Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 773

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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 773
Many things had transpired.
People had come to understand what they truly were.
They awakened to the nature of the inner monsters they had denied all this time, and they feared them, despised them.
Some among them could not bear the weight of their sins and took their own lives.
To accumulate good deeds and become a Buddha.
That was precisely what the Lesser Buddha had always been.
People witnessed the culmination of that faith, and those who could endure it and those who could not became starkly divided.
“Won’t you save them, Hyeong?”
“A painkiller is merely a painkiller, not a cure-all. Even if you mask the pain, without excising the tumor, nothing changes.”
“…I see.”
“And if they only become dependent on painkillers, eventually they’ll need progressively stronger ones.”
In the end, the prescription the Doctor presented was bitterly harsh.
Stop grinding up children and using them.
Face the truth directly.
There was no strawberry-flavored fever syrup here, no citrus vitamin gummies.
Without prescribing a single painkiller, I seized them by the hair and forced them to confront the truth.
Chaos and madness erupted.
It was the naked face of hell itself.
When night fell, they came to understand desperately what they were, and they had to remember whom they had consumed.
In that tribulation, I gazed upon Jasi.
“Jasi, can you hear me?”
“…”
Jasi sat within the formation.
Due to the aftereffects of the golden technique, his body had half-transformed into wood, and his eyes were clouded white with cataracts.
I set down an ice cream before him.
It was a spirit offering method I had learned from the glass artisans of old.
Of course, normally one would offer dates or carefully prepared local delicacies, but I had heard that Jasi favored the ice cream I made, so there was no reason to refuse.
“Jasi?”
“…”
There was no response.
Yeo Ha-ryun spoke.
“His soul has already been consumed entirely. According to his own words, once he devours the last soul, he will seize this body and walk back to his homeland.”
“I’m using every shamanic technique I know to delay it.”
“…But Jasi is the one who taught you shamanism in the first place. He wouldn’t be so naive as to leave such loopholes.”
“You’re right. Your eye for people is accurate.”
Jasi stated it plainly.
There was no salvation now.
Since he had already resolved to burn away everything of himself, nothing could stop it.
All shamanic arts exact a price.
I tried to pay the price using my own blood and flesh instead.
But even that was blocked by sorcery.
As if this situation had been anticipated.
“Jasi knows sorcery well, and he knows me well too.”
“Why not give up, Hyeong? There are impossible things in this world, after all.”
“It feels strange hearing it from you of all people saying something is impossible.”
“….”
I laugh bitterly. Yeo Ha-ryun closes his mouth at the sight.
My brother had always believed in me for some reason.
He gave me unwavering faith that was invisible to others, without reservation.
Such a man he was.
Such a man now grits his teeth at my words.
But my brother is not a god.
Making water flow upward was impossible, and repairing an already shattered soul was equally impossible.
“After today passes, Jasi’s soul will be completely consumed by the spirit without a single grain remaining. That is the contract. The spirit also accepted its own annihilation in response to Jasi’s call. No matter what I do, I cannot break the contract between these two people.”
“…How cold.”
“Yes.”
I clench my teeth and finally pull a glass vial from my pocket.
A white liquid sloshes inside the bottle.
It was the last remaining Rakshasa egg.
The one I had received from the Governor in the past.
The medicine that Baekcheon-gun had swallowed, saying that as long as memory continued, that person would not change.
“What is that?”
“I’m trying to fulfill what Jasi asked of me before he dies.”
“I cannot consent to this. Won’t it merely birth a Rakshasa that has consumed Jasi’s memories?”
“Yes. That Rakshasa will still long for Usha and love the earth.”
The “I” that Jasi conceives and the “I” that Yeo Ha-ryun conceives can never exist together.
Between light and darkness, my shadow flickers and sways.
“So I’ll do it this way.”
I opened the stopper of the glass vial. Then I set it down before Jasi.
Clink—
Glass touched marble, creating a cold sound.
“Jasi, I did not answer you then. But now I must answer. If you truly desire this. If it does not come from mere fear of death, but you genuinely believe this is ‘life,’ then even with a single grain of soul, you could consume it.”
“….”
Jasi does not move.
Now it seemed he was truly becoming a tree standing still—not even a breath remained in him, not even the pulse of life.
“Hyeong, he is dead.”
He lacked even the natural presence that the living should possess.
“Do you think he retains enough discernment as a person to consume this with a single grain of soul? Besides, this is merely another name for death.”
The favored child of Death spoke thus.
I neither denied nor affirmed it.
‘Perhaps I was too greedy.’
That I could deceive the heavens without using this method. That another way existed.
I tried earnestly, and tried again.
