Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 824

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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 824
It had been about three days since I arrived here.
I’d managed to treat roughly half the patients.
Of course, I could only handle mild cases here. Severe patients requiring equipment were sent to the Medical Guild’s Bunta.
“Today’s clinic is closed!”
“If we keep this pace, just three or four more days and we’ll be done with this village too~”
Sama Hyeon said this while cleaning up after today’s work.
I scratched my head vigorously.
“Yeah. Even with a population of a thousand, it’s surprising how many villages don’t have a single clinic.”
I knew this roughly already since I traveled through Gangho fairly often.
However, treating patients in passing and deliberately touring the surroundings like this felt distinctly different.
“How much longer are you planning to do this, hyeong~?”
“Well, I’m not the only one doing relief work, and the Medical Guild has people rotating through as well, so we should be done by the next village.”
“It’s interesting seeing your daily life up close~”
“What. Anyway, can you really be away from Hao-mun for this long?”
At my question, Sama Hyeon smiled faintly.
“I’m still getting reports, so don’t worry~ I’ll have to return once the waves from the imperial palace calm down.”
He said this with a hint of reluctance in his expression.
‘True, unless I want to lose my position entirely, I’ll have to go back. If I don’t return, someone else will take Sama Hyeon’s place.’
Even though Gangho seemed vast, there were no empty spaces in it.
Until now, my image of a Kang Ho-in was of a masterless wanderer drifting like duckweed without purpose.
People who occasionally took commissions for money, and otherwise traveled wherever their feet took them while practicing righteousness.
But now that I was actually living in Gangho, such people were extremely rare.
Most, even if they were called swordsmen, had families, homes, and sects.
If a sect existed, one had to fight to maintain power within it, and even in the most harmonious families, problems always arose.
Sama Hyeon held power over the Golden Blood Hall and Hao-mun.
Now he was temporarily stepping back from the front lines and hiding, but once the storms subsided, he would eventually have to return.
Otherwise, someone else would take his position, and that person would attack Sama Hyeon to eliminate the source of trouble.
Such was the nature of power.
And the nature of humans as well.
Perhaps even the nature of Gangho.
Either way, both Sama Hyeon and I knew this story all too well.
“By the way, hyeong.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it strange? The village chief here hasn’t shown his face once since you arrived.”
I hadn’t come as a provincial administrator, but still, since I came for medical volunteer work, the village chief would personally come to greet me wherever I went.
But that hadn’t happened here.
“Well… that could happen. Why? Is there some reason? I heard in passing that he’s ill.”
I’d heard the village chief was bedridden and unable to receive visitors.
But wasn’t it strange for someone to refuse to meet a doctor when they were supposedly ill?
Ordinarily, patients would come running barefoot to receive treatment.
If they couldn’t move themselves, their family would come in their stead.
“Hyeon, you mentioned wanting to find some premium liquor in this village. Did you learn anything?”
At those words, Sama Hyeon nodded.
“Yes, I did look into it. It appears the Village Chief is indeed bedridden from illness~”
“What? Really? Then why isn’t he coming for treatment? If he has difficulty moving, I could send someone or we could go to him ourselves. There’s nothing stopping us.”
Sama Hyeon scratched his head at that.
“Well, that’s the thing. There’s a complication. Didn’t you know that Jeong Gajang comes from a family of lay disciples of the Swordsman Sect?”
“He did?”
“Yes. Apparently so. His son was also a lay disciple, and his grandson trained as a lay disciple in the Swordsman Sect as well.”
At those words, I nodded with an understanding hum.
“They probably didn’t take formal initiation to preserve the family line. After all, one can’t marry if they become a swordsman.”
“But apparently everyone died except for the Jangju. Both his son and grandsons.”
He’d experienced a family tragedy overnight.
“How did that happen…?”
“It’s said they got caught up in Gangho affairs… I only know it’s separate from the Jeong Sa Dae Jeon situation. Should I look into it?”
