expression as he spoke was complex.
“It seems my Master said something similar.”
“Yes. He said this is the only place in Gangho he finds agreeable.”
‘Hmm, though what I find agreeable is the complete opposite of what my Master does.’
It had always been that way. Jegalling and I had opposite motivations, yet we reached the same conclusions and moved forward together.
Since I didn’t dislike being told we resembled each other, I kept silent.
Yoo Ho’s hands fell away from adjusting my robes.
“They’re training clothes anyway—they’ll get wrinkled. Don’t worry too much about it.”
“Exactly. But someone up there is taking quite an interest in the matter.”
‘Good heavens, Master.’
Even the Eight Immortals couldn’t compare to this level of meddling.
Jin Cheon-hee entered the training grounds with that thought.
* * *
Yoo Ho hurled stones at me. Though they were ordinary rocks, when thrown from the hands of a master,
each
one carried tremendous force.
I evaded the attacks one by one using the Samjae Footwork.
At first, the stones came in regular patterns, but soon they began tracing erratic trajectories. Within moments, dozens of rocks filled the sky.
While not quite reaching the Thousand Blossoms Rain technique of the Sajeon Clan, the power was certainly comparable to techniques just below that level.
‘He’s never thrown like this before. Is this bastard trying to feed me to the wolves?’
If it was Yoo Ho, if it was his character, he was absolutely capable of such a thing.
I recalled the essence of the Samjae Footwork.
The Samjae Footwork utilized only three directions: left, right, and forward.
It was the most fundamental footwork technique that beginners learned. Therefore, a barrage of dozens of stones was something one would typically face only when learning the next footwork technique.
‘Damn that cunning bastard!’
I cursed with the profanity I’d learned during my internship, then moved my body.
My shoulders barely moved as my body flowed like water, slipping past each stone with graceful precision.
Watching this, Dokgo Junghu, the Martial Arts Guild Master, gasped in admiration.
“Have you reached the realm where you can unfold the essence of Flow using the Samjae Footwork?”
My Master spoke while clenching his fist tightly.
“Hehe, what’s there to be surprised about, Martial Arts Guild Master?”
The words were humble, as if it were nothing remarkable, but the tension in his fist showed no sign of easing.
I could even sense an unspoken pressure—acknowledge my disciple further, recognize this genius.
By then, I had progressed to the next stage.
Standing atop a thin wooden pole while evading incoming attacks. Dokgo Junghu questioned this.
“If you stand on a pole, wouldn’t two of the three directions in the Samjae Footwork be blocked?”
He seemed unable to grasp it.
Left, right, forward.
Wouldn’t left and right be unusable directions?
He himself could laugh off any attack while standing on a pole, but with only the Samjae Footwork, it would be different.
Only forward remained, didn’t it?

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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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