Chapter 212 |
Sama Hyeon smiled awkwardly, unlike his usual self. That little child had grown so much that he now stood shoulder to shoulder with Jin Cheonhee.
Back then in that dark alley.
When they encountered the Old Tree Blood Demon trying to kidnap Sama Hyeon.
There was no deep calculation behind his unhesitating action.
His body simply moved.
He grabbed Sama Hyeon’s hand.
As an adult, he told him he didn’t have to go.
Even if death was the price.
He was glad he’d risked his life then.
“How’s Hye doing?”
Jin Cheonhee nodded at Sama Hyeon’s question.
“Yes. She’s been healthy and well since then. Why don’t you go see her yourself instead of just exchanging letters?”
Sama Hyeon shook his head at Jin Cheonhee’s words.
Sama Hyeon only told his sister Sama Hye that he worked for a merchant group, sending money and gifts but never meeting her.
Jin Cheonhee himself looked after Sama Hye.
Sama Hye was seriously pursuing the path of a physician and still occasionally visited the White Dragon Medical Pavilion’s main compound.
Each time, Jin Cheonhee would check her pulse, lend her necessary books, and answer her questions as she progressed in medical arts.
“…Not yet. After I earn more money and establish a foundation~”
“Afraid enemies might come after her?”
Sama Hyeon didn’t deny it.
“I can’t show my only sister a dirty house still infested with ‘rats’~ Can’t let her see the filthy state of things when they’re still crawling everywhere?”
He probably didn’t mean literal rodents.
Jin Cheonhee immediately understood he meant people. But he didn’t ask how Sama Hyeon planned to clean house.
Jin Cheonhee would walk his own path. Sama Hyeon’s path was his to walk.
He knew the martial world was too harsh for presumptuous meddling.
“When do you need the gloves completed by?”
“Whenever you have time, brother.”
“Is it really okay? Entrusting such a sacred item to someone like me. The Golden Blood Chamber could find craftsmen who supply to the imperial palace…”
“What are you saying? Because it’s sacred, I’m entrusting it to you.”
“The size… I mean, roughly how big should they be?”
“Just slightly roomy for you to use. Then they’ll fit me.”
“That’s really rough.”
Jin Cheonhee grumbled with sunken eyes.
Whether modern or martial world, the ER was equally draining.
Was there some energy-draining vein flowing? Somehow just being there drained you, whether Earth or martial world.
Plus he’d treated several patients, performed one major surgery.
Then more patients arrived requiring continuous treatment, making it even more exhausting.
Still, his body wasn’t seriously damaged. It was more mental exhaustion.
I would’ve collapsed without internal energy.
Jin Cheonhee habitually touched his eyes before realizing he didn’t have glasses.
Right. I’m in a young body.
Watching Jin Cheonhee like this, Sama Hyeon said:
“Want to eat something delicious?”
“What? Suddenly?”
“Let’s eat~”
“Am I a pig? Why do you always try to feed me whenever you see me?”
When his brother grumbled, Sama Hyeon grinned and grabbed his arm.
“Let’s eat, brother. We live to eat, after all.”
This guy’s grip strength…
When he’s determined to hold on, he’s like a leech.
“This time if a fight breaks out, I’m carrying you and running right away. If Martial Righteous Alliance warriors come again, they’ll send you to the emergency room saying there are patients. That’s right to call it ’emergency room’? I remember you calling it that.”
“Well… we also call it emergency treatment room, but… that’s about right.”
He learns fast. This brother of his seems to remember even small words he’d mentioned.
“Brother. Since we’re here, let’s destroy all the Martial Righteous Alliance’s restaurants~”
Though his voice was playful and humming, his eyes were so serious it made Jin Cheonhee laugh.
He must be worried about me.
Seeing his brother suddenly swamped with work after arriving, he must have felt concerned.
“Okay. Let’s go eat.”
“Good, good. That’s how our big sister…”
“Say that one more time. I won’t eat.”
“Okay, okay~”
Sama Hyeon laughed playfully and took the lead.
Ah, I forgot I was supposed to give an explanation to the Martial Righteous Alliance physicians.
Let’s do that later.
If they needed explanations starting from basic hygiene, there was a long way to go. Even answering questions would require skipping much without foundational knowledge.
First, delicious food.
Aren’t we people of food? People need food for strength.
Let’s eat. Eat!
***
The place Sama Hyeon led him to was another inn.
Another unfamiliar place.
“This place is famous for duck. It’s God-tier delicious!”
Did I teach him that phrase too?
Jin Cheonhee pondered for 3 seconds but couldn’t quite remember.
His head wasn’t working well due to fatigue.
“Let’s feed Hwanggu and Noe-jin too~”
Squeak!
Woof, woof!
As the two spirit beasts barked, Jin Cheonhee finally responded.
“When did you two get here…”
“Brother, you really aren’t in your right mind. Do you even know how much time has passed in there?”
The martial world emergency room had no wall clocks or wristwatches.
Though bells rang every hour, they couldn’t be heard in the emergency room.
The cries of patients drowned out the bell sounds from outside.
So he kept stopping bleeding, examining wounds for diagnosis… and since delayed diagnosis could miss the golden time, all emergency treatments had to be performed.
