Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 708
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 708
In a way, the Geum family’s approach had merit.
Since humans cannot change the tide, one must navigate within the given currents.
And with the blood of K-minguk mixed in, the momentum accelerated even further.
‘Hmm… why does everything feel so slow these days?’
Perhaps it was due to the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong’s altered perception of time.
Lately, I spent far more hours with blue eyes than with dark ones.
‘There’s an achievement waiting—I must hurry!’
Faster than anyone else! Faster than the rest!
So I decided to devise various methods and mobilize resources to develop the slums.
What began as a modest plan—franchising inns to spread the Jegallim family’s secret dumplings while incidentally caring for the people’s livelihood—had somehow spiraled into a terrifyingly massive undertaking.
Plans within plans. Plans of plans of plans of plans of plans.
And this is where it led.
The YouTube videos from my past life, resurrected through the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, and the various papers I’d read for amusement—they all came back like ghosts and merged into one.
A conclusion emerged.
Questions and answers!
The best solution is simply to spend money generously!
With no corruption, taxes were collected properly, and as a result, Baekrin County had surplus funds—making this possible.
What did I begin with that money?
This very construction site.
I, Ilgwang’s magistrate Jin Cheon-hee, resolved to construct massive quantities of “proper, clean houses with fully functioning sewage and water systems” for the slum dwellers to inhabit.
‘How can I supply more sturdy, better houses in bulk while lowering costs?’
But if the houses became too nice, the surrounding residents would rebel fiercely.
Some would do anything to seize those homes.
Many of the poor would leave and return to even worse places.
Moderation was necessary.
‘At least better than earthen hovels. And they must provide a minimum environment to start something new.’
By simmering my past life’s memories once more—like my great-grandmother’s bone broth—I found the answer.
Prefabricated buildings applying construction methods from Earth!
Walls and roofs are mass-produced in one location, then assembled at the construction site.
Since this world lacks cranes and large trucks like Earth, the walls and roofs are designed to be segmented and assembled—that’s the key feature.
Are they better than other houses? Not particularly.
Houses in this era are fundamentally sturdy enough to shelter generations.
But they’re far superior to caves or earthen hovels.
With toilets and water pumps installed, they’re far more hygienic.
Creating workshops for these prefabricated walls and roofs, employing slum dwellers, was a bonus.
Moreover, the workers assembling these mass-produced components and constructing the houses were also hired from the slums.
This was an application of what one might call a New Deal policy.
But that wasn’t all.
While building new houses near the slums, I distributed emergency relief supplies to the slum dwellers.
Clean water, a makeshift bathing facility for temporary use, and fresh, wholesome food—though limited in variety—that could fill their bellies.
Beyond that, preparations for these impoverished people’s futures were proceeding steadily.
A grand land reclamation project!
After providing them with homes, I needed to enable them to cultivate the land so they could sustain themselves through farming.
Naturally, land reclamation required irrigation canal construction and reservoir development—these couldn’t be omitted.
Agriculture demanded water, after all.
Eventually, I could channel nearly all the impoverished people into this massive undertaking.
A grand project had begun, mobilizing tens of thousands simultaneously.
Simply employing tens of thousands of impoverished workers pushed the expenditure into astronomical figures.
And we were doing everything—irrigation systems, reservoirs, housing, land reclamation?
Naturally.
Staggering amounts of capital were being consumed!
Yet despite all this, something remarkable emerged.
Baekrin County’s finances showed no deficit.
This was the true power of taxation without corruption.
I was personally overseeing the construction at the project site.
I’d dispatched officials to handle agricultural development, and for the prefabricated building component factory, I’d been involved initially but now left it under the Baekrin Medical Guild’s business division.
For the factory, placing it under administrative control would complicate matters later, so I’d established it as a private enterprise (?) under the Baekrin Medical Guild’s business division.
Excellent government-business cooperation!
But in this era, this was the only way things ran smoothly—an unavoidable situation.
In that moment, my body swayed.
‘Huh?’
The world drifted past with agonizing slowness through my slightly blurred vision.
I quickly steadied myself.
It was so brief that ordinary people wouldn’t have noticed—no one caught it.
Thump—
Someone grasped my shoulder.
Turning around, it was Yoo Ho.
“Oh, Chief Manager Yoo. When did you arrive?”
“Master instructed me to come check on you soon.”
“My Master did?”
I couldn’t fathom what “check on you soon” meant.
“He said it would be good if you went now.”
‘Is he concerned about overwork? But I think I’m managing fine.’
I was simply handling many tasks at once.
I was maintaining my sleep schedule.
“Well, sure. If our Chief Manager Yoo came, then I’m all for it. Welcome~”
I walked along sluggishly, my gait oddly unsteady, yet no one said anything.
How could they? The person before them was Cheonhailgwang, after all.
Surely this gait contained some profound martial principle unknown to ordinary people, or perhaps there was some peculiar reason behind it—that’s what everyone assumed.
Yoo Ho followed behind Jin Cheon-hee with his hands clasped behind his back.
His pace was neither fast nor slow.
‘Ah, Chief Manager Yoo, I see.’
‘It’s impossible to know what he’s thinking, I tell you.’
His imposing frame and the fact that his expressions rarely changed made even other Medical Guild lords fear him.
