Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: 49. Doctor of Darkness (3)
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It was huge.
The infamous doctor had appeared in the living room without a sound, and it was an enormous figure.
Its back was brushing against the living room ceiling, which had to be at least four meters high.
‘Fuc… a crow?’
At a glance, it looked like a massive crow hunched over, but on closer inspection, it was gripping a scythe with dark hands protruding from beneath its wings.
So the thing was a giant crow with arms attached to its torso.
It wasn’t wearing a crow mask or anything—its bird legs were clearly planted on the floor, and above all.
「Please sit there and wait a moment.」
Every time it spoke, its massive beak gaped open, and its eyes shifted.
Swish.
The ‘there’ it pointed to was none other than the living room sofa.
“Wait? Until when? I’ve got to pay taxes in like thirty minutes.”
Even in this situation, Young-woo hadn’t forgotten that tax time was approaching.
The doctor, the ‘heretic,’ paused sharpening its scythe and lifted its enormous head to stare at Young-woo.
「……」
‘…Ugh.’
A crow. A total crow.
But the crow’s head was the size of about ten sacks of rice bundled together, and just meeting its gaze sent chills down his spine.
「You’re just replacing the heart, right?」
“Yes? Oh, yes. That’s right. Just the heart.”
Young-woo snapped out of his daze and answered, prompting the doctor to lower its head and resume sharpening the scythe.
「It won’t take long, then. Please wait.」
“…Yes, sir.”
It didn’t seem open to negotiation, so Young-woo shut his mouth and obediently sat on the sofa.
Now he had a clear view of the doctor sharpening its scythe.
Scraaaape, scraaaaaape!
Its pitch-black arms were insanely muscular.
The silhouette was very human-like, but the veins bulging over its thick forearms were impossibly thick for any human.
‘What species is that? A crow body with bodybuilder arms…?’
And.
Scraaaaape!
Was that scythe really a surgical tool?
Scraaaaaape!
“……”
Young-woo stared in disbelief at the massive scythe in the doctor’s grasp.
The handle was about three meters long, and the curved blade looked to be at least two meters.
‘How the hell do you do heart surgery with that? If it slips while cutting the chest and takes off your head instead, you’d get leniency.’
As Young-woo eyed the surgical tool with a troubled expression, Jeong Gu, who had followed his son into the living room, spotted the doctor and freaked out.
“Holy shit! What the hell is that?”
“This? My heart surgeon.”
“What? That crow-looki—...”
Jeong Gu belatedly noticed the scythe in the crow’s hand and cautiously covered his mouth, backing away a couple of steps.
“…That’s the doctor?”
The doctor replied in a calm tone without even turning its head.
「The guardian should sit down as well. Surgery will begin shortly.」
“Ah… yes.”
Jeong Gu sat next to his son as instructed.
Moments later, the doctor held up its blade to the lightless void and made a gesture indicating preparations were complete.
「Shall we begin? Please remove anything covering your upper body.」
Swish.
The doctor pointed a muscular finger at its own feet.
There sat a stone operating table, waiting for the patient—though no one knew when it had been placed there.
“……”
Young-woo stared at the table for a moment before removing the ‘Aerial Ethics’ draped over his shoulders and tossing it to the floor.
Thuuuud!
The metal cloak hit the living room floor with a heavy boom, exposing the ad tattoo on Young-woo’s forearm in all its glory.
「Dogo…?」
Sure enough, the doctor immediately recognized Young-woo’s tattoo.
“You know… Dogo?”
As Young-woo climbed onto the table and asked, the heretic doctor blinked its massive eyes.
「The chairman is quite famous.」
‘Figures it’s the chairman.’
Even a shady doctor from the cosmic back alleys knew his notoriety.
Young-woo was about to ask exactly what he was infamous for when the surgeon parted its beak and asked something unsettling, throwing off his timing.
「You can handle pain well, I assume?」
“Yes?”
Before Young-woo could react, his body lifted about thirty centimeters off the altar.
Just like during the spine surgery.
“Uh, how painful?”
Now starting to feel real fear, Young-woo looked at his surgeon, whose massive beak split wide open.
「The level of pain a powerful villain could endure.」
“No, doctor… actually, I’m……」
Not a villain, Young-woo started to say, but at that instant, the surgeon swung the scythe wide.
“Gaaah!”
Confirming the blade’s tip heading straight for his chest, Young-woo let out a shrill scream.
And in that same moment.
Kwachuk!
From around Young-woo’s heart where the scythe pierced, countless bluish spirits gushed out.
―Kraaaaa!
―Hwoooo……!
―Aaaah!
“Huh?”
Lying in midair, Young-woo watched the spirits pouring from his chest and spotted a few familiar faces among them.
“Hey! Chairman Kim!”
One of the spirits fleeing skyward with a grudge-filled groan had Kim Il-sung’s face.
But soon.
Whiiiish!
The surgeon swung the scythe again, snagging the spirits, foiling the escape attempt—including the entire Kim family and all sorts of other souls.
