Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 71

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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 71
Her father once told her this long ago.
-Protection and self-defense are different things. Guarding another’s body is far more difficult than protecting your own.
At that time, her father had imparted everything he knew to his daughter.
It was less martial arts and more the practical knowledge of a mercenary.
‘The wind direction is favorable, and the moon is conveniently dark. I hope the enemy doesn’t discover us like this.’
In that instant, birds suddenly took flight in unison with a fluttering sound.
On the surface, it was indistinguishable from startled mountain birds simply flapping their wings.
Though she thought it was nothing serious, she tightened her grip on the bowstring. The moment those birds began chasing after Jin Cheon-hee, five arrows flew from her hand.
Screech!
The birds fell one by one, struck in the head by her arrows.
In that moment, she understood.
‘Tracking fragrance!’
A perfume designed to be traceable by scent from great distances.
So the tracking fragrance had indeed clung to Hwang-gu. But even so, there was nothing the two children could do about it.
It wouldn’t wash away with water, and to properly neutralize it, they would need to go to the Medical Hall.
‘Hwang-gu must have known this and sought out a deep cave… but the moment we emerged, they picked up the trail.’
Even seeing Gak-yeon’s arrows, Jin Cheon-hee’s pace did not slow.
‘Frighteningly composed.’
She had heard that composure was the most essential virtue of a doctor.
In that sense, Jin Cheon-hee seemed to fear nothing.
Whistle—!
A whistle sounded from a distance.
Their position had been discovered after all.
At the same moment, a masked person in black clothing emerged beneath the moonlight.
In the dark night, a situation where an ordinary person could barely distinguish afterimages. She drew the bowstring again.
Twang!
The arrow lodged above the masked person’s collarbone.
She had aimed for the neck—a pity. But that wasn’t what mattered.
-One-shot kills are every archer’s goal. But in real combat, it’s not so simple. Your opponent has trained in martial arts, so they know how to evade vital points. So what do you do then? Well… that is…
Wang Gak-yeon released the next arrow.
Thwack!
The second arrow pierced through the masked person’s brow.
Unable to dodge due to the pain of the collarbone wound.
-There’s no need to burden each arrow with great meaning. If a single arrow can slow your enemy’s movements, that’s already a victory.
-Yes… that’s right. What matters isn’t the one-shot kill, but the affirmation created by each and every arrow.
The teachings of her master and father echoed through her young mind.
She couldn’t remember how to shoot, but her body responded.
Bang!
She strikes the next masked person. And immediately after, she senses the presence of a masked person above her head.
Father said to me.
-Do not fear close combat. If your body grows rigid, you will die.
Her body spun.
The bowstring struck the enemy’s jaw like a club.
Thunk!
A hollow sound echoed from the skull. The impact shook the enemy’s brain.
A direct hit.
She pivoted two steps away. Simultaneously, an arrow left her hand.
Whoosh!
My breath came in gasps.
The enemies had now become fully aware of her presence.
* * *
As I rushed down the mountain slope, I thought to myself.
‘Gak-yeon. Are you alright? This man is terrifying.’
Though my appearance was that of a young man, what dwelt within me was an ordinary modern doctor.
I had studied ordinarily in South Korea, taken ordinary exams, and become a doctor through ordinary residency.
Medical volunteering had only been within the country, and this overseas NGO was the first time I’d ventured abroad before dying.
‘It’s a scene I’ve always seen in martial arts novels.’
Yet there was a world of difference between vague speculation and actual experience.
The masked brutes were genuinely unleashing killing techniques against children.
They had never considered mercy from the start.
Their sole objective was the yellow dog in my arms.
They had attempted to capture it alive, but with an obstacle in their way, they showed no hesitation.
It seemed they intended to kill and steal the letter.
Against such foes, Wang Gak-yeon was firing arrows with all her might.
She was remarkably composed, possessed of unwavering resolve.
It was impossible to imagine this was the same child who sometimes played in the open field with neighborhood children and returned home with barley candy in her mouth when the sun set.
An arrow from her small hands pierced through an enemy’s body.
Though she didn’t always strike vital points, her arrows consistently passed through their targets.
I let out a small, bitter laugh.
‘I’m the most terrified one here.’
For someone who had lived my entire life as a modern person, this situation was far too frightening.
Yet despite this, there was not a single wasted movement in my actions.
Even Wang Gak-yeon couldn’t understand why I remained so composed.
It was thanks to the Threefold Disaster Preservation Technique, which I had practiced with stubborn repetition.
Five masked figures revealed themselves.
‘I’ll trust Gak-yeon with two of them.’
Before my mind could register anything, my body continued moving.
My footsteps found the empty spaces in their formation and struck with precision.
Whoosh–!
Before the Young Man could even swing his sword or fire a projectile, he had already slipped past them.
I saw the Masked Person’s eyes widen slightly.
Clang—
Hwang-gu seemed pleased too, barking softly in praise of me.
Contrary to everyone’s admiration, my heart felt as though it might burst.
I laughed out of habit.
Tension pulled hard at the Young Man’s facial muscles.
‘Laughing?’
The Masked Persons, provoked, attacked me.
A poisoned broadsword flew toward the Young Man’s neck.
I twisted my shoulders and spun my body in a complete rotation.
Like a gear, I evaded the blade with minimal movement and continued running.
Throughout the sequence of movements, not a moment was wasted.
Hwang-gu wagged his tail excitedly.
Clang, clang!
“Are you having fun? I’m terrified.”
Clang!
Hwang-gu seemed amazed that I could evade all the enemy’s attacks with minimal movement.
