Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Illness
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Today was the day Yang Physician was on duty at the Medical Pavilion.
Cha Physician had lately been hanging around the White Tiger Division Leader's group drinking sessions, saying he wanted to build connections.
He'd attended once at the invitation of Deputy Strategist Tae Jeongheon and now seemed to think he needed to build rapport with those people, so he joined them frequently.
He was diligent, even if alcohol was his weakness.
Yuseong headed to the Murim Academy in the evening.
After much deliberation, he decided it was best to check directly, so he was on his way to see Nangong Yurin.
His assignment guarding the Medical Pavilion had already ended, making it hard to meet her otherwise.
"Medical Pavilion Master? What brings you all the way here?"
A Murim Academy student who recognized Yuseong midway greeted him.
They'd grown acquainted lately since academy students often came to the Medical Pavilion injured.
His influence was gradually expanding.
"Ah, I'm looking for Nangong Yurin. Do you happen to know where she is?"
"I saw Nangong Yurin sitting in that pavilion over there earlier."
"Thank you."
At the spot the student indicated, Yuseong spotted Nangong Yurin in a blue martial robe embroidered with a dragon.
She sat alone on one side of the pavilion, gazing up at the full moon.
Her graceful figure resembled a painting.
As he approached, she turned at the sound of footsteps, surprise flickering in her eyes.
"Medical Pavilion Master?"
"Ah, Nangong. Sorry to drop by unannounced."
"No, please, have a seat here."
Nangong Yurin shifted to make room beside her.
It felt awkward to just sit her down and get to the point, so he took the spot without refusing.
"..."
The seat was still warm from her body heat.
Perhaps because he'd recently treated the courtesans' venereal diseases, strange thoughts kept creeping in.
'Good thoughts, good thoughts.'
With nowhere else to look, he gazed up at the sky.
Nangong Yurin had offered the seat, but it was awkward for her too.
Now that Yuseong was sitting beside her, she fidgeted with her fingers, feeling embarrassed for no reason.
A man and woman sitting side by side, watching the full moon in the sky.
Wouldn't that look odd?
Yet strangely, though awkward, this moment didn't feel unpleasant.
It even tickled a little...
If the person beside her had been Paeng Jisan...
'Snap out of it! Why compare the Medical Pavilion Master to him?'
Amid her wandering thoughts.
"Nice, isn't it."
"Yes? Wh-what do you mean?"
Yuseong's soft voice and words momentarily short-circuited Nangong Yurin, leaving her stammering foolishly.
"The full moon. I get why you were looking at it."
"Ah, right? That's why I look at it often. Under the moonlight, it feels like the whole world pauses for a bit. You forget the flow of time, forget your pains."
She seemed like a girl rich in sensibility.
Anyway, the reason Yuseong had come to see Nangong Yurin slipped from her lips just now.
Pain.
She might have trauma about something.
She'd mentioned before that watching sparring matches was distressing.
That was what Yuseong wanted to confirm today.
"The reason I came today is..."
Gulp.
Nangong Yurin swallowed beside him, the sound piercing Yuseong's ear.
In the quiet pavilion, filled only with cricket chirps, it rang especially loud.
"Nangong, as for you—"
"Medical Pavilion Master!!"
Yuseong's words were cut off by someone calling him from afar.
Turning, he saw Jang Chil—who should've been off duty—running toward them, panting.
Jang Chil had first dashed to the Medical Pavilion, then heard Yuseong had gone to the academy and searched until he found him.
Yang Physician was on duty, and Jang Chil's skills paled compared to Yuseong's—no one else he could trust in this situation.
Though he and Nangong Yurin shared a peculiar atmosphere, he couldn't spare it a thought, unlike usual.
Yuseong asked.
"What happened?"
"My mother's gravely ill! Please help!!"
Yuseong shot to his feet.
With a Medical Pavilion family member's mother in critical condition, he couldn't waste time on Nangong Yurin's non-urgent checkup.
Patient came first, regardless of Jang Chil's character.
"What's the situation?"
"My mother was lying down and suddenly vomited blood!"
Several conditions came to mind, but he needed to see her to be sure.
One thing was clear: it was a bad sign.
"Where's your mother?"
"At our house! I'll grab escort warriors from the Medical Pavilion right away!"
"No time for that—let's go now."
Seeing Yuseong ready to dash off with Jang Chil unguarded, Nangong Yurin stood abruptly.
"I'll escort you."
She disliked wielding her sword, but using it to protect someone was far better.