Facing such a Yoo Ho, Jin Cheon-hee spoke with a carefree tone.
“Want some sweets? Chief Manager Yoo? I just made some tofu donuts anyway. Wait a moment.”
His blue eyes shone endlessly without dimming.
* * *
“Work complete! Thank you all for your hard work!”
Jin Cheon-hee finished directing the construction.
He leaped down from a platform that stood ten zhang high.
Thud!
Jumping down from such a height was no easy feat even for a master of martial arts, yet Jin Cheon-hee landed on the ground without any difficulty.
After all, I had received martial arts training from Wuying Touguai herself.
This much was something I had to be able to do.
“Thank you for your hard work, Magistrate!”
“Thank you for your hard work, Magistrate!”
Receiving greetings from the workers, Jin Cheon-hee walked briskly.
“Take a sugar candy each on your way out~ This is how you earn points with the kids.”
“But I’m their father—why would I need to earn points? Just the other day, all they did was follow my backside around saying ‘Dad, Dad, Mom, Mom.'”
“That’s when it matters most. Treat them well now, and they’ll treat you well when they grow up. You can’t expect filial piety to just spring up on its own.”
Jin Cheon-hee chuckled and placed an extra sugar candy in the father’s hand.
“How on earth did you manage all this in a single day? Magistrate, your days must have thirty hours.”
“Today I had no surgeries scheduled, so I could focus on other matters.”
That was true.
Baekrin Medical Guild now had numerous medical staff stationed throughout, and they had all become capable of handling most surgeries.
I was called in for surgeries requiring inner energy, but even those were increasingly being handled by medical staff like Sama-hye who had absorbed the essence of healing medicine.
So days like this, with time to spare, had started appearing.
On such days, I attended to various matters as the Magistrate.
“You haven’t even married, Magistrate, yet you’re so good with children?”
“Listen here. I’ve been feeding my junior doctors nothing but delicious things since they were apprentices, so even when they become senior doctors, they don’t run away and they show filial respect. It’s the same as raising children, I’m telling you. Except these ones are even more cunning!”
One should hear what the senior doctors had to say about this.
The unscrupulous professor continued speaking without hesitation, uttering words that would have made the senior doctors shudder if they’d heard them.
“Treat them well when they’re young. If you treat them well then, it lasts a lifetime. They didn’t choose to be born, but since they’ve formed this karmic connection in this world, you should treat them well.”
It was a peculiar philosophy.
“I’m also feeding them plenty of things that are good for their health, so occasionally I give them snacks like these too.”
Jin Cheon-hee laughed wickedly with a low chuckle.
Then his vision spun slightly once more.
But he didn’t stagger.
‘Strange? This morning when I performed the Master’s technique, I felt as healthy as usual.’
I turned around to see Yoo Ho standing with his hands clasped behind his back, watching me.
The sunlight was blocked by the shadow Yoo Ho cast.
“…What will you do now?”
“Now that the construction work is finished, I need to return to the Medical Guild and teach Ga-won.”
“Very well.”
“Hehehehe.”
* * *
‘She’s already waiting.’
I entered the Training Ground.
I had used my lightness technique from the construction site to return at tremendous speed.
Having also received the martial arts of Wuying Touguai, my speed now ranked among the top ten in Gangho.
If long-distance travel was needed, I could ride on Hwang-gu’s back, so if I were to deliberately wander Gangho, there wouldn’t be many who could catch me.
Arriving at the Medical Guild and coming to the Training Ground, I saw that Ga-won was already prepared and waiting.
“Master, you’ve arrived.”
Ga-won was sitting in meditation posture, breathing in cultivation.
“Were you training your inner energy?”
A secular disciple.
Since I had taken her as a disciple, I decided to speak more casually with her now.
Ga-won seemed pleased by this, smiling inwardly with delight.
“Yes, Master. You said inner energy must be cultivated throughout one’s life.”
“Continue to steadily master the Cheonryong Immortal Qi Technique. Though I created it, your previous master has already verified it, so it is a truly excellent secret art.”
The Cheonryong Immortal Qi Technique.
This was a secret art I had created by unifying the Cheonryong Technique and the Immortal Divine Technique I had obtained from the Imperial Palace Secret Records in the past, combined with the Shangqing Wuxiang Divine Technique, a secret art of the Gonglun School.
It could accumulate inner energy faster than anyone else, and simultaneously possessed the secret of rapidly self-healing and regenerating the body’s wounds.
Upon reaching the pinnacle, one could avoid instant death even if the heart were pierced.
‘During that time, I could seek out a doctor or have one brought to me.’
Normally, one learns such martial arts to defeat enemies even when vital points are struck, but I prioritized buying time so I could reach the Medical Guild or a medical clinic without missing the golden hour.
In a place without carriages, one might have to ride a horse for three days to reach a medical clinic, and even upon arrival, they might only give herbs or mice as treatment.
As a result, the drawback was that my inner qi’s properties weren’t suited for destructive power.
Thus, the destructive force of my qi fell more than thirty percent below other martial arts.
But it was the supreme self-defense martial art!
‘My own life matters most—does killing others matter more?’
I thought to myself.
A doctor must live to treat others, after all.
If problems can’t be solved through conversation, they can be solved with money.
Was there really a need to skewer each other with blades?
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————