Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 69

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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 69
She was stubborn and serious by nature.
Once she set her mind to something, she would see it through even if the heavens turned upside down. Yet when it came to personal matters, she never insisted on her own way.
I rose to my feet without a word.
“I’ll prepare right away. And I don’t need any money.”
I was not the kind of person to put a price on a close friend’s desperate plea.
* * *
She ran swiftly through the forest.
Her small frame scattered and reformed with the play of light and shadow as she moved.
I followed Gak-yeon without falling behind.
“You can run faster.”
“How did you know?”
I held back from running at full speed, worried that I might tire.
If I became too exhausted, I had planned to carry her while running.
I answered calmly.
“Gungwi told me that the Parsa Divine Palace passes down a lightness technique without exception. I have plenty of energy, so I can keep pace.”
Gungwi, Wang Chae-baek, wished for me to continue calling him Gungwi.
He said that aliases were karma he had accumulated.
With such a request, I had no reason to refuse.
His daughter Gak-yeon didn’t attach much significance to it either, since it was her father’s wish.
“Understood.”
She nodded and put strength into her legs.
Thump!
The moment her feet touched the ground, her afterimage scattered.
She vanished without a trace, as if she had been nothing but a dream.
‘Impressive.’
I whistled softly and circulated my inner energy.
Five Elements Divine Skill—I concentrated the Wind Resonance and the Ice Resonance I had recently comprehended into my legs.
The enlightenment of the Three Calamities Lightness Technique awakened my body.
Tap.
I pursued Gak-yeon with minimal movement.
Her eyes widened in wonder as she saw me.
“You haven’t been learning martial arts for very long, have you?”
“Half a year.”
“That’s possible?”
My friend’s achievement seemed to astound her.
The place where the two of us arrived was a small cave nestled between gorges.
It was hidden by tree roots, a location that ordinarily would be impossible to discover. Even if found, it appeared so carelessly dug that it looked like the work of a wild beast.
Moreover, it was an earth cave so narrow that adults could not enter.
We came to a stop before it.
“Is there a patient here?”
“Yes.”
Wang Gak-yeon bent down and crawled into the cave on all fours.
She paid no mind to how much her expensive silk clothing was getting soiled.
‘Oh my, Gungwi would cry… no, actually he’d probably be delighted.’
If the clothes tore, it would give him an excuse to buy new ones. He’d been itching to purchase new garments for Wang Gak-yeon despite her constant nagging.
Well, that works out nicely.
I followed Wang Gak-yeon into the earth cave.
The two young children groaned and grunted as they descended for quite some time.
And when we reached the end, light appeared.
A narrow chamber. A low ceiling.
But we could see inside because expensive night-luminous pearls were embedded in it.
From the outside, I hadn’t realized it, but this was an artificial place made by human hands.
It seemed as though someone from long ago had created it.
Creeeeak—
Beneath the glow of the night-luminous pearls, the sound of a beast echoed.
Wang Gak-yeon spoke.
“We’re here.”
I ventured deeper into the chamber following Wang Gak-yeon.
Inside, there was a dog curled up in a ball.
The stench of blood emanated from the dog.
I asked.
“You want me to treat this dog?”
“Yes.”
This was no ordinary dog.
I crawled closer to the dog on my haunches.
Three ropes were tied around the dog’s neck.
It wasn’t a choking noose.
It was a kind of marker designed to be used as a dog collar.
The knot pattern was peculiar, so I examined it carefully.
Medical Assistants don’t learn only medicine.
Learning the various knowledge that circulates in the Gangho is fundamental.
In that sense, I had seen this knot before.
“Gaebang…? Three ropes with five knots? That’s a marker symbolizing the faction leader, isn’t it?”
A premier messenger dog.
More specifically, a premier messenger dog that carries messages for the Gaebang’s faction leader.
Most sects use messenger birds, not dogs.
Birds guarantee speed through flight, and it’s harder for rival sects to intercept them.
Depending on the sect, some use hawks, crows, or magpies instead of pigeons.
Usually, messenger birds only travel to designated locations.
When intelligent birds among them are raised using special methods, they become quasi-spiritual creatures capable of traveling to multiple locations.
Some even come to understand human speech.
Here, Gaebang employs dogs as well.
Though slower than birds, they move in packs and can traverse complex routes in a single journey, making them excellent for tracking through their sense of smell. Additionally, by utilizing their status as dogs, they excel at begging for provisions.
In Gaebang, not only people but dogs themselves beg for food.
And the messenger dogs used by those of Bangju rank are naturally exceptional.
“It’s a spiritual creature, isn’t it?”
Not a quasi-spiritual creature. A true spiritual creature.
I spoke up.
“I don’t know how to treat dogs.”
“I thought you’d ask what happened?”
“I’ll ask after I save it.”
Despite claiming I didn’t know how to treat dogs, I immediately reached for medical spirits to disinfect my hands.
‘First, the body temperature.’
My index finger penetrated the messenger dog’s rectum.
Yelp!
“Stay still.”
Whether the messenger dog understood my words or not, it stopped barking.
‘All I know are the very basics, but what can I do.’
I had studied it as a taste of knowledge long ago.
Unlike humans, dogs have their temperature taken rectally in emergencies.
Without a thermometer, I could only judge through palpation, and it’s normal for dogs to have a body temperature 2-3 degrees higher than humans.
‘…But it’s excessively high? And the pulse is rapid too.’
I spoke.
“This requires a specialist. If you leave it to me, I’ll be nothing but a quack.”
