Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 810

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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 810
Jegalling smiled faintly.
Why was that? It was a courteous smile, yet why did it look so eerie?
‘Why does he take someone like that as his master?’
I told him to speak freely, and he’s doing exactly that. Yet somehow he still maintains proper courtesy, making it difficult to say anything.
“Hmm… I’m not sure whether to be pleased or displeased that Jin Taesu’s master is someone like you.”
“Surely it’s a good thing? If Hee hadn’t existed, there would have been no way to cure Eun Wang-ya’s rebellion… Truly, it is a matter for congratulation.”
Rebellion.
In modern terms, it was cancer.
Pung Ha-eun. He had suffered from colon cancer, but there was a past where Jin Cheon-hee had cured him.
Of course, my disciple humbly explained that it was only possible because it was relatively early stage, and that if metastasis occurred, even he could do nothing about it.
Jegalling, the master of such a Jin Cheon-hee.
He asked not to be treated as an Emperor but as a King, and he didn’t refuse once.
“You don’t yield an inch, do you?”
“My apologies, King. But shouldn’t a true servant not hesitate to speak frankly?”
“Do you think I won’t punish you just because you’re Jin Taesu’s master?”
“How could that be? I simply know that both the King and the Emperor are virtuous rulers, not tyrants.”
The eunuchs’ hands trembled at the chilling atmosphere created by the two men.
It wasn’t killing intent. Nor was it the aggressive spirit that warriors exuded. It was simply fear.
‘I miss Geum. When dealing with someone like this, Geum is perfect…’
But someone had to show their face and meet with the servants.
Right now, Geum was doing that.
Jegalling spoke in a low voice, calmly.
“But King, regarding the two small wagers I made with you… I have something to report.”
“…I know.”
Even with the Gaju of the Imperial Eight Families lying dead before their eyes, the two men were discussing the wager.
A few eunuchs, burdened by this inhuman situation, turned their gazes away.
Jegalling spoke.
“The first was sending a letter. We agreed that if I received a confirmation letter from my disciple, Jin Cheon-hee, he would be considered defeated.”
“Both sides twisted it as intricately as possible to the maximum extent, yet neither sent a confirmation letter.”
A strange letter.
Jegalling sent a letter directly to Hao-mun, and Pung Ha-eun sent one directly to the Namgung Family.
Yes.
The letter that arrived at Hao-mun claiming the Emperor had requested it was actually written by Jegalling.
The letter that arrived at the Namgung Family claiming to be from Jegalling was actually written by the Emperor, Pung Ha-eun.
A wager that began with Jin Cheon-hee in the middle.
Among games passed down since ancient times, there is one where two people take turns adding lines of text to each other.
Pung Ha-eun and Pung Ha-geum occasionally used it when they needed a smokescreen before covert struggles.
Of course, only after all important plans were in place, using slight gaps.
They placed a small wager on it and took turns filling in the blanks.
Though Pung Ha-geum had slightly better odds of winning, Pung Ha-eun performed admirably as well.
What was interesting was that it was Jegalling who had proposed the wager itself.
Pung Ha-eun had long harbored a desire to bring Jin Cheon-hee over to his side.
From the moment he treated him.
After all, the one who had healed the Half-Paralysis that no one else could treat was none other than the Veiled Madman Jin Cheon-hee.
He had already laid some groundwork in preparation.
Using the eunuchs to distort information, and playing pranks to minimize the vigilance of those around him so he could extract this one whenever he wished.
Of course, since it was happening very discreetly and gradually, it would be difficult to notice.
He was spreading a few strange rumors that would normally just get a light laugh.
It was happening at a speed so slow that it was imperceptible to the eye, like melting ice.
Then the Count of Ui came to find him.
Saying he would relieve one of the Emperor’s worries.
But he was no Jegal Ryang with his bag of tricks, so where would such omniscient wisdom come from?
That man spoke thus.
-Would it suffice to strike down one of the Imperial Eight Families?
Bewildered, I summoned him to the palace for a private audience.
‘Strike’? Where would he obtain the bow?
-Does Your Majesty not already possess a magnificent bow? Now you need only draw and release.
Who were the Imperial Eight Families?
Were they not those troublesome ones who banded together tightly the moment anyone tried to strike even one of them?
They were doing everything in their power to prevent this balance from breaking.
Striking down the Imperial Eight Families was one of the things Pung Ha-eun and Pung Ha-geum had been preparing for a long time.
Should even one family fall, the scales would tip completely.
Knowing this, the Imperial Eight Families kept themselves tightly bound, showing no openings.
‘Even I had my doubts.’
Had it not been for that ‘Jegallim Family,’ I would have charged him with false claims.
However, the stratagem he presented at that moment was absurd.
When I asked what reward he would receive if successful, he answered without changing his expression.
-Let us make a wager instead. I will accept any wager Your Majesty proposes, so please choose the event.
A wager, not a reward.
I felt as though bewitched by a fox.
Yes. Jegalling had come all this way to make a wager with the Emperor.
An action that transcended common sense by a vast margin.
When I asked what he desired, he answered thus.
-Well then. What do you think of the Disciple’s surname? If I win, it would be nice to let him freely choose his own surname.
‘What on earth is he thinking?’
In any case, Jegalling had discerned that two Emperors had their hands on Jin Cheon-hee, and it seemed he had also learned of Cheon-hee’s ‘secret.’
So he intended to free him from their grasp before it was too late.
However, no matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason to lose.
Strike down the Imperial Eight Families, and make a simple wager rather than receive a reward?
