Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 647

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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 647
I let out a small sigh.
The matter was far more complex than I had anticipated.
[After all, the most suspicious place is the Dan family’s residence. The authorities have already investigated it, and when I looked into it myself, there was nothing unusual.]
[So why not just go and deal with them? Why does my brother look so troubled?]
Soon enough, I voiced my greatest concern.
[The people who were abducted are all young, and some of them are martial artists with inner strength. There’s been no demand for ransom in exchange for their return. Which means….]
I rubbed my eyes and continued.
[…Dan Seok-san didn’t abduct them out of a need for money. And looking at how the targets are concentrated, it’s not some pleasure killing either. If he’d abducted children, I’d think he was cultivating assassins, but that’s not it either.]
[Then, my brother is….]
I reached a single conclusion.
[Dan Seok-san seems far more interested in those people’s bodies than in money, and that’s what worries me.]
The North Sea Ice Palace wasn’t far away.
I muttered quietly.
[The experiment must not be complete yet.]
Insurance fraud had rolled and rolled to reach this point.
At the word “experiment,” Sama Hyeon responded immediately through our silent transmission.
[I heard vague rumors about what happened at the North Sea Ice Palace. The Hyeolseon Sect members were mass-producing demons, weren’t they?]
Did Hao-mun’s intelligence network extend even to foreign lands?
I had only spoken about the North Sea Ice Palace incident to my Master Jegalling, never to anyone else.
[So then. Could this place be a branch of the Hyeolseon Sect~?]
[It could be. Or it couldn’t. We’ll only know once we investigate.]
[How intriguing~]
While exchanging silent transmissions with Sama Hyeon, I continued conversing with the innkeeper of Doyeon Valley’s largest establishment.
Not just the innkeeper either.
The housekeepers and servers who worked under him, and so on.
I interviewed and interrogated them all.
The innkeeper’s performance was quite masterful, but the others were not.
I conducted the interrogations.
While Sama Hyeon stood behind me, casually kneading a kitchen knife with his bare hands like clay, their faces paled and they could barely speak properly.
It was a form of intimidation, but thanks to it, we learned far more.
After the interrogations, we left the inn and surveyed the main street.
Martial artists and wealthy visitors on leisure strolled by leisurely.
[My brother was right. Most of the people in this town are in on it together. They know something but are hiding it. If I grabbed one coward and tortured him, I could probably figure it out….]
[Probably. But there’s no need to do that.]
[What are you planning~?]
[This time, let’s visit the families of the missing persons. They’ll tell us what they know without hiding anything.]
[Okay~]
* * *
The attempt to meet the families of the missing persons ended in failure.
All the families of the missing persons had already left this region.
When I visited the residences of the missing persons’ families one by one, they were all empty.
And now, the twelfth residence.
As I stepped out of the shabby, vacant house, I used a telepathic transmission.
[This is getting increasingly suspicious…]
All the families of the missing persons have fled?
Were they murdered?
Or did they realize that all the natives of this city were in collusion and flee in fear?
[Isn’t it obvious that the Dan family is the culprit, brother?]
Where did you learn that?
Thinking that to myself, I responded through telepathic transmission.
[Certainly. Dan Gajang, the wealthiest and most influential figure in this region. A suspicious formation technique. And people who have vanished. If this isn’t suspicious, then I’m complicit.]
It was glaringly obvious, yet everyone lived with their eyes covered.
* * *
I returned to the inn and sought sleep.
This time, a different guest room in a different inn.
Sama Hyeon had said it wouldn’t matter much if I stayed in the same inn and same room, but old habits die hard.
Fortunately, there was no attack whatsoever.
The next day.
I immediately gathered my sword and headed directly to Dan Gajang’s residence.
“Hold on there.”
Dan Gajang’s bodyguard drew his sword to block my path.
I produced my Podoo badge and showed it to him.
“Ah, this is! What brings you here, sir?”
His demeanor changed to respect immediately.
Without wasting words, I told him to deliver a message inside and waited at the door.
“Understood, sir. I shall convey your message at once!”
Half a shichen passed since he went inside.
“…”
Not a single bodyguard, not even a mouse, came out.
Sama Hyeon clicked his tongue.
[It seems they’re disregarding the Podoo badge?]
[They probably think a mere Podoo can be handled by bribing the magistrate’s office~ these bastards.]
Two things became clear from this.
1) These people are indeed bribing the magistrate’s office.
2) The magistrate accepts the bribes, but that doesn’t mean he deceives the Emperor for their sake.
‘A clever magistrate indeed.’
He doesn’t refuse the money, but he still files his reports?
At my observation, Sama Hyeon responded.
[Oh, brother, you’re sharp as always? That’s right. The fact that they can ignore you like this means they’ve already handed over quite a bit of money. But if the magistrate takes the money and acts like this, even a magistrate might catch a blade in a dark alley later.]
[So instead of offering bribes, you hire assassins?]
[Yes. That’s one of the reasons magistrates accept bribes in the first place. Even if they themselves remain unharmed, their families could end up dead. No matter how skilled the martial artists you station as guards, ten men can’t stop a single thief.]
[I’m beginning to understand once more why the Gold and Silver King views Kang Ho-in as such an eyesore.]
But what can be done about it?
If I had been born on Planet Earth, I could have governed justly and lived peacefully, but since I was born on this world of martial arts, there’s simply no way out.
[Perhaps Dan Seok-san’s operations have grown so large that he’s trying to sever ties quickly.]
