Dokmaeuiseon - Chapter 6
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 6
People came out, startled by the sudden loud noise.
“What’s all this noise! Huh…!”
“What’s that sound… Oh!?”
“L-let’s pretend we didn’t see anything.”
What they saw as soon as they came out were Han Mo and the Big Men.
Afraid of getting caught up in unnecessary trouble, they closed their doors and went back inside.
Jung Myeong also understood when he saw them.
‘This is quite a sight.’
Seeing the Big Men crying out like they were wailing in the middle of the night,
even he felt embarrassed.
Unless someone had quite the strong heart, they wouldn’t enjoy watching this scene.
He needed to handle this situation first.
Jung Myeong rubbed his forehead and said.
“Instead of staying like this, let’s go inside first and talk.”
“If you promise to help us…!”
“I need to hear the situation first before deciding whether to help or not, don’t I?”
“Hmm…”
“Being stubborn won’t make the impossible possible.”
“Still…”
“Looking at this, there’s a patient involved, isn’t there?”
“How did you…!”
“It’s obvious what you’d want to say coming to a physician in the middle of the night. You could go to a local physician, but I don’t know why you specifically came to me…”
“They won’t treat him.”
“Why not? Ah. I understand without you saying. There are circumstances.”
“…Yes.”
“Sigh. Get up for now. Let’s go inside and hear about it.”
When the man called Han Mo stood up, the Big Men also awkwardly got up.
Everyone entered the Guest Room.
* * *
‘This is suffocating.’
The Guest Room was packed full.
Originally a small Guest Room meant for Jung Myeong alone. With the room completely filled, it became so stuffy it was hard to breathe.
Just when he was thinking he should open a window,
Han Mo began to speak.
“Before I explain, let me introduce myself properly. My name is Han Jeong.”
“Han Jeong. That’s a good name.”
“The patient we’re asking you to treat today… gave me this name.”
“Is it your parent?”
Han Jeong shook his head.
“Then…?”
“I wish it were so, but no. Actually, I don’t even know who my parents are.”
So he was an orphan.
It was common in this era.
Especially in Hangzhou, it was even more common.
Since it was a place where all kinds of incidents and accidents never ceased.
“Then what’s your relationship?”
“…That person helped me when I was young. Thanks to him, I’ve been able to live like this until now.”
“Hmm…”
“It’s a common story. About a lonely orphan and a small story about the person who helped that orphan.”
“…It’s hardly a small story though.”
“Haha. Is that so?”
The man who revealed himself as Han Jeong calmly began his story.
A child born as a lonely orphan, begging for food.
A Merchant who would leave leftover Dumplings for that child.
Even the Merchant himself wasn’t particularly successful.
He showed kindness while running a small Street Stall.
Later he heard it was because the child reminded him of his own dead child.
Thanks to that, he survived.
Even after growing up considerably, all Han Jeong did was work as a handyman for a Sect.
But Han Jeong would visit whenever he had time.
To repay the kindness.
That’s when he learned belatedly.
That quite a few children besides himself, who was given the name Han Jeong, had benefited from the Merchant’s kindness.
“That person would scold me again and again. Telling me not to live like that. To get an honest job and live properly.”
The Merchant who had become an Old Man.
He would nag Han Jeong while still providing him with meals every time.
If Han Jeong ever left precious Silver Coins, he’d throw them on the ground and scold him.
The Old Man who would barely accept small Copper Coins.
Who gave kindness again and again.
The misfortune that befell that Old Man was nothing special.
“His Wife suddenly passed away.”
“Suddenly?”
“It was an accident. A common accident.”
The Wife was hit by a running carriage.
They went to physicians to treat her, but
far from proper treatment, she couldn’t even receive Pulse Reading.
He just watched blankly and lost his Wife.
Before long, the old man fell ill and collapsed.
Han Jeong and others who had received his grace brought physicians and visited him several times, but.
“This time he refused again.”
“Why?”
“He says he won’t receive treatment from those who killed his wife. Even if he dies, he says the physicians of Hangzhou are not real physicians.”
