Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 791

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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 791
Jin Cheon-hee turned the tables and suddenly pressed Sama Hyeon for answers.
“Why are you so curious about that?”
“Because I’m curious.”
“You’re curious about everything. I simply did what I could, suffered some injuries as a result, and that’s all there is to it. Stop asking pointless questions and focus on the work.”
With that, he quickly changed the subject before Sama Hyeon could dig any deeper.
“Since the goal is to uproot the problem, I won’t impose severe punishments immediately. These people have lived their entire lives without even considering this to be an issue.”
“So it’s a systemic problem?”
System.
Sama Hyeon remembered and repeated every small word I spoke.
In a way, it resembled how a three-year-old child learns language by watching their parents’ lips move.
Hiding anything from such a person was no easy task.
“Exactly. When someone becomes a guard, it’s customary and considered proper etiquette for their parents to offer bribes to their seniors. So we need to evaluate their circumstances and potential for rehabilitation.”
“You’re too merciful, brother~”
“Surprisingly, this isn’t about mercy—it’s about manpower. There aren’t many literate people, and among them, even fewer understand practical administration. In a small village, perhaps, but I can’t dismiss and replace everyone who managed all of Namgyeong overnight.”
It was the dilemma of cancer surgery.
Not just the tumor itself, but the surrounding tissue must be excised or scraped away.
Even if it appears intact on the surface, it may have infiltrated the surrounding tissue.
Yet if you remove the entire organ, the patient dies.
“So the goal isn’t to eliminate the organization. It must at least function. If I indiscriminately arrest everyone, I’ll create anarchy. That’s why I’ll separate the wheat from the chaff, one by one.”
“You’re a realist, brother. But also an idealist at the same time.”
“That’s ordinary.”
It was strange.
A single human life was so much smaller, yet saving one person proved far more difficult than managing a massive organization.
The Doctor picked up his brush.
He wrote out orders rapidly.
It occurred to me that this vast city of Namgyeong resembled a human body.
Now my orders would flow through Namgyeong’s veins, reaching every corner.
How to treat this patient was entirely my discretion.
Fortunately, for the Doctor, managing this corrupt organization was easier than saving a single human life.
* * *
A month had passed.
Jin Cheon-hee read through the ledgers once more. An abacus was unnecessary.
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“Reading through ledgers with mismatched figures again today, I see.”
“Yes.”
With that, I placed a pastry in my mouth.
Crunch.
The pastry made with baking soda dissolved with a crisp texture in my mouth. Baekrin Uiseon’s baking soda.
I planned to sell it in the Central Plains under the name Girin Confectionery Soda.
The unit price was still too expensive for commoners to afford, so it would primarily be distributed through the large inns in cities, with the price gradually decreasing as import volumes increased.
‘Ultimately, I’d like to bring it down to a level where it could be used in feast dishes.’
It wasn’t beyond the means of the poor—just something they could afford to buy with determination on special occasions.
But for now, my aspirations were higher than reality.
A soft rustling sound.
The priority was medical use first.
I planned to use it for medical and research purposes initially, then sell off any surplus.
I had already completed the solid toothpaste formulation.
Liquid toothpaste would be more convenient with tubes, but that would require the Tang Family’s workforce.
However, the Tang Family was already at full capacity just manufacturing medical tubes.
There was no room to request more, and doing so would certainly drive up the prices of everything else—it would be madness.
“Oh, that’s right. How was the solid toothpaste when you tried it, Hyeon-a?”
“It felt like you used rapeseed oil and salt together, didn’t you?”
“Yes. You’d naturally taste the salt, but how did you figure out I used rapeseed oil as an ingredient?”
“I just got a faint sense of it. Besides, you made and sold soap before, so I remembered.”
I had once watched a related video back on Earth.
It was an environmental protection video advocating for solid toothpaste to reduce plastic usage.
The environmental activist in the video had used coconut oil when making this solid toothpaste.
‘But if I used coconut oil here, I’d have to travel all the way to the southern regions, which would raise the unit cost.’
So I experimented by combining rapeseed oil with local medicinal herbs unique to this world, and the result felt promising.
‘This also has industrial and edible varieties.’
On Earth, it was used industrially for soap and automobile lubricants, and later, through selective breeding, it became used for consumption.
