“Specifically, it’s not cutting, but dotting. Making tiny holes. If done this way, it produces an effect similar to resurfacing while drastically reducing side effects.”

“However, even that method seems to have pros and cons depending on the patient’s skin condition, so it must be adjusted carefully.”

The techniques were broadly divided into ablative and non-ablative.

In Jin Cheon-hee’s past life on Earth, a friend had asked him to review a paper on dermatology. That friend’s dream had been to complete the Tower of Life in Cheongdam—a gleaming monument to vanity housing Dermatology, Plastic Surgery, Oriental Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics from the top down, with a pharmacy anchoring the first floor.

He came from a wealthy family to begin with, but when the small building his parents owned was slated for redevelopment, they burned with ambition to seat their son on a throne of glass and steel, and he burned with ambition right alongside them.

The location of that building was Cheongdam.

He bought me a lot of meals back then.

With laser resurfacing, the biggest issue was always whether it interfered with daily life afterward. Recovery time was the critical factor. He’d heard reducing that downtime was the key to profitability.

But the patients here couldn’t lead a daily life from the start.

Forget getting a job; this was a neighborhood where people with pockmarks got stoned just walking down the street. The goal wasn’t making good skin better, but being accepted as a member of the community without facing a lynching.

“Hee-ya… Performing this, I feel a slight… anguish as a swordsman.”

“Master. This is truly Saving Lives. There is no need to agonize over what it means to save people with a sword.”

“I doubt the ancient sages would have called skin resurfacing ‘Saving Lives’.”

“It is one of many ways. Since Master is a natural-born beauty, you wouldn’t know this pain.”

“You speak as if you’ve suffered from acne yourself?”

At those words, Jin Cheon-hee flinched.

In his past life, Jin Cheon-hee had possessed a painfully ordinary appearance. However, desperate to hide the fact that he was an orphan, he always obsessed over dressing neatly; while he didn’t want to stand out, he was terrified of standing out in a bad way.

So he always ironed his school uniform himself, and acne… was a subtle, persistent worry.

Though it disappeared naturally later, the habit remained even into adulthood, and he remembered always prioritizing washing and dressing well. Even if he didn’t wear different clothes every time, shouldn’t he at least be neat? If his skin was messy, he felt it would needlessly broadcast his poverty, so he applied sunscreen and lotion diligently at the very least. Wanting to always smell good, he even sought out decent men’s perfume.

Living so desperately, his classmates said they had no idea Jin Cheon-hee was an orphan until he told them.

His master spoke, cutting through his reminiscence.

“Sometimes you speak as if you have lived a life you haven’t lived.”

“Ah… Hahaha…”

“I will not ask further, though.”

His master became perfectly proficient with just a few practice runs. He practiced on animals, then on the Senior Physicians who volunteered. Thus, the pimple marks of the Senior Physicians were slowly being erased.

He intended to do it on patients next, but everyone scrambled to be first.

“You’ll perform the procedure and give us money? Does that make sense?”

“If only I can change this face, I would offer my life. I feel I could sell my soul. Please… Please…!”

Every single one of them was desperate. Jin Cheon-hee calmly explained how far the progress had come, what the experimental results were, and what the expected side effects were.

However, people with smallpox scars had no reason to hesitate.

“Can’t you do it right away? Physician-nim… I looked for a rope to hang myself just yesterday. I don’t hope for the scars on my body to disappear. If you just change my face, I will become your servant for life.”

“There is no need for that. Just receive the treatment first. You must come to the Medical Pavilion periodically. And you must strictly follow the rules.”

Watching that scene, his master was left speechless.

Just as his master had taught Jin Cheon-hee the true face of the Unorthodox Path in the past, Jin Cheon-hee taught his master the desperation of the civilians. The cold-hearted master and the crazy disciple were still teaching each other, one lesson at a time.

It was a tie.

***

Skin regeneration was occurring better than initially expected. Patients still couldn’t understand why they were being paid for the privilege of being healed.

It was natural. In the clinics of this era, it was standard to treat without going through such statistical experimental processes. It was only with the transition to modern medicine that statistics were actively used and clinical cases collected for advancement, but now… they just did it.

Qin Shi Huang didn’t know if mercury was truly good, but he ate it because they said it granted immortality, and Qin Shi Huang’s royal physician didn’t compile statistics on mercury or run experiments, but fed it to the Emperor anyway. In such an era, the physician’s reputation served as the sole measure of their excellence. So, going through a trial period while even giving money was something difficult to comprehend.

“Ooh… The procedure went well. At this rate, you’ll regain your original appearance faster than initially expected, won’t you?”

“More people talk to me now. Physician-nim… You don’t know how differently my family looks at me. They even give me food now.”

…Hmm, I think the family is the problem there…

But well, even in modern times, countless families were worse than strangers, so it was better to save his breath.

“Hehehe, thanks to you, I even got some odd jobs at the Escort Agency.”

“That’s a relief.”

Even though there was still some redness, it was incomparable to before.

“While we’re at it, shall we erase the scars on your hands too? The rest can be covered with clothes.”

“That would be great! Aigoo!”

The patient stopped speaking and suddenly began to cry.

“Because the Divine Physician helped me, I can live my life again. Thank you. Thank you…”

His master still couldn’t quite understand this sentiment. And that made sense. Even if his master had been born with an ugly face, his comprehension wouldn’t have gone anywhere, so he could have just cut down those who ignored him.

