Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 685

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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 685
Hacheong Jinin’s bento box was truly delicious.
I carefully washed the empty container and carried it with me.
In return, I planned to send it back filled with medicinal preparations next time.
‘The Wudang Sect must use a lot of medicine.’
Not only accidents from training, but ordinary visitors also suffered many injuries.
There were so many stairs, and they were so steep.
There wasn’t a single place on Wudang Mountain without stairs.
They say the history of building these stairs alone spans thousands of years—whether that’s truth or exaggeration, I couldn’t say, but it was certainly vast.
Even martial artists who had mastered their skills needed to stop for a meal midway and continue climbing.
‘Many stairs mean many accidents.’
Especially since the stairs were so steep, people didn’t just fall—those without strength would tumble all the way to the bottom.
In the Gangho, there was no such thing as a mountain rescue team.
If you died, that was simply your fate.
Because of this, young Wudang swordsmen would frequently climb up and down the stairs as training, carrying the injured to the Wudang Sect’s medical hall.
Before rushing there, they’d quickly apply trauma salve or feed revival pills to patients whose breathing had become labored.
The consumption of medicinal herbs was substantial.
Still, even the most corrupt Daoist sect wouldn’t easily abandon an injured patient. If they did, they would cease to be a Daoist sect.
That’s why even when Jeong Gwang held power in the past, he still saved people.
‘Once I complete the disinfectant, I’d like to send some there too.’
On the road back to Baekrin Uiseon.
The lingering atmosphere of Wudang remained with me.
I sipped on alcohol without alcohol content while sitting on Hwang-gu’s back.
Thus I entered the village beneath Baekrin Uiseon.
‘Even though it’s evening now, there are still so many people.’
The village beneath Baekrin Uiseon had become almost a city by now.
The permanent population was nearly 100,000.
Originally, I had received a fief of 2,000 households including this village, and later integrated other counties that were added, increasing it to 8,000 households.
‘But truthfully, the population that migrated from outside is even greater.’
The current total population of Baekrin County was approaching 400,000.
‘If this were the Three Kingdoms period, it would have been almost capital-level.’
The Hwa Continent might be different, but on Earth during that era when it was divided into Wei, Shu, and Wu.
The total population is estimated at around 30 million, with about 15 million living in Wei—this is the conventional understanding.
Shu and Wu each had populations of around 6 to 7 million.
In other words, Cao Cao’s Wei had roughly twice the national power of the other states from the beginning.
Now that I think about it, this world is one where Zhuge Liang succeeded in his northern campaigns and ascended to the throne.
Because of that, history flowed differently from Earth’s timeline from that point onward.
‘Anyway, the result is this Hwa Empire, a world ruled by the descendants of Boggi.’
Every history book available in the marketplace claims that the Hwa Empire always belonged to Boggi’s clan, and all this time other clans merely borrowed it temporarily.
When the empire was founded, the first Previous Emperor had wings sprouting from under his armpits, and the Tianlanxing shone brilliantly—that sort of thing.
The second Emperor born from her womb walked upon water the moment he emerged from her belly and spoke words.
Eungryong soared through the heavens as well. I wondered why that detail was omitted.
But well, Eungryong truly does sleep underground.
Since I witnessed my younger sister kneading clouds into the Taegeuk pattern recently, such things might be possible. That’s the kind of world this is.
After all, Zhuge Liang wasn’t a Gundam—would his ascension into the heavens even make sense in Earth’s history?
Of course, I don’t believe all of it.
‘Propaganda would never be absent from a hierarchical society.’
And there’s one more thing.
‘True historical records are difficult to obtain.’
I listen to half of it with belief and filter out the other half.
With such scattered thoughts occupying my mind, I entered the Baekrin Uiseon.
“Soggakju, you’ve arrived?”
The Medical Assistants and the middle-aged men rushed over to greet me, but the Sang Ui-won didn’t come out.
Since Yoo Ho wasn’t visible either, it seemed they were quite busy.
‘I smell of sweat, so I should wash first, tidy my robes, and then greet Master.’