―Uwaaaah!
―Kyaaaah!
The spirits wailed in fury, wrapped around the scythe’s tip.
Young-woo stared blankly, not even noticing his chest had opened a handspan wide, and asked the surgeon.
“Do… doctor, what’s going on here?”
But instead of explaining, the doctor pointed at Young-woo’s chest with its left hand.
「As expected of a villain bearing Dogo’s tattoo. Not even a hint of distress.」
“No, doctor. That’s because……”
The reason Young-woo wasn’t feeling pain right now was purely.
「Berserker」 - Mutation Amulet
【Ignores pain above a certain level.】
Because the surgery currently underway was dogshit levels of agonizing.
Enough to automatically trigger the Berserker amulet.
「Now, extracting the old heart.」
The doctor extended its left hand while reciting the horrifying line.
It was going to rip out Young-woo’s heart whole from his half-open chest.
“No, this is insane.”
Even Jeong Gu jumped up from his seat, helpless as he watched black fingers burrow into his son’s chest.
Who performs a heart extraction that barbarically?
But.
Shlurp.
Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Young-woo’s heart came out smoothly.
All the major blood vessels connecting it to the body had been neatly sealed.
“No… no way.”
Seeing his son’s extracted heart still beating, Jeong Gu clapped a hand over his mouth without realizing it. Young-woo, too.
“What……?”
Stared vacantly at his own heart in the giant crow’s grasp.
Of course, the connection wasn’t fully severed.
Bluish, thread-like strands from the heart still linked to the inside of Young-woo’s chest.
And Young-woo instinctively knew it was the same substance that had made up the spirits he’d seen earlier.
「Bring the new heart.」
With a flick of the surgeon’s hand, the golden goblin waiting in the corner of the living room with the venom dragon’s heart approached cautiously.
-Keeyit……
Thud.
The venom dragon’s metal heart settled into the surgeon’s left hand and was soon transferred into Young-woo’s chest.
「This part hurts a bit more.」
The doctor warned as it inserted the new heart.
Young-woo nodded as if it was fine, then.
“Huuuuh?”
Groaned as a chill suddenly spread inside his chest.
It felt like plummeting from the peak of a roller coaster, a eerie sensation churning through his body’s core.
「This one’s harder to endure, isn’t it?」
As Young-woo shuddered, the surgeon was transferring the ‘threads’ from the old heart to the new one.
That’s why the pain was assaulting his soul, not his flesh.
「Almost done. Hang in there.」
Next, the surgeon swung the scythe toward the new heart settled in Young-woo’s chest.
Whiiiiiish!
The moment the scythe’s tip clashed with the heart’s surface.
―Kyaaaaah!
―Heeyaaak!
The spirits wrapped around the blade were sucked back into Young-woo’s heart.
「Whew.」
The doctor exhaled in relief.
Glancing at Young-woo’s chest, already beginning to heal without further intervention, it turned to Jeong Gu and said.
「You’ve raised a sturdy son.」
“Yes? Oh, yes… He’s a tough one.”
Jeong Gu bowed unconsciously and eyed the heart still in the doctor’s hand.
Thump, thump!
The human heart of Jeong Young-woo, still pulsing vigorously.
Would this one end up transplanted somewhere in the universe, like his spine had?
「Heart transplant complete. Surgery fee is 14 million karma. Cash only.」
The doctor unilaterally billed the patient, whose wound hadn’t even fully closed.
It then touched Young-woo’s forearm with its left hand.
Tap.
The fee transferred automatically, and Young-woo’s balance plummeted.
* Available Karma: 37,348,500
Now down to 37 million karma.
‘Good, plenty left after taxes. Time to boost some stats.’
Even exhausted, Young-woo thought ahead to the impending tax deadline and the night dungeon.
Hadn’t he undergone heart surgery just to keep surviving?
“Thank you for your hard work, doctor.”
Young-woo gave a light nod toward the crow head, and it parted its massive beak.
「A legendary heart with fusion capabilities. It’ll last a long time.」
It lifted Young-woo’s still-living old heart slightly and added.
「I’ll process this heart into an amulet for free. In return, put in a good word for me with the chairman.」
“Yes? What story……」
「Ask him to lift the execution order……」
“Ah.”
Young-woo got the gist without details.
This doctor had clearly crossed the chairman too.
‘No wonder it kept calling me a villain.’
Would a chairman who beats public officials to death spare some random doctor’s plight?
‘Nah. Surviving with Dogo’s execution order on you is the real miracle.’
A miraculous surgeon who could reverse even death during surgery.
He probably had the skills to preserve his own life decently.
“Yes, got it. Then I’ll……”
As Young-woo started to ask something else, the heretic doctor looked skyward, cawed “Caw!”, and melted into the dim void.
“Went straight home?”
Jeong Gu muttered, staring at the now-empty center of the living room.
And soon, the reason was revealed via system announcement.
―Taxes will be collected starting at 10 PM shortly.
―Tax evaders will be instantly eradicated at collection time.