Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 537
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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 537
“Cheonwoo!”
“Hyeong! Wow, so I can see you because we’re heading to the Yongbong Conference.”
Cheonwoo’s eyes brightened.
“Yes. Were you on your way to the Yongbong Conference after your martial travels?”
“Yes, yes.”
“This time Sama-hye came with me. You two know each other, right?”
Sama-hye hesitated slightly as she exchanged greetings.
“I am Sama-hye, Bundata Master of the Baekrin Medical Institute’s Hangzhou branch.”
“Ah, well… there’s no need for such formality, Miss Sama-hye. It’s a pleasure to meet you like this.”
“…”
Sama-hye didn’t respond, only her face flushed red.
Only then did I realize.
Her gaze was fixed once again on Cheonwoo’s muscles.
His martial robes, stained with blood and torn from intense combat training, couldn’t conceal Cheonwoo’s physique.
His massive pectoral muscles, biceps, and minor pectoral muscles—belonging to a man over eight feet tall—gleamed and sparkled unguarded beneath the sunlight.
‘Hmm, Cheonwoo… I need to get him new clothes. Before we arrive at the Yongbong Conference…’
Cheonwoo was destined never to marry, yet he was even captivating women’s hearts as he went. Wasn’t that also a sin?
The precepts of the Mudang sect were strict, and breaking them now wouldn’t be easy.
But if it came to that, as his older brother, I’d support him however I could.
Sure enough, Sama-hye quickly averted her gaze.
“I-I’m sorry. Master Cheonwoo. I was being rude…”
“No, it’s fine. Usually people are frightened when they see my face first, but you weren’t, so I’m actually rather relieved.”
Ah, that’s right.
Usually people look at the face first.
“Anyway, Cheonwoo. Do you have spare clothes? I can mend them for you.”
“Oh, no! Hyeong! I’m good at mending clothes too. And…”
Cheonwoo trailed off awkwardly.
“…all my clothes are torn. Even the white silk robe you sent me before eventually got torn.”
“…I see.”
The Mudang sect was certainly characterized by soft and graceful martial forms through the principle of gentleness overcoming strength.
So why was Cheonwoo’s martial style displaying such overbearing brutality that even the heterodox sects paled in comparison?
Sama-hye tried hard not to look below Cheonwoo’s neck out of embarrassment and apology, while I was beginning to worry that she might strain her neck.
‘I need to get him new clothes quickly.’
* * *
I took Cheonwoo to what was known as the best martial robes tailor in a mid-sized city near the Martial Arts Alliance.
It was a fabric shop where skilled craftsmen who had made martial robes for numerous warriors had gathered.
“Let’s use as much fabric as possible, Cheonwoo.”
“Hyeong…”
“Don’t worry about money. Your older brother has enough to buy his younger brother new clothes.”
Cheonwoo gazed at me with slightly moved eyes.
It was only natural.
Cheonwoo was a Swordsman.
Though he abstained from meat and lived on vegetables, his consumption was like that of an elephant, so his food expenses never ceased.
The silver coins given by the Mudang Sect had already been spent during his wandering martial training.
Even taking on odd jobs like escort requests, it must have been difficult for him to cover his food expenses.
‘It’s different from the Sega’s leisurely travels.’
Moreover, since Cheonwoo didn’t have a family to send money to, and he absolutely refused to ask me for help, insisting on managing alone, he must have endured his wandering martial training in even tighter circumstances.
Deep scars were etched across every corner of Cheonwoo’s muscular body.
It was proof of how intense his wandering martial training had been.
While fitting his clothes, I took his pulse and treated him.
“At least there were no fatal wounds.”
“Yes. I defended properly.”
“That’s fortunate.”
I stayed leisurely for several days like that.
Making clothes in this era was different from buying clothes at a modern shop and leaving.
You brought appropriate fabric and took measurements directly to create the garment.
Without a factory system, most clothes inevitably became custom-made.
There was a reason weaving became profitable.
In this era without steam engines, those with weaving skills always earned well.
And since sewing was also involved, even contract sewing was possible?
If that skill was exceptional enough that nobles entrusted all their clothes to you?
You could feed three generations.
Moreover, a specialized place dealing with such martial artists earned money just by breathing.
I ordered the sturdiest cotton fabric and commissioned five martial robes.
While waiting, I decided to make Cheonwoo’s eye patch with Sama-hye.
“You’re quite skilled at leather sewing, aren’t you? Hye-a. This requires considerable hand strength.”
“Ah, the sensation of the needle piercing through is fun. I’ve made many leather figurines too.”
So we went back and forth, making Cheonwoo’s eye patches in different colors.
And after feeding him delicious meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The ‘mad Sapa martial master’ in torn clothes covered in the enemy’s blood had become a ‘wealthy Sapa martial master.’
It was thanks to being well-fed and well-bathed.
And on the day the long-awaited clothes arrived.
“Cheonwoo. This time I asked the workshop to enlarge the Mudang Sect’s yin-yang symbol, didn’t I? Let’s look at it together.”
With a solemn expression, I took out the martial robe.
On the back was embroidered a massive yin-yang symbol.
It was the result of all the master craftsmen in the workshop putting their heads together to brainstorm how to make this look ‘orthodox.’
The massive yin-yang on the back was the Mudang Sect itself, even from a distance.
“Brother….”
Was it my imagination that Cheonwoo’s voice trembled slightly?
“Cheonwoo, try this on. With these clothes, people won’t run away from you.”
Cheonwoo eagerly donned the new dark-colored Taoism sect robes.
He then wrapped the new headband around his forehead and stood before Sama-hye.
“How do I look, Miss Sama-hye?”
