Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 762

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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 762
As I turned things over in my mind, I gazed upon the Abuddha’s mysterious elixir.
‘An elixir of unknown composition… I can’t very well taste it myself like the Flame Emperor Shen Nong did to discern its properties… In situations like this, I need someone deeply versed in shamanism.’
Mere expertise in shamanism alone wouldn’t suffice.
‘Someone who also knows how to handle medicines and conduct research.’
The answer was Yoo Ho.
‘Yoo Ho. I miss him.’
I longed for Yoo Ho terribly. And…
‘Where could that chemistry-obsessed monkey be?’
I needed to capture him soon… no, persuade him properly and hire him.
After thinking that far, I arrived at the guest quarters.
“Please rest, everyone. I’m going to marinate some meat and return.”
Now that a child was involved, the number of mouths to feed had increased.
It would be best to borrow the kitchen during the day.
I stopped by the kitchen, prepared some simple dishes, and returned.
‘There’s plenty of sugar in this town. Should I make more honeycomb candy?’
It was more expensive than gold in the Central Plains, yet here it was cheaper than water.
‘Even the eighty-year-old elder uses it for brushing teeth and medicinal purposes.’
Watching him skip meals yet meticulously maintain this habit only made me laugh.
Especially the sugar used in the Governor’s kitchen had been refined by local healers, making it far superior for cooking, or so they claimed.
Though rarely used now, it seemed wasteful to leave such materials unused.
‘There’s simply no food, but all the spices are well-preserved.’
A kitchen that was always maintained and clean, yet had almost no one using it.
So then.
Sizzzzle—
I reduced the sugar to make honeycomb candy.
I wanted to stamp it into shapes, but I had no time for that, so I made it roughly and let it cool.
“Mm, this looks delicious.”
While it cooled, I simmered mutton in the broth I’d prepared earlier, making it like a curry.
After preparing all this food, I went back inside.
When I returned, the two people were gone.
There was a note that read:
—We’ll take a look around separately and return.
Since Jasi was also absent, it seemed they’d gone together.
‘Should I revisit that tavern from yesterday?’
I was curious how those I’d knocked unconscious had fared. After beating them like that, I wondered about their condition.
‘First, I should eat something.’
The children could make do with cold rice, but I couldn’t.
After that kind of labor, I needed to eat warm rice before moving on.
* * *
“Oh, you’ve arrived! The White Saint!”
The innkeeper greeted me warmly as I entered.
A massive lump protruded from the back of his head.
“….”
When I stared at him intently, he seemed to notice my gaze and laughed awkwardly.
“You see, I must have drunk far too much yesterday. When I woke up this morning, I found myself injured like this.”
“You think you’re the only one? Everyone’s memories are completely gone.”
“Wahahahaha!”
The people burst into laughter. There was a man with a black eye, another with dog bite marks on his thigh, and yet another with a handprint the exact size of my palm stamped across his belly.
They all assumed they had simply drunk themselves into oblivion and lost their memories.
‘The wounds… they do heal remarkably fast, but they don’t disappear completely. And I have no memory of when I became a monster.’
I played along appropriately, asked a few questions, and then stepped back outside.
As I continued gathering information from the surroundings, I discovered something peculiar.
‘The people here are remarkably kind….’
It wasn’t merely kindness.
When someone’s shoulder collided heavily with mine on the street, they bowed deeply and apologized first.
Ordinarily, a stranger wouldn’t receive such treatment—no one would offer to apply salve and ask them to wait a moment.
In a world where medical care is privatized as a matter of course, healing medicines are expensive.
It’s no different from gold prices in the Central Plains for wound salve, and the same applies to the Outer Regions.
For someone to offer to apply such costly medicine to a person they merely bumped shoulders with—that would be either fraud or complete madness by local standards.
Even more strangely, I heard no sounds of quarreling in the marketplace.
Since ancient times, markets have been the sacred battleground between buyers and sellers, and sellers quarrel among themselves whenever disputes arise.
