Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 532

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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 532
‘And I need to standardize measurements according to our Medical Guild’s standards.’
Taxes are assessed based on the size of fields, but if one official has long legs and pays less tax while another has short legs and pays more, that’s a problem in itself, isn’t it?
So the answer is to use the same ruler for everyone and assess equally.
As for harvest yields, they’re easy to manipulate, so that’s the only way to go.
I convert that into charts for organization, create statistics with graphs to display at a glance on walls.
Through this, I divide population production and income by region.
‘Yes, administration comes first.’
No matter how many new things we introduce, if we don’t have proper administration backing it, the wealthy end up with everything.
‘Master must have entrusted me with the position of Deputy Magistrate so I would implement this kind of virtuous governance.’
Surely he didn’t give this order just because he could keep his disciple locked away for about two years.
He must have given me this enormous task to impart a great lesson.
And so several more months passed.
“Now it’s become difficult for officials to take bribes.”
“The same goes for magistrates and other officials. Now they come running immediately when we call, and there’s no way around it.”
“I think it might be a bit too strict.”
Some guards spoke this way, while on the other hand.
“The taxes went down? How is that possible?”
“They say the taxes we paid weren’t going to the country but only filling the officials’ bellies. We paid taxes based on proper measurements, but… this amount seems sufficient to live on without hardship?”
“Ohhhhh! I must buy a wooden statue of Baek Seon-gwang today and make an offering!”
The people’s support began to rise again.
In some places, something combined with folk beliefs started gaining popularity.
“The Architectural Bureau has arrived! The Architectural Bureau under Baekrin Medical Guild has just arrived in Baekrin County!”
“The Architectural Bureau? Aren’t they the civil engineering experts who built Yeonmu City in no time?”
“Then will we get a Yeonmu City too?”
“I heard that’s not the case?”
“What? Then why did So Ui-seon call in the Architectural Bureau?”
“It’s Ilgwang. He must have some mysterious plan…”
* * *
The Architectural Bureau was established when External Chief Manager Muyue strongly advocated for it as the Baekrin Medical Guild’s influence grew, and many of the Medical Guild’s buildings came from their hands.
“So you’re saying to build public bathhouses and sewers?”
“Since they exist in Yeonmu City, it shouldn’t be too difficult. We’ve reinforced it a bit more. Since we can easily obtain volcanic ash, let’s properly do lime mortar this time.”
Greek and Roman concrete.
The fact that I’m attempting this in Gangho seems utterly insane.
‘Anyway, who would know where I got this from? I’m not some novel protagonist.’
Thinking this way, I gave instructions one by one.
‘Looking at the current terrain, even if it’s not modern style, Roman aqueducts might be… ah, this construction will take a long time. But using the hot spring terrain, public bathhouses and sewers might be possible.’
To this, I add soap distribution and cowpox inoculation.
While soap is manageable enough, I thought that transferring cattle disease to people’s bodies to prevent smallpox would certainly face opposition from anti-Baek faction scholars in the Central Plains.
“It is an order from So Ui-seon!”
“So Ui-seon said that if you do this, you’ll live a long and healthy life!”
Perhaps it was because I lowered the taxes.
Perhaps it was because I had those who exploited the commoners beaten with a cane, starting with the first Hyeon-seung.
Or perhaps it was because I treated the poor commoners for free.
I was prepared to call in an official to persuade them on my behalf if needed, but it seems that’s no longer necessary.
‘So, so that’s it. This is the will of the people…?!’
As I marveled at this, a sudden thought occurred to me.
‘Is that why the Demonic Cult and Hyeolseonggyo are thriving?’
Are these people really okay being this naive?
I’m burning with ambition to make everyone perfectly healthy, so I’m having them do these things, but is it really alright for them to follow my orders so unquestioningly like this?
When I asked Muyue about this problem, he tilted his head in confusion.
“Are you saying I should disobey the Magistrate’s orders?”
Right.
In this hierarchical pyramid society, that was naturally how things worked.
“Muyue. I’m thinking of retiring soon.”
“Sir?”
“Now that I’ve laid this foundation, I thought I could entrust the position of Deputy Magistrate to the most trustworthy among the Hyeon-seung and simply return to the Medical Guild.”
Muyue’s eyes widened slightly.
He had expected me to be stuck here for two years, or at least a year and a half, so it was surprising to see me preparing to leave with such a refreshed expression.
‘He certainly accomplished three years’ worth of achievements that ordinary magistrates would make, all by himself.’
But wouldn’t the Patriarch have expected to keep his disciple here longer?
However, Jin Cheon-hee was efficient to his core—a man who always rushed forward.
“I’ve already completed the ledgers and reports to show my Master, and I think it would be enough to visit once more before the next harvest.”
“Y-yes, I see.”
“Will the Chief Manager be coming up to Baekrin Medical Guild headquarters with me?”
Muyue’s deliberation was brief.
He answered with lightning-quick speed.
“I plan to organize the work left behind by Soggakju and then ascend slowly.”
“Understood, Muyue.”
And so a whirlwind returned to Baekrin Medical Guild headquarters.
* * *
“Has the young master arrived?”
“Hey, Yoo Ho, the place looks spotless while I was gone? Seems like you’ve been enjoying having less work.”
At my words, Yoo Ho immediately grabs my throat.
“Gack, gaaaaack!”
While choking me, Yoo Ho continues speaking.
“Recently, I’ve been sending some decent talents to Baekrin Medical Guild headquarters. I’m not sure where you deceived those poor wretches and brought them from, but thanks to that, our workload has decreased by more than thirty percent.”
