Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 57

“Imperial Prince Consort, please lower your speech. I don’t know where to put myself.”

Jin Cheon-hee smiled broadly, but the Imperial Prince Consort shook his head.

“No. I may be called Imperial Prince Consort, but I’m of humble birth. Please feel at ease with me, doctor.”

‘To use honorifics until the end for such a young child. My goodness…’

Why on earth had Wangya Ju fallen for this man?

She wasn’t one to not know that it would be far more advantageous to make a political marriage with a man of influence.

After that, no one would care if she made this man a concubine or had a secret affair with him.

She had dominated the battlefield with overwhelming military might.

In an era where heroes were known for their lust, it wouldn’t have been much of a flaw.

‘Certainly, his beauty is exceptional. A bit less than our master, but still. And he seems quite kind too.’

But that was all.

Wangya Ju had given her heart to this man.

She was prepared to give him all the precious things in the world for his sake.

Such was the depth of Wangya Ju’s favor.

What on earth had she fallen for?

Jin Cheon-hee shrugged his shoulders.

“It seems you’ve learned martial arts?”

“Yes, I learned self-defense techniques. I also learned the Three-Elements Stride.”

“The Three-Elements Stride is quite good, isn’t it?”

Jin Cheon-hee grinned. Then, in a slightly shameless voice, he said:

“We’ll finish quickly, so take a good nap and wake up.”

“Doctor, will I be able to continue living as an entertainer in the future?”

Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t understand what dance meant to this man. But he seemed to understand one thing.

That sometimes there are people captivated by one thing. And that it’s like an addiction, where the thirst can’t be quenched by wealth, honor, or even love.

But unlike when he read it in a book, seeing it directly felt a bit strange.

It felt like a puzzle piece was missing.

“Is there perhaps something you haven’t told me yet?”

“…”

“Once preparations are complete, you’ll soon enter the operating room, and then it will be too late. You need to tell me everything, even the small details.”

Why?

The memory from when he read the book clashed with his intuition as a doctor.

In the book, this man was clearly an entertainer who lived for dance and died for dance.

What he saw now was exactly that image.

Having lost his leg, he couldn’t dance anymore and died without eating a single meal.

That’s how it was in the book.

That’s how it looked now.

But for some reason, he couldn’t understand why the back of his neck felt so chilly.

The Imperial Prince Consort said:

“I’ve told you everything I can remember.”

It was a seductive smile like a red flower.

A smile that made him understand why Wangya Ju cherished this man so much.

As his fragrant voice colored the air, Jin Cheon-hee nodded.

“I see. Alright.”

‘This bastard… is extremely suspicious.’

Until just now, he was saying “Doctor, please save my leg!” but when asked something, he answers with that kind of receptionist smile.

At the same time, Jin Cheon-hee realized:

‘He’d rather die on the operating table than speak.’

He’s the most troublesome type of patient.

‘Surely there aren’t many patients like this in the martial arts world?’

People with such incomprehensible convictions from a doctor’s perspective.

People who would throw away their lives like straw to keep a secret.

The kind of extremely rare people you’d hardly ever see in modern times.

‘Right. Where else in the world would there be more people like that than in this martial arts world I’m in… Hahaha…’

It’s maddening. And Jin Cheon-hee suddenly realized a truth.

Jin Cheon-hee said to the Imperial Prince Consort:

“There’s nothing more precious in this world than life.”

“Y-Yes?”

“No matter how great your conviction is, nothing is more precious than life. It’ll be too late when you realize it later.”

Listen when a doctor speaks!

***

The Imperial Prince Consort didn’t speak until the end.

Suspecting this might happen, Jin Cheon-hee checked his pulse two, three more times, and worried he might have missed something, he called other doctors to check his pulse together.

Nothing special came up.

Jin Cheon-hee shared this with his master before the surgery.

“Hmm, it’s a difficult problem. But it’s also one you’ll encounter countless times in the future.”

Not just in the martial arts world, but the imperial court also has secrets.

Especially the secrets of the imperial court are accompanied by conspiracies and schemes.

“Hee-ya, secrets, you see. Sometimes they’re kept to protect oneself, but there are also cases where one keeps silent to protect the listener.”

Jin Cheon-hee let out a small sigh.

‘Right. As long as it’s not related to the surgery, it’s not my problem.’

Still, it feels a bit unsettling.

His instinct as a doctor keeps pricking the back of his neck.

Even so, it’s not like he can interrogate the Imperial Prince Consort, and if he’s determined to keep his mouth shut, what else can be done?

The master’s eyes gleamed.

“More importantly, it’s a new surgical method.”

His expression was as solemn as usual, but his eyes were like those of a child unwrapping a gift.

High enthusiasm was a good thing. But sometimes it was chilling.

Maybe Phantom Archer’s expression about not seeming to see people as people was right.

The longer he spent time with him, the more clearly Jin Cheon-hee felt it.

The master didn’t have the fear that comes when dealing with life.

For him, humans were like a puzzle.

Once he perfectly fit the pieces together, his interest waned.

It was too much to be simply called a desire for honor, considering the patient was Wangya Ju’s Imperial Prince Consort.

The consequences were obvious if the surgery failed.

“You look happy even though the stakes are high, Master.”

“Hmm, so that’s how it looks to your eyes.”

Yet this man wanted to do it.

