Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 56

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 56
My master spoke.
“Can you take his pulse?”
I clenched my teeth.
From his expression, it was clear my master also believed amputation was necessary. He was simply checking his disciple’s opinion one last time.
I used the Five Elements Divine Skill to examine the internal condition.
Pure water-attributed inner force flowed into the patient’s body.
Soon, my eyelids slowly opened.
“We can save the leg.”
“What, what did you say!?”
The Hwaju Medical Sect members cried out in shock. They quickly clasped their fists and spoke urgently.
“Your Highness, you must not fall for the cunning schemes of Baekrin Uigak trying to take credit.”
Yoo Ho spoke.
“Did you just call it cunning?”
“How is it not cunning to claim you can save a patient without amputation when amputation is the only way to save them!?”
Ju Wang fell into thought, then asked me.
“Can you truly save the leg?”
I said.
“My master would share my assessment. With Baekrin Uigak’s medical techniques, we can save it. Though I cannot guarantee absolute success.”
From taking the pulse, the patient’s condition was a Grade 3 open fracture, contaminated wound, and severe muscle damage.
The bone fragments were severely misaligned, needless to say.
One fortunate thing—the artery remained relatively intact without major damage. However, this remained an extremely dangerous operation.
The Prince should have been delirious from extreme pain, yet he still endured.
It was an incredible display of willpower that defied modern understanding.
“You see! He says it’s uncertain! This is a sinister plot using his disciple.”
‘Sinister plot? What nonsense!’
Then Jegalling grasped my shoulder.
He looked down at me gently.
‘Leave it to me, Cheon-hee.’
His actions spoke those words.
Jegalling said.
“No Medical Guild would dare scheme against the renowned Ju Wang. Your Highness, the decision is yours. Amputation will certainly save his life. However, he would never use his legs again. To save them, you must take a risk.”
“….”
“But if successful, though it may be difficult, he could dance again as he once did.”
The Prince spoke.
“Your Highness… please… I beg you. You must not cut off my leg.”
“Rang-rang….”
“Rather than lose my leg, please take my life instead.”
“Rang-rang… how can you speak such words to me? It seems so cruel. How can you say such things about me….”
“….”
The Prince did not answer.
He merely stared at the ceiling.
“Cruel. Wicked. Tearing my heart to shreds like this….”
“Your Majesty….”
“Throughout your life, you have never asked me for anything. I tried to give you countless treasures of gold and silver, yet you never accepted them.”
“This is my only request….”
“So this is the first and only request Langlang has ever made of me.”
She stroked the Prince’s head.
After a moment, as if she had made her decision, she spoke.
“Cut it off.”
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! I would rather you kill me! Your Majesty! Ugh!”
In that moment, the Prince rose from his bed. But the intense pain made him cry out, and he nearly fell from the mattress.
Ju Wang rushed forward and caught him in her arms.
Her touch was impossibly gentle, as if she were cradling the most precious glass bead in the world.
“What are you asking of me! Langlang! I cannot abandon you. No matter how much this is your only request, I cannot grant it!”
Ju Wang laughed like someone who had lost their mind.
A heavy atmosphere pressed down upon the Medical Hall. A powerful weight filled the air, so overwhelming that no one could utter a single word.
After a moment, Ju Wang opened her mouth as if she had made a decision.
“There is no other way. Even if I die, how could I refuse when he makes such a request? Do not cut it off.”
The Prince grasped Ju Wang’s hand. But she shook his grip away.
“Langlang, you are far too wicked a Prince.”
Her voice was heavy with emotion.
Ju Wang left without turning back to his call.
Once Ju Wang departed, the air seemed to ease.
I exhaled softly.
‘The guardian’s choice is made. And the patient himself strongly desires it. I must save his legs at all costs.’
Whether we cut or don’t cut, if death comes either way, there is only one answer.
To save him through methods beyond the novel.
At that moment, the eldest Hwaju Medical Sect member spoke.
“I cannot forgive this. Baekrin Uigak… pushing a patient we could certainly save to the brink of death to earn merit. Is that not what you are, Jin Cheon-hee?”
I looked at the Hwaju Medical Sect member.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“I will not forget you. I will report this to the Yakseon. I will tell them exactly what your three-inch tongue has done!”
Even though Ju Wang had left, it seemed he could not speak more harshly in the Prince’s presence.
Yet the venom in his words was so clear that everyone’s faces darkened.
I accepted it calmly. Then I grasped my Master’s sleeve with one hand—a signal not to intervene.
‘If I say I know the future, I’ll just be treated as a madman.’
That was a secret I could never reveal.
‘Saving one person is this difficult.’
The sensation I had felt when treating Gungwi’s daughter, Wang Gak-yeon, came flooding back.
It was true. Operating on a person was always a terrifying act.
But I knew how this story would end.
‘I can’t back down here. I’m the only one who knows this patient’s future.’
Had I not made a decision, it might be different, but now that I had, he was my patient. I looked at the Prince’s face.
The Prince gazed at us both with a sorrowful expression.
It was the face of someone prepared for death.
Did he think dying here would at least be an honorable death?