“….”
Sama-hye was relieved that her gaze didn’t drift to Cheonwoo’s chest.
When she lifted her eyes, there stood a sect master with a neat impression.
‘Ah… Eun Gong must have trimmed his hair a bit too.’
Certainly, he looked somewhat cleaner now.
But a man with a lanky frame wearing neat dark robes.
To emphasize his affiliation with the Taoism sect, a massive yin-yang symbol gleamed in embroidery.
‘…A con artist…?’
She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud. Sama-hye’s pupils trembled noticeably.
“Much more impressive!”
“Right? Truly befitting an older brother.”
“Yes. How should I put it? There’s a sense of breaking the mold of a typical swordsman. There’s even a wild charm(?) about it. And I feel a certain freedom(?) not bound by the yin-yang symbol.”
Sama-hye made an effort not to lie.
After all, if you look at anything positively enough, it becomes positive.
“Plus, you’re so handsome that your bold impression really shines through!”
“Haha, you’re too kind.”
It was a secret that she could never say he looked “clean and refined.”
“Brother! Thank you!”
“Good. Cheonwoo! This works. Now everyone will recognize your sect affiliation!”
Cheonwoo and I embraced.
Because of my younger brother’s massive frame, my body was buried and barely visible, but it was a happy moment nonetheless.
And that happiness lasted until the Martial Arts Alliance’s gate keeper saw Cheonwoo’s identification tablet and couldn’t believe it, asking how on earth he could be from the Taoism sect—wasn’t this the Demon Sect’s Minor Sect Leader in hiding?
Until just before that moment, we were happy.
Just until that very moment.
* * *
“To suspect someone even after seeing the Baekrin Medical Institute’s flag—that’s too much!”
Honestly, wasn’t that going too far?
Why were they only targeting Cheonwoo like this?
Cheonwoo burst into laughter.
“It’s fine, brother. At least I was happy for a while. And the robes you gave me are really wonderful.”
“Let me adjust your collar again, Cheonwoo.”
His collar kept coming loose.
Even the Outlaw King Mok Dam-hwa had his collar constantly opening, which was embarrassing, and now Cheonwoo was doing the same.
‘Does this happen naturally when someone has a large frame? No, Master keeps his collar properly fastened. Is it a belt issue? Should I get him a new belt?’
While I was worrying as an older brother,
many talented newcomers had already arrived at the Martial Arts Alliance, drinking and bonding with each other, exchanging blows in corners, and passing the time.
They too had seen the Baekrin Uiseon’s flag.
“Ah, it seems So Ui-seon has arrived.”
“So Ui-seon? You mean Ilgwang? That Ilgwang who forbids patients from drinking alcohol?”
“That’s right. The Hwaju Medical Institute actually recommends moderate drinking as medicine.”
“Hah, this person. Don’t you know that Baekrin Uiseon is superior in treatment? What’s so important about a little alcohol?”
“Such a man without refinement. What’s left of a martial artist if you take away their drink?”
These bickering voices reached my ears as well.
“Since the talk keeps getting louder that Baekrin Uiseon is the greatest medical institute in the world, the Hwaju Medical Institute has finally come too. The Martial Arts Alliance ultimately conceded and decided to request treatment from both medical institutes.”
Sama-hye’s eyes gleamed at those words.
She whispered.
“Eun Gong, will the Hwaju Medical Institute people also participate?”
‘Yes. Their fists are faster than their words, Hye-a. But there’s no way Jang Mun-in would participate in something like this, and it’ll probably just be some low-ranking doctor from a martial family… Getting to beat them up might not be so bad after all.’
Suddenly, I recalled the old days when I used to be angry because of the Hwaju Medical Institute.
Not fighting them is worse.
“Either way, I can’t stand to see Baekrin Uiseon lose to the Hwaju Medical Institute! Eun Gong!”
“You’ve had quite the experience, Hye-a.”
“Yes. In the blink of an eye, they took everything, even the dandelion roots?”
“Hahaha.”
I never thought there’d be a Bundata Master who’d go that far, but it was Hye-a. Oh my!
“Still, the people of Hangzhou helped us a lot, so we managed to get through the crisis. There were even people who went back to gathering medicinal herbs because of me.”
She’d created her own network. That’s Sama-hye for you.
At Baekrin Uiseon’s main headquarters, when martial artists who used to work as spies in the past wanted to retire, we’d arrange herb-gathering work for them like this.
Even if they build a thatched hut in the mountains, it’s extremely rare for them to go all the way to a hermitage completely isolated from civilian areas.
In any case, humans need clothes and food to survive.
No matter how much you hunt bears and roughly wrap their hides around yourself, you still need farming to spin thread for sewing.
And when you think about salt and spices for food, it’s still better to live near a village.
So they usually end up living in slash-and-burn farming villages, and money becomes an absolute necessity.
When I explained this, Sama-hye said in surprise.
“That’s impressive, Eun Gong.”
“My Master was already doing this, but I systematized it while running the training grounds and Pyo Guk. However, it’ll be difficult in Hangzhou.”
“Yes. Hangzhou is fundamentally a bustling place, and you’d have to walk quite far to reach the slash-and-burn farming villages.”
“Right. So in the end, Hangzhou’s Bunta needs to find its own method. Have you at least requested help from nearby Buntas?”
“Yes. We received some help. But it still wasn’t enough.”
“I see. Even the medicinal herbs used at Hangzhou Bunta’s first branch barely last, so there’s not much room to help others.”
Sama-hye laughed. Very brightly.
“Eun Gong. I really love this kind of thing. Competition where both sides bash their heads together until one shop survives—I’ve always admired that since long ago.”
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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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