Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 815

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 815
Jin Cheon-hee was startled by Sama Hyeon’s voice.
“I… I just said it hoping you’d become a better person going forward.”
Ah, how foolish of me.
Normally I speak nonsensical things with such ease and composure, so why can’t I manage even this smoothly?
I started to say that I didn’t know it was you at first, but the words felt so clumsy that I closed my mouth instead.
For some reason, my cheeks felt hot.
“Because it’s pitiful… and sad. For you and Hye-a both. That’s why I wanted to save you.”
“…”
Sama Hyeon closed his eyes.
I tried not to worry about what he was thinking.
“Well. After that… Hye-a recovered, and you’re living well, so I’m quite satisfied. But… it seems the Hyeolseonggyo recently summoned something.”
Sama Hyeon asked while still keeping his eyes closed.
“What did they summon?”
“You from another world—the one who lost Hye-a. The you that existed in the prophecy. I don’t know how they did it, or if it’s even possible, but…”
Ah, even I can’t trust myself on this.
The small voice of Cheon Hee grumbled from behind.
But what would be the point of lying here?
Jin Cheon-hee continued.
“I didn’t think it was true either… but as I observed various things and reasoned through them, I felt a sense of déjà vu… and if it wasn’t that, the pieces just didn’t fit together.”
It was something beyond common sense. But ultimately, I myself came from another world, didn’t I?
At first, I thought it couldn’t be true, that there must be something else I didn’t know.
Sama-hye’s hairpin.
When I saw two hairpins that couldn’t exist in the same time period, I finally decided to shed my preconceptions.
‘Sigh, this isn’t like me.’
Where did Ilgwang go, the one who always spoke such mad things with such confidence?
“The Hyeolseonggyo called it this.”
Baekcheon-gun.
One of the figures from the Investiture of the Gods.
“I… you probably won’t believe me, but you need to be careful. Hyeon-a. That person is another version of you.”
“Did I go mad after Hye-a died?”
“Yes. Though you probably won’t believe it.”
“…”
Sama Hyeon remained silent, his eyes still closed.
An eternity passed in an instant.
The tea had gone completely cold.
Feeling the chill, Jin Cheon-hee remained still, waiting for Sama Hyeon’s response.
I had done everything I could, whether he believed me or not.
Because I had to protect Hye-a.
We didn’t play together for just a moment, yet Hye-a didn’t recognize her own older brother. If that’s the case, it could happen twice, three times, or more.
“….”
Silence stretched between them.
The two of us stared at the cold tea for a long while.
Eventually, it was Sama Hyeon who spoke first.
“I see. So that’s why you sometimes seemed to know the future.”
“You believe me?”
Sama Hyeon watched carefully as my dark eyes wavered.
I hadn’t deliberately used the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong.
The reason was obvious.
I wanted him to trust me, even just a little.
But wasn’t that the same for Sama Hyeon?
Beggars who performed at the bottom of Hangzhou or occasionally picked pockets.
There was only one adult who believed in such a child—the person right before his eyes.
“It’s not about believing you. It’s just that since it’s true, I think of it that way. You wouldn’t have lied before Hye-a’s life. Of course, there might be things you’re not saying? But that probably has its reasons too.”
“Haaaaah.”
I set down the teacup and covered my eyes with both hands.
My ears were turning red.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s just… the tension is finally releasing.”
“Where in the world would you find someone who could just pull out such amazing dishes? It makes sense if you saw them in dreams. Of course, that would be like a fragment of reality. Is it some kind of metaphor for another world?”
I hadn’t expected him to understand so quickly.
“You figured it out from food, not inventions. That’s like you.”
“You can’t fool your palate. They say the taste of home you eat as a child stays with you for life, and some of these dishes didn’t exist anywhere in the Central Plains.”
“Like fried potatoes?”
“Yes. That’s one of them. And chicken ribs smothered in cheese.”
“You don’t even call yourself Gunlak.”
“Because you call it cheese.”
“….”
It seemed Sama Hyeon had already figured it out roughly. Somehow, I felt embarrassed.
‘Ugh, I wish I’d just let people think I was crazy like everyone else!’
I felt like I’d die from embarrassment.
“Does Baek Rin know?”
“Well, Master also… knows roughly.”
Before Master went to the imperial palace, we master and disciple had many conversations.
Conversations held while naked, pierced by countless long needles, unable to move below the neck.
It looked strange perhaps, but I was more sincere than anyone. And Master, listening to me, was the same.
“He knows and still lets you be like this? Remarkable patience. You’re not human. That old man.”
“Hehehehe…. Because he’s my Master. Because he’s my Master.”
I laugh like a fool.
