Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 71 Full

Her father once told her:

“Guarding and self-defense are different. It’s much harder to protect someone else than to protect yourself.”

At that time, her father passed on everything he knew to his daughter.

It was closer to mercenary skills than martial arts.

‘The wind direction is good, and the moon is conveniently dark. I hope the enemy doesn’t spot us like this.’

At that moment, birds suddenly took flight all at once.

To the casual observer, it looked no different from startled mountain birds flapping their wings.

Though thinking it was nothing, she tightened her grip on the bow. As soon as the bird, or rather birds, began to chase after Jin Cheon-hee, five arrows flew from her hand.

Shweeek!

The birds each took an arrow to the head and fell.

Seeing this, she realized.

‘Tracking scent!’

It was a tracking perfume designed to be detectable by scent even from afar.

It seems the yellow dog had been marked with the tracking scent. However, even so, there was nothing the two children could do.

It wouldn’t wash off with water, and to properly neutralize it, they’d need to go to the medical pavilion.

‘It looks like the yellow dog knew that and went into a deep cave… but as soon as it came out, they tracked it immediately.’

Despite seeing Gak-yeon’s arrows, Jin Cheon-hee’s speed didn’t decrease.

‘He’s frighteningly calm.’

She had heard that the most important virtue of a doctor was composure.

In that sense, Jin Cheon-hee never seemed surprised by anything.

Peeeeep-!

A whistle sounded from far away.

It seems their position had been discovered.

Simultaneously, a masked figure in pitch-black clothes revealed himself under the moonlight.

On this dark night, in conditions where an ordinary person would struggle to even discern afterimages, she drew her bowstring again.

Swish!

The arrow lodged itself above the bastard’s collarbone.

She had aimed for the neck, which was regrettable. But that wasn’t the important thing.

“A kill with one shot is every archer’s goal. But it’s not easy in real combat. The opponent has also trained in martial arts, so they know how to avoid vital points. What do you do then? Well… that’s…”

Wang Gak-yeon loosed the next arrow.

Swish!

The second arrow pierced between the masked man’s eyes.

It seems he couldn’t dodge due to the pain of the arrow in his collarbone.

“You don’t need to put great meaning into each and every arrow. If one arrow can slow down the enemy’s movements, that’s already a gain.”

“Hmm… I see. The important thing isn’t killing with one shot, but the positive effect created by each and every arrow.”

The teachings of her master and father echoed in the young girl’s mind.

She couldn’t remember how to shoot, but her body reacted.

Tang!

She hit the next masked man. And right after, she sensed a masked man’s presence above her head.

Dad had said:

“Don’t fear close combat. If your body stiffens, you die.”

Her body rotated.

The bow struck the jaw like a blunt weapon.

Thud!

A hollow sound rang out from the skull. The impact rattled the enemy’s brain.

It connected perfectly.

She gained two steps of distance. At the same time, an arrow left her hand.

Thwump!

She was out of breath.

The enemies had now fully recognized her presence.

***

As he ran down the mountain slope, Jin Cheon-hee thought:

‘Gak-yeon, are you alright? This mister is scared.’

Though he looked like a boy on the outside, inside was an ordinary modern doctor.

He had studied normally in South Korea, taken exams normally, gone through residency normally, and become a doctor.

His medical volunteer work had only been domestic, and going overseas with an NGO was his first time before he died.

‘It’s a scene I’ve often seen in Murim novels.’

But there was a world of difference between vaguely imagining something and actually experiencing it.

The masked assassins were seriously extending their killing hands towards children.

They had no intention of showing mercy from the start.

Their only goal was the yellow dog in Jin Cheon-hee’s arms.

They had tried to capture it alive if possible, but now that an interference had appeared, they seemed to have no lingering attachments.

It looked like they would kill to snatch the letter.

Against them, Wang Gak-yeon was firing arrows with all her might.

She was incredibly composed and had fighting spirit.

It was hard to imagine her as the same child who would occasionally play with neighborhood kids in the empty lot and come back at sunset with barley taffy in her mouth.

The arrows shot from her small hands penetrated the enemies’ bodies.

They didn’t always hit vital points, but they unfailingly pierced through one part of the body.

Jin Cheon-hee let out a small laugh.

‘I’m the most scared one here.’

For Jin Cheon-hee, who had lived his entire life as a modern person, this situation was utterly terrifying.

Nevertheless, there was not a single wasted movement in Jin Cheon-hee’s actions.

Even Wang Gak-yeon couldn’t understand why Jin Cheon-hee was so calm.

It was thanks to the Three-Elements Stride he had practiced to the point of stupidity.

Five masked men revealed themselves.

‘Let’s trust Gak-yeon with about two of them.’

Before his head could process anything, his body kept moving.

The boy’s footsteps accurately found and penetrated the gaps in their formation.

Whoosh–!

Before they could swing their swords or throw hidden weapons, the boy had already brushed past them.

Jin Cheon-hee saw the masked man’s eyes widen slightly.

Woof-

The yellow dog seemed to like it too, barking softly to praise Jin Cheon-hee.

Contrary to everyone’s amazement, Jin Cheon-hee felt like his heart was about to burst.

The boy smiled out of habit.

The tension pulled hard at the muscles in the boy’s face.

‘He’s smiling?’

The masked men, seemingly irritated, attacked Jin Cheon-hee.

A poison-coated sword flew towards the boy’s neck.

Jin Cheon-hee twisted his shoulder and spun his body once.

Like a gear, he avoided the sword strike with minimal rotation and continued running.

During this series of movements, not a moment was wasted.

The yellow dog wagged its tail excitedly.

Woof, woof!

