Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 22

The medical report is the voice of the medical pavilion.

It flies to the affiliated medical clinics, centered on clinic doctors, on a set date each month, introducing the current state of martial world medicine and new treatment methods.

‘There are three top medical pavilions in the martial world.’

White Dragon Medical Pavilion, run by Divine Doctor Baek Rin.

Hwaju Medical Pavilion, headed by Medicine Sage Hwaju.

Lastly, Dark Palace Medical Pavilion^[1], operated by Bloodborne Elder Eccentric^[2].

These medical pavilions were called the Three Great Medical Pavilions of the world, and their leaders were referred to as the Three Great Divine Doctors of the world.

Among them, White Dragon Medical Pavilion excels in acupuncture, while Hwaju Medical Pavilion shows strength in herbal medicine. Dark Palace Medical Pavilion is unique, showing prowess in the rare field of necromancy in the martial world.

‘By the way, why is it so hard for me to say “Master”…’

He is indeed an impressive person.

Master, Master Zhuge Rin.

‘If it were words like “teacher” or “professor,” it might be easier.’

It’s difficult for a modern person.

Master said.

“Come in.”

Following the Master’s lead, Jin Cheon-hee entered the room.

‘It’s stylish, but somehow… empty.’

There was a brazier in the middle of the room.

The large window was wide open, and white charcoal could be seen burning inside the brazier.

The sparse appearance of the room, without a single decoration or piece of pottery, was almost excessively bleak.

Still, it was stylish. It felt like the spirit of a scholar. However, to Jin Cheon-hee, who had been a modern person, several problems were apparent.

‘Wow, this is exactly what I’ve seen in dramas… but, the more I look at it…’

Jin Cheon-hee’s eyes became pitiful as he looked around the room. It’s an extremely cold room.

When watching historical dramas set in martial arts backgrounds, you can see why people’s breath is visible and their hands and feet are cold even when they’re inside during winter.

Living with the windows open even in winter! It’s too shocking.

‘I need to install an ondol boiler in our Master’s house…’

Ondol.

A heating method boasting Korea’s long history.

‘I didn’t think of this when I was talking with Master before… Good. I need to renovate the house a bit. With ondol, I should be able to do something about that window…’

Jin Cheon-hee glanced at the wide-open window.

‘I understand opening the window to prevent death from carbon monoxide, but doing this even in the dead of winter is a bit… This alone is far from enough. No, at least use something like a sealed bronze stove!’

It hasn’t been invented in this era yet.

Although Master is a medical genius, he’s not a god.

He can save dying people, but he doesn’t have the ability to bring inventions from the future.

Jin Cheon-hee let out a big sigh.

‘There’s a long way to go, so long… Ondol is a major construction, so we can’t use it now. What we need right now is a stove. A stove, and for good lighting, glass windows. For ventilation, a heat exchanger would be nice too. But how do I make glass windows?’

Jin Cheon-hee clicked his tongue.

‘It doesn’t seem like glass crafting technology is completely nonexistent, but I haven’t seen a single house using glass windows on the way here.’

Looking around, Jin Cheon-hee checked the necessary items, and Zhuge Rin was watching him with a faint smile.

Seated in front of the brazier, Zhuge Rin spoke after a while.

“You’re thinking for a long time. Well, what thoughts are you having?”

‘Ah!’

At those words, Jin Cheon-hee, who had just come to his senses, looked ahead.

“I’m, I’m sorry, Master. I got lost in thought…”

“That can happen. So, as I asked just now, will you tell me what you were thinking about?”

‘I wonder if I can tell… No, I should. Master is a patient.’

“I was thinking about creating an environment conducive to treating Master’s blocked meridians.”

“Oh?”

Zhuge Rin’s eyes widened slightly with interest.

Jin Cheon-hee approached and sat opposite his master, speaking.

The master placed a kettle on top of the brazier.

“Nine Yin Meridian Obstruction. A constitution where yin energy gathers in the body, blocking the meridians strand by strand. Right?”

“That’s right.”

“We talk about yin energy… but in practical terms, it means the body loses heat and cold energy settles in, right? Looking at it simply, just replenishing the lacking heat in the body could alleviate the complications caused by the Nine Yin Meridian Obstruction.”

“You explained this last time. I thought it was a unique perspective then too. So?”

“First, this room is the problem. If you reside in this room, your symptoms can only worsen, Master.”

Jin Cheon-hee asserted.

At this, Zhuge Rin erased his smile and became serious.

“Then what solution do you think there is?”

“From here on, it’s not the realm of medicine but of architecture. Not a doctor’s domain, but a mason’s. But doesn’t a patient need both?”

There’s no one as sensitive to the environment as a doctor.

Even modern doctors wearing white clothes stems from this. White shows dirt the fastest.

That’s not all. They always need to be mindful of hygiene.

Because secondary infection is one of the main culprits of disease spread.

It’s common sense in the modern era, but not in this era.

From that perspective, environmental improvement is inevitably an area of concern for a doctor.

“First of all, this room is too cold. This single brazier isn’t enough.”

