Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 790

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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 790
Just when I thought the atmosphere had thawed slightly, he abruptly pierced straight to the heart of the matter.
This is why Sama Hyeon could never let his guard down around me.
‘If I just said I ate it, there’s no way he’d believe me. This guy’s intuition isn’t ordinary.’
Even for someone like Sama Hyeon, common sense existed—it would be difficult for him to genuinely believe I’d returned from the dead to eat something.
Because even I couldn’t believe such a story.
“I nearly died out there beyond the city gates. My Master said it as a way to snap me back to my senses.”
“Ah… I see. Well, Jegalling isn’t ordinarily crazy.”
“Hey, watch your tongue with my Master.”
“But you’re accepting it pretty easily. I mean, you’ve come back nearly dead plenty of times before, haven’t you? What could possibly anger him enough to put you in shackles?”
He was relentless.
And with such keen intuition, it was troublesome.
I clicked my tongue slightly in my mind.
“My Master endured as much as he could. The anger just accumulated.”
“Heeh…”
Sama Hyeon chuckled softly.
Then he rolled only his eyes, observing my shackles, his own martial robes, and the bamboo slips stacked behind us.
After considering that far, his eyes rolled upward to the right again.
Then slowly his gaze moved to the upper left.
And finally, he smiled.
“If that’s how it is for you, then that must be it~”
‘Was he fooled, or did he choose to be fooled?’
It seemed somewhat eerie, but I was relieved he let it pass.
“Anyway, you seem a bit more ominous than the last time I saw you.”
“Ah, my Shifu has only been assigning me assassination work lately. Thanks to that, I’m feeling a bit down. Though thinking about it, if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have gotten the job of secretly protecting you either, so it worked out well.”
“Is that so?”
Despite what he said, what Sama Hyeon loved most was still making money.
Since he couldn’t do that, I imagined he must have been irritated.
“Sit down. It’s been a while, so let’s catch up on what we’ve missed.”
I said this while pushing the documents aside and immediately produced some refreshments from somewhere.
Yokan.
Modern-style matcha yokan at that.
“You keep pulling sweets out from somewhere~”
“Survival. When blood sugar drops, you have to eat.”
Saying so, I poured herbal americano in front of Sama Hyeon.
“The tea is a bit bitter, but it’s still good for your health. It pairs well with yokan, so I eat them together.”
“You even shaped the yokan. Like clouds and flowers.”
“Yeah. When I only work, it gets suffocating, so I put in some effort.”
I warmed the tea once with a heat source and set it in front of him.
Watching me freely use martial techniques, Sama Hyeon clicked his tongue in admiration.
“Hyeong has already started breathing Intent into himself like breathing air~”
“I told you. I suffered greatly out there in the wilderness.”
I could never say that these insights were gained through death.
‘Why does this guy keep asking questions that hit the exact core from the start….’
However, logically speaking, it was impossible for him to know all the facts.
My Master had long conversations about what happened since the North Sea Ice Palace incident last time, and I’ve revealed facts that others couldn’t possibly know.
Plus, my Master knows exactly what martial arts I’ve mastered.
But Sama Hyeon is different.
No matter how much this guy became the information broker of Hao-mun, there’s a limit to what information he can possess.
“Hey, it’s rabbit jelly. Hyeon-a~ try this.”
“Oh~ your skills are improving day by day. Gaga~”
“Next time I’ll add various toppings like candied fruits or something.”
“Cream perhaps?”
This guy often used the language I used on Earth.
“Yeah. Cream.”
Sama Hyeon smiled broadly.
“By the way, Hyeong. The thing is, Jegalling is staying in Hwangdo.”
“Hm? Master is?”
“Yeah. It probably wasn’t for business. I wonder why~?”
I answered calmly without changing my expression.
“How would I know every move my Master makes. Just eat. If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it all?”
At my words, Sama Hyeon finally laughed and eagerly ate the jelly I had made.
It’s definitely sweet.
I don’t hesitate when it comes to using sugar, honey, and sweet things.
Just when I think the flavor might be too strong, the more I eat, the more I crave it.
‘This is usually a hometown taste.’
Were there people with such tastes in the Central Plains?
If I had to find something similar, it might be Sichuan since they eat spicy food well.
But they don’t speak the same way as I do in Sichuan.
‘Hmm. Maybe I’ve been killing too many people lately, so I’m having too many idle thoughts~’
Sama Hyeon laughs languidly.
Though it was my Master’s order, I killed far too many.
This wasn’t murder for survival.
When I myself kill someone for survival, I actually kill them grandly to set an example.
Like a shrike impaling its prey on a branch.
By showing such examples, even those who would rush at me decrease.
For myself, and for Hye-a.
And for Hyeong as well.
But the assassinations my Master ordered were not for my own sake.
They were for the entire Golden Blood Hall.
My mental landscape has become somewhat barren, hasn’t it?
Mental landscape—the image one carries within the heart.
It could be a scene, a memory, a grudge, or perhaps a single sword path.
For warriors, the mental landscape is paramount.
Those with clear mental landscapes possess equally clear and vivid sword paths.
Those whose mental landscapes are dark and cruel inevitably wield brutal and vicious sword paths.
In this sense, one could say the sword path itself represents the warrior.
Sama Hyeon had come to realize that the martial way he was cultivating lately had become quite sharp and cruel.
‘In the past, I played with people more gently.’
Like a cat toying with a mouse, his hands had once been the same.
“Gaga~ It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. This concubine’s eyes are filled with tears. How I’ve missed you.”
“Hahaha, because you gave me so many delicious things?”
“That too~”
Sama Hyeon smiled slyly and placed the yokan in his mouth.
Savoring the texture of the red bean melting softly on his tongue, Sama Hyeon grinned.
