Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 645

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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 645
Rather than bother drawing my sword, I slipped my hand into my sleeve and spoke.
“Master of this room. Demon!”
In that instant, the Tanzi Cheontong flew out and struck the masked persons.
Thwack!
Two of them attempted something resembling resistance, swinging their blades wildly.
“So these Bota Clan monks know some martial arts!”
Tanzi Cheontong Yuyu Gitan!
I swung my sword to block the energy projectile.
Yet strangely, the projectile bounced off the ground like a rubber ball, burrowing into the corners rather than piercing straight through.
“You can do that with an energy projectile?”
I answered the startled masked person.
“Did you think I only knew how to penetrate?”
Crash!
Every last masked person collapsed.
“Hyeong. I didn’t even get a chance to… well.”
“Right. Remove their masks anyway, Hyeon. Let’s see what they look like.”
“Ugh, gross~”
Hyeon removed the masks from each and every one of them.
As I examined their faces one by one, I grumbled.
“…I don’t recognize any of them.”
“Hyeong. Would men who kidnap women for money be doing well in Gangho? They’re just third-rate martial artists.”
“Really… they live so carelessly.”
“It’s because you’ve always chosen to fight strong opponents.”
“I’ve never even met a demon before, Hyeon.”
“Hyeong, whether you grew up refined or rough… thinking about the opponents you’ve faced, you’ve been quite harsh.”
I couldn’t quite tell if I’d grown up refined or rough…
In any case, I destroyed their dantians and damaged their limb meridians, then pulled my sleeves tight to bind their bodies.
With proper clothing, it becomes an excellent restraint by itself.
Then I casually dumped them in front of the magistrate’s office without anyone noticing and rushed straight to Dan Seok-san’s mansion.
‘Tonight’s schedule is really packed.’
Destroying their dantians took longer than actually fighting them.
And so I arrived at Dan Seok-san’s grand estate.
[Wait, Hyeon. Stop!]
At my words, Sama Hyeon asked.
[What is it, Hyeong?]
[Everyone else lives so carelessly, but Dan Seok-san seems to live diligently… the formation is deployed at an incredibly sophisticated level.]
At those words, goosebumps rose on Sama Hyeon’s back.
Sama Hyeon himself had broken into others’ homes often enough to possess some knowledge of formations.
‘On the surface, it looks like an ordinary mansion though?’
I couldn’t sense it at all.
That meant the formation was so refined and transcendent that it defied common understanding.
‘Can Hyeong see this?’
Jin Cheon-hee threw a stone as a test.
“….”
It was strange.
I could see the stone fly and fall, but oddly, I couldn’t hear any sound.
[Hyeong, what are we going to do?]
[Hmm…. Even I can’t casually break through a formation this advanced without anyone noticing. The easiest way would be to just destroy it with brute force.]
[Sneaking in won’t work?]
[That’s right. Hmm… Let’s head back for now.]
[What are you planning?]
Sama Hyeon’s eyes gleamed with subtle anticipation at the question.
He clearly believed that the eldest of the Jegallim Family would devise some stratagem.
‘This is quite burdensome. Though I’ve already decided what to do.’
I wasn’t going to pull off anything particularly spectacular.
Like hiding under some cargo cart and sneaking in with a whoosh.
Or clinging to the ceiling and performing some Hollywood action sequence.
I could do it if I wanted, but at my age, I couldn’t be bothered with all that.
‘Just. An adult’s method. Hyeon-a.’
Jin Cheon-hee had decided to live roughly.
* * *
The next morning.
Jin Cheon-hee headed straight for the magistrate’s office.
“What business do you have here? This is no place for outsiders.”
The gatekeepers blocked my path immediately upon arrival.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“I’ve come to meet with the Patrol Captain.”
“An outsider cannot simply meet with the Patrol Captain!”
That was true enough.
If this were a police station, they’d tell me to take a number and file a report.
But here, they simply blocked first and asked questions later.
I discreetly showed them the royal inspector’s badge, and though the guards didn’t know what it was, they recognized that it looked impressive.
“Please wait a moment!”
Before long, the Patrol Captain came running in his bare feet.
“Oh my! Your Excellency! I’ve been waiting! You’ve finally arrived!”
What on earth was going on?
In any case, Jin Cheon-hee followed the Patrol Captain inside immediately.
The moment the Patrol Captain entered his office, he sent all the other officials outside.
Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“What on earth is this about? It sounds as though you were expecting my arrival.”
“You didn’t come knowing about this…?”
‘Huh? Knowing about what?’
I asked calmly.
“We stopped by for a different matter, actually…?”
“Please wait a moment. A secret message has arrived through the eastern passage.”
What? From the Emperor?
I was so taken aback that I clicked my tongue.
‘How long has it been since I sent that memorial requesting the water supply rights?’
That was it.
Baek Rin County I could handle directly since I was the acting Magistrate, but for other counties, simply installing the water system and leaving a modest profit margin was already beneficial to me.
The rest I planned to sell off to the government and be done with it.
The easiest approach would be if they recognized the value of the water infrastructure themselves and installed it on their own.
But this was an era where people laughed at the notion of “who would pay money for water?”
It was obvious that all manner of corruption and irregularities would emerge during construction, so it was better to handle the installation myself and sell it off at an opportune time.
Maintenance was honestly tedious.
It was more convenient to let the government handle it.
So once installation was complete and trial operations had gone reasonably well, I submitted a memorial asking the government to take over from there.
I had long since compiled the fundamental core technologies into a report while managing Baek Rin County.
