Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 143

Arc 21: The Way Home (歸路), The Way of Ghosts (鬼路)

When Jin Cheon-hee opened his eyes, he met the gaze of a black dragon on the ceiling.

A black dragon with golden borders.

There was only one thing this could mean.

“Is this… the demonic cult?”

As he tried to rise, he heard the rattling of chains.

Jin Cheon-hee looked down at his body.

Weren’t all his limbs bound to the bed?

‘Crazy, what is this…?!’

“Brother, you’re awake.”

“Ha-ryoon. I can’t move my body right now.”

“Yeah. That’s why I tied you up.”

What kind of madness was this?

Moreover, there was a large shackle on his ankle. The shackle was engraved with a qilin, symbolizing the White Dragon Medical Pavilion.

“Is this… the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron shackle made by Master?”

“Tsk.”

Yeo Ha-ryoon exhaled softly through his teeth.

It sounded more like the breath of a beast than a human.

“I called Master to treat you, brother. He was already tracking us nearby.”

“Tracking? Why was Master tracking me?”

“Probably because he thought this would happen.”

Suddenly, Jin Cheon-hee noticed that Yeo Ha-ryoon’s left ring and little fingers were missing.

“…Weren’t your fingers fine until I collapsed?”

“You’ll reattach them, brother.”

“Where are the other pieces?”

“The White Dragon has them.”

“Why?”

“Rental fee. They’ll keep them until you’re fully recovered here. Ah, don’t worry, they said they’d preserve them well with true qi so they won’t rot. They promised to maintain the freshness as if they were just cut.”

Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t follow the logic.

“What does that mean…”

Clank-

He tried to sit up, but the chains still made it difficult to move.

Yeo Ha-ryoon, with an expressionless face, scooped up some porridge and put it in Jin Cheon-hee’s mouth.

After swallowing, he realized it was more like rice flour water mixed with medicinal herbs and elixirs rather than porridge.

“Brother. They said you need to lie down because of the abdominal surgery.”

No wonder there was a blood bag attached to his navel.

“I know patients should lie down. Did you think I’d run off with the blood bag attached?”

To this, Yeo Ha-ryoon replied sincerely:

“I hope you’re not that crazy, at least.”

The situation, roughly summarized, was as follows:

Jin Cheon-hee thought only Yeo Ha-ryoon was nearby, but it seemed Master, having finished his duties at the Dragon Phoenix Gathering, was also rushing over.

Yeo Ha-ryoon had rescued Jin Cheon-hee, but the sword wounds Jin Cheon-hee had suffered were too severe, and there was no White Dragon Medical Pavilion branch nearby.

Anyway, as he was trying to carry Jin Cheon-hee to a demonic cult branch medical facility, Hwanggu found the White Dragon.

The White Dragon was shocked and performed emergency surgery on Jin Cheon-hee, but the relationship between the White Dragon Medical Pavilion and the demonic cult was strictly confidential.

If it were revealed externally, they would easily be labeled as traitors to the martial arts world.

While it might be okay for Jin Cheon-hee alone to stay, it would be difficult even for Yeo Ha-ryoon to cover up if Zhuge Rin stayed for long as well.

Yet they couldn’t let a disciple with a blood bag attached to his navel rest in some inn room.

So they secretly placed Jin Cheon-hee in the recovery room of a demonic cult branch.

In exchange, they took two of Yeo Ha-ryoon’s fingers as a token of promise(?).

The fingers of a sword master.

The Zhuge Rin who took them wasn’t in his right mind, but neither was Yeo Ha-ryoon who offered to cut them off.

‘It’s heavy… the token of promise for martial artists is too heavy.’

And Master said to keep the Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron shackle on until recovery, so taking that advice, Yeo Ha-ryoon shackled all four limbs and fixed them to the bed.

From ancient times, when it comes to prisons, isn’t it the demonic cult? They are specialists in confinement.

“Ha-ryoon. Let me go to the bathroom.”

“It’s okay. I’ve taken care of it.”

