Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 879

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

Chapter 879
‘Ju Wang is absorbed in my words.’
This is why presentation matters.
Even securing a single budget—when deals have already been made behind the scenes and there’s supposedly no room for me to slip in.
But when you polish it brilliantly like this, they’ll circle back to it later.
I continued speaking with composure.
“Especially the fate of sparsely populated rural villages is like this.”
Most small villages lack a government office entirely, creating inevitable administrative gaps.
Where garrison soldiers don’t patrol, the necks of martial artists naturally grow restless.
‘That’s why rural villages welcome it so much when a martial artist opens a dojo.’
If even a dojo appears to protect them, what greater blessing could there be?
But that’s not easy either.
A reclusive master who builds a simple shelter in the wilderness for training and occasionally descends to villages is one thing.
But a martial artist whose purpose is earning a living to survive avoids small villages.
‘Unless it’s their hometown, of course.’
After finishing my explanation, I spoke.
“If we establish a logistics hub, martial artists with exceptional lightness of movement will continuously pass through. That alone will naturally create patrols.”
“Hmm? You mean the delivery business you started recently?”
“Yes.”
“I understand you’re teaching lightness of movement rather than sword or spear techniques.”
“If they assess they can’t win against an opponent, they can flee quickly and alert those nearby. Fundamentally, martial artists aren’t afraid of dying in combat. Well, they do fear death itself.”
“They learn from childhood not to fear combat itself.”
“Yes. Even when afraid, suppressing that fear and fighting forward is the path to the Way, and is called chivalry. Of course, the standard of chivalry differs from person to person.”
“True. But if there’s someone who fights without calling allies first, they’d certainly find that annoying.”
“Yes. Of course, our martial artists could abandon their delivery and rush off to sacrifice their lives like insects.”
“….”
Ju Wang-ya fell into thought.
Soon she spoke.
“That is something driven by his sense of chivalry, so it cannot be helped.”
Cold and measured.
Ju Wang-ya is of the imperial family, but she has aspects close to a martial artist.
That must be because she has refined martial arts throughout her life.
Though her purpose differs greatly from that of martial artists, the journey itself is the same.
In the past, she pushed through mountains with a single spear until she became one with it.
I opened my mouth.
“Regardless, we intend to make it a principle that they flee and report to the hub. And we plan to station at least one doctor of middle-rank or higher at each hub.”
“Why not use lower-ranking doctors? In terms of wages, they’d be the cheapest.”
Lower-ranking doctors are children who’ve just entered the Medical Guild.
They still need protection from their guardians.
Until they’re fully fledged, they need more seasoning before they’re useful for anything.
“Those children are not doctors.”
“Ha Uiwon? If they’re not doctors, what are they?”
“I’m talking about the Medical Guild’s potatoes. To actually make them into proper doctors, they need considerable training. If we use them as-is right now, they’ll become quacks.”
It sounded mad, yet somehow it carried conviction.
‘A potato is speaking?’
In any case, it seemed Ha Uiwon couldn’t be deployed directly into active duty.
Thus I began a practical discussion.
Of course, as Ju Wang, I was merely a figurehead—a decorative face.
It was Yu Rang-hu who answered.
Honestly, administrative work was tedious.
I simply wanted to enjoy leisure, but this fellow Jin Cheon-hee wouldn’t let me rest, so be it.
‘I endure this for the dumplings.’
They said fermentation takes a month.
Originally, they were meant to be simply baked and eaten, and he’d explicitly stated that making dumplings from them was extravagant.
But what did it matter?
Wasn’t extravagance what Ju Wang loved most?
As I listened to the two converse, Ju Wang suddenly asked.
“How about working as the overseer of all branches?”
‘What is that?’
It was a position I’d never heard of.
When I tilted my head in confusion, Yu Rang-hu smiled and explained.
“He means the leader of all the branches. Someone to command and coordinate all the other branches… In truth, it’s a position His Majesty should manage, but he created it to shirk that responsibility. Currently, it remains vacant.”
Wow… that was bad.
Come to think of it, didn’t he shirk the Emperor’s position because he didn’t want to work either?
‘Well, at least she’s incredibly skilled at combat.’
In the recent battle against the Suksin Tribe, without her, the front lines would have already collapsed and we’d have lost part of our northern territory.
Everyone knew that holding the line without yielding an inch was entirely thanks to Ju Wang-ya.
‘Though we did suffer together as well.’
The army’s morale transforms greatly simply by having the War God present.
Everyone advanced alongside the War God, fighting without looking back.
That was something only she could do.
Yet such a person, now that peace has come, scratches her belly and asks for dumplings to be steamed.
She’s even scheming to play more.
I offered a social smile.
“I appreciate the offer, but my abilities are already stretched thin just managing Baekrin’s affairs…”
As I recited flowery words laden with propriety, Ju Wang-ya’s face twisted.
“You really won’t accept no matter what. Other people are desperate to have such a position.”
Ah, please stop trying to make me do this. Do you have no conscience?
After exchanging various remarks like this.
We ultimately decided to send the poor within Gangso Province who had no homes or land to settle in Baekrin’s territory.
Everyone anticipated that even with only volunteers—not forced relocation—the numbers would be substantial.
“Where there is bright light, shadows grow deep. With no shortage of people, there’s nothing we cannot accomplish.”
The King was lazy by nature, yet his insight was undeniably sharp.
Nanjing was a great metropolis, so it naturally harbored many poor, and Suzhou downstream, though not quite as developed as Nanjing, still gathered the impoverished in its prosperous quarters.
