Chapter 130
Baek Yuseong was on duty at the clinic, unaware of the commotion outside the Murim Alliance main gate. It was perfectly reasonable for Murim Alliance members to rest in the evenings, unless they were on special assignments. If no urgent patients had returned from outside missions, the duty shift would normally pass without incident. But today was different. It was unlike any other day.
“Physician Cha! Two critically wounded patients!”
A servant’s shout echoed from outside. Moments later, two warriors who appeared to be colleagues entered, supporting the injured men. Their wounds were severe—deep, many of them, and the most lethal ones looked fatal. One man’s abdomen was torn open, blood bubbling out in thick ropes. The other’s chest was soaked crimson, deep gashes from a sword. Both had lost so much blood that their faces were deathly pale. It was obvious even at a glance: these were grave injuries.
“What happened?!”
“[Recovery]”
Yuseong started with the most urgent wounds and asked urgently, “Tell me.”
“It… happened during a spar.”
“A spar?! With injuries this critical?!”
Were they so bad with each other that they fought until death, both at death’s door?
“Eh…?”
The face of the man whose chest had been deeply cut suddenly looked familiar.
“This is… from the Sichuan Tang Clan?”
“Yes. A few days ago, a one-armed man named Han Bu-gyeom.”
Oh, right. Han Bu-gyeom. A sword dancer who had lost an eye to the Heavenly Demon Cult assassin who raided the Tang Clan, now drowning in despair. Yuseong had healed his eye with the Recovery skill, and here he was again, gravely wounded.
‘Lucky or unlucky? I don’t know.’
The wounds were still bleeding freely. The pale faces slowly regained color.
“Wow… it’s true? I’m envious…”
A colleague warrior murmured softly.
“...Envious?”
Yuseong’s gaze turned to the man who had spoken. A dying man saying he was envious? That was outrageous.
“Ah, no!”
The warrior’s face flushed red as he waved his hands.
“Please be honest. Is there something I don’t know?”
“Th-that…”
Even as he used the Recovery skill to treat the fatal wounds and then the rest, Yuseong grilled the warrior. And he learned the truth.
“What did you say?!”
After hearing the full story, Yuseong shouted in disbelief. Ridiculous. If he had been a moment later, he would have been clearing two bodies.
One of them still wore a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
‘Insane people.’
Shaking his head, he treated them perfectly. It was his duty, and he couldn’t just let them die because it was absurd.
Then.
‘What’s going on outside? It’s been noisy since earlier.’
Yuseong asked toward the door.
“What’s happening outside?”
A guard who had come to fetch Yuseong because of Ugiwan’s son was pacing anxiously in front of the treatment room door. The clinic servant had told him that Yuseong was now saving two patients whose lives hung by a thread. Ugiwan’s son was Ugiwan’s son, but interfering while treating a Murim Alliance warrior was unthinkable.
‘Big problem. Should I have just let him in? Then I’d be questioned.’
There were procedures for a reason. Ignoring them and facing the backlash later was unbearable. At the same time.
If blocking Murim Alliance entry led to Ugiwan’s son dying…
‘How do I face the Lord General then!’
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“What’s happening outside?”
Yuseong’s voice. Before the servant could answer, the guard shouted.
“Physician Cha! A-are you done? The main gate! Ugiwan’s son is in bad shape! I’m sorry, but can you come right now? If anything happens…”
Terrifying.
“What? Hurry!”
Yuseong flung the door open. The guard urged him with a face that had been dead and now resurrected.
“H-hurry! You have to go now! Quickly!”
When Yuseong arrived at the Murim Alliance main gate with the guard, all he saw was the backs of people packed shoulder to shoulder behind a thick human shield. Their murmurs reached his ears.
“What are you doing to a dead kid?”
“Oh no, poor Lord General…”
The guard’s heart sank.
‘He really died…’
The guard who had been glancing around spotted his fellow guard working with Yuseong and their eyes met. The other guard looked just as helpless. Strength drained from him.
Before he arrived, the patient had already died. Yuseong felt the same. But he had to know the exact situation.
“Make way!”
“Eh? Ah… Physician Cha…”
People who recognized him stepped aside, but their movements were slow, as if hoping for nothing.
The moment he pushed through the human shield, he heard gasping.
“Huff… huff…”
Physician Cha was performing CPR on a young-looking but large boy.