For some reason annoyed by that sight, Sama Hyeon reheated the tea water.
“Am I the first among the medical brothers and sisters to know?”
“Ha-ryun… I don’t think he noticed. So yes, you’re the first.”
“Hmm~”
Sama Hyeon’s eyes narrowed.
“What about Cheonwoo? He doesn’t seem to care at all?”
“Cheonwoo? Ah~ Cheonwoo isn’t good at picking up on things like that.”
“I doubt it. The dullest among us is Yeo Ha-ryun, not Cheonwoo. He might pretend not to know even if he does. He doesn’t ask follow-up questions. He doesn’t show surprise or suspicion at all.”
“So Cheonwoo is…”
“Never mind. Let’s just say you’re my most dependable younger brother among us.”
I couldn’t understand why Sama Hyeon saw Cheonwoo that way.
‘Even Mudang Gwon-je called Cheonwoo a fox.’
Yet he seemed completely unaware of it.
“Cheonwoo trusts people too easily. It worries me.”
There were times when I had to lie in front of Cheonwoo, and my heart would sting with guilt.
“Aren’t you worried about me?”
“You handle things well on your own.”
At those words, Sama Hyeon poured boiling water into my cup in a rush.
“Hey, hey! Don’t tell me you’re jealous of Cheonwoo too? I told you first, didn’t I?”
“Gaga~ A younger brother’s heart is delicate, you see.”
Right. I suppose so.
With that, Sama Hyeon discarded the tea in my cup and brewed a fresh one with care—this time, white flower tea.
True to its name, white petals floated in the tea water.
The deep floral fragrance made it feel as though spring had bloomed alone within winter.
“You brew it well.”
“You like tea, so I practiced. Though I still don’t understand that bitter drink.”
“Coffee?”
“Yes, that.”
I laughed. Sama Hyeon might not seem like it, but he had a child’s palate.
“I’ll brew it sweet for you later.”
With ice floating in it and whipped cream on top, it would be absolutely perfect.
‘I’ll even drizzle chocolate syrup on it. Definitely.’
With that resolve to feed my younger brother the enemy of high-calorie liquid fructose and fatty livers—an iced latte—I took a sip of tea.
The floral fragrance seeped deeply into my nasal passages.
It was a scent that brightened one’s mood.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Hmm? Go ahead. What is it?”
Sama Hyeon set down the teapot and spoke.
“Thank you.”
“Hmm?”
“If it were me… I would have killed him. Wouldn’t it be better to eliminate someone who becomes a future threat while they’re still weak, rather than keep them alive and try something?”
Uprooting them from the very beginning, severing all possibility at its source.
A clean sweep with no room for them to do anything at all.
What could be more forward-thinking than that?
Yet Jin Cheon-hee responded as though he’d heard something horrifying.
“How could you do that to a child? And you’d want me to do the same?”
“Who knows. Maybe that’s what I wanted.”
Sama Hyeon closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
“Back then, I struggled raising my younger siblings, but I lived decently, you know? I thought heaven was helping me because of that, but… that’s quite a shock. Still, though. You, Hyeong.”
Click—
Sama Hyeon snapped his finger joints, producing a sound.
“You saved Hye-a’s life. You kept my star from going out. Hmm…”
Sama Hyeon’s voice trembled oddly as he spoke so leisurely.
The corners of Sama Hyeon’s eyes grew wet and wavered.
They were tears.
Jin Cheon-hee flustered and spoke hastily.
“Ah, no! That’s just natural. You were both so young! As a doctor, of course I treated her. That’s all there is to it.”
Saying so, he pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to Sama Hyeon.
It was the white silk handkerchief that Sama Hyeon had gifted him in the past at the Yongbong Gathering.
Jin Cheon-hee had pulled it out without thinking, and seeing that object laden with old memories, he couldn’t help but smile, and the two of them burst into laughter.
Soon the tea room echoed only with the sound of the two of them laughing their hearts out.
After laughing for quite some time, he opened his mouth.
“Back then, you grumbled about how that heterodox faction member had so much money he made handkerchiefs out of precious white silk.”
“Well, I didn’t say it outright. Hyeon-a?”
“It showed in your attitude~ Wasn’t it?”
It was true. That’s really what I thought.
“No, but Hyeon-a. White silk is a treasure of any mid-sized sect. What kind of madman makes handkerchiefs out of it as a gift?”
“Ah, enough~ Still, it’s nice to use it well.”
Saying so, he took the handkerchief and wiped his eyes briskly.
“White silk really is the best for handkerchiefs.”
Right. With money rotting away in abundance, what would there be to worry about?
Sama Hyeon, wiping away his tears, spoke.
