Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 809

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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 809
“How much did you manage to see?”
At those words, I smiled.
“Not very much. I was too busy trying to see what was right in front of me.”
“Yet somehow you still managed to seize control of the reins for yourself.”
“Well… I’ve heard I have a natural talent for ruining other people’s plans. If it displeases Your Majesty, he can simply employ someone else.”
“….”
In a sense, it was an arrogant attitude.
To speak such words before the Eunuch General, known as the Emperor’s closest confidant—it took no ordinary nerve.
Yet I knew this was neither a negotiation nor words meant to emphasize merit.
This young man genuinely hoped that next time, the Emperor would employ someone else.
After a moment, the Eunuch General parted his wrinkled lips and revealed the truth.
“Two families belonging to the Imperial Eight Families were involved in this affair. Among those of the Baek Clan within the Empire, more than thirty were implicated. It was a rebellion far greater than imagination.”
“Yes. His Majesty placed me right in the center of it.”
Suddenly, my Master’s silhouette came to mind, but for now, I mentioned only the Emperor.
The Eunuch General replied.
“He could not have placed just anyone there. Too much was at stake in this game.”
“….”
The Eunuch General regarded the young man before him carefully.
Fortunately, he bore no injuries.
He had stirred up a tempest in the very center of a game that determined the balance of power in the Empire, yet remained unscathed.
It was truly amusing.
A story one could never believe even over drinks.
“Among the Imperial Eight Families, the Mi Clan and the Yang Clan were involved.”
“…I see. The commanders of the Yang Clan—their skill was indeed remarkable.”
“Yes. The Yang Clan merely had certain bloodline members involved; the entire family was naturally not implicated. As always, the commanders of the Yang Clan are as numerous as grains of sand, present everywhere.”
This had been the case since the Spring and Autumn period.
“Even if an execution order were issued against the Yang Clan’s commanders, it would pose no particular problem.”
“It has happened more than once or twice. They prioritize their lords above themselves, do not judge their lords, and abandon their family first when selecting a lord.”
Truly peculiar.
The most unconventional family among the Imperial Eight Families.
I could not fathom why such a family had survived for thousands of years, but perhaps it was because they existed everywhere and had served with loyalty everywhere that they endured longer than other families.
“However, the Mi Clan is different. Many of the Mi Clan’s bloodline members in official posts will not escape execution.”
“…Not imprisonment or exile, then.”
“No. His Majesty has been preparing for a long time.”
“Many of them will be executed.”
“Yes. The numbers alone will reach several hundred, and all their assets will be confiscated. According to one of my old classmates, the gold the Mi Clan accumulated matches two years of the Empire’s budget. We shall see if that is true.”
Even as he spoke, the Eunuch General wore a good-natured smile.
For someone about to execute hundreds of the Mi Clan and seize their wealth, his smile was remarkably warm.
I fell into thought.
“If that were true, you would have accumulated an absurd amount of wealth.”
“It is the lifeblood of commoners. It is not only Kang Ho-in who squeeze the blood from the common people. These officials are the most representative of such parasites. And yet they discourse on Confucius and Mencius—is that not amusing?”
I scratched my cheek.
“I am ignorant of such difficult matters. I merely wish that opium would no longer circulate within the reach of my arms.”
“The Emperor keeps expanding the reach of your arms, so your troubles must be considerable.”
I nodded with genuine sincerity.
“In the beginning, I started with a small village, and I believe that was the right measure for my capacity. Now my eyes are spinning.”
“Excessive humility is also discourteous.”
‘I subtly suggested they stop burdening me with work, yet they flatly refuse. Tsk.’
These vicious bastards intend to keep piling tasks upon me.
I changed the subject.
“So who orchestrated this affair? Did the Emperor conceive of it himself… or did my Master involve himself to some degree?”
“My, my. You ask while already suspecting the answer.”
After all, verification is necessary in all matters.
The Eunuch General took another sip of tea before speaking.
“In truth… the Emperor had no intention of expanding the board to this extent. Of course, the initial plan was not a small one. However, since Prefect Jin kept arriving injured from various places, His Majesty mentioned that he should send capable guards. Then the Medical Guild Master spoke up, saying that two would be better than one…”
“Wait. So what you’re saying is… this disturbance was unintended? Is that what you mean?”
“When you ask the question that way, the Medical Guild Master instructed me to answer thus.”
The Eunuch General carefully withdrew a pouch from his sleeve.
‘What kind of pouch is this? Like Zhuge Liang’s legendary three pouches of stratagems or something?’
The Eunuch General chuckled with a cunning smile and handed me a letter.
I unrolled the tightly wound letter.
It was written in the cipher used within the Baekrin Medical Guild.
Using the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, I deciphered it without difficulty, and it read thus:
-You stubborn colt of a disciple. I knew you would cause trouble again.
I puffed out my cheeks.
‘I’m not a child. Why does he keep saying I cause trouble…’
As I turned my head with that thought, the Eunuch General was laughing as if he found it amusing.
As if he knew I would react this way.
‘That cunning old Elder…’
The Eunuch General finally spoke.
“Indeed, a master is a master. The Medical Guild Master seems to see through all of Prefect Jin’s actions.”
“Ugh, but there’s still one thing I don’t understand.”
Namely, the ‘request.’
Why did both my Master and the Emperor make such an unusual request?
