Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 53

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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 53
“I can’t. I can’t go back until I’ve fed my grandson something.”
Of course, that was how things worked in the Gangho, but this grandmother didn’t concern herself with such matters.
I let out a sigh.
In that moment, I noticed her sleeve was stained a dark crimson.
Alarmed, I grabbed her wrist.
“You! How dare you grab an elder’s wrist!”
“Grandmother, your elbows are completely scraped! You fell coming up the stairs, didn’t you?”
“Quiet! You brat!”
Unless one had mastered martial arts, it couldn’t be easy for an ordinary grandmother to climb the Medical Hall’s stairs.
“Let me see your knees too.”
“Y-you brat?”
“Come now, just show me.”
Though she never fully revealed her knees, it was clear she’d taken quite a tumble.
And judging by the wounds on her hands, it wasn’t just one fall.
‘Carrying such heavy food too… goodness…’
She’d climbed all this way just to feed her grandson—that stone-faced boy who rarely showed his face even on the first day of spring.
I understood then.
‘It’s not about delivering the food. She just wanted to see her grandson’s face.’
If the purpose was merely to deliver food, she could have asked the Medical Clinics at the base of the mountain to pass it along.
This grandmother had simply missed her grandson terribly.
So much that she’d fallen multiple times climbing these long, steep stairs.
I spoke.
“We need to treat your injuries anyway, so please come inside.”
I planned to take her to the Bamboo Forest Hall, where we received outside visitors.
I could treat her there and then call her grandson.
‘After getting permission from Yoo Ho, the chief administrator.’
Even when exercising flexibility, I believed such matters should be handled within the rules.
The grandmother spoke.
“Judo-hwa. That’s my grandson’s name. He works at the Acupuncture Hall.”
The Acupuncture Hall was the department within the Medical Hall responsible for acupuncture and moxibustion—famous for being exceptionally busy.
I turned my back to her.
“Please, let me carry you.”
“I can walk on my own!”
“You’re bleeding quite heavily, Grandmother. I’ve indulged your stubbornness, so please listen to me this once.”
The grandmother’s frame was small enough for me to carry easily.
We’d barely taken three steps into the Medical Hall when I ran into Yoo Ho. He’d come out in a hurry—his breathing was labored.
“This person is…?”
Fearing he might turn her away, I quickly explained.
“She brought some food for her grandson to eat during the first days of spring. His name is Judo-hwa.”
“Judo-hwa?”
At those words, one corner of Yoo Ho’s brow twisted. Grandmother cried out.
“Why aren’t you going? What’s wrong?”
Yoo Ho spoke.
“…Very well, I understand. Please take good care of her.”
The usual Yoo Ho would have conducted two or three inspections, but today he seemed unusually compliant. I never expected him to add such courteous words either.
For Jin Cheon-hee, who had observed Yoo Ho’s character all this time, such behavior was utterly unthinkable.
‘Does Yoo Ho have a grandmother back home too?’
Well, since I had permission, that was enough.
Just then, a group of people were ascending from behind.
“Baekrin Uigak remains unchanged.”
Turning around, I saw people dressed as doctors speaking. However, the characters written on their chests were not those of Baekrin Uigak.
‘Hwaju Medical Sect’.
What business could Hwaju Medical Sect possibly have at Baekrin Uigak?
My gaze lingered for a moment before turning toward Jukrim-dang.
Treating Grandmother took priority.
* * *
I informed Gasol, whom I passed by, that an elderly woman had come looking for someone named Judo-hwa at the Acupuncture and Moxibustion Hall.
“I’ll pass the message along, but the Acupuncture Hall is never in one place, so it may take quite a while.”
This was the time when he would be wrestling with patients. Moreover, with the beginning of spring approaching, patient numbers were especially high.
‘The cold has broken, the weather is fine—this is when the Gangho wanderers are out fighting their hearts out.’
Unlike winter, hunting is easier, so there’s no worry about going hungry. The winds are calm, perfect for boating, and even better for martial contests.
There was no season quite so ideal for traveling.
And all those injured Gangho wanderers gathered at Baekrin Uigak for treatment.
As a result, the Medical Assistants were working themselves to death caring for the injured patients.
Among them, the Acupuncture Hall was in the highest demand.
“Grandmother, while you’re here, let me complete your full treatment.”
“That’s enough. It’ll heal on its own if you leave it alone.”
“Come now, you promised. I’ll indulge your stubbornness, so you indulge mine.”
Finding no other way, I finally resorted to my ultimate weapon—acting cute.
The smile of a noble-looking young man was enough to move Grandmother’s heart.
“You’re such a handsome, adorable thing. Fine, I surrender. You’ve won.”
“Thank you so much!”
“What are you thanking me for? I’m the grateful one. Oh my, such a pure-hearted child…”
Grandmother clicked her tongue, then retrieved candied fruits she had prepared from her cloth bundle.
Flower-shaped dough fried in honey syrup—just looking at it released a sweet fragrance.
‘Grandmother went through so much trouble to prepare these.’
I placed the candied fruit she offered into my mouth.
“Hehe.”
As I laughed like a child, Grandmother’s wrinkled cheeks trembled, as if she were thinking of her own grandchild.
“What’s your name?”
“Jin Cheon-hee.”
“You shouldn’t be so kind to people. Understand?”
Grandmother showed me her knee.
Seeing her knee, I was horrified for a long moment.
