Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 664

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 664
Ga-won asked me a question.
“Will the next marketplace festival be fun too?”
“It will be fun.”
“Will the medicine peddlers put on another fire show?”
“Yes. They will. Absolutely.”
“And the dragon dance will come out and perform?”
“That won’t be missing for sure.”
Ga-won decided to live even though the procedure had failed.
But because she had made that decision for such a trivial reason, guilt washed over her.
As she burst into tears as if wailing, I spoke to her.
“After the procedure ends, let’s hire those performers again as a celebration. We’ll watch together. It will be enjoyable.”
“The Gaga clan cannot have a useless successor.”
“But you’ve decided to live.”
“…Yes. I want to see that marketplace again.”
“Then that’s enough. That’s all one needs to live.”
At my words, Ga-won laughed while crying.
“You’re quite a soft person, Ilgwang. An idealist.”
“I hear that often.”
I didn’t deny it.
After all, I am someone with soft spots, and I’m a person who affirms life no matter what.
There’s nothing I can do about it.
Because I know how terribly painful it is to search for reasons to die while thinking oneself useless.
What’s funny is that searching for reasons to die means one wants to live that much.
That’s why humans foolishly find life in the smallest pleasures.
In that child, I saw the young me from long ago.
The comfort that child received reached me across the passage of time.
* * *
Ga-won washed her face for a long time beneath the waterfall.
The tear stains had vanished, but her puffy eyes remained.
“My face was already ugly because of the fur, but now it’s become even uglier.”
She laughed at herself, blew her nose with a snort, and washed her hands in the water again.
While she was composing herself, I spread out a bamboo mat and began taking out things I had prepared in advance.
“Why did you make so much?”
“When you go on a picnic, you eat. Since you’ve eaten plenty from the streets, just having snacks is fine.”
Rice balls dressed in golden egg coating, and beautiful white things that smelled sweet.
Some of them were shaped like chestnuts, and sure enough, a chestnut sat on top.
“Does So Ui-seon make things like this?”
“It’s a hobby. When work makes me feel like I’m losing my mind, moving my hands helps a bit.”
“I see.”
“But that also requires energy. If you don’t have that energy, you just zone out and watch whatever.”
If even that’s too much, I sleep.
But sleeping while depressed makes things worse, so I’d usually search for cat or dog photos before bed.
Fortunately, there are people like me in this world, so searching social media revealed plenty of animal photos.
“Savory and fluffy.”
Ga-won popped a rice ball into her mouth and murmured softly.
“There’s beef inside that one. Egg and beef rice balls.”
“How on earth do you make something like this?”
“Hehehehe.”
I laughed foolishly and poured miso soup into a wooden bowl, handing it to her.
“Drink it all down.”
Perhaps because she’d exhausted herself from crying.
Ga-won ate endlessly.
I’d anticipated this and prepared an enormous amount beforehand, so she could eat without hesitation.
“Children that age really do eat a tremendous amount.”
A relief.
Still, she ate less than the Bota Moon Swordsmen, so the food supply shouldn’t run short.
I decided to bring out a chestnut crepe cake next.
Without a whisk, I stirred it frantically by hand.
I was grateful to have inner energy.
Growing frustrated, I even used wind energy to whip it vigorously, creating cream fluffier than anything made by machine.
Ga-won took a bite and opened her eyes wide in surprise.
“I have a reason to live again!”
“Oh~ That’s wonderful.”
The dairy cows here weren’t selectively bred like modern ones.
Just ordinary cattle or goat milk.
Yet strangely, the taste was richer here.
Whether it was due to the Central Plains’ yin-yang five elements, or whether the elders were right that old milk truly tasted far better than modern milk.
Even accounting for changes during sterilization, the difference was substantial.
‘Perhaps it’s because they preserve it with ice instead of refrigeration.’
What I could say for certain was that the milk here was more delicate and richer than on Earth.
Thus, the two of us held a small feast.
Ga-won resolved to live on, and I resolved to cure her.
Her illness wouldn’t take her life.
Being unsightly doesn’t kill you.
But socially, it meant death.
‘She’s young now, but soon she’ll want to live like everyone else, want to marry.’
So let’s enjoy this moment.
I must save my patient without fail.
* * *
“So, Hope.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You’re suggesting that I fire my sword energy with extreme precision to eliminate every single hair follicle one by one?”
“Yes! Exactly. We’d burn away all the hair follicles in their growth phase.”
Hair passes through three stages: growth, regression, and dormancy.
The growth phase typically comprises about 85% of our hair and is when melanin production is most active.
Hospital laser treatments work by exploiting the property that melanin pigment is darker than the surrounding skin.
They burn away only the areas containing melanin pigment.
Of course, this is also not permanent.
What hospitals call a “successful laser treatment” means maintaining a state where 90% of hair is removed for approximately six months.
“But after that, finer hair grows back. If you repeat the treatment every six months, after two to three years it becomes like the fine downy hair of an ordinary person.”
My friend from Cheongdam who wanted to build the Tower of Life together—are you still doing well? Studying alongside that paper back then has been incredibly helpful.
“Why not just have them pluck it away with something like grass?”
