Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 935
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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 935
“Now that I think about it, Eun Gong, you seem to forget sometimes—I’m a Restoration Specialist.”
After finishing their meal, the doctors immediately packed their belongings and set out on the road.
Their destination was a fishing village located on the coast of Gangso Province.
They were heading toward that place.
It was a village where approximately two hundred households lived—neither particularly large nor small.
As a result, it was also a village without a doctor.
“A Restoration Specialist must be capable of basic medical techniques.”
If this were Earth, assigning work outside one’s specialty would certainly invite complaints.
But in this martial world.
The custom here was that any doctor must be capable of basic acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine.
Once one entered specialized training, their expertise would diverge from there, but it made no sense for a doctor to be incapable of basic acupuncture and moxibustion itself.
The same applied to Restoration Specialists.
They had to know how to treat at least common illnesses.
“Ah, are you saying our Restoration Specialist Sama-hye cannot do this?”
“That’s not it. I’m worried about the chicks who came with our Restoration Specialist.”
Sama-hye puffed out her cheeks at that valid point.
Since the Restoration Sect was a discipline requiring inner energy, many of its members came from warrior backgrounds from the start.
“Eun Gong just works people to the bone without mercy.”
“Hahahaha. I never expected you to follow me here though.”
Hye-a debated whether to voice her concerns but decided to keep quiet.
‘Lately, Eun Gong has been working so hard he’s pushing his body to its limits.’
Of course, she already knew he worked a lot normally.
But lately it had been worse.
She was genuinely worried.
However, Sama-hye wasn’t the type to speak indirectly.
“Eun Gong, are you okay~? Aren’t you working too much lately? You’ll develop serious problems if you keep this up, you know?”
The night shift at Baekrin Medical Guild hadn’t expected to hear this.
“Why does your speech pattern resemble Hyeon’s?”
“Did my brother say that?”
“Back then. When I had him train, he complained that his spirit was dying…”
“That’s one hundred percent Eun Gong’s fault.”
“No, that can’t be… Huh? One hundred percent?”
In that moment, Jin Cheon-hee looked at Sama-hye with an expression of “wait, what?”
Sama-hye’s speech pattern had rubbed off on him too!
Was it Sama Hyeon’s influence?
‘No, is it my fault after all?’
Even as they exchanged idle conversation, the group moved diligently forward.
The escort force numbered twenty, and the doctors—including Jin Cheon-hee—numbered ten.
* * *
By the time we arrived at the village, the sun was setting.
The moment the doctors arrived, the Village Chief and the villagers came down waving their hands.
“Oh my! The doctors have come!”
“Hello. How have you been? Any ailments troubling you?”
A small village without a doctor.
In such places, there is no way to treat the sick when illness strikes.
Yet we cannot forcibly dispatch doctors here—the budget is insufficient, and no doctor volunteers to go.
Doctors are people too, and none can afford to establish a medical clinic destined to fail financially.
‘If the village were twice this size, we could perhaps set up something like a health center…’
But even that is impossible in such a small place.
And the roads are treacherous on top of that?
Administratively, there is no solution.
So we make these periodic rounds, conducting house calls.
‘Road development will take more time…’
We have already constructed roads passable on foot.
However, to establish even a small administrative office or health center, we need roads suitable for carts to traverse.
Though they appear similar, roads for people and roads for carts are fundamentally different.
I wish I could pave everything with gravel concrete in the spirit of Pax Romana, but there are far too many villages like this.
Moreover, if we arbitrarily cut new roads, the higher authorities demand approval, citing the risk of bandits or foreign enemies using those routes for attack.
That administrative process takes considerable time.
Even with Gold & Silver providing considerable convenience, this is still how things stand.
‘Perhaps this is the most infuriating aspect of administration.’
Not everything resolves with a single click like in a game.
This village too must wait its turn.
‘That is why we conduct these house calls.’
Originally, other doctors were scheduled to come, but this time, after a long while, Jin Cheon-hee and Sama-hye led the team here personally.
“You are setting up tents already? At least eat something first!”
“We even slaughtered a chicken when we heard you were coming!”
“Wow! A real doctor! Wow!”
Amid the enthusiastic cheers of the villagers—young and old alike—we set up our tents.
