Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 783

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

Chapter 783
Clink, clink.
Every step I took produced the sound of chains rattling against each other. At that noise, all the Medical Assistants working nearby turned to look at me.
I felt my face flush with embarrassment.
‘This isn’t some prisoner escort, for heaven’s sake.’
Just then, Hye-a approached me with a bright smile.
“Eun Gong! Oh? Ah….”
Hye-a’s eyes glistened with tears as she looked down at my face once, then at my ankles.
I quickly spoke up.
“It’s lightness cultivation training, Hye-a. I’m wearing this weight to master the Essence Cultivation Method.”
There was no helping the fact that my dignity had taken a hit.
But didn’t this make my Master look like a madman?!
“Y-yes, that must be it, Eun Gong. It’s surely a trial to master the Essence Cultivation Method. The Patriarch definitely didn’t do this because he’s a paranoid patient who tramples on his disciples’ human rights and is a filthy, perverted bastard. Absolutely not, not at all!”
“….”
I felt a pang of sorrow.
“Hye-a, you’ve grown quite experienced in the Medical Guild. You’re starting to smell like the other clan elders now.”
Hye-a was beginning to develop her own cunning.
In this Baekrin Medical Guild, the incompetent could not survive as a clan leader.
In this place where people constantly embezzled from other clans’ budgets and stole talent—where you could lose your nose the moment you opened your eyes—the substitute clan leader Sama-hye had adapted well.
Sama-hye opened her eyes wide as if she had no idea what I was talking about.
“Pardon? Eun Gong?”
“Never mind. Yes, thank you for understanding it as lightness cultivation training.”
I walked on, chains clanking with each step, until I reached my office.
My office as Soggakju was already piled high with documents awaiting my approval.
-Hahaha. Hope, while you were away, work has accumulated.
Seeing the mountain of tasks waiting for me, I made sure to hide the chains out of sight as best I could.
It was a futile effort since all the Medical Assistants would eventually find out anyway, but it was worth the tears.
‘Alright. Let me first look into the matter of the Righteous Sect War. There should be documents on that.’
I found the bamboo slip records piled in the information section. Then, with just a gesture through empty space, I drew them swiftly into my hands.
A realm where qi naturally responds to intention.
I casually displayed Jeolcho’s martial arts and opened the bamboo slip to read the information.
The Righteous Sect War.
‘So the Heterodox Faction threw the first punch. And it snowballed into this full-scale war.’
As I thought this far and moved my legs, the shackles made a clanking sound on their own.
The weight of sin.
‘So what exactly did my Master do?’
Currently, thirty-five sects on both sides had been destroyed to near-annihilation levels.
It seemed several major sects were among them.
‘Oho~ So we’re essentially in a ceasefire now.’
Still, since both sides were filled with vigorous martial artists, localized skirmishes continued to occur.
‘The report was compiled by Hao-mun, who left Sadoren and joined the Five Rings Society. Since they’re a core faction of the Golden Blood Hall, Sama Hyeon must be deeply involved.’
Now in the martial world, as the next Hao Munzhu and the Gumhyeolbang Sobangju, there were few who could escape Sama Hyeon’s eyes and ears.
Whenever he undertook any task, he always moved with profit and efficiency in mind.
He was a martial world figure, so naturally he couldn’t escape the principles of the martial world, but he had begun calculating even those principles in terms of money.
Strangely, as he began living that way, more and more commoners began receiving salvation from Sama Hyeon.
Rather than throwing people into salt mines or coal pits, he began placing them in appropriate positions using the skills they possessed before bankruptcy.
When he sprinkled even a pinch of hope—that they could repay their debts, that they could live normally again as before—people threw everything into their work.
Remarkably, it proved more profitable than selling people to salt mines or quarries.
-Brother, I’ve never seen a useless person. Give them work and everyone becomes money.
-Heh, if I just place them well in jobs and squeeze them to the bone, they’ll introduce me to those beautiful silver coin friends of theirs.
-Money begets money, and I’ll stack it neatly in that leather wallet Hye-a made for me.
Just hearing this, he seemed like an unscrupulous boss of the highest order, yet in this martial world, he was the one running operations with clockwork precision in work hours.
-If my brothers who earn money for me collapse, I can’t earn anymore. It takes at least a year to teach someone a job and have them function properly. If I’ve taught them everything and they collapse, recruiting new people is just a waste of resources.
I see.
That was the Golden Blood Sect Leader’s welfare. Of course, not the kind that considers modern human rights.