On this martial world, rapeseed flowers bloomed differently in Anhui and Yunnan provinces—one was traditionally used for consumption, while the other was used as an insecticide or in dye production.
A difference from Earth.
So distinguishing between these two varieties of rapeseed was crucial.
Moreover, even though both varieties seemed similar to Earth’s versions, they had different properties.
‘Right now, I’m also using it in penicillin cultivation.’
That was the same as on Earth.
Truly a fortunate aspect.
Thanks to this rapeseed oil, I had been able to significantly reduce the unit cost of penicillin production.
Now there existed vast rapeseed fields solely for Baekrin Uiseon.
I rented land owned by Baekrin Uiseon to commoners at affordable prices so they could grow rapeseed, and Baekrin Uiseon purchased all the rapeseed they cultivated.
So the rapeseed fields of Baekrin Uiseon were filled with golden light all the way to the horizon.
Every April and May, the golden radiance that unfolded rippled and swayed with the wind.
Everyone loved that breathtakingly continuous fragrance.
It was the color of life.
Now that golden light would become solid toothpaste.
‘The prototype wasn’t bad, but it still only looks presentable.’
All that remained was continuous testing.
Well, it was the same when I developed penicillin.
“Now that I think about it, there’s a faint sweetness too. What is that?”
“It’s a secret.”
Few people know that xylitol was discovered during World War II.
Finnish technicians, facing a sugar shortage at the time, invented it by racking their brains over how to find a substitute using hardwood trees.
‘To be precise, it’s a method of extracting xylan from wood and converting it.’
It doesn’t have to be birch specifically.
It can be extracted from corn or other tree bark as well.
Recently, a researcher from Finland’s National Resources Institute published a paper on extracting xylan from birch sawdust using hot water under pressure.
It was introduced in several Korean newspapers at the time, and I had read it before.
A new technology designed to achieve both economic efficiency and environmental friendliness.
And I’m using it here in Gangho.
The xylan itself can be used as a coating material, and when processed, it can produce xylitol and xylitol substitutes.
That’s right.
In a world without an industrial revolution, here I am ordering martial artists to spray hot water at high pressure onto sawdust.
Even with all that effort, I barely get a fingernail’s worth.
As a result, the unit cost is expensive. Mass production is naturally impossible.
It’s the very definition of a modern person’s luxury!
I mix in powder extracted from various medicinal herbs along with the traditional tooth-polishing agents used in Gangho, stirring it thoroughly.
“You’re going to sell this soon too?”
Sugar is already expensive, and I’m supposed to put an even more expensive sugar substitute into toothpaste and sell it?
I’ll have to leave that out.
“I need to make many, many improvements before selling it.”
“Hyeong, don’t market this as a health product—call it a breath freshener instead~ That would be better, right?”
For some reason, the soap nightmare comes to mind.
Sama Hyeon spoke up.
“And don’t expect them to brush their teeth properly. A lot of kids will just put the solid toothpaste in their mouths, gargle roughly, and spit it out. Let’s be satisfied with that for now~”
“….”
The Doctor felt inexplicably sad.
“Right. I should be grateful they’re not eating it.”
Soap shouldn’t be eaten either, but this absolutely cannot be eaten.
‘If I market this wrong, it’ll be a disaster.’
Soap also requires promotion and education on how to use it.
Still, soap education is relatively simple.
It’s just using soap to wash your hands.
Toothpaste would be more difficult.
First, I have to abandon the idea of brushing three times a day. In regions without much water, it would be absolutely impossible.
And having people draw more water just for that is also problematic.
Proper brushing technique itself is an issue.
Back in the day, when teachers talked about correct brushing technique, didn’t they show how to brush using a tooth model?
How am I supposed to do that in a world without elementary schools?
A private academy? Instead of spouting Confucius and Mencius, should I at least be making dental models?
“Sure. Let’s just do what we can for now. Since I’m making them for myself anyway, I might as well do this too.”
The Doctor convinced himself through sheer willpower.
And so I continued stuffing pastries into my mouth while drawing lines through the ledger.
Sama Hyeon crunched on the pastries his brother had made while examining the ledger alongside him.
“Hm, you ate quite a lot today, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I ate quite a bit.”
