Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 50

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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 50
Some brothels used expensive Gu parasites on their workers.
Without the antidote provided by Haomu, the Gu would convulse inside the body and kill them.
Fortunately, she and her younger brother lacked the market value for such treatment.
Still, those who escaped and were recaptured faced certain death, and even successful escapees often found themselves drawn back to the brothel.
Having known only the life of a brothel worker her entire existence, she could never suddenly adapt to a different life.
She knew nothing of farming or merchant work.
She had never experienced a normal life at all.
She abandoned her dreams of escape.
The only thing left was to become the Master of Haomu.
In the Heterodox Faction where strength is justice, the powerful can become masters. She had managed to seize control even of Buntta, at the fringes of that world.
And then syphilis destroyed it all.
She rested her face against Muyue’s shoulder.
“Even so, that Sub-Master’s gaze was comforting.”
“Yes… I felt the same way, Sister.”
“He asked nothing of my past and offered no judgment. He simply saw me as someone to treat.”
“His eyes held only the thought of his duty.”
“Yes. Eyes that saw me as a person. I liked that lukewarm gaze. Isn’t that how ordinary people have always looked at each other?”
…
Instead of answering, Muyue gently stroked his sister Muhua’s hair.
“I hope you recover, Sister.”
“Still holding onto hope… foolish one.”
“I wish you would call me a fool even three years from now.”
“Ha ha ha, three years? Why not ask me to tease you as a fool until you’re a hundred?”
“That would be asking for too much.”
“Your greed is already showing.”
She could say no more after that.
Her throat burned with unbearable pain.
‘I spoke too much. It hurts…’
With each passing day, the pain grew more severe.
Even attempting to suppress it with inner energy proved futile.
The martial arts of the Heterodox Faction were chaotic; without pure inner cultivation, the healing benefits of orthodox techniques were impossible to achieve.
She changed her wish.
She simply hoped to survive until next year.
She knew it was greed, but this final wish was all she asked for.
* * *
The next day, her fever spiked dramatically.
Her consciousness flickered between wakefulness and delirium, torn by pain.
This must be what it felt like to have one’s limbs torn asunder.
The rash covering her entire body was the unmistakable mark of syphilis.
I placed my hand on her forehead, checking her temperature before taking her pulse.
“Doctor… do you think I can recover?”
At those words, my brow furrowed.
“….”
Syphilis progresses through distinct stages.
Stage one, where painless rashes make it difficult to even realize infection has occurred.
Stage two, where the disease fully manifests across the entire body.
Stage three comes after a dormant period that seems harmless, only for the disease to resurface.
Once it advances to stage three, gummas appear in the eyes, organs, brain, and bones.
This stage damages organs, the cardiovascular system, and nerves, causing mortality rates to spike dramatically.
Stages one and two can be treated with intramuscular injections.
At this stage, the prognosis would be favorable. But her current condition was dangerous.
‘Stage three… but there’s also the possibility it’s spread to the nervous system.’
In modern times, I would extract cerebrospinal fluid for testing, but that’s impossible here.
‘Even in stage three, if it’s not neurosyphilis, intramuscular injection should work. But if it’s spread to the nerves, that changes everything.’
Intramuscular injection alone makes it difficult for penicillin to cross the blood-brain barrier.
‘Since motor function appears normal for now, let me try intramuscular injection and observe her condition.’
If this alone brings improvement, fortunately her nerves are unaffected. But if not, I’ll need to switch to intravenous injection.
As I remained silent for a long while, Muhua thought to herself.
‘Even for a master physician, this must be difficult. An incurable disease is incurable, after all….’
Her chest ached with a sharp pain.
She thought she’d let everything go, but lingering attachment remained.
Finally, I spoke.
“I believe you’ll recover well. So let’s make an effort together.”
‘He’s different from other doctors who just sigh and shake their heads. Truly different.’
* * *
‘From here on, it’s a marathon.’
I managed the patients’ conditions and administered medication at set intervals.
For stage three patients where bacteria had invaded the organs, necrosis in the internal organs had likely already occurred.
I continued observing, prepared for any sudden changes in condition.
‘Next comes data.’
I had to continuously record the patients’ improvement and any possible side effects, preserving them as documentation.
As for myself, I couldn’t know if the penicillin from Earth and the penicillin here functioned identically.
Regardless, this is a world where qi exists.
Humans shatter rocks with bare hands and run like horses.
Those who achieve enlightenment and ascend to Wuhuadengxian become immortals, and somewhere, demons exist.
‘Will antibiotics created here truly function exactly like those on modern Earth?’
Animal trials had succeeded. But what lay ahead remained unknown.
The one who helped most was the Herb Guild Master, Manpagok.
“The progress looks good, doesn’t it?”
She released the Pharmacy Guild’s doctors to assist me at the Potion Guild.
If penicillin succeeds, we will have created an internal injury treatment that never existed before.
We could save countless lives.
“Tell me if you need anything, young Guild Master.”
“You’re always helping me more than enough.”
At my words, Manpagok broke into a warm smile.