We merely satisfied our hunger with the meals the villagers provided.
We conducted only the most basic examinations.
Since nightfall was imminent, we could not do much anyway.
‘Fortunately, there does not appear to be anyone with broken bones requiring immediate attention.’
We would need to conduct thorough pulse diagnoses tomorrow to know more, but even this much is a blessing.
As night fell completely, the first day of consultations ended.
Jin Cheon-hee took the food ingredients provided by the village and prepared a broth, fried something, then served it to everyone.
Spicy chicken broth and sweet and sour pork.
Rice cooked in a pot with fish bones removed, leaving only tender meat stewed until tender.
Braised pork ribs and lotus root.
Along with various pickled side dishes prepared in advance.
Just as cheese is called “dried milk” in the Central Plains, sweet and sour pork is called “tang-chao-li-chi” there, but I simply call it sweet and sour pork.
That term is simply more familiar to me.
A lavish meal materialized in an instant, flying through the air to land on the hastily assembled table.
The technique was so exquisite that even passersby couldn’t help but stare in amazement.
“Is… is that an immortal?”
“Isn’t that sword technique? Wait, but why is he delivering rice bowls with sword technique?”
“I have no idea. Maybe it’s some kind of martial art?”
However, the exhausted Medical Assistants didn’t notice any of this.
“Food! Food!”
“No matter how much I eat, I’m still hungry.”
“Soggakju, could you give me just one more bowl of rice? This is delicious.”
A rice bowl slid smoothly in front of Sama-hye before stopping directly before her.
‘Wow, no matter how many times I see it, it’s still amazing.’
Wasn’t this level of technique something only a sect master would demonstrate at the training grounds of a renowned martial faction?
Sama-hye had never killed anyone.
Yet because she understood martial arts and martial techniques, she knew just how profound what I was doing truly was.
And how absurd it was to use it merely to move rice bowls.
‘If a warrior who had reached the Hwagyeong level saw this, they’d probably spit blood just from watching.’
In a way, it felt like a kind of mockery toward martial technique itself.
“Four meals a day.”
Still, Eun Gong would likely think feeding people was more important.
More important than striking enemies with aerial techniques, splitting mountains, and settling accounts in the martial world was simply filling people’s bellies right now.
‘A strange person.’
Perhaps that’s why my brother followed Eun Gong so devotedly.
And why I ended up chasing after him like this.
I answered her.
“Yeah. Many of the doctors said three meals weren’t enough, so I’m feeding them four.”
If you’re going to work people like cattle, shouldn’t you at least give them the finest feed?
And on top of that, I even provide dessert and late-night snacks.
That way, no one collapses from exhaustion.
‘That’s right. As long as you pay the monthly wages properly, people won’t collapse.’
Money is an important source of motivation.
But that gets settled all at once at the beginning or end of each month, and in between, people need something to sustain them.
To work, to work well—I believed it all came down to having enough food.
Even if your fate is to encounter difficult patients from morning onward, if the lunch menu is the finest delicacy under heaven, doesn’t that give you something to look forward to and endure?
“Wow, going on house calls with Soggakju really spoils your palate.”
“Why is everything so delicious? I keep eating.”
“This rice is so good, I bet it would be a delicacy even with just soy sauce drizzled on top and no other side dishes.”
Watching the Medical Assistants eat with such satisfaction, Sama-hye also took a spoonful.
Crunch—
The sweet and sour pork in my mouth was so tender that the juices were absolutely exquisite.
Sweet and sour pork with rice in a stone pot? I’d thought it was a terrible combination, but I never imagined it could work so well as a side dish.
“I never thought it would pair so well. Eun Gong.”
“Right? I didn’t know either, but once I started eating it with rice, that was it.”
“Today was absolutely hectic. Wow, eating something delicious really does feel good.”
“Haha, doesn’t it bring back memories?”
“Oh come on, even Bunta in Hangzhou wasn’t this busy. Eun Gong.”
Sama-hye grumbled as she put a spoonful of rice into her mouth.
It was delicious.
“True, Bunta in Hangzhou at least had plenty of doctors. But in a small village like this, the first three days of house calls were absolute chaos.”
