Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 730

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 730
I set down the coin and was immediately served a meal.
Steamed beef grilled with wisps of steam rising from it.
In modern terms, it was similar to kebab.
“Oh, this is delicious!”
“Your expression changed instantly. Is food really that good?”
I simply smiled instead of answering. The innkeeper spoke.
“If you play the zither well, I’ll pass on the secret recipe to you.”
I took a liking to the innkeeper. He was someone I could communicate with easily.
“Then I won’t hesitate to accept.”
After finishing my meal, I set down my luggage and decided to explore the village immediately.
I had come to this village to track the Hyeolseonggyo and assess the damage from the plague.
* * *
Hwang-gu followed beside me as if protecting me.
From what I learned by looking around here and there….
“Long ago, there were ten times more cattle. But at some point, they started dropping dead one after another. The shamans are doing their utmost to save them, but it’s not easy.”
With a squelching sound, people were carrying dead cattle somewhere.
‘As expected, the plague has made things a mess. Still, they’re managing to hold on thanks to shamanism.’
Unlike Earth, there was at least one thing to rely on here.
As I continued looking around.
I encountered children.
“Food… Please give us some food.”
“Sir… something… please give us something delicious.”
The children surrounded me, a stranger, and begged for food.
They weren’t even frightened by Hwang-gu’s massive frame.
Hunger was the real problem.
Their bodies were skeletal, with only their bellies protruding unnaturally.
‘Even with shamanism, it’s not completely different from Earth after all.’
The plague was sweeping through. It was clear that many were starving.
In fact, it was strange that this city remained this peaceful.
In Earth’s history, the plague famine in the African regions resulted in countless deaths from starvation.
This ranching city hadn’t yet descended into the hellish suffering of mass starvation.
Even the innkeeper still seemed to have some comfort.
But for those with nothing, a long path of suffering stretched ahead.
I pulled out dried rations from my pouch.
“When you boil this in water, it becomes porridge, you see? Just a moment.”
I emptied my pouch and placed all the dried rations into the children’s hands.
“Waaaaah! Thank you so much!”
“We have rice! Everyone!”
“That blind guy gave us food!”
I could have skipped that last comment, but then again, they’re just a child. That’s what makes them human.
Jin Cheon-hee moved past it without concern.
‘Come to think of it, the officials in this region don’t do anything at all.’
There was a king, but it was essentially a state of lawlessness.
Though local clans had taken root in this province, since these weren’t officials who rose through examination, power distribution varied depending on who held sway.
And even if they accepted bribes or squeezed taxes, the king rarely executed such officials.
Unless they plotted treason….
‘Hmm…. The bureaucratic system has many flaws, but seeing this, I understand why it’s necessary.’
Thus Magistrate Jin Cheon-hee sighed.
Then suddenly, the sound of chanting reached his ears.
Something felt strange.
Usually, chanting serves to clarify the mind, does it not?
This chanting was unlike anything I’d ever heard, and its atmosphere was strangely viscous beyond description.
‘Could it be?’
The sound came from deep within the alley where the children had disappeared.
Jin Cheon-hee followed it inside.
In a small clearing between dilapidated, shabby houses, a shaven-headed monk in a crimson robe like blood was distributing dried meat to the poor.
They were all so emaciated that their organs were nearly visible.
Their clothes had worn through so completely that skin was almost entirely exposed.
They smelled terribly, their health clearly poor.
Yet the monk distributed food without a single frown crossing his face.
Jin Cheon-hee quietly stroked Hwang-gu’s head.
Hwang-gu glanced at Jin Cheon-hee, then sniffed the air.
He was catching the scent of the dried meat the monk was distributing.
Woof.
A sign that the food was nothing strange.
Soon, after all the poor had taken their food and left, the monk spoke.
“Who might you be, observing this humble one’s gathering?”
“I am a wandering musician who became curious upon hearing an unfamiliar chant and followed the sound.”
“It seems you walk the path of the Way. I am Taeyang, a foolish monk following the teachings of Hyeolbul. Since I have abandoned my worldly name, you may simply call me Taeyang.”
His voice was low and soothing.
Like a lullaby sung to a child.
‘Following the teachings of Hyeolbul….’
An ominous name.
But it was too early to judge, so Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“You were distributing dried meat to the children….”
“Those children have lost their parents or have families weakened by illness. Being still young, they cannot work and go hungry. How could I not take pity on them? I merely help the children endure, even if only slightly.”
“Admirable indeed. Might I ask which temple you belong to?”
At those words, a smile appeared on the monk’s lips.
“I practice at Hyeolbul Temple.”
‘Hyeolbul-seung! Then they’re of the same ilk as the Hyeolbul-seung who was with the bandits before!!’
A monk from Hyeolbulsa is performing good deeds here!?
Were the bandits and Hyeolbulsa not working together?
‘But this person isn’t lying. The body’s movements, the muscle reactions—everything speaks truth. Or is this person actually virtuous? Could Hyeolbul-seung, who was with Hyeolpungsa, be a fallen villain?’
Perhaps that could be the case.
Suspecting someone I’m meeting for the first time right away might be a bad habit.
Even Shaolin Temple has monks who’ve broken their vows, doesn’t it?
But my expression remained unmoved.
Though I felt a subtly cold attitude, the monk showed no intimidation whatsoever.
