Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 58

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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 58
‘Phew.’
As sweat dripped down my forehead, Yoo Ho wiped it away with a cloth.
My eyes nearly stung from it—fortunately, he’d prevented that.
‘He does it without me even asking. Quite perceptive, this one.’
He wasn’t even a seasoned nurse—the man had only just begun his apprenticeship. Yet he demonstrated such competence that I found myself growing increasingly fond of Yoo Ho.
Of course, none of this fondness stemmed from any medical acumen on his part.
‘Excellent performance. Our Yoo Ho.’
I praised him as one might commend a particularly efficient ox, then continued with the debridement procedure.
‘This is the sort of situation other orthopedic surgeons would envy…?’
Debridement was typically entrusted to the most experienced surgeon available.
Not a surgeon with merely quick hands,
but
rather one with extensive experience.
In the past, the prevailing belief was that speed mattered most in emergencies. However, current medical opinion increasingly favored taking additional time to thoroughly prevent infection, as this directly improved patient survival rates.
Debridement was precisely the procedure that determined survival.
And I was accomplishing it effortlessly through the Five Elements Divine Skill.
Combined with an exceptional nurse—Yoo Ho.
Without waiting for my instructions, he performed low-pressure irrigation, changed instruments as needed, and wiped away my perspiration.
‘A magnificent AI.’
The debridement concluded flawlessly.
Wonder flickered across the eyes of the Medical Assistants observing the procedure.
Next came external fixation.
This was the method employed for such severe open fractures.
Temporary external fixation.
A technique using half-pins to achieve temporary stabilization.
Afterward, metal would be inserted into the medullary canal for permanent fixation….
‘Do we truly need to divide this into two separate surgeries? If I handled everything at once in this session….’
I shook my head.
‘No. Don’t be greedy. I’ve already gained one advantage through the Five Elements Divine Skill. The rest follows protocol.’
Debridement alone was already groundbreaking.
Moreover, with appropriate measures, I’d significantly reduced the risk of complications.
‘Surgery isn’t performed by the surgeon alone. It’s done with the patient. No matter how superior one’s technique, if the patient’s body cannot keep pace, it becomes impossible.’
I indicated to my Master where the pins should be placed.
After identifying areas where soft tissue remained undamaged, my Master began inserting the pins using his inner energy.
Without the usual unpleasant grinding sound, he inserted the metal pins as smoothly as one might pierce tofu with chopsticks.
I silently whistled in admiration.
‘He makes it look so effortless.’
Normally, this would be grueling carpentry work accompanied by hammers and drills. Yet he accomplished it with minimal trauma and remarkable simplicity.
I reached a conclusion.
‘I’ll maintain temporary external fixation while monitoring the soft tissue condition, and then proceed to the secondary surgery later.’
As things progressed better than I had worried, my mood lifted.
A smile played at the corners of my lips.
As the most challenging part resolved smoothly, the expressions of the Medical Assistants also eased considerably.
That was when it happened.
The patient’s fingertip twitched slightly.
A very small movement.
Jegalling was the first to notice it.
“Cheon-hee. The patient’s fingers are moving.”
“That can happen once or twice during anesthesia. Ah, is the acupoint technique different?”
Then it happened again. Another twitch.
My pupils contracted sharply.
A Medical Assistant spoke urgently.
“The pulse is rising!”
“Is the patient conscious?”
“Still no consciousness!”
What in the world was happening?
* * *
The patient’s body convulsed, bouncing off the operating table.
Yoo Ho quickly grabbed and immobilized both of the patient’s arms.
Remarkably, Yoo Ho’s shadow seemed to come alive, simultaneously grasping the patient’s legs and shoulders with practiced ease.
I couldn’t identify what martial technique it was, but it was certain it wasn’t from the Orthodox Faction.
“Young Master!”
This was no time to marvel at Yoo Ho’s skill.
I rapidly considered possible complications.
‘Acute compartment syndrome wouldn’t cause this. Is it acute pulmonary embolism from fat? No, that wouldn’t produce this kind of reaction either… Or could it be cardiac…?’
The patient’s limbs thrashed about as if seized by epilepsy. What was more bizarre was that consciousness remained absent throughout.
That was when my Master spoke in a calm voice.
“This appears to be a Martial Arts World illness.
It is only natural that
you would not know of it with only secular knowledge.”
“Pardon?”
My Master picked up a long needle and placed his other hand on the patient’s solar plexus.
Only then did I realize the patient’s solar plexus was abnormally protruding.
My Master closed his eyes to take the pulse, then thrust the needle toward a specific point.
Thunk!
“Hee, you must cut quickly. Hurry!”
There was no time for questions. The patient began gushing blood profusely. At this rate, blood would block the airway and he would drown in his own blood!
I rapidly incised the patient’s solar plexus.
And what I saw inside was a perforated stomach. And a writhing, unfamiliar creature.
‘A parasite… can it really grow this large in the stomach?’
The fact that it was alive made it all the more grotesque. And its mouth was attached to the stomach wall.
When my Master inserted the second needle, it released its grip in pain.
In that instant, my Master swiftly extracted its body and sealed it inside a bottle.
Thunk—
Yoo Ho’s shadow immediately sealed the bottle’s opening.
The patient’s convulsing body stopped as if possessed by a ghost.
I immediately cleaned up and began suturing.