Even a martial arts-style catheter was fully equipped.

In other words, all measures for a severely injured patient were complete.

‘Come on, even if that’s the case, would I run away with a blood bag attached to my stomach? My body hasn’t even fully recovered.’

Of course, if he really wanted to, it would be possible.

Since he was a doctor himself, he could handle the blood bag on his own. He could even remove the stitches by himself.

‘…’

Yeo Ha-ryoon scooped up more porridge with the spoon.

“I told you before, brother. That you’d come to the demonic cult someday.”

“I didn’t know I’d come like this either.”

“I… thought you might.”

“How did you know?”

“Just. I had a feeling. Of course, next time you’ll probably come in a different way.”

Saying this, he brought the spoon to Jin Cheon-hee’s mouth.

Hap-

Jin Cheon-hee swallowed the porridge and frowned.

“This really tastes bad. Even if it’s unseasoned, it’s too awful.”

“If you’re unsatisfied, recover quickly and cook it yourself.”

Damn it, I’ll definitely recover quickly and get out of here!

Jin Cheon-hee gritted his teeth.

Yeo Ha-ryoon said:

“Oh, and there’s an antidote too. That Lost Soul Incense poison was strong. Since its composition was similar to our sect’s, it was easy to make an antidote. Taking a few pills should solve the poisoning symptoms.”

“Okay.”

At Jin Cheon-hee’s sulky voice, Yeo Ha-ryoon said:

“Still, I’m glad you woke up.”

“Yeah.”

Jin Cheon-hee didn’t expect to see Yeo Ha-ryoon like this after so long.

In the past, he was called the Little Heavenly Demon, but now he had grown so much that it seemed inappropriate to call him that anymore.

He had a tall stature and broad shoulders, with a solid build and long limbs, making for a good physique as a martial artist.

And the sword technique he showed before Jin Cheon-hee lost consciousness was so impressive that it wasn’t an exaggeration to call him the ‘protagonist’.

‘He might have become even stronger than in the original work.’

Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t have imagined that he would be able to cut down the Corpse Spirit Demon, who had received the baptism of the Blood Immortal, in one stroke.

There were more appropriate words than ‘cool’ or ‘impressive’.

‘Terrifying’ or ‘bizarre’.

Jin Cheon-hee never thought he would have the same impression that Yeo Ha-ryoon’s enemies had when they saw him.

“I’m really fortunate that you’re my brother.”

The future Jin Cheon-hee gave a double thumbs up to the past Jin Cheon-hee for choosing to make such a person his brother.

Whatever interpretation Yeo Ha-ryoon made of Jin Cheon-hee’s words, instead of answering, he just stroked Jin Cheon-hee’s hair once.

“Tell me if you need anything else.”

“Then, could you loosen the chains…”

“…Except for that.”

“Tch.”

Jin Cheon-hee puffed out his cheeks.

“Even if your fingers are reattached, they might not move like before.”

“Really?”

“The human body doesn’t work that easily. Of course, even if Master says it’s fine, there’s always a probability. In the worst case, you might have to live without those fingers forever.”

Since Master said he would maintain the freshness(?) by sending Five Elements True Qi, the freshness would be maintained.

However, even if the fingers are as fresh as if they were just cut, reattachment is another matter.

“…”

Yeo Ha-ryoon lowered his eyes.

Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t tell what those pitch-black eyes were thinking.

Even in the past, there wasn’t much light reflected in his retinas.

Perhaps because of this, the elders of the Biao Bureau often said that young Yeo Ha-ryoon looked eerie.

Now was when the Heavenly-Killing Star was deepening.

‘He must be going crazy with the desire to kill anything.’

This wasn’t like the natural growth process of adolescence, such as surging sexual desire.

This guy probably didn’t have such sensations.

It was a time when all his senses were going mad with the desire to kill, see blood, and harm anything.

As the protagonist, instead of going around killing innocent people, he only killed martial artists.