In the end, standing at the final cliff’s edge, I granted his request.
But if I lack the strength to grasp it.
If no soul remains to make this choice, then it all becomes meaningless.
‘Where is memory stored?’
In the brain, or in the soul?
Or perhaps in some distant place unknown even to us.
I cannot know. Yet I cannot help but wonder.
“Let us go. Hyeong.”
The moment his son died, the father’s adventure began.
It was no fairy tale—a cruel journey too terrible to share with another soul.
In the place where blood stained both his own hands and those of others, there existed neither paradise nor treasure island.
The Doctor had struggled to prevent it, but like an arrow loosed from the bowstring, the moment I released it, the outcome was already sealed.
Only the fate of the arrow piercing and shattering wherever it flew remained.
What remained was merely whether it reached its target or not.
A shattered arrow offers no answers.
“Hyeong.”
Yeo Ha-ryun knew that I had wept for a long time, directly releasing a child.
He hoped that neither body nor heart would suffer further wounds.
Was this not the cruel price of saving lives?
A rolling stone, worn and worn away, could not know where it would finally rest.
“Jasi.”
In that moment.
Jasi’s hand moved slowly, grasping the bottle.
His expressionless face held no trace of vitality.
Yet, despite all this.
The withered hand lifted the bottle, bringing it to his lips, into his mouth.
Glug, glug—
The milky liquid filled his mouth completely, and only the sound of his throat moving, a swallow, filled the room.
“Kugh!”
It was the sound of one life ending, and another beginning.
He cried out, his body convulsing.
The branches sprouting from his body began to fall away.
Jasi had completed his definition of ‘self.’
Now it was time to answer it.
I shattered the formation and seized Jasi.
“Usha.”
The bone necklace hanging around his neck rattled softly.
Memory had returned.
Where memory exists, so too does the self. And one soul had departed.
* * *
“There’s no need to check your pulse further, so why do you persist?”
“Just a moment longer.”
I continued my examination of Jasi’s pulse with stubborn persistence.
He had now returned to his original human form.
‘Though perhaps “returned” isn’t quite the right word.’
Where one flower had withered, another bloomed in its place.
We do not call such a thing a return.
Jasi regarded me with a bitter expression.
“You neither affirm nor deny my existence, do you?”
“Indeed. My dull mind still cannot find an answer.”
“Dull? There’s not another soul in all the heavens and earth who would call you such.”
With those words, he carefully cradled Usha’s bone necklace in his grasp.
I withdrew my hand.
“Everything is normal. No different from before. Even the weak lung function remains unchanged.”
“That’s how it is. In the end, the definition of ‘I’ belongs to me alone, does it not?”
“What will you do from now on? What of the spirit?”
“I’m uncertain. Though I have become this, my old soul was consumed by the spirit—the price has been paid. I had intended to send it back to its homeland with proper ceremony, but now I wonder if I should simply settle here instead.”
“Is that so? Yes, that makes sense. There would be nothing but ruins waiting in its homeland.”
“Indeed. For the spirit, remaining alone in ruins would be meaningless. Without people, there are no shamans. If it were a primitive spirit that lived solitary from the beginning, perhaps—but this one has learned to commune with humans.”
“I see. Since this place is already devoid of spirits, it would be perfect for establishing a new home.”
I nodded in agreement.
Jasi spoke.
“Yes. And it was this spirit’s lingering attachment that left the final grain of my soul uneaten.”
Spirits and humans possess fundamentally different sensibilities.
Yet despite this, the spirit honored its contract to the very end, hesitating even as it prepared to consume Jasi.
“It had exhausted so much power that maintaining its existence without consuming me would be difficult, yet it hesitated until the final moment. So I wish to help it settle here to whatever extent I can.”
I nodded.
It seemed that meetings and farewells were not phenomena that occurred only between people.
Outside, chaos still reigned.
Yeo Ha-ryun stepped out briefly to manage his subordinates, then returned.
“They requested chains.”
“Pardon?”
“Chains to bind themselves at night. If possible, they also want someone to prevent them from doing anything reckless.”
Among those who had collapsed upon witnessing the truth, some had emerged who could face it directly.
It was both the resilience humans possessed and the power that opened the future.
Yeo Ha-ryun spoke.
“I intend to bring this region under my control. That’s why I wish to severely punish anyone who devours people.”
“Have you spoken with the Governor?”
“He agreed. My soldiers alone aren’t sufficient, but with the sect’s gold and meat, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”
“Your influence has grown considerably.”
“Mm.”
To subjugate a region of this scale beneath my feet and maintain order, I would need to become at least a major sect.