‘I don’t like that expression.’
It wouldn’t do. I preferred a face clinging desperately to life, covered in the stains of that desperation.
Such patients endured better and recovered better.
-Smile. Just annoying enough is perfect.
My senior’s voice from years ago resonated deeper than my own cochlea.
It was advice from someone no longer in this world.
But I pulled my facial muscles taut and flashed a brazen smile.
Just as my senior said, it was important to pull it tight enough to be precisely irritating.
“Can the Hwaju Medical Sect save the leg?”
“What?”
“I’m asking if there’s any way to save both the leg and the patient’s life.”
“Why not just amputate the leg!”
“…So there isn’t.”
My words became a blade, pointing at the Hwaju Medical Sect member’s chin.
When all the Hwaju Medical Sect members fumbled without an answer, everyone from Baekrin Uigak’s expressions returned to normal as if to say, ‘See?’
The match was over.
As long as they couldn’t present an alternative, my victory was assured.
Jegalling spoke.
“Outsiders, please leave. We must now prepare for treatment.”
It was an order to dismiss the guests.
Grrrr—
The Hwaju Medical Sect members had to leave, grinding their teeth fiercely.
I looked at the patient’s expression.
A face twisted with anxiety came into view.
‘Because he saw hope, he can now feel anxiety.’
It was a better face than before.
I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly.
Saving a person is always a frightening thing. But it was equally important not to transmit that fear. I spoke.
“Let’s get the emergency treatment done quickly. Hahaha.”
The Prince opened his mouth with difficulty.
Fortunately, since I had quickly pressed the vital points to stop the bleeding, the pain seemed somewhat reduced.
“I heard you were a disciple of the Divine Physician, but I didn’t expect you to be like this.”
‘Oh, he still has the presence of mind to speak?’
A good sign.
“What do you mean?”
“People can be so shameless, I suppose. It’s rather irritating.”
Even as she spoke, her contorted expression softened slightly.
A cold flame flickered across her retinas.
Even amidst the most excruciating pain, the patient held firm, enduring without surrender.
To prepare for the battle that lay ahead.
‘Hmm, a good face indeed.’
Jin Cheon-hee thought to himself.
* * *
To prepare for emergency surgery, my Master arranged the acupuncture points.
Without teeth, one uses the gums—and when it came to sterilization, it was far more reliable than modern medicine.
The fire element of the Five Elements Divine Skill purified everything it touched.
Jin Cheon-hee infused inner force into the needle tip and sequentially needled the patient’s Qimen, Xuehai, and Liangqiu points.
In a sense, it could be called anesthesia—superior to modern methods in this regard.
Modern medicine does use acupuncture for localized anesthesia, but they cannot anesthetize the leg of a patient with a fracture—an open fracture at that—in this manner.
‘Still, once the actual surgery begins, I’ll need to put them to sleep.’
During surgery, the body moves, and with it, the qi and blood become disturbed.
Therefore, before beginning the procedure, I would administer a medicinal decoction and needle the blood vessels at the back of the neck to induce anesthesia.
Jin Cheon-hee conducted a thorough examination of the patient’s condition.
‘Looking closely, it’s certain. The blood vessels aren’t severely damaged. The nerves should be fine at this level.’
The speed of bone recovery depends on the extent of blood vessel damage.
One might wonder why solid bone has anything to do with blood vessels, but in truth, it is the blood vessels that restore bone.
Imagine a leg broken on a ski slope.
First, the fractured area swells profusely.
Blood accumulates and triggers an inflammatory response. This is called edema.
This is the inflammatory phase.
As the swelling gradually subsides, fibroblasts form new matrix material.
Over time, soft callus forms at the fracture site.
Soft callus is, simply put, soft bone tissue. From this state, it gradually hardens.
That becomes hard callus.
Yet it is still, ultimately, false bone. Hence the term callus.
It cannot yet be called true bone.
This concludes the restoration phase.
Depending on the location, a simple fracture takes approximately four weeks to reach this point.
After this comes the remodeling phase, during which excess callus is absorbed and the bone marrow cavity regenerates.
The bone returns to its proper form.
Thus, if blood vessels are damaged, bone regeneration naturally slows.
Fortunately for this patient, the peroneal artery remained intact.
Even so, it seemed fortune favored them, Jin Cheon-hee reflected.
“You’ve been continuously feeding him such precious elixirs.”
Open fractures begin with antibiotics and end with antibiotics.
Particularly since osteomyelitis, which develops as a complication, is notoriously difficult to treat, the patient should have received antibiotics the moment they arrived at the emergency ward.
After all that bickering outside, I was only now administering antibiotics intravenously.
The IV line I had once coaxed Yoo Ho into creating had become the Medical Guild’s most coveted item.
I was infusing penicillin through it, and because it was cultivated using qi, it had become a spiritual medicine that also helped preserve the patient’s vitality.
Moreover, thanks to the exceptional lightness techniques of the Juwang House’s martial artists, the patient hadn’t been jostled, and precious little time had been lost since the injury.
Combined with my own timely initial treatment.
All of this had bought us time to prepare for emergency surgery.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————