“Are you having fun? I’m scared.”

Woof!

The yellow dog seemed amazed that he had avoided all the enemies’ attacks with minimal movement.

The masked men were going crazy.

‘No matter how I look at it, it seems like the Three-Elements Stride?’

The opponent wasn’t a martial arts master, but a child.

And not with an advanced technique, but with just a basic footwork that even low-level warriors learn, he was completely avoiding their ambush.

Moreover, when the boy dodged, blind arrows filled that space.

Shweeek!

The masked men fell one by one, their brains spilling out.

The two children dispatched the masked men as smoothly as if they had practiced for a long time.

‘No matter how brilliant his mind is, he’s still a child. He’ll soon run out of stamina!’

‘…?’

It was strange. Neither of the two children showed any signs of their breathing becoming ragged.

The girl kept drawing her bowstring with a cold face, and the boy kept dodging attacks with a grin.

They showed absolutely no signs of fatigue.

However, the problem arose from an unexpected situation.

Wang Gak-yeon’s quiver was starting to feel light.

‘I should have brought more arrows.’

She wasn’t yet at the level of her father, a master archer. Then, arrows were necessary.

Just then, hidden weapons flew from behind Jin Cheon-hee.

There was no time to hesitate.

She drew her last arrow.

Twang!

If the Phantom Archer had seen it, he would have shed tears of emotion.

Hitting a flying hidden weapon with an arrow was an incredible feat.

Doing it in real combat meant she had become a true archer.

The hidden weapon changed course after being hit by the arrow.

Wang Gak-yeon shouted.

“Hurry and go! Don’t look back!”

At that voice, Jin Cheon-hee felt an ominous premonition.

The sound of arrows no longer rang out from behind. Instead, the sound of a small knife being drawn was heard.

It was the small knife Wang Gak-yeon always carried.

The meaning of drawing it was clear.

Jin Cheon-hee said:

“I’ll handle what comes next! You run away!”

“Are you telling me to abandon my friend and run?”

“…I mean go and call an adult.”

Bullshit.

By the time she returned to this forest with an adult, Jin Cheon-hee would already be found as a corpse.

Wang Gak-yeon gritted her molars.

“Cheon-hee. Throw away the yellow dog! Throw it and run! At least you should live!”

If she had to choose between a familiar dog and a friend who saved her life, it was the friend.

Gak-yeon had already made up her mind.

Whatever important information for the martial arts world that dog held, it wasn’t more valuable than her friend’s life. However, Jin Cheon-hee had made up his mind in a different sense.

The boy tightened the knot of the bundle.

“Gak-yeon. Run with all your might.”

The boy’s face contorted even more as he smiled.

He looked almost like a madman.

At that moment, Jin Cheon-hee’s fist struck the ground.

Kwaaang!

It contained the magnificent internal energy of the metal aspect of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique. But it was strange.

‘How on earth did he get such internal energy?’

It started with the Fire Qi circulation of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique.

Wang Gak-yeon couldn’t know the principle of circulating and amplifying internal energy.

She was just stunned by the powerful strike.

It wasn’t even an extraordinary fist technique.

‘Isn’t that the lower strike of the Three-Elements Fist Technique?’

That magnificent internal energy exploded through what was considered the most third-rate fist technique in the martial arts world.

Moreover, why did he strike the ground?

Some of the masked men staggered from the shock. But it wasn’t enough to incapacitate the enemy.

However, Jin Cheon-hee was aiming for the next move.

Crunch-

Not far away, the sound of snow cracking was heard.

On the snowy mountain, the mountainside.

Like the photos of Mount Baekdu he had seen as a child, even dormant volcanoes are mountains, so snow accumulates. And that snow doesn’t always stay in place.

Snow collapses quite easily even with moderate impact.

Crunch-crunch-crunch-

“Avalanche! Run away!”

Gak-yeon shouted in surprise towards Jin Cheon-hee, but he was no longer there.

Jin Cheon-hee had already moved far away.

“Aaaaargh!”

Tracking or whatever, they were powerless in the face of nature.

The masked men started running in terror.

Suddenly, Wang Gak-yeon remembered what her father, the Phantom Archer, had said:

“The Zhuge family is… masters of battle formations. Their minds are scarier than swords. Battle formations… I’m not sure how to explain this, daughter.”

“Just say it’s a military strategy that uses surrounding terrain and nature well to annihilate or drive out enemies. Would that help me understand?”

“Ahaha, to be honest, even your father doesn’t know much. I’ve faced countless enemies, but that seems quite different from battle formations.”

Wang Gak-yeon realized those words.

‘Is this… a battle formation?’

It’s different. Very different.

The battle formations she knew about, don’t they prepare something in advance and wait for the enemy to attack?

In any case, it seemed similar in the sense of carefully observing the surrounding terrain and using the natural environment to cause havoc.

Kwaaang–!

Even the masked men cursed as they ran down the mountainside.

The same was true for Wang Gak-yeon.

And at the very front was Jin Cheon-hee.

Surprisingly, the boy was running on top of the snow.

While using the ice circulation of the Five-Elemental Divine Technique in his feet.

Seeing this, the masked men said in bewilderment:

“C-could it be the Unperceivable Snow Gliding?”

After the White Scale Armor, someone else was fooled again. But it was understandable.

Because the slope was steep, instead of using lightness skill to move his feet, the boy stepped on suitable tree branches and quickly slid down the snow.

There was no way to catch up at running speed.

Jin Cheon-hee said:

“I might not have played golf, but I did ski a bit!”

To be precise, it was snowboarding.

Woof!

Unable to understand what he meant, the yellow dog wagged its tail enthusiastically, seemingly excited.