Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 51 Full

“You want to take that child?”

Mu-hwa’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

After receiving treatment from Jin Cheon-hee, her symptoms were noticeably improving. It was something she thought would be absolutely impossible.

Some patients had already been completely cured.

She too could dream again.

‘He’s practically nonexistent in Hao Sect anyway.’

He was useless. There were no expectations for his future.

He had never been taught Hao Sect’s martial arts, nor did he know even trivial internal information.

The fact that he wasn’t given a name was proof of this.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it.”

Jin Cheon-hee’s face brightened.

“Is it really okay?”

“Yes. You don’t need to worry about the aftermath.”

There was nothing to report.

Since he was a nonexistent child to begin with, they could just continue as if he didn’t exist.

That much was possible with her remaining abilities.

Moreover, complete recovery was just around the corner.

If she returned like this, she could be reinstated as a branch leader.

Jin Cheon-hee, not knowing the internal circumstances, nodded.

‘Now I just need to persuade the master.’

This process is easy. If the master opposes, he could treat him well and then ask Phantom Archer for help.

‘He’s smart and talented, so he’ll be welcomed wherever he goes…’

Suddenly, Jin Cheon-hee wondered if there had ever been a nameless master in Supreme Heavenly Demon. But that thought was brief, and he shook his head.

‘Due to syphilis, he probably wouldn’t live long anyway. And since he wouldn’t have received martial arts training, he wouldn’t have had a chance to appear.’

In a way, he’s the same type as Wang Gak-yeon. The route that disappears from the novel without much significance.

‘Me too.’

Jin Cheon-hee still didn’t know the origins of this body.

It seemed that Gong Son-hyeon and Yoo Ho had secretly investigated, but nothing had come of it.

He felt this was fate too.

Jin Cheon-hee took Mu-hwa’s pulse.

‘Seeing the improving condition, fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have spread to the nerves. That’s a relief. The prognosis should be good.’

It was finally time to talk about complete recovery.

After finishing those words, Mu-hwa shed tears.

“Young hall master, you really… Mu-wol. Is what I heard correct?”

“Yes, sister. It’s correct. Sister!”

Mu-wol hugged Mu-hwa and cried.

It was natural, as his sister, whom he thought would die, had come back to life.

Jin Cheon-hee said,

“How should I write your name, Mr. Mu-wol?”

He had caught on the first day that he was pretending to have syphilis to take care of his sister.

Jin Cheon-hee said he would keep quiet to the Hao Sect members but scolded him never to do such a thing again.

Mu-hwa burst into laughter for the first time in a long while, perhaps finding it quite entertaining to see a big man being scolded by a child.

Perhaps it was from that moment.

For some reason, he had a baseless premonition that things would go well.

Mu-wol would do anything Jin Cheon-hee said.

Now that his sister was starting to be cured, it seemed he would even pretend to die if told to.

“Please say that I’ve been cured too.”

“Hmm…”

Jin Cheon-hee slightly furrowed his brow.

“Don’t deceive doctors next time. We always find out.”

“You’re the strange one, young hall master. Everyone else was fooled.”

‘That can’t be. They must have pretended not to know.’

Before syphilis was accurately identified, people thought that just being near a syphilis patient would spread the disease.

This was true for doctors as well.

It was only because it was the White Dragon Medical Pavilion that they could do this contact treatment; elsewhere, they would have distanced themselves as soon as they heard the symptoms.

Jin Cheon-hee didn’t think that far.

He just thought the other doctors were very kind.

“By the way, I heard reports that there’s an effect of increasing internal energy. When I actually took pulses, some patients’ internal energy had increased.”

Was it because they used the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique to act as an air pump?

He heard it had the effect of a spiritual medicine.

It doesn’t seem to apply to all martial artists, but for those who took it for a long time, the effect was significant.

The interesting thing is that without having to recite incantations or absorb it after taking the medicine, it naturally attaches as if it were their own internal energy from the beginning.

Although the amount of internal energy isn’t as great as specialized spiritual medicines, resolving an incurable disease and increasing internal energy is quite a significant effect.

And the fact that there’s no clash of heterogeneous true energy, making it safe, was another difference from other spiritual medicines. Some spiritual medicines can cause clashes depending on the type of energy.

Mu-hwa started circulating her energy.

‘Has my internal energy really increased?!’

The heaviness felt in her danjeon had increased a bit more.

Perhaps because she had received medication for a long time due to her illness, Mu-hwa’s increase was particularly noticeable.

The moment she realized this, a tear streamed down her eye.

“Young hall master, I will return to Hao Sect and sit in the branch leader’s seat again.”

For the first time, she spoke of the future.

Jin Cheon-hee calmly listened to her words.

“Congratulations in advance.”

“When that time comes, I think I can be of help to you in some way, young hall master.”

She took out an ornament from her bosom.

It had a unique pattern engraved in jade, but otherwise, it was of ordinary design.

It looked good enough to be attached to clothes or to decorate a sword.

“This is my heart that I’m giving you. It may not even be one ten-thousandth of the kindness you’ve shown me, but I will repay it throughout my lifetime. If you ever need any information, just show this ornament anytime, and I’ll be able to help. And Mu-wol!”

At his sister’s command, Mu-wol knelt on one knee.

“I’m inherently a rotten person, so I have no loyalty to Hao Sect. But I know how to repay kindness.”

Jin Cheon-hee said in surprise,

“I’m fine. Please don’t do this, stand up.”

Mu-wol didn’t budge.