“Then it seems I’ve told the patron everything you wished to know. If fate allows, we shall meet again.”
He turned to leave as if there was nothing more to discuss.
“Wait, could I receive one piece of jerky?”
“Of course.”
Without hesitation, he handed me the jerky.
* * *
Since I couldn’t use another person as a test subject, I ate it myself.
I could detoxify myself if needed, and I possessed knowledge of shamanism, so I was the perfect test subject.
‘No poison, no curse… and it tastes exactly like ordinary jerky.’
Whimper!
Hwang-gu seemed disappointed that his master had stolen the jerky he was supposed to eat.
“There! What if it were spoiled food?”
I pulled out jerky I’d made myself from my pocket and fed it to Hwang-gu.
And as I did, I thought.
‘He said there were many sick people…’
I reflected.
I wasn’t trying to do good deeds for their own sake—I was doing this to extract information.
So I decided to wander around the area more and search for patients.
First, I’d grow Hwang-gu’s size a bit more.
Then I immediately carved a wooden stick lying around nearby into a flag.
I wrote on the flag in this region’s language: [Healing Shaman Sent by Heaven].
And then.
The first to approach was the girl who had given me the dried provisions.
“Mister, can you really heal people?”
Perhaps because of my old face? It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard that word.
The child was young and spoke haltingly.
“Of course.”
The child showed me to her home.
It was clearly a ramshackle dwelling, more of a hut than a proper house.
The stench was terrible, and there were clear signs they’d been burning branches to mask the smell.
“Where are your parents?”
“They’re dead. It’s just me and my younger siblings—three of us total.”
The child spoke of death so casually, not even using the respectful term for passing.
‘It seems there’s no adult looking after them.’
Suddenly, I recalled my younger self.
Sama Hyeon and Sama-hye. And the children I had raised alone.
I had often joked to myself that Sama Hyeon was fortunate in comparison.
Thanks to Seok Nosa, I had learned letters and martial arts.
Though becoming entangled with Hao-mun was regrettable, I knew many children whose fortunes were far worse than mine.
The “unfortunate” children Sama Hyeon spoke of must be like those before me now.
Children who knew nothing of martial arts and couldn’t even learn to read.
But the fortunate thing was that none of them seemed to suffer from a serious illness like Sama-hye had.
I couldn’t say who was more unfortunate, but if Sama Hyeon believed himself fortunate, wasn’t that enough?
And would these children later believe themselves fortunate as well?
I reached out and took the pulse of the children.
‘Malnutrition.’
Common, yet the most brutal affliction.
‘I’ve already used all my dried rations. Hmm. Should I go back to the inn to fetch my supplies…?’
Then I remembered there was another way.
Shamanic fruit.
What I had learned from Jasi.
‘Draw out life force to bear fruit. That life force is my own. I become the sacrifice to create the shamanic fruit.’
When I learned shamanism from Jasi, we practiced on small animals, but what I truly intended was something different.
‘I’ve tested it several times already and it worked flawlessly. The effect was far superior to sacrificing small creatures.’
I retrieved the glyph I had drawn on the back of my hand beforehand, chanted the incantation, and a crimson fruit materialized in the empty air before falling into my palm.
Thud—
Normally a tree that feeds on corpses should sprout, but I had skipped the entire process and created only the fruit itself.
Had another shaman witnessed this, they would have been astounded by such extraordinary technique, but the child knew nothing of that.
Simply seeing fruit appear before their eyes was enough to astonish them.
“Isn’t this something only the most powerful shamans can do?”
Still, the child seemed to know what shamanic fruit was.
Jasi was truly an excellent shaman.
“Eat it.”
The child was about to take a bite first but stopped, instead feeding the shamanic fruit to their youngest sibling.
As the scarlet fruit entered the gasping child’s mouth, vitality returned to their body.
Taking their pulse, I could see the vigor visibly returning.
‘Just as I thought—far more effective than ordinary shamanic fruit.’
Since it wasn’t made from another’s life but from my own life force, no curse remained.
“Wow! You really are an incredibly powerful shaman!”
“You’re that skilled, so why can’t you see?”
“Idiot! Shamans deliberately poke out their own eyes to see spirits!”
This was the first time Jin Cheon-hee had heard such a story.
‘Regardless, I’ve used the shamanic magic of the shamanic root directly on my own body without any side effects whatsoever.’
The shamanic magic that creates the shamanic root is a type of magic that doesn’t require a contract with a spirit.
However, to use this magic to bear the fruit of life, a sacrifice with vitality was necessary.
In my urgency, I had intended to drain my own life force, yet there isn’t the slightest weakening.
‘This must surely be because of [that].’
* * *
The girl was overjoyed, practically bouncing with delight.
Supporting two younger sisters alone—naturally, medical treatment was expensive.
To receive such help in her circumstances was certainly cause for joy.
Meanwhile, Jin Cheon-hee’s heart felt heavy.
‘This is like trying to bail out a sinking boat with a spoon.’
It had been the same when working for relief organizations.
Ultimately, as long as the nation doesn’t change, the deceased continue to die. Children continue to starve.
I could only postpone that situation temporarily—I couldn’t truly resolve it.
‘Still, they’ll manage for a week with this.’
Even just that one week allows life to sprint toward possibility.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————