Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 893

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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 893
At Sama Hyeon’s words, Hyeong Gajangju swallowed hard.
“Hmm….”
“….”
Silence stretched between them.
Cheonwoo sipped his tea calmly as he watched Sama Hyeon shake things up.
‘This one’s no ordinary coward either.’
While Jin Cheon-hee was thinking that, Hyeong Gajangju seemed to have reached a decision and finally spoke.
“That is most… unpleasant. Listen here, you labor exchange manager of Hao-mun. Are you suggesting that this brother has become a puppet of the Heterodox Faction?”
“I’m merely suggesting you may have consumed a peculiar medicine provided by the Heterodox Faction’s agents.”
Thud!
Unable to contain his fury, Hyeong Gajangju slammed the table.
“Hmph! How dare you speak so disrespectfully of the miraculous medicine that cured me, the master of this Jeong estate! This is most offensive!”
“….”
“Cheon-u Dojang. I am deeply disappointed. When the Gwon Je hears that you’ve been fraternizing with Heterodox Faction rabble and wandering about like this….”
In that moment, Hyeong Gajangju’s voice stopped.
A chill ran down his spine—
Like the sensation of a snake stalking a frog.
‘What… what is this feeling! Killing intent…? No. Something… something is different….’
His senses guided his gaze to turn.
There stood Jin Cheon-hee.
A man.
No matter how formidable Hyeong Gajangju was, he could not immediately see through Jin Cheon-hee, who had deliberately altered his appearance completely.
Moreover, since it wasn’t killing intent, he couldn’t even identify what this sensation was.
Yet Hyeong Gajangju felt an overwhelming sense of unease.
“Your tea has grown cold.”
Plink, plink—
The man smiled as he poured fresh tea into Hyeong Gajangju’s cup.
But why was it
that if he mentioned Mudang Gwon-je any further, something terrible would happen?
It wasn’t a matter of reason.
Instinct. Survival instinct, at that.
‘Am I truly afraid of some unknown youngster?!’
He tried to focus his inner sight to see if this was perhaps a hidden master, but he sensed neither momentum nor the distinctive pressure of a martial artist.
Rather, he carried himself more like a scholar than a warrior.
Soon after, Hyeong Gajangju let out a small groan before speaking with desperation.
“Enough! Leave now!”
An order to expel guests.
“….”
Yet the man pouring tea didn’t even flinch.
Sama Hyeon and Cheonwoo stood there as if they’d made a promise to remain silent.
“I’ll… I’ll leave first. Ugh!”
The Elder Brother Gajangju, whose heart had nearly stopped, simply stood up and retreated inside.
I watched his retreating back with a bright smile.
“He ran away?”
“…Hyeong, it’s impressive you didn’t change to blue eyes.”
“Right. That took effort to hold back.”
Gulp—
I swallowed a sip of tea and spoke.
“This house’s tea is truly delicious.”
“Was it poisoned?”
“No. No. Just ordinary medicinal tea.”
Saying so, I leisurely rose to my feet.
Just then, the Chief Manager who oversaw the estate came and asked me to leave.
I responded with a good-natured smile and walked out slowly.
Taking in each garden tree with my eyes.
[Hyeon-a. You provoked well. You scratched him nicely. Thanks to you, I learned much.]
[Of course~ whose younger sister am I~]
I chuckled at that.
Sama Hyeon understands me far too well.
How I would act.
Her boldness and insight in stepping forward without hesitation despite conflict being a tedious matter itself.
‘This time I learned a lesson from Hyeon.’
And I didn’t forget to be grateful to Cheonwoo as well.
[Cheonwoo. Thank you. Without your connections, this conversation wouldn’t have happened at all.]
[What are you saying. It’s your matter, so of course I should help.]
Thanks to my two younger siblings, things became easier.
* * *
After leaving the gate that way, the sound of salt being thrown rang out.
An outright insult.
Yet neither I, nor Sama Hyeon, nor Cheonwoo felt offended—instead, we were giggling like children playing a mischievous prank.
Sama Hyeon spoke.
“Elder Brother Gajang. The family with the greatest power in Qingdao. And a direct disciple of the Mudang Sect’s inner circle. The martial artists among the blood relatives of the family, combining branch and main lines, number around two hundred. Their main business is trade and fishing in Qingdao~”
“Right. According to investigation, he’s also said to be a ship owner with three vessels.”
Saying so, I paused briefly in thought before continuing.
“From his reaction… the Haeseon faction… in other words, he’s completely colluded with Hyeolseonggyo.”
