Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 740
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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 740
The entire building trembled, sending signals through the ground beneath my feet.
From that vibration alone, the genius mind trained in Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong immediately understood.
“So there was a secret passage?”
At that moment, the basement door began to creak open.
I drew a long needle from my waist and hurled it.
“Ahhh!”
The needle flew with a sharp sound, aimed at the bridge of a familiar face.
I immediately fired a Tan Ji strike to alter the needle’s trajectory.
Bang!
It was Ilkana.
A red line was drawn across her cheek.
“Brother, wasn’t that a bit harsh?”
“Ah, I didn’t realize it was you, Ilkana.”
Seeing me laugh with those blue eyes—hehe—Ilkana felt a chill run down her spine.
That smile, that atmosphere… she couldn’t let herself be deceived by it.
The needle I’d just thrown would have pierced directly through Ilkana’s eyes.
It was an effective attack against demonic ghosts, and equally effective against the Hyeolseonggyo.
But to react and fire like that in the midst of such chaos?
“That’s enough—hurry down here!”
Hwang-gu descended first, carrying Noeji on his back.
Following Hwang-gu, I rolled down into the basement.
The moment I entered, Ilkana hastily shut the door.
Slam!
* * *
The basement was dark, but the torches provided enough light to see.
At least what lay beneath my feet.
“Somehow, Brother, your night vision seems better than mine?”
“Ah, it’s the opposite. Actually, not being able to see is better.”
“…?”
What nonsense was that?
It wasn’t the first time he’d said something like that. I could scoff and move past it. But more than that…
‘Damn it. My hands… still…’
The tips of my fingers continued to tremble.
Why? When I watched Jin Cheon-hee fight the demonic ghosts, I felt fear for a moment.
Even when facing Yeo Ha-ryun, who possessed Cheon Sal-seong, or even a Cheonma, my body wouldn’t stiffen—that was her advantage.
It was the result of Chakratan and strong mental fortitude, honed through that damned Jegalling’s hellish training.
But this time was different.
The moment I met those inorganic blue eyes, my thoughts ceased.
It was a feeling akin to despair. I steadied my voice with effort.
“It seems you were quite merciful when fighting humans, Hyeong.”
“I need to treat them afterward, don’t I? What else can I do? I can’t kill them. I just need to hurt them enough so they can’t fight anymore.”
With his restraints lifted, Jin Cheon-hee was a different person entirely.
A monster capable of altering the trajectory of a needle aimed at the eyes the instant he realized his opponent was someone else.
The shift in his expression when looking at demonic ghosts versus when looking at a human.
‘Sigh… Calm down. Calm yourself.’
Only when he realized his opponent was human did he finally show a proper expression.
It was different from the distinctive oppressive aura that Cheonma or Yeo Ha-ryun displayed.
A ghost story.
Perhaps it resembled the sensation an ordinary person feels upon discovering a bloodstained fingernail in their lunch box?
Woof?
Hwang-gu sensed Ilkana’s emotions first.
‘This is somewhat bothersome.’
Noeji was better than this.
Birds are dull to human emotional changes. After all, their very existence is distant from humanity.
Noeji himself, being strongly wild-natured, is indifferent to humans. Except for Jin Cheon-hee.
But dogs are different.
Dogs have been with us since the distant mythological ages.
With merely a scent, a dog can discern whether this person loves it or not, whether their health is good or poor, whether they’re melancholic or not.
Pant, pant, pant, pant!
Hwang-gu rubbed his head against Ilkana’s legs.
The thick fur felt soft and fluffy. Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“Yon-seok. This isn’t the time to be spoiled.”
“It’s fine, Hyeong. He’s cute.”
Hwang-gu licked Ilkana’s trembling hand repeatedly.
The saliva smelled terrible. Yet mysteriously, the trembling in her hand stopped.
‘Perhaps this is why Hyeong treasures this dog so much.’
Now that he’d undergone complete transformation, they fought together, but in the old days, hadn’t he protected him by keeping him out of particularly fierce battles?
In that moment, she understood the feeling.
How far down had they descended?