‘Yes. This is the healing my brother spoke of.’
Lately, Sama Hyeon had been growing weary as well.
* * *
Since then, Sama Hyeon had clung to me and refused to leave.
I prepared snacks not only for Hwang-gu and Noeji, but now for Sama Hyeon as well, and handed them over.
Then I continued with the civil engineering projects.
Civil engineering provides a certain satisfaction to those in power.
Welfare and public health, even when implemented immediately, show no visible change. But civil engineering?
Crash!
You can see immediately as something crumbles and something new rises in its place.
‘So that’s why development authoritarianism has such high approval ratings worldwide.’
From the commoners’ perspective, such gratifying and direct change is rare.
I watched as the disguised sect hideout was demolished.
“Ohhh! Finally it’s disappearing! So many children were dragged into that place.”
“Shh, don’t speak carelessly. You might get stabbed in the night for no reason.”
No matter how many disguised hideouts are destroyed, there’s no guarantee the sect members won’t harm commoners.
Everything happens within the realm of non-interference between officials and martial artists.
Because of this, there are quite many situations where people don’t report to the magistrate’s office under non-interference.
Martial affairs should be resolved by martial artists, they say, abandoning the injured commoners. And perhaps they’ll just raise the bounty on evil sect members.
When they return, they face brutal retaliation.
From the sect’s perspective, how infuriating that a mere vermin of a commoner dared report to the magistrate’s office.
So commoners also give up, speaking of non-interference.
In the end, non-interference might be a word of resignation meant to protect one’s heart in this unreasonable world.
In such a world, I—Jin Cheon-hee, the development-focused magistrate of the Hwa Empire—am demolishing the sect’s hideouts.
In such a world, Jinchenxi, the tyrannical governor of the Hwa Empire’s development, is demolishing the houses of the Sapa.
To be precise, I’m utilizing the explosive principles of the Tanjicheon-tong’s blast technique to detonate everything without complicated procedures.
Oddly enough, the structures I’m demolishing are precisely the Heterodox Faction’s disguised houses. The other buildings remain intact.
Not even a hairline crack appears on nearby structures, suggesting the shockwave doesn’t propagate outward at all.
Sama Hyeon seemed slightly surprised by this strange harmony, but most people showed no particular reaction.
It merely appeared to be a realm-level technique.
‘As expected, those ignorant of martial arts don’t understand how extraordinary this truly is~’
Casually unleashing such power, I spoke.
“Ah, so there was a reason they didn’t obey the evacuation order. These bastards!”
An enormous quantity of jars emerged from the underground.
Woof!
Hwang-gu barked.
“Opium?”
Woof!
“There’s opium here.”
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“Hyeong, check inside the main beam too. No wait, hold on~”
Saying so, I extracted something from the very top of the collapsed beam, where it supported the roof.
Paper promissory notes.
“Why did those Sect Members leave this behind?”
At my words, Sama Hyeon replied.
“They’re probably worthless promissory notes. Unless it’s a major merchant house, small ones rise and fall repeatedly. These Sect Members exploit that to manipulate their ledgers. They must have forgotten to grab this in their hasty escape. Or more accurately, it’s been so long they probably forgot about it themselves~?”
“Ah, investigating this could help us catch them red-handed.”
“As expected, you grasp things quickly~ Gaga~”
Sama Hyeon chuckled with amusement.
‘The Heterodox Faction’s minds truly are different.’
Having experienced countless hardships, he grasped these people’s nature in an instant.
I spoke.
“Then could we also find the human trafficking victims?”
“By investigating the merchant houses, we might reach them. But don’t expect too much, Hyeong~ Once ships start traveling the Yangtze River, we really can’t find them.”
“Right. It’s impossible to track which cargo went where on which ship, and if people are transferred on the river or sea, we can’t find them.”
Sama Hyeon nodded.
“Still, they won’t be able to do that here anymore.”
Even that much was fortunate.
While proceeding with construction work smoothly, I was also steadily handling paperwork.
I discovered traces of missing amounts in the ledgers.
“Just as Yu Rang-hu warned, corruption is certainly severe.”
From the days of Baekrin County until now as Baekrin Military Commander, such levels of corruption were uncommon, so it felt fresh.
“Will you handle it immediately?”
Sama Hyeon cracked his knuckle joints.
His body seemed restless with anticipation.
I shook my head.
“No, I want to wait a bit longer.”
“Hmm, why?”
My eyes reflected a blue light.
“I want to uproot it completely.”
“Ah, I see… They’ll let their guard down even more if left alone.”
This was much like excising a tumor.
Once you’ve opened the belly, you must see it through to the end. If you miss anything, the cancer cells will grow back and you’ll have to face it again.
By then, there’s no guarantee the patient will survive.
‘If I’m going to wield the blade anyway, I must finish what I started.’
Sama Hyeon felt a sudden chill run down his spine as he met my blue eyes.
‘Now I understand why the Heterodox Faction members fear him.’
Baekrin Uiseon stands at the crossroads of righteousness and darkness. If you can’t go to the Black Heaven Medical Guild, you must seek out Baekrin Uiseon.
He is a benefactor to the Righteous Faction, yet simultaneously a benefactor to the Heterodox Faction as well.
Once he arrives, he saves lives regardless.
Yet Sama Hyeon now understood why so many feared him despite his benevolence.
‘To achieve maximum efficiency with a single blade stroke.’
If anyone else had said it, he would have dismissed it as mere idealism.
Sama Hyeon asked.
“So, Hyeong, is the reason Jegalling is so angry with you also because of this ideal? Did he try to pursue something physically impossible outside the sect?”
A completely different approach.
Sama Hyeon’s violet eyes gleamed with light.

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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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