The Divine And Demonic Doctor [EN]: Chapter 36

The Divine Doctor (36)

“Please don’t interfere. If you leave her like this, this patient will die.”

Dan Akseon replied in a calm tone.

The doctors who met Dan Akseon’s eyes flinched. His gaze was cold and resolute, filled with an indescribable majesty that swirled within.

Pung Jin-sung stopped Namgung Baek, who was unknowingly stepping forward.

“He is more skilled than I am.”

Disbelief flickered across Namgung Baek’s eyes. He had heard that Dan Akseon was the child of a divine physician, but…

Even with some progress, what power could that young child possess?

Even Seongsu, the Divine Doctor, who was renowned for his unparalleled medical skills, only became known after passing forty. It was hard to believe that a child of only twelve or thirteen had inherited his medical skills; the world he had lived in was not so lenient.

“If he can’t do it, I won’t even be able to touch her.”

At Pung Jin-sung’s words, Namgung Baek’s eyes wavered.

His daughter’s condition was, at a glance, beyond serious. She was limp, barely clinging to life with a faint breath, as if she didn’t even have the strength to tremble anymore.

He could feel her life fading away even at this moment.

“You two, step back.”

At Namgung Baek’s words, the doctors hurriedly left the detached residence.

It was clear that they were relieved.

They clearly thought it was a stroke of luck to have avoided responsibility for the patient’s death.

Even at that moment, Dan Akseon did not take his eyes off Namgung Hyang.

“Th-that…!”

It was then that embarrassment burst from Namgung Baek’s lips.

It was because Dan Akseon had begun to touch his daughter’s bare skin without hesitation. Dan Akseon began to press various parts of Namgung Hyang’s body with his index and middle fingers together.

Then, in an instant, his eyes changed.

“It will hurt a little.”

Before he knew it, Dan Akseon was holding his mother’s Spirit Needle [a specialized acupuncture needle].

With those words, Dan Akseon inserted the needle one inch below Namgung Hyang’s navel, above her pubic bone.

“Aaaaaaack!”

With a terrible scream, Namgung Hyang leaped up.

“……!”

At that sight, Namgung Baek’s heart sank.

If that was just a little painful, then what was? How painful must it be for a dying child to scream like that!

“Lord!”

Only then did he notice Pung Jin-sung, who was blocking him.

“If you step in now, there’s no turning back!”

It was then.

“Madam! Please turn the patient over!”

Han Seol-hwa approached the bed and turned Namgung Hyang over.

“From now on, no matter what happens, you must never touch me or the patient. No one should approach.”

At Dan Akseon’s instruction, Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi stood between Dan Akseon and Namgung Baek. As his daughter disappeared from his sight, Namgung Baek took a step to the right.

At that moment, Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi moved in unison.

Namgung Baek’s eyebrows twitched.

At that moment, Namgung Hyang’s scream filled the room once more.

“Aah! It hurts! Stop! Stooop!”

“……!”

It was the moment Namgung Baek unknowingly took a step.

Thud.

A hand as big as a pot lid was placed on Namgung Baek’s shoulder. It was the giant man who had come with the young doctor.

“How dare you…!”

Just as he was about to burst out in anger, the scholar standing next to the giant spoke first.

“If you couldn’t trust him, you shouldn’t have entrusted him in the first place.”

A quiet but piercing rebuke.

More than anything, it was a voice filled with an undeniable presence.

“He wouldn’t have touched her if he couldn’t save her. So believe and wait.”

“……”

“Unless you want to kill your daughter with your own hands.”

“……!”

Even amidst all this, Namgung Hyang’s screams continued.

Namgung Baek, who had been restless, bit his lower lip. Then, he slowly stepped back, and a deep sigh was heard from behind.

It was Pung Jin-sung’s sigh.

Namgung Baek belatedly realized that he was emitting murderous intent.

He could tell just by looking at Pung Jin-sung’s pale face.

‘But… who are these guys?’

He was amazed by the scholar’s appearance, who was perfectly fine even after taking his murderous intent head-on.

The giant next to him was the same.

“Haa…”

It was then that a long sigh was heard.

“It’s done. We barely made it past the critical moment.”

At Dan Akseon’s words, Namgung Baek took a big step forward. Cho Ak-ryang and Beom Gye-wi no longer stopped him.

“It’s a relief. If we had been even a moment later, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

Namgung Baek ignored Dan Akseon’s words and approached his daughter.

As if she had never screamed, Namgung Hyang was in a deep sleep. Her body was covered with large and small needles, but her expression was peaceful, and her breathing was stable.

As the tension was released, Namgung Baek felt all the strength drain from his body.

“Is this child okay?”

Without realizing it, Namgung Baek was speaking respectfully to Dan Akseon.

He had watched countless times at the boundary between life and death. There was no way he wouldn’t know that his daughter had almost stepped into the afterlife just now.

Dan Akseon had dragged such a daughter out of the afterlife.

If he didn’t know, he wouldn’t have known, but now that he had seen it with his own eyes, he couldn’t treat him lightly.

“No.”

Namgung Baek’s expression darkened rapidly as Dan Akseon shook his head.

“If we don’t find the cause and treat it, she will hardly survive three days.”

“Three days?”

Namgung Baek asked, breathing roughly.

“If we find the cause, can she be saved?”

“Well…”

Dan Akseon closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.

“We’ll have to do our best.”

Still, it was an answer that felt like there was a glimmer of hope. This was because most of the doctors he had entrusted his daughter to had all shaken their heads with a look of disgust.

“I will do anything I can.”

“Are you serious?”

Namgung Baek nodded at Dan Akseon’s question.

“Of course.”

Dan Akseon smiled and said.

“Then please leave for now.”

