Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 586

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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 586
Smack, crack! Smack!
The sound of someone being beaten echoed from the back courtyard.
“Wow… getting beaten again. He really does deserve the nickname Crazy Dog.”
He was larger than the other children his age, and his nickname was Crazy Dog.
He would pick one child he didn’t like and beat them until they couldn’t take it anymore.
The world of children was harder than the world of adults.
The one who would report him was a “Japanese bastard.”
The moment you told an adult, you became a Japanese bastard. Everyone would mock you, telling you to go to Japan and report it there.
With everyone’s tacit approval, the teachers believed Crazy Dog was a good child.
“Do the teachers not know? Or are they pretending not to know?”
“It’s hard enough to care for your own children. Why would they carefully look after someone else’s?”
An older boy, a head taller than me, reported this situation to the teacher, but the teacher said it was because I wasn’t sociable.
Then the teacher made Crazy Dog and that boy apologize to each other.
The result was what you’d expect.
Smack!
“Damn it…”
Crack!
“Do I look like an idiot to you?”
Crack!
“You bastard, do I look like some crippled fool to you!”
Crazy Dog and the older boys who followed him all beat the informant together, giggling.
Crazy Dog had parents.
I didn’t know the exact circumstances, but apparently they had left him here.
But sometimes his parents came to see him.
“You should be careful too. Crazy Dog thinks kids who study well are annoying.”
At those words, young me spoke up.
“It’s okay. I am…”
Drag—
I pulled along a water bucket.
“I’m still a necessary person. Without me, Crazy Dog wouldn’t have anyone to do his homework for him.”
I was already doing homework for fourth graders and older children.
And I had never gotten an answer wrong.
“And I’m also a necessary person to the teachers at the orphanage.”
It was my job to water the orchids every day.
“So you’re a necessary person to everyone?”
“Yes.”
“Then you won’t get hurt?”
“I won’t get hurt.”
That was the only way a young child could survive.
To lower myself, live virtuously, and become a necessary presence in that place.
That was why I had been cast out.
When the family suddenly became pregnant with a child, I was no longer needed in that house.
I walked forward.
Then I suddenly squeezed between the older brothers who were beating someone.
“Hyeong, please stop hitting him.”
“Damn it, do you know what that bastard just said?!”
“I don’t know. But the pantry door is open right now, so we can eat Choco Pies if we go now.”
“What?”
“If we don’t go now, we won’t be able to eat them.”
At those words, the older brothers finally ran off.
Two of them were large men.
To young me, smaller than my peers, the older brothers all looked like towering giants.
Then I extended my hand to the older brother who had been getting beaten.
“Hyeong… are you alright?”
“Is that you, Cheon Hee?”
“Yes.”
“…Thank you.”
“I only helped with what I could. You were just lucky that the pantry door happened to be open, Hyeong.”
“Aren’t you scared? Everyone else is afraid of the Crazy Dog.”
At those words, I pulled my facial muscles into a smile again.
“…Of course I’m scared. But what can I do? I can’t fight and win against him anyway. And for some reason, the Master just leaves the Crazy Dog alone.”
Clatter—
After all, I was just a young child.
I simply did what I could.
I transferred water from the bucket into the watering can.
It would have been simpler to just fill the watering can from the start, but for some reason the Master disliked that, so I just did it this way.
The world was mostly unreasonable anyway, wasn’t it?
“I thought you were leaving this time.”
I watered the tedious orchid. Then I filled the bucket with water again. Then I watered the orchid once more.
The orchid greedily drank up the water.
I wished it would just die from overwatering, but it never did.
The orchid endlessly demanded water.
How many times had I repeated this?
I wiped sweat from my tiny hands and collapsed to the ground.
‘Am I a child who isn’t needed?’
Hadn’t I made this much effort?
If there was a hell for good children, wouldn’t it be here?
Children who were awkwardly good, yet not truly necessary.
Just like this bucket of water.
I stood lost in thought.
Whoooosh—
The wind blew.
Light filtered down through the trees.
Among the shimmering silver light, I tilted my head in confusion.
“Huh?”
Something important came to mind.
I had forgotten something I shouldn’t have forgotten.
This silver hue, the faint scent of snow felt amid the summer heat.
I picked up the watering can.
“Hello?”
The watering can spoke. It was shaped like the Principal’s head.
Even within this bizarre illusion, I responded without hesitation.
“Hello.”
Like most nightmares—strange upon waking but imperceptible while dreaming—I was intoxicated by this peculiar sensation and listened to the watering can shaped like the Principal’s head.
“Do you want to become someone needed?”
“Yes.”
I answered without hesitation.
“Then you’ll be safe?”
“Yes.”
The Crazy Dog never hit me.
I was one of the few children who escaped the violence of the orphanage.
