Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 570

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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 570
Prince Ju-wang had his arm draped across Gongseon Yeong’s shoulder, and they were going back and forth with each other.
“You have the Solar Body, yet that’s all you can manage? You fool! What a waste of such a constitution!”
“I don’t understand why you’re so frustrated with me. Even so, I think what I’ve achieved is….”
“…You should unify the entire martial realm! If you possess the Solar Body, shouldn’t you be able to slice through a Cheonma’s neck like it’s nothing!”
“Ugh, this is unbearable!”
Both of them were drunk, and propriety meant nothing as they matched each other drink for drink.
Prince Ju-wang, seemingly without a care, laughed heartily even as Gongseon Yeong complained.
“A true warrior must test their blade against mountains. How can one who cannot push back a mountain dare speak of conquering the world?”
“Does pushing back a mountain mean launching an energy blast?”
“No, it simply means piercing a cliff without any inner energy at all.”
“Who does such a thing? It would be better to stab a wooden dummy instead.”
“I did it!”
The prince struck his own chest with his fist, thump thump.
“A true warrior must do at least that much to speak of conquering the world. Even if others call him mad, he must possess that same madness. That madness is what opens the path to unifying the world! The way of the hegemon who grasps heaven and earth!”
Gongseon Yeong answered.
“I have no need for the world.”
“Oh?”
“I will live by my sister’s side, supporting her.”
“For one with such a constitution, your ambitions are far too small.”
Saying so, he grasped Gongseon Yeong’s chin.
“I wonder how I might bring a commander like you into my palace. Surely if you mounted a horse, you would be a hero to shake the world.”
“…I….”
Wow, if Gaju Gongseon Hyeon found out, she’d have a fit in the depths of hell!
I quickly went to both of them.
“Haha, won’t you accept this cup I offer?”
Saying so, I forcibly wedged myself between the two.
“Tsk. Cheon Ha-ilgwang. You’re quite perceptive.”
‘Please, spare me. If I’m kidnapped to the imperial palace like this, I’ll be killed by my sister, Gaju Gongseon Hyeon.’
Until now, I thought he was just laying some groundwork, but this is like a three-minute instant abduction.
I never imagined he would take such a liking to Sister Gongseon Yeong.
So I pulled the two of them apart.
The king sang upon learning that the prince had recovered.
‘I’m as good as dead.’
I managed the atmosphere appropriately, attached Prince Ju-wang to the king, handed Sister Gongseon Yeong over to the stone-faced doctors at Sang Ui-won, and finished the traffic control.
As I wiped the sweat from my forehead alone, Han Bing approached me.
“We promised to drink together once you recovered.”
At those words, I let out a small laugh.
“Yes, we did promise.”
“I finally drank alcohol for the first time, but it had no taste at all. I can’t understand why everyone is so crazy about it.”
“A drink or two should be fine, but you’ll need to avoid excessive drinking for a while.”
“I already told you—it tastes awful. That’s why you’re drinking sweet rice punch instead of alcohol too, aren’t you?”
At those words, I laughed awkwardly and nodded.
“Does it… show that much?”
“My sense of smell is quite sensitive, whether due to my constitution or not. Since there’s a sweet fragrance instead of the alcohol’s scent, I can’t help but notice.”
A nose is a nose, after all.
‘Now that I think about it, my Master was also sensitive to scents. Could this be a common symptom among those with severed meridians?’
There’s no way to know since the medical texts don’t mention it separately, but both those with severed yang meridians and severed yin meridians have heightened olfactory senses, so it’s certainly possible.
“Speaking of which, what kind of fragrance pouch do you use?”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve been wanting to ask for a while now. The scent is so pleasant—subtle and refined, as if it’s not there yet somehow is.”
“Haha. I don’t really use anything special. Just soap, that’s all. I made it with a scent that wouldn’t bother my Master.”
He disliked overly sweet fragrances and overly fresh ones alike.
Sharp, pungent scents were even worse.