“Ah, there was a trivial wager between them. Because of that, the game became even more difficult from the start. Even seasoned strategists would have found this board hard to read.”
“Hmm?”
“In the end, the Medical Guild Master won the wager.”
“A wager?”
The Eunuch General smiled meaningfully.
“Do you know the saying ‘suspicion breeds phantoms’?”
Suspicion breeds phantoms.
“Yes. It means that when one harbors too much doubt, one perceives things differently from reality, does it not?”
“You understand well. Such is the power of human suspicion that it can conjure ghosts where none exist. Kekekekeke.”
He laughed for a long time, as if remembering something.
“The Emperor and the Duke of Medicine made a wager, did they not?”
My Master and the Emperor? What kind of wager could it possibly be…?
* * *
Mi Jik, the Gaju of the Mi Family.
He sat there eating a peach with trembling hands.
The flesh was a vibrant pink, refreshingly tender and dripping with juice. The eunuchs peeled the peach for him at his side.
Scritch, scritch—
The sound rustled like butterfly wings brushing together. Then another juicy peach appeared in its place.
Yet Mi Jik, watching this, was weeping.
With an expression full of dread, he swallowed his tears forcefully, continuing to cry. Still, his hands reached for the peach.
Both his hands were so sticky with peach juice that wrinkles had formed in his skin.
“Ugh!”
He forced it down.
Could it truly be called eating?
Perhaps it was more accurate to say he was forcibly storing it somewhere in his mouth, in his cheeks.
For bright red blood was already dripping from his lips.
A man stood before him, laughing.
“Why do you hesitate? These are the sweetest peaches in the entire Empire. Weren’t these the very ones you once presented to me? Eat more. After all, my dear mother had to eat peaches right before the Empress herself.”
After eating the peaches, something red would bloom across his mother’s face.
Sometimes even breathing became difficult.
Yet the palace people made his mother eat them.
It was not only the palace people.
The Imperial Eight Families.
From childhood, the young man had witnessed how pitiful those were who did not receive the Emperor’s favor.
Therefore, he showed favor to none of the concubines currently in the palace.
They were bound only by formality; there was no genuine affection.
Strangely, by cutting it off this way, the concubines had no reason to raise their voices against each other and remained quiet.
After all, the Emperor did not cherish them, and they did not love the Emperor.
They were merely entangled by power dynamics.
A strange relationship where each lived their own life.
Therefore, Pung Ha-eun found each day enjoyable lately.
Once he stuffed the peach entirely into his mouth, the eunuch tremblingly withdrew the next peach and began peeling it.
Scritch scritch—
Why did the sound of carving away a person’s life taste so sweet?
“Do you remember back then? Long ago, when your presented peaches made my dear mother eat them, and if she ate them again, wouldn’t she fall ill? So I deliberately pretended to be a greedy, unfilial son and stole all of mother’s peaches.”
Crunch—
“I thought I’d die from indigestion that night. It was absolutely not a portion for one person. Not even for three people to share.”
That’s why Pung Ha-eun still despises peaches.
“I wish it had been tangerines instead. My mother loved tangerines so much—said they were like my eyes. Jin, Geum, and my sister all loved tangerines too. Even ‘that child’ would eat the tangerines I’d secretly give her. The problem is they’re precious for people like us.”
Crunch, crunch.
“Zhejiang tangerines were so delicious. Why didn’t we give those instead? Then everyone would have been happy.”
With trembling hands, Mi Jik ate the peach again.
Crunch crunch—
He chewed the peach and pushed it down his throat.
“You’ve been humiliated too. The power flowing through the Imperial line is truly vicious. Well, I understand. It’s terrifying how they manipulate people with mere words. That’s why the Imperial Eight Families have always been cautious of us and employed their own countermeasures.”
Gag. Gag gag!
“Ah, don’t vomit. Geum absolutely hates filth, you see.”
Crackle crackle—
Another peach was placed before him.
Again his hand trembled violently as it reached for the peach.
Strangely, his hand was already stained purple.
He picked up the peach.
And ate again.
“Kgh, kghhh—”
“Well, we were never ones to expect mercy from each other, were we?”
Eventually his face turned purple, he trembled violently, and collapsed.
The end of the Gaju from the family that had served as Prime Minister among the Imperial Eight Families was quite a spectacle.
“Is he dead?”
The eunuch checked the pulse at his neck and nodded slightly.
“Hmm, how weak. To die from merely this. Don’t you agree, Medical Guild Master?”
Baek Rin-ui-seon sat like a painting.
Behind him, unnamed books were stacked like mountains, and he was writing something on a massive scroll as large as a small child.
Baek Rin-ui-seon rolled the scroll back with mere thought and spoke thus.
“I merely think His Majesty may have been somewhat hasty, if I may say so.”
“Hasty?”
“Yes. If one were to do this, would it not be better to have the child choke to death while eating, and then watch him starve to death? Would that not satisfy your anger?”
Jegalling’s blue eyes and Pung Ha-eun’s golden eyes met for an instant.
“There are few who would dare offer me such counsel. Even the demons of the Eight Hot Hells would weep and leave.”
“Having heard the circumstances, it seemed the better course, so I offer this humble advice.”
Arrogant.
Even before the Emperor, Jegalling showed no servility whatsoever.
His shameless nature of saying whatever he pleased left a bitter taste.
Even Pung Ha-eun, seasoned in the palace, found this genius of the Jegalling Family somewhat burdensome.

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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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