Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 618

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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 618
Just as I was about to inform my Master that I was heading inside, a voice rang out.
“Come in, Hope.”
Had he sensed my presence with just that subtle aura?
I stepped into the study.
Mountains of bamboo slips and papers towered before me.
‘My Master’s workload is truly staggering. It seems like far more than what I’m handling with the research institute.’
Yet despite this, my Master’s face showed not a trace of exhaustion, and his robes bore not a single wrinkle.
So it was actually possible for someone to work like this.
As I was thinking this, my Master suddenly tossed a document folder in front of me.
“You’ll need to reorganize the expanded Baek Rin Prefecture.”
“Yes, I… what?”
“Why do you look so shocked? The territory expanded thanks to what you accomplished on your trip to the Aisha Kingdom, so someone needs to manage it.”
I suppose it had to come to this.
With all the work I’ve been doing outside, I can’t even make excuses.
My Master continued.
“The residents of Baek Rin Prefecture all want you. Even when I send other magistrate deputies, they only talk about you. Really, how did you win them over so completely?”
“Well… I worked hard on the civil engineering projects?”
“Yes. And you’ll need to do that again.”
With that, he threw another document at me.
“This is a punishment. Learn firsthand just how precious your hands are. You’re a child praised as a genius of this generation, yet you constantly push both your mind and body to excess.”
“…”
“So, bring to life some of those plans you sketched out in the past.”
Saying this, he threw more documents at me one by one.
“Complete water and sewage systems, toilet development and distribution, public bathhouse construction, food sources for regional development, additional mirror factory establishments, and agricultural method improvements.”
“Ugh.”
“Literacy reduction policies.”
‘Nooooo! The work is pouring in!’
I clutched my head in despair.
And finally, my Master threw something wrapped in golden silk.
When I unfolded it, it contained an imperial edict from the palace.
There were various flowery phrases, but the essence was this:
-Tax exemption for Baek Rin Prefecture for five years. Collect taxes from that region and manage it well on your own.
“Master, is it really alright to throw an imperial edict around like this?”
“Will the Emperor have me arrested for disloyalty because of it?”
That was a fair point.
From this distance, whether he throws or rolls the edict, how would they even know? And even if they did, given their nature, they wouldn’t say anything about me stepping on a letter or two.
If they did say something, it would only be because they had already decided to brand me a traitor from the start.
Like excising a diseased wound.
“Understood, Master. I’ll do my best.”
I let out a sigh and scratched my head vigorously.
I gathered the documents and bamboo slips my Master had thrown at me and stepped outside.
The late spring sunlight was remarkably sweet.
‘Come to think of it, my Master never asked me about my fingers.’
It would have been natural to ask, given that I suddenly had fingers that weren’t there before.
He must have already known that Yoo Ho had begun crafting the gloves.
And he likely understood the gloves’ function before I did.
‘Just how much does my Master understand about me?’
As long as the contract between us existed, my Master couldn’t receive hints about me from other sources.
After all, he had agreed to become my disciple without asking anything.
Yet sometimes it felt like he understood far more than what I had told him.
‘I should stop thinking about this. There’s no point in going deeper.’
I stretched languidly.
‘These days, I can’t tell if I’m a doctor or an administrator… But perhaps this too is the path of saving lives.’
Was this the moment I was beginning to savor the taste of power?
‘Hehehehe! Let me enforce public health through the power of authority!’
Now all the residents of the new Baek Rin County would be forced to wash their hands when they returned home from outside.
With the advanced water and sewage systems in place, they couldn’t even use the excuse of not having water to wash with.
‘Kahahaha! Now we’ll replace the old-fashioned latrines with modern ones, collect the waste, burn it at high temperatures, process it, and eliminate parasite eggs! Kaha! Kahahaha!’
This was power.
I rejoiced like a corrupt official.
‘Now, to accomplish this, I’ll need talented people…’
Normally, I would have sent word to Gaebang.
But Gaebang belonged to the Martial Arts Alliance.
While Seolgyeon wouldn’t mind too much, if I kept receiving information this way, her position would become unstable.
I couldn’t cause her that kind of trouble…
‘I should request this from Hao-mun.’
Sama Hyeon had become the next Hao Munzhu, after all.
And with Muyue at his side, I thought it would be good to request scholar recruitment the way we used to.
* * *
When I found Muyue and discussed this with him.
“Rather than that, how about using the children from Baek Hwan-hu’s side? Eun Gong.”
“Baek Hwan-hu… The situation calls for civil officials rather than warriors. Is that possible?”
Muyue nodded at my words.
“Of course, the overwhelming majority of the children wish to learn martial arts and become Kang Ho-ins, but the number of children raised in Baek Hwan-hu’s organization still exceeds ten thousand. Isn’t it your principle to ensure they all become literate?”
That was true.
Even if they become Kang Ho-ins, those who can’t read often get swindled when traveling or die in remote temples.
Moreover, they often take poor jobs or make foolish purchases, which frequently leads them down dark paths.
So we made sure to teach at least basic literacy to prevent illiteracy.
“Thanks to that, quite a few children have begun aspiring to become scholars or officials.”
“So we’ve reached the number needed to conduct formal examinations.”
“Yes. With several hundred candidates, it would be better for them to enter administrative positions like this rather than join merchant houses.”
“Will arithmetic be sufficient?”
When I recruit administrators for Baek Rin County, arithmetic is what I value most.
Of course, the teachings of Confucius and Mencius are important for becoming a high-ranking official of the realm, but given my inclination toward practical learning, I’ve always placed the greatest value on administrators skilled in arithmetic.
At those words, Muyue nodded.
