Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 784

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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 784
‘Of course, it could look that way.’
I had even felt a touch of pride, wondering if I’d transcended humanity at this level. But now I understood.
How terrified I’d been in that mine, resolved to die.
Perhaps I’d appeared as serene before death as Gwon Je seemed to be.
Maybe I’d even convinced myself of it.
But when I actually faced it, my mind went blank and I couldn’t think at all.
‘In the end, I just thrashed about pathetically.’
Understanding my own depths this way, I nodded to myself.
“I’m just an ordinary person. Tell one lie and it gnaws at me; see someone die and I can’t forget it, losing my appetite for days; lay my head on a pillow and I’m filled with regrets—wishing things had gone differently, wishing I’d done better.”
Ordinary. Truly ordinary.
Ilgwang Jin Cheon-hee defined myself this way.
“I don’t have the certainty in my path that Master or Yoo Ho does. I can’t confidently claim I’m right. I just walk the path my mind tells me is correct in each moment.”
Tap, tap.
I tapped my own head with my fingers.
“But I want to choose the path I’ll regret less, so I can sleep better.”
No matter how much gold and jewels wrap around your body, the moment your head touches the pillow, how honest does a person become?
When I close my eyes at night, the memories within me open theirs instead.
You can deceive yourself, but you cannot deceive your memories.
That has nothing to do with my wealth, my honor, or my martial prowess.
“Is that why you died?”
Not just Master, but Yoo Ho knows as well.
Thinking about it, since Yoo Ho would be present whenever Master devised strategies or gathered information, it seemed inevitable.
‘Besides, that bastard Yoo Ho sometimes grasps my condition before Master does.’
So I wasn’t particularly surprised.
“I would’ve avoided it if I could. Since my companions were alive, I could’ve just run. But well, it didn’t work out that way.”
“For something that didn’t work out, you certainly tied up the matter perfectly.”
“Is that praise?”
“It’s an insult.”
“Hahahaha.”
I laughed. I simply laughed.
“By the way, Yoo Ho.”
I rested my chin on my hand and stared at him intently.
“What is it?”
“Did Master start this Jeongsa Great War?”
“That’s not the case.”
An immediate answer.
“Really?”
“Yes. But he didn’t stop it either. As you know, the Master dislikes humans, and he doesn’t cling to the lives of individual martial artists the way you do.”
“That’s… well… considering what Master endured in his childhood at the hands of martial artists, it makes sense. He suffered greatly.”
I popped a honey-roasted chestnut into my mouth and chewed.
Sweet.
The aftertaste was slightly bitter, as if honey had been added to the chestnuts.
“By the way, it seems my Master didn’t do anything particular at the Jeongsa Great War.”
“That’s not quite it, but…”
“What?”
Yoo Ho raised his hand to stop my question.
“You should ask the Master directly about that.”
With that, he left the room.
This time, I could hear the sound of the door—he had deliberately left traces of his presence as he departed.
Watching Yoo Ho’s retreating back for a moment, I spoke.
“I suppose I’ll have to ask him directly then.”
* * *
“I’ve delivered the honey-roasted chestnuts safely.”
“Tsk, pulling all-nighters the moment I arrive—I need to eat something to keep going.”
Jegalling clicked his tongue and rolled up his sleeve, beginning to write something rapidly with his brush.
Despite his silver hair being quite long, it was remarkable how not a single drop of ink ever stained it.
Yoo Ho briefly wondered if Jegalling might be of the same ‘type’ as himself.
Among them, there were many who could move their body hair freely as if it were alive.
But he also knew such thoughts were pointless.
“My Cheon Hee works too hard at everything. With his exceptional talent already, and now adding such diligence, there are many who covet him. Isn’t that so, Yoo Ho?”
“That’s a curse, Master.”
Yoo Ho spoke honestly, and Jegalling burst into laughter.
Had anyone else said such a thing, he would have severed their neck.
But since it was Yoo Ho, Jegalling simply laughed it off as a jest.
“You’re quite harsh on my Cheon Hee, aren’t you?”
“So then, what do you intend to do going forward?”
A sentence without a subject.
Watching Yoo Ho suddenly jump to the next topic, Jegalling mused.
‘Yoo Ho’s reactions when teased about Cheon Hee are truly amusing.’
But now was the time to discuss business. Jegalling answered straightforwardly.
