Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 53

“No. No. I can’t go back until I feed this to my grandson.”

Of course, that was about the martial world, and this grandmother didn’t care about it.

Jin Cheon-hee sighed.

At that moment, he noticed that the hem of the grandmother’s clothes was stained dark red.

Surprised, Jin Cheon-hee grabbed the grandmother’s wrist.

“You rascal! How dare you grab an elder’s wrist!”

“Grandmother, your elbow is completely shattered! You fell while climbing the stairs, didn’t you?”

“Shut up! You rascal!”

Unless she was someone trained in martial arts, it would be impossible for an ordinary grandmother to easily climb the Medical Pavilion stairs.

“You, you rascal?”

“Oh my, just let me take a look.”

The grandmother wouldn’t show her knees until the end, but it seemed she had fallen quite hard.

And judging by the wounds on her hands, it wasn’t just a single fall.

‘The food must be incredibly heavy too… Oh my…’

It seems she came up like this on Spring’s Beginning to feed her heartless grandson who doesn’t even show his face.

Jin Cheon-hee realized.

‘The feeding isn’t what’s important. She just wants to see her grandson’s face.’

If delivering the food was the goal, she could have asked the medical branch at the foot of the mountain to pass it on.

This grandmother must have missed her grandson terribly.

Falling multiple times on the long, high stairs.

Jin Cheon-hee said,

“We need to treat you first, so come in.”

Instead, he planned to take her to the Bamboo Grove Hall where they receive outsiders.

He could treat her there and then call her grandson.

‘After getting permission from Chief Yoo too.’

Jin Cheon-hee’s principle was that even when exercising flexibility, it should be done within the rules.

The grandmother said,

“Ju Do-hwa. That’s my grandson’s name. He’s in the Acupuncture Hall.”

The Acupuncture Hall is the department responsible for acupuncture and moxibustion within the Medical Pavilion, known for being extremely busy.

Jin Cheon-hee offered his back to the grandmother.

“Here, get on my back.”

“I can walk on my own!”

“You’re bleeding a lot, grandmother. I listened to your stubbornness, so now you listen to me.”

The grandmother’s frame was small enough for Jin Cheon-hee to carry her on his back.

As they entered the Medical Pavilion like that, they met Yoo Ho after just three steps. He seemed to have come out in a hurry, as his breathing was labored.

“Who is this…?”

Fearing she might be chased out, Jin Cheon-hee quickly said,

“She says she brought some Spring’s Beginning food for her grandson. Her grandson’s name is Ju Do-hwa.”

“Ju Do-hwa?”

At those words, one side of Yoo Ho’s forehead wrinkled. The grandmother shouted,

“Why aren’t you going?”

Yoo Ho said,

“…Alright, for now. Please take good care of her.”

Usually, Yoo Ho would have conducted two or three inspections, but for some reason he was lenient today. Moreover, I didn’t expect him to add words about taking good care of her.

This was impossible given the personality of Yoo Ho that Jin Cheon-hee had observed so far.

‘Does Yoo Ho have a grandmother in his hometown too?’

Well, permission was granted, so that’s fine.

At that moment, a group of people was coming up behind them.

“The White Dragon Medical Pavilion is still the same.”

Turning around, he saw people dressed as physicians speaking. However, the characters written on their chests were not those of the White Dragon Medical Pavilion.

‘Hwaju Medical Pavilion’.

I wonder what business they have at the White Dragon Medical Pavilion?

Jin Cheon-hee’s gaze lingered for a moment before turning towards the Bamboo Grove Hall.

The grandmother’s treatment was the priority.

***

Jin Cheon-hee told a passing servant to inform Ju Do-hwa in the Acupuncture Hall that his grandmother had come to visit.

“I’ll relay the message, but the Acupuncture Hall is never in one place, so it might take quite a while.”

It’s a time when they would be busy wrestling with patients. Moreover, this period before Spring’s Beginning is when more patients come.

‘The cold has eased, and the weather is good, so it’s the time when novice martial artists fight recklessly outside.’

Unlike winter, it’s good for hunting so there’s no worry about starving, the wind is calm so it’s good for boat rides, and it’s even better for martial arts competitions.

There’s no better season for outings.

And all those injured novice martial artists gather at the White Dragon Medical Pavilion for a general meeting.

Thanks to this, the Medical Pavilion members are dying trying to take care of the injured patients.

Among them, the Acupuncture Hall is being ground down the most.

“Grandmother. Since you’re here, let’s get you fully treated before you go.”

“No need. It’ll heal quickly if left alone.”

“Come on, we made a promise. I listened to your stubbornness, so you listen to mine.”

Jin Cheon-hee, seeing no other way, finally brought out his ultimate technique of aegyo.

The smile of a young master-like boy was enough to sway the grandmother’s heart.

“That rascal is so cute and handsome. Alright. I give up, I give up.”

“Thank you!”

“What are you thanking me for? I should be thanking you. Oh my, you’re so gentle…”

The grandmother clicked her tongue and then took out some prepared sweets from her bundle.

It was flower dough fried in malt syrup, and just looking at it gave off a strong sweet scent.

‘Grandmother, you prepared something that takes a lot of effort.’

Jin Cheon-hee put the sweet the grandmother handed him into his mouth.

“Hehehe.”

When he laughed like a child, the grandmother’s wrinkled cheeks moved as if remembering her grandson.

“What’s your name?”

“Jin Cheon-hee.”

“A person shouldn’t be that nice, you know?”

The grandmother showed her knees.

Jin Cheon-hee was shocked for a long time when he saw her knees.

“Grandmother, didn’t it hurt?”