An underground stone chamber came into view.
The ceiling was approximately one chang high—about six meters. It was a spacious underground stone chamber roughly thirty pyeong in area.
“Ho, such a space exists underground?”
Normally one would worry about an ambush, but Jin Cheon-hee spoke thus while carefully examining the forms carved into the walls.
“Wow, this, this—they hired an expensive craftsman.”
He confirmed the craftsman’s daily rate first.
‘Madman.’
This was his nature, so there was nothing strange about it.
“Mm, have we arrived?”
Yeo Ha-ryun’s voice echoed through the lower levels of the underground chamber.
Jet-black hair sank into the darkness.
Behind him, roughly fifteen Black-Clothed Persons emerged from the shadows.
Martial Artists of the Demon Sect.
I lifted my blue eyes and gazed at my younger brother.
“Oh, each one of them appears to be at least a peak-stage master, wouldn’t you say? A group of this caliber could easily annihilate a mid-sized sect.”
Correct assessment.
However, the moment I perceived their full strength with merely a glance, they all fixed their gaze upon me with hostility.
Ha-ryun turned around.
“You wretches. How dare you look upon my elder brother with such disrespect…?”
Kuuuugh—
I realized that Ha-ryun wasn’t intentionally releasing his killing intent.
Merely bearing an angry expression caused the killing intent to leak through.
‘He’s beginning to reach the realm where phenomena change according to the heart.’
That killing intent pressed down upon the earth like a blade.
Simply standing before it made breathing impossible.
“Gasp, cough… however… we are loyal only to the Soegooju!”
“Then show respect to your elder brother as well.”
“We… we are loyal only to the Soegooju!”
The same words repeated.
Deep brainwashing had surfaced from the unconscious in this moment of crisis.
“You wretches….”
Ha-ryun’s eyebrows twitched.
Crimson eyes emerged, suggesting death itself.
Cheon Sal-seong.
The moment the prodigy of death raised his hand, I stepped forward first.
“Well hello there~ I’m Jin Cheon-hee, Ha-ryun’s elder brother in the medical arts.”
Ha-ryun’s killing intent was instantly purified, and the air finally became breathable once more.
Despite wielding such a realm of power, I adopted no defensive stance whatsoever.
Instead, I deliberately chattered away in an exaggerated manner, like a salesman.
“Phew! You all must be having such a hard time because of my younger brother. Still, he’s always indebted to you, and I’m truly grateful. If your health ever deteriorates, please visit Baekrin Medical Guild anytime. I’ll give you a thorough examination from head to toe~”
Seeing me wink and sway my body, everyone thought the same thing.
‘Is this… the elder brother of the Soegooju who will become the future Cheonma?’
‘They say his name is Ilgwang….’
Everyone was bewildered by the brothers’ completely opposite atmospheres. Ha-ryun spoke urgently.
“Elder brother. There’s no need for that. These wretches are all….”
“Ha-ryun! Hey, man, that’s not how you treat your colleagues. Even if you’re their superior. In society, interpersonal relations are….”
At that moment, Cheon Sal-seong in Ha-ryun’s mind spoke.
-Hey. Stop him quick. He might start lecturing again.
Damn it.
‘Hmm. I need to stop him, but how…?’
Both Cheon Sal-seong and Yeo Ha-ryun knew that once Hyeong started nagging, there was no stopping him.
The moment two personalities clashed, Ilkana swiftly interjected.
“Brothers. This is hardly the time for such discussions. Were you not just attacked?”
“Ah. Right.”
‘I should give Ilkana a bonus for this.’
-Agreed
Cheon Sal-seong responded quickly.
Yeo Ha-ryun immediately picked up on Ilkana’s words. A swift response that the original Yeo Ha-ryun would not have shown.
“Hyeong, there’s another city buried beneath this royal capital.”
“What?”
My eyes widened slightly. I understood the reaction—I’d doubted my own eyes after witnessing that ‘sight’ myself.
Yeo Ha-ryun continued.
“The sewers of this royal capital are structured like a city unto themselves. According to what Ilkana discovered, this capital gradually sinks into the sand. So they’ve been adding layers upon layers of construction.”