Finding a decent scent among all those constraints was surprisingly difficult.
“I’ll have to import that soap as well.”
He nodded, then poured his drink into my cup.
“Won’t that mix with the sweet rice punch?”
“Try it and let me know if it’s good?”
“Well, why not.”
And so the two of us clinked our cups together.
Ching!
He spoke.
“Thank you for saving my life.”
“Don’t mention it.”
A good night. A good day.
Snow continued to fall over the Kingdom of Aisha.
Chasing away winter’s chill with alcohol, I smiled like that.
A patient recovering to health is a joyful thing.
It was a happy ending after a long time.
* * *
The next day.
I received a royal decree from the king.
This was a place that didn’t practice the civil service examination system.
Because of that, the distinction between nobility and commoners was more pronounced, and class discrimination was quite severe.
I received a title equivalent to that of a count, though it was an honorary position.
‘How generous. Well, I might have reason to return here someday.’
It could prove useful when selling ondol heating systems to the Kingdom of Aisha.
‘I’m actually thinking of exporting various dried foods besides ondol this time.’
If that’s the extent of it, it might be worthwhile.
As I set out on the road, someone called from behind.
“Yeo!”
I turned to see Prince Han-bing approaching with a lighter gait than before.
A few attendants followed behind him.
“Oh, what brings you here?”
“Since my benefactor is heading to the North Sea Ice Palace, I thought I’d join you.”
“Pardon?”
My eyes widened slightly. Han-bing continued.
“The North Sea Ice Palace is my sect. Once I tell them how healthy I’ve become thanks to you, they won’t dare treat you poorly.”
‘With the prince accompanying me, they probably wouldn’t mistreat me anyway?’
It’s not like the North Sea Ice Palace took a bullet to the head.
It seemed unlikely they’d commit the madness of treating a guest who arrived with the prince disrespectfully.
“Then let’s travel together.”
“Mm!”
He grinned and added one more thing.
“By the way, you won’t be able to reach the North Sea Ice Palace on a Han Hyeol-ma.”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
“The cold there is beyond reason. I’ll show you a better means of transportation.”
* * *
In the distance, a group advances northward toward the frozen, snow-white expanse.
And there were those watching them from afar.
“All the cast members have gathered in one place. Now… let the play begin…”
Someone watching Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
* * *
The North Sea Ice Palace lies far north of the Aisha Kingdom.
Now normal land was nowhere to be seen.
Only a snowy landscape filled with ice and snow stretched endlessly—like the Arctic continent I’d seen in documentaries.
‘How do people even live in a place like this? Did we really have to go this far north?’
I couldn’t understand how Eskimos managed to endure it.
Even wrapped in a polar bear fur hat, fur-lined parka, and upper and lower garments completely swaddled in fur, my teeth chattered.
Clang clang clang!
Clang clang!
Clang clang—crunch!
Clang!
That was right.
Currently, the prince’s party including me was traveling by dog sled.
I rode alone on Hwang-gu’s back, while the rest all traveled by dog sled.
‘Ah, in terrain like this, there’s no way to ride horses.’
Hooves weren’t suited to this climate, and besides, there was no way to find food for horses.
It wasn’t for nothing that dogs accompanied humanity when we first reached the South Pole.
The dogs could hunt together when necessary, catching beasts like seals along the way to sustain themselves.
Their fur, unlike horses, had a triple coat, allowing them to withstand the cold far better.
Perhaps because this was a martial world, the sleds pulled by dogs slightly smaller than Hwang-gu moved with incredible speed.
Hwang-gu was overjoyed.
Aoooooo–!
Woooooo!
Hwang-gu took the position of alpha in the pack, and all the dogs recognized him as their leader.
The wisest dog served as guide, taking the lead while Hwang-gu followed beside him, keeping watch.
“With a spiritual beast sitting as the pack leader, the dogs have no reason to fight among themselves.”
I asked.
“They fight in this cold?”
