I Became the Oriental Doctor for Divine Beasts - Chapter 109

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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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I became a physician of Divine Beasts.
#109
The courtyard of Saebit Orphanage.
Dong-su kicked at a stone, pouting his lips.
‘Mom, Dad… you said you’d come pick me up soon. Why haven’t you come?’
They’d told him the family was having some financial difficulties, so they were leaving him here temporarily.
They’d said that if he just waited a little longer, they could all live together again.
He’d believed every word and entered this place in summer, but now an entire season had slipped away.
Still, Dong-su waited.
‘Will they come today? Or tomorrow? Before Chuseok, surely?’
He endured each day with only such thoughts.
And through it all, Dong-su’s faith twisted into something strange.
‘I mustn’t get used to this place.’
I mustn’t befriend the other children.
I mustn’t listen well to the sisters.
I mustn’t grow fond of the priest.
If this place becomes comfortable, Mom and Dad will truly never come.
So Dong-su pushed everyone away.
─ “I won’t play with you! I’m different from orphans like you!”
When friends spoke to him, he grew angry; he wouldn’t eat properly.
When the matron sister tried to embrace him, he shoved her away; when Father Yo-han asked to play, he turned his back.
Dong-su didn’t remember it, but nighttime was no more peaceful than day.
He cried and screamed and thrashed almost every night, never sleeping soundly, his body and spirit slowly wearing thin.
But then…….
Lately, there was someone who kept drawing near to Dong-su.
A physician with eyes as pretty as a cat’s. It was Go Yeon-hee.
‘Tch. She was strange from the moment I first met her.’
Pretty, kind, always looking at Dong-su and smiling.
Above all, he could feel that she genuinely cared about him.
That’s why he hated her more. Or rather, feared her.
Once he opened his heart, he knew he’d never be able to push her away again.
─ “I don’t like it! I’m not getting acupuncture!”
Dong-su pushed Go Yeon-hee away with all his stubbornness.
But then one day came.
A savory, delicious smell of oil drifted from the orphanage kitchen.
‘What’s that?’
Dong-su sniffed the air without thinking.
His stomach rumbled involuntarily at the aroma.
“!”
The boy was startled.
Since being left here, he’d had no appetite—even the smell of rice hadn’t moved him—but this was different.
He couldn’t simply walk past it.
Gulp—
Saliva even pooled in his mouth.
Finally, Dong-su crept up and peered through the kitchen doorway.
And his eyes met Go Yeon-hee’s.
She smiled brightly.
“Oh, Dong-su came?”
“…….”
“Perfect timing.”
She stood at the cutting board still wearing her apron, slicing something, then held out a plate.
“I made this pork cutlet—I’m not sure if it turned out well. Would you taste it for me?”
On the plate lay a steaming cutlet cut into bite-sized pieces.
Dong-su quickly averted his eyes.
“I’m not hungry.”
Growwwwl—!
But the moment the words left his mouth, his thoughtless stomach betrayed him with a loud rumble.
Yeon-hee smiled silently and offered the plate again.
Dong-su blushed and grumbled.
“Hmph……! Just a taste, okay?”
“Thank you.”
Yeon-hee smiled and dipped a piece of cutlet in sauce, holding it toward him.
The savory smell of oil tickled his nostrils.
Dong-su opened his mouth with a reluctant “Aah.”
As the boy chewed, he suddenly froze.
‘It’s delicious……!’
So delicious. Even more than what his mother sometimes made.
But something felt odd.
‘I thought eating this would make me think of Mom and Dad more.’
But his parents’ faces didn’t appear.
Instead, he saw Father Yo-han, fumbling as he made the cutlet.
The matron sister, nursing him through the night when he had a fever.
His friends, reaching out to invite him to play.
And…….
Go Yeon-hee, whom he’d glimpsed half-asleep, holding him through the night and patting his back.
These faces came to him one by one.
Whimper—
Tears welled in Dong-su’s eyes.
The boy rubbed his eyes roughly with the back of his hand.
Yet his jaw kept moving.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as he chewed.
“Dong-su.”
Yeon-hee gently stroked his back.
“It’s okay to cry.”
Dong-su was startled.
“No, I’m not crying! My stomach… my stomach hurts! That’s why I’m crying—suddenly my stomach’s aching!”
“Is that so? Then let me check your stomach. I’ll make it feel better.”
At her gentle words, Dong-su bit his lip hard.
Then finally, he couldn’t hold back any longer and began to sob.
“Hic… Mom… Mom isn’t coming…….”