But most human affairs didn’t work that way.

Restoring skin might be trivial to some, but for others, it meant escaping a heavenly punishment. Because a person’s inner self wasn’t visible on the outside. And when hiring someone for work, who would bother to observe their inner self?

“…No need. Thank you for coming to me. I gained a lot of confidence treating you as well. Please don’t think bad thoughts from now on.”

This was a patient who had even attempted suicide in the past due to smallpox scars. Many might ask why commit suicide over just that. However, wasn’t that something one couldn’t know without becoming that person?

He nodded.

“I absolutely won’t. How could I die with this face you fixed for me?”

“Your hands too.”

“Hahaha… Yes. My hands will become clean too.”

***

After caring for the patients and stepping outside, a beautiful woman holding a pipa was walking toward him. She spoke to Jin Cheon-hee in a seductive voice.

“Darling~♥ (Gaga)”

“Yeah.”

It must be Hyeon. I’m not even surprising.

The woman? clung tightly to Jin Cheon-hee’s arm and said, “Darling, you don’t know how much this girl missed you. Since Hangzhou is my hometown, haa, it felt like my heart was tearing into a thousand, ten thousand pieces…”

Clang—

Hearing something break, he turned around to see Sama Hye looking alternately at Jin Cheon-hee and the cross-dressed Sama Hyeon. Eventually, Sama Hye spoke, her voice trembling.

“…Surely not… O… Oppa?”

Wow, she recognized him even with his face changed.

“Ah, I’m fine. Oppa used to cross-dress when he performed in Beijing Opera before. Like Farewell My Concubine…”

“Fufufu, I’m a little embarrassed~”

Sama Hyeon’s mouth said embarrassed, but his body was absolutely triumphant.

“But why are you calling Benefactor ‘Darling’?”

“Hyung gets flustered when I tease him like that~ But today he’s too calm, so I think I need to approach differently.”

“But that’s really amazing. Wow. You couldn’t do this before, right?”

Sama Hye even groped her brother’s bone structure.

“Fufu. Surprised?”

“Yeah. It’s completely a woman’s skeleton? The muscles too. How is this possible?”

“It’s martial arts. You can change muscles and skeleton to some extent~.”

“If you could do this back then, you would have made a fortune.”

“Right?”

Usually, wouldn’t one be appalled seeing their grown brother cross-dressing? Why was the point of surprise so strange? He didn’t expect Sama Hye to be not just calm, but full of admiration.

Finding this even more surprising, his body stiffened, and Sama Hyeon, as if waiting for this, linked arms with Jin Cheon-hee.

“Darling~ Do you not like me?”

“Hye-ah… Could you tell your Oppa to get off?”

At those words, Sama Hye giggled and linked her arm through Jin Cheon-hee’s other arm.

“I know, right. Benefactor~ When will you set the wedding date with Oppa~”

Since they were biological siblings, when they decided to mimic each other, their tones were frighteningly similar.

“Kids, save me.”

At this rate, wasn’t he just a complete libertine?

***

Some time later.

After bickering with the two siblings, he was able to guide Sama Hyeon to the tea room. The siblings giggled for a long time, seemingly enjoying the prank. Sama Hye, in particular, seemed excited to see her brother after such a long time.

“So? What did you do, Oppa?”

Was it thanks to being in her hometown? Sama Hye looked much brighter than before, and perhaps Sama Hyeon was happy about that too, as he chatted about this and that.

“Could I throw away that money just to eat a rice cake~ This brother didn’t stay still either~”

While the two chatted, Jin Cheon-hee said he would bring tea and deliberately left the room. He prepared the tea sluggishly on purpose to let the two catch up.

When he entered after about one sijin (two hours), Sama Hye was startled and wiped her eyes.

“Ah, Benefactor!”

Aigoo, if I knew this would happen, I would have stayed out longer…

Sama Hyeon patted Sama Hye’s back.

“Hye has been a crybaby since the old days~ She probably shed quite a few tears while studying at the Medical Pavilion.”

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t cry even once? Right?”

She asked Jin Cheon-hee, feigning anger.

Hmm, Sama Hye’s evaluation at the Medical Pavilion always included [Strong Willpower]. It seemed seeing her brother after a long time loosened her tear ducts.

Jin Cheon-hee didn’t argue but said, “I made something for refreshments, can you eat it? It’s cold outside, so I brought something warm.”

“Yes, yes! Of course.”

What he placed in front of Sama Hye and Sama Hyeon was something unheard of in the Central Plains.

“What is this?”

“Uh… Hotdo…g… No… Uh… Fried… ske…wer?”

He didn’t know what to call it.

It was just a Korean-style cheese corn dog. And a very, very unhealthy one at that—half cheese, half sausage inside, wrapped in rice batter, studded with chopped potatoes. Fried wildly and rolled once in sugar! Ketchup sprayed generously!

Truly an unhealthy, delicious snack!

“You even drew pictures. Benefactor?”

With ketchup, he drew a fox on one and a star on the other.

“Share one each.”

“We eat this with tea?”

“Yeah. Since tea is bitter, the sweeter the refreshments, the better.”

…This is a refreshment?

The siblings looked at each other once, then Sama Hyeon shrugged first and naturally picked it up to eat.