“Jin-myeong… sob… sob…”
Ugiwan knelt beside the boy, clutching his hand and sobbing.
‘CPR?’
In the days of the Luoyang Clinic. The method Yuseong had taught people when he couldn’t awaken holy power.
“What is that? The boy’s bones will break!”
“I don’t know… If Physician Cha hadn’t been here, it would have been too late… but I couldn’t stop him…”
Yuseong heard the reactions and realized CPR hadn’t spread widely. People in the clinic had probably told their families, but no one had gathered them with a sense of mission.
But one thing was certain.
‘Physician Cha hasn’t given up yet.’
“Huff… huff…”
Physician Cha was sweating profusely while continuing CPR, ignoring the murmurs and focusing all his attention on the boy.
‘The boy’s breathing has stopped.’
If not, he wouldn’t be pressing on the chest like that. If it was a heart problem, good. But it might not be. If it stopped for another reason…
‘He’s completely dead now. Even the Complete Recovery skill can’t save him.’
But.
‘There’s hope.’
If the heart stopped first and hadn’t affected the rest yet, there was a chance. The brain cells hadn’t died if he kept compressing the heart.
Yuseong quickly assessed the situation, knelt beside Ugiwan’s son, and pressed his hands to the boy’s chest. He poured holy power into the skill.
“[Recovery]”
One of Cha’s hands landed on the boy’s chest. He jerked and looked up.
“Huff… huff… you’re back?”
Yuseong used the skill to check the boy’s reaction when Cha pulled his hands away and explained.
“It’s Nine Yang Severed Meridians. I had two seizures right in front of me. The pulse and breathing stopped… I tried everything, but as a doctor, as a doctor…”
His voice grew weaker. His hands trembled. Without strength, he was exhausted.
‘It’s over… it took too long for the Physician Cha to come…’
A tiny trace of resentment toward the late-arriving Yuseong, but.
‘No. He couldn’t have been playing. There must have been reasons. Don’t blame others. It’s my fault.’
Cha bowed his head deeply. He had failed to save the patient and had watched him leave. Disappointment crushed him.
‘If Physician Yang or the Physician Cha had been here from the start, the boy would have lived. At least if I had carried a spiritual water…’
If he had spent less time making friends and more time studying medicine…
When every negative emotion flooded his mind.
“Ji… Jin-myeong!”
Ugiwan’s cry. Instead of despair, joy filled his voice.
Cha snapped his head up. The body lying on the floor twitched.
“…!”
His eyes widened. He had thought the boy was dead!
“Y-you mean… my son… really moved by himself?!”
Ugiwan’s trembling question made Cha’s heart race with curiosity.
“Yes. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late. He’ll wake soon.”
“That’s impossible! The breathing stopped!”
One master who could identify whether a person was breathing shouted.
Yuseong ignored him and continued speaking to Ugiwan.
“The Nine Yang Severed Meridians aren’t fully healed, but the critical point has passed. If the boy starts seeking water excessively or becomes too lively, bring him back to me.”
Nine Yang Severed Meridians were both a disease and a congenital condition. Even with his current skills, Yuseong couldn’t cure it completely. He needed the next treatment skill.
“Then… how long can my son live?”
“As long as he receives treatment from me on time… it will be fine. The Nine Yang Severed Meridians are a problem only when the nine vital points are burned away by extreme yang qi. I just treated them.”
A congenital condition that had burned the nine vital points for fifteen years before the heart stopped first. Cha had been holding onto it.
“Oh, thank you! Thank you! I owe it all to Physician Cha!”
Ugiwan bowed deeply to Yuseong.
“Ah, Father?”
The boy’s eyes finally opened.
“He really woke up!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!!”
“It’s a divine being!”
The people surrounding them cheered. Murim Alliance members and passersby alike. Everyone was happy.
“Haa… it’s a relief.”
Cha exhaled in relief.
‘At least my effort wasn’t completely useless…’
Then.
Yuseong grabbed one of Cha’s arms and lifted him.
“Thanks to Physician Cha not giving up to the end, this boy could live!”
“Thank you, Physician Cha!”
Ugiwan’s gratitude.
“Physician Cha is truly amazing!”
“Waaaaaaaaaah!!”
Cheers also went to him. Cha wept tears of emotion.
‘Saving a person’s life is truly rewarding. From now on, I won’t stray from medicine. I will become a doctor as excellent as the Physician Cha, or at least follow in his footsteps!’