Whoosh.
His small body burrowed into Yeon-hee’s embrace.
All the tears he’d held back came pouring out at once.
“It’s alright, it’s alright.”
Yeon-hee held the child in silence.
Slowly stroking his small back.
As if holding the most precious thing in the world.
* * *
That’s right.
I had borrowed the Hae Clan’s unique “Hand Taste” ability from Hae Seong-woo.
Whether it was that ability that made the pork cutlet the boy loved so much, or something else—it was effective. Dong-su finally opened his heart to me.
Thanks to that, I could begin proper treatment.
The boy accepted acupuncture and herbal medicine with far less resistance than expected, and as a result, his night blindness improved noticeably.
[What a relief.]
Alfred, who had been flicking his tail on the sofa in the waiting room of Baek Myodang, opened his mouth.
[That little boy—these days he sleeps soundly without crying every night, I hear?]
“Yes.”
I smiled and nodded.
“Dong-su has improved so much.”
[Going to the orphanage every night and even sleeping there—in the end, you did it again, Yeon-hee.]
I stroked the cat’s back as I murmured.
“He’ll need a bit more treatment, but I’m grateful we could at least begin.”
Then a memory suddenly surfaced, and I blinked.
“But something was strange.”
[What do you mean?]
“When Dong-su ate the cutlet, the memories that came to him weren’t of his parents. I naturally expected him to think of his mom and dad.”
When I treat patients, sometimes I see flashes of their past memories.
But in the memories I witnessed while treating Dong-su, his parents never appeared.
The matron sister, Father Yo-han, the children of Saebit Orphanage, and even my own face…….
[Hmm.]
Alfred groomed his whiskers with a paw as he spoke.
[In the end, what that child truly needed was already beside him.]
“I suppose so.”
I laughed quietly.
“Family doesn’t only mean people bound by blood, does it?”
In any case, from that day forward, Dong-su gradually began spending time with the other children and eating his meals properly.
Of course, he still cried sometimes at night, searching for his parents.
But he no longer suffered in silence alone.
Meanwhile, I recalled a phone conversation I’d had not long ago with Detective Jin Do-gyeong, a Divine Beast in the form of a dog.
─ Director Go, this is Detective Jin Do-gyeong. About Dong-su’s parents.
The detective’s voice through the receiver was heavier than usual.
─ To be honest… immediate criminal prosecution is harder than we’d hoped.
─ “…….”
─ We need to investigate further, but at this stage, filing charges for abandonment or child welfare violations is ambiguous.
I listened quietly to her words.
─ Still, given that they left the child here and rarely contact him, with signs they’ve been traveling abroad, there is some negligence involved.
─ “I see.”
─ For criminal charges to proceed, we’d need to clearly prove they had no intention to raise him. Parental rights restrictions or custody issues can be addressed later.
I sighed quietly.
─ “It won’t be easy then.”
─ No. Frankly, I’d like to punish them immediately. There are really despicable people in this world.
Detective Jin Do-gyeong spoke with frustration.
─ Still, the good news is that the child is in a good place. I visited Saebit Orphanage myself, and it smells wonderful there.
The “scent” the detective spoke of wasn’t a literal physical smell.
It meant she could sense positive emotions from the people there.
─ And…….
After a brief pause, Detective Jin Do-gyeong smiled softly.
─ Dong-su has you there, Director Go. From the scent, I could tell he truly trusts and follows you.
So that’s what Dong-su’s sincerity felt like…….
I felt oddly embarrassed and scratched the back of my head.
After hanging up, I gazed out the window and smiled quietly.
Dong-su would surely grow up strong.
I sincerely wished his future would be filled with happiness.
And so, after the matter with the Hae Clan matron and Dong-su’s case reached some closure,
I pulled out my mother’s Diary after a long time.
‘Let me check how much Spiritual Energy has accumulated.’
Jung Ra-bit and Ma Yun-sang, who happened to be at Baek Myodang, approached me.
“Yeon-hee! Have you gathered a lot of Spiritual Energy already?”
“I’m not sure. I thought I’d open it and see.”
Ma Yun-sang drew near with interest on his face.
“I heard new content appears as Spiritual Energy accumulates, right?”
“Yes. Last time I checked, nothing new had appeared, but I’m curious what it’ll be this time.”
I swallowed dryly and turned the leather cover.
And finally, as I opened a new page of the Diary, characters that had been invisible began to emerge.
“Huh?”
But… why is the content like this?
I opened my eyes wide.

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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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