Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 57

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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 57
“Your Highness, please speak more casually. I don’t know where to put myself otherwise.”
As I chuckled softly, the Prince shook his head.
“No, though I’m called Prince, I’m of humble birth. Please treat me comfortably, Doctor.”
‘Using formal speech with such a young child. Unbelievable.’
Why on earth had Ju Wang fallen for this man?
She was no fool—she understood that securing a man of influence through a strategic marriage would be far more advantageous.
Afterward, she could have taken him as a concubine or conducted a secret affair, and no one would have cared.
She was the one who dominated battlefields with overwhelming martial prowess.
In an age where heroes were known for their indulgences, such things were hardly flaws.
Yet the man who became Prince was…
‘He certainly has exceptional looks. A bit inferior to our Master, but still. And he seems rather kind too.’
But that was all.
Ju Wang had given her heart to this man.
She was prepared to give him every precious thing under heaven for his sake.
Such was the particular nature of Ju Wang’s favor.
What could she possibly have fallen for?
I shrugged my shoulders.
“It seems you’ve learned martial arts.”
“Yes, I’ve learned self-defense techniques. I’ve also learned the Samjaebo Technique.”
“The Samjaebo Technique is quite excellent.”
I grinned widely and spoke in a somewhat brazen tone.
“I’ll finish quickly, so get some good rest and wake up.”
“Doctor, will I be able to continue living as a performer in the future?”
I couldn’t understand what dance meant to this man. Yet I sensed one thing.
That sometimes a person becomes obsessed with one thing. And such obsession is like an addiction—wealth, fame, and even love cannot quench that thirst.
But unlike what I’d read in books, seeing it firsthand felt slightly strange.
It felt like a puzzle piece was missing.
“Is there perhaps something you haven’t told me?”
“…”
“Once preparations are complete, you’ll enter the Operating Room soon, and once you do, it’ll be too late. You must tell me everything, no matter how trivial.”
Why was this?
My memories from the book and my instincts as a doctor were colliding.
In the book, this man was clearly a performer who lived and died by dance.
What I saw now matched that image exactly.
Having lost his legs, unable to dance anymore, he starved himself to death in the book.
That’s what it said.
That’s what I saw.
Yet I couldn’t explain why the back of my neck felt so cold.
The Prince spoke.
“I’ve told you everything I remember.”
A seductive smile, like a crimson flower.
A smile that made me understand why Ju Wang cherished this man so dearly.
As his fragrant voice colored the air, I nodded in acknowledgment.
“I see. I understand.”
‘This bastard… something’s definitely off.’
Just moments ago, he was pleading, “Doctor, please save my leg!” Now he flashes this service-industry smile when asked a simple question. What’s that about?
At that moment, I realized something.
‘If he dies on the operating table, he dies. He’ll never tell a soul.’
The most exhausting type of patient.
‘Surely there aren’t many patients like this in the Martial Arts World…
are there
?’
People with convictions that a doctor simply cannot fathom.
Those who would sacrifice their very lives like grass to protect a secret.
The kind of rare individuals you’d never encounter in the modern world.
‘Right. Where else in this world would such people exist? Only here, in this martial arts world I’m trapped in… heh, heh, heh…’
I was going mad. And suddenly, I grasped a profound truth.
I spoke to the Prince.
“There is nothing in this world more precious than life itself.”
“Yes, yes?”
“No matter how noble your convictions, nothing is more precious than life. Once you realize it too late, it’s too late.”
Listen when a doctor speaks!
* * *
The Prince never spoke.
Suspecting as much, I took his pulse again and again, and fearing I’d missed something, I called in other doctors to examine him further.
Nothing unusual emerged.
I shared this matter with my Master before the surgery.
“Hmm, a difficult matter indeed. Yet it’s one you’ll encounter countless times ahead.”
The Imperial Palace harbors secrets just as the Martial Arts World does.
Especially palace secrets intertwine with conspiracy and intrigue.
“Hee, secrets, you see. Sometimes they’re kept to protect oneself, but sometimes one holds their tongue to protect the listener.”
I exhaled softly.
‘Right. As long as it doesn’t affect the surgery, it’s not my concern.’
Yet a lingering unease remained.
My instincts as a doctor kept poking at the back of my mind.
Still, I couldn’t interrogate the Prince, and if he’d decided to stay silent, what else could I do?
My Master’s eyes gleamed.
“More importantly, a new surgical technique.”
His expression remained as solemn as always, yet his eyes sparkled like a young child unwrapping a gift.
His enthusiasm was admirable, but there were moments when it sent a chill down my spine.
Perhaps Gungwi’s observation—that he didn’t seem to view people as people—was accurate.
The longer I spent in his presence, the more clearly I perceived it.
My Master harbored no fear when confronting life itself.
To him, humans were nothing more than puzzles to be solved.
Once the pieces fit perfectly, his interest evaporated.
The stakes were too high to dismiss this as mere ambition—the patient was the Prince, the Ju Wang’s son-in-law.
Should the surgery fail, the consequences were all too predictable.
“You seem pleased, despite the high stakes, Master.”
“Hmm, so that’s how it appears to your eyes.”