“These children were originally destined for merchant houses. There are quite a few with strong arithmetic skills among them. Until now, I’ve been hiring those recommended from among the Baek Hwan-hu children, but I believe conducting formal examinations would be even better.”
“Wow, this feels strange.”
Without realizing it, I pressed my chest.
‘The children I saved are now coming to the place where I work.’
And they’re coming through examinations, no less.
I know that becoming a warrior in this Gangho is the most glorious path. Yet I never realized there would be so many children looking elsewhere, like myself.
My heart felt oddly warm.
* * *
Time passed like that.
I took my seat directly in the examination hall.
Dressed in a black scholar’s robe with wide sleeves that I rarely wore, my hair pinned up and crowned with an official’s cap, my appearance was remarkably dignified.
The Baek Hwan-hu children began their examination before me.
When I first reorganized Baek Rin County, Muyue contributed greatly to creating the administrative manual for the county.
I distributed copies to Baek Hwan-hu as well.
The children had studied it beforehand.
Adulthood.
The time to determine one’s path.
Even so, that’s only by Gangho standards—by modern standards, they’re merely teenagers at best.
‘Mm, how well they’ve all grown.’
The difference between Gangho and the modern world is that the children all possess such profound gazes.
Though many of the Baek Hwan-hu children come from destroyed clans or poor warrior families, they’ve experienced much hardship in this world.
‘And they labor.’
From the moment they could move, labor was simply expected.
So naturally, their eyes already held the gaze of adults.
The ability to be innocent was, in a sense, a luxury in this era.
In the examination hall, silent enough to hear a needle drop, brushes scraped across paper.
Meanwhile, the Baek Hwan-hu children felt differently.
‘That person is So Ui-seon…’
‘I’d only seen him from a distance before.’
‘This is my first time seeing him up close. He doesn’t look human—he looks like some celestial being.’
‘It was So Ui-seon who gave medicine to our sister…’
Certain kindnesses always return.
Especially children, being innocent and pure, never forget the warmth they first experience in this world for the rest of their lives.
Even if they grow old and weathered by the trials of the world, the kindness they received in their purity stays with them forever.
Sometimes that resentment runs deeper than the grudges I carried from childhood.
It makes me choose to live on even while remembering my enemies.
Even though they still visit me in dreams from time to time.
The warmth I’ve already felt is so comforting that instead of throwing away this life to seek revenge, I find myself thinking first of holding onto my younger sister and older sister by my side.
The ironic thing is that this man before me—known by various aliases like So Ui-seon, Ilgwang, Baek Seon-gwang, and Veiled Madman—has never taught me how to handle either gratitude or resentment.
He simply teaches me how to live.
By staying at Baek Hwan-hu, one can learn basic martial arts, and conversely, one can also acquire basic literacy.
Yet some children leave as soon as they reach adulthood to kill their parents’ enemies.
And some children decide to care for their families instead.
There is no right answer in either case.
I myself don’t know what the right answer is.
It belongs to those who live.
In a way, the exam before me now was far simpler than that.
Click, clack.
The sound of abacus beads clicking echoes through the room.
Not a single child at Baek Hwan-hu is ignorant of how to use an abacus.
And so the exam ended.
* * *
That evening, after the exam.
I graded the papers myself.
‘Wow… their level is better than I expected?’
It’s a sad truth, but things rarely go according to plan.
Those in leadership tend toward idealism, while those in practical positions wear themselves thin trying to keep up with those above them.
So I’d grown accustomed to lowering my expectations, but this exceeded my imagination.
‘The scholars teaching them must be exceptional too. And the children’s desire to achieve must be equally great.’
There was one fact I had overlooked.
Education is expensive.
It’s no accident that old tales speak of poor children stealing knowledge by listening to reading outside academy walls.
Especially arithmetic like the abacus—once learned, it’s invariably useful.
Merchant guilds? That’s obvious.
Even academies and Taoist temples, which seem far removed from money, always need such skilled people.
There’s nowhere in this world where money doesn’t flow.
“How is it?”
Muyue set a warm cup of tea before me.
I took a sip and said,
“…It’s far better than what we could find from outside?”
At those words, Muyue’s expression grew proud.
“Isn’t it?”
“Now I understand why the Chief Manager was so confident about this.”
Muyue let out a small, pleased laugh.
“Hmm, for those whose performance falls short, shall we ask their preference and have them study further before retaking the examination?”
Muyue’s eyes widened at my words.
“You mean…?”
“Yes, I wish to take them all with me. We’re in such dire need that even one person matters. Of course, if someone has aspirations elsewhere, there’s nothing I can do about that…”
“…No! There is no one who would refuse such an opportunity!”
I hadn’t expected Muyue to interrupt so passionately.
This was the same Muyue who had been sold to Hao-mun with his sister years ago, living in constant anxiety.
Unless one harbored ambitions for official position, the civil service examinations were nearly monopolized by a handful of academies in the imperial capital anyway.
It was no accident that children of powerful families grew up to become powerful families themselves.
The chance of a peasant’s child studying their way into office was as rare as a dragon rising from a creek—a near impossibility.
Most lacked such talent, and even if they possessed it, they had neither the wealth nor influence to overcome the obstacles.
Choosing the brush over the sword despite knowing this required more than ordinary resolve.
Muyue understood the children’s hearts better than anyone.
I nodded in acknowledgment.
“Thank you. Truly, I’m grateful.”
“No, it is I who should be grateful.”
Muyue found himself thinking of his younger self.
The regrets and sorrows that had accumulated from all he couldn’t do back then were beginning to thaw.
For some reason, he longed to gaze at the moon with his sister once more.

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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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