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Chapter 70
The Terminally Ill Baby Doctor Doesn’t Hide Their Genius
I lightly clasped my hands together and leaned back leisurely.
“It took too long to get here…”
Gaju spoke to his uncle as well.
“Next is your turn after Heukbiwon, Heukbi.”
The young uncle next to me seemed to flinch slightly at the words.
“…I obey, Mother.”
For a moment, Heukbiwon wiped away his reluctance and gave a formal bow.
“Oh, so polite… it must be hard to act rebellious like that.”
As I admired him internally, Gaju continued speaking.
“We will determine the improvement of Heukbiwon’s symptoms like this.”
With a single gesture from Gaju, a small medicine bottle flew in from somewhere, carried by the wind.
“Who has a bay leaf?”
“I-I have it, Gaju!”
With practiced skill, Gaju powdered the leaf and poured it into the bottle.
“That is…”
Just by looking at the bottle, it would be hard for anyone to know what medicine it contained.
But I recognized it, for a reason—I was familiar with the medicine.
“Biwon, are you ready?”
“Is readiness even necessary? My cousin who vouched for me didn’t lie, so proving it should suffice.”
My uncle shrugged.
I had to admit he had a knack for acting cheekily even in front of Gaju.
“Let’s see if you say the same thing in front of a test. This is a weak catalyst. A very mild medicine that stimulates your mania.”
At that, a faint tension flashed across my uncle’s face.
“I knew it!”
It was the medicine bottle I had seen countless times during the first trial, when I had been dragged unwillingly into the situation.
Back then, relatives had schemed to force my uncle’s mania to its peak and throw him at the enemy, beyond anyone’s ability to intervene.
They planned to start with a mild catalyst and eventually make an irreversible mania-inducing drug.
My role had been to make a sedative to calm my uncle during the experiments.
“I siphoned a lot of that catalyst away…”
Gaju tossed the bottle down the stairs. My uncle caught it lightly.
“Drink.”
As I watched him open the lid, a tickling breeze brushed my cheek.
Is it really okay to leave it like this?
The voice in my ear was my father’s.
I subtly raised my eyes, reading a faint concern beneath his casual tone.
It’s okay to speak.
“Mm, it’s fine.”
Even though I hadn’t expected to see Gaju, I had anticipated this situation.
“Even if it were my aunts instead of Gaju, they’d have prepared this medicine as soon as the discussion of symptom improvement came up.”
I remembered when the plan had begun two weeks ago.
“Just give me exactly two weeks.”
The day I declared everyone must leave to buy time to make the medicine.
“The moment I say I treated him, everyone will want to test whether the symptoms improved. At that time, Baekpu must be careful.”
“Hmm? Me?”
“Yes. To check the improvement of Baekpu’s condition… the aunts will deliberately try to induce mania.”
“…They’re not diagnosing me?”
Those women wouldn’t accept a diagnosis with a simple, “Ah, I see. Has the condition improved?”
Even if it were true, they would manipulate the results.
“No matter what, you must endure. That’s the key. Don’t worry, my medicine will help you, Baekpu. But don’t forget… enduring depends on your will.”
I made my uncle promise.
They would provoke him by any means, so he had to endure.
And then.
The moment my uncle swallowed the medicine, Gaju gave the command.
“Everyone, grab him!”
The warriors rushed forward and tied up my elder brother, Gye-won, tightly.
“If you don’t want this test ruined, stay still.”
The three brothers trying to move froze at Gaju’s command. The warriors tied Gye-won without interference.
My expression mirrored the seriousness of the situation.
“Biwon, tell me. Has your condition truly improved?”
A glint of malice shone in Gaju’s slightly narrowed eyes.
Gaju was an incredible doctor, not as skilled as I had been at my peak, but still formidable.
She could probably determine my uncle’s condition with a single diagnosis.
Yet she chose the most provocative method.
“Has it improved enough that even if your son’s neck were cut, you wouldn’t go insane?”
The warrior under orders pressed a blade to Gye-won’s neck.
…This is harsh.
“What worries me…”
Both my uncle and father shared one thing: they cherished their children above all.
I glimpsed the pale face of my uncle, as if it were his own life at stake.
I looked at my uncle again.
Do I really need to intervene?
My father’s voice echoed once more.
I nodded calmly.
“Yes. Of course. I don’t make medicine carelessly.”
I had anticipated this nasty, cruel scenario. That was why I needed those two weeks.
My uncle, visible only in profile, clenched his teeth. The veins in his neck were prominent—something was off.
His dark red eyes flickered wildly.
Endure, patient.
Perhaps because his state was visibly unusual, murmurs of concern rose among the onlookers.
“…It doesn’t look stable. Shouldn’t we avoid this?”
“What if lightning strikes, like before!”
“If needed, use the strong warriors as shields…”
Amid the tense, mistrustful whispers, I glanced at the sky.
Lightning, my foot.
The sky was pure blue.
Before I realized it, my uncle was laughing.
“Haha, Mother… is this all your test entails?”
“…”
“My child, whom I would never wish harm, will not die.”
He spread his arms wide.
“Your personality dictates that you must hold the last tool to use me.”
“…”
Gaju’s shoulders flinched.
Even at a slight distance, the tremor was obvious.
“…Really.”
Gaju’s expression was a mix of disbelief and a strange, obsessive fascination.
“Has it improved?”
Her voice, almost grinding her teeth, carried longing.
“Who dared to treat a condition that no doctor in this world could cure?”
No one spoke.
Gaju’s words were saturated with possessiveness, desire, and greed.
“Well…”
My uncle smiled slyly.
Instead of answering, he raised a hand.
Crackle!
Lightning sparked at his fingertips.
“F-Fool! Everyone, get out of the way!”
“Damn, it’s mania!!”
Chaos broke out behind him, but only briefly.
The lightning did not strike the warriors holding Gye-won, the surrounding doctors and pharmacists, or the retainers.
Bang!
Crackle!
Lightning shot down like an arrow, carving a huge character into the floor:
‘通 (Passed)’
It signaled the result of the test and served as a signal to me.
“You asked who cured and saved you?”
My uncle’s eyes gleamed, without mania.
He laughed loudly, hands on his waist, then spread both arms.
“Ask them yourself directly.”
I grabbed my father’s arm firmly.
“Now, Dad.”
Trusting my body to his, I opened the water container we had brought as if it were part of me.
I poured the water liberally onto my hands.
“Should I hold it tightly?”
The night before, we had gathered and talked. If the opportunity arose to introduce the doctor who treated my uncle and father, I was to hand them over.
“Signal me.”
At my clap, a massive wave rose from the suspended droplets in midair.
Its target was the warriors holding Gye-won.
“Ugh, Ughk!”
The warriors gripping his arms and the one pressing the sword to his neck were all trapped in water.
Well, they sure are healthy, huh?
“The one who cured Baekpu, whom no one could treat… have you found them?”
I stepped down from my father’s arms.
I waddled forward to the grand staircase and looked up.
Through a long life, I had come this far.
I smiled brightly.
“Here I am, Doctor.”