“Nothing much. I intend to collect the blood debts I’ve set aside. Though I’m not quite on the level of the Sichuan Tang Family… I do have considerable expertise in poisons, don’t I?”
“Are you running away before the young master asks? This will eat at him.”
“Indeed. By now, he must be desperate to ask exactly what I did at the Jeongsa Great War. But do I really need to answer that for him?”
Yoo Ho thought to himself.
What a terrible-natured master.
It seemed he wouldn’t be satisfied unless he returned half of the suffering he’d endured while waiting.
“I felt certain things while waiting for that boy all this time. Now it’s his turn to feel them. Isn’t that what they call putting oneself in another’s shoes? Humans are such foolish creatures—they only learn through experience.”
Right. Binding him with Eternal Iron Shackles is fine. Fine, but the one holding the key runs off?
Even a malevolent spirit would weep at such a deed.
Yoo Ho had much he wanted to say. But he refrained.
“And my schedule has changed suddenly. I have business at the Imperial Palace.”
“The Imperial Palace? Are you planning to have an audience with the Emperor?”
“That’s what I must do.”
Jegalling stopped there and closed his mouth.
Why was Jegalling heading to the Imperial Palace? Normally, one would assume he had received some secret imperial decree and was entering the palace covertly.
But Yoo Ho knew that wasn’t the case.
“Understood. Then what do you intend to do with the poison you prepared in advance?”
“In the Thirty-Six Stratagems, under the Victory Strategies section, there’s a tactic called ‘Await the Exhausted Enemy While at Ease.’ It means while the enemy rages about, I rest and conserve my strength, then face them when they’re worn out from fatigue.”
Jegalling never discussed important matters in concrete detail.
Though his manner of speaking had changed somewhat since meeting his disciple, his fundamental nature remained unchanged.
Yoo Ho spoke.
“That’s rather underhanded.”
“Military stratagems are inherently such things. Aren’t countless dishonorable tricks possible in pursuit of victory?”
“Typically, the weak use such methods when facing the strong.”
The implication being that someone like him wouldn’t need such troublesome tactics—he could simply slit their throats and walk away.
At those words, Jegalling smiled silently.
‘He never lets his guard down. This man.’
Despite possessing immense power, he preferred using tools to using his fists.
“Well then, shall we depart? We’ll have an audience with His Majesty, collect the blood debt from Gangho, and then….”
Jegalling’s blue eyes glanced upward at the ceiling.
It was the sound of some calculation passing through his mind.
Perhaps that calculation was far from singular.
Two, three.
He continued speaking.
“…Cheon Hee is so occupied with work that he’s probably forgotten all about the political turmoil. And that’s even more likely since the entire Gangho martial world isn’t split in half fighting each other.”
“Is that irony?”
“Ha ha. Yes. Even so, he must be worrying terribly. But until I return, there’s nothing he can do. He’ll just wait for his master to return, work, and…. Doesn’t that sound like something someone has already experienced?”
At those words, Yoo Ho was left speechless.
“…Did Gwon Je instruct you to do this?”
“I’m raising him like a weed. Only I’ve temporarily moved him home to tend to him there.”
Wouldn’t people normally call that tending a flower?
If the purpose was to make him reflect at home, wouldn’t it be better to fully trust your disciple and remove his shackles before leaving?
“There remains a blood calamity, so there’s no helping it. If I push Gangho along a bit more smoothly, perhaps that fool will have fewer chances to die.”
Even if this effort proves futile.
I simply wish to remove even a single stone from the path before my child.
If I clear away all the glass shards and sharp thorns, organize everything, will things improve?
‘This action may be meaningless.’
Even so, as a master, shouldn’t I do something?
Jegalling set down his brush.
The paper contained a note saying he would be away for a while and asking me to take good care of the Medical Guild and Hyeon during that time.
That was it.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
And incidentally, a bit (?) of revenge as well.
Hyeolrin Gwangssal never moved with just a single purpose.
And with him and Yoo Ho absent, the Medical Guild wouldn’t function at all without me.
It was also the perfect move to seal my disciple’s actions.
“More than that, just thinking about seeing the Emperor—that snake of a man—is irritating.”
It might actually be easier to receive the blood debt from Gangho instead.
But a master could do anything for his disciple.
Anything at all.
* * *
The next morning.
‘I’ve handled all the urgent matters. Now all that’s left is to ask Master some questions.’
I took a deep breath.
What should I ask first?
What if Master refuses to speak?