While Namgung Baek was flustered by the sudden eviction order, Beom Gye-wi raised his voice from the side.

“You said you’d do anything, right?”

Just as Namgung Baek was about to burst out, Han Seol-hwa opened her mouth with a cold face.

“If it weren’t for Doctor Dan, that child would already be dead.”

Namgung Baek, who had paused, slowly nodded. As Namgung Baek was about to turn around, Dan Akseon mentioned a few things to him.

“Please don’t let any other doctors into this room. It could interfere with the treatment.”

“I will.”

In any case, his trust in other doctors had hit rock bottom a long time ago.

That’s because they had been in charge of Namgung Hyang for so long, but they hadn’t shown any improvement.

“You may only visit once a day. Right now, the patient’s stability is the priority. Getting emotional can worsen the situation.”

“I understand.”

“We’ll stay in the next room. Please make sure no one comes near this detached residence.”

Namgung Baek accepted all the conditions Dan Akseon had stated.

As he disappeared out of the detached residence, Pung Jin-sung asked.

“Is there a reason why you had to send him away?”

“For the three of you.”

Dan Akseon smiled quietly.

“I’m not the only patient I have to treat.”

Dan Akseon looked at Namgung Hyang, who was asleep.

“Besides, I need the strength of the three of you to treat her.”

“Our strength?”

“Yes.”

Dan Akseon pressed Namgung Hyang’s dantian [an energy center in the body] with his finger and continued.

“I don’t think we can treat her with the existing methods.”

* * *

Namgung Hyang slowly opened her eyes.

‘Am I not dead yet?’

She shuddered as she recalled the terrible pain of yesterday.

She had been suffering from illness for quite some time, but that pain was so agonizing and frightening that she didn’t even want to think about it.

But now, she felt incredibly refreshed and invigorated.

She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this good.

“If only I could live like this for just a year, no, even just a month…”

“You should live much longer than that.”

Namgung Hyang was startled by the sudden, clear voice.

She belatedly realized that there was someone else in the room besides her.

She turned her head and saw the face of a child looking down at her right next to the bed. Embarrassed that she had been caught talking to herself, Namgung Hyang looked at the people standing behind the child.

Namgung Hyang quickly greeted the person she was somewhat familiar with.

“Hello, Doctor Pung.”

“I’m glad I could come before it was too late.”

“Thanks to you, I lived again.”

Pung Jin-sung smiled and said.

“I’m not the one who saved you.”

Then, he pointed to Dan Akseon, and Namgung Hyang’s eyes widened.

She had thought of him as just a young boy doing errands for the doctors.

“This child… no, is this person my…?”

Dan Akseon smiled and nodded.

“I’m Dan Akseon. Let’s do our best together.”

Namgung Hyang was momentarily flustered, but she soon realized that the head of the Jinseong Medical Family was treating the young Dan Akseon with respect.

His attitude was clearly sincere.

There must be a reason for that. More than anything, Dan Akseon’s voice sounded familiar.

It was the voice that had comforted and encouraged her amidst the terrible pain of yesterday, urging her to find strength.

Namgung Hyang bowed her head to Dan Akseon while lying down.

“Please take care of me, Doctor Dan.”

“I should be the one saying that.”

Namgung Hyang smiled weakly at Dan Akseon’s words.

All she could do was endure and persevere, as she had been suffering from an illness that was eating away at her life.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Of course.”

Dan Akseon nodded.

“A patient’s will to live is the most important thing.”

That’s not something that can be solved with medical skills. Namgung Hyang thought about something for a moment and then slowly nodded.

Even if she didn’t know anything else, she had never given up the fight against the disease first.

“The pain will come again soon.”

“That…”

“I’ll ask you a few questions before that.”

Namgung Hyang nodded, trying to be brave.

“Please speak.”

“When did the first symptoms appear?”

“Three years ago, in the winter.”

“Did you happen to take any spiritual medicine or undergo any marrow cleansing procedures at that time?”

Namgung Hyang shook her head as she searched her memory.

“Have you ever come into contact with any unusual plants or poisonous animals?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Hmm…”

As Dan Akseon’s contemplation grew longer, Namgung Hyang cautiously asked.

“Why do you ask?”

Dan Akseon sighed.

“The symptoms themselves are clearly severed meridians [energy pathways in the body], but there are no signs of severed meridians developing. In that case, we have to assume that it was caused by some external factor, but it’s not easy to estimate the cause. In such a special case, there must be a reason…”

“A special case…”

A strange light flashed in Namgung Hyang’s eyes as she thought of something.

“Ah! Now that I think about it, I have come into contact with a rare object.”

“A rare object?”

“Yes. It’s a bed that my father gave me as a gift, made entirely of carved Cheonghwa Eunyok (Azure Silver Jade) [a precious mineral with medicinal properties].”

At those words, Dan Akseon’s eyes sparkled.

The Cheonghwa Eunyok itself is a very precious mineral. It reacts to a person’s body temperature and emits a subtle warmth, and it is known to have excellent effects in clearing the blood, relaxing the mind and body, and promoting fatigue recovery and internal energy enhancement.

“Can I take a look at it?”

Namgung Hyang shook her head at Dan Akseon’s words.

“The bed I’m using now isn’t Cheonghwa Eunyok. I used it for about a year and then switched to a normal bed.”

“Why did you switch?”

“When I woke up in the morning, my whole body was drenched in sweat. It seemed to help with internal energy enhancement, but I didn’t like the feeling…”

Dan Akseon jumped up.

“I need to check that bed.”

“My father is probably keeping it separately.”

Dan Akseon nodded and asked Pung Jin-sung to take care of Namgung Hyang. And he went straight to find Namgung Baek.