A common trait among patients with severed pulses is sensitivity to odors.
Especially Master, who despises filth with utmost intensity, so I must be even more diligent about cleanliness.
After washing quickly and changing into fresh clothes, I spotted Sama-hye in the distance.
It was peculiar.
Setting aside the fact that Hye-a, who should have returned to Bunta in Hangzhou, was still here, her eyes bore dark shadows beneath them.
“Hye-a!”
“Oh, Eun Gong!”
Sama-hye’s eyes brightened with joy, but then she spoke in a sharp voice.
“Eun Gong! How could you leave me behind!”
“I heard from Chief Manager Yoo that Hye-a was supposed to return to Hangzhou?”
“…That’s true. I should have gone back.”
Jin Cheon-hee observed Sama-hye and thought to himself.
‘Hye-a must have been drowning in work. Not just drowning—truly drowning….’
There were occasionally such cases at the Medical Guild.
When the main headquarters had so much work that people couldn’t return to Bunta.
At such times, the Sang Ui-won would spend sleepless nights weeping, asking to send them home like a celestial maiden who’d lost her wings, but the three of them….
No—they couldn’t leave until all the work was finished.
After finishing all the work and sending them back, they wouldn’t even glance toward the main headquarters for a few years, becoming the ideal Sang Ui-won.
Since Jin Cheon-hee was a man of precise calculations, he paid generously for the work he extracted, leaving them with no reason to return.
‘But this time, I didn’t extract work from her…? Could it be Master?’
Jin Cheon-hee brought Sama-hye to the tea room for Baekrin Uiseon members and hurriedly retrieved yuzu tea.
He rapidly chilled it with cold energy until thin ice floated on the surface, and with his other hand, he retrieved refreshments from the cabinet and placed them before her.
Chewy honey taffy.
Hye-a gulped down the alcohol-free yuzu tea and made a sound like a drunkard: “Ahhh~!”
“Have you heard the saying about opening a clinic for skin conditions?”
“Hm? A Skin Department?”
I’d never heard of such a thing.
According to Sama-hye, word had spread that I’d treated the lingering effects of smallpox patients, and combined with Ga-won’s story, high-ranking officials were now arriving with purses full of money.
“We’re receiving more donations than any ordinary department. Does this even make sense? Spending more money on skin than on saving lives!”
“…I see. Heh heh heh.”
If they were warriors of the Gangho, I could understand.
But honestly, how often would high-ranking officials and their retainers find themselves with broken limbs?
They came to the hospital because of illness.
And now they were beginning to arrive for things like smallpox scars or Ga-won’s full-body skin condition.
‘There were far more people confined because of such afflictions than I’d realized.’
In places like medieval Europe, they’d be forcibly sent to monasteries, but here they simply pretended such people didn’t exist and handed the succession to someone else.
‘With a modern mindset, it’s hard to understand… or is it? Modern society has science to solve these problems, but if someone has a massive tumor hanging from their face, employment becomes impossible right away.’
The appearance of no discrimination is hypocrisy.
Poor families work hard to appear ‘normal,’ to hide any signs of poverty.
Resumes favor attractive people, so people even undergo cosmetic surgery.
And then an incurable disability appears?
‘People just pretend not to see what they don’t want to see.’
Working in a hospital, I saw these things more clearly.
“If the Skin Department is established, I’m supposed to become the patriarch.”
“Well, Hye-a, congratulations on the rapid promotion. You’ll be at the heart of the Medical Guild’s power.”
Sama-hye pressed her forehead repeatedly.
“Even if we establish the department, we can’t even recruit doctors without a certain level of martial skill.”
“That’s true.”
Ironically, treating skin requires the most internal energy.
The martial techniques required are also the most advanced.
It sounds insane, but that’s how it is.
“Burn treatment seems like it should be manageable somehow?”
“…What do you mean?”
If I could squeeze Yoo Ho to make a razor blade, I could manage it somehow.
Mass production wasn’t necessary.