“If you need me, please call for me anytime. If you ask for the one without a moon in any branch of Hao Sect, I will come.”

Mu-hwa and Mu-wol.

The two siblings thus pledged their loyalty to Jin Cheon-hee.

***

After discharging all the patients, the White Dragon Medical Pavilion held a small banquet.

It was to celebrate Jin Cheon-hee’s success.

“Young hall master! Congratulations!”

However, while Jin Cheon-hee was happy, he also had a slightly regretful expression.

Out of thirty syphilis patients, one was feigning illness, and three had a different disease with symptoms similar to syphilis.

That disease couldn’t be treated.

Hansen’s disease (leprosy).

The locals call it the “leper’s disease.”

It often looks similar to syphilis at a glance, causing confusion, but it’s a distinctly different disease.

It was impossible to treat Hansen’s disease with penicillin.

Penicillin-class antibiotics attack the cell walls of bacteria to destroy them.

However, unlike ordinary bacteria, this one strongly protected itself with a waxy capsule, blocking penicillin.

To catch this one, an antibiotic like rifampicin that interferes with RNA synthesis was needed.

‘Moreover, it can’t be used alone. Because resistance develops during treatment, it needs to be used in combination with other antibiotics.’

Rifampicin is one of the antibiotics that can be extracted from soil.

It’s the next antibiotic Jin Cheon-hee is targeting.

If he could successfully isolate and cultivate streptomycin, a tuberculosis drug, rifampicin should be possible too.

However, the current Jin Cheon-hee had just barely completed the penicillin stage.

Just treating the incurable disease of syphilis was enough to put the Medical Pavilion in a festive mood.

‘Right. I have to take it one step at a time.’

“Young hall master, congratulations! No, this is a blessing for the Central Plains!”

“All the patients had unbelievable expressions.”

“Who would have thought such a thing as treating syphilis would happen!”

The master seemed happy too, busy stroking Jin Cheon-hee whenever he saw him.

“Where did such a lucky charm come from? You’re better than me.”

“Not at all, Master. Without you, this medicine couldn’t have been made. Moreover, I’m still lacking in everything from acupuncture to medicinal herbs to pharmacology.”

‘And martial arts too.’

To become the world’s best physician and the world’s best martial artist, the master is an essential existence.

Beyond simple necessity, the master had become Jin Cheon-hee’s only family.

After two lifetimes, he finally had a place to belong.

‘I absolutely won’t let you die.’

With the completion of penicillin, post-surgical infections could be largely prevented.

People sometimes die ridiculously easily, but sometimes their lifelines stretch out painfully long against expectations.

Jin Cheon-hee had seen people who had long battles with illness in intensive care units as their organs failed one by one.

‘Whew…’

Buy time, reduce variables.

If it doesn’t exist, create it.

“Hee. Somehow, you don’t look happy.”

At the master’s words, Jin Cheon-hee forced a smile.

“Because there’s still a long way to go.”

“I wish you wouldn’t rush too much.”

The master spoke as if discussing someone else’s life.

Looking at the master like this, Jin Cheon-hee thought:

‘As expected, has the master already become indifferent to life and death? Indeed, a martial artist. But this won’t do. I have to save the master myself!’

He clenched his fist and resolved again.

“Oh, Hee. About that child named Cheon-woo.”

“Yes, yes!”

This is the child whose syphilis Jin Cheon-hee treated and whom he named.

When he asked the master, he only said he would think about it and hadn’t given an answer.

“As you said, his talent is extraordinary, but it’s not the type that fits our Zhuge Clan. So I’m thinking of sending him to a more proper sect.”

“A more proper sect…”

“The leader of the Wudang Sect owes me a favor from the past, so I think he won’t refuse. Moreover, now that such a talented child has appeared, he’s even less likely to refuse. What do you think?”

Wudang Sect means Hubei.

‘If he enters there, I’ll probably hardly see him…’

As if reading Jin Cheon-hee’s mind, the master said:

“If it’s a position the sect leader personally arranged, wouldn’t that be an opportunity like no other? It’s such a rare talent, so I put in some effort.”

“Yes. That’s a good thing. Right.”

Jin Cheon-hee forced a smile.

The master replied.

“It might be hard to see him for a while, but once his training progresses to some extent, you’ll be able to see him.”

Every word was right. Jin Cheon-hee nodded.

‘I must have grown quite attached to Cheon-woo. It’s regrettable, but it can’t be helped… Wait, Wudang Sect?’

The Wudang Sect appears frequently in novels too.

Jin Cheon-hee recalled one by one what happens to the Wudang Sect in the novel Supreme Heavenly Demon.

‘Wasn’t there a secret manual behind the statue of the Primordial Heavenly Lord?’

A good excuse to make a house call to the Wudang Sect had appeared.

“Master! Let’s send Cheon-woo quickly!”

In Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes, the two characters for ‘secret’ and ‘manual’ shone.

***

On the day Cheon-woo departed.

“Big brother. You must come visit the Wudang Sect. You must!”

The two children hugged each other and shared a tearful farewell.

Since Jin Cheon-hee’s name was also ‘Cheon-hee’, the name ‘Cheon-woo’ somehow felt like that of a real younger brother.

When he named him, he just attached something that came to mind, but this too felt like a coincidence.

“It’s not a visit, it’s a house call. I must! go to check if your condition is improving. Be good to the Wudang Sect people. And recite the incantation for erasing scars every day!”

It’s not an extraordinary incantation. It’s one of the miscellaneous techniques passed down in the Zhuge Clan that erases scars on the skin and increases regenerative power.