Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 524

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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 524
There’s nothing more important than the joy of eating, yet you’ve become pitiful?
‘This can’t be. Who am I? I’m someone who listens to So Ui-seon’s words!’
Once my thoughts cleared, there was only one thing to do.
“Let me see your wrist again.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s first figure out why you can’t taste anything. We can’t just dismiss it as Cheon Sal-seong’s influence. Is it a nerve problem? An inner energy problem? A tongue problem? Or something else entirely—some oriental fantasy nonsense I’m not aware of? Let’s investigate.”
“Hyeong?”
“If we can’t fix it, we find an alternative. If we can fix it, we should.”
“….”
At those words, Yeo Ha-ryun stared at me for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“This is my hyeong.”
“Yeah.”
“This is exactly my hyeong.”
Yeo Ha-ryun said so and extended his wrist.
“What do you want to eat when you’re better?”
“Tanghulu.”
He answered without hesitation.
This guy likes sweets just like Hyeon does.
Alright, I’ll make sure you recover and feed you all the delicious things in the world!
People must eat to live!
* * *
“Now, I’m going to insert an acupuncture needle into the meridian. Tell me if you feel anything.”
“I thought you’d slice open your jaw and fix the tongue with a blade. This is unexpected.”
“If necessary, I would. But this is mostly due to the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t have external injuries, no tumors growing, and you’re not undergoing radiation therapy. You said your taste fades as you grow stronger, right? Didn’t it gradually dull after you consumed the Soegooju?”
Yeo Ha-ryun’s dark eyes trace through the past.
“During that period, I only ate grain-avoidance pills, so I wouldn’t know. Hmm… I only realized it much later.”
That’s how it usually is.
When you ask patients when their symptoms started, often even they can’t pinpoint it exactly.
From here on, it’s the beginning of empirical deduction.
“Let’s try it first.”
Thunk—
I infused my inner energy into the long needle and inserted it into the back of his neck.
“….”
“Does it hurt?”
“…?”
“I stabbed quite hard, but you feel nothing?”
“Not at all.”
Hmm. I thought it was a result of Cheon Sal-seong’s constitution expanding with the Cheonma Divine Art, but perhaps that’s not it.
However, from a Western medical perspective, Yeo Ha-ryun is in perfectly good health.
“Try eating some salt first.”
Yeo Ha-ryun did as his brother suggested.
“Nothing at all.”
“Really? Wait a moment.”
I shifted the acupoint and inserted a few more needles. Yeo Ha-ryun watched with suspicious eyes.
“Brother. This symptom won’t be resolved by something as simple as this experiment… huh?”
Did he feel something? After tasting salt a few more times, he spoke.
“It’s salty.”
“Yes!”
“So I’m completely cured?”
“No. I’m only temporarily restoring your sense of taste through the flow of vital energy. Once you circulate the Cheonma Divine Art again, it will return to normal.”
“Can’t you make it permanent?”
“The advantage of the Five Elements Divine Art is that it adjusts vital energy to match the opponent’s inner energy nature, so no matter how different inner energies mix, it doesn’t cause demonic cultivation deviation. That’s why it’s suitable for medicine. But if my vital energy were to remain permanently, it would eventually clash, wouldn’t it?”
“So that’s what demonic cultivation deviation means.”
As expected of the protagonist.
His comprehension is faster than anyone else’s.
“Right. If you become Hyeongyeong in the future, or undergo complete rebirth, it could be resolved. But for now, this temporary measure is all I can do. So… um…”
All I can do is smile as brightly as possible. This situation.
“Before you lose your sense of taste again, what do you want to eat? Oh, you said you wanted candied fruit skewers? Besides that, what else would you like?”
* * *
I cooked all day long.
After today passes, he’ll lose his sense of taste again, and I wanted to feed him everything he could eat before that happened.
Yeo Ha-ryun ate everything I gave him without refusing even once.
And finally…
“Brother. I can’t eat anymore.”
“Why?”
“I’m full.”
Ugh, has he reached his limit?
Jin Cheon-hee clicked his tongue.
“I made a variety of small portions, but it filled up so quickly.”
“…Brother, the amount you fed me was absolutely not small.”
R-really?
With reluctance, the last thing I brought out was candied fruit skewers made from small persimmons.
“Again?”
“Ah, no, I prepared this as a dessert for after you’re full. Eat it slowly.”
At those words, this good younger brother couldn’t say a word of refusal and accepted it to eat.
“You’re so good.”
At that, Yeo Ha-ryun lets out a soft laugh.
“If you want to eat something delicious again, come find me. Though it might be too far to visit.”
“Mm.”
“Or come by if there’s a mission nearby.”
“Hyeong.”
“What?”
Crack—
The sugar coating shattered, releasing a stream of golden persimmon juice.
Yeo Ha-ryun quickly popped it into his mouth, savoring the sweetness of the sugar coating mingled with the crisp freshness of the persimmon.
He doesn’t realize that after today passes, I’ll have to live on with just this memory.
After a moment, as if I’d made a decision, I opened my mouth.
“Now only the truly strong remain in our sect.”
“Right, that would be the case. Even though Heukun has declined, the fact that it’s now his turn to be dealt with means all those weaker than him have already been culled.”
“Yes. Before, I thought if I brought you to the Demonic Sect, that would be enough. I believed my strength would be sufficient to protect you, and you’re strong too.”
“And?”
“Now I’ve realized… that you go first, without waiting for others to come find you.”
“Haha.”
Crunch—
I bite into the tanghulu again, closing my eyes to savor it.
Etching it into memory.
Hyeong won’t understand this act. It doesn’t matter.
“With your personality, you’d go one by one to find those injured in the sect or those who’ve torn their own bodies apart from demonic cultivation, trying to determine the cause of what happened. You’d save many, but the Demonic Sect operates by laws different from the Gangho. Hyeong.”