Yet this man would proceed regardless.
Without so much as a backward glance. It occurred to me that the sanctity of life might not matter much to Baek Rin-ui-seon at all.
Perhaps patients survived only because they happened to align with his madness.
‘If that can be called talent, then perhaps it is….’
Jegalling spoke.
“When I was young, the Gaju once told me: since a long life is impossible anyway, consider how you wish to live. It seems that became a habit.”
He smiled.
The smile, with lowered lashes, possessed such divine sanctity that it stole the breath from those who witnessed it.
“The stakes matter not, Cheon-hee. What matters is how much joy you find in it. The true virtue lies in striving to live doing only what brings you pleasure.”
That was how Jegalling lived. I reflected on this.
‘Before I came, he didn’t even eat properly. He would swallow a Bigu Pill only once every few days, or so Yoo Ho said.’
Yoo Ho attributed it to a lack of will to live.
But my interpretation differed.
‘If eating held no enjoyment for him, if anything without interest simply wasn’t worth doing….’
What an absurdly hedonistic philosophy.
I shook my head.
‘No. That’s mere speculation on my part. I’m simply overinterpreting intellectual curiosity.’
My thoughts ended there.
Like severing a lizard’s tail, I cut away the baseless conjecture.
“First, regarding the external fixation technique.”
I quickly shared the surgical plan with my Master.
Among the details were medical principles I had compiled and transmitted to the Medical Guild, but naturally there were many novel elements as well.
Time was limited. Every moment had to be used with maximum efficiency.
* * *
All surgical preparations were complete.
Perhaps because we had done this once before, the preparations proceeded faster than last time.
The patient was positioned on the operating table, and the Medical Guild’s doctors prepared the anesthesia.
I donned my surgical robes.
“Better than last time.”
Yoo Ho replied.
“Thanks to whom, exactly?”
The hastily stitched fabric scraps were gone now. Properly made surgical gowns had been completed from the start.
“You’ll need to make quite a few, won’t you?”
“Yes, I’ve already commissioned the workshop. But I made the ones for the young master and Master myself.”
For some reason, the embroidery on my Master’s gown was exceptionally delicate.
Though I hadn’t made it oversized for surgical considerations, the craftsmanship was truly meticulous.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“Yoo Ho.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t have found the resolve to treat the patient.”
Yoo Ho was momentarily at a loss for words at such sincere gratitude. After a moment, he replied.
“…If you’re grateful, would you reduce my workload?”
“That’s not happening.”
“Then I won’t accept your thanks.”
With that, he pulled the collar of Jin Cheon-hee’s gown from behind and tied the strings.
“What color would you like for the embroidery? Next time, I’ll ask your preference before making it.”
Jin Cheon-hee answered.
“The same color as my Master’s.”
“Damn it, I knew you’d say that.”
Jin Cheon-hee let out a small chuckle.
“Well then, let’s begin. Yoo Ho.”
* * *
An orthopedic operating room looks quite different from what most people imagine.
Most people think of surgery as involving scalpels, forceps, tweezers, and sutures working in concert.
Of course, orthopedic surgery uses such instruments as well. But several additional tools are employed here.
Hammers, drills, screws, reinforcing rods.
Construction site tools are used alongside medical instruments.
Since this world has no electricity, drills cannot be used.
Instead, I decided to use screw augers powered by manual force.
Upon entering, the patient lay under anesthesia, with the Medical Assistants monitoring the patient’s pulse in real time.
“This one will take a while. Everyone’s eaten beforehand, yes?”
All the Medical Assistants’ eyes fixed on Jin Cheon-hee.
Jin Cheon-hee stood before the operating table with composure.
This was only my second surgery in this world.
Yet the equipment was far better prepared than before.
This was thanks to consistent preparation over time.
“I’ll begin with irrigation.”
Normally, low-pressure irrigation is performed with saline solution.
Saline solution sounds complicated, but simply put, it’s salt water.
Yoo Ho carefully began low-pressure irrigation with sterilized salt water.
‘Quite useful indeed.’
“The initial cleansing is complete.”
At Yoo Ho’s words, I picked up the scalpel.
Debridement.
The removal of contaminated or necrotic soft tissue.
Particularly the subcutaneous fat and fascia—areas where blood rarely reaches.
Since these regions could easily become breeding grounds for bacteria, thorough removal was always preferable when possible.
‘Typically, when examining muscle, we assess consistency, color, capacity to bleed, and contractility—Scully’s four criteria. But….’
Once you enter actual clinical practice, you find that different physicians often reach different conclusions about the same affected area.
This is a realm that cannot be mastered through textbooks or photographs alone.
In my case, my judgment in this regard was straightforward.
‘The patient consumed the fire essence of the Five Elements Pill until the very end.’
I sent the fire essence into the fascia.
Following the flow of my vital energy, I could sense the degree of contamination in the muscle tissue.
Where the fire essence collided strongly was contaminated tissue. Conversely, where it could not penetrate was dead tissue.
‘So this application is possible too.’
A technique I had learned when studying the Five Elements Divine Skill.
Combining it with surgical technique revealed far more clearly than what my eyes alone could perceive.
My hands moved as though guided by divine will.

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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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