“But Hyeong.”
“Yes?”
“So you’re middle-aged now? Counting even the age from your dream?”
This guy. Why is he so sharp about such strange things…?
* * *
Sama Hyeon and Jin Cheon-hee conversed for a long time.
About the past, about what lay ahead.
Once Jin Cheon-hee unburdened himself, his voice became much lighter.
After the two finished their conversation, Jin Cheon-hee headed off somewhere at once.
I’d probably be seeing patients, reviewing documents, or heading to the research hall.
Sama Hyeon accepted his quarters and made his way to the guest pavilion.
He had no desire to converse with others in this state of mind.
There was simply too much to think about.
So he deliberately headed toward a secluded annex to unpack his belongings.
The place my Sifu had arranged was a rather splendid annex that even came with a hot spring.
After setting down his luggage, he immediately undressed to bathe.
Sama Hyeon’s body was covered in scars, yet remarkably, his back bore not a single wound.
Fundamentally, he trusted no one.
Except for my Sifu and Hye-a.
Even if those two were to stab him in the back, Sama Hyeon harbored no resentment.
They were people worthy of such trust from him, and he was someone deserving of such a fate.
He had spent a long time contemplating guilt.
The guilt of those he had killed.
It was also the reason my Sifu refused to take lives in the Gangho.
Yet no matter how much he reflected, Sama Hyeon felt not a shred of regret for those he had slain.
Rather, there were times when he felt exhilaration.
Perhaps he lacked what people called a soul.
Or perhaps his mind had been damaged in childhood and warped—he could not say.
Of course, he did not kill people for mere entertainment.
As long as he remained within the Heterodox Faction, blood would stain his hands, yet compared to other Sifus, he lived with considerable restraint.
So many members of the Golden Blood Hall already regarded him as their lord, even before a successor was formally designated.
Though his work was that of the Heterodox Faction, he had also bestowed considerable favor upon the Gangho.
So was that why killing brought him no feeling? He had wondered that before. He had.
‘Now I think I understand.’
Splash—
Sama Hyeon washed himself lightly and then submerged his body in the hot spring.
“Ahh, that’s hot~”
A drowsy sensation.
A bottle of fruit wine sat in the corner of the hot spring.
It appeared to be for distinguished guests.
Sama Hyeon, despite his wealth, felt indulgently luxurious as he poured himself a cup and drank.
“Ahh, this is nice.”
As expected, it contained no intoxicating spirits whatsoever.
Just a beverage for children.
Perhaps because this was the Medical Guild, they had merely set it out for the gesture.
The mountains stretching far beyond the hot spring formed a magnificent vista.
Though it seemed wasteful to use such a scenic place as a Medical Guild rather than a resort, the fact that my Sifu dwelled here made it feel right.
After all, my Sifu had designed and constructed this place down to every detail, from the water conduits to the smallest ornament.
He even understood that my Sifu had personally planned and installed the piping that drained the hot spring water.
“As if it were my own destiny.”
Quite a benevolent plan, wouldn’t you say.
‘Meanwhile, am I a inauspicious fate decreed by heaven?’
To call myself a Demon Lord would be an insult to the true Demon Lords of the Demonic Cult, given the sheer scale of my transgressions.
‘Inauspicious fate… or perhaps an evil star? There’s a term in Gangho for someone this unprecedentedly wicked.’
Monster or madman, demon—none of these titles feel wasted on me.
From my innate nature to my very circumstances, I was destined to become something utterly vile.
The kind of creature who plunges into depravity without anyone pushing, slaughtering people like livestock.
The kind who revels in wallowing through blood, finding joy even in that grotesque game.
“Sigh…”
A toast.
A toast to that wretch who never met his Sifu.
Sama Hyeon, who had been giggling moments before, suddenly became terrifyingly expressionless.
‘Hye-a is dead. And I alone survived… if I were to see Hye-a again, what would I do?’
I drink deeply.
Despite being a children’s beverage, an intoxication strangely rises within me.
It shouldn’t be possible to get drunk—it’s merely fruit-infused water.
‘But what if another me, not myself, stood in that place?’
Why was that wretch in the desert?
No, let me rephrase the question.
Though we walked different paths, that wretch is fundamentally myself.
Possessing the same martial arts as me, the same nature as me, essentially the same as me… yet carrying despair and madness so profound they cannot be compared.
So ordinary questions won’t suffice.
‘I’ accumulated all that so-called ‘merit’ and went to the desert to use it for what purpose?
Truly to become Hyeolseon?
Sama Hyeon arrives at the most crucial question in an instant.
‘What becomes possible if one becomes Hyeolseon?’

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————