“Grandmother, didn’t that hurt?”
It was gruesome.
For an ordinary person, it looked painful enough to make them cry and collapse after falling just once.
“How long did it take you to climb back up?”
“Don’t know.”
‘This is serious. I hope her knee cartilage is alright.’
I grasped Grandmother’s knee and carefully examined whether there were any abnormalities in the bone.
Fortunately, her knee was in perfect condition, even better than an ordinary person’s.
‘How strange. She fell so severely, yet her cartilage is completely intact.’
It was odd, but fortunate. I only needed to treat the lacerated wound.
Since it wasn’t yet oozing or infected, simple treatment would suffice.
I took out a needle and pressed acupoints to attempt anesthesia.
By now, I had developed enough skill to call myself a doctor of Gangho.
If someone had known I possessed such ability after being in this world for less than a year, they would have been astonished.
“Grandmother, does it hurt?”
“Remarkable. I don’t feel anything.”
Good. I sprayed medicinal spirits I had prepared onto the wound to disinfect it.
What I then retrieved was not sutures, but adhesive paste.
‘After Wang Gak-yeon’s surgery using sutures, I became famous. But there’s no need to use them now.’
Sutures.
At first, I considered whether I should make natural sutures from cattle or sheep intestines, as ancient humans did before recorded history. However, since the main component was animal organs, there was no way to prevent infection or inflammatory responses within the body.
‘A substance harmless to the human body, maintaining 60-80% tensile strength within the body, and dissolving on its own when the time comes.’
Yoo Ho achieved that.
Spirit pills.
Spirit pills could be described as qi in material form. They exist as medicine, but when absorbed into the body, they transform into qi.
He had the Medical Assistants spin it into thread using the Metal element of the Five Elements Mystical Qi.
This was something even I hadn’t conceived of.
‘And the surgical fees increased enormously.’
What was first spun out was monofilament—a single thick strand of thread.
The surface is smooth and tissue reactivity is low, so side effects are minimal, but stability is poor. It’s also called single filament.
I improved this into multifilament.
Multifilament—
multiple thin strands of thread braided together in layers to form a single thread.
It’s sturdy enough to use as fishing line, but bacteria easily accumulate between the filaments, so cleanliness is inferior to monofilament. Moreover, braiding several layers of nearly invisible thin thread requires considerable technique.
It’s called composite thread.
While a single Medical Assistant had extracted the monofilament, refining it into multifilament required six Medical Assistants.
‘But multifilament was what we needed. I couldn’t be certain how long the tensile strength would hold, and we had to suture inflamed tissue.’
That’s what Yoo Ho had said.
Depending on which spirit material was used as the base, prices varied wildly, but he’d claimed that even the cheapest option would make it cheaper to spin thread from gold than to use it for sutures.
“Can’t you just twist them together? Baekrin Uijak is good at that, isn’t it?”
Had she heard this from her grandson? She knew quite well.
These sutures we’d created were saving countless lives even at this very moment. Yet because of this insane manufacturing process, we couldn’t use them indiscriminately.
“Are you planning to go practice martial arts or something?”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“Then this much should be fine without doing that.”
Medical expenses in this world were expensive.
Moreover, if it was a medical clinic not affiliated with Baekrin Uijak, they wouldn’t know how to remove the sutures and might not even dare touch it, or worse, some charlatan might volunteer to do it.
Surprisingly, this world was rife with unlicensed, unverified doctors. This was a consequence of medical knowledge being passed down through non-systematic means.
Things had improved somewhat since the Medical Guild was established, but there were an astounding number of quack doctors operating at levels incomprehensible to modern Korea.
This was because the system where the state verified educational quality, administered examinations, issued licenses, and enforced regulations hadn’t been established yet.
In fact, as a patient, there was no way to verify even whether a medicine was effective or not.
Fortunately, at this level, adhesive paste was sufficient to bind flesh together, and by the time the wound healed, it would naturally fall away.
Most importantly, there would be no need to visit the medical clinic again, saving money.
“Grandmother, once I apply this, you shouldn’t move around much for a while.”
The problem was that the wound was located just below the knee.
The laceration ran horizontally in a stair-step pattern.
“Can I move a little bit?”
I fell into thought.
What I had invented this time was precisely this medical adhesive paste.
For injuries like this, something was needed that could partially replace sutures.
After repeated refinements, something finally usable had been created, and thanks to the special medicinal herbs from Sachen Hall, it had quite good adhesive strength.
If it were the knee itself, that would be different, but at this location, I thought it would be fine.
‘Actually, the best thing would be if the grandson came and removed the sutures.’
But if he forgot like this time because he was busy, I worried it would weigh heavily on grandmother’s heart.
As with all worldly matters, things rarely go as planned.
I exercised the wisdom of an adult.
“Well, after you finish meeting your grandson, I’ll carry you down the stairs later. And until it’s completely healed, no climbing the Medical Hall stairs, understood? Promise me. Don’t walk for at least a day or two.”
“I understand.”
I deliberately extracted grandmother’s promise in an indifferent tone, then proceeded with the treatment lightly.
Next, I skillfully began applying dressing with bandages and gauze in practiced motions.
Grandmother watched silently as I worked.
Just moments ago, her face had been that of an ordinary grandmother. But now her eyes held a mysterious, subtle gleam.
Completely unaware of this, I continued with meticulous care.

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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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