Sama Hyeon asked.
[The magistrate is ending their honeymoon relationship first?]
[That’s about the size of it.]
[Then the magistrate must be quite skilled in the art of survival.]
[Not particularly as a public official, but it’s a form well-suited to surviving in power.]
The Emperor must have his hands full as well.
After all, governing a nation means leading all these kinds of people. If he cut down everyone who displeased him, there would be gaps in the power structure, so he’d have to spend his entire life pruning and culling.
I wonder if we’ll be able to learn more about this through investigation.
Jin Cheon-hee looked up at the sky and gauged the sun’s position.
After counting for a moment, I took a deep breath, then kicked the door hard with my foot.
“This is lawful official business!”
Crash!
The door swung open in a single blow.
The guard standing inside looked up in surprise.
“Wait, didn’t I tell you to wait!”
“How dare you make Podoo wait for half an hour! As one who draws a government salary, this is nothing but dereliction of duty!”
Stride by stride.
I walked inside.
“If you enter without permission, even Podoo cannot be overlooked!”
“Are you obstructing official business?”
“Our duty is merely to guard this place.”
Shing!
The four guards stationed at the main gate simultaneously drew their swords.
“Obstruction of official business, illegal weapon possession, threatening a government official. I’m arresting you on all three counts!”
As Jin Cheon-hee spoke sharply, the guards shouted with grim faces.
“Damn it…! No more talk. Attack–!”
With that shout, all the guards came rushing forward.
Two in front, two following behind—a formation!
Sama Hyeon whistled.
“Ah~ why didn’t you do this sooner~ how refreshing and satisfying!”
Before Jin Cheon-hee could even step forward.
Sama Hyeon leaped into the midst of the attacking guards as if dancing.
Though their blades were sharp, their speed seemed to him slower than a dance performed in perfect rhythm.
A gentle wave of his hand struck the throat of the guard on the right.
“Gasp!”
I struck the vital point of my gasping opponent and sent him crashing down, then arched my body backward to evade the blade coming from the left.
At the same moment, Sama Hyeon’s extended leg coiled like a serpent as she delivered a devastating kick.
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
The man wielding the sword from the left had his jaw dislocated and was hurled to the ground.
His inner strength seemed insufficient, as he writhed helplessly and couldn’t rise.
From my perspective, it was an injury severe enough to make me think, ‘No! What should we do, Hyeon-a! All his teeth are gone, he’ll only be able to drink porridge… Ah, but at least I didn’t kill him,’ level of damage.
Rising to her feet again, Sama Hyeon smiled broadly and spoke.
“I should have done this from the start~ Master Podoo~”
Sama Hyeon spoke in the delicate voice of a frail woman, yet with perfect composure.
Her appearance was truly brutal to behold.
Perhaps because of this?
The two bodyguards who had been about to attack after the subdued pair stood frozen, swords merely drawn.
“Y-you crazy woman…! Are you even human?!”
“For someone sent from the capital, your methods are remarkably cruel!”
“Oh my? If you treat us with proper courtesy, we’ll let you investigate our sister?”
“Die!”
The remaining two bodyguards drew their blades again and rushed toward Sama Hyeon.
This time, I was about to handle it easily with a few pebbles, when a sharp cry rang out: “Stop!”
The two martial artists flinched and halted their blades.
“Stand down–!”
A voice infused with inner strength pressed down upon everyone with overwhelming authority.
The martial artists instinctively retreated.
Then, from deeper within, a figure approached accompanied by additional bodyguards—the owner of that voice.
A man dressed in luxurious martial robes.
Dan Seok-han.
He had appeared.
‘Hmm, Dan Seok-san doesn’t show himself, but his counterpart Dan Seok-han does.’
I observed him while concealing my disappointment.
Dan Seok-han spoke.
“I never expected to meet two such beautiful ladies ‘again’ like this.”
I sent a telepathic message.
[Interesting—didn’t we change our faces again? Yet he recognizes us immediately.]
[I thought he was just an ordinary person, but there’s something more to him~]
He continued.
“Last time, you introduced yourselves as couriers of the Unryongpyoguk, but now you arrive in official robes—quite surprising. Tell me, what business do you have harming the martial disciples of our main family?”
To this, Sama Hyeon responded with perfect composure.
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. We are special investigators dispatched from the imperial palace. We’ve come at the request of Podoo, the deputy chief of the Podoo Bureau, so cooperate with our investigation. If you refuse, we will deal with you according to imperial law.”
Her words carried not a trace of theatrical tone—utterly natural and convincing.
In that moment, I dropped the playfulness and performed with genuine seriousness.
A chill ran down my spine.
Dan Seok-han tapped his own nose.
“Hehe. First you pretended to be Podoo, and now you claim to be a special investigator? This Dan clan has quite the nose. Discerning scents is one of the most important duties of the main family—how could it be otherwise?”
I thought to myself.
‘Something feels off.’
An uncanny sense of discord emanated from Dan Seok-han.
In any case, he continued speaking.
“So it doesn’t matter if the two young ladies pretend not to know. Besides, you claim to be the Emperor’s special investigator… In the first place, the very position of Unryongpyoguk’s escort was a false identity, wasn’t it?”
A different kind of chill ran through me.
[That bastard remembered her scent?]
[Wow~ He recognized us by our body scent. Creepy~]
I found myself missing Egg Breaker Hwang-gu.
That perfect angle within sight. A single target.
There was no enemy that Hwang-gu would forgive.
‘And neither will I.’

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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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