“Don’t people fight when it’s cold? They’re all the same. Especially the dogs in these regions—when they challenge the alpha for dominance, they fight with incredible ferocity. The owners end up bruised and battered trying to separate them.”
“Impressive.”
No matter how far we traveled, there was only snow and ice.
“How do the guide dogs navigate toward the North Sea Ice Palace without even a compass?”
“They were raised directly by the North Sea Ice Palace. If other dogs try to guide, their senses become confused and they just spin in circles. It makes sense too—there are periods of continuous daylight and periods of continuous darkness, which makes it even worse.”
“Even a perfectly sound person would lose their sense of direction.”
“Exactly. Only those dogs can guide us safely to the North Sea Ice Palace in this frozen wasteland.”
At those words, I finally voiced what had been on my mind.
“Why did the people of the North Sea Ice Palace settle in such a cold place? With their level of martial prowess, couldn’t they have gone anywhere they wished?”
At my question, Prince Han-bing pulled out a book from his robes.
“Hmm?”
“I was planning to give this to you as a souvenir anyway, so this works out well. It’s an old text—can you read Sanskrit?”
“Yes!”
My eyes brightened as I accepted it, and Prince Han-bing chuckled softly.
“I thought you’d like it.”
I had received an unexpected book.
I dismounted from Hwang-gu and climbed onto the dog sled.
After wrapping myself thoroughly in seal fur, I slowly read through the text.
How much time had passed?
‘The North Sea Ice Palace existed even before the ancestors of King Aisha arrived.’
I couldn’t determine how long they had been established, but there was a record of them sending someone to congratulate the founding of King Aisha’s kingdom.
The religion of King Aisha’s kingdom was actually a branch that split from the North Sea Ice Palace, and its formal name was защитник, which translates to the Guardian Faith in the language of the Hwa Empire.
‘The Guardian Faith. What an unusual name.’
Even so.
I had thoroughly examined the entire book, but it contained no explanation for why the people of the North Sea Ice Palace had settled there.
My Master had never mentioned anything different either…
In the Jicheon Cheonma, there were more large-scale battles than conversations with Yeo Ha-ryun.
In any case, I needed to have a conversation to uncover any story.
‘An enemy? Kill them!’
It was simply the line I’d repeated most often.
‘Ah, I miss my Yeo Ha-ryun. I wonder if he’s doing well.’
I was careful not to bother the guy who fought Cheon Sal-seong day after day, but I found myself wondering about his wellbeing from time to time.
After all, I was a devoted reader of Jicheon Cheonma and a fan of Yeo Ha-ryun.
And so I continued forward, studying everything about the North Sea Ice Palace.
After riding for five days, a massive body of water came into view.
“Wow, the sea? A sea in a place like this?”
Prince Han-bing, who had been traveling alongside us, answered Gongseon Yeong’s remark.
“That’s a lake. An enormous lake that resembles the sea.”
“Ah, I see.”
It was simply remarkable that such a vast lake could exist here.
“How does it manage not to freeze over?”
“According to the ancients, hot spring water rises from beneath the earth. Though it’s not warm enough for bathing—merely warm enough to prevent freezing.”
‘Ah, I understand now.’
As we traveled northward along the lake’s edge, there was still no sign of its end.
“There are several volcanoes nearby, aren’t there?”
“Indeed. That’s what makes this lake so peculiar. It’s why there are so many legends surrounding it.”
“Fascinating.”
“There are delicious fish living here, and among them, there are supposedly gigantic spiritual beasts dwelling in the lake’s depths—creatures massive enough to be called spiritual beings.”
Woof!
Hwang-gu barked loudly. At that, Noeji, who had been huddled in my armpit, let out a small squeak.
“I’d really like to taste the meat of a gigantic spiritual beast someday.”
“I’ve heard that the flesh of a spiritual beast is considered the finest delicacy even to other spiritual beings. I imagine that’s true.”
And so we continued our journey, conversing as we went.

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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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