Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 76

Seol Gyeon said:

“Old man… what do you mean…”

“Mad dog. I lost feeling on the first day. It’s not uncommon for beggars to get frostbite, and I had already given up on my limbs then. Hehehe… But when the White Dragon Doctor said he could save two of them, this old man was so surprised.”

“Old man!”

“What, mad dog?”

“Are you thinking of letting go of your beggar’s staff?”

“Not just the beggar’s staff. I’m letting go of the Sect Leader position too.”

The Beggar’s Sect Leader exhaled heavily. His breath was labored through his broken front teeth.

Eventually, he spoke as if lamenting:

“What? You old geezer.”

“A puppy was crying for help at the foot of the mountain. I knew it wasn’t you, but that bastard dog’s crying face looked like yours, so my body moved. I knew it was a trap from the start. But it resembled you. At that moment, it was the young you.”

“…”

“Even as the Beggar’s Sect Leader who knows everything, I don’t know why you’re being swayed by inner demons, mad dog. But I do know one thing.”

“…”

The old man looked down at his young disciple.

His eyes were clearer than snowflakes.

“It’s all because of my lack of virtue.”

The Beggar’s Sect Leader doesn’t know why Seol Gyeon went mad.

He doesn’t know that he killed his disciple’s parents. But it seems he had some guess.

“As of today, this old man will step down from the position of Beggar’s Sect Leader. And I will appoint Seol Gyeon, the Rear Beggar, as the next Sect Leader. Though you’re wandering a long path, you’re a clever child, so I believe you’ll do well.”

She gritted her teeth.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things! I’m not qualified!”

“Hohohoho.”

The old man just laughs.

“This old man, despite being a Sect Leader, was always clumsy at letting go of things. Now that I’m letting go of the Sect Leader position and my limbs one by one, I’ve made great progress. Mad dog, that’s what being a Sect Leader is. It refers to letting go, and the need to let go.”

It was a conversation between the previous Beggar’s Sect Leader and the future Sect Leader, not just a grandfather and his mad disciple.

“Do you have anything to let go of?”

Seol Gyeon gritted her teeth. Blood flowed between her teeth.

At that weight, at that enlightenment.

“…”

Unable to answer, she went outside.

From afar, the sound of a woman’s screams echoed several times. As if spewing out her resentment, and after spewing it out, she returned.

Her eyes were swollen with tears, but her face and hands were neat as if she had washed them in ice water.

The old master asked:

“What drove you so deeply into inner demons?”

Seol Gyeon answered:

“I can’t say.”

Facing her parents’ enemy and master, she ultimately chose to keep her mouth shut. The old master said:

“Given your nature, it’s clearly a secret for my sake, not yours. Are you hesitating because you fear I’ll fall into inner demons too if I learn the cause of yours?”

She deliberately grumbled coldly.

“What good would it do for you to know?”

“Mad dog. A dog that’s gone mad but never once bit anyone. If you were truly mad, your heart would be at ease… tsk tsk tsk…”

Jin Cheon-hee thought:

‘If he finds out, the old master will spend the rest of his life in regret.’

No matter how evil a sect leader is, one’s disciple is more precious than anything. There’s no master who can remain unaffected after killing their disciple’s parents.

It seemed the mad disciple had decided not to leave such a burden when he was about to perform the golden ratio amputation.

Seol Gyeon said:

“It’s okay. I’ve decided to let it go now.”

Her voice trembled. The old master smiled benevolently.

“You mean your inner demons?”

Seol Gyeon finally lets go of one thing.

“I’ve let it go.”

Jin Cheon-hee realized that she had let go of one of her anguishes.

It was once everything that constituted her.

Seol Gyeon, who had been spinning in circles chasing her tail, decided to let go of her tail.

“Then untie your knot and bow.”

She untied the waist knot symbolizing the Rear Beggar. Then she bowed twelve times.

It meant she had to let go of twelve anguishes.

It was impossible to know at which bow her parents were. But she struggled from the very first bow.

Finally, after finishing all the bows, the old master said:

“Take my knot.”

The knot symbolizing the Sect Leader was passed to her.

Before she could say anything, Jin Cheon-hee interrupted.

“I’m starting the surgery. Please leave.”

Jin Cheon-hee had promised his life and two of his limbs. Now it was time to keep that promise.

***

Jin Cheon-hee let out a small sigh.

The Beggar’s Sect Leader.

Jin Cheon-hee didn’t know much about him either.

The Beggar’s Sect is rarely used as more than a plot device in martial arts novels, and because he died so early, there wasn’t time to learn much about him.

“White Dragon has raised his disciple well. There’s no need to look so sad. If I can save my life by giving up two, there’s nothing I can’t do, right?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ve wandered the martial world for many years, so it would be nice to be cared for by my disciple in my twilight years. What greater blessing is there than growing old and dying in the world of martial arts?”

The old master smiles faintly, but calmly.

That smile was so comfortable that anyone who saw it would think he was going for a bath rather than an amputation surgery.

Jin Cheon-hee nodded at that calmness.

Jin Cheon-hee still only superficially understands what martial arts mean to martial artists.

