Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 883

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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 883
Baekrin Uiseon was not divided into departments like a hospital on Earth.
For medical practice, there were only four divisions: the Herb Hall, the Acupuncture Hall, the Manipulation Hall, and the Regeneration Hall.
Originally there were three halls, but the Regeneration Hall was added, making it four.
The Research Hall was separate since it dealt with medicinal development rather than direct treatment.
The Martial Arts Hall was also excluded since it was an organization for combat.
There was no separate obstetrics and gynecology department, nor was there a separate pediatrics division.
Because of this, infant and young child patients were primarily treated by the Herb Hall and Acupuncture Hall.
The Manipulation Hall typically dealt with joints and muscles, so infants rarely received treatment there.
The Bone-Setting Hall provided collaborative consultation when their services were needed.
And the problematic patient I had received a report on this time was currently receiving treatment at the Herb Hall.
“I’m coming in!”
Click.
I announced myself and pushed the door open, stepping inside.
An elderly woman with a kind expression sat within, sipping tea.
Documents were spread before her, and she had been looking down at them.
Manpagok, the Herb Guild Master.
She turned her head at my entrance and gave me her attention.
“Isn’t this the Patriarch? You seem quite urgent. It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face… but why do your brows look so tense? Is something pressing the matter?”
Manpagok had good reason to say it had been a while since she’d seen my face.
When I went on assignment, I often spent months away.
And Baekrin Uiseon had undergone expansion after expansion, growing to an enormous scale.
On top of that, Manpagok herself was drowning in work.
The number of patient rooms and patients kept increasing, as did the number of doctors.
Because of this, even though we were in the same Medical Guild, it was difficult for Manpagok and me to see each other’s faces.
We only showed up at events like the dumpling competition.
So when I appeared after so long with such a stern expression and in such a hurry, it was natural that Manpagok would be surprised.
“I hope you’ve been well, Herb Guild Master.”
I first greeted her with a respectful fist salute.
Greetings were important.
It was the courtesy of a Kang Ho practitioner.
This was even written in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
“Haha. What could possibly happen to an old woman like me? Well then, what brings you here?”
“I’ve come regarding patient number ninety-two admitted to the Herb Hall ward.”
At my words, Manpagok paused in thought, then nodded as if understanding.
“Patient ninety-two… you mean that child. Sigh… it’s a strange illness. A strange and incurable illness…”
Sorrow and regret were etched across her face.
Because she knew what kind of patient that was.
“Would it be alright if I examined the patient myself? It might be an illness I’m familiar with.”
“Hmm, should I take that to mean you don’t trust our Herb Hall?”
Manpagok’s words pierce like a needle.
It stings.
Doctors, especially those in high positions, despise having their specialties questioned.
And Jin Cheon-hee is but a mere green youth, impossibly young.
Even as Soggakju, Manpagok possesses the accumulated experience and pride built over a lifetime.
In this era, pride is, in a sense, equivalent to one’s very life.
In an age where people discard their lives like grass merely for losing their pride, it was only natural that she spoke thus.
For it was scratching at the self-respect she had cultivated throughout her entire life.
‘This could be disrespectful. But… she’s not the type to simply rage without reason.’
One cannot survive long in Baekrin Uiseon by merely asserting pride.
Is there justification?
With a keen mind, I grasped immediately that this was what she was asking.
I spoke.
“That’s not it. I recently acquired an ancient medical text from another region and simply wished to verify whether it might be applicable.”
I offered that explanation.
After all, it was only natural that she wouldn’t know of a forgotten ancient text.
“Could the Patriarch also examine this book?”
“Yes. It’s written in Sanskrit, so interpretation is difficult, but I’ll prepare a copy shortly…”
“Ah, never mind. Forget it.”
She waved her hand dismissively.
That was how it was from the rank of Sang Ui-won and above.
They knew their specialty thoroughly and studied diligently, but anything beyond that felt like a bother.