The Masked Persons were going mad.
‘No matter how I look at it, it seems like the Three Calamities Evasion Technique?’
The opponent was neither a master of the Martial Arts World nor a grown adult.
Using only the most basic footwork that even lower-ranked warriors learned—not even an advanced technique—the Young Man was evading all their attacks.
And whenever he dodged, the blind arrows filled the space he’d vacated.
Splurt!
Spilling their brains, the Masked Persons fell one by one.
The two children repelled the Masked Persons as smoothly as people who had trained together for years.
‘No matter how exceptional their Five Elements are, they’re still children. Their stamina will fail soon!’
‘…?’
It was strange. Neither of the children showed any sign of their breathing becoming ragged.
The girl drew her bowstring endlessly with a cold expression, while the boy evaded attacks with a slight smile.
There was no sign of fatigue whatsoever.
Yet the problem arose from an unexpected situation.
Wang Gak-yeon’s quiver began to feel lighter.
‘I should have brought more arrows.’
She wasn’t yet at the level of heart archery that her father possessed. That meant she needed arrows.
Just then, a projectile flew from behind me.
There was no time for hesitation.
She drew her last arrow.
Boom!
If Gungwi had seen this, she would have wept with emotion.
Striking a flying hidden blade with an arrow was an extraordinary feat of marksmanship.
To accomplish it in actual combat meant one had become a true archer.
The hidden blade’s trajectory shifted as the arrow struck it.
Wang Gak-yeon cried out.
“Go! Don’t look back!”
At her voice, I felt a chill of foreboding.
The sound of arrows no longer rang from behind me. Instead, the sound of a blade being drawn echoed.
It was the short sword Wang Gak-yeon always carried.
Drawing it meant only one thing.
I spoke.
“I’ll handle what comes next! You run!”
“You’re telling me to abandon my friend and flee?”
“…I mean go fetch an adult.”
That was nonsense.
By the time she returned with an adult from this forest, I would already be found as a corpse.
Wang Gak-yeon ground her teeth together.
“Cheon-hee! Abandon Hwang-gu! Throw him and run! Save yourself!”
A dog with a familiar face, or a friend who had saved my life—if I had to choose between the two, it was my friend.
Gak-yeon had already made her resolve.
Whatever important information the dog possessed in the Martial Arts World, it was not worth more than my friend’s life. But I had resolved myself for a different reason.
I tightened the knot of the carrying cloth firmly.
“Gak-yeon. Run with all your strength.”
My face twisted further into a smile.
It was almost like the expression of a madman.
In that moment, my fist struck the earth.
Boom!
It carried the majestic inner force of the Five Elements Divine Skill’s Metal aspect. Yet something was strange.
‘How could I possibly have this much inner power?’
It had begun with the Fire seal of the Five Elements Divine Skill.
Wang Gak-yeon could not have understood the principle of circulating and amplifying inner force.
She was simply shaken to her core by the tremendous blow.
It was not even a remarkable martial technique.
‘The Three Disasters Fist—the basic strike? That?’
That majestic inner force erupted through what the Martial Arts World considered the most third-rate martial technique.
But why had I struck the ground?
Some of the masked persons staggered from the shock. But it was not enough to incapacitate them.
However, what I aimed for was the next move.
Crack—
Not far away, the sound of snow splitting echoed.
On the snowy mountain slope.
Like the photographs of Baekdu Mountain I saw in childhood, even a dormant volcano is still a mountain, and snow accumulates upon it. Yet that snow does not always remain in place.
Snow was something that crumbled quite easily even from moderate impact.
Crrrrrummmmble—
“Avalanche! Run!”
Wang Gak-yeon cried out in alarm toward Jin Cheon-hee, but he was no longer there.
Jin Cheon-hee had already moved far away.
“Kyaaahhh!”
Pursuit and all such concerns were powerless before the raw force of nature.
The Masked Persons also shrieked in terror and began to flee.
Suddenly, Wang Gak-yeon recalled words her father Gungwi had once spoken.
-The Jegal Family excels at formation tactics. Their minds are more fearsome than their blades. Formation tactics are… I’m not quite sure how to explain this, daughter.
-Would it help if I said it’s a military strategy that skillfully uses surrounding terrain and nature to annihilate or drive away enemies?
-Aha, truthfully, even your father doesn’t fully understand it. I’ve faced countless enemies, but formation tactics seem quite different from that.
In that moment, Wang Gak-yeon understood.
‘Is this… formation tactics…?’
It was different. Very different.
The formation tactics she knew involved preparing something in advance and waiting for enemies to attack, didn’t it?
Either way, it seemed similar in that one carefully observed the surrounding terrain and used the natural environment to create chaos.
Crrraaaaaash—!
Even the Masked Persons cursed as they fled down the mountain slope.
Wang Gak-yeon was no different.
And at the very front was Jin Cheon-hee.
Remarkably, the young man was running across the snow itself.
Channeling the Five Elements Divine Skill’s ice-freezing technique through his feet.
The Masked Persons gasped in astonishment and spoke.
“C-could it be… the legendary snow-treading technique?”
Another master had appeared, following Baekrin Uigak. But it made sense.
Since the slope was steep, instead of using lightness martial arts to move his feet, the young man stepped on suitable branches and simply slid rapidly down across the snow.
There was no way to catch up at running speed.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“I may not have played golf, but I’ve done some skiing!”
To be precise, snowboarding.
Whoosh!
Though Hwang-gu couldn’t understand what it meant, he seemed delighted and wagged his tail enthusiastically.

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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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