Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 800

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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 800
You’re all driving me insane.
Or perhaps I’m already insane.
I grabbed the elderly man foaming at the mouth by his collar, my expression darkening.
Still dressed in my night clothes, I hurled him onto the bed beside us.
Namgung Un spoke.
[Your hypocrisy has crossed the line. You’re showing us more than we imagined.]
I contemplated his words.
‘If this is how it’s going to be, I might as well have called myself the Angel Young Man.’
At my age, writing “young man” felt like it was gnawing at my conscience, so I ultimately wrote “middle-aged.” But seeing what these bastards are up to, it seems it didn’t matter much anyway.
Sama Hyeon spoke.
[Half of the prestigious families are garbage to begin with. What’s so surprising about that? It seems Namgung Sohyeop was raised too sheltered to witness such things.]
[How shameful. I never knew the world was like this…]
[Hmm.]
Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise.
Still, we didn’t discover nearly as much opium as we had from the first den.
It made sense.
It appeared they were obtaining opium from the den and reselling it.
They trafficked in people, exchanged them for opium, and those people were then processed by the Shuji.
Then they bought more opium. And sold more people.
The triathlon of hell continued spinning endlessly.
‘No wonder corruption can’t be eradicated. Yes, it’s understandable.’
All the guards surrounding me had lost consciousness.
Using my internal energy to sense the surroundings, there was no one awake nearby.
It seemed Ju Wang was also arriving late.
After thoroughly confirming there were no listening ears, I finally opened my mouth.
“Listen up, everyone. We’ve ransacked thirty-two families so far… and eleven of them are already involved in opium and human trafficking. On top of that, ten more were corrupted in different ways… But wait. What are these prestigious families doing acting like the Heterodox Faction? What do they think they’re doing collecting protection money?”
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“Hyeong~ there are naturally plenty of bastards in this world~ That old geezer over there sold brewing permits for money and collected monthly payments too, didn’t he?”
“Catching all of them is also problematic. How will the Emperor handle the personnel shortage?”
“He’ll move according to the severity of punishment, but there are still scholars who passed the exams yet remain unemployed, so they’ll move up. Your Baek Hwan-hu children will also see this as somewhat fortunate news.”
Of course, that would help. But administrative vacancies don’t shift like swapping out blocks.
‘Well, the Emperor will handle it himself.’
If he didn’t like it, he shouldn’t have thrust me into the middle of this mess in the first place.
I furrowed my brow.
‘Right. After making this mess, he won’t use me next time.’
I’m now ruling out the possibility that a third party got involved.
Initially, I thought some madman had taken the Emperor’s orders and was causing chaos.
I believed he was talent even the Gangho would struggle to employ—at minimum, someone of Demonic Cult caliber that the Ten Thousand Great Mountains would accept.
Cheonma said the sect leader is the best in the world, after all.
But looking at how things are unfolding, it seems my Master and the Emperor’s Twins are involved in this.
‘I can’t figure out why both sides have such terrible correspondence.’
That one thing still doesn’t add up.
‘I wonder if they’re finally starting to realize I’m not someone who follows their plans?’
Namgung Un spoke.
“Regardless, shouldn’t we be worried about other things? You may have turned their families upside down, but not all of them have been completely eliminated. In the end, there’s still time until the investigation concludes, and those with resources won’t just sit idle. Surely, another assassination attempt like before will occur.”
I picked up a jacks stone from the ground and played with it between my fingers.
“I’ve already thought about that too.”
“Thought about it?”
“Yes. Using the Lure the Tiger from the Mountain stratagem, it’ll be easily resolved.”
Lure the Tiger from the Mountain—one of the thirty-six stratagems from Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
The third stratagem among the Offensive Stratagems used when attacking enemies.
Since the tiger is the king of the mountains, the idea is to lure it out of its domain to strike—one of the stratagems military strategists frequently employ in their camps.
“Fundamentally, military strategy succeeds halfway just by controlling weather and terrain.”
My eyes gleamed coldly.
I tossed the jacks stone and caught it, muttering to myself, “Five more years!” like a madman.