At her age, how tedious it must be to study Sanskrit now.
Better to have the chicks do the translation in that time instead.
A Sang Ui-won never suffered through such tedious work.
Her subordinates would bear that burden.
And the other party was Soggakju Jin Cheon-hee.
She also knew he was not the type to fabricate what didn’t exist.
“Infants who continuously suffer from diarrhea from birth and die are considered heaven’s curse, so in fact, such cases rarely come to the Medical Guild. Some call it a strange affliction, others call it a constitutional weakness. Doctors use different terms, but regardless, it remains a form of heaven’s curse.”
“Yes.”
“If they survive the diarrhea, it’s because the messengers of the underworld took pity. If they pass from this world as is, that too is fate decreed by heaven, so we consider it unavoidable, do we not?”
“Indeed.”
“So the midwives of this region can only hope that children of such constitution are not born. There is nothing else they can do but offer prayers.”
“I understand.”
“You claim you can actually cure such a constitution?”
“Well… I cannot change the constitution itself. Since it’s not a strange affliction, it cannot be treated either.”
At those words, Manpagok was flabbergasted and asked again.
“Then how exactly do you cure it?”
“They improve as they grow.”
“By what means?”
Manpagok’s voice grew louder, frustration mounting.
Yet Jin Cheon-hee simply smiled with composure.
‘That madman’s laughter.’
But why did it feel trustworthy?
And even if it failed, there was nothing to be done about it.
Manpagok spoke.
“Normally, I wouldn’t force a patient to be examined by another Patriarch like this. However, this time I’ll make it an exception by framing it as my own request. Such cases do occur, after all.”
Jin Cheon-hee smiled.
“Thank you!”
“Ah, enough. The Soggakju could simply order it, yet you’ve gone to the trouble of seeking me out discreetly—surely out of consideration for my reputation.”
It was a fair point.
If I were to step forward and treat Manpagok’s patient without permission, it would utterly destroy the reputation of the person responsible.
From a modern person’s perspective, it seems trivial, but in the Central Plains, people have died over matters of face.
The people here treasure reputation as if it were worth its weight in gold.
The Medical Guild naturally reflected the characteristics of the Central Plains.
“Then let us go together.”
Manpagok led the way.
“You’ve already reviewed the patient’s records, it seems, but the child was born not long ago. Still a tiny bundle. When fed milk, the child vomits, and there’s diarrhea every time. The child continues to grow weaker.”
“The parents must be beside themselves.”
Jin Cheon-hee offered sympathetic agreement.
Manpagok nodded.
“Yes. The father died after being caught in a blood conflict during the Gangho while the mother was giving birth. The mother has stopped eating and drinking entirely, weeping all day. According to the midwife’s account, it was a severe difficult birth. Yet she endured it.”
This child, clung to so desperately.
But the news that arrived was her husband’s death.
If this child is lost as well, the mother will have lost both family members.
“We’ve been administering intravenous treatments and infusing vital energy to buy time, but it’s insufficient. Ultimately, the child will die. And the mother’s heart rots away as she merely watches this process unfold.”
Having lost her husband, she now faces losing her child.
Yet Manpagok’s expression remained composed.
Through long years as a doctor, she had learned to accept what cannot be changed.
To recognize what humans cannot do, to understand what no effort can save.
A life spent repeating this for decades.
The wrinkles on her face resembled ancient canyons.
Traces of suffering.
“There are almost no further palliative treatments possible. Can you truly treat this?”
“I cannot promise, but I wish to examine the patient.”
Jin Cheon-hee arrived at the separate quarters where the patient was admitted.
‘Ah, this must be someone from a considerable noble family.’
I knew the patient was using an alias.
The Demonic Cult and the Heterodox Faction often did such things.
‘Or perhaps the Righteous Faction, but from a family with complex debt relationships.’
On top of that, I heard her husband died caught up in a blood vendetta of the Gangho.