Thanks to Sama Hyeon’s brilliant digging, I learned much.
“That must be it~ If it weren’t collusion, he’d clarify first to dispel the Mudang Sect’s misunderstanding. He might even abandon the entire Mudang Sect’s connections. Such a wealthy man bearing the Mudang’s suspicion carries quite a burden.”
“…That’s not just a wealthy man—even a Jeong Gajangju who brews peach wine would feel the burden? Not to mention third-rate martial artists of mere Shaman origin who learned only the basics and left.”
I teased Cheonwoo about his fierce expression, but in truth, the weight of the Mudang in Gangho is worth its weight in gold.
And Cheonwoo, the direct disciple of Mudang Gwon-je, who is called the giant of the Mudang Faction, carries great weight in his name as well.
If Cheonwoo were to name an inn that had insulted the Mudang Faction, that establishment would have to take down its sign the very next day.
Cheonwoo would never actually do such a thing, but that’s what it means in comparison.
That’s how much influence the Mudang Faction and Cheonwoo wield in Gangho—like Mount Tai itself.
For a lay disciple of the Mudang Faction to sprinkle salt on someone of such stature?
Even Jeong Gajangju, who brewed peach wine, maintained at least the minimum courtesy as a member of the Mudang Faction, no matter how angry he became.
“That’s true. But he chose anger over explanation. He didn’t seem particularly flustered either. Perhaps he thought it was inevitable~?”
“….”
I nodded slightly in agreement instead of answering.
“Sigh…. How did the household of a lay disciple of the main sect fall into such depravity….”
I turned my head to gaze at the gate of the Elder Brother’s residence.
“It’s possible. If you save someone who was nearly dead, such things can happen. Of course, we’re only working on suspicion at this point.”
“It would be easier if we could capture and torture him. What a shame~”
Sama Hyeon seemed eager to go quickly and settle this matter.
“I told you. Knowing what you’re eating and unknowingly consuming it are different things. And… if we strike down Hyeong Gajangju in this situation, all the other tails will hide themselves too. This is just venting anger and being done with it.”
This was like a tumor.
If you’re going to use a blade, you must uproot it entirely and scrape away every trace.
I thought that far and then pondered for a moment before finally speaking.
“Cheonwoo.”
“Yes.”
“How does the Black Tablet work?”
“Usually the sect sends a list and I go find them, but when there’s suspicion of injustice like this, we send a letter separately to Mudang Mountain. If there’s evidence, we enclose it together. If there are victims, we either seek help from the authorities or send blood letters written by the victims themselves.”
“Blood letters? Why squeeze blood from your fingers when you have ink and brush?”
I wondered why they would go through the trouble of drawing blood from their fingers when ink and brush were available, but thinking about it, it also meant that the resentment of the commoners had seeped that deeply.
Then Cheonwoo spoke again.
“It’s a tradition that existed before Gwon Je began the Black Tablet. They wish to repay this grudge with blood, so they stake their own lives on it. If they gave false testimony, then they’re saying they’ll wash away that falsehood with their own blood.”
It was heavy.
A reality where people stake their lives—not some game.
Cheonwoo continued.
“Usually such blood letters don’t come from just one person but from many. When a hermit falls into corruption, they don’t drain the blood of just one household.”
So ten people, twenty people, thirty people, forty people….
Eventually, hundreds of blood letters would accumulate, so many that we had to refuse to accept more.
Yet still, the commoners would plead with Cheonwoo to accept their blood letters.
-Please write it all down. The Mudang Faction must know of our village’s resentment!
-Mine too, please accept mine as well. My child is dead.
-Rather, cut off my neck and kill that bastard too! Please!
They desperately wanted the Mudang Faction to know of this injustice.
The Black Disciples were raised by the Mudang Faction, so the Mudang Faction had to take them.
Testimonies stained with blood pile up densely.
Receiving that blood, Cheonwoo binds them together into a document.
to Mudang Mountain.
“In the old days, they say the thread used to bind the letters was made from the clothes or hair of those who died unjustly. I simply write in blood script, then dampen silk thread with the leftover blood and weave it together before sending it.”
After that, Mun-ju and the Elder each read through all of them one by one.
If the judgment is ambiguous, they send another Black Tablet investigator to look into it.
If right and wrong are crystal clear and they hope no further harm will come.
They send the Black Tablet.
A black ancestral tablet.
The name of the fallen hermit is inscribed upon it.
It meant: kill.
“Ah, once the head is severed, the Mudang Sect performs the funeral rites. Since the Mudang raised them, the Mudang takes them back.”