Gak-yeon asked.
“Then where do you take dogs for treatment?”
‘Right. This world doesn’t have modern animal hospitals.’
In an era where people can barely care for their own bodies, finding a doctor who treats dogs is an even more difficult task.
I sighed.
“Well… I don’t know either? I’ll do what I can with treatment, then let’s go to the Medical Hall. We can treat it there.”
Growl!
The messenger dog tried to bite me at those words.
Startled, Gak-yeon calmed the puppy.
“Hwang-gu! Stop it! Stop it!”
So the dog’s name is Hwang-gu. A common dog name.
Gak-yeon spoke.
“It seems something’s wrong, or it absolutely refuses to go anywhere else. I’m not sure of the details.”
“How did you end up discovering this one… No, never mind. I understand. The owner wishes for this, correct?”
I never thought I’d accept a dog as a patient in all my years.
I recalled the kinds of events that might occur in Gaebang based on what I’d read in novels.
Gaebang’s leader had a messenger beast.
News delivered by such a spiritual creature, risking its very life, could never be trivial.
‘There are far too many concerning details.’
Yet despite this, there were simply too many to ignore.
Gaebang would face countless storms ahead. Each one would prove fatal to the organization.
‘Does Gaebang survive only if this dog survives?’
If the Martial Arts World were a living organism, messenger beasts would be its red blood cells.
They carried information instead of oxygen, keeping every corner of the sect alive and thriving.
“Do you know why it’s injured?”
“I don’t know either. Honestly, if this creature hadn’t cried out for help, I wouldn’t have known at all.”
Gak-yeon spoke. Hwang-gu was a dog frequently seen around the neighborhood. I knew he was familiar with the people of Gaebang.
Beggars and dogs existed in both competition and symbiosis, didn’t they?
Hwang-gu was a large yellow-furred dog. An ordinary one.
“I knew he belonged to Gaebang, but I had no idea he was the leader’s messenger beast. He was just smart and fast, so all the children liked him. Even the rope around his neck was terribly worn.”
I myself had learned this knowledge, but if I’d seen the dog without that understanding, I would have mistaken him for an ordinary village mutt.
‘So this creature appeared frequently in this neighborhood. If the neighborhood children knew about him, then…’
Gak-yeon continued speaking.
“The children I used to play with called him Hwang-gu. That was all. But today while hunting in the forest, I found him… and he led me to a cave. Then he collapsed here.”
It seemed he had used his last remaining strength to find her and call out.
To track a familiar scent through that vast forest and request help—he was truly a spiritual creature.
I sighed softly and took his pulse.
My Five Elements Divine Skill flowed into Hwang-gu’s body, then lost its way.
A dog’s meridians, not a human’s. My knowledge of dogs, especially large ones, was extremely limited.
I managed to reach a diagnosis with difficulty.
‘The wound is contaminated and progressing, with severe inflammatory response. Patellar luxation, tibia fracture, and biceps brachii tendinitis?’
First, the biceps brachii tendinitis.
In humans, this condition frequently occurs in middle-aged people. However, it’s also common in large dogs.
Often caused by obesity damaging the biceps brachii muscle and synovial membrane, resulting in inflammation. In this case, it was from overuse.
In other words, it resulted from excessively using the front legs.
‘The fascia damage is severe too. Ah, I see. He continued running up the mountain despite being injured.’
This occurs even when the front legs are used to their limit.
‘The pain must have been excruciating, yet he didn’t give up.’
The tibia was fractured.
Normally, a dog with broken hind legs shouldn’t be able to run.
A wild dog would have sought shelter and rested. But Hwang-gu was different.
Whether from spiritual nature or loyalty, he stubbornly continued running. But even that has its limits.
No matter how spiritual a creature is, there are things that simply cannot be done.
Reaching his limit, he tracked the most trustworthy scent nearby and requested help. Then he hid himself in his own refuge.
‘You are better than humans. You are superior to them.’
What message could Hwang-gu have risked so much to deliver?
‘The fracture… naturally, it resulted from the impact being absorbed by the hind legs.’
Fortunately, the condition was better than that of the King’s companion, the Wandering Marquis, from last time. However, the advanced inflammation was already a dangerous sign.
Infection prevented bone union, and once it progressed to osteomyelitis, it became chronic and difficult to cure completely.
The number of separated bone fragments was three.
Comminuted fracture!
Wounds reveal so much.
A comminuted fracture was the kind of trauma caused by blunt force impact.
I could deduce the appearance of my enemy from the wounds the dog had sustained.
‘They didn’t use a sword—they threw fists or kicks instead. They were trying to capture the messenger dog alive if possible.’
Why? Wouldn’t it be more efficient to kill and steal the letter?
Why would they try to drag it away alive?
I shared my deductions from the wounds with Gak-yeon.
“That’s… possible?”
“Yes.”
“Like the legendary thousand-li sight from the tales?”
“If that were possible, I’d be an immortal. I’m just making a few deductions from the wounds.”
“Just a few?”
Woof!
Even Hwang-gu barked softly in surprise.
I asked, seeing the expression on his face as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Hwang-gu understands everything people say?”
“Probably. Sometimes he pretends not to hear because he’s annoyed, but it seems he understands everything. He’s listening to what we’re saying right now, and I spoke with him briefly before calling you.”
“Spoke?”
“When I speak, he responds.”
At least when it comes to yes and no, he does it better than anyone.
If that were the case…
I met Hwang-gu’s gaze.

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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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