He wasn’t asking for his disciple’s release in exchange for shooting down one of the Imperial Eight Families.
He simply wanted to make a wager.
Then if he won the bet, what would become of Jegalling?
He’d be doing someone else a favor while walking away empty-handed himself.
‘Wouldn’t only a fool refuse?’
That’s why Pung Ha-eun accepted.
A ruler has no shame, after all.
So he made his proposal. With his greatest confidence.
They would exchange roles and write letters to each other—whoever made Jin Cheon-hee so startled that he sent a reply first would lose.
Since Jin Cheon-hee himself was the prize at stake, wasn’t it only fair to use him as the wager?
-Hmm, that does sound amusing. I accept gladly.
I thought he’d run away, but this man did no such thing.
Despite it being his first wager ever, Jegalling accepted the paper and brush with grace, writing quietly.
This was the letter he would send, impersonating Pung Ha-eun, himself.
His brush flowed without pause—a single, unbroken stroke. I wondered what brilliant scheme he had devised.
Then he finished and handed it over, and this was…
‘What the hell is this bastard doing?!’
Since that person Geum, I’d never seen anyone so utterly mad.
Jegalling waved his fan leisurely. As if asking what the problem was.
‘At this point, he’s just trying to make a fool of me, isn’t he?’
Could I really afford to lose face like this in front of my only blood relative?
To the Heterodox Faction, without even a request? A junior brother? No secret letter?
Jegalling asked.
-Since you said anything would be acceptable, I proceeded accordingly. But if Your Majesty has reservations, we can change it however you wish. I’m amenable to either approach.
His soft voice spoke these words.
‘Scared?’
Jegalling threw down a provocation.
Pung Ha-eun found himself oddly delighted and laughed for a long while.
Coming to his senses, he realized he’d already sunk deep into the mire.
It would have been better never to listen to that man’s silver tongue in the first place.
But still, to have one of the Imperial Eight Families eliminated for him—where else could he find such a profitable deal?
At this point, there was nothing to do but see it through to the end.
So he rewrote Jegalling’s letter in his own hand and now it was his turn to send the reply.
‘I haven’t felt this way since that person Geum.’
Irritating as it was, strangely, this emotion had been absent for far too long.
So he pondered how to wound Jegalling’s pride.
And how to use a method Jin Cheon-hee could never accept.
A method that would make him so startled he’d send another letter asking if his Master had lost his mind.
‘In the end, I had to secretly use someone who owed Yeo Ha-ryun a debt from the past.’
The eyes and ears of the imperial palace were everywhere in the Central Plains.
However, those who have received favors from such a person are exceedingly rare connections, precious as gold and to be treasured accordingly.
Yet I was squandering such a valuable resource on a wager, gambling to win.
If Pung Ha-geum had heard of this, he would have come flying to strike my back.
But having come this far, I desperately wanted to win.
For Pung Ha-eun, it had been a long time since he felt such competitive spirit.
Jegalling’s opening move was so unreasonable, after all,
that anyone would rush forward saying, “Your Majesty? Are you truly the Emperor? Is something perhaps ailing you…?” and start writing letters before thinking better of it and dashing off to the palace instead.
That’s why I craved something more intense.
But I never expected that both sides would proceed without any verification whatsoever.
“The King certainly does write in peculiar ways, doesn’t he?”
“Indeed. Since you started with such a move, I thought at least blood would compel him to contact me out of concern. But apparently not.”
Blood.
Even at the Emperor’s acknowledgment of kinship spoken from his own lips, Jegalling continued to answer as a servant, his smile remaining faint.
“Precisely because he is precious blood, would he not refrain from seeking confirmation, having divined the superior’s state of mind?”
“…No. He didn’t send word because he doesn’t trust me. Because he doubts me.”
“Suspicion knows no bounds, does it?”
Eun Wang-ya wore an expression of hurt.
He had fed a man beneath his feet nothing but peaches until he died, yet he was displeased that Ilgwang had not sent a confirmation letter.
Truly a grotesque sight, but Jegalling paid it no mind.
Just as his genius had made him forget human emotion, so too must it be with the Emperor.
Jegalling suspected that his extraordinary ability had twisted his humanity in turn.
Either way, it mattered not.
The closer one drew to them, the more terrifying they became, yet my disciple moved as though such feelings were numbed within him.
‘Though I myself have strayed somewhat from normal sensibilities.’
Was it any wonder it was Ilgwang?
“Did you not send him a confirmation letter either?”
“On the contrary, that was trusting me too greatly. Thinking that my Master must have grand designs. Even when receiving such wicked requests through Yeo Ha-ryun, believing there must be reasons for it all.”
A blind disciple.
Like a duckling that had just hatched, seeing a person for the first time.
Simply believing that whatever the parent says must be right, chirping and scurrying about in pursuit.
Forgetting that the boot it chased might crush it with a single backward step.
Sometimes it even runs down paths that make no sense, but what of it in the end?
Such a disciple was precious to Jegalling. Immensely, immensely precious.
Worth staking one’s entire life upon.
“Though Eun Wang-ya seems to have cast considerable doubt, there is nothing to be done. How can this master fault his disciple for trusting him so completely?”
So saying, he waved his fan slowly.
“That. Isn’t that what Jin the Magistrate called psychological victory? In the end, you also failed to seek confirmation, so we’re equally matched.”
So the first wager had ended in a draw.
‘Why is he acting like he won alone?’
Punghawoon regarded Jegalling with an expression of utter bewilderment.

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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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