Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 7

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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 7
I savored the tea and pastries while my thoughts continued to unfold.
‘Sigh. I feel like crying. How could I only think of something this important now? Well, I suppose I’ve been too preoccupied with everything that’s happened from yesterday until today…’
I continued eating the tea and pastries. While part of it was hunger after the Eightfold Heavenly Restoration, I was also feeding my brain glucose to help organize my thoughts.
‘If this were a novel, this would be Chapter 1 of Volume 1. This is the scene where Baekrin Uiseon treats the Heavenly Demon Yeo Ha-ryun, right? But right after this, a crisis event is about to unfold. And if I’m not careful, I’ll die too.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘Goodness, how could I forget that? At least I remembered in time, but the real problem is how to resolve this situation.’
The tea tasted bitter.
‘Ugh… what do I do, really? I need to prevent the conspiracy behind this incident if I want to survive.’
I continued thinking. The incident occurring at this branch of the Yunlong Courier Bureau was one of the crises that would befall the protagonist, the Heavenly Demon Yeo Ha-ryun, early in the story—but it was also a crisis for me.
I exhaled once and gazed at the pastries laid before me.
Then, suddenly.
A thought occurred to me.
‘That’s it! This could work!’
Looking at the pastries, I became certain. And I reached out.
Munch, munch. I began devouring the pastries indiscriminately. Even faster than before.
‘It has to be among these somewhere… there was a description of a subtle sweet aftertaste. But what exactly is a subtle sweetness? Ah, never mind…’
I tasted all the teas and pastries by type. For the sake of what would happen next.
As I continued eating and drinking everything haphazardly, Baekrin Uiseon, the Gukju of the Yunlong Courier Bureau, and Woon Ji-sang entered.
“You seem to be in good condition. At this state of health, you should be fine for a long conversation, yes?”
Since I was at the center of this incident, they must have assumed I had fully recovered and had many questions to ask.
Who I was, where I came from, where I learned that technique.
A benefactor was a benefactor, but as the Gukju, there were things I needed to know. That was an important duty of my position.
The moment he opened his mouth, I burst into a cough.
“Cough, cough cough!”
The Bureau Chief Woon Ji-sang asked with a worried expression.
“Are you alright? Has your condition not fully recovered yet…?”
“…”
In contrast, Baekrin Uiseon merely smiled faintly, watching me.
This was a child whom Baekrin Uiseon himself had personally treated with the Eightfold Heavenly Restoration. Such a child would not simply cough from a cold.
As I coughed, I thought.
‘It’s as if he’s testing me.’
Though he was called a sage, he was still a martial artist of the Gangho. He treated righteous sects, evil sects, the Demon Sect, and even people from the imperial palace—an eccentric indeed.
He would not fall for shallow tricks.
I spoke.
“My throat feels itchy from the tea.”
“Itchy?”
From the blue-green tea vessel, the subtle fragrance of expensive Tieguanyin oolong wafted gently.
I said.
“This tea makes my throat feel itchy for some reason. Could you perhaps give me some plain water?”
“Itchy? That shouldn’t be the case… there’s no poison in it.”
“I’m not entirely sure, sir.”
‘Come on! Act like a child!’
I cried out inwardly while rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. I was the very picture of an innocent child.
Baek Rin-ui-seon sat down in front of me.
“May I take your pulse for a moment?”
“Yes? Yes. Yes!”
‘Excellent! Just as expected of Baek Rin-ui-seon! He caught on immediately!’
I naturally extended my hand.
Baek Rin-ui-seon gently grasped my wrist and released his inner energy.
‘Oh, something feels tingly?’
I still didn’t fully understand what qi was or what inner power meant, but I could feel something gently flowing into me.
For some reason, it didn’t conflict with or mix with what was already inside me—it simply examined where it needed to go.
After a long moment, Baek Rin-ui-seon withdrew his hand.
“Your inner power has been scattered.”
Gukju asked in confusion.
“Inner power, you say? But this child shows no signs of ever having learned martial arts…”
“The Gongseon Family sent a vital elixir as well. When I performed the Beolmo Sesu technique, I infused a small amount of inner power into it. Nothing significant. It would all be expelled as things are, so I accumulated a little for future use.”
“The… the Beolmo Sesu technique? I had no idea the Gakju held this child in such high regard.”
It was shocking news. Woon Ji-sang, the Gukju of the Yunlong Courier Bureau, knew well and was acquainted with the beautiful young master before him, who was also the Gakju of the Baekrin Uigak and famous by the alias Baek Rin-ui-seon.
He was an eccentric with exceptional medical skills and profound martial prowess, though his own health was not particularly good. This was something most people in the Gangho knew.
Yet he had personally performed the Beolmo Sesu technique. This was tantamount to cutting away his own lifespan.
This was no ordinary matter.
“…”
Baek Rin-ui-seon did not answer. He merely smiled mysteriously.
It was a sign not to ask further.
There were already countless high-ranking officials and nobles who wished to present their children to Baek Rin-ui-seon.
work
If this fact spread, the front of his residence would become chaos with messengers sent by them.
If this fact spreads, the front of Baekrin’s house will be a mess with all the errand boys they’ve sent.
“Well, however…”
Baek Rin-ui-seon responded to Gukju’s words.
“I owe the Yunlong Courier Bureau a great debt. Didn’t you mention that your grandson will soon be learning martial arts as well?”
It was his way of saying: if you want to show your grandson to me too, then keep quiet.