With that, he snapped the ledger shut with a decisive sound.
Creak—
Seeing him rise from the chair, Sama Hyeon retrieved his brother’s outer robe and draped it over his shoulders.
“Are you heading out now, Gaga?”
“The time has come.”
Sama Hyeon seemed to understand what that time meant.
* * *
Yu Rang-hu handed me an inspection badge the moment he saw me.
The direct inspection badge of the Gangso Provincial Governor.
I already possessed an inspection badge bestowed by the Emperor, but using that would be like using an ox-slaughtering blade to kill a chicken.
With Ju Wang having granted me full authority, there was no need to use the gold and silver revolving card.
If I were to seize Gangso Province, this inspection badge would be better.
It might even be superior. After all, Ju Wang, being closer than the Emperor, was far more terrifying from a practical standpoint.
‘Besides, I’m still deliberating whether to ask the Emperor about Sama Hyeon’s situation.’
Even if he confirmed it, I’d have to rack my brain over why such a method was employed, and if he denied it, that too would be problematic.
Either someone was impersonating him, or the Emperor was orchestrating chaos behind the scenes using me and Sama Hyeon as pawns—both variables would create a mess.
‘According to Sun Tzu’s Art of War, the best strategy is to avoid involvement in games you don’t fully understand.’
I hoped I hadn’t gotten involved.
If the Emperor were involved, he’d be treating us as blood relatives while using us as chess pieces for his long game.
‘That’s right. I know it well. I’m the one who doesn’t trust them.’
Suspicion begets demons.
And so I received the inspection badge and left immediately.
“The procedures are quite complicated, aren’t they?”
“Yeah. The moment the Heterodox Faction realizes money’s being lost, they’ll come running and beat them senseless.”
“Right~ That’s easier.”
Yes, that seemed likely.
But this wasn’t the Heterodox Faction—this was the government, and state affairs required proper procedure and accountability.
“That’s what power granted by collective consent means.”
We arrived at the front of a rather grand mansion in Nanking.
The bodyguards standing at the mansion’s main gate immediately recognized me.
They whispered excitedly among themselves, and having trained in inner energy cultivation, I could hear their voices without difficulty.
“It’s Ilgwang.”
“Why is Ilgwang here?”
His martial arts cultivation was too shallow to employ sound transmission.
“Who is that standing behind him?”
“I recognize that face. It’s Cheonmyeon Hori. Or was it Gwang Myeon-hori?”
“Could it be the Gumhyeolbang Sobangju? How do you know that?”
“What person born in Hangzhou wouldn’t know Gwang Myeon-hori? I even saw her perform when I was young. Back then she was pretty and cute as a little thing, but now she’s grown so much….”
Hmm, the stage was heating up quite nicely.
I strode forward with purpose.
The bodyguards looked somewhat frightened even before I had drawn near.
And for good reason.
An opponent was approaching whom they could never defeat—neither through power nor martial prowess.
A playful impulse stirred within me.
“Secret inspector’s arrival…no, rather, Surveillance Inspector’s arrival—!!”
I tensed my lower abdomen and shouted with tremendous force.
The explosive sound wave left the bodyguards dazed and disoriented.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
Humans malfunction when faced with the unexpected.
I halted before the gate and spoke loudly.
“It has been revealed that Goe Heon, the Records Bureau official, embezzled funds from the water and sewage construction project! Come out at once and accept the imperial decree! Should you refuse, you shall face execution for deceiving both the Emperor above and the Governor below! However, should you confess your crimes willingly, your sentence shall be reduced!”
I leveled the accusations in one breath without pause.
The Records Bureau’s formal title was Records Bureau Functionary.
A position equivalent to the rank of Separate Clerk, essentially a treasurer managing the province’s wealth and grain stores.
If Yu Rang-hu’s Separate Clerk Functionary served as chief secretary, this one specialized in finances.
I, employing sound projection, was quite literally a human megaphone.
My voice resonated throughout the residence and in all directions around it.
Merchants and people near the estate, passersby going about their business—all turned to look.
“I grant you half an hour from this moment! Come forth and accept the decree! Should you flee, greater charges shall be brought against you!”
With that, I shattered the main gate with nothing more than a casual kick.
CRASH!

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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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