Though the Central Plains say that the Heavenly Way flows less clearly in the Outer Regions, the need for manpower remains unchanged.
‘The forces of Yeo Ha-ryun before my eyes must be merely the tip of the iceberg.’
Just how much has he cultivated? At that scale, he could easily rule a minor kingdom.
Compared to the time of Jicheon Cheonma, he has amassed a force of unimaginable magnitude.
Those who would have died survived instead, and because Yeo Ha-ryun himself now pauses to count before taking a life, he has gained the people’s trust.
“Yes. Everyone moves toward their future.”
At that moment, Jasi, who had been concentrating on shamanism with his eyes closed, furrowed his brow.
“Damn. Another spirit has already taken root here.”
“Already?”
“Yes. I suspected another would come once the work was finished, but I didn’t expect it so soon. It seems to be a young and weak spirit—I’ll try to persuade it well.”
If that doesn’t work, perhaps a fistfight is in order.
After all, one naturally values one’s own spirit more than another’s.
Jin Cheon-hee grew concerned and followed Jasi.
* * *
Jasi headed toward the temple’s basement.
It was Lake Gangnyeom-gi.
“Legend has it that a spirit has taken root here for generations. Evil cannot enter, and being beneath a temple, it receives the faith of humans quite well.”
‘Was it acceptable that the Rakshasa spawning ground was here?’
I don’t know much about spirits, but judging from Jasi’s expression, it seems fine.
In that dark place.
The mysterious murals I had seen before revealed themselves.
Here, Jasi performed a ritual to summon the spirit.
Jin Cheon-hee asked.
“Will I be able to see that spirit with my own eyes?”
“Mm. At your level, you can see it using shamanism.”
“Oh…?”
“What, you haven’t even learned such things? Well, can’t be helped.”
Jasi blew ash from burned wood directly into Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes.
“Cough.”
After coughing several times and looking ahead, it was still dark.
“I still can’t see anything.”
“The newly settled spirit is too weak. Wait a moment.”
Jasi tore the throat of a goat to draw blood and sprinkled it around, performing the ritual.
Smoke billowed and filled the surroundings in thick clouds.
How much time had passed?
What appeared in that place was.
[…?]
Certainly one spirit that Jin Cheon-hee had personally sent away.
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened in shock.
The child seemed startled too, opening and closing his mouth silently.
However, no voice could be heard. Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“What? Why are you still here instead of going to a better place?”
Jasi spoke.
“I’ve heard that spirits with strong power cannot go to the afterlife and remain as spirits. I never thought I’d witness it with my own eyes.”
“But you said he was weak!”
“He is weak.”
“Isn’t he going to die soon?”
“Originally, I was planning to help my spirit find a foundation even if it meant using force. After all, I want to protect my own spirit.”
He’s not even hiding it, this fellow!
The child who had become a spirit flailed his arms about.
Jin Cheon-hee stepped forward to block Jasi.
“If you’re thinking of erasing him, I won’t stay quiet about it.”
“Right. I have no such intention. In that sense, let me give him a name.”
“Yes?”
Jasi walked toward the child.
“Little one. After I finish this matter, I intend to follow that person. The absurd one called Ilgwang.”
[….]
Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes widened at those words.
If Jasi came to Baekrin Uiseon, it would be a great help to Jin Cheon-hee.
Even if he could barely use shamanism, his knowledge of medicinal herbs would be a precious gift to the Medical Guild.
Jasi continued.
“How about you come along as well? You may feel lonely since we’ll be establishing a foundation in the Central Plains, but other spirits won’t be able to harm you.”
[….]
How much time had passed?
The child nodded his head and sat upon Jasi’s shoulder.
“I need to give you a new name.”
Jasi pondered for a moment, then spoke.
“Isha. My son who went before was named Usha, and I gave you this name thinking of you as his younger brother.”
The child smiled brightly.
Isha.
He seemed pleased with the name.
“Thank you. You are my beginning and my salvation.”
At the moment the child received his name, long hair grew upon his head.
In appearance, he resembled a monkey.
It even resembled a certain stone monkey that had reached the Western Paradise.
“I’ve heard that memories from before death have a great influence, but why would a young child know the legends of the Fire Empire?”
At those words, I laughed awkwardly.
“It seems I’m the culprit.”
The Monkey King who had arrived in the west now turned eastward.
In place of the Tripitaka Master, Sha Wujing, and Zhu Bajie, there was a doctor, a minor sect leader of the Demon Sect, and a shaman.
Instead of the Buddha’s scriptures, he carried mountains of soda on his back as he returned.
The adventure I thought had ended began anew.
The story continues.
It was the tale that the child had once dreamed of.
An adventure that would never truly end.

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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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