“So another city lies buried beneath this one?”
“Exactly. And it’s being used as a sewer system.”
This wasn’t something created naturally—it was built with sophisticated calculation.
‘I’ve seen something like this in old movies when I was young.’
My heart raced for the first time in ages.
“Wow… That’s incredible. This is like some ancient ruin…”
Another thought occurred to me.
‘No, wait. Even on Earth, there’s that underground city in Cappadocia, Turkey, supposedly built around the 8th century.’
I’d seen it in a movie as a child.
They said it was dug over 80 meters deep with about 20 levels.
A massive underground city that could house 20,000 people…
‘Right. If Earth has something like that, it would be stranger if this world didn’t.’
And secret societies always seem to have remarkably advanced architecture.
Building various mechanisms, secret passages, and underground temples requires it.
‘Oh, an ancient underground city! Yes, I’ve seen similar things in the North Sea Ice Palace, so it should be possible!’
Isn’t it similar to how villainous scientists in Earth cartoons suspiciously possess advanced technology?
Robots constantly breaking down, yet they always bring out new ones…
‘Do kids these days not watch transforming robots anymore?’
They must. How else would toy companies drain parents’ wallets through combinations and transformations?
That’s the toy company’s mission.
Yeo Ha-ryun continued.
“This underground city is likely a secret base for organizations operating covertly within the capital. We’ve only been investigating it for about a day.”
“A day? That’s less time than I expected.”
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded.
“You saw the demonic ghosts above?”
“Yeah. I saw them.”
I wasn’t just observing them—I was also experimenting with various methods to see if there was a way to defeat them even with low internal energy.
“Every single one of them falls, only to regenerate the next day. To enter this underground city, you must inevitably pass through them.”
“Regenerate? They’re not being dragged in from somewhere else?”
“They just… appear.”
“That’s remarkably strange sorcery.”
A chill ran down my spine.
This was sorcery—yet a phenomenon so bizarre I questioned whether sorcery alone could achieve it.
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded.
“I’m beginning to regret not bringing one of our sect’s sorcerers along.”
“It’s fine. I know a bit of it myself, so don’t worry. I’ll help you out. So, what’s the plan?”
At those words, a faint smile crossed Yeo Ha-ryun’s doll-like face.
“First, we need to search this underground city. The ringleaders are surely here.”
“True. That makes sense.”
I fell silent, lost in thought.
‘So we must defeat the demonic ghosts to enter? And besides, there are hardly any who could wield such bizarre sorcery.’
Apart from the Hyeolseonggyo, there were few groups capable of such grotesque acts.
The moment that thought crystallized, my mind suddenly became clear.
‘That’s right. This is a world beyond the novel.’
Even the Damjin Kingdom itself barely appeared in the Jicheon Cheonma.
Since Yeo Ha-ryun had no reason to come here in the original work, it made sense this place went unmentioned.
‘But that doesn’t erase the human sacrifices that occurred.’
The Hyeolseonggyo had extended its reach into this kingdom, which barely featured in the novel, and human sacrifices had proliferated.
‘People die in places we cannot see. Evil takes root.’
Suddenly, I recalled the dead doctor.
Though different from what one might call a disciple in the Gangho, the ache in my chest was identical.
‘Did that person’s death hold meaning?’
Thanks to what he grasped—the Sobing Jeong—the village could continue living. But what came after?
If I were to leave now, wouldn’t his death become meaningless?
I couldn’t know. I couldn’t know, but…
At least I understood that what happened in the capital would eventually reach even the smallest villages.
It was like a plague flowing through blood vessels. The capital was a place from which influence could spread anywhere.
Anywhere.
“Hyeong, you look like you’re carrying something heavy.”
“Human lives are truly heavy, Ha-ryun.”
“Mm.”
Yeo Ha-ryun answered thus, then pressed his lips into a firm line.
I spoke in a bright voice.
“Right then. Let’s head down and take a look. Maybe we’ll find some treasure~”
My footsteps leading the way were exaggeratedly cheerful.
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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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