As a price for silence, it wasn’t bad. And the other party was Baek Rin-ui-seon. There was nothing to gain by making an enemy of him.
“…I am merely in awe of Baek Rin-ui-seon’s medical prowess.”
“You flatter me so. I hardly know what to do with myself.”
Watching their exchange, I thought to myself.
‘Indeed, this is Baek Rin-ui-seon. Thinking even of the Gukju’s grandson—a true physician of this age. Magnificent!’
Perhaps because my previous life’s profession was that of a doctor, I found all physicians in the martial world equally admirable.
Baekrin Uiseon continued speaking.
“In any case, all of his internal energy has been dispersed. It appears to be Sanggong Poison….”
“Sanggong Poison? Who would feed such a thing to this child? The Yunlong Courier Bureau would never do such a thing to our benefactor….”
Gukju’s face flushed red as if he had been falsely accused.
Baekrin Uiseon shook his head.
“Who administered it is not what matters. Why it was administered is what matters. I understand that the food and refreshments this child consumes are the same as those provided to the senior couriers and high-ranking martial artists of the Yunlong Courier Bureau. Is that not so?”
‘That’s right. Go, Baekrin Uiseon!’
Watching the expression of Courier Bureau Chief Woon Ji-sang stiffen, I struggled to hide my own expression. This was all my design!
‘If this continues, I can at least prevent the attack on the Yunlong Courier Bureau’s Branch Headquarters!’
I observed their conversation with that thought in mind.
“Hmm! Someone is targeting our bureau….”
“Discard all the food and refreshments immediately. And… prepare weapons as well, in case of an attack.”
At those words, Gukju nodded.
“That is not all. An attack on the courier run. And poison in the branch headquarters… There must certainly be some conspiracy at work. I am sorry to have dragged you into our bureau’s affairs….”
Gukju had already grasped the entire situation.
“Please do not apologize. I am grateful that you trusted my words. Let us take measures first.”
“If I cannot trust the words of a physician, whose words can I trust? I am grateful for your consideration.”
Gukju spoke thus and then shouted toward the outside.
“Bring the Branch Chief here!”
Then Gukju looked at me. Baekrin Uiseon spoke to me.
“Did you know there was Sanggong Poison?”
His transparent gaze fell upon me. It was a gaze as if he were testing me.
‘I should play dumb here.’
I spoke.
“Sanggong… Poison? What is that?”
A poison that scatters martial power. Colorless and odorless.
Though it is said to have a faintly sweet aftertaste, when I actually tasted it, I could not detect it at all.
So I decided to taste all the refreshments. I thought surely one of them would contain it.
The important thing was to be poisoned by Sanggong Poison.
‘Hehe. Anything is better than dying.’
Knowing the calamity that would soon befall, I could not possibly refuse Sanggong Poison merely because it seemed unpleasant.
Baekrin Uiseon thought to himself.
‘Even if it scatters internal energy, poison is still poison. Surely he would not knowingly consume it… or would he?’
A physician’s position is such a thing. In Gangho, amidst countless debts of gratitude and blood grudges, one must save lives.
One cannot help but witness all manner of human affairs.
Perhaps because of this, his physician’s intuition was speaking to him.
That Jin Cheon-hee was hiding something. Yet strangely, he felt no sense of danger.
‘It feels as though I am bewitched.’
Baekrin Uiseon spoke.
“If the investigation reveals something, then it was not I who saved the Yunlong Courier Bureau, but you.”
He spoke as if deliberately letting Gukju hear.
Gukju startled slightly.
‘His words aren’t wrong. Even accounting for luck, at this point….’
After collecting his thoughts, he spoke.
“Once this matter is settled, let us arrange a gathering.”
Here, “gathering” certainly did not mean simply drinking tea in the ordinary sense.
I pondered this.
‘This is an opportunity to extract something.’
Who in this world dislikes money?
Saving lives was saving lives, but I also needed to eat and survive, did I not?
Stranded alone in this vast wilderness, I intended to extract everything I could.
‘Money, more money! Show me the money! Elixirs! I haven’t learned martial arts or anything like that, so I don’t know much about those! First, money!’
An organization like the Yunlong Courier Bureau, which controlled both sides of the Yangtze River, would certainly have plenty of funds. I thought to myself.
I smiled sadly, like a child in shadow.
“I cannot remember my home, my family, or anything at all. If even someone like me can be of help, then I am grateful for that much.”
At my words, everyone fell silent.
….
Even Gasol was wiping away tears.
‘Is it because of my appearance? It seems to be working better than expected?’
Even Gukju, at a loss for words, gripped my shoulder firmly.
“Do not worry. Am I not the Gukju of the Yunlong Courier Bureau? You are a benefactor to this place, so I shall never disappoint you.”
‘Disappoint? What disappointment?’
He spoke in a solemn voice as if he had made some great resolution.
Then Baek Rin-ui-seon grabbed Gukju’s shoulder.
“…That will not do.”
“Pardon?”
“That will not do.”
“I am aware that you had the child undergo the Eight Extraordinary Meridians Technique. However….”
“Hahaha, that will not do.”
Baek Rin-ui-seon laughed, yet firmly rejected Gukju’s words.
‘What exactly will not do?’
Only I, unaware that Gukju was trying to draw me into the Courier Bureau while Jegalling was building an iron wall to make me his disciple, blinked in confusion.
It was a battle of wills between two men vying to obtain the talent that was me.

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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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