Without even thinking of looking back. Jin Cheon-hee thought that perhaps the preciousness of life wasn’t really that important to Divine Doctor Baek Rin.

It might just be that patients save their lives to match his madness.

‘This too might be a talent, if you can call it that…’

Zhuge Rin said:

“When I was young, the family head told me. Since we’re not going to live long anyway, think about how to live. Maybe that’s become a habit.”

He smiled.

His smile, with lowered eyelashes, was so divine and holy that it took the breath away from those who saw it.

“The stakes aren’t important. Hee-ya, what’s important is how enjoyable it is. Don’t you think the attitude of trying to live doing only enjoyable things as much as possible is important?”

That was Zhuge Rin’s way of living. Jin Cheon-hee thought:

‘They said he didn’t even eat before I came. Just swallowed a wall-breaking pill once every few days.’

Yoo Ho said it was because he had no will to live.

But Jin Cheon-hee thought differently.

‘If eating wasn’t fun for him. If he just didn’t want to do things that weren’t fun…’

What an absurd hedonist.

Eventually, Jin Cheon-hee shook his head.

‘No. This is just my baseless speculation. I’m just over-interpreting his intellectual interest.’

That’s where the thought ended.

Jin Cheon-hee cut off the vain conjecture like cutting off a reptile’s tail.

“First, about the external fixation technique.”

Jin Cheon-hee quickly shared the surgery plan with her master.

Among them were medical knowledge that Jin Cheon-hee had written and passed on to the medical pavilion, but of course, there were many new things as well.

The given time is short. It must be used as efficiently as possible.

***

All surgery preparations were complete.

Perhaps because they had done it once before, the preparations were faster than last time.

The patient was on the operating table, and the medical pavilion doctors were preparing the anesthesia.

Jin Cheon-hee put on his surgical gown.

“It’s better than last time.”

Yoo Ho replied:

“Thanks to whom?”

The hastily sewn together cloth is now gone. A properly made surgical gown from the start was completed.

“We’ll need to make a lot more, right?”

“Yes, I’ve already ordered them from the workshop. I only made the ones for young master and master myself.”

No wonder the embroidery on the master’s clothes was so delicate.

Though it wasn’t done too extensively considering the surgery, it was very carefully done.

Jin Cheon-hee said:

“Yoo Ho.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to make the decision to treat patients.”

At the honest thanks, Yoo Ho was momentarily at a loss for words. Eventually, he said:

“…If you’re thankful, could you reduce my workload a bit?”

“That’s not possible.”

“Then I won’t accept your thanks.”

Saying that, he pulled the back collar of Jin Cheon-hee’s gown and tied the strings.

“What color embroidery would you like? Next time, I’ll make it after getting your opinion.”

Jin Cheon-hee replied:

“The same color as Master’s.”

“Damn it, I knew you’d say that.”

Jin Cheon-hee giggled softly.

“Well then, let’s begin, Yoo Ho.”

***

The operating room of orthopedic surgery is quite different from what ordinary people imagine a surgery room to be like.

Usually, people think of surgery with scalpels, forceps, and sutures.

Of course, such tools are used in orthopedic surgery as well. However, a few more things are added.

Hammers, drills, screws, steel bars.

Tools you might see at a construction site are also used.

Since there’s no electricity in this world, drills aren’t used.

Instead, they decided to use screw awls with internal energy.

Entering inside, the patient was lying under anesthesia, and the medical pavilion members were checking the patient’s pulse in real-time.

“This will take longer than last time. Everyone ate beforehand, right?”

All the medical pavilion members’ eyes fixed on Jin Cheon-hee.

Jin Cheon-hee calmly stood in front of the operating table.

This is only the second surgery he’s performing in this world.

Nevertheless, various equipment is better prepared than before.

It’s thanks to the steady preparations they’ve made so far.

“I’ll start with irrigation.”

Usually, low-pressure irrigation is done with saline solution.

Saline solution might sound difficult, but it’s simply salt water.

Yoo Ho carefully began low-pressure irrigation with sterilized salt water.

‘He’s really useful.’

“Basic irrigation is complete.”

At Yoo Ho’s words, Jin Cheon-hee picked up the scalpel.

Debridement.

It means removing contaminated or dead soft tissue.

Especially subcutaneous fat and fascia are areas where blood hardly reaches.

Since these could easily become breeding grounds for bacteria, it was better to remove them as thoroughly as possible if possible.

‘Usually, when examining muscles, we check four criteria (Scully’s 4C): consistency, color, capacity to bleed, and contractility, but…’

In actual clinical practice, different doctors tend to make different judgments even on the same affected area.

It’s an area that can’t be learned just from books or photos.

In Jin Cheon-hee’s case, the judgment on this part was simple.

‘The patient consumed the Five Elements Pill’s fire energy until the end.’

Jin Cheon-hee sent fire energy to the fascia.

Following the flow of qi, she could feel the contamination level of the muscles.

Areas where the fire energy was strongly colliding were contaminated tissues. Conversely, areas where the fire energy didn’t go were dead tissues.

‘It can be applied like this too.’

It’s an application method learned while studying the Five-Elemental Divine Technique.

Combining it with surgical techniques made it even clearer than seeing with the eyes.

Jin Cheon-hee’s fingertips moved as if possessed by a god.