I fell into thought before speaking.
“No, it’s fine.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I’ll meet him in person.”
I would meet him.
And I would talk with him.
But if the patient still refused treatment, there was nothing more I could do.
“If the patient refuses, it seems we won’t treat them.”
I nodded.
“I’ll try to persuade him. But if his resolve remains firm despite that… yes. There’s nothing to be done about it. All a doctor can do is help make recovery possible.”
Illness is ultimately a battle fought together between patient and doctor.
A doctor can help, but if the patient lacks the will to live, it becomes meaningless.
To open a door, one must knock on it oneself.
Similarly, no matter how skilled a physician is, unless they resort to forced hospitalization, the patient must ultimately take their medicine with their own hands.
Controlling diet is something the patient must do, and quitting alcohol and tobacco is ultimately the patient’s responsibility. No matter how advanced modern medicine becomes, that never changes.
“You’re surprisingly cold about such matters. So, shall we go right now?”
“Let’s do that.”
We headed toward the Village Chief’s residence, Jeong Gajang.
* * *
Jeong Gajang was located on the outskirts of the village. The reason was simple.
Jeong Gajang had a large distillery attached to it.
There were many peach trees around the village, and most of them belonged to Jeong Gajang, or so I was told.
When I mentioned we were going to meet the Jangju, the villagers shared a few things about him.
The general consensus was that he was an exceptionally fine person.
When famine struck, he distributed grain to the people, and occasionally brought in doctors from outside to treat the villagers—or so the locals all agreed in their accounts.
In any case, the master of this Jeong Estate was a notable figure in the region, a respected elder, and a man of considerable virtue and influence.
But now, all his descendants had perished and been buried in the earth.
The shock had driven him into seclusion, lost in grief.
I hadn’t been deliberately gathering information, but this was the story I’d heard on the way to the Jeong Estate.
Since all the villagers already knew of it, the details came easily enough.
“I didn’t even need to gather information, did I?”
“Exactly.”
“So, shall we knock right away?”
“We should.”
Jin Cheon-hee and Sama Hyeon.
The two of us stood before the main gate of the Jeong Estate.
A door sealed shut like a clam. There were no guards.
After all, the entire family had passed into the afterlife, so only the elderly master of the estate and the servants who worked there remained.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Is anyone home!”
It was quite an old mansion.
Looking at the worn hinges, darkened by countless hands, I imagined how many generations had lived in this place.
Perhaps my ancestor’s ancestor’s ancestor had brewed alcohol here and maintained this estate.
That lineage had now been severed.
Only the Jeong Estate remained.
After waiting for some time, I heard the sound of someone shuffling toward us in their shoes.
“Who is it?”
As the door opened, Jin Cheon-hee’s face came into view.
“Ah, are you not a doctor?”
Since I had altered my appearance, I was being recognized merely as a doctor.
Of course, even in my original form, the probability that a simple commoner from such a small village would recognize me was low.
I immediately recognized the servant who spoke.
“So Jin Nonya is working here.”
He was someone I had treated before.
I recalled his name at once and spoke it aloud.
“Master Jin Il, is your cold better now?”
“Hehe. To think you’d remember someone like me among so many patients…”
Jin Il broke into laughter, pleased that I had recognized him immediately.
“But what brings you here?”
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“The doctor here has come to personally examine the master of the estate, who is said to be ill.”
At those words, Jin Nonya shook his head as if troubled.
“Well, that is… the master has instructed me not to receive outsiders…”
“Still, we should at least see his face. The doctor has come all this way out of concern for him, hasn’t he~?”
As Sama Hyeon pressed forward with a soft, persuasive tone, Jin Nonya nodded in agreement.
“I… I see. Please, come inside.”
I had expected him to refuse several times, but this was unexpected.
So it’s true—you can’t spit in the face of someone smiling at you.
[Hyeon-a, you’re good at this?]
[Well, I can tell Jin Nonya is worried about his master too, so when someone shows such courtesy, he can’t help but give in.]