It was terrible.

It looked so painful that an ordinary person would have cried loudly and gone back down after falling just once.

“How long did it take you to come up?”

“Don’t know.”

‘This is serious. I wonder if her knee cartilage is okay.’

Jin Cheon-hee carefully examined the grandmother’s knees to see if there was any damage to the bones.

Fortunately, her knees were more intact than those of an ordinary person.

‘That’s strange. She fell so badly, yet her cartilage is fine.’

It was strange but a good thing. He only needed to treat the torn wound.

Since it hadn’t started oozing or festering yet, simple treatment was sufficient.

Jin Cheon-hee took a needle and pressed acupoints to attempt anesthesia.

Jin Cheon-hee had now gained enough skill to boast about being a physician of the martial world wherever he went.

If someone knew that he had gained such skills in less than a year since coming to this world, they would be astonished.

“Grandmother, does it hurt?”

“How strange. I can’t feel anything.”

Good. Jin Cheon-hee sprayed medicinal alcohol on the wound to disinfect it.

Next, what Jin Cheon-hee took out was not suture thread, but adhesive glue.

‘After using suture thread in Wang Gak-yeon’s surgery, it became famous. But there’s no need to use it now.’

Suture thread.

At first, Jin Cheon-hee thought he might have to use natural suture thread made from cow or sheep intestines, as ancient humans did in BC. However, because the main component is part of animal internal organs, there was no way to prevent infection or internal inflammatory reactions.

‘A substance that is harmless to the human body, maintains 60-80% tensile strength inside the body, and dissolves on its own when the time comes.’

Yoo Ho accomplished that.

It was a spirit pill.

Spirit pills could be said to be a form of qi in the form of a substance. They exist in the form of medicine and then turn into qi as they are absorbed into the body.

He had Medical Pavilion members use the Five Elements Divine Energy of metal to weave it into thread.

This was something even Jin Cheon-hee hadn’t thought of.

‘And the surgery costs skyrocketed.’

The first thing woven was monofilament, a single thick thread.

It has a smooth surface and low tissue reactivity, so side effects are minimal, but stability is low. It’s also called single thread.

Jin Cheon-hee improved this into multifilament.

Multifilament refers to braiding several thin threads into one thread.

It’s strong enough to be used as fishing line, but because bacteria can easily get between the filaments, it’s less hygienic than monofilament. Moreover, it requires a lot of skill to braid several layers of thread so thin it’s invisible to the eye.

It’s called composite thread.

While it took one Medical Pavilion member to weave monofilament, it took six Medical Pavilion members to improve it to multifilament.

‘But what we needed was multifilament. We couldn’t be sure how long the tensile strength would last, and we had to suture inflamed tissue.’

Yoo Ho said that depending on which spirit pill is used as material, the price varies greatly, but even the cheapest one, when made into suture thread, is more expensive than weaving thread out of gold.

“Aren’t you going to stitch it up? I heard the White Dragon Medical Pavilion is good at that?”

Perhaps she heard from her grandson? She knows quite well.

This suture thread made in this way is saving many lives even at this moment. But because of this crazy manufacturing process, it can’t be used indiscriminately.

“Are you going to do martial arts outside?”

“How could I do that?”

“Then this much is fine without doing that.”

Medical costs in this world are expensive.

Moreover, if it’s a medical branch not affiliated with the White Dragon Medical Pavilion, they might not even be able to touch it because they don’t know how to undo the sutures, or there’s a high possibility that quacks might step up to do it.

Surprisingly, in this world, unverified unlicensed doctors run rampant. It’s a side effect of medical skills being passed down through unofficial lineages.

Although the harm has been reduced to some extent since the establishment of Medical Pavilions, there were an incredible number of quack doctors at a level incomprehensible in modern Korea.

This is because a system where the state checks the quality of education, conducts exams, issues licenses, and regulates has not yet been established.

In fact, even patients have no way to verify whether a medicine is effective or not.

On the other hand, fortunately, at this level, adhesive glue was sufficient to attach the flesh, and it would naturally fall off by the time the flesh healed.

Above all, it saves money because there’s no need to visit the medical branch again.

“Grandmother. But once this is applied, you shouldn’t move much for a while.”

The problem was that the wound was right below the knee.

The wound was stamped horizontally in a stair-like shape.

“Is it okay to move a little?”

Jin Cheon-hee fell into thought.

This medical adhesive glue was invented based on Jin Cheon-hee’s opinion.

Something was needed that could partially replace suture thread for such external injuries.

After repeated improvements, something usable was finally created, and thanks to the special herbs from the Sichuan Tang family, it had quite good adhesive strength.

Unless it was right on the knee, he thought this position should be fine.

‘Actually, the best would be for the grandson to come and undo the sutures.’

But if he forgets completely like this time because he’s busy, the grandmother’s feelings would probably be very hurt.

As always, things in the world don’t go as planned.

Jin Cheon-hee exercised adult wisdom.

“Hmm, after you meet your grandson, I’ll carry you down the stairs when you leave. And no more climbing the Medical Pavilion stairs until you’re fully healed, okay? Promise me. Don’t walk for at least a day or two.”

“Alright.”

Jin Cheon-hee deliberately extracted the grandmother’s promise in an indifferent voice and then lightly began the treatment.

Next, he skillfully started dressing the wound using bandages and gauze.

The grandmother silently stared at what Jin Cheon-hee was doing.

Until just a moment ago, she had the face of an ordinary grandmother. But now her eyes were shining with a mysterious light.

Completely unaware of this, Jin Cheon-hee continued the treatment with care.