More than martial arts, he’s only worried about the fact that physical impairment will lead to living with a disability. But still, if it saves a life, there was no other choice.

The Sect Leader is saying the same thing. But still, it was impossible not to feel heavy-hearted.

The sorrow that the family members of a person becoming disabled would feel was no ordinary matter.

It was the same in his past life.

‘Doctor! Our child… Our child is about to enter a competition. She needs to enter the competition… The piano… Doctor! Please, our child has lived her whole life for this one thing.’

A thirty-year-old child. To the parents, she’s still like a six-year-old.

It was the moment when a life dedicated entirely to the piano ended like that.

The unconscious child lay on the bed, and the decision-making power was with the parents. The parents chose life as their priority because their child’s life was precious, but the guilt of blocking their daughter’s future weighed on them for the rest of their lives.

Even though it wasn’t their fault.

‘Oh, you fool! Why did you rush in! Huh! When you can’t even move your legs like this! Who were you trying to save! Waaah!’

The father of a firefighter who became paraplegic after rushing into a fire scene collapsed and lost his senses.

He had saved countless lives, but in return, he lost his legs. Life was cruel and long.

Jin Cheon-hee was there.

‘Tell me anything, anything at all. I’ll do whatever is needed, just tell me.’

A strong woman and the future successor of the Beggar’s Sect.

She said, squeezing her heart.

However, Jin Cheon-hee as a doctor couldn’t respond to those words.

People are like vessels. Once broken, it’s impossible to completely return them to their original state.

Sometimes it felt like making a deal with the Grim Reaper.

Saving a life at the cost of drug side effects, saving a life by sending away one of the four limbs.

‘Right. But I have to do it. Because I’m a doctor.’

Life is long and cruel, but we must live for the occasional sunlight we bask in.

We can’t know what the patient will reach at the end, but until then, we must save life while giving up as little as possible.

Jin Cheon-hee looked at the Beggar’s Sect Leader.

“I’ll press the unconscious point.”

Jin Cheon-hee reached out and pressed the unconscious point. Thanks to the medicinal decoction he had been given earlier, just a slight flow of internal energy was enough to make him lose consciousness and faint.

He pressed the acupoints to block sensation and prepared for surgery.

The blackened, necrotic limbs were visible.

Then Jin Cheon-hee suddenly stopped.

“Is this really the best we can do?”

Let’s say losing martial arts is one thing. But do we really have to amputate the limbs? Is this really the best option?

Suddenly, anger welled up.

This is the world of the martial arts. He learned martial arts and new medical techniques. Yet, is what he can do so limited?

Why can’t I treat the patient more?

Why am I…

That’s when it happened.

Woong–

Five-Elemental Divine Technique. The five energies began to rotate rapidly inside Jin Cheon-hee. Yet Jin Cheon-hee wasn’t aware of it.

Among them, the fire energy rose greatly.

The fire energy, stronger than the other energies, rose greatly in tandem with his anger.

That fire energy rushed towards his brain. It began to blaze up, using his heated anger as fuel.

Fire Deviation!

In a situation where someone watching would shout that something terrible had happened, Jin Cheon-hee suddenly thought:

‘Is this really the extent of my abilities? No! I can do more. There must be a way. A way. Yes, there must be a way!’

Extremely cold reason dances with anger. As hot anger and cold reason came together, the water energy moved greatly in sync with the fire energy.

The Five Elements True Qi began to rampage in an instant. And Jin Cheon-hee sank deep into himself.

The energy flows along the meridians in an instant. Finishing the Small Heavenly Circuit, it immediately started the Great Heavenly Circuit. The five energies converge into one and then scatter again.

In a short time of less than a quarter hour.

In that moment, the Five Elements True Qi swelled greatly.

The energies that were weaker than water and fire energy gathered on their own to balance, and in an instant, the Five Elements True Qi took on a perfect form.

And at that moment.

A flash of energy light shone in Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes. His body turned red, but Jin Cheon-hee didn’t feel his condition at all.

He was completely focused on the task at hand.

The doctors watching also swallowed their saliva. They noticed that something unusual was happening.

‘There was a way. There is a way!’

Jin Cheon-hee reaches out and touches the frostbitten areas. Energy flows, vividly transmitting the patient’s physical information to Jin Cheon-hee.

Sensation through energy. Energy sensation is a completely new sense different from the five senses.

With that sensation, Jin Cheon-hee felt every detail of the Sect Leader’s right hand and left foot.

‘I’ve seen it in my past life. The story of a person who got frostbite on their feet after climbing Mount Everest. Everyone said to cut them off, but a famous oriental medicine clinic eventually saved the feet with acupuncture and moxibustion. I thought it was just an amazing story then, but I can do it too.’

Jin Cheon-hee’s hands moved like lightning.

‘Even the nerve cells are almost necrotic. But if I use the Five Elements True Qi to boost the innate true energy, I can maximize regenerative power. Like a lizard regenerating its tail, if I can create a new body… if I can connect the dead blood vessels and make blood flow…’

It was like a trance. In an instant, acupuncture needles were densely inserted into the entire right foot and left hand.

“Short needle.”

At his words, the doctor waiting as an assistant handed him the shortest needle.

He continued to insert needles into the body.