Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 162

“The first time I was poisoned was when our mother was still alive.”

“…”

Jin Cheonhee simply listened to his voice.

“I thought I’d eat the peaches instead. I thought if we ate them all, there wouldn’t be any left for mother to eat, so she might feel better. But there was poison in them. Since then, both of us always felt the same pain when swallowing food. Mother blamed herself for life. She said, ‘I was greedy for a place too high for my station, and that’s why you children are suffering.’”

He laughed softly.

“She blamed herself all her life. She didn’t even have the slightest harshness to blame others. It’s a miracle that we three siblings were born to such a mother.”

He touched his mask.

“Our sister smashed the head of the maid who fed the peaches. But in the end, she couldn’t kill her. Mother cried more painfully than if she had been hit herself. I guess it hurt her heart to think that her daughter would become a murderer because of her.”

“…”

“We brothers tried to eat the peaches instead, and our sister tried to smash the culprit. In the end, the desire to protect was the same, but because our personalities were different, our methods were different too.”

Snow continued to fall at Wangya Ju’s mansion.

A cold silence piled up in a place that was already known for heavy snowfall.

“I was stabbed by a servant’s knife at twelve. Bitten by a snake someone let loose at thirteen. Cursed to have nightmares and couldn’t sleep the following year. I was already having trouble eating, so I just kept getting thinner.”

Each time, Wangya Ju found the culprits and bloodied her hands.

She couldn’t stand anyone touching her people, then or now.

Only, unlike now, it was a time when she was clumsy and a bit more cruel.

“Later that winter, I fell from a horse when the stirrup broke and broke my bones. Even now, I still limp a little. I wish there had been a physician like you by my side then. But now, it’s all useless thoughts.”

Jin Cheonhee silently listened to his calm voice.

He seemed to quite like that.

“I thought you’d at least try to flatter me, but you’re unexpected.”

Originally, emperors in martial arts novels don’t like those who flatter them.

This person is probably similar to Wangya Ju, and if Jin Cheonhee were to eagerly chime in here, he would probably lament the world with sad eyes, saying, “Huh, you too kneel before my power.”

To win the hearts of these types, even if offered promotions or showered with gold and treasures, one must keep their head held high.

Only then will they think, “There are still people in the world who don’t succumb to money and power,” and finally bother to remember the protagonist’s name.

Jin Cheonhee was the same. But being too arrogant could get your head cut off, so you need to maintain a moderately upright attitude.

“Even if I did, it didn’t seem like you would be pleased.”

“Hohoho. You really are an eccentric.”

He seems to like it.

“These have been days of fighting just for peace. Everything in the world tried to kill us, and we just did this to survive. But there was no peace at the pinnacle we reached. Do you know why?”

Jin Cheonhee quietly answered with his head bowed.

“Isn’t it because the place you thought was paradise turned out not to be paradise?”

A very long time ago.

Jin Cheonhee grew up in an orphanage.

He didn’t know his parents’ names or what they looked like.

When commercials on TV showed families going to the supermarket, he felt so envious and upset.

But he still kept watching.

Sometimes children were adopted.

Some came back, but some never returned.

It was a good thing.

But still envious, young Jin Cheonhee would often ponder with his knees hugged to his chest.

He was starved for affection. He wanted someone to need him.

He questioned countless times why his parents abandoned him, but he knew it was a useless question.

But he kept asking.

‘Why did I end up here?’

And.

‘Does really no one need me?’

Young Jin Cheonhee sometimes had these delusions.

They’re delusions so embarrassing now that even recalling them as an adult makes his earlobes turn red, but he had them.

One day, the door would open and someone would come and tell Jin Cheonhee:

I need you. Let’s go home together.

It didn’t matter if it was his birth parents, adoptive parents, or just any parents. Then he would hold that person’s hand and go to the supermarket like on TV.

He would be a good child and never ask for anything. Instead, he would help pick up necessary things like detergent and salt.

Even knowing it was a foolish thought, he couldn’t stop these sweet fantasies as a child.

The orphanage was an okay place. But just stepping a little outside its boundaries, there were people ready to trample you.

‘You don’t have a mom, right?’

‘I heard orphanage kids learn to steal, is that true?’

‘The class trip money has gone missing. I’m sorry, but could you open your bag first?’

‘Why not? Could you take off your shoes too?’

‘Could you take off your socks too?’

‘Can you write down where you went today? And who you met?’

No matter how well he studied, discrimination would pop up unexpectedly.

Studying only started to pay off around the time of college entrance exams, but when he was young, being small in stature meant he often got beaten by other children.

Young Jin Cheonhee was desperate not to become the lowest in the hierarchy of the group.

Children were even more cruel.

At that time, elementary school classes had 50-60 students.

Teachers didn’t have the capacity to pay attention to each individual, and it was an era before the word “bullying” even existed.

He lived desperately trying not to appear vulnerable.

And after becoming a high school student, that habit only solidified.

What lies at the end of all that running?

In the end, Jin Cheonhee obtained a job that could be considered elite, albeit physically and mentally demanding.

He was relatively well-off financially.

Yet he had no family and no leisure time.