I push against Yoo Ho’s arm with my hand and speak.
“Deceived them?! What kind of unscrupulous employer do you take me for? I just brought in some kids who couldn’t find jobs and were loafing around. And this is how you thank me—by choking me…? Gack!”
This damned brat.
Yoo Ho knew what he had done in Baek Rin County.
He couldn’t help but know.
Not because of the people and labor being requisitioned, but because the stories circulating about it were extraordinary.
‘Why go to such lengths?’
Yoo Ho had watched this young man since he was a boy, even before he ever held a sword.
That this child was something unusual—even a non-human could perceive it.
Yoo Ho had seen him struggle to accomplish something with half his body, struggle to learn something.
Perhaps it was because Yoo Ho was not human that he could feel it—the gaze of one standing apart, seeing through humanity with insight.
“Did you wish to become someone indispensable there as well?”
“What?”
He looked at me with a face where the arrow had struck true.
“Even if you didn’t work any harder, your master would never abandon you, would he?”
“…What nonsense is that? What do you take me for….”
….
For a moment, I hiccupped.
Yoo Ho stopped strangling Jin Cheon-hee’s neck.
In any case, a single human wouldn’t live even a hundred years before withering away.
Whether the Six-Horned Venomous Snake’s prophecy existed or not hardly mattered.
All humans die. Only an extreme few would achieve immortal ascension.
Cases like Wuying Touguai were extraordinarily rare, and Hyeolsaeng Nogoe were already beings closer to us than to humans.
Hyeolsaeng Nogoe abandoned humanity in their obsession with truth.
In a way, it was a madness only possible because they were once human.
But ultimately, the human Jin Cheon-hee was a being fundamentally different from Hyeolsaeng Nogoe.
He would be born human, live less than a hundred years as a human, and then vanish.
Even if by some chance he witnessed the ultimate of the martial way and achieved immortal ascension, becoming a celestial immortal would mean abandoning his human body, so he could no longer be called a person.
Originally, his contract was merely to protect Baek Rin’s remaining years, but because of this wretch, the contract period had extended at least twofold, if not threefold.
He clung like a leech, desperately trying to squeeze out one more thing.
‘In the end, all humans go to the same place.’
They suffer, worry, lack, yearn, fill themselves, and keep filling themselves.
Then they simply grow old and decline.
This wretch’s future was equally predictable.
And those who rush about trying to do something usually have holes in their chests, compelled to do anything rather than face the void.
They usually live in an instant and die in an instant.
‘If he dies quickly, it’ll be easier for me.’
Knowing this, I still struck the nerve—probably out of spite toward the mountain of work this wretch would bring in the future.
In other words, I jabbed him out of irritation.
No matter how strong a human appears, those like him always have unexpected weaknesses.
“I’ll be taking my leave now.”
“Yoo Ho, wait, Yoo Ho! You need to come to the research hall with me.”
“Ah, please leave me be. I’ve been assigned other duties.”
Yoo Ho said that and strode away with his tall frame.
I thought if he kept following me, I’d give him a hit and take him along, but when I looked back, he was gone.
He probably went to meet Baek Rin-ui-seon.
* * *
‘Who cares what anyone says? At my age, would I really worry about such things?’
If I become someone needed, I won’t be abandoned.
Doesn’t everyone in the world know how much my Master values his disciples?
‘I don’t need to struggle so hard—my Master already recognizes me sufficiently.’
I saved my Master’s life and made tremendous contributions to the Medical Guild.
I compiled medical texts, trained people, and performed the tasks my Master assigned so well that they became known throughout Gangho.
‘That Yoo Ho, since physical attacks don’t work, he’s trying to confuse me with psychological ones instead.’
There’s nothing I can do about it.
He’s a college student who can’t graduate, so I should be understanding.
‘Before meeting my Master, I should bathe and purify myself properly.’
Until now, he’d come to greet me from the entrance, so I only saw him looking disheveled, but it seems he’s busy now.
This is a good chance to bathe thoroughly and change into fresh clothes before seeing him.
With that, I rushed to the bathhouse, washed up, and changed into my finest clothes.
Then I gathered plenty of gifts to present to my Master and headed toward his study.
“Master! I’ve arri—huh?”
In the study, my Master was dozing with his chin resting on his hand.
This was the first time such a thing had happened.
My Master, dozing while working?
Wasn’t he always like a cool, sharp blade?
I tiptoed carefully and waited until my Master awoke.
The mountain of bamboo slips and papers piled before my Master showed just how much work he had been handling.
The tea had completely dried up, meaning he’d been working continuously without even time to drink it.
In that space where time seemed to have stopped, I waited for my Master to wake from his slumber.
I could see dust particles floating through the light.
How long had it been?
My Master’s large eyelids slowly opened.
And then.
Sensing something beside him, my Master reflexively grasped something and swung it.
It was a fan.
He was channeling wind force into the fan and releasing a powerful energy strike in one motion!
‘Ugh?! Master?’
“…!”
Jegalling’s eyes widened in surprise.
He must have thought it was an assassin, so he was even more startled to find his disciple there.
I utilized the mysteries of the Gung Shin Tan Young technique to deflect the powerful energy my Master had created with the fan.
Thwack!
The problem was that what I held in my hand was precisely a gift bundle intended for my Master.
“Ugh!”
*Crack!*
I succeeded in altering the trajectory of the energy force, but the gift bundle was utterly destroyed.

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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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