Seeing this, Namgung Un struggled to maintain his composure, thinking I looked even more insane.
“But to lure the tiger, you need bait, don’t you?”
At those words, Sama Hyeon immediately understood and clicked his tongue.
“Hyeong, I hate the Lure the Tiger stratagem. Why go through with something like that?”
He was quick to read the deeper meaning, as expected. But Namgung Un still hadn’t grasped the true intent behind my words.
I spoke.
“The bait they want is right here.”
Saying so, I pointed to myself with my left hand.
At the same time, I continued playing jacks with my right hand.
Tap, tap, tap.
‘Is this also part of my Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong cultivation?’
In any case, Namgung Un spoke.
“True, you’re certainly bait like no other. But to execute such a plan, wouldn’t you need some formidable military force positioned strategically?”
“We’re enough.”
“Three of you will eliminate all those assassins? Jin, I think you’re mistaken. The ones who attacked us at the inn were merely a fraction—just the beginning. A thousand elite assassins will come at you, and that’s impossible even for an absolute master!”
I thought to myself, ‘Cheonma would probably kill them all anyway…’ but I didn’t say it aloud.
Sama Hyeon also nodded at Namgung Un’s words.
“Objectively speaking, even being generous, it’s suicide—which is what you’re good at~”
Why is that? There’s a sting to his words.
I spoke.
“Just listen to me first. Everyone looks at me like I’m going to my death, but I value my own life too, you know? Hyeon-a, this hyeong has a complete plan from start to finish.”
“…”
What do these guys take me for!
I’m scared of dying too!
* * *
Traveling east along the river from Namgyeong, one encounters vast stretches of undeveloped land.
About ten li—roughly four kilometers—downstream, civilian dwellings were being constructed to relocate the impoverished.
Yet Jin Cheon-hee, after inspecting the construction site, simply continued eastward and vanished.
Officially, he submitted a report to the Gangso Governor stating he would explore regions further east suitable for facility construction.
‘Come hither. Come hither.’
Essentially, that’s what he wrote.
An utterly transparent bait.
But wasn’t the prey far too appetizing?
He departed with only two escorts and no garrison soldiers to protect him?
The Mun-ju of Hao-mun and the Gaju of the Namgung Family.
Both were known to have accepted the ‘escort request’ for Taesu Jin after receiving substantial payments in gold.
The Righteous Faction, having already accepted the contract, would not move even if offered greater sums.
Sama Hyeon of the Heterodox Faction might come over for a larger payment, but the opponent happened to be his sworn brother, Jin Cheon-hee.
Though it’s said righteousness has crumbled in Gangho, and the Heterodox Faction is called the dark path.
Sama Hyeon was no mere lackey—a man of his standing betraying a sworn brother in Gangho would bear that stigma for life.
Amusingly, those whose trade is killing still honor loyalty!
Had Jin Cheon-hee heard this, he would have scoffed, saying it operated identically to organized crime, yet the larger the organization, the more this held true.
Thus, among renowned factions of the Heterodox Sect, betrayal between master and disciple remained rare.
Those who committed such unfilial acts found themselves distrusted even by fellow heterodox members.
Unless one were a mere gang of day-laborers living only for today, such treachery was not easily undertaken.
“In any case, this ultimately comes down to money. Let us pool our resources, hire the Salmuun, and gather renowned wanderers from Gangho to strike!”
“Indeed. Though Baekrin Uiseon is said to have considerable wealth, they’ve only hired two people, haven’t they? Having voluntarily walked into the grave, we need not hesitate.”
“Now it’s kill or be killed!”
Astronomical sums of gold began to move.
Each assassination faction readily agreed—save only the Osalji Faction of Hao-mun.
No matter how distinctive Hao-mun’s character, they lacked the audacity to accept contracts against a Mun-ju.
Yet other renowned factions joined: the Wolsal Muun, Hyeolam Gak, Wolryeong Salmuun, and others.
Even Salgeomnru, belonging to the Eight Assassin Factions while still preserving full strength, moved into action.