“Then wouldn’t I be the same?”
“Still…”
“Unfortunately, if he refuses pulse reading itself, there’s nothing I can do either.”
“But physician… aren’t you different? You’re not originally from Hangzhou either.”
“So you think unlike other physicians, he might accept me?”
“That’s right!”
“Hmm…”
It made sense.
Jung Myeong wasn’t from here, after all.
They were probably hanging onto that small hope.
Jung Myeong could understand that feeling.
‘From what I hear, he seems to have already prepared for death. Even if I go, the chances of him accepting treatment are low.’
Those who want to live can at least try.
But those who want to die are difficult.
Still, if there’s a patient and you don’t go, you’re not a physician.
Even as a wandering physician, he was no exception.
‘Damn it. Can’t be helped. I’m such a meddlesome fellow.’
Jung Myeong let out a deep sigh and asked.
“Where should I go?”
“Physician!!”
“There, let go of my hands… Just guide me first.”
“Yes, yes!”
At Jung Myeong’s question.
Han Jeong and the big men were delighted like children.
* * *
“It’s here!”
Han Jeong and the big men became faithful guides.
As if they were Jung Myeong’s servants, they lit the way ahead and busily cleared away even small stones.
When he first arrived in Hangzhou and had to pay the entrance fee.
Thinking of the arrogance Han Jeong had shown then, this was an unimaginable sight.
‘I really feel the passage of time.’
It meant his reputation had risen that much.
Despite the late hour, people occasionally recognized him and exchanged glances.
After walking for a while, greeting those who approached him appropriately.
Han Jeong’s steps stopped.
“This is it.”
“It’s a thatched hut.”
They were in front of a Thatched Hut.
Literally a house with a roof woven from grass or straw.
It was a house that was beyond simple, reaching the level of shabby.
“Well… Even when we offered to build him a new one, he wouldn’t listen… Even when he manages to save money, he spends it elsewhere.”
“On helping people?”
“Yes. On kids in the same situation we were in when we were young.”
“Hmm…”
He lives in a thatched hut himself, yet spends money like that?
It was close to self-sacrifice.
Though he didn’t know for sure, there must be some trigger that led to such decisions.
Seeing that he specifically helped young children, he could guess.
‘…As he said, it must be because of losing a child before.’
Even if he could guess the story, it wasn’t his nature to pry first.
What mattered was one thing.
For whatever reason, there was someone inside who needed treatment.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes! Are you there! Elder!”
“Elder! We’re here!”
“Elder?”
No matter how many times they called, there was no response.
Han Jeong and Jung Myeong looked at each other and nodded.
They opened the creaking door and hurried inside.
The scene they saw after entering was not ordinary.
“Oh! Elder!”
“Hmm…”
The old man called Elder had collapsed.
He seemed to have lost consciousness while moving and fallen to the floor.
His complexion was also poor.
Wheeeze-
The breath he barely managed to exhale was far from steady, it was chaotic.
His breathing was also too shallow.
It seemed like his breath could stop at any moment.
He had to act immediately.
‘His complexion doesn’t look good.’
He needed to lay him down properly and examine his condition.
But he couldn’t lay him down straight.
It was because of the lump on his back.
‘It’s too big to call it just a boil.’
The old man’s back. There was a large boil that appeared to be about 1 cheok (approximately 30cm) long.
The width also seemed to be about half of that, protruding in bumpy lumps.
That was what prevented him from lying down.
He barely managed to lay him on his side.
But his lungs seemed to be compressed.
His breathing only became more labored.
‘It’s miraculous that he’s even alive.’
Meanwhile, Han Jeong continued to look at Jung Myeong.
Meaning he wanted him to do something somehow.
Jung Myeong also began to take action.
While performing Visual Pulse Reading.
At the same time, he placed his hand on the wrist.
Thump-thump-
The pulsing vibration from the wrist.
It wasn’t because the old man was strong, but he could feel the vibration that had been forcibly strengthened due to the compressed pulse.