How far had I thought? Ah, fortunately no one died at least.
He’d managed to save several patients who would have been beyond treatment in the past.
Thanks not just to internal energy but also to his gained insights.
Insights gained from martial arts don’t convert very efficiently to medical arts.
Naturally so, since holding a sword, holding acupuncture needles, and holding a scalpel were three different things.
His master would probably beat the ground in frustration knowing he’d poured all his blood-earned insights, obtainable only in extreme life-or-death situations, entirely into medical arts.
But the unconscious mind that had lived as a doctor to its core couldn’t operate any other way.
The final move Jin Cheonhee launched at Jeong Gwang during that hellish blood battle on Mount Wudang was meant to knock out, not kill.
Even his insights ultimately belonged to a physician, not a martial artist.
His head was spinning.
“Yeah… it was evening when I entered the ER, but now the sunlight stings my eyes…”
“I only just found you after hearing you’d switched shifts.”
Thud-
Jin Cheonhee pressed his forehead against the table and collapsed limply.
Though he had a body trained in martial arts, sleep wouldn’t come.
Just endless mental exhaustion.
“Do you remember when these guys joined us?”
“…?”
“Never mind. Just stay down, brother. Waiter! Add duck porridge here too.”
Jin Cheonhee pressed his forehead to the table again.
Wow… the cool table feels nice.
His limit-reached mind spat out random thoughts without context.
Sama Hyeon asked:
“Brother, so you were seeing patients and doing surgery the whole time since you went in?”
“It was just half a day, what’s the big deal.”
“Brother… it’s evening now.”
“That’s not morning sunlight…?”
“Damn, this is worse than what my subordinates reported.”
Sama Hyeon cursed at his brother’s overwork.
“Brother, eat something and get some sleep first.”
“Sleep? I have to switch shifts again later.”
“Brother, won’t you sleep?”
“I will sleep. I will, but later.”
“Brother, listen. I’m going to give you sleeping medicine. You’re going to take it and sleep. Even these spirit beasts agree with me. Better than their master dying from overwork, right?”
“You’re joking?”
“…”
Sama Hyeon stared at Jin Cheonhee before answering:
“Of course I’m joking. Does it sound serious?”
“You scared me. I thought you might really…”
Jin Cheonhee got that far.
Delicious duck dishes were set down before him.
“Ooh!”
Jin Cheonhee’s eyes sparkled.
“Duck soup! Duck porridge!”
“They brought it all at once.”
Jin Cheonhee happily picked up his spoon.
He ate heartily for a while.
“Wow… I’m full. Feels like my first meal in a day… come to think of it, it really was. A day… or was it actually three days…? How long did I work in there…? I did quickly eat some fasting pills in between.”
For some reason his already sluggish mind worked even less.
Suddenly his hand lost strength to hold the spoon.
Clang!
He briefly tried to activate the Five Elements Mutual Overcoming Poison technique after realizing it was sleeping medicine.
But the drug’s effects had already spread completely.
He’d let his guard down.
Even with poison resistance, sleeping medicine works… this is…
His thoughts slowed. Jin Cheonhee struggled to maintain his train of thought. Medicine strong enough to overcome his poison resistance.
As he marveled at this, he saw Sama Hyeon’s eyes.
Sama Hyeon was looking at him with sympathetic eyes.
“Brother… people need to rest when they work. You know? I’m really a good little brother. Forcing you to sleep well like this.”
With those final words, Jin Cheonhee collapsed.
***
He slept like the dead. Didn’t even seem to dream.
In his sleep he thought he heard Sama Hyeon say “Brother, this medicine is really expensive? Pay it back with interest.”
Making him take it then demanding repayment.
He knew he was crazy but didn’t realize to this extent.
Right. The original work isn’t going anywhere.
Though his path had changed 180 degrees, a person’s essential nature doesn’t change.
When he opened his eyes, Hwanggu was staring intently at him.
Woof!
Happy his master had recovered? Hwanggu enthusiastically licked Jin Cheonhee’s face.
“Yes, yes. I’m fine. I’m better now.”
“Feel better after sleeping well, brother?”
Turning toward the voice, he saw Sama Hyeon reading through mountains of ledgers one by one.
“Being in the Golden Blood Chamber, you must have lots of ledgers to review.”
“That’s a recent change – they say in the old days, beating people took longer than reviewing ledgers.”
“Really?”
“It’s a good thing. Means our business is doing ‘official’ legal work now.”
Wonder what unofficial things they do then.
Like drugging your brother and insisting he pay back expensive things you fed him?
Something like that, probably?
Seeing Jin Cheonhee’s sullen eyes, Sama Hyeon quickly said:
“Just in case you’re wondering, what you took wasn’t poison.”
“Then what was it?”
“Though it may not look like it, it’s medicine only supplied to royalty from the imperial pharmacy, used by their physicians to treat nightmares and insomnia. It only puts you to sleep, no other effects, so don’t worry. No headache either, right?”
“I do feel refreshed.”
“Told you it was really expensive. I feel better now that your color’s back~”
Woof!
Hwanggu wagged his tail vigorously.