The movement grew so vast that scarcely anyone in Gangho’s intelligence networks remained ignorant of it.
Yet there was one who watched this development with delight.
Hyeolsaeng Nogoe of Heukjeon Uiseon.
“Ah, we’ll have plenty of patients coming in~”
The assassins of the Salmuun were regular customers of Heukjeon Uiseon. After all, expendable assassins would never learn the righteous techniques of the Righteous Faction.
Mimi, the Chief Manager of Heukjeon Uiseon, spoke.
“Normally they commit suicide immediately upon mission failure, so they wouldn’t come to the medical guild.”
As a side effect of learning demonic cultivation, she had once been saved by Hyeolsaeng Nogoe’s hands and continued repaying that debt.
Yet through Hyeolsaeng Nogoe’s peculiar medical arts, she had gained a total of four arms, and she lived quite contentedly with this condition.
Mimi’s weapon was the flexible cudgel.
The cudgel technique wielded by four arms was known to possess unparalleled power.
“That’s the concern of the lower ranks. Once you reach the level of squad leader, they start rewriting the rules. You need to buy orphans and raise them as assassins—who’s going to do that?”
“The squad leader would, I suppose.”
“Exactly. A very practical reason. That’s why when things go wrong, squad leaders are the first to flee. The lower ranks die trying to clear a path to save their leaders.”
“That’s different from the Demonic Cult.”
“The Demonic Cult treats death as part of their faith, so the situation is somewhat different. And the true strength of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains remains unknown.”
“I should position doctors in advance. The possibility of them going to Baekrin Uiseon is… well, nonexistent. They’d have been injured trying to kill the Sojakju of Baekrin Uiseon.”
“Right. Prepare plenty of doctors beforehand. And contact the Guireung Faction to stock up on medical instruments as well.”
The Guireung Faction, where Sulgye belonged.
A martial sect that used sorcery and talismans, yet for some reason assisted Heukjeon Uiseon with their medicine.
Had Jin Cheon-hee heard of this, he would have been shocked, but statistically speaking, wasn’t Heukjeon Uiseon the place with side effects that gave people three nostrils and two arms?
“Understood!”
They could occasionally treat patients that Baekrin Uiseon couldn’t cure.
Hyeolsaeng Nogoe rested her chin in her hand and muttered.
“At this point, the Emperor couldn’t possibly be unaware.”
Hyeolsaeng Nogoe showed no respect for the Emperor, referring to him with the derogatory particle. And why wouldn’t she?
Three emperors had already changed during Hyeolsaeng Nogoe’s lifetime.
Wasn’t she herself a witness to history?
Moreover.
She was someone who conducted business with the Demonic Path, the Dark Path, and the Heterodox Faction. She had never feared imperial authority in the slightest.
“The Dongchang are the Emperor’s eyes and ears, so they couldn’t possibly be unaware. Yet strangely, I hear they refrain from direct intervention.”
The Dongchang itself was originally an institution created by the Emperor for intelligence gathering. The power of the eunuchs flowed from the Emperor.
They had no family clans, nor blood relatives.
So sometimes they became creatures like the Ten Attendants, manipulating the Emperor himself…
But in the current empire, the eunuchs moved as faithful extensions of the Emperor’s will.
‘At least the young one deserves credit for that.’
She had thought her entire life would be spent cleaning up after the Previous Emperor, yet he was quite steadily suppressing the Imperial Eight Families.
His unique abilities certainly helped, but that alone wasn’t sufficient.
The Imperial Eight Families had served countless emperors before; they had accumulated their own experience.
In the end, it must be due to their own strategic wisdom and political acumen.
And this time, he had brought forth Jin Cheon-hee as his spear.
If even one of the Imperial Eight Families fell, the balance would shatter in an instant.
At least the Gaga Family traditionally sided with the strongest—riding the current without resisting the waves, that’s what it meant.
‘Will it truly succeed?’
A single arrow shot toward the Imperial Eight Families.
Its name was Ilgwang.
Could it reach its target without breaking, without shattering, until the very 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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