Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 6

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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 6
Gu Du (蠱毒)—a poison that forces one to either die as a Sect Leader or live as a Heavenly Demon.
That was the life that would unfold before Yeo Ha-ryun, the Heavenly Demon.
‘I was just an extra.’
An unnamed extra who gets struck on the head and dies on the first page, no less.
Whether this extra harbored the audacious dream of becoming a Sect Leader of the Demon Sect—neither the author, nor the readers, nor I cared to know.
Splash—
I submerged my head into the bathtub.
‘I’m absolutely not going to the Demon Sect.’
Whether I’d be marked as Sect Leader material or sent off as some lackey, I had no idea. But I wasn’t going down that path.
‘How should I live?’
Suddenly, a memory from my past life surfaced—one that had lingered with me the longest.
Whenever I entered the operating room, people always lined the corridor.
They weren’t standing there for me. They had gathered for the family member on the operating table.
Some sang hymns, others chanted sutras.
Even the most stubborn atheists prayed to God in those moments.
‘When my turn comes, will there be anyone waiting for me outside?’
For Jin Cheon-hee in his forties, there was no such person.
I had always devoted myself to others’ families.
‘Then… having done that much… don’t I deserve to build a family of my own now?’
It didn’t have to be bound by blood. I had learned that I was an orphan with nothing in this world too.
All I needed was for people to care for one another.
‘For that, it would be good to have money.’
In any world, money matters. Whether buying a house or putting food on the table, you can’t live without it.
‘And I need strength.’
Of all places, this is the martial world.
A place where human lives are worth less than flies. With countless calamities to come, if I can’t even protect myself, I have no right to protect a family.
‘But I have neither.’
Yet I know the future. And there’s one more thing.
‘A physician is always needed in any world. Right.’
* * *
After bathing, I stepped out to find new clothes prepared. My original garments were torn and filthy, hardly deserving to be called clothes anymore.
The new outfit was made of stiff fabric with a clean, refreshing appearance.
As I changed into the clothes and stood before the mirror, a handsome young man with spirited eyes stood in my place.
‘Wow. This is my face, but it’s really quite beautiful.’
Jin Cheon-hee realized one more thing he possessed.
Good looks made it easy to earn people’s trust and affection.
With clear black eyes and a sharp gleam, an air of dignity naturally emanated.
And instead of that nauseating, acrid stench, a subtle, refreshing fragrance now lingered about me.
Instead of a nauseating stench that made you want to vomit, a subtle and refreshing scent lingered in the air.
Yoo Ho observed Jin Cheon-hee with genuine surprise.
‘Is this the same person from before?’
While it was true that people could transform themselves through appearance, the shift from beggar to nobleman seemed almost too dramatic.
‘Regardless, this child has no background. I don’t understand why the master would overlook so many skilled and talented individuals to choose this boy, but I cannot simply accept it.’
“Ahem.”
Yoo Ho cleared his throat.
Jin Cheon-hee startled and looked up at him.
That expression was unmistakably that of a child, and somehow it softened his heart.
‘This is strange. Just moments ago, his face bore the expression of someone prematurely aged. Yet after looking in the mirror, only now does he show a child’s face. It’s as if an old man learned to mimic a child’s expressions.’
Absurd reasoning.
Yoo Ho clicked his tongue.
‘He possesses no inner strength, and his martial bones are inferior to those of a martial family’s child. The master said this level would be sufficient, but my eyes tell a different story.’
If this child truly became Baekrin Uiseon’s disciple, his already limited remaining lifespan would diminish further.
Having served him for so long, I resolved that if he made any misstep, I would expose everything.
How fortunate it would be if he abandoned the idea of taking a disciple altogether.
Such was his loyalty as a retainer.
* * *
‘Somehow, this feels just like my old internship days.’
Perhaps because of Yoo Ho’s piercing gaze, Jin Cheon-hee stifled a laugh internally.
With such obvious wariness, there was no way to miss it.
He sat in the Guest House Tea Room and sipped tea with delicate hands.
‘The fact that he’s like this must have a reason… Is it because of the Restoration of Hundred Meridians technique?’
In the novel, Baekrin Uiseon never performed the Restoration of Hundred Meridians technique for anyone else.
Partly because the novel didn’t focus heavily on Baekrin Uiseon, and partly because he succumbed to illness and died early in the story.
‘My only qualification is having thick skin.’
Having come to a tertiary hospital for treatment and requiring his care meant many patients were in critical condition.
Maintaining composure before patients and their families was an essential quality.
If I, as a physician, wavered at the crossroads of life and death, there would be no one left to trust.
I even deliberately learned humor to comfort frightened patients.
Sadness changes nothing. What matters is the future.
Even a bland joke could provide great comfort, so I learned whatever might help even slightly.
Yoo Ho, for his part, was at a loss.
‘Is this brat insane? Or simply oblivious?’
This was the honored guest seat of the Daewunryong Pyoguk.
Even the most successful merchant lords would sit with tension here.
Yet despite such obvious surveillance, he wore a smile on his face
and
greedily grabbed sweets and ate them.
‘I conducted a background investigation, but nothing was revealed.’