“We’re the ones being helped. Patients are already showing improvement. I’m beginning to think we might actually be able to cure this incurable disease through human effort.”
I shook my head.
“Let’s observe a bit longer.”
“All the Medical Assistants are excited and making a fuss, yet our young Guild Master remains so strict. Ah, right. When the medicine is complete, instead of that difficult name, it would be better to change it to something easy to remember.”
I had never considered that.
“Why?”
“I don’t even know why that medicine name is so hard to remember. The other Medical Assistants feel the same way.
Yes.
What’s easy to remember is easy to use, so just name it comfortably. Hehehehe.”
She patted my back with her large palm repeatedly.
“Where did such a blessing fall from? The Guild Master certainly favors you.”
With that, she went back to work.
Processing penicillin was the Pharmacy Guild’s responsibility.
In an era without proper equipment, refining and processing while preserving medicinal efficacy was an extraordinarily difficult task.
‘Thank goodness the Pharmacy Guild exists.’
The same herb becomes medicine when used correctly, but poison when used wrongly.
Not merely the dosage, but the drying process, the decoction method, and even the compatibility between medicines could become factors that killed patients.
The Pharmacy Guild under her command worked like clockwork at this very moment.
The discipline was so sharp it was hard to imagine it being directed by someone with such a genial appearance.
Yet it was remarkable that she maintained such good rapport.
Now that she attended to her duties, it was my turn to attend to mine.
I made my rounds, continuously monitoring the patients’ conditions.
“Brother made this medicine, didn’t he?”
A young child asked while I took his pulse.
“Wait. Don’t speak.”
The child obediently closed his mouth at my words.
Congenital syphilis.
Children infected while in the womb.
It was broadly divided into early congenital syphilis and late congenital syphilis. If syphilis manifested in newborns, there was nothing to be done with the technology of this era.
The child would die.
Only occasionally, if it manifested after some growth, cases like this one emerged where the child lived fighting the disease.
But syphilis was a terrible disease.
The scars covering half his face were secondary; one of the child’s eyes was already blind, and one ear had already suffered hearing loss.
His mother had already died from syphilis, and this child came here thanks to my request.
After completing the pulse diagnosis, I asked the child.
“Have you ever learned martial arts?”
“No.”
“Then why is inner energy flowing through your dantian?”
“Huh? Inner energy?”
Once penicillin improved the child’s condition, the movement of inner energy within the body became apparent.
The child themselves had no knowledge of inner energy.
I gestured and explained.
“Well, you’ve never tried breathing in an unusual way?”
“Oh, that’s right! When the fever got really bad and hurt so much, breathing through my belly made it hurt less, so I did it like this…!”
The child eagerly demonstrated belly breathing to me.
‘Built inner strength just from this? Without even receiving instruction in the breathing techniques?’
one
“without even that?”
If that were true, this child was a genius.
I placed my hand on the child’s back and felt how the inner energy moved with each breath.
‘Is the child circulating energy through the meridians? Circulating it naturally?’
Without a master, the child was naturally circulating inner energy in harmony with breathing.
Simply accumulating inner energy might be possible one in a million times through fortunate encounters and consuming miraculous pills. But circulating that energy throughout the body was an entirely different matter.
What was even more astonishing was the child’s complete lack of awareness.
“I thought everyone did this…?”
The child tilted their head in confusion.
Due to the disfigured face, the child covered one side with hair.
When arriving here, the child had been filthy, but now after being cleaned, there was a pleasant fragrance. Yet the disfigurement remained, causing everyone to avert their gaze.
I asked.
“You said you had no name, right?”
“The Haomu men call me ‘hey.’ They also call me ‘there’ or ‘that one.’ The other children call me ‘dog’ or ‘scraps.'”
“I see…”
I furrowed my brow.
The only young child among the syphilis patients.
I had anticipated a tragic story, but hearing it was different.
“Let’s do this. I can’t leave your name as it is, so I’ll give you a proper one to write down.”
“Do as you wish.”
Though I said I would write it casually, I sat there deliberating for quite some time. Then I wrote it.
Cheonwoo—Heaven’s Blessing.
I took the first character from “Cheonwoo Shinjo,” divine providence and heavenly aid.
Given how unfortunate this child’s life had been, I wrote it with the hope that heaven would bless this child from now on.
“You are now Cheonwoo. The character for heaven and the character for blessing. It means a person blessed by heaven.”
“Wow, I like it!”
The child nodded happily.
“And if you don’t mind, would you consider living somewhere other than Haomu?”
With talent like this, he could accomplish anything as a martial artist.
But that wasn’t possible within Haomu.
“Hehe, anywhere my older brother takes me is fine with me.”
Was he starved for affection?
The child didn’t hesitate. In a way, it was only natural.
Adults had been indifferent, and children his age had beaten him. Long abuse had followed since his illness.
‘He might spread the disease,’ the other children said as they struck him.
Even after he was moved to the quarters where the sick gathered within Haomu, the violence continued.
Deep creases formed between my brows.
‘First, I’ll need permission from my Master and Haomu.’

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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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