“That’s fair. Still, this village doesn’t seem to have any critical patients right now, so that’s a relief.”
“We won’t know until we do proper pulse readings tomorrow.”
Sama-hye nodded in agreement.
“Wandering martial artist physicians don’t usually come to small places like this, do they?”
“They come if fate allows it, but they don’t go out of their way to seek such places. Martial artist physicians only go where there’s money to be made. Besides, those who actually practice medicine properly while traveling aren’t that common either.”
Sama-hye nodded.
“That’s true.”
Sama-hye fell into thought.
‘The Restoration Chamber where I work mainly serves the wealthy.’
After the Dissolution Chamber saves a life on the brink of death, the Restoration Chamber erases the scars and improves quality of life.
Whether from martial wounds, poison, or otherwise—allowing people to live normal lives.
But most ordinary martial artists stop at the Dissolution Chamber.
Even if their faces are somewhat disfigured, it doesn’t affect their ability to live.
Those who go to the Restoration Chamber are usually the wealthy.
When life isn’t in danger, treatment takes longer. And since all treatment fundamentally requires inner energy, the costs are expensive.
It’s these wealthy individuals who continuously pour money into the Restoration Chamber.
That’s why the Restoration Chamber earns the most money and becomes the most widely known externally.
‘Which is why other doctors envy it so much.’
We do help poor commoners return to society, presenting it as charity, but it’s only done occasionally.
In the Patriarch’s terms, it’s social contribution.
It’s fundamentally different from the Dissolution Chamber, Acupuncture Chamber, Chuna Chamber, Herbal Medicine Chamber, and Nursing Chamber.
Walking through house calls today had given me much to think about.
“It’s strange.”
“Hmm?”
“To be honest, Eun Gong. The Restoration Chamber is the most recently established chamber.”
“That’s true.”
“Yet it earns the most money and is the most famous.”
No other Medical Guild has a chamber like the Restoration Chamber.
The Restoration Chamber of Baekrin Medical Guild is the only one whose purpose is rehabilitation and improving quality of life.
Usually, they handle it on their own.
“It’s a place everyone envies anyway.”
Eun Gong spoke as if it were obvious.
“That may be true, but I genuinely enjoy this work and it suits my aptitude well. However… how do I put this… it feels strange. Shouldn’t the department most directly connected to saving lives earn more money?”
“Don’t say such things. Hye-a. With the money you bring in from the Restoration Department, look at how much budget expansion the Destruction Department and Chuna Department are getting.”
“Hm?”
“You only know about the Restoration Department and don’t understand the situation of the other departments. That’s why you can say such things. Chuna Dangju has been treating you like a golden goose lately.”
“What?”
“That person you treated last time from Saeoe—he was the Daeseong Clan’s son. The clan leader was so pleased that he left a massive donation, and we divided it nicely among ourselves. You didn’t know?”
“…Oe Chongwan didn’t mention anything like that…?”
Sama-hye’s pupils trembled.
No matter how much Muyue was involved, he couldn’t bring himself to say that Soggakju and Chuna Dangju were siphoning off the money Sama-hye earned from the Restoration Department like that.
There was no helping it.
By common sense, even if one were Oe Chongwan, one couldn’t privately discuss budget details for other departments set by those above.
The suffering of middle management.
However, Soggakju was essentially the operator.
Jin Cheon-hee, the second-in-command of the Medical Guild’s power pyramid, had nothing holding him back.
Whether he knew or didn’t know that Sama-hye’s camaraderie was being completely shattered, he simply patted her shoulder repeatedly with shining eyes and spoke.
“I trust you. Hye-a. Just keep working like this. Just like this!”
Sama-hye developed pride in her work.
The certainty that she was saving many lives.
Pride in just how valuable her own work was.
The strange guilt about whether a department not directly connected to life should earn this much completely disappeared.
The popular department was feeding the other departments and saving even more commoners in the process.
And at the same time, she also thought that there wasn’t a single person in this world you could trust.
This was Baekrin Uiseon.
A place where the incompetent could not survive.
‘So I was actually a performing bear…? And the money belongs to the King, no, to Jin?’
Thus, Restoration Department Director Sama-hye grew a little more.
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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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