All that remained was a deteriorating spine and glasses that fogged up easily.

When he realized the futility of it all, he requested a sabbatical and died.

So, amusingly, he could understand the twins’ feelings. He felt he could even understand the despair and emptiness at the end of it all.

“…”

He looked at Jin Cheonhee.

“How strange. Somehow, you understand my feelings.”

Did he use his ability?

It seemed that ‘memories’ here included thoughts and emotional memories in the mind.

“Hohoho, how curious. Your memories are blocked like a wall, making it difficult to understand, but I can grasp fragments of emotions that seep through.”

It seemed he couldn’t read modern memories.

Jin Cheonhee was curious about how he would react to seeing modern memories, whether he would consider Jin Cheonhee crazy or believe him, but it seems that was impossible.

He stared at Jin Cheonhee for a long time, finding him curious. Jin Cheonhee said:

“Even if there’s no paradise, if your family is safe and you have a place to return to, isn’t that enough?”

“Family, huh.”

He fell into thought and then smiled softly.

“Yes. You’re right. If it weren’t for our sister, we would have become a handful of dust or killed countless imperial family members.”

He said these chilling words nonchalantly and continued:

“You’re a curious child. Your emotions flow differently. Your thoughts are different too. From a certain point, your memories are blocked and hard to read, but yes… I can see why our sister and Eun took a liking to you.”

Just then, there was a clicking sound.

“Raise your head.”

At the Emperor’s words, the person who seemed to be a guard tried to stop him.

“Your Majesty.”

“This child has the right to see my face. Besides, he’s already seen the same face, hasn’t he?”

Jin Cheonhee slowly raised his head.

There was an identical face.

A handsome man with clean-cut features wearing a bitter expression.

He was so similar to the one Jin Cheonhee had treated that he could be mistaken for the same person.

“It seems my brother has wanted this several times already, so I won’t ask anymore. But it is curious. You want money, yet you’re a good person.”

He chuckled softly and then said:

“From now on, Eun will receive treatment twice a year. So it would be good to establish a connection.”

He removed an ornament from his arm and handed it to Jin Cheonhee.

“The dragon protects the imperial family, and whoever wears this will easily be able to borrow military horses from relay stations.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Hmm. Call me His Imperial Highness Geum here. And it’s not such a difficult item. It might be too much for treating a mere His Imperial Highness, but if one says they received the Emperor’s favor, it’s not an excessive gift. I’ll arrange the formalities appropriately, so take it.”

An order to leave.

Jin Cheonhee bowed his head as ordered and received the bracelet.

“Make sure to wear it.”

The Emperor added one more thing as Jin Cheonhee was leaving.

His laughing expression was somehow frightening.

***

Wangya Ju was waiting outside when he came out.

“Is it over?”

“Ah…”

“Well, don’t ask how I knew. There are ways to know everything.”

‘It seems this person has eyes and ears on the walls too.’

Even so, didn’t he hide his presence so well that Jin Cheonhee could hardly notice? It’s a mystery how she found out.

Jin Cheonhee fiddled with the bracelet he was holding.

Since Emperor 2 bestowed it, he shouldn’t sell it off somewhere. He said to wear it, so wearing it is right.

But being able to borrow horses from relay stations anytime?

It’s an impressive function if you call it impressive, but if you ask if it’s impressive enough for the Emperor’s symbol to appear on a bracelet, then that’s not quite it.

“Why do you have the inspector’s token?”

“Pardon?”

“I asked why you have the inspector’s token.”

What is an inspector?

Jin Cheonhee took 3 seconds to search within his brain.

Although he didn’t know how it would be used in the Hua Empire, isn’t it usually a role for reporting corruption among officials?

“He… gave it to me?”

“…He gave you that? The one he made for his own secret inspections?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Wangya Ju, also finding it absurd, stared for a while before saying:

“What did you do? Did you dance impressively in front of him?”

“No. I just listened to what he said, that’s all.”

“He gave you that for listening to him? The token of a direct inspector?”

“…Well, I did save his brother’s life too. Uh, I think it might be a token of gratitude for that.”

Certainly… it was too much to receive for saving a His Imperial Highness, but if one said they received the Emperor’s favor, it was somewhat understandable.

He said he would fill in the blank alibis in between, so they would be filled.

Wangya Ju suddenly crouched down and pressed her temples.

“This one and that one. Why are they all so desperate to take you away when I’ve set things up?”

“Ah, let me say again, I’m affiliated with White Dragon Medical Pavilion and have absolutely no intention of becoming a imperial physician…”

“No, I know that, but…”

Wangya Ju sighed.

“It can’t be helped. The siblings have the same eye for people, so in the end, the conclusion is the same.”

She put her arm around Jin Cheonhee’s shoulders. Then she asked like a street ruffian:

“But I’m the best, aren’t I? Not much pressure, and I’m a regular customer.”

Indeed, befitting someone who’s seen it all in her heyday, she exuded proper charisma.

“Wangya Ju, you are the person who has maintained the longest connection with me and are a very grateful person.”

“You’re not saying I’m the best, huh.”

‘I… need to survive too, you know.’

Of course, he never said these words out loud. He just conveyed it with his eyes.