Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 557

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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 557
I arrived at Yao Zhen, one of the coastal cities in the eastern part of Jiangsu Province.
Yao Zhen was a port city and coastal settlement that also served as a naval base.
The city was well-established, with most of its population depending on commerce or fishing.
“We’re planning to board a ship from here.”
Woof?
“I’m not deceiving you—I really will ride you when we get to the North Sea Ice Palace.”
Whine.
“Should I cook some fish for you?”
Woof!
As I coaxed Hwang-gu and approached the city gate, a soldier suddenly grabbed me.
“Are you perhaps Magistrate Jin Cheon-hee of the Baekryeon Divine Physician?”
“Hm? How do you know of me…?”
“That’s correct!”
At the soldier’s voice, figures in pitch-black robes burst forth from the shadows. The masks they wore and their strange auras were unmistakable.
‘The Dongchang…?’
Why would they be waiting here for me?
Bewildered, I stared blankly at them, when the Dongchang member wearing the most ornate mask spoke.
“Magistrate Jin Cheon-hee, disciple of the Divine Physician of the Medical Kingdom, receive the Imperial Decree!”
‘What on earth…?’
Though sudden, I instinctively knelt and showed proper respect.
“Long live His Majesty! Long live! Long live!”
The Dongchang member unrolled the scroll and read through its contents.
“Eunwang is gravely ill—depart for the palace immediately!”
Eunwang?
Eun Wang-ya?
As my face went pale, the Dongchang member carefully rolled up the scroll again.
“Thus it has been decreed. You must depart for the Imperial Palace with haste.”
The booming voice from moments ago had vanished, replaced by utmost courtesy.
“But… I… I’m supposed to be heading to the North Sea Ice Palace…”
My response was flustered for someone receiving an Imperial Decree. But this wasn’t some surprise party—it was more like a surprise kidnapping!
And why did this have to happen now?
And Eun Wang-ya is ill? But when I last took his pulse, he was in perfect health?
A relapse? Could it be… cancer recurrence?
As my head spun, the Dongchang member spoke to me.
“We shall arrange your passage to the North Sea Ice Palace afterward, so please have no concerns.”
Thus I boarded the military vessel the Dongchang member had prepared.
‘Wow… I… never saw this coming.’
I had been directly abducted to the Imperial Palace.
* * *
‘What on earth is this? What’s happening?’
I threw up a million question marks, but no answers came forth.
I desperately prayed to anyone I could grab—the heavens and earth, Allah, God, the saints, the Father, Buddha, Apollo, Shamash, Odin, Hastur—begging that it wasn’t metastasis.
After all, medicine in this era had its limits.
If it had metastasized, there was no solution.
‘Based on my last pulse diagnosis, it didn’t seem like it would happen, but that’s just an inference from my experience. The human body doesn’t bend to a doctor’s will.’
I was out of my mind until I arrived, but the moment I reached the imperial palace, I went straight to Eun Wang-ya.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Your wrist, please.”
“Yes, of course.”
After taking his pulse once.
“…Your health is normal.”
“Mm. I guessed right.”
They say a ruler is shameless.
Here he was, brazenly declaring a false illness with a straight face.
“Ah, ahhhhh…”
The tension drained from me and I collapsed into a squat. I had no strength left. Why was this man like this?
“Do you find it amusing to toy with your doctor this way?”
“Mm. It wasn’t for amusement, but seeing your reaction… it is rather entertaining. Shall I try it again?”
“Please replace your physician.”
“Ah, where would I find another doctor like you?”
Replace me, change physicians, you insufferable man! This was too much!
A thousand thoughts swirled in my mind.
“Well, now that I know Your Majesty’s health is robust, I shall take my leave. Your Majesty, or rather, Your Imperial Highness. Ah… never mind. I’m going.”
As Jin Cheon-hee said this and turned to leave, he spoke.
“Wait a moment. Though I did feign illness, there is a legitimate reason for it.”
“…”
“Would you hear it?”
Jin Cheon-hee stopped in his tracks.
“It sounds like it will be terribly bothersome.”
“Hehehehe, only my physician speaks to me like that. Come, sit here.”
I reluctantly took a seat at his gesture.
As if he’d been waiting, he snapped his fingers and attendants began piling food before me like mountains.
Luxurious imperial delicacies displayed their splendor. Among the common snacks, the fried potatoes stood particularly magnificent.
Had he been eating them continuously since I taught him the recipe?
‘He’s truly on a culinary journey.’
Well, given his pulse was so robust, what did it matter?
Crunch—
The crispy exterior of the fried potato shattered in my mouth, and the fluffy interior tumbled onto my tongue.
“Do you know that in the frozen wastes where the North Sea Ice Palace resides, there actually exists a kingdom called Aisha?”
“Yes, I’m aware of it from the maps.”
“Yimung is importing an enormous amount of ondol from there, isn’t it?”
“Well….”
He was right. The Aisha Kingdom was also importing ondol at a staggering rate.
Perhaps it was a matter of survival.
I’d heard that ondol was spreading with tremendous momentum.
“While you’re at it, establish a friendly treaty with the Aisha Kingdom.”
“I’m not an envoy, Your Majesty.”
“I heard their prince suffers from pulse obstruction. If you cure that, they’ll become our allied neighbors, so there’s no need to worry.”
“…Wait, is pulse obstruction really this common?”
Eun Wang-ya answered nonchalantly to that.
“If it were a different illness, I would have sent another doctor. But when it comes to pulse obstruction, no one can match the Medical Guild’s skill. And Baek Rin-ui-seon would never listen to my orders anyway. He’d immediately claim he’s too ill to go and disappear.”