And another bite.
Crunch—
Why does the tanghulu disappearing feel so regrettable, even though I’m full.
“In the end, whether I protect or don’t protect doesn’t matter. Everything lies in the palm of the Cheonma’s hand. The sect moves at her whim. So it’s an arrogant judgment.”
“She will ascend.”
“Yes. It’s what everyone desires. Isn’t it strange? The Cheonma is clearly the Leader, a living Demon, and a semi-divine being, yet everyone only wishes for her ascension.”
“….”
Heukun’s final words came to mind.
No matter what one does, no matter how much one struggles.
Before the Cheonma, it’s all meaningless.
Yeo Ha-ryun spoke.
“It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t ascend. I’ll surpass her anyway.”
“You could do it now.”
“Hm? I thought you’d tell me to stop spouting nonsense.”
‘Because I know you’re the protagonist.’
I also know how strong Yeo Ha-ryun becomes in the Jicheon Cheonma.
Crack—
I finally chewed and swallowed the last persimmon.
“….”
Yeo Ha-ryun closed his eyes and savored the final piece once more.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke to him.
“You will one day seize the Demonic Cult. And you will become the Supreme Leader.”
“Hyeong, you never doubt anything, do you?”
“It’s not belief. It’s knowledge.”
Then he patted his younger brother on the back.
“Whenever you want to eat something delicious, come by. When times get hard, come anytime. If things get dire, your older brother will protect you.”
“Mm.”
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded. Then he kept his eyes closed for a long while.
* * *
Before Yeo Ha-ryun left.
He spoke about the elixir that Jin Cheon-hee had consumed.
“Is it perhaps a secret elixir of the Demonic Cult?”
“Not at all. It’s a secret elixir supposedly created by the Jeonjin Sect in the past.”
A thing called the Longevity Pill, which doesn’t particularly aid inner energy cultivation.
“Then what does it do?”
“You’ve probably already guessed, but it’s an elixir with the power of a divine technique of the highest caliber for recovering inner energy and healing wounds. It’s now lost and can never be obtained again, but it’s famous for being so effective it can even revive the dead.”
“Hmm.”
Hearing this, I clenched and unclenched my left arm.
‘Could that be why the pain has lessened?’
Before I lost consciousness, I could wield the poison freely, but that pain was beyond my control.
Moreover, since Geumcheon-gun had focused his attacks on my left arm, the wound had only deepened.
I had even resolved to accept it for the rest of my life.
‘Yet such fortune has come to pass.’
Yeo Ha-ryun stared intently.
“Did you bring it properly?”
“Yes. Though I doubt that was your intention.”
The Longevity Pill of the Jeonjin Sect combined with the effects of the precious jade had significantly reduced the pain in my left arm.
True healing would require either undergoing a complete rebirth to become boneless, or simply avoiding combat intense enough to strain the body. But I don’t possess the skill to shed my bones like a snake.
Nothing in human affairs goes as one wishes.
“Thank you. Ha-ryun. I’m truly grateful. Here, wait a moment. I prepared something too.”
Saying this, I carefully handed over a small candy.
“Hm? Hyeong. It seems you’ve forgotten something…”
“It’s an extremely spicy candy.”
He just stared as if questioning what that had to do with anything.
“Well, so even if you lose your sense of taste again, you’ll still be able to feel this. Of course it won’t taste good, but if you can sense it at all, then… it should be fine.”
Usually taste blindness comes with the loss of smell.
Taste doesn’t come solely from the tongue’s sensation.
Strangely, Yeo Ha-ryun can detect blood scent or poison scent, yet selectively cannot smell ordinary food flavors. So I can only accept it as ‘Well, this is a malady of martial arts novels, and Cheon Sal-seong possesses the constitution of a martial arts novel protagonist.’
Still, shouldn’t a person do whatever they can?
“I’ve sealed both of them away, so eat them when your heart feels empty. If you want to feel something, that is.”
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded, then spoke with surprising seriousness.
“What I ate yesterday should be enough to last a year.”
“You’re not eating food—you’re living off the memory of having eaten.”
I couldn’t begin to imagine how difficult that must be, being an ordinary person myself.
Still, I’ve done everything I can as a doctor.
“Both my brother and I have our ailments, and we’ll need to grow stronger to recover.”
In a way, Cheon Sal-seong’s condition is also an illness.
‘But not having the Boneless Body isn’t an illness, is it?’
Somehow, being an ordinary person without the Boneless Body feels rather pitiful.
If I hadn’t pushed my body to such extremes, or if my progress in mastering techniques had been even slightly slower, I might have lived my entire life without knowing. That’s the truth of it.
Though my nature might have caused me to live a shorter life anyway. But there’s nothing to be done about that.
“Right, right. Let’s head up.”
“Brother, are you still playing the pipa well?”
“Yes. Not often, but when the mood strikes, I take it out. I’m using the one you sent me well. It’s a stone pipa, so the sound is quite clear.”
Though I’ve used it more for hitting people than performing, but let’s keep that a secret.
“Mm….”
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded, seemingly satisfied.
Reluctant to leave, he simply remained seated for a while longer.
Then, as if he’d made a decision, he rose to his feet.
“I’m glad I could save my brother in time. I’m glad we met like this.”
“Yes.”
This one is like lightning—always brief and intense.
And without doing anything extraordinary, he transforms much in an instant.
“Live well, brother.”
“You too, take care of yourself.”
Without any signal from me, Yeo Ha-ryun’s subordinates were already waiting outside, and one of them wearing a mask nodded to me.
‘Ah, it’s Ilkana.’
I was about to speak to her, but she raised her index finger to her lips.
A signal that greetings were unnecessary.

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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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