My Master spoke.
“It’s called a Gu. If the patient doesn’t take the prescribed medicine every ten to twenty days, it drives them mad from within their body.”
“Is it similar to the Blood Gu used by the Demon Sect?”
Blood Gu.
A parasite that the Little Heavenly Demon would consume.
I had read in novels how the Demon Sect uses Blood Gu during initiation ceremonies, feeding it to disciples to control them like puppets.
However, the method of removal was not like this.
Moreover, its characteristics differed from Blood Gu.
Some of its bodily fluids burst from my Master’s acupuncture, but it didn’t dissolve the stomach.
If it were true Blood Gu, the stomach would already be irreparably damaged.
Jegalling spoke.
“It’s far inferior to the Demon Sect’s version. This is from the Heterodox Faction. Specifically, it’s what Haomu uses in certain branches to plant spies.”
A spy.
The final suture was complete. I spoke.
“We must inform the Prince.”
“Indeed. Concealing this would constitute high treason.”
It was strange.
Though my Master’s voice sounded troubled, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
“This is why it’s best not to delve too deeply into imperial affairs. If you had remained ignorant, this wouldn’t have happened.”
I spoke.
“This is the first surgery. After recovery, the patient will need a second procedure.”
There was a reason for performing surgery twice.
We needed time for the damaged soft tissue to heal.
Since I had removed the contaminated soft tissue using marginal excision, the lost tissue had to regenerate.
If I completed everything in a single surgery before the soft tissue regenerated, there would be a high probability of complications and secondary infections. The patient’s body would suffer greatly.
The problem was that since the patient had cultivated martial arts, I couldn’t predict the speed of soft tissue regeneration.
Depending on the school and level of inner cultivation technique, recovery rates varied dramatically.
Moreover, the Medical Guild apparently harbored many secrets they hadn’t disclosed.
I couldn’t measure recovery speed using the same standards as modern people.
It could take a week, ten days, or three weeks.
The faster the recovery, the lower the risk of secondary infection. Moreover, the moment the temporary external fixation device is removed, we must proceed directly to the main surgery. That
is the only path to save both the patient’s life and their leg.
“I cannot say whether the Prince will permit such a thing.”
Jegalling observed Jin Cheon-hee’s expression as though admiring a finely crafted work of art.
“What a splendid expression indeed.”
Eyes that shone with bewilderment yet burned with the sacred duty of a physician.
Jegalling seemed quite pleased with the light in his disciple’s gaze.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“First, we should wake the patient and ask what has happened. That is the proper order.”
“Order… but what is the proper order? What is truly right? Can you be certain of it, Hee?”
Jegalling addressed his disciple in a voice softer and more gentle than anyone else’s.
“Very well. Let us do so.”
* * *
My master departed to make his report to Ju Wang.
Meanwhile, I sat beside the Prince’s sickbed.
I intended to organize my thoughts while he awakened.
‘What exactly was that novel?’
Novels are never truly impartial.
No matter how omniscient a third-person narrative claims to be, everything ultimately revolves around the characters who drive the story forward.
All I knew of the Prince came from Ju Wang’s perspective.
‘Yet everything described in the novel is factual in this world.’
I had confirmed this countless times since arriving here.
Only Ju Wang’s viewpoint had been reflected throughout.
The Prince, Cheon Yu-rang.
Ju Wang’s husband.
In a royal court where political marriages were rampant, he had seized the position of Prince from a lowly entertainer’s background—a veritable Cinderella of the martial arts world.
Before Ju Wang ascended to the throne as the Sovereign.
When she was still a princess named Pungju-ha, the two had met.
At that time, Ju Wang had grown weary of the corrupt court and incompetent emperor. Moreover, the princes and princesses schemed ceaselessly to check her influence.
The greatest problem in this situation was that she herself had no desire whatsoever to become emperor.
Pungju-ha was living through a tempestuous period of her life.
By night, she donned a mask and beat corrupt officials; by day, she wandered the pleasure districts drunk.
It was hollow. Hollow and hollow.
No matter how many corrupt officials she beat, it did not even amount to a ten-thousandth of the people’s suffering.
Even killing them only meant identical replacements would fill their posts.
-What manner of princess am I? Unable to save even one starving capital from ruin?
It was then that the future Prince, Cheon Yu-rang, appeared.
-What is that in your hand?
-A parasite of the people. It has grown fat sucking their blood.
She seized the collar of the unconscious official and shook him.
With the mask she wore, she must have appeared absolutely terrifying.
Suppressing his fear, Cheon Yu-rang spoke.
-Kill him?
-I’ll beat him. He didn’t get hit enough.
Though she was terrified—truly, desperately terrified—Cheon Yu-rang found the courage to speak.
-If I may be so bold, I have a request for you.
-What is it?
-May I join you in beating him?
And so the two of them relieved their stress by kicking the official repeatedly.
-What is your name?
-I am Cheon Yu-rang.
-Where might I see you again?
-I am a performer at Namcheonju-ru, specializing in dance. As a lower-ranked performer, I am always there.
-What is your relationship with this pig of a man?
-He threatened to sever my legs and prevent me from ever dancing again if I refused to entertain him.
She lifted her head to look at Cheon Yu-rang’s face.
Even in the darkness of night, the man’s face gleamed with a pale luminescence. She thought he had the delicate features befitting a performer of dance.

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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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