Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: First Consultation
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Holy light descended from the heavens alongside the voice of the goddess.
[My most beloved child. Thanks to you, I was able to protect the peace of this world. This goddess will forever remember your devotion.]
It was the ending scene from Virtual Fantasy—a sight Baek Yuseong had no desire to see again.
He grimaced as he woke from sleep.
"Another one of these dreams."
Five years had passed since he possessed the body of Baek Yuseong in the real murim world from within that game.
The dreams, which had started once a month, gradually shortened in interval until now they came every single day.
For Yuseong, who had started Virtual Fantasy only to end up possessed in the real murim world, it was an unwelcome development. He couldn't just will himself not to dream, which made it all the more frustrating.
The frustration had only grown after yesterday's consultation at Yang Clinic.
Even a divine physician—or a great immortal—couldn't heal his dantian. Wasn't that just saying no one could fix it?
He had begun studying medicine himself in hopes of finding a way to heal it, but he hadn't discovered any method.
His only option had been to seek out a skilled physician, but even that had failed.
Despite selecting all sorts of top-grade traits, his ruined dantian forced him to live as an ordinary mortal—a life no better than the one in his original reality.
He had been dropped into a world where even using the privy was a hassle, and without any groundbreaking scientific knowledge, he desperately wished to return to the real world outside the game.
"If this really is a game, there must be some clear condition. How am I supposed to beat the final boss without recovering my dantian?"
He knew the main story of Virtual Fantasy inside out, having cleared it already. If he couldn't be the protagonist, he could at least play a supporting role and aid promising candidates. But starting blind in a new game left him with nothing.
Yuseong let out a deep sigh.
"Sigh, what can you do? I've got to handle this job at least. It's better than getting drafted twice over."
This wasn't modern Korea; he had no intention of getting conscripted again in ancient China.
With his family unable to help anymore, the physician position at Luoyang Medical Hall offered him a spot as a Murim Alliance affiliate.
Staying there would exempt him from military service under the inviolable treaty.
Countless people had avoided conscription by registering as affiliates with the Murim Alliance, various sects, or great families—not just for a day or two.
Accepting reality, Yuseong soon took charge of Clinic Room Eleven and waited for patients.
Treating them diligently would earn him good money and help him forget his bleak situation.
"......"
But time dragged on with nothing happening.
Occasional patients peeked into the clinic room, only to turn away upon spotting Yuseong.
'Damn, my fears have come true.'
He had his suspicions.
Becoming a physician required poring over countless medical texts. Treatments varied by patient's constitution even for the same ailment, so the study was vast. Acupuncture demanded extensive experience too—that was common knowledge.
To the patients, Yuseong looked far too young.
***
Cha Physician, who occupied Clinic Room Ten, was inwardly on edge about the new physician next door.
Not all physicians in the same medical hall earned the same income.
Luoyang Medical Hall had a system where they focused solely on treating patients without miscellaneous duties.
Income was based on performance—how many patients each physician treated.
The arrival of a new rival put Cha Physician on alert.
Even knowing that people didn't carelessly seek treatment from just anyone at the pricey Luoyang Medical Hall, despite its skilled staff.
However.
"Cha Physician, that room next door's just got flies buzzing around."
"Is that so? Well, everyone struggles at first. I was the same."
"Oh come on, didn't patients line up for you from day one? I remember it clear as day."
"Haha, my memory's fuzzy with age, but you've got a sharp one. Anyway, keep me posted now and then."
After the attendant left Clinic Room Ten, Cha Physician received patients with a pleased expression.
'As expected. He'll have to struggle to establish himself. Who'd let some unproven young physician treat them on day one?'
Yuseong had passed the official exam, but Cha Physician figured it was luck. After over twenty years of dedication, even he had barely passed the grueling test.
As Cha Physician thought, people lost interest in the newly opened Clinic Room Eleven almost immediately.
"Heard the news? There's a new physician. No line there—maybe check him out, test his skills? My shoulders are killing me; can't wait long."
"Tch, have you seen the new guy's face?"
"Huh? Why the face?"
"He's too young. Barely twenty if that. You gonna let some kid stick needles in you?"
"Only twenty? No wonder folks are avoiding him. They say medicine takes a decade minimum. How'd he pass Luoyang Medical Hall's exam? Must've been luck."
"That's what I'm saying. Remember Wang from before? Got needled wrong by a quack and suffered months. Better wait for reviews."
"You're right. Let me know if he gets any good word."
***
In the Murim Alliance's General Staff Office, a woman in her early twenties scanned reports with cold eyes.
Her skin was pale as if untouched by sunlight, clad in a simple scholar's robe, her hair in the binyeo style favored by her ancestor Zhuge Liang. She looked like a portrait of an intellectual beauty.
But the dark circles under her eyes marred her looks slightly.
Rubbing her eyelids and clutching her head, showing her exhaustion—her name was Jegal Yeongyeong.