This was near Murim Alliance grounds.
Third-rate black path thugs occasionally prowled, and Yuseong could handle himself, but just in case.
"Then I'll leave it to you. Let's hurry."
The place Jang Chil led them to was an ordinary home.
He flung open the door and rushed in.
"Mother!"
No one around to help, it seemed—Jang Chil's mother lay collapsed alone inside.
The metallic scent of blood hung in the air.
"I'll take a look!"
Yuseong quickly examined Jang Chil's mother.
Her face was pale, but after one vomit of blood, it wasn't gushing—only trickling slightly.
He took her pulse.
'Weak pulse, but thankfully she's holding on for now.'
Vomiting blood from the mouth suggested a few possibilities.
She'd been resting and suddenly vomited blood, per Jang Chil.
One suspect stood out.
Yuseong pulled out his acupuncture case.
"Medical Pavilion Master! C-can my mother be saved?"
Jang Chil asked, tears streaming.
Even with Yuseong's near-miraculous medicine, her pallor terrified Jang Chil, blood still trickling from her mouth.
He feared being left alone in the world.
Yuseong inserted a long needle into her chest while replying.
"I'm checking—give me a moment."
He closed his eyes and channeled divine power.
From what Jang Chil said on the way,
It wasn't from coughing—she tired easily and complained of indigestion often.
That pointed to liver issues.
He checked the liver first.
'Sure enough.'
Unlike a soft, elastic healthy liver, hers was bumpy and hard.
Cirrhosis.
Hardened liver blocked blood flow, diverting it to rupture esophageal veins.
An ordinary physician might balk at surgery and lose her, but Yuseong had healing.
'Stabilize the bleeding vessel first.'
Tracing the esophagus, he found a ruptured vessel.
Fortunately, not severely.
Left untreated, she'd die, but the small rupture let her survive until Jang Chil fetched him.
He precisely controlled divine power.
[Healing]
The vessel sealed instantly, stemming the leak.
"Huh? Medical Pavilion Master! The blood from Mother's mouth seems less now? Am I seeing things?!"
Jang Chil cried out in shock.
The effect was immediate enough for him to notice.
No more bleeding, but without fixing the root, it'd rupture again.
Yuseong ignored him and applied healing to the hardened liver.
The skill, potent against diseases and wounds, spread through the liver, softening the rigid tissue bit by bit.
He'd never pondered it in the game, but perhaps healing affected cells or somesuch.
It restored diseased areas to normal.
Curiously ineffective against aging, but normalized sick tissues to cure illness—that was Yuseong's theory.
Soon, the liver regained its soft, springy form.
Thanks to always reserving divine power after Chosan's herb incident.
Yuseong then meticulously scanned her body, healing damaged organs before withdrawing the needle.
"H-how is she? Can she be treated?"
To Jang Chil's grave expression, Yuseong grinned.
"Treatment's done."
"Pardon?"
"Ungh..."
Just then, Jang Chil's mother groaned awake.
"Mother!!"
Jang Chil tearfully embraced her.
Another life saved today.
Yuseong watched warmly when he noticed Nangong Yurin dabbing her eyes with her sleeve beside him.
Turning, he saw her blush, embarrassed.
"It's so moving."
"..."
Nangong Yurin truly was sensitive.
Highly empathetic.
Moments later, calmed Jang Chil bowed deeply in gratitude.
"Medical Pavilion Master, thank you truly. I'll regard you as my lifelong benefactor! And... I'm sorry for everything before!"
He vaguely knew the apology's cause.
Divine power swelled, conveying sincerity.
"Fellow pavilion members help each other. But has your mother been having eye trouble...?"
Jang Chil's mother lacked focus in her eyes, groping blindly beside her.
Grateful, she fumbled to hand Yuseong something but missed repeatedly.
Looking closely, her pupils were cloudy—eyes seemed impaired.
"Ah, Yang Physician checked a few years back—said it's presbyopia. Unavoidable."
Even divine physicians like Yang Physician couldn't know modern diseases.
In this era, eye issues in elders were chalked up to age.
Jeong Yeon's dementia was similar.
Yuseong asked her directly.
"Mother, can you see at all?"
"Oh, not completely. It's like fog—blurry, but I can make out shapes ahead."
After questions, her vision barely discerned objects' presence via faint sight.
Presbyopia could worsen sight, but not near-blindness?
Not by Yuseong's knowledge.
'Maybe cataract?'
Unlike age-related presbyopia, cataract was a disease.