Suddenly, I could picture my Master raising his middle finger with that dog-like expression.
“Well… Master isn’t exactly an easy person to deal with, is he?”
“Exactly why I’m using a less easy-going disciple instead.”
‘Ah, this bastard! Just because you’re the King?!’
For three seconds, I seriously considered grabbing those annoying cheeks and staging a coup d’état.
Were the Emperor’s cheeks somehow more durable than anyone else’s?
“Haha, of course I don’t intend to use you for free. And… don’t forget. I desperately want to officially hire you as the Imperial Physician, but my sister is blocking it.”
That was true.
The reason Gold and Silver Wang-ya’s purse remained closed was because Ju Wang had declared she would block my path to advancement as repayment for Gu Myeong-ji-eun’s favor.
I couldn’t understand how a debt of gratitude was repaid by blocking someone’s career, but that was how it was.
“I’ll give you a decent reward.”
“What will you give me?”
Eun Wang-ya only laughed instead of answering the grumbling Jin Cheon-hee.
I was debating whether to pry further out of curiosity.
“The management of Baek Rin County is quite impressive. I’ve heard the current situation.”
The skill of subtly changing the subject was professional. Was this the level an Emperor had to maintain?
“Particularly, I heard the infant mortality rate has dropped to one-thirtieth compared to other regions. Not only that, but since Baek Rin County was established, tax revenue has increased by thirty percent, security has greatly improved, and the number of farmers immigrating from other regions has surged dramatically.”
He fell into thought before asking.
“How did you manage such a feat?”
“You must have already received the documentation.”
“Right, you organized it neatly and submitted it.”
“I simply improved water management through civil engineering, had the office workers do some fieldwork, forced everyone to use soap, and implemented mandatory smallpox vaccination.”
Ah, even thinking about it again thrilled me.
This was power.
To make everyone wash their hands.
Jin Cheon-hee became naturally happy.
“And I unified weights and measures as well.”
“That’s the foundation of taxation anyway.”
How does it make sense for taxes to be determined by the length of an administrator’s legs?
Moreover, since precision is required for such measurement-based civil engineering, the standards of weights and measures must be properly aligned.
And so we exchanged such talk about Baekrin County back and forth, while Eun Wang-ya listened with her chin resting on her hand, her expression grave.
“The thing is, this works precisely because Baekrin County is a size I can still manage. If it grew any larger, administrative gaps would emerge here again.”
“That would be true.”
“I simply do what I can. Only as far as my hands can reach.”
At those words, Eun Wang-ya let out a small laugh and then gazed at Jin Cheon-hee for a long moment.
“You always say the same thing.”
Jin Cheon-hee scratched his cheek.
Eun Wang-ya is difficult to face.
Perhaps it’s because of the secret surrounding her birth, but that subtly enigmatic attitude of hers makes one all the more anxious.
‘Sigh, and yet I cannot ask about the secret of her birth.’
If this were Jin Cheon-hee living only one life, I would have opened that Pandora’s box.
Curiosity killed the cat, they say.
Even the cat would have opened it, resolved to die for the sake of knowing.
‘But now, my daily life has become far too precious.’
Even if there are things I don’t know, even if my daily life is perhaps covered in lies and pretense.
What does it matter?
An adult has no intention of letting go of what they hold in order to learn something new.
“I shall perform the pulse diagnosis for you.”
“Wow, you really won’t ask. How resolute. Truly resolute.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but since I’m here, let me do it!”
“You really won’t ask? Normally people are dying of curiosity, aren’t they? About who your birth mother is, things like that.”
Ugh, I can’t hear you. I’m not listening!
Whether your blood and mine are connected or not. What business is it of mine!
As Jin Cheon-hee openly showed refusal, Eun Wang-ya’s eyebrows twitched.
‘This fellow.’
Surely burning with curiosity, yet stubbornly refusing to ask until the end—the sight of it irritated her.
If he were a royal of turbulent times, perhaps. But isn’t he a royal of peaceful times?
An opportunity for social advancement. It’s not for nothing that street gossip endlessly wrings out such tales.
With such a secret of birth right before his eyes, this doctor fellow keeps his mouth shut and shakes his head in refusal.
“Do you think you’re a nephew? Or perhaps a younger brother?”
“Ugh, what an outrageous thing to say. Your Majesty!”
Thump!
“Ow! My forehead, my forehead!”
“Let me say it again. Since I’m here, let me perform the pulse diagnosis and be on my way.”
With his face flushed red, Jin Cheon-hee huffed indignantly and stuck his fingers between his lips one by one as if memorizing something.
* * *
No, why do you keep trying to open the gate?
‘I’ve already settled this. Let’s be strangers!’
Jin Cheon-hee ordered the punishment while thinking to himself.
‘Rather than becoming Pung Cheon-hee, I’d beg Master to let me just stay as Jegalling!’
When Master eventually holds a wedding ceremony and even has an heir, he planned to somehow persuade him that he would become Jin Cheon-hee again at that time, so there was no need to worry, and Master could even remove him from the family register if needed.
‘What if Master says it’s impossible because of the Jegallim Family’s hidden circumstances?’
Ugh, since he knew nothing of the Jegallim Family’s secrets, it was difficult to speculate. He only knew they were deep and dark.
He only knew that Master’s feelings toward the family were far from ordinary.
Other families decorated so grandly on memorial days, but Master simply lit a single incense stick on the anniversary and that was it.
Especially the tablet of the previous Gaju—Master didn’t even clean it himself, having Yoo Ho do it instead.
Not completely forgotten, yet unable to be discarded either—something in between.
I knew. I did know.
Still, I was Master’s only disciple.
Master wouldn’t let me be dragged away to the imperial palace, would he?

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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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