If someone was caught skimming money after being given this opportunity, it was handled heterodox faction style.
Which meant getting beaten.
‘So Hye-a would be the one existence beyond profit for Sama Hyeon.’
Without Hye-a, Sama Hyeon would wander through darkness forever.
Had she died from illness instead, perhaps he wouldn’t have descended into such madness.
Perhaps he could have blamed the disease. Perhaps he could have blamed poverty.
Even if Sama-hye had desperately wished for death, because he killed her with his own hands, that sensation would remain with him for life.
Some wounds are seeds of madness.
Those seeds sprout alone in darkness, feeding on blood and growing.
The fruit born of madness is violence.
How sweet that fruit is—once you taste it, you can never stop.
Jin Cheon-hee rubbed his eyes, exhausted.
‘….’
There was no point in thinking deeper about this.
Rather, finishing reading this report was the priority.
‘This is more detailed than the documents received from Gaebang.’
That meant Hao-mun’s intelligence network surpassed Gaebang’s, so Gaebang would need to work harder.
Jin Cheon-hee turned the page with that thought.
Then a familiar handwriting appeared.
-This is just my guess, but~ don’t you think your Master was pulling the strings behind all this?~ It’s just my intuition.
-Right, no evidence though?
Hearing that smooth, slick voice automatically replay in his mind, it was unmistakably written by Sama Hyeon.
Gaebang was the same.
In the end, the Master had handled the matter without a single piece of evidence being caught by either Gaebang or Hao-mun.
‘How is that even possible?’
Hao-mun.
Wherever merchants and alcohol gather, Sama Hyeon’s eyes and ears are sure to be present.
Gaebang.
Wherever beggars, the elderly, and children are found, information flows to Seolgyeon.
Covering one eye might be possible, but is it physically feasible to work while covering both eyes?
‘Hmm, I should have a meeting with my Master first.’
With that thought, I began reading through the internal documents of Baekrin Medical Guild.
Adding administrative paperwork to this pile made it comparable to a mountain.
Using Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong to continue processing, it would take roughly ten double-hours to handle it all.
By modern standards, it was the amount of work requiring a full day without sleep.
‘If I die from overwork after twenty hours, at least it qualifies for workers’ compensation.’
Death from overwork isn’t called that for nothing.
But I possessed a sturdy body, martial prowess, and even a treasure—and most importantly, time was precious.
‘The sooner I finish this, even by a day, the sooner the children can get their work.’
The most incompetent superior in the world isn’t one who makes mistakes or lacks manners.
It’s one who isn’t at their desk.
When subordinates spend all day searching for their department head, only to find him trading stocks in the bathroom, the blood rushes backward and you feel like you might ascend to enlightenment right then and there.
During my absence, my Master, Yoo Ho, and Muyue had been handling things between the three of them.
Yet even so, there remained matters only I could directly handle.
Urgent matters were resolved through correspondence from afar, but the non-urgent ones.
The precarious ones that now required decisions.
I began flipping through bamboo slips and paper, organizing documents one by one.
‘Everyone really did work hard.’
Under my Master’s leadership, Baekrin Medical Guild had grown brilliantly.
However, my Master managed things differently than I did, tending to pursue efficiency in a different manner than Sama Hyeon.
‘Over the past three years, all research teams under departments without results have been disbanded and reassigned elsewhere. Ah, I would have given them three chances… or perhaps I seem frustrating from my Master’s perspective.’
The same applied to other matters.
‘When the Sichuan Tang Family raised acupuncture needle prices, my Master drove down the price of Sichuan silk. The Sichuan Tang Family merchants must have had their backs broken overnight.’
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
‘During the recent conflict, all the mulberry fields belonging to Baekrin Medical Guild were damaged, dealing a blow to medicine production. Ah… exactly three days later, a mysterious fire broke out at Geolwol Sect… To recover from it, Geolwol Sect surrendered land. The Herb Guild Master of Baekrin Medical Guild purchased the land and planted mulberry saplings… exactly three times the amount of the damaged trees.’
Why did that fire even start?
Who caused it?
How did the fire possess such intent that it precisely targeted only Geolwol Sect’s assets?
I gave up thinking deeply about it.
Perhaps Geolwol Sect was the cause of the mulberry damage during that conflict.
My Master never forgives.
If my Master ever appears to forgive, it’s only because he’s depositing grudges to repay enemies ten-fold, hundred-fold in the future.
By the way, the interest is compound interest.
One who calculates grudges with compound interest.
That is Baekrin Uiseon Jegallim.
In other words, because Master is the one leading.
