Gongsun Yeong cleared her throat and shouted loud enough to rattle the air.

“Now! Come one, come all!”

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

She was only clapping her hands, yet the sound boomed like a drumbeat.

“The creator of ondol, a guest of the Northern Sea Ice Palace! The Divine Physician who cures all diseases has arrived!”

She delivered it in fluent Ayesha, and the crowd’s attention snapped to her at once.

The prince yanked off his top and posed behind Jin Cheon-hee.

“Huuup! Muscles!”

As he flexed, his muscles bulged, and everyone shouted, “Oooooh!” as their gazes locked on him.

There was no other reason for doing this.

In Gongsun Yeong’s experience, whenever a Gangho quack doctor set up shop, someone always had to be nearby putting on a strength show.

Sister… you’ve actually done this before, haven’t you? How are you this good at it?
Did Black Ice Poison Dragon Gongsun Hyeon make you do it?
Or did you not only do escort work…?

While her career was becoming more and more suspicious by the second, a middle-aged man pushed through the crowd with his mother on his back. The woman’s mouth was twisted to one side.

His voice trembled as he spoke, desperate.

“I once managed to show her to a Central Plains physician, and I heard the name of the disease. They call it Facial Palsy.”

Facial Palsy.

Also known as Facial paralysis.

A condition in which paralysis affects the facial nerve, twisting the muscles of the mouth and eyes.

Depending on the cause, it was largely divided into peripheral and central, based on whether the problem originated in the brain or the nerve itself. Causes included skull fractures from impact, brain tumors or cerebrovascular disease, illnesses like otitis media, viral triggers, and more.

And yet, in more than half of cases, the cause was unknown. That was what they called Bell’s palsy, named after a doctor.

In traditional medicine, it was called Facial Palsy.

First, if it was a brain problem… unless the patient was a martial artist, they usually died before arriving at the Medical Pavilion.

This world wasn’t some neighborhood with cars. Even reaching a local clinic could take ages on foot.

In Korea, too, back in the old days, people crossed three mountains just to get to school. Infant mortality was high. If a child had a fever, the hospital was far away, so the fastest person in the household had to sling the child onto their back and run, or pedal like mad on a bicycle.

That was the era before private cars.

The Central Plains wasn’t much different.

Places like Hangzhou were insane little worlds where Unorthodox practitioners stabbed holes in each other’s stomachs at night, then gathered at the Medical Pavilion during the day for harmonious “regular meetings,” so there were clinics and pavilions everywhere.

But in a slightly remote village, having even one clinic made it a good place to live.

So facial paralysis had appeared in a place like that?

It didn’t feel like an “unknown cause” case. It felt like something fatal had happened in the head.

Why does the world keep spinning in circles like this? …This is exactly why I keep building clinics affiliated with the White Qilin Medical Pavilion. The moment manpower allows, I expand like convenience store chains, and this is why.

Still, it was insufficient.

And given the era, even when clinics earned less, it was harder than picking stars from the sky for them to fail completely. If they survived long enough to reach a White Qilin Medical Pavilion clinic, urgent needles could buy time for transfer to a regional pavilion.

Jin examined the woman’s head and ears meticulously, asked question after question, and in the end it landed on the “unknown cause” side.

It was the general Facial Palsy that more than half of all patients experienced.

In a way, that was fortunate.

In Western medicine, they usually treated it with drugs and watched the progression. Sometimes they added electrical stimulation. In most cases, time and consistent treatment gradually brought things back to normal.

In traditional medicine, they often treated it with acupuncture, sometimes accompanied by cupping or moxibustion.

At least it’s treatable.

Jin Cheon-hee inserted needles imbued with internal energy and said, “Phew, still fortunate she doesn’t have a stroke.”

Since strokes could be the cause in elderly patients, families were always terrified.

The son carrying his mother asked urgently in Ayesha, “It improved only when needles were inserted, then returned when they were pulled out. Will she recover?”

“Usually it’s like that. It requires treatment for quite a long time.”

As the needles went in, the mother’s muscles immediately returned to their proper positions.

Wooooaaaaah!

If I say, “It’s all cured, go back,” and end it here, I’m a real quack.

Jin Cheon-hee said, “I’ll write a prescription for now, so you must decoct and drink it daily. Acupuncture alone wasn’t enough, so I pressed the acupoints with Qi Art. Come back to this spot tomorrow.”

Naturally, acupuncture using Qi Art was far superior to ordinary acupuncture.

That was why Gangho physicians were rated a notch higher than common physicians, and why people like his master could rise to the position of Divine Physician.

“Thank you. Thank you!”

“It improved temporarily. If you don’t receive treatment tomorrow, it will return to its original state.”

After Jin emphasized it several times, the son nodded hard.

“And for diseases like this, keeping the body warm is important… you wouldn’t have ondol, right?”

“…Yes. That is so.”

What do I do? In this world, heat is a resource.

“Let’s solve it with acupuncture and decoction for now.”

Saying that, Jin had them fetch water.

When he made the water boil with Scorching Yang Energy, passersby cheered again.

Among the people gathered here, there wasn’t anyone who didn’t know how to boil water. It was something everyone could do.

But hot water itself was a resource, because firewood had a price.

“Now, if you bring water, I’ll boil it for you. Since I’m boiling it with Scorching Yang Energy, it’ll stay hot much longer than water boiled with firewood. And bring all patients, too.”

