The Rebel’s Quack Doctor 18

“Jin, are you really okay? Maybe you should rest a little more…”
Richard asked, his face full of worry.
Jin felt a pang of guilt at his friend’s concern, but he couldn’t find the words to explain. He knew exactly why he had collapsed so suddenly.
“I’m fine, Richard. It wasn’t because I overdid it.”
Jin gave a lonely smile. The reason was painfully simple.
Rodent’s flower crown had looked… far too beautiful on Astrid.
He finally understood why people called her an angel. With those delicate white and purple blossoms framing her face, Astrid had seemed almost otherworldly—pure, untouched, ethereal, just like the rumors said.
His already weakened body simply couldn’t handle the sudden rush of emotion. His heart had pounded so violently it overwhelmed him. Jin let out a long, quiet sigh.
“Richard… I’m in big trouble.”
At the despairing tone in Jin’s voice, Richard flinched as though struck.
“I… I want to live.”
“…What?”
What kind of problem was that? Confusion flickered across Richard’s face.
Of course he wouldn’t understand. This feeling was completely foreign to Richard—and it was tearing Jin apart inside.
“…I want to live. I don’t want to die. What do I do, Richard? I…”
I’m so scared. Having this kind of desire terrified him. In all his life, he had never once felt anything like it.
He had always taken care of others, helped others, poured everything into them—yet he had never once wished for his own happiness. And now, this sudden, fierce attachment to life… how frightening it was.
“…So until now… you wanted to die?”
Richard’s expression crumpled with something like betrayal.
Jin avoided his gaze. He had never once spoken of this inner truth to his closest friend.
“Who in the world actually wants to die? It’s just that…”
He had never particularly wanted to live, either. He had always assumed death was coming soon anyway.
“Still… it’s a good change. You wanting to live.”
A small, warm smile broke through Richard’s usually gruff features. The smile reached his eyes, softening the hard lines of his face.
But Jin could only return a bitter smile. If his condition worsened again because of this, could he bear the disappointment? When he had been ready to let go without regret, none of it had felt frightening. Now everything hurt.
“You think too much. That’s your problem.”
Richard reached out and lightly tapped Jin’s forehead with one finger—no real force behind it. If he had actually hit him with intent, Jin’s bones probably would have shattered.
“Doctor Ober really is a divine physician. She even healed your heart.”
Richard said it with a chuckle.
The moment he heard “Ober,” pain lanced through Jin’s chest. He clutched at it instinctively.
‘Haha… I’m really in deep trouble. Just hearing her name makes my heart…’
“Jin? Are you okay? This isn’t good—I’ll go get Doctor Ober—”
Richard jumped up in alarm, but Jin sighed and caught the hem of his coat.
“It’s fine. You don’t need to call her.”
Richard still looked deeply worried.
“But your chest—”
Jin exhaled again. Yes, his chest hurt—but not because of illness. How could he possibly explain that?
“Richard… what am I going to do?”
Jin’s face crumpled pathetically. Seeing that expression, Richard sat back down.
“What in the world is going on, Jin?”
Jin let out another long breath. Even if he couldn’t say it to her, if he didn’t tell someone, the pressure in his chest might burst.
“I think… I might like the doctor.”
Jin’s face flushed scarlet as the words left his mouth.
Richard froze as though lightning had struck him. For the first time in thirty-two years, he stared at his friend—who had just confessed, for the very first time, that he liked someone.
★
“Louie! Louie!”
I burst through the door of the workshop, calling his name. But neither Louie nor Rick was there.
Only then did I remember—I had asked them to take Rodent back to the clinic and let him sleep.
I let out a breath and headed toward the clinic. The reason I had been in such a hurry to find Louie was that an idea had finally struck me.
Until now, I hadn’t been able to ask Louie to make a thermometer because I couldn’t clearly remember what a 1°C difference actually meant in practical terms.
But just now, in a sudden flash, I remembered what the Celsius scale was based on.
Ah, stupid, stupid me. This is why liberal arts brains are hopeless.
The freezing point of water is 0°C, the boiling point is 100°C. How had I forgotten something so basic? Of course, precisely calibrating the boiling point to exactly 100°C would be difficult in practice, but still—
Maybe, just maybe, we could finally measure Jin’s temperature accurately.
Lately he kept spiking fevers out of nowhere, and the worry was slowly killing me. Why had it taken me this long to remember?
I was about to fling open the clinic door when I remembered Rodent might still be sleeping. I eased it open carefully.
Sure enough, Rodent was curled up, breathing softly in his sleep. The tip of his nose was still red from crying, but he looked calmer now. I exhaled in quiet relief.
“Astrid-sensei.”
At Louie’s soft voice, I beckoned her over with a finger to my lips so Rodent wouldn’t wake. She nodded, rose quietly, and followed me outside.
“Why were you looking for me, sensei? Did another interesting idea pop into your head?”
Louie really was too kind. Every day I showed up with absurd, impossible-sounding sketches based on modern concepts and asked her to make them—and she always called them “interesting ideas” with genuine enthusiasm.
The real angel here isn’t me—it’s Louie. The angel of the underground city. Sob.
“Wait just a moment. I’ll sketch it right now.”
I tried to recall what a thermometer looked like. Hmm… these days they’re all digital ear thermometers that beep and give an instant reading… but that’s definitely too advanced.
So I pictured the old-fashioned kind—the kind you hold under your tongue. They were still around when I was little…
The mental image of Jin with a thermometer in his mouth was so unexpectedly adorable that I actually punched the air once in silent excitement.
I sketched it carefully and showed Louie, then explained the concept of Celsius as best I could—water freezing at 0, boiling at 100.
“Wow! That’s brilliant! Where do you keep coming up with these endless amazing ideas, sensei? Rick and I always get called geniuses, but honestly, I think you’re the real genius here!”
Louie’s eyes sparkled with admiration.
No… I’m just someone who came from another world. The real geniuses are Rick and Louie, who can take my vague, shallow knowledge and actually build working devices. But of course I couldn’t say that out loud. I just scratched my cheek awkwardly and smiled.
“Besides! You said this is for measuring the Leader-nim’s body temperature, but this could be used in so many other places too. A lot of Rick’s experiments change results depending on temperature—if we can measure accurately, the precision would…”
Louie launched into an excited ramble full of technical terms I barely understood. I just nodded along, pretending I followed. Sadly, I had the feeling she’d explain it better to Rodent than to me.
Not used to this kind of praise, I felt shy and quickly excused myself, hurrying back toward the greenhouse.
“Ah, Doctor. You’re here.”
Richard greeted me in an even gruffer voice than usual. Jin had fallen asleep again at some point—breathing peacefully. Richard had been watching him, but the moment our eyes met, he looked away.
‘…Huh? Why is Richard acting like this? Did I do something wrong?’
Was he blaming me for Jin collapsing so suddenly? Did he think I had failed in my duty as attending physician?
The thought made me unexpectedly sad. Because I really didn’t think his collapse had been my fault. But I couldn’t exactly snap back at the stone-faced “Gray Lion” either…
“I have some matters to attend to. I’ll take my leave, Doctor.”
Richard spoke curtly and strode out of the greenhouse without another word. I stared after his retreating back and let out a long sigh. Fine. Go, then!
Meanwhile Jin slept on, completely oblivious—breathing softly, peacefully.
Ugh, seriously. This man is going to be the death of me.