‘Hmm… Master’s management style is fundamentally different from mine, that’s for sure.’
Of course, that wasn’t all there was to it.
‘Those thugs who kidnapped doctors and forced them to provide treatment—Gungwi completely erased them from existence.’
He was even one of the doctors who had treated Wang Gak-yeon alongside me when we were young.
From Gungwi’s perspective, he was truly his daughter’s benefactor.
‘According to the report, Master even made a spectacle of the rescue operation.’
Master doesn’t tolerate such things, and neither does Gungwi.
The doctor had been beaten by the thugs and was bruised, but fortunately suffered no serious injuries.
Master provided the injured doctor with compensation and sixty days of paid leave.
The doctor returned to his hometown to recuperate with his family, and safely returned to Baekrin Medical Guild afterward.
During that time, Master made an example by banning all heterodox factions connected to those thugs from entering Baekrin Medical Guild’s branch for a certain period.
In a way, it was collective punishment, so the heterodox factions felt wronged.
Still, in this harsh Gangho world, the Medical Guild must protect its doctors.
That is the very reason for the Medical Guild’s existence.
It’s not just some crazed patient rushing at a doctor with a blade.
In this world, a patient whose mind and body have been destroyed by demonic cultivation performs lightness kung fu while hurling throwing stars at doctors.
The heterodox factions hunted down the escaped thugs themselves, destroyed their dantians, and handed them over to Baekrin Medical Guild.
Master then severed their limbs and tendons before turning them over to the authorities.
These were people who had plundered commoners, so there were always bounties on them.
There was no mercy.
People gave Master a thumbs up, finding it refreshing how he showed no leniency in his methods.
Master himself seemed unbothered by it all.
‘Many things happened while I was away.’
A time to review past matters and accept new responsibilities.
Even with the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong technique, it was difficult to stretch time thin enough.
“No matter how much work I handle, it never ends… Sigh… Even understanding it all is difficult, so when will I finish processing it all?”
“…It’s all thanks to that young master, sir.”
At the familiar voice, Jin Cheon-hee was startled.
“Oh, you scared me! When did you arrive? Yoo Ho? I didn’t sense you at all.”
Of course, I was concentrating on work, but even at my current martial arts level, it’s not easy to detect Yoo Ho’s presence.
“Just now, sir.”
With those words, he set down tea and refreshments before me.
“Oh, honey-preserved chestnuts. I love these.”
A delicacy made by carefully peeling chestnuts and preserving them thoroughly in honey.
Master loves them too.
“The flavor has soaked all the way through.”
I pierced one deeply with a bamboo pick and popped it straight into my mouth.
The taste is absolutely exquisite.
Unlike Earth, this world has stronger natural energy, so even with the same ingredients, everything tastes better.
I closed my eyes briefly, intoxicated by the fragrance created by the soft chestnut flesh and honey, then opened my mouth.
“I should try making marron glacé later too.
But anyway, the amount of paperwork is enormous—is Muyue still alive?”
“He received Master’s great technique once more, so he’s doing fine. And every night, he’s been calming his mind and spirit by splitting wooden puppets in half.”
The android Muyue was gradually transcending humanity under Doctor Baek Rin.
“Impressive. To be honest, I was prepared for the possibility that Muyue might collapse.”
“Not everyone works as hard as the young master, after all.”
His loyalty toward Jin Cheon-hee was genuine.
The emotionless healer felt a slight pang in his chest.
“But why did you go to such lengths?”
“Muyue? What choice did I have? There’s so much work.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about Damjin.”
“Ah, Damjin.”
Jin Cheon-hee took a sip of tea.
The swallow was smooth all the way down my throat, but the moment my lips parted, the fragrance of medicinal herbs rushed in.
‘This is Master’s handiwork.’
It seemed he had personally brewed the tea for his disciple.
“Damjin, huh… well… it was bothering me?”
“You went that far just because something was bothering you?”
Yoo Ho clicked his tongue in disbelief, and Jin Cheon-hee scratched his head as well.
“When you put it that way, I can’t really argue back either. Yoo Ho. I just couldn’t help myself. I’m the type who can’t stand lingering doubts, and when regret like this remains, I keep thinking about it even when I try to sleep.”
“All that for such a trivial reason?”
Jin Cheon-hee folded his arms and fell into thought.
“Of course it might seem like nothing much, but when these things pile up one by one, I end up sleeping less and less. How do I put it… I’m just an ordinary person, after all.”
“There’s nothing ordinary about you.”
Yoo Ho doesn’t agree.

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