“Then should we increase the number of braziers? But, if we increase the braziers, it could lead to sudden death. Although the cause hasn’t been identified yet… diagnostically, I think the symptoms are similar to drowning at first glance.”

“Drowning… it is similar. To be precise, it’s carbon monoxide poisoning.”

“Oh?”

“We breathe, but precisely, it’s oxygen that keeps us breathing. But when we burn something like this, something called carbon monoxide is created instead of oxygen. And if we inhale too much of it…”

“It becomes like drowning, is that it? Dying from breathing, not water.”

He quickly deduced despite lacking basic knowledge.

Jin Cheon-hee was amazed at this sight.

‘A genius is indeed a genius.’

“Yes, that’s right.”

Jin Cheon-hee nodded lightly. But Divine Doctor Baek Rin, Zhuge Rin, had his eyes shining with a serious expression.

“Where did you learn such knowledge? Even our main family has pursued knowledge for many years, but I’ve never heard what you just said anywhere.”

“It’s a secret.”

“Even from your master?”

“Yes. This is… even if I tell you, you won’t believe it, and it’s dangerous.”

‘I shouldn’t lie in situations like this. The Divine Doctor Baek Rin in the novel, no, Master is no ordinary person. A genius. And a good person. But he’s not just some pushover. Considering the mention of him taking revenge for the Zhuge clan, he must have decisiveness and cruelty too.’

The master’s eyes pierce through Jin Cheon-hee. But eventually, he nodded.

“I understand that you’re no ordinary child. That’s why I said it’s fine even if you don’t answer anything. Because I decided to accept everything about you. So… yes. Thank you for telling me such things for this master’s sake.”

Saying this, the master smiled gently.

“So. Do we need to build a new house?”

At that gaze full of trust, Jin Cheon-hee somehow felt a lump in his throat.

‘Why does this person trust me so much?’

Me, who can’t tell a single proper truth.

Why does he trust me like this?

Is this what a master is supposed to be?

Somehow, the face of the orphanage director from childhood comes to mind.

Suddenly feeling emotional, he felt like he might cry.

But holding it back, Jin Cheon-hee opened his mouth.

“First…”

Jin Cheon-hee continued his explanation. And he gained permission.

***

Jin Cheon-hee asked to be introduced to a craftsman.

Zhuge Rin said.

“For most things, Yoo Ho should be able to handle it.”

Yoo Ho holds the position of chief administrator in the medical pavilion.

His main job is to assist Divine Doctor Baek Rin.

It seems he handles these kinds of tasks as well.

Jin Cheon-hee carved cooled charcoal to make something like a pencil.

‘Ah, having this is better. I just can’t get used to using a brush.’

Jin Cheon-hee’s hand drew a fairly plausible blueprint.

It’s a Korean-style ondol.

Originally it was in his head, but drawing it wasn’t an easy task.

Still, it was fine. It didn’t need to be perfect.

What mattered was conveying the idea.

It seemed that watching various documentaries in the past was helpful now. Things like ondol construction or the history of stoves.

‘Should I draw a few more things while I’m at it?’

He got excited. Jin Cheon-hee continued drawing until his fingernails turned black.

And he quickly took it to Yoo Ho.

***

‘Can this really be made…?’

Yoo Ho was confused. It was a child not even in his teens speaking, but it wasn’t fanciful and was logical talk.

It seemed theoretically possible. The story about houses being built this way in the eastern regions also seemed correct.

“So this is… ondol?”

“Yes.”

“And this is a stove.”

What Yoo Ho was pointing at were the drawings Jin Cheon-hee had made. Among them, the stove was a sealed type that doesn’t let gas spread.

It was exactly the shape of the stove used to heat lunch boxes in the old national schools before they were renamed to elementary schools.

That doesn’t mean it would be easy to make. The key to the stove lies in its sealing function. If gas leaks, it could lead to a major disaster.

Jin Cheon-hee thought for a moment.

‘Ah. Do they use heaters in national schools these days?’

Even the name has changed to elementary school. Now the memories are getting hazy.

Still, he remembers studying briefly about the structure of stoves that appeared in textbooks back then.

At that time, Jin Cheon-hee couldn’t afford things like workbooks, so he memorized the textbook until it turned black.

“Is this… making walls with glass?”

“It’s a window.”

“A window…”

“You can receive sunlight without opening the window.”

“Is sunlight that important?”

To explain easily, Jin Cheon-hee racked his brains as much as possible.

“Rice needs sunlight to grow, right? People also need to receive a proper amount of sunlight regularly to be healthy. That’s why it’s necessary. Especially, it needs to be made very transparent. Can you do it?”

It’s not like they can substitute it with other methods like in the modern Earth, and to keep producing vitamin D in the body, this is the only way.

Given the nature of the condition that continuously strains the cardiovascular system, vitamin D production is very important.

Jin Cheon-hee was actually considering whether to write down the glass manufacturing process as well.

Among the various documentaries he had watched in the past, there was one about the history of glass.

At Jin Cheon-hee’s small provocation, Yoo Ho smirks.

1. 흑전의각[↩]
2. 혈생노괴[↩]