And I was also one of the few children who could stop the Crazy Dog from hitting others.
“Then you won’t be lonely?”
“Yes.”
Children came and went.
Some went far away to other countries.
I parted with close friends.
Still, it was fine. There was nothing remarkable about it.
The way people looked at me was tiresome.
I hated the teacher who searched me first whenever something went missing in class.
There were fifty children in the elementary school class, yet the teacher always searched me first.
But I envied having a place that was mine.
“I see. You really want to become someone needed. Then will you give me your hair?”
“If I do?”
“You’ll become someone I need.”
I cut off some of my hair and gave it to him.
The Principal’s watering can was delighted.
Because he was happy, I found myself happy too.
“What a good child. Then next, will you give me your toes?”
“Why?”
At that moment, a refugee child I had treated before crawled out from the orchid pot.
“Master, I need you.”
The child had stepped on a landmine and lost their toes.
He was fortunate. Usually, such cases required amputation of the entire leg.
“Yes. Of course.”
I severed my toes and gave them to him.
The child leaped with joy.
Soon, another child emerged from the next pot.
“Master. I need my left leg.”
“Are you still using crutches?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll give you one.”
I gave him a leg.
The child rejoiced, saying it was a beautiful and well-proportioned leg.
All the children I had saved crawled out from the pots. Each one bore some disability.
I severed my fingers and gave them away. I removed my arms and gave them away.
I cut off my ears and gave them away.
As I distributed my body piece by piece to everyone, I wondered.
‘Why doesn’t this damned pot die from overwatering? I’ve been giving it so much water.’
Despite watering it so much, why was the pot still not satisfied?
Finally, I gouged out my eyes and gave them away.
Beautiful eyes fell into the child’s hands.
The child rejoiced as if receiving precious gems.
“Master. Thank you! Thank you!”
I gave away everything.
I wasn’t sure how much remained of me. Perhaps a forearm’s worth, a fist’s worth, a finger’s worth.
Why did the orchid in the pot never die, no matter how much water I gave it?
I muttered again.
It would not succumb to overwatering.
How much time had passed?
“Master. I want that.”
“Hmm?”
“That white, cold rod hanging at your waist.”
The Glacial Sword.
The child spoke.
“I truly need it, Master. You’ll give it to me, won’t you?”
“….”
I had only a handful left.
■■■.
I spoke with a body that had been stripped bare and hollowed out.
“I can’t give you this.”
“Why not?”
“This is mine. Take this instead. Here, have my heart. It’s beautiful, even like this.”
Thump-thump—
My red heart beat like a baby chick.
The child cried.
“I don’t want the heart! It has to be the Frost Jade Sword!”
“I’m sorry. I can’t give you this…. I’m truly sorry….”
Tears streamed from my empty eye sockets.
“Master?”
“…It’s because I can’t give this away. Understand?”
“Master, why?”
■■■….
My memory wouldn’t come, as if blocked by a wall.
“Would you like to take my heart instead? Hmm?”
Why couldn’t this cold staff give what the child wanted?
“Master, then give me that bracelet. The black dragon bracelet. It’s so black and pretty.”
“I’m sorry. Wouldn’t you rather have this heart here? It always beats so well.”
“Tch. Then what about the yin-yang patterned black jade sword ornament? The black and white are so cute.”
“That too…. You really don’t want to take my heart?”
“Then give me the Heavenly Silkworm gloves!”
“…My heart is good. It beats so well….”
“Master is selfish! You’re bad! You’re stupid!”
The child wept. I fumbled helplessly to comfort them.
“…I’m sorry. I’m a bad, stupid, and selfish Master. I can’t give it.”
I shook my head.
I couldn’t remember what object it was.
I couldn’t even remember its name.
I simply repeated myself foolishly.
“Is there nothing else you’d like? My heart is truly warm.”
Young me clutched the object pleadingly and made my request.
Then the child reluctantly said.
“Fine. Then give me that at least.”
I felt relieved.
So the moment the child reached to tear out my heart….
Why was it? I felt as if someone had suddenly struck my back in anger.
I laughed, then wept.
“I’m sorry. I can’t give you my heart either.”
“Master, is ‘I’m sorry’ all you can say?!”
“But there’s nothing I can do except say that.”
I curled my body inward. The Principal’s watering can asked me.
“You said you wanted to become a necessary child?”
“I’m sorry. But….”
My breath caught in my throat.
My body trembled. Even as I shook all over, I couldn’t seem to answer.
I couldn’t remember why I couldn’t give this up.
But it was something I must never lose.
Only that conviction held me together.
I embraced the Icy Frost Sword. Its cold chill resembled someone.
Who was it again.
It was something I must never forget.
■■rin.
He said it.
-It’s simple. You save people, and I save you for doing so.