“Hmm…”
[You are reading the patient’s pulse.]
[Pulse Reading Skill harmonizes with Analysis Skill.]
[Pulse reading succeeds.]
After that, the patient’s condition became clearly visible to his eyes.
The most urgent thing was indeed the boil on his back.
It was a size that would be hard to see even in modern times.
The fact that he was still alive with such a boil in this era was itself a miracle!
In his previous life, something like this could be lanced and treated with antibiotics.
But in this era, that wasn’t an easy thing to do.
Still, it wasn’t completely hopeless.
Internal Energy!
Using this, he could somewhat substitute for the role of antibiotics.
He was planning to use this for immediate treatment.
‘Good thing I prepared in advance.’
The small short blade he had obtained recently at the Blacksmith Shop.
He sterilized the sharply honed short blade with fire.
As soon as it was ready, he immediately cut the boil with the blade.
Tzzzzk-
Pus poured out through the long tear in the boil.
“Hmm…”
A terrible smell filled the room.
While Han Jeong opened the outer door briefly upon seeing this.
Jung Myeong took measures to ensure the pouring pus was drained.
At the same time,
‘I need to be careful of infection.’
He prevented secondary infection from occurring.
[Your Internal Energy seeps into the patient.]
With his hand infused with Internal Energy, he stroked the wound between the boil.
It was a method of momentarily substituting antibiotics using Internal Energy.
The effect was certain, but there was a price.
‘It’s rapid.’
Sssss-
His internal power was rapidly consumed.
Sweat trickled down Jung Myeong’s forehead.
He would be exhausted before long.
Nevertheless, Jung Myeong considered it rather fortunate.
‘The boil is large and deep. This would have been difficult if I hadn’t gained enlightenment just before.’
Should he say that his 15 years of internal power was just right.
If it had been the 10 years of internal power from before, it would have been precarious.
But with internal power refined through enlightenment.
‘I can barely manage it.’
It seemed he could somehow endure until removing the last of the pus.
For the old man, it was like divine fortune had smiled upon him!
Moreover.
“…Huh? What is this…?”
“Why, why are you doing that!”
“No. I’ll concentrate.”
“Oh… Yes!”
[There is an energy that responds to your Internal Energy.]
[The opponent’s internal power responds to your internal power.]
Why was that?
The old man possessed unexpected internal energy.
The level of that internal energy was about 10-15 years worth.
A similar amount to the internal energy Jung Myeong possessed.
‘Did he learn Yang Saeng Gong or something? Or perhaps…!?’
Somehow, this old man.
Seemed to have more secrets than expected.
With just 15 years of internal energy, he wasn’t at the level to be called an eccentric or a hermit master.
But he had circumstances that led him to care for children, plus this unexpected internal energy.
On top of that.
[The treatment of the boil is about to be completed…]
[Emergency!]
[Hidden poison is being released!]
[The poison begins to contaminate the target!]
For some reason, he had poison in his body.
“Huh…”
Poisoning?
Not a single thing was ordinary.
‘Sudden poison? Then this boil was caused by being poisoned.’
Poison suddenly revealed in the middle of completing the treatment.
The situation that was being resolved had turned for the worst.
‘This changes everything…’
Forget disinfection, there was no internal energy to deal with the poison.
The internal energy Jung Myeong himself possessed had already been mostly consumed long ago.
The old man’s 10 years of internal energy? This too had been almost entirely used to treat the boil.
Tss tss tss-
Even the remaining internal energy was the same.
It disappeared while trying to block the suddenly surging poison.
But the poison still remained.
‘This is a crisis!’
Just when he thought he might save the old man.
Death had approached right before his eyes.
There was no internal energy, no antidote.
In this state, he had to find a way to eliminate the poison.
‘How?’
The problem was the method.
How should he save him?
He didn’t even have the strength to use skills right now.
It was at that moment.
A possibility flashed through Jung Myeong’s mind.
‘Would it work? It doesn’t seem like it would? But…’
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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