“We carved an ancestral tablet for someone still very much alive and sent it~ so naturally we must take responsibility for the funeral.”
“It’s rather grotesque, isn’t it? Carving an ancestral tablet for a living person and sending it. But that’s the tradition.”
An ancestral tablet for the living.
Suddenly, I recalled the memory of my Master personally conducting the forty-ninth day memorial service for his disciple.
“G-grotesque? Not grotesque at all! I mean… such symbolism is important, so that’s what it means!”
When my older brother shouted abruptly, my younger brothers looked at him with eyes as if seeing something strange.
In any case, I grumbled a bit, feeling somewhat guilty.
Our Master wasn’t grotesque.
He simply showed such a ‘special’ performance out of concern for his disciple, I thought to myself.
Of course, it wasn’t not terrifying.
It was absolutely terrifying when I experienced it.
It was the most frightening moment in my two lives.
‘That’s right. I was indeed a filial son of flames.’
So he conducted a flame funeral for the filial son of flames.
Soon after, I sighed softly and changed the subject.
“In any case, they don’t kill based on suspicion alone. That would be gangsterism otherwise.”
I said this and rubbed my chin.
“Once the Sect Leader makes a decision and sends the black tablet, I move as the Mudang’s fist.”
“…So it comes down to evidence.”
“If they’re tainted by heterodox sects, they wouldn’t even need blood script—just a bit of evidence or testimony and they’d carve the tablet ordering execution. Hahahaha.”
Cheonwoo laughs brightly.
It seems flowers bloom behind him.
Sticky spatula.
Well, flowers are flowers after all.
‘The Mudang Sect Leader certainly seemed to have a good impression, but his temperament is no joke.’
So this is what they mean by a great mountain of the Righteous Faction.
Well, if a prestigious righteous sect forgave heterodox sects, would it even be righteous?
Moreover, the main temple was nearly consumed entirely by the Hyeolseonggyo during Jeong Gwang’s rebellion—such humiliation could never be washed away.
I spoke.
“By the way, Hyeon-a.”
“Why?”
“Could you check if Hyeong Gajangju’s appearance has always looked like that?”
“Appearance?”
“Yes. The movements of the facial muscles seem different from an ordinary person’s…”
“Ah…. I understand what you mean. Then I’ll look into it. By the way…”
The three brothers stopped walking at that point.
Looking around, a thick fog had settled in without their noticing.
The mist covered all directions so densely that they could barely see what was in front of them.
“It seems like sea fog has rolled in.”
Looking at the sky, the sun was already nearly setting.
That moment between day and night exchanging places.
I looked down at my own hand.
The fog was so thick that I couldn’t even see my own hand.
What was strange was that with fog rolling in so suddenly, someone should have come out to look, yet no one appeared at the dock.
No human voices could be heard.
No signs of presence either.
It felt as though the three of us alone were isolated in some incomprehensible world.
Then a sound was heard.
Splash.
This sound alone seemed to come from right beside my ear, sending chills down my spine.
All three turned their heads.
One of the waterways connecting to the sea within Qingdao.
Something was rising from there, splashing water.
“Hoh?”
Sama Hyeon cracked his knuckles.
I also placed my hand on the hilt of the Bing Jing Sword.
What was rising there was a Goe-eo-in with the exact same form that my Master had drawn.
A Goe-eo-in similar to what I’d seen in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Beings called mermaids in some regions, or Goe-eo-in, sometimes fish-people in others.
It wasn’t just one. Dozens were rising upward.
‘Huh, I think I’ve seen a scene like this in a Hollywood movie before.’
The Hyeonwon Jeondan Singeong was still anchoring my consciousness at this very moment.
I sent a message to my younger brothers using sound transmission, conveying the Six Harmonies and Five Phases.
[This sea fog itself looks like a barrier. It seems more like a type of sorcery we don’t know rather than a formation technique… It looks like they waited and prepared in advance for when we passed through here.]
[They’re showing themselves so openly? It’s not even nighttime assassins, and the sun is still up?]
[I think I understand why you asked us to check their appearance, hyung. Those creatures…]
[Right. They feel similar to Jangju, don’t they?]
Saying so, I stepped forward protectively in front of my younger brothers.
The Goe-eo-in rose one by one and stood before me.
All the Goe-eo-in were wearing clothes, or rather, the term “armor” seemed more accurate.
Their color was uniformly black.
So dark it would vanish into the night sea itself.
Yet strangely, though these creatures continued rising toward us, they made no move to attack our group.
I couldn’t even sense any killing intent from them.

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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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