Still, to read the other person’s true feelings with just a glance and then immediately press forward like that—that’s something else entirely.
[No wonder Hyeon is so good at business.]
[What worries me is why you’re so clever at devising strategies against thousands of assassins, yet so clumsy dealing with simple commoners in the countryside.]
[Kehehehe!]
Sama Hyeon let out a small sigh watching his brother like that.
Strong against the strong, weak against the weak.
It was both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.
Following the guidance, we arrived at the pavilion where Jangju resided.
Before it, Jin Nonya spoke respectfully.
“Master Jangju. You have a visitor.”
“Didn’t I say not to receive visitors? Who did you bring here?”
A sharp, ringing voice.
Too sharp for an elderly man’s voice, yet somehow lacking in strength.
“The Medical Officer from Baekrin Uiseon has come personally.”
“Baekrin Uiseon… Baekrin Uiseon, you say? Hmph, I suppose I can’t refuse. Our village owes a debt to Baekrin Uiseon.”
[Ah, truly, the name of Baekrin Uiseon is absolute among commoners!]
[…Well, that’s rather embarrassing.]
Sama Hyeon gazed at Jin Cheon-hee with admiring eyes.
And rightfully so.
The more remote the location, the more precious a doctor becomes.
When a doctor arrives in such places, the village chief typically rubs his hands together eagerly and forcibly shows his wrist first, begging to be examined—isn’t that how it goes?
Even without actual treatment, a single transaction of minor medicinal herbs could fetch a fortune.
Even a treasure goblin doesn’t hoard like this.
But this time was different.
A man who knew all these profits, yet locked his doors and turned away—such a man didn’t exist.
So when such an upright character turned out to be a Medical Officer from Baekrin Uiseon, the village chief sighed and let him in.
“Very well. Show him in.”
With Jangju’s command, Jin Cheon-hee followed Jin Nonya inside.
Along with the strong scent of sandalwood came a sickly-sweet, sour smell. The elderly man’s breath.
‘What is this…?’
Particularly, Jin Cheon-hee’s senses were heightened by the Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong, allowing him to perceive it clearly even at this distance.
The elderly man before me sat upright on the bed, only his upper body raised.
His lower body remained covered by blankets.
“Welcome, welcome. Please forgive me for not rising—I’m still afflicted with illness.”
“You’re too kind. If you had let me know sooner, I would have come here myself to treat you and provide proper medical care.”
“Heh heh heh. Doctor, your words warm my heart. But it’s been a long time since other physicians determined that their abilities could not cure this condition. And… truthfully, I no longer have the desire to live.”
The elderly man’s voice carried the scent of dying embers.
It was a familiar scent to the Doctor.
That distinctive aura that emanates from those who have abandoned everything.
‘Perhaps it’s because no family members survived…’
When one reaches a certain age, it is natural to surrender to life.
To believe one has lived enough.
To no longer wish to struggle against illness, and to see no necessity in doing so.
But such resignation pales in comparison to an elderly person who has lost their family.
In such cases, there are often no words like “I have lived enough” or “I refuse life-prolonging treatment”—instead, one day their condition worsens, they cannot even come to the hospital, and they pass away.
The elderly man before me had a straight back and broad shoulders for his age, suggesting he had been born with a robust constitution.
But he had lost both his children and grandchildren.
With no mention of a wife, it seemed he had lost her long ago as well.
Who could dare speak of what lay within such a heart?
This elderly man looked at Jin Cheon-hee.
“As the Village Chief, my face has not even been seen, so it would be understandable if you were upset. Yet you still took the trouble to care for me—you truly are a person of great character.”
“Not at all. I was simply doing what is natural for a Doctor.”
Jin Cheon-hee quickly waved his hand in protest.
The elderly man’s eyes, watching Jin Cheon-hee, grew slightly warmer.
“…But since you mentioned that other physicians examined my pulse first, do you happen to know the name of my illness?”

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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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