I’d prefer a blade as sharp as modern ones, but if that proved difficult, having even a few doctors who could use sword energy would suffice.
‘If I can just make razor blades well, couldn’t even ordinary doctors perform partial-thickness skin grafts…?’
The method involved thinly harvesting skin from areas with plenty of flesh—the thighs, buttocks, or abdomen—and grafting it.
The survival rate of the skin was high, and there was plenty of harvestable tissue, so it was worth attempting.
The only limitation was that it couldn’t be used on young children, as the scar could overgrow as the child developed, causing problems.
Normally, a specialized razor called a dermatome would be used.
But in clinical practice, even a Gillette razor blade works.
Third-world countries often cut costs this way.
What if I used doctors trained in internal energy here?
‘Full-thickness grafts would also be worth attempting.’
I harvest skin from the groin area and graft it elsewhere.
This method yields better skin quality, though the survival rate is slightly lower than with split-thickness grafts.
Moreover, the amount of tissue available for grafting is limited.
‘There’s also the flap technique where I transplant the entire layer—fat, muscle, and bone—but that requires suturing blood vessels, so not many doctors can perform it. The failure rate is also quite high.’
I resort to this method only when the trauma is so severe that skin grafting alone is impossible.
“Regardless, there’s one thing that’s become abundantly clear.”
“What is it, Eun Gong?”
“We’re genuinely short on doctors.”
Given this situation, I need to cultivate more talent.
And I need to expand our facilities too!
“I’ll have to grovel before Yoo Ho and ask him to craft surgical loupes for me!”
With these, even doctors lacking sufficient internal energy could perform surgery more easily.
‘…Yoo Ho might kill me for this.’
Survive, Jin Cheon-hee!
* * *
Before Master’s study.
I lifted my sleeve and sniffed myself. Thanks to a thorough scrubbing, not a trace of filth remained. So then….
“Master! Your disciple has returned!”
I opened the door with a bright smile.
“Ah, you’re back.”
“Young Master, you’ve arrived?”
Yoo Ho stood beside him.
Documents were piled like mountains before him, and Master was approving them with movements that seemed slow yet were remarkably swift.
“Master, you appear quite busy.”
“Isn’t it all thanks to you?”
“Pardon?”
At those words, Master’s eyebrow twitched.
“Playing ignorant, are we? It’s that skin treatment of yours. Heavens…. I never imagined so many people would come bearing money.”
“Well, Master, you’re a natural beauty, so of course. Frankly, in this world, even a fist-sized tumor on one’s forehead can change a person’s entire life.”
“Ha ha ha, what would I know of such things?”
Come to think of it, I’d heard Master once nearly became a public enemy of the martial world, though without a tumor on the forehead. And the bounties placed on him were countless.
Strength is simple.
He simply killed everyone.
“…That’s true. But most people aren’t geniuses like Master. And the martial world doesn’t represent all of society either.”
One shouldn’t kill people so easily.
The rules of the martial world are not normal.
Yet everyone living in it fails to recognize this.
Every warrior, commoner, and official born and raised there accepts these rules as legitimate.
‘Well, I’m not a social revolutionary.’
But there are other ways to live, after all.
“This procedure doesn’t turn people into beauties. It merely restores them to a level where they can function in society.”
With my current medical skills, I cannot return them to their pristine original state.
If they reach a level where they’re not repulsive, that counts as success.
“True. Either way, the workload has increased. So you’ll need to take on duties as well. But the real problem lies elsewhere.”
“What is it?”
“We need a doctor capable of wielding sword energy. I’m not asking for someone at Sama-hye’s level. If they can manifest sword energy, thirty-five doctors would be acceptable. Even for the Medical Guild, that’s quite a lot. But it’s awkward to requisition them from the Baekrin Group.”
“Of course. They’re not doctors.”
“So answer me within ten seconds. What should we do?”
“Ten seconds?”
My Master stared at me without blinking and continued counting.
“Ten, nine, eight…”
“Waaaaah! Wait, wait! Master, just a moment!”

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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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