After former General Staff Officer Sima Byeong retired, everyone assumed his son Sima Cheon would take the post.
Yet Jegal Yeongyeong had outwitted Sima Cheon to claim the Murim Alliance Chief Strategist position.
The Zhuge Family, second to none in intellect across the Central Plains, had endured humiliation for a century since losing the post to the Sima Family.
Finally, Jegal Yeongyeong fulfilled her family's long-held wish. The elders praised her.
She too had been happy for a time, meeting their expectations.
But.
It wasn't all good.
The Murim Alliance elders eyed the youngest-ever Chief Strategist with scrutiny, waiting for any minor slip-up.
In that environment, despite her martial arts training, Jegal Yeongyeong skimped on sleep to the point of straining her body, throwing herself into work.
"Chief Strategist, may I enter?"
"Come in."
As her subordinate from the Strategist Division entered, Jegal Yeongyeong inwardly screamed.
The subordinate carried a stack of reports.
"Sorry. These are urgent requests from the Strategist Division..."
The murim world's situation had grown strange lately.
Suspicious movements from the Yangtze River Eighteen Strongholds, the Seventy-Two Bandit Strongholds, minor black path factions—and the Demonic Cult ending its long silence to resume activity.
Thus, not just Jegal Yeongyeong but all the strategists in the division were busy safeguarding murim peace.
She knew these reports related to that, so she couldn't snap at the poor subordinate.
"It's fine. Just set them there."
The subordinate added the new pile atop the remaining mountain of reports.
Gazing at the towering stack, Jegal Yeongyeong let out a faint sigh. Her subordinate ventured cautiously.
"Um, Chief Strategist. Your complexion looks poor. How about heading back early for once, just for a day?"
Tempting, but she didn't want to give ammunition to those awaiting her mistakes.
"It's not that bad. I'll swing by Luoyang Medical Hall. I'll handle these reports by today."
***
Baek Yuseong hadn't seen a single patient even an hour after morning consultations began.
Though he'd studied medicine for only two years, his skills had reached a considerable level.
Thanks to the trait [Innate Five Intelligences], which worked even without a dantian.
Unlike skilled physicians with secret techniques, he'd learned from publicly available texts, so his foundation was solid. With a bit more experience, he was confident he'd earn high praise even at Luoyang Medical Hall.
Yuseong resolved to seize any chance and prove his skills to attract many patients.
Just then, commotion erupted outside.
"Eun-seon! Eun-seon!"
Amid the murmurs of waiting patients and a man's shout, Yuseong rushed out too.
Before Clinic Room Ten, people formed a circle around two figures.
In the center, a girl who looked about fourteen clutched her throat, gasping for breath. A man who seemed her father shook her body frantically.
"What's wrong! Can't breathe?!"
The father called desperately, but the girl collapsed, convulsing, then fell backward.
"Everyone, make way!"
Cha Physician from Room Ten arrived first.
"Oh, Cha Physician! Save my daughter! She was waiting and just collapsed!"
As he checked her pulse, other physicians rushed out in alarm.
Yuseong hurried to the girl's side.
"What's happening? A seizure?"
Yang Physician asked, but Cha Physician's face darkened. After a moment, he said.
"No pulse. Looks like she's gone."
The father's face paled, his voice trembling.
"Surely my daughter isn't dead?!"
"Step aside a moment."
Yang Physician asked permission, checked the pulse himself, then barked at the attendants.
"There's a thin bamboo tube in my clinic drawer. Fetch it quick!"
Surprised, Cha Physician asked.
"Is there still a pulse? I thought it stopped."
"Pulse stopped, but I learned a secret technique from my master. I'll try it. Don't expect miracles— it works in about one in ten cases when the pulse has ceased."
"A divine physician's secret art!"
"Ooh!"
The crowd cheered.
Regardless of the father's anguish, they fixated more on Yang Physician's display.
Having grasped the situation from Yang and Cha's exchange and the girl's final symptoms, Yuseong urgently reached for her wrist.
"Yang Physician, I don't know what method you're attempting, but it seems..."
"You brat! A newbie like you interrupting a divine physician's treatment?!"
"Cha Physician, this is urgent..."
"Hey! This is a divine physician's disciple!"
Yang Physician held Cha back and told Yuseong.
"It's fine. If this doesn't work, even my master couldn't save her. Watch."
The attendant rushed up then, shoving Yuseong aside to hand over the bamboo tube.
Yang Physician pried open the girl's mouth, inserted the tube into her windpipe, and blew breaths through it.
'So that's his so-called viable method—artificial respiration. But for cardiac arrest, chest compressions are far more crucial than breathing. Looks like even a divine physician knows the pulse stopping doesn't mean instant death, but missed compressions.'
Yang blew more breaths through the tube, but nothing changed. His expression darkened rapidly.
'Any longer and brain cells start dying. I have to step in now!'