Using Baekrin Uiseon’s connections, I made inquiries, but no one knew anything about this child.
At most, the fact that she was an orphan.
Even that, I couldn’t be certain was reliable information.
The child who had devoured the candied dates and persimmons in one sitting now reached for the dried persimmon. He popped it into his mouth without even brushing off the white powder.
‘After the Hundred Meridian Cleansing Technique finishes, I do get hungry….’
Gasol, passing by, noticed me and asked if I wanted to eat more.
At those words, my face flushed and I shook my head.
“I’m sorry. I’ve eaten far too much, haven’t I?”
At that sight, the Gasol members burst into laughter.
“He’s just like our own son.”
“The boy can be hungry. Besides, he’s an honored guest of our Courier Bureau Chief. That… the one who defeated Baek Rin-ui-seon first….”
“Really? If our little guest is like this, we should give him as much as he wants.”
If I had instead thrown a tantrum demanding more, there would have been gossip.
Before long, candied dates, rice cakes, and more began piling up in front of me.
“Thank you so much!”
Even eating looked like a blessing.
At that sight, the Gasol members seemed ready to bring out a full meal instead of refreshments.
No matter how I looked at it, this boy seemed to know how to use his appearance.
Then the door creaked open.
A masked person entered.
From the silhouette of the cotton gauze visible beneath the wide-brimmed hat, I could only tell that she was a woman.
Upon seeing me, she bowed deeply.
‘Huh?’
Before I could even react, she spoke.
“I am grateful to the Gumyeong Jieun. I heard that if your small cooperation had not been there, my Yeong would not have lived. I am Gongseon of the Gongseon Family. I shall repay this debt without fail.”
‘So this must be Gongseon Hyeon. She’s come to see her cousin Gongseon Yeong.’
“Please, there’s no need. I’m just glad I could help.”
I truly believed that. As a physician, I saved a patient. That was all.
“Indeed… you live up to the praise of the Courier Bureau Chief and Baek Rin-ui-seon. The Gongseon Family will not forget this.”
“Anyone in that position would have done something. Ah, that’s right! Rather than me, wouldn’t it be better to go see your family? That’s more urgent, isn’t it?”
At her excessive praise, my face reddened and I changed the subject. That appearance was unmistakably that of a child. At those words, the gauze-veiled woman Gongseon Hyeon seemed to gaze at me for a moment.
“Then, if you’ll forgive my rudeness… I shall take my leave and visit again another time.”
Gongseon Hyeon bowed deeply once more and left the room.
I slowly recalled what lay ahead.
Gongseon Hyeon, born of the main family, was the only daughter of the main branch. Normally, she should have inherited the sword lineage of the Gongseon Family, but her talent with the blade fell far short, disappointing the elders of the main family.
In contrast, Gongseon Yeong, a member of the collateral branch, was born with exceptional martial bones and had a quick understanding of the sword. A main family heir unable to inherit the secret sword techniques, and a collateral heir already beginning to make a name for himself.
People called her the main family inferior to the collateral branch, the elder sister inferior to the younger brother.
‘But there’s something people don’t know about Gongseon Hyeon.’
First, while she was not born with martial talent, she was born with commercial talent.
Half the world is money. This was no different even for martial families. If she couldn’t learn something herself, she could put others forward.
Whether it was healing elixirs, precious blades, or secret techniques.
Half of the martial world is held together by money, after all.
‘There’s one more thing. The most important one.’
She loved her younger sister Gongseon Yeong more than anyone else, cherishing her as if they were one body.
Due to the sharp tension between the main family’s parents and the branch family’s parents, they did not express it openly, but the two cousin sisters harbored deep concern for one another.
-Kill them all. Make those who dare touch even a single hair or fingernail of my younger sister pay the price. Dig up everything and find the culprit behind this.
-Ah, Yeong… Yeong. My dear Yeong, alone in that cold place. Can you see me? The blood of all those who made you this way has finally become a river.
When Gongseon Yeong, whom she cherished like a true sibling, died, she harbored poison in her heart. And she spent her entire life searching for the culprit behind why this merchant house was attacked.
She discovered that a figure from the main family, one who wished to place her as the next family head, was involved in this matter,
and
she committed an irreversible blood calamity.
‘Gongseon Yeong was originally supposed to die here.’
I myself had saved her.
I had prevented one great blood calamity that would have occurred in the future.
‘By now, Gongseon Hyeon must be holding Gongseon Yeong’s hand and weeping bitterly. Gongseon Yeong would wake to her sister’s anguished cries and grumble that her sister worried far too much.’
-Why would I die? Don’t you trust me, sister? I won’t die until you do. I can’t die. Fool. My sister, who is smarter than anyone, is being foolish now.
It was one of the dreams that Gongseon Hyeon, who had lost Gongseon Yeong in the novel, had experienced.
When Gongseon Hyeon awoke from that dream, she could neither weep nor laugh, merely staring at the ceiling like a hollow, dead tree.
The sorrow that began in her eyes traced along her temples and burrowed into her ears.
Though she had held Gongseon Yeong’s memorial service more splendidly than anyone else, the dead did not return.
‘That future has changed, and the problem is now what comes next… perhaps.’

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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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