‘Tch, though they certainly don’t lower their prices.’
That was disappointing.
Yet everyone gathered in the market walked about laughing heartily, as if each carried a sun within their chest.
There was an uncanny sense of alienation, as though they wore masks.
There were not even beggars on the streets.
The difficult cases were helped by others who went to them first.
‘Could this be the effect of the elixir? Does it forcibly make people virtuous?’
This time, I headed toward the mines.
‘Yes. The mines should certainly be a mess.’
After all, the mine’s deepest depths are where those unable to repay their debts go as a last resort.
The work is that grueling, agonizing, and life-shortening.
It’s one of those jobs people refuse even when offered money.
Clang, clang!
People were mining natron at that very moment.
Mining natron stone might evoke images of mineral extraction from old coal mines, but this region’s natron mines actually resemble stepped salt ponds more than traditional mines.
Yet the labor was equally grueling.
“Oof! A fine specimen has come out!”
“Ah yes, truly impressive! I mustn’t fall behind—I’ll work hard at mining too!”
“Wahaha! If we all work together to mine soda, won’t our city become even more prosperous?”
“Yes, yes. That’s right!”
“To a bright future!”
“To the future!”
I felt like a fly that had wandered into a white room for some reason.
Not a single curse word escaped anyone’s lips as they mined.
‘Have they all gone mad?’
Even math textbooks depicting children running at 10 kilometers per hour never contained passages like this.
I couldn’t fathom why they insisted on running across the field in an isosceles triangle formation, but they had never lived with such brightness, clarity, radiance, and joy.
‘What is this?’
By the time I looked back, the sun was already setting.
I returned to my quarters.
Upon arrival, the Lord’s Son was playing with a small paper doll.
The paper doll moved as if alive, bobbing its body to entertain the Lord’s Son.
“You’re back?”
Jasi had arrived first. It appeared he was the one creating and manipulating the paper doll.
‘Jasi is certainly skilled at entertaining children.’
He must have loved the deceased Usha dearly.
“Yes, I’ve arrived. This place is certainly strange. The people during the day as well.”
“Indeed. It’s twisted. And even life and death are twisted here.”
“What?”
My eyes widened slightly at his words.
“Before you arrived yesterday, I killed several Rakshasas. I didn’t know until you told me they were people.”
“I see…”
I had no intention of blaming him for that.
They had attacked Jasi to devour him, after all.
But what came from Jasi’s mouth was something I never could have anticipated.
“Yet those creatures I killed were alive again.”
“What?”
“They had revived. As if their death had been a lie.”
Did that even make sense?
‘Are humans game monsters? Do they respawn when daylight comes? What is this?’
Then the Lord’s Son spoke.
“Rakshasa doesn’t die. When day comes, they live again.”
This was a story I had never considered.
Everyone is kind, and no one dies.
They transform into monsters at night, but no one remembers.
A village where hunger doesn’t exist.
The child quickly wiped his reddened eyes with the back of his hand.
“Isn’t it strange? Everyone was so kind, and because I didn’t want to hurt anyone, Father sought the most virtuous way… so why did we arrive at hell?”
I gently stroked the child’s head.
The crown of their scalp was damp with sweat.
Whenever this child cried, the crown would flush red and become soaked with perspiration.
It carried the scent of life itself.
That scent meant the child was still alive, still growing.
‘How many more times must this crown grow wet with tears before they become an adult?’
I held the child close.
From the intensity of their crying, even their armpits were drenched with moisture.
“How wonderful it would be if good people could always make the right choices.”
How many swindlers in this world preyed upon the virtuous?
‘Failed investments, joint guarantees, multi-level marketing schemes. That sort of thing.’
Especially with multi-level schemes—both victims and perpetrators often ended their lives by suicide.
And the perpetrators themselves were rarely the original founders or core executives of such schemes; most of the time, they were simply people who had made good money and, with genuine intentions, invited others to do the same.
But when they realized what they had become part of.
When they understood that their families and loved ones had descended into hell alongside them.