Now, thanks to the yoke Jin Cheon-hee had placed on him, he was barely able to function at the fringes of human social life.

Killing after restraining himself twice was considered relatively humane within the demonic cult.

But even that required constant suppression, which seemed quite difficult.

Perhaps because of this, Yeo Ha-ryoon, whom Jin Cheon-hee hadn’t seen in a long time, had become a more sharply defined handsome man, with eyes so dark they seemed ready to grab someone and lead them to death at any moment.

Yeo Ha-ryoon said:

“It’s okay. I gave those two fingers to you, brother.”

“What?”

“This body that you saved several times, what’s a couple of fingers compared to that?”

‘It’s heavy… Yeo Ha-ryoon’s brotherly love is heavy.’

Clank.

‘If only these chains binding my limbs weren’t here, it would have been a more martial arts-like scene…’

It might not have been suitable for the vast plains, but it was a conversation fit for a branch of the demonic cult.

Isn’t that also part of the charm of martial arts novels?

‘Repaying the life-saving grace from childhood with fingers today… Kuooooo…’

But it wasn’t something to hear while bound to a hospital bed with all four limbs.

Jin Cheon-hee felt dejected.

***

After regaining consciousness, Jin Cheon-hee thoroughly examined his body by taking his own pulse.

‘There’s not a single part that’s unharmed.’

It was a natural result, considering he had essentially fought two transcendent masters.

It was fortunate that he had taken an insane amount of elixirs, otherwise Jin Cheon-hee would have already been offered as a sacrifice by now.

Yeo Ha-ryoon must have seen his brother either dead or on the verge of death.

Given the nature of the Blood Immortal Sect’s sacrificial rituals, organ display was sure to follow.

Organs that hadn’t been exposed to alcohol or tobacco and had only consumed good things would probably be favored by the evil immortals.

Anyway, Jin Cheon-hee had won, and although the Corpse Spirit Demon had died and then unfairly risen again, entering what in modern raid terms would be called Phase 2, Yeo Ha-ryoon had entered at the right time and they were able to end it well.

‘First of all, my ribs are definitely gone, and it seems my internal organs were also damaged.’

Amidst all this, his limbs were still intact.

The muscles were injured, but at this level, he could recover with antibiotics and proper rest.

‘Judging by the suture marks, it seems Master didn’t get nervous even once during the surgery. How strange. It wasn’t like that when it was me.’

Jin Cheon-hee doesn’t know how afraid he was when he treated Zhuge Rin.

If something went wrong, if the treatment was incorrect…

There’s a reason why operating on family members is taboo.

Doctors lose their composure. This leads to major medical accidents.

However, it seemed that Zhuge Rin didn’t tremble or fear when he saw the collapsed Jin Cheon-hee.

‘He might have been a bit angry, though.’

He thought that Zhuge Rin couldn’t help but be angry, seeing that Jin Cheon-hee had gone to save people and ended up destroying his own body.

‘Originally, in the martial arts world, the only sewing masters do is mending their disciples’ torn martial arts uniforms…’

Instead of mending his disciple’s uniform, Zhuge Rin had to stitch up his body.

There’s no greater filial impiety than this.

‘When I’m fully recovered, I should remove the stitches myself.’

This was the cry of Jin Cheon-hee’s last bit of conscience.

‘By the way, the suturing is better than mine. Better than mine. It’s hard to achieve this even with a machine, wow.’

Thanks to this, he thought the scar wouldn’t be too big and would heal well.

Clank.

The inside of the handcuffs and shackles were well padded with cloth to prevent any abrasions.

Especially Master’s special Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron shackle fit Jin Cheon-hee’s ankle size well, and the weight was appropriate, showing signs of careful consideration.

‘I wasn’t planning to move until I’m fully recovered anyway.’

He wondered how he appeared in the eyes of Yeo Ha-ryoon and Zhuge Rin for them to act like this.

‘Everyone’s too sensitive.’

Thinking this, Jin Cheon-hee focused on recovery while lying down.

In any case, getting better comes first.