Will I have to figure it out myself again?
With these complicated thoughts, I headed to Master’s study early in the morning.
I made my presence known, but there was no invitation to enter. I couldn’t sense anyone inside either.
‘Hmm… Has he stepped out for a while?’
Still, I needed to bring the completed documents, so I opened the door with a creak.
There was a letter on the desk.
-You seem to have many questions. I’ll be away on a brief excursion.
Master had already known what I would be thinking when I came.
And an excursion, no less.
‘Is he avoiding my questions? Just to make me curious.’
When Master moves, he never acts with just one purpose.
‘While he’s away, he might even stir up some commotion in the Central Plains.’
In the end, there was only one thing for me to do.
‘With Master and Yoo Ho both gone, I’m the only one left.’
Muyue is already running at his limit.
Giving him more work would be the same as telling him to die.
I returned to my office.
My mind was surprisingly clear. Because I knew what needed to be done.
‘Let’s see. To handle things while Master and Yoo Ho are away, I need to make a schedule first.’
I took out bamboo strips and unrolled them.
I could write on paper, but well-made bamboo strips sometimes feel like modern lined notebooks.
Of course, the weight is incomparable, but there’s still a sense of stability that the bamboo scent provides.
I took out a writing brush for bamboo and began writing quickly.
‘When I became the Magistrate, Baek Rin County was elevated from Baek Rin District, and as a result, what was once Baek Rin Western District became Baek Rin Western County, and Baek Rin Eastern District became Baek Rin Eastern County….’
Thanks to this, each side now had its own Magistrate.
Two Magistrates under the County Administrator.
In the old days, when I held the position of Magistrate, such an extraordinary promotion would have been unthinkable.
Normally, promotions of this magnitude only happen for three reasons.
Either you’ve taken an enemy general’s head in war, or you’ve performed terrifyingly well across the entire empire, or you have golden connections.
‘I have all three.’
Suddenly, I realized how I’d ended up becoming a County Administrator. In the end, it was self-inflicted.
Regardless.
‘While I was away in Damjin, both Magistrates performed their duties so well that they’ve completely reorganized the administrative offices. They’ve hired more guards to secure public order. And they’ve even completed preparations for lower-ranking officials’ retirement pensions.’
Pensions are important.
If guards can’t be assured of security in their old age, they become corrupt.
No matter how upright a Magistrate is, if the lower-ranking subordinates who serve as hands, feet, eyes, and ears are corrupt, one’s hands are bound.
And back during the Previous Emperor’s time, there was an instance where salaries were cut off for lower-ranking officials, and they were ordered to move solely out of loyalty.
The County Administrators and Magistrates simply pocketed the money that was supposed to go to them, and this continued until the funds dried up, but that was the ‘custom’ of the time.
So all the guards could do was use their authority to secure their own monthly wages.
It was exploitation of the people.
The state essentially pushed them to exploit the populace.
Now, with the current Emperor’s reign, fortunately guards receive monthly salaries.
Beyond that, I intended to provide retirement pensions after their service.
What makes this possible is finances.
‘The current financial situation of Baek Rin County is comparable to any major commercial city. With a population exceeding one hundred thousand households, by this era’s standards, nearly a million people live in Baek Rin County.’
Moreover, with the economy thriving, money circulates rapidly.
One could say that Baek Rin County’s finances alone account for half of all Jiangsu Province’s wealth.
It’s the second-largest economic city in Jiangsu Province, and in reality, it should rival Namgyeong, one of the empire’s most prominent metropolises.
‘Of course, on paper? That’s one thing. If the Lord of Namgyeong has been embezzling and falsifying records, there’s no way to know, but even so, isn’t it quite comparable?’
Since corruption is customary, whenever calculating anything, you have to make these rough estimates.
It’s not like some blind cryptocurrency investment—the numbers vary slightly depending on the individual conscience of each Magistrate and County Administrator.
Then when an audit comes around, the statistics gain credibility for about half a year after that.
‘This field is quite amusing.’
I wonder why the world is like this, but don’t construction sites have suppliers swapping out materials, leading to lawsuits worth tens of billions?
They bury garbage in concrete, and as a result, even Han River view apartments can develop leaks.
That’s how it was.
The Doctor likes humanity but doesn’t trust it, so I adapted quickly.
“Let’s see~ just how much our Lord of Namgyeong has been pocketing.”
A languid smile crossed my face.

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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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