“That causes strong skin irritation and the hair grows back quickly anyway. Doing it on the face is even more troublesome. That’s why we need to target the hair follicle stem cells.”
“You’re going to do that with precious sword energy and sword force?”
I opened my blue eyes and continued spouting this madness.
“Yes! Of course, we can’t just do it carelessly. Before firing, I’ll shoot wind energy to protect the skin.”
Modern laser hair removal devices react to melanin pigment, but humans don’t need that limitation.
I was suggesting that I directly observe with my eyes and fire with my hands.
It’s actually better than a hospital.
When getting laser hair removal at a general dermatology clinic, only 60% of hair is in the growth phase, so multiple visits at two to three week intervals are necessary.
But if I directly examine the “hair follicles” with my eyes, distinguishing them from surrounding cells, and eliminate them with my sword energy, I can handle them all regardless of whether they’re in the growth, regression, or dormancy phase.
“…Hope.”
“Yes! Master.”
I had prepared a presentation in advance to persuade my Master.
Surely, no matter how strict my Master is, this paper would convince him…
“Let’s do it.”
“Pardon?”
“Why couldn’t we do it?”
Huh?
“After the first treatment, we’ll need to repeat the same procedure once a month to eliminate them completely.”
“Yes! Master. Precisely correct!”
Even as I said this, I was dumbfounded at how easily my Master was persuaded.
But then my Master said something like this.
“Right. We resolved the pockmarks of others with the Jegallga’s secret techniques—surely we can handle hair.”
As a warrior, this was a matter of pride.
However, for me, this was the path of saving lives.
It was about saving one patient’s entire life.
“Masteeeeeeer!”
I sighed, watching my touched, crazy disciple.
“Then you won’t be able to leave until this patient receives the procedure.”
“Pardon?”
“You said they need to receive it at least three or four times a month, didn’t you?”
“…Y-yes, that’s right?”
“Surely you’re not expecting your Master to do it all?”
Oh no! That’s exactly what I was thinking!
Jegalling let out a sly chuckle.
“Right then. You won’t be able to budge for at least half a year with practice. And while we’re at it, it wouldn’t hurt to discreetly inquire whether there are any commoners suffering from this condition. Hehehehe….”
Truly, my Master was remarkable.
“But then again, we can handle the face and limbs, but what about other areas?”
“What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you say the entire body is covered in hair? Then we’d need to treat the torso as well, but neither of us are male doctors. It’s not a life-threatening situation, so we could easily become the subject of gossip. The patient themselves would be troubled by it too.”
“For that to be possible, we’d need at least a female doctor who has reached the rank of inspector and possesses knowledge of medicine.”
A female doctor who had reached the rank of inspector.
One person came to mind.
* * *
Sama-hye was busy working hard as the Bundata Master.
The Hangzhou Bunta was growing larger every day, and with it, the Hwaju Medical Institute’s interference was also intensifying.
At this point, running a medical guild really was a dog’s life.
Humans are trash who only care about themselves, and I’m one of them too.
But I’m happy when I receive my monthly salary.
Living through all these joys and sorrows, all these flavors of life and suffering.
Working as the top administrator of the Hangzhou Bunta, and even as a middle manager when including headquarters, I’ve been reflecting deeply on life lately.
“Only oppa gets to play with Eun Gong!”
Ilgwang’s theatrical performances had become the talk of Hangzhou.
Street performers and even acrobats came to perform on every street, and not just children but adults gathered in small groups to watch.
Even plays you’ve already seen become fresh when you watch them again.
You don’t grip your palms with sweat like the first time, but knowing the story makes it even more thrilling. The fun is in watching it again with that familiar knowledge.
In the end, Sama-hye decided to pack her things and head up to the Baekrin Medical Guild headquarters.
Besides, it was time for the regular medical arts exchange meeting anyway.
So going a bit earlier than that wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Of course, to do that, she had to resolve the mountain of work piling up first.
Sama-hye had to work through the night for over a month.
After finishing the work, she went to the Baekrin Medical Guild headquarters, bringing with her the junior doctors and one senior doctor.
It was difficult to bring even one senior doctor.
Since blood was constantly needed in Hangzhou, it wasn’t easy to spare even one person.
And so, upon arriving at headquarters.
“Eun Goooooong!”
She called out toward the distant figure of Jin Cheon-hee.
Jin Cheon-hee turned around with a worn and exhausted face. And the moment he realized the owner of that voice was Sama-hye.
“Hye-a, it’s Hye-a! You’ve come! I was just about to call for you!”
With gleaming blue eyes, he rushed over and grabbed her.
“Um, Eun Gong?”
“With Hye-a’s skill level, it’s possible! Yes! Hye-a!”
Sama-hye couldn’t understand what he was trying to do.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“The patient needs laser—no, sword energy hair removal, and while I can handle the face, arms, legs, and abdomen, I thought those other areas would be better handled by a female doctor.”
He’s bright. Eun Gong is always bright. Yet simultaneously, chronic exhaustion and madness emanate from him.
A peculiar brightness, as if he overcomes fatigue with madness itself.
Truly, Eun Gong in his natural state!
“But martial prowess isn’t easy, is it? There aren’t many people who can immediately reach sword master level and fire sword energy to cause microscopic destruction!”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————