Doctor’s Rebirth

Chapter 39

Thanks to Phantom Archer, he had reached the level where he could create and operate wind qi on his own.

The third level of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique.

It didn’t end there. He simultaneously drew out wind qi and fire qi and threw a punch.

The energy that started in the danjeon culminated in his fist.

At first, what was created in layers like oil and water exploded the moment it touched the tree.

Boom!

Flames erupted on the giant tree.

It wasn’t possible with just wind qi and fire qi alone, but this combination created an even more powerful destructive force.

Passing medical pavilion members in the distance looked at the explosion site with surprised eyes. Regardless, Jin Cheon-hee muttered while dusting off his hands.

Despite being cautious, Jin Cheon-hee’s hand was covered in burns.

Second-degree superficial burn.

It seemed the damage had reached the dermis layer.

“Judging by eye, I wonder if this is within the range of self-healing.”

He frowned as the pain was greater than expected.

If left like this, large blisters, the hallmark of second-degree burns, would soon appear.

Jin Cheon-hee drew water qi and wood qi into his fist.

The best thing about the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique was that he didn’t have to worry about bacterial infection.

While first aid is most important for any external injury, it was especially so for burns.

He quickly drew out the heat with water qi and restored the flesh with wood qi. Even so, it wouldn’t heal immediately.

Jin Cheon-hee looked down at the wound, contemplating whether to give it to Yoo Ho, who was in nurse training, as an assignment.

It would make good teaching material as a human lab rat, but amateur is amateur.

Jin Cheon-hee picked up the bandages and gauze he had prepared in advance.

“Better dead than sick, just die.”

The fortunate point was that thanks to completely mastering the third level of the Five-Elemental Cultivation Technique, it would fully heal in about two days. Also, since water qi and wood qi were Jin Cheon-hee’s specialties optimized for treatment, internal cultivation wasn’t difficult.

After finishing the simple treatment, he now looked at the giant tree he had blasted.

“You’re next.”

The giant tree already had countless scars.

A martial artist’s training ends with destruction.

They blow away giant trees or granite with one strike, then shout “Hah, I’ve achieved mastery of my miraculous technique!” and debut in the martial world.

But a doctor’s work was just beginning.

“Wow, whoever it was really blasted it. No, that was me. It was me.”

The job wasn’t done until even the blown-away tree was fixed.

Jin Cheon-hee grasped the tree trunk with his bandaged hand.

***

At the same time, a girl was practicing internal cultivation on a sickbed.

She had short hair like a boy’s, a neat forehead, and in contrast, straight eyebrows.

Wang Gak-yeon.

Phantom Archer’s daughter.

She was like a device for tragedy.

A daughter who loves her father and is sometimes more thoughtful than anyone. A story where such a daughter dies because of the grudges in the martial world, and the father who lost his daughter awakens.

Because of this, as a reader, there was no way to know about her past or herself. In a way, she had just taken on the role of a common narrative decoration.

Now, such a girl had taken a step away from the flow of the novel.

In a direction that Jin Cheon-hee, who had been a reader, couldn’t know at all.

‘It’s frustrating.’

She paused her internal cultivation practice for a moment and let out a deep sigh.

Her body still aches.

Although innate true qi gives superhuman recovery power, her injuries were beyond common sense.

Until full recovery, she should refrain from using martial arts and focus on recovery by operating the strange technique taught by the medical pavilion.

The words she uttered, who had been acting like a good child to her family and those around her, were unexpected.

“Damn it.”

Two very pure words expressing her current emotions.

“Bloody hell.”

When alone, there was no need to act like a good child anymore.

She looked at the floor with gloomy eyes.

Her world had collapsed once.

She had nearly been killed by mysterious assailants, and her father, who packaged himself as a great hero, was just an ordinary human.

That was actually of no concern to Wang Gak-yeon. Dad was just dad.

He didn’t need to be great, nor did he need to be someone worthy of respect.

She knew that happiness was walking hand in hand, sharing delicious food, and basking in the sun together.

A thoughtful, good daughter who loves her father.

She was mature for her age.

She understood her father too deeply to whine.

“So who’s the bastard that put me in that state?”

But that doesn’t mean the anger goes away.

She’s not Buddha. Although she’s learning martial arts derived from Buddhism, if enlightenment were that easy, she would have already become Buddha.

She wanted to grind up that bastard and drink him.

Perhaps due to the shock, the memories of that time were hazy.

Plus, with the mask, it was hard to pinpoint.

She felt like she needed to catch that bastard, beat him up, and chew his liver bit by bit.

‘Right. So this is why the grudges of the martial world are scary.’

Her chest feels tight.

‘I need to get some fresh air.’

The rough anger with nowhere to go scratches at her. She felt like she had to do something.

As soon as she went outside, she felt many things.

Was it because the depth of her internal energy had become more profound?

Various sounds of the medical pavilion came to her at once.

The sound of treating patients. The sound of begging to be saved. The sound of decocting medicine.

It was a new world for Wang Gak-yeon. Somehow, her heart felt heavy. She had survived, but someone was dying here.

The girl walked for a long time with her hands behind her back. Then suddenly, in the distance, she saw a very handsome boy of her age.

It was Jin Cheon-hee.

There was no love at first sight or anything like that.