Why did he say such a thing.
I tried to call his name, but my thoughts became bubbles that scattered and burst.
I couldn’t remember.
‘Ah, yes. I know. But this token must never be given away.’
I would sooner give my heart than ever hand this over.
Even wagering it for just a moment in a bet I was 100% certain to win made my limbs feel like they were being torn apart.
“I’ll give you the Black Dragon Bracelet instead.”
“Uh, that too….”
Yeo■■.
-I’ll endure it twice. Because it’s what my brother said. Three times is too late no matter how I think about it.
Too late for what.
I couldn’t remember.
I know his past. I knew his future.
I know his anguish.
Would you believe me if I said I was a fan since seeing him in a novel.
‘A novel? What novel?’
In the novel, his blood vessels were soda. Since becoming reality, I’ve been wiping away the blood he walks through with a mop behind the scenes.
I was satisfied being such an extra.
He often called me ‘my crazy brother’.
Why.
Why can’t I remember.
“The Taeguk Sword ornament won’t work either?”
■■u.
-If it’s alright, could I revere you as a true older brother?
I gave him a name.
I hoped heaven would help. After all, this child had suffered enough.
Who had made the eye patch for those eyes?
‘Was it me?’
A connection that didn’t exist in the novel. Perhaps because our circumstances were similar, I couldn’t help but notice.
I grasped at life and grasped at this connection.
Though people say he is violent, his sword path is beautiful.
His path was beautiful. Those eyes were beautiful.
I had forgotten that too.
“Heavenly Silkworm Sect gloves—you won’t give me gloves?”
The child asks.
-Hyeong, I think bad luck stuck to me today~ It’s clinging to me and won’t come off.
-Gaga~ I’m a mouth too.
Hyeon.
Why do two of them come to mind simultaneously?
It’s certain that this one is quite exceptional.
This wretch’s hundred thousand acts of evil were erased by a single act of goodness.
I feared him because I knew his evil, yet he too was human, and didn’t he show that a person’s fate could change?
I loved this one, jealous more than anyone else.
Painful, frightening, yet still kind—Fingers.
Humans can be changed by anything.
That is why people are like water.
Because of this one, I saved Hye-a… Hye-a?
“Hye-a.”
This probably isn’t her real name.
But the moment I heard the most precious nickname of “the one who would commit a hundred thousand evil acts.”
Finally.
‘Ah, I sent this child into the future.’
I passed on knowledge and sent her forward.
Even if I were to disappear, I knew Hye-a would carry on.
Sa-Hye.
Then…
Finally, the name came back to me a little more.
It was proof that humans could become human, and that such transformed humans could walk into the future.
I felt the sensation of someone striking my back.
‘No. It’s a push.’
It felt like being pushed forward.
Jin Cheon-hee feels the wind.
That wind blocked ahead, making it difficult to open my eyes.
The scent of the north wind was felt.
Winter stood with its mouth wide open.
But I know this.
A great bird can only take flight when headwinds blow to give it lift.
Did not the ancients say so?
The great roc flies against the wind.
Are my wings sufficient? Am I truly a ‘great bird’?
Master.
Someone once asked.
-How many more winters do you wish to see?
And Yoo Ho.
Winter calls.
I waited for the headwind.
For the air to be sufficiently cold, sufficiently biting.
-…You truly are a strange person.
Is that so? Am I truly that strange?
In his eyes, I was always the ‘strange one’.
That much will never change.
Names burst forth like bubbles popping.
One by one they returned to me. Dang-a came to mind, and Gongseon Yeong came to mind.
Gongseon Hyeon and Mudang Gwon-je came to mind.
Names poured out.
Words that had been blocked continued to pour forth.
These were fragments I could not afford to lose.
“I’m going back, Principal.”
Back where?
I couldn’t remember even that.
I simply drew my blade.
I cannot know what lies beyond this.
I merely cut through what stands in my way.
My heart is uneasy. A strange guilt seized me.
Yet I know that salvation does not await in the depths below.
Mourning my younger self, grateful for new bonds.
I carve the present with the Heart Sword alone!
Every sword technique I have learned converges into a single strike. I remember no theories.
The great bird knows how much the cliff hurts.
It knew how terrifying the headwind was. Yet now it realizes the time to fly has come.
In the heart of the frozen wasteland.
May the opposing winds blow ever stronger.
The Glacial Blade moves with its master’s heart.
The countless days accumulated and repeated manifest from the unconscious realm, dwelling in these arms.
Though the memory of enlightenment has faded, the body remembers.
Transcendent Martial Arts Benevolence.
Thus.
Violent ice crystals shatter everything around me.
Opening the present to reveal the future.
Crack!
The surroundings split apart.
The illusion begins to crumble.
At last, the true form of my surroundings emerges.

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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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