The same held true for the port cities along the lower Yangtze.
Especially port cities—one need not wait for an industrial revolution to see this.
Even in the days of wooden ships and canvas sails, poor laborers never ceased to exist in such places.
“I shall handle it with utmost speed.”
Yu Rang-hu smiled like a magnolia blossom.
Right now, he was more reassuring than Ju Wang-ya herself.
* * *
Yusam was the third son of the Yu family.
His father had squandered the family fortune through gambling.
Born with nothing to inherit, Yusam had no path to escape poverty.
Perhaps it was inevitable.
He and his neighbors alike had been born with debt collectors at their side, and debt collectors would come knocking even when they were laid to rest in the grave.
It was simply the way of things.
Fate was sealed from birth.
Such was the destiny of the poor.
The only saving grace was that Baekrin Medical Guild regularly opened clinics for the impoverished, and his wife had recovered from her illness.
The payment was one basket of mugwort.
They said he could pay it back slowly, but he had dug it up and delivered it that very day.
Everyone did the same.
Those born poor rose before dawn and worked before the first bell rang.
They clung to their labor until dusk fell, then went to sleep.
Strangely, despite living this way, money never accumulated.
But what could be done?
There were children.
Four children had been born, but two had died, so now he had to sustain the remaining two.
“But did you hear? Baekrin is recruiting tenant farmers?”
“So they say.”
“Tenant farming means working the land your whole life without seeing a single silver coin. After all, it’s not your own land.”
“But it’s Baekrin we’re talking about. I heard that if you cultivate and develop the land for a certain period, they give it to you. So it’s… a lease? It’s like a lease arrangement.”
I shouted like a ruthless landlord: “Lease! They’re leasing out land like water purifiers! Kehehehe!”
The administrators didn’t understand what I was saying, but they roughly guessed from context.
“Where do we apply?”
“Go to the government office, and the lower-ranking officials will add your name to the list.”
Looking around, guards were already shouting at the top of their lungs about Baekrin’s cultivation project.
Even if they posted notices on walls, most people were illiterate.
So this was the only way to spread the word.
‘True enough. I wanted to go to Baek Rin too.’
I’d heard rumors it was a decent place.
They said you wouldn’t starve there.
But moving wasn’t easy.
Besides, so many people were already going that I doubted there’d be a spot for me anyway.
Just living day by day, doing what needed to be done.
A change came over Yusam.
“Wait, wait just a moment!”
Fearing it might be first-come, first-served, he quickly scribbled his name on the list and hurried out.
It was the right choice.
At the officials’ instruction to form a line behind him, everyone lined up.
The line wrapped around the government office and then some.
* * *
‘Wow. Long live power. No wonder the French Revolution happened.’
I was preparing dumplings in Namgyeong, the capital city.
Since the meat aging was still far off, I wasn’t using aged meat for cooking.
Instead, I was making dumplings passed down through the Jegallim Family.
And these dumplings… they really were…
“Wow, hyeong. They really do require a lot of handiwork.”
Fine detail work was half the battle.
Actually, it felt like fine detail work was ninety percent of it.
Grinding meat into a paste-like consistency wasn’t simple.
Combined with the secret sauce to preserve the meat juices and the frozen aging process, it was enormous.
“Yeah. It’s no joke. That’s why we employ so many people at the inn. It’s a war every dawn.”
“You manage to time it perfectly though.”
“Well, I prepare them in advance, and when orders come in, I just assemble them, throw them in the steamer, and steam them… but even so, we’re constantly short.”
At least with this, I only had to take care of Ju Wang and his family, which was one blessing.
“By the way, did you open the gift Princess Sobaek sent?”
“Yeah. It was a piece of jewelry carved with white flowers. I was so grateful I filled my reply letter with writing and sent it back. As for a return gift, I’m still thinking. Usually, a brush or inkstone carved with orchids or chrysanthemums works well as a gift for the imperial family.”
Something completely devoid of romantic feelings.
My romantic cells had died long ago, leaving only vestigial traces.
Watching this, Sama Hyeon thought to himself.
‘Ah, so that’s why Hye-a called it the promised path to hell~’
The Research Hall or the Destruction Hall.
Of course, there were certainly people who entered out of genuine interest, but their heart racing didn’t necessarily have to be for scholarship, did it?
Their heart could race at the beauty of Soggakju right before their eyes.
And when their heart races like that, they might mistake it as racing not for Soggakju but for the Destruction Hall or Research Hall, and enter that way.
Like a poisonous mushroom, he lured people in and threw them into the Research Hall or Destruction Hall, then fed them.
Fed them like a madman, they said.
When I seized a quiet moment to spend time alone and entered the office, I was greeted warmly.
Since she has free time, I tell her to eat.
I’ve prepared something for her.
And so I sit her down and feed her.
When she complains about gaining too much weight lately, I make her exercise.
Thus her weight increases, her muscles develop, and despite being a doctor, she transforms into a body with impressive pectoral and abdominal muscles—like a fully grown martial artist from the Gangho.
‘Princess Sobaek must be suffering greatly in her heart.’
Seeing my brother’s formal letters and the equally formal gifts in return, she must sense that something is going terribly wrong again.
Yet the human heart cannot simply give up.
“Ah, yes. Then for this meal, I should prepare dumplings folded into white flower shapes and send them to her. If I process shrimp meat well, it looks just like white flower decorations.”
‘Yes. It’s precisely this aspect that makes me unable to give up.’
She’s a master at driving people mad.
I don’t know what Princess Sobaek will think as she eats those dumplings, but she’ll surely find them delicious.
‘She might even weep while eating.’

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