Yet precisely because the Emperor hadn’t been installing it even as a pilot project in other regions, this situation had arisen.
‘So he’s been watching everything I do…’
With trembling hands, I opened the secret message.
The message was written in cipher—old language cipher at that—so it wasn’t terribly difficult to decipher.
The contents were roughly this:
-Currently 32 cases of missing persons. If we count those the government hasn’t identified, there are likely more. The government can’t handle it, so you do it.
…No, what is this? Are they using me like picking persimmons off a stick?
And below that was an additional note:
-There’s been corruption in counties near Baek Rin. We’re waiting for you to accumulate sufficient merit before integrating them with Baek Rin County. If you invent even a new medicine, send it. And this curious new mechanism called the water and sewage system—come install it in the imperial palace too. As for what was built in Fujian and Jiangsu provinces, manage it yourself.
‘I see. They’re treating me like a state enterprise.’
Since I’m of royal blood, am I being counted as imperial family?
‘If I had ill intentions, what would they do? Are the Gold and Silver Wang-yas in their right minds? What exactly are they relying on…?’
It was clear they saw me as free labor.
‘But this is too much! You’re handing water and sewage management to a civilian?! That’s not right! This is all taxpayer money! Why aren’t you buying it?! I offered it cheaply! Just confiscate it or something!’
I had definitely sent a letter offering to transfer the water and sewage rights at a “reasonable” price.
I knew this was quite an audacious proposal.
After all, this is a world where imperial decree stands above national law. Human rights are nothing before imperial decree.
‘They could just say “seize private property!” and be done with it, couldn’t they?’
But wasn’t I the doctor who saved the Emperor’s life? I thought I could make at least this much of a request. I thought so, but…
Surely not.
Surely, surely not.
“Hmm~ So you’re just going to keep doing that~”
That’s the answer I got back!
‘Just take it and go! I don’t want to manage this anymore, aaaah!'”
I finally understood.
My plan to work for public health while subtly manipulating the Kings through market principles to produce and sell medicines had failed.
For some reason, these people saw me as a shared destiny with them.
‘These bastards, are they seriously viewing me as a health-obsessed madman with no desire for power?!’
I clicked my tongue in disbelief.
‘Did Emperor Geum-wang perhaps see through my heart? I remember saying in passing that I don’t usually do that with ordinary people, but that must have all been a lie.’
Yeah. There’s an idiot here who actually believed that.
There’s a naive bastard here who believed it straight in an imperial court where you lose your nose the moment you open your eyes.
Apparently, my memories themselves are blocked by a wall and difficult to read, but my emotions can be read.
With just that, there’s plenty they can figure out.
I let out a long sigh and irritably tore up the secret letter and burned it.
Work.
For some reason, I was beginning to understand Yoo Ho’s feelings a little.
I gave Sama Hyeon a rough explanation of the situation.
Sama Hyeon spoke.
[That’s pretty suspicious. But my gut tells me that if there are that many missing people, Dan Seok-san’s household is definitely very suspicious~ Hyeong. Even that formation and all.]
That’s true.
In a neighborhood where people lived so carelessly, only the formation wasn’t careless.
And when I checked the various investigation reports the Patrol Captain showed me.
[Dan Seok-san’s mansion really is strange.]
When analyzing the movements of the missing people, they all passed through Dan Seok-san’s mansion.
[This is done carelessly too. If you’re going to commit a crime anyway, you should track movements and then kidnap. How could you not be suspected doing it like this?]
For some reason, Sama Hyeon was looking at me with pity.
[Hyeong. After dealing with the Martial Arts Alliance, Sadoren, the Demonic Cult, Hyeolseonggyo… these kinds of people. Come back to reality now. You’ve been fighting opponents that make no sense.]
Well, I guess so. Ugh.
I swallowed hard.
“For now, that’s good. Then please give us the Guard’s insignia and official robes. We’ll proceed with the investigation.”
“Yes! I accept your orders!”
Perhaps because my old friend had visited once, I could feel military discipline snap into the Patrol Captain’s shoulders.
“And those people you threw into the magistrate’s office yesterday. Since they’re people we captured, interrogate them and trace their connections.”
“Understood, my lord!”
Right. Time to work.
I stopped speaking there and fell into thought.
‘Just how far do the Emperor’s eyes and ears reach?’
I looked around carefully but saw neither suspicious people nor anyone in hiding.
‘I haven’t sensed a single tail this whole time…?’
Martial arts CCTV is terrifying.
* * *
I changed into official robes and altered my appearance once more.
Crack—
‘Wow, I’m not used to this yet.’
The human face is more delicate than one might think; even slight shifts in position dramatically change one’s appearance.
Perhaps because of this, achieving the exact appearance I wanted proved difficult.
‘Well, let’s just make do.’
After adjusting my face to a level where I wouldn’t be recognized, Sama Hyeon had already switched into a new human-skin mask.
While Sama Hyeon’s range of transformation was far more diverse, I had reached a level sufficient to conceal my identity without difficulty.
‘The drawback is that maintaining it consumes considerable inner energy.’
As a result, using powerful martial techniques becomes difficult.
Moreover, if I receive a strong impact, there’s a possibility I’ll revert to my original form, so I must be cautious about that as well.
Considering everything, Sama Hyeon’s human-skin mask is far more practical, but knowing how such vivid masks are crafted in the martial world—and at this level of realism—I lack the courage to use one.
After that, we both changed into official robes and immediately began our investigation.
First, we decided to visit the families of the thirty-two reported missing persons.

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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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