A mother in her final month of pregnancy, with labor approaching.
If she died caught up in a blood vendetta at a time when she had to be careful even about falling leaves—
‘It’s highly likely to be the Eun clan.’
The Sega has as deep a history with the Eun clan as their own.
Moreover, if she could bring a newborn all the way to the Medical Guild’s main headquarters, it couldn’t be an ordinary household.
‘Not revealing her name, and even renting a separate annex at that.’
A strange illness that even doctors couldn’t cure, or perhaps a constitutional issue.
In the Gangho, most choose to abandon the child.
Inside the room, the mother was holding the baby.
She too appeared gaunt, as if she hadn’t slept a moment.
The child was equally emaciated, which was quite peculiar.
At that age, normally the baby would be plump enough that sweat would bead red in the skin folds of the buttocks and armpits.
Yet even in these circumstances, the child clung to life.
‘The Herb Guild Master must have been protecting this child diligently.’
The child suffered from continuous diarrhea.
The mother startled upon seeing Jin Cheon-hee arrive with Manpagok.
Then she asked with trembling lips.
“Are you… are you the Soggakju? Have you perhaps found a way to cure my child?”
Ah, even in despair.
Even in such despair, parents never let go of their children.
“We must try everything we can. May I take your child’s pulse for a moment?”
I desperately hoped it was the illness I suspected.
“Of course. Here, please, please.”
Taking the baby’s swaddling cloth, I closed my eyes and took the pulse for a long time.
Then I began asking various questions.
“Were there any particular problems when the child was born?”
“At that time, the child was healthy. The midwife said she had never received such a large baby before, so robust was the birth.”
How could such a child become so thin?
“How much diarrhea does the child have?”
“It’s no exaggeration to say everything comes out as soon as the child nurses. And whether from abdominal pain or not, the child cried at first but now lacks the strength even for that.”
“I see.”
I took the pulse again.
And after some time, I asked more questions.
After repeating this process for quite a while, I finally stepped outside.
Manpagok, frustrated, asked again.
“So? What exactly is this illness? Or is it a constitutional issue?”
The gentle smile I had worn before the mother moments ago vanished.
Now my face had hardened like stone as I answered.
“I suspect it may be a condition called lactose intolerance.”
“Lactose intolerance?”
“Yes. Milk—or rather, the inability to digest breast milk. It’s more accurate to call it a constitutional condition. Some people naturally lack the ability to digest milk.”
Lactose refers to the carbohydrates found in milk.
Most milk-producing creatures nourish their young with this maternal milk.
However, in cases of congenital lactose intolerance, the infant cannot consume breast milk at all and will inevitably perish.
This is because the lactase enzyme protein that aids in lactose digestion is never produced.
‘It’s essentially a constitutional issue.’
In truth, no cure exists.
There are rare cases where someone naturally develops the ability to digest milk as they age, but such instances are exceptional.
Manpagok was horrified upon hearing my words.
“What are you saying? Then how is the child supposed to survive and grow healthy? Soggakju. The mother must be grasping at straws right now.”
Had I declared from the start that it couldn’t be cured, that would be one thing. But I’d given her hope.
If I returned now and said it couldn’t be cured, the mother might very well dash her head against the support beams.
The situation was that psychologically precarious.
I spoke.
“While a cure is impossible, the child can still live healthily.”
“There’s a way?”
“Yes. We simply feed the child something other than milk.”
“I ask this out of caution—surely you haven’t forgotten that a child this young cannot even eat rice porridge? At minimum, three to four months must pass.”
She was questioning whether I’d ever actually raised a child.
“I understand. Please entrust this to me, just once. Master.”
“Hmm, very well. There’s no other option anyway.”
As things stood, the child would die.
Despite milk being right before its eyes, the infant could not digest it and would perish.
That was divine punishment.
Literally, a curse from heaven upon the child.
But.
‘Does Soggakju have some method in mind?’

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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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