Emotions between men and women were too early, and she was indifferent to such things now.

It’s just that it was the first time in her life she had seen such a handsome child of her age, so the girl stared at Jin Cheon-hee for a long time.

Jin Cheon-hee moved so busily that he didn’t notice Wang Gak-yeon’s gaze.

Wang Gak-yeon watched Jin Cheon-hee from afar and followed him.

While she was watching, Jin Cheon-hee frantically practiced and helped with the medical pavilion’s work.

He always smiled brightly before saving people.

A smile that was almost annoyingly bright.

Watching Jin Cheon-hee from a distance, Wang Gak-yeon said without realizing it.

“I want to be friends.”

It wasn’t simply because this was the first time she had seen such a handsome face.

Of course, that was a factor in her liking him, but this was something entirely different.

A child of similar age to her, and a child who had learned something completely different from her.

A child so outstanding that her father voluntarily became his subordinate.

Suddenly, Wang Gak-yeon looked down at her hand. It was a hand wrapped in bandages.

‘How do you make friends?’

She realized that she had never made a friend in her entire life.

It was natural. Her days started with martial arts and ended with martial arts.

She had lived pretending to be a good daughter in front of her dad, but in reality, she was just a loner pushing herself hard.

Always pretending to have friends.

Pretending to have fun and get along well even when dad wasn’t around.

Thinking that far, the child started to feel intimidated.

‘I…’

If she hadn’t been so thoughtful, she might have had more courage.

The girl went back to her room.

***

Jin Cheon-hee finished his morning routine like that and headed to his next task.

It was to check on Wang Gak-yeon.

Her father, Phantom Archer Wang Chaebaek, was already working his body to the bone with the flood of medical pavilion work. Master Zhuge Rin showed no mercy, even though he could have waited until his daughter recovered.

On the other hand, Wang Gak-yeon spent all day recovering her body and practicing internal cultivation alone.

‘It must be quite boring?’

There couldn’t be a more boring day for a young child.

When he arrived at the room, Wang Gak-yeon was sitting on the sickbed.

He had already heard that she took a short walk outside.

An awkward atmosphere flowed between the two children. She greeted him with respect.

“Has the benefactor arrived?”

It was daunting to think about dividing roles between those of similar age.

“Please speak comfortably, Miss Wang.”

Miss Wang.

Jin Cheon-hee also greeted her respectfully with a fist-and-palm salute.

“…”

It’s awkward.

‘We’re both just kids, can’t we just call each other casually?’

Jin Cheon-hee feels like his limbs are twisting from this awkward atmosphere.

Wang Gak-yeon’s eyes rolled.

“But you’re my benefactor, how could I…”

“I’m feeling uncomfortable too.”

“…”

It became awkward again. The girl wracked her brains for the etiquette she had learned from adults.

She had been taught to decline anything offered three times out of courtesy before accepting, but should this be declined three times too?

Should this count as once or twice?

How much should be observed, and how much should be disregarded?

The things she had learned weighed down on Wang Gak-yeon. Jin Cheon-hee spoke first.

“How would Miss Wang like to do it? I’d appreciate it if you could treat me comfortably, even for my sake.”

On the other hand, Jin Cheon-hee became curious about how this child would respond.

He was called little brother by the Gong sisters and older brother by Little Heavenly Demon. So how would Wang Gak-yeon address him?

She fidgeted for a while with her hands clasped.

The image of a mature, good daughter and the inner self of just an ordinary young child were fighting fiercely.

Wang Gak-yeon cautiously said.

“…How about… friends?”

Filled with hope.

At those words, Jin Cheon-hee stopped taking her pulse and looked up at her.

Wang Gak-yeon’s face had turned bright red.

The mature Wang Gak-yeon shouted at the childish Wang Gak-yeon, asking if she had gone crazy.

She couldn’t think of etiquette or anything like that at all.

Her ears were burning hot.

Jin Cheon-hee asked.

“Friends?”

“Yes, um… well… it’s a secret from Dad, but…”

She continued in a small, whisper-like voice.

“…My dream is to make friends.”

She had pretended to have many friends in front of her dad. But realistically, it wasn’t easy for a child learning martial arts to make friends.

To study martial arts, one had to wake up early in the morning to practice internal cultivation, and after internal cultivation, training in mental techniques, footwork, sword techniques, and in this case, bow techniques followed.

If she were a child from a martial arts family, she could have made friends with other children from martial arts families, but her dad was Phantom Archer, who had been a lone wolf in the martial world.

Far from interacting with children from other martial arts families, they were busy hiding their identity.

Still, being human, she wanted to make friends.

Real friends of her own age, not adult guard warriors or adult servants.

Jin Cheon-hee thought.

‘Oh my, she must have been incredibly lonely. This… Phantom Archer was wrong.’

Was it because it was an era where people thought children would grow up on their own once born?

Still, among the family heads he had seen in martial arts novels so far, Phantom Archer was quite decent.

At least he didn’t dump the child on the mother and wander off claiming to seek a greater cause.

Plus, he earned good money and raised her with a silver spoon, lacking nothing. However, from the perspective of Jin Cheon-hee, a Korean doctor who had seen numerous silver spoon children with ruined personalities, this didn’t seem quite right.