Waaaaaaaaah!

Seeing that, Gongsun Yeong sent a telepathic message.

[You’re using Scorching Yang Energy just to boil water? Do you have internal energy coming out of your ears?]

[It’s life-saving, Sister. Life-saving!]

He heated water the moment they brought it, and it didn’t cool easily.

Only Gongsun Yeong, who knew exactly how incredible and valuable that realm was, stared at him with eyes that screamed, Is this man insane?

[You are truly always new. New.]

[Kehehehehe…!]

***

Treating people in poor environments was familiar now.

As word spread, he set up a tent and treated patients there.

“They say the Young Divine Physician treats people personally!”

“Wow, is that true? Really the Young Divine Physician?”

“There was a handsome young man who looked exactly like a Central Plains person, right? Moving with a huge dog. The bird wandered around a bit and tried to dig into the owner’s hem when it got cold.”

“Ah, ah, I didn’t see him myself, but my daughter said she did. Good. Good.”

Poor people began flocking to the relief tent.

What was different from Hangzhou was simple.

In Hangzhou, many physicians treated people together. Here, he was alone.

And Gongsun Yeong didn’t let go of her greed for spectacle, not even for a second.

“Ultimate flame trick, flame itself!”

Fooosh!

Prince Han-bing spat oil from his mouth, and a huge flame roared into existence.

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

“Amazing. To think this is possible without using Fire Arts!”

“If I’d come earlier, I could’ve seen the fire-eating trick too. What a pity.”

People who had no idea the man performing a fire show right in front of them was His Highness of the Ayesha Kingdom clapped until their palms reddened.

Meanwhile, Jin Cheon-hee treated patients.

The line was long, but being able to enjoy entertainment while waiting was a tremendous advantage. People crowded in competitively.

And not long after…

It came.

Typhus.

A patient entered with a high fever and rash, yet still enough strength to walk. The patient was young, but the guardian who accompanied him out of worry was somewhat elderly, said to be his father.

And when Jin heard there was a newborn grandchild waiting at home, he knew he had to resolve this quickly.

Hm… do I have to delude the world and deceive the people a bit?

Jin Cheon-hee shouted on purpose, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“This is an epidemic! An epidemic caused by bugs! Bugs transmit bacteria, and that attacks the human body!”

It was Jin Cheon-hee shouting style.

“…?”

People tilted their heads, then turned back to watch Gongsun Yeong and Prince Han-bing’s fire show.

Aigoo, right… do I have to start from the concept of bacteria?

Explaining future knowledge in a complicated way for nothing. Aigoo. Meaningless.

Just then, Gongsun Yeong spoke in a theatrical tone.

“Oooooh! Was the saying true, that bugs transmit evil energy and cause illness!”

Bacteria became evil energy, but at least people’s attention shifted back.

Jin Cheon-hee matched her tone.

“Correct! Bugs are indeed the hosts driving evil epidemics! We must eliminate lice to treat Confusion Fever!”

Here, they called it Confusion Fever, so matching the name was better.

“Confusion Fever! The cause lies in lice! Lice spread Confusion Fever!”

At those words, people asked eagerly, “Do you mean lice receive instigation from the God of Epidemics?”

“…”

Jin replied without changing his expression. “I don’t know such things. However, dirtier houses catch Confusion Fever. If you use the smoke bomb I prepared here, you can escape from evil energy. Now, follow me!”

He went to the patient’s house, mobilized internal energy to wash clothes and blankets at speed, then lit a smoke bomb.

As all sorts of bugs came crawling and tumbling out of the smoke, he caught them and showed them to the people.

From one small house, the bugs poured out in ridiculous numbers.

Prince Han-bing and Gongsun Yeong looked stunned, but the locals weren’t that surprised. Living with bugs in the house was simply normal life for them. Only after Jin preached that bugs were the cause of Confusion Fever did the crowd finally buzz in genuine shock.

Watching them, Jin sighed.

Originally, they should bathe…

For now, he disinfected the entire family with Life-Nourishing Energy.

Going around like that, he learned something.

Even if people wanted to bathe, firewood was expensive.

This was a harsh northern land. Trees did grow even in this cold, but they grew far away, and cutting them and hauling them back wasn’t easy. That was why there were people who specialized in selling firewood, and why it was formidably expensive.

For them, hot water was a luxury.

Fortunately, there were hot springs.

But the big problem was that the Northern Sea Ice Palace monopolized that water vein.

The area where hot spring water flowed properly lay northeast of Baekho City, meaning the lower hem of an even larger snowy mountain. The Northern Sea Ice Palace prohibited ordinary people from entering.

If that hot spring water could be drawn and used…

No, at the very least, if a huge bathhouse that civilians could also enter were built there, the problem would be solved.

The well water they currently used, and the water fetched from the lake, were lukewarm at best. They cooled quickly, and bathing was impossible. Bathing in cold water in this region could mean freezing to death.

I have to distribute smoke bombs, and develop the hot springs, and build even a makeshift bathhouse… for anything to work.

For now, he succeeded in gaining the support of the poor under the Northern Sea Ice Palace’s shadow.

But what remained, ultimately, was…

Civil engineering.

Could civil engineering even be done after coming here?

And even if he did manage it, it was a headache whether the Northern Sea Ice Palace would permit the work at all.

Wow. This is why Prince Han-bing said “ruined” the moment he heard the preventive measures.