When their retirement savings vanished and only debt remained.
When their homes faced foreclosure and the police began calling repeatedly—that’s when they decided to end it all.
At the very least, to spare their children from inheriting the debt.
‘If the suicide attempt fails halfway, they usually wake up in a hospital.’
Then they try again.
Because reality hasn’t changed.
The police interrogations continue, the retirement funds won’t be recovered, and their beloved siblings and relatives all wander through hell.
‘If it’s only partially successful, they refuse life support.’
The breadwinner chooses death.
Under Korean law, one must die for the family to survive.
If they had been completely evil, truly ruthless, they wouldn’t need to agonize over such things.
Upon realizing they’d been swindled, they’d do anything to find other victims and escape themselves.
Those who choose suicide are usually the ones who are moderately soft-hearted, moderately empathetic to others’ suffering—moderately ordinary people.
Common people.
‘The entire city has become joint guarantors, descending into hell together.’
This is how heavy the burden of leadership becomes.
‘By the time police investigations into multi-level schemes begin, everyone’s already dead. Only the figurehead gets caught, and the real culprit has fled overseas. I wonder how this will play out.’
Jasi spoke.
“There’s one more problem.”
“Yes?”
“After all, for those without memories, this place isn’t a hell, is it? They don’t know people are being devoured every night. There’s no death, no hunger in this world. In fact, you and we might become unwelcome guests disrupting this paradise.”
“….”
A profound silence crept through the room, flickering like candlelight.
After a moment, Yeo Ha-ryun spoke.
“What are you getting at?”
“What?”
“Should I tell him that those already devoured pretend not to know because this place is heaven to them? Or should I say that the people here are free to donate their wealth to the Maitreya Sect or the Hyeolseonggyo, sell their sodastones, and give their faith—because this is heaven, so we simply let it be?”
“Yet if you shatter this peace, surely many will die in the process.”
“Whose perspective makes this ‘peace’? Should we say those devoured were peacefully consumed? Tell me, Shaman. Speak.”
Yeo Ha-ryun’s eyes, utterly devoid of light, fix upon him.
Fortunately, he does not emanate killing intent.
Meanwhile, shadows fall across Jasi’s eyes.
He seemed to be recalling the dead Usha.
Yeo Ha-ryun spoke.
“Evil is merely evil. Using it without understanding does not justify the act.”
Soon, Jin Cheon-hee, having finished his deliberation, opened his mouth.
“Well, I don’t operate with any grand philosophy. Rather, I’m quite thorough when profit is at stake—a petty man, you might say.”
Jin Cheon-hee scratched the back of his head vigorously.
“As things stand, the sodastone trade will face problems. Besides, I’ve acquired a stake in this mine myself.”
Jin Cheon-hee deliberately emphasized his own interests.
It was the mask of an adult unwilling to suffer losses.
And that mask sometimes granted him the courage to meddle.
The courage to choose.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke with a deliberate smile, leisurely and unhurried.
Like a calculating, selfish adult.
“Since we’re already entangled in this, let’s search the temple more thoroughly tonight.”
Yeo Ha-ryun asked.
“Do we kill those who interfere?”
“Hmm, even if they resurrect the next day, let’s avoid killing if possible. There could be unforeseen side effects. By the way, did you learn anything?”
Yeo Ha-ryun nodded.
“I found traces of my subordinates. They’ve withdrawn outside the city and are lying in ambush. I left a signal for them to approach the area.”
Jin Cheon-hee exhaled in relief.
“Thank goodness…”
“Many died during the withdrawal.”
Only then could I understand Yeo Ha-ryun’s anger.
He had already lost several close subordinates. Rather than mourning their deaths, it fell to him to identify and eliminate this grotesque situation.
“Yes. No matter how noble the intentions behind creating heaven, if one must commit evil to survive there, then surely it is hell.”
Why was the world made this way?
Thinking thus, Jin Cheon-hee smiled.
“Well, I must secure my share. I need to protect my stake in the mine.”

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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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