WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Plague Doctor in a Peaceful World ◈
Chapter 10: Hallelujah
──────
A musical rehearsal studio.
Rehearsal was over.
“Good work, everyone!”
Kang Nara smiled warmly as she exchanged greetings with the others, even the actors who had whispered behind her back that she had only gotten in through her father’s connections.
“Great work!”
“Nara, you were on fire again today. You said you caught the flu last week and might not be able to come to rehearsal. Guess you were exaggerating.”
Jang Hanpil, the actor playing Nara’s love interest, said with a smile.
Jang Hanpil was an experienced senior actor whose recognition had recently risen after playing a comic-relief role in a popular drama.
To Nara, though, Jang Hanpil was someone who was always clingy and overly familiar, making her unbearably uncomfortable.
“I couldn’t inconvenience everyone. I powered through with sheer willpower.”
“Haha, I like how spirited you are. Do you have plans later?”
“Yes. My yoga instructor is coming to my house.”
“Wow, rich people really are different. Your instructor comes to you at this hour. I was going to buy you a drink if you were free, to celebrate your casting.”
“I appreciate the thought.”
After bowing, she hurried into the women’s waiting room.
Cough, cough.
As she was getting ready to go home, the lead actor came over, coughing.
“Ah, who did I catch this from? I’ve been coughing since yesterday.”
Kang Nara smiled in response.
“They say the flu is going around these days. I had a hard time shaking it off too.”
“Could you tell me which hospital you went to? You can recommend medicine too, right?”
“I just went to a nearby ENT clinic, got examined, and had an injection. Should I still tell you?”
“Yes, please.”
In truth, going to the hospital had not helped much. She had repeated the same routine of lying limply in bed, coughing, and falling asleep in hopes of getting better.
Lee Mun-yeong, her father’s secretary, had come to see her while she was sobbing over the possibility that her casting would be canceled.
“Nara. Shall we... believe in magic for once?”
Lee Mun-yeong told her about the “Plague Doctor,” who could cure a cold in one go.
Clinging to even that shred of hope, she nodded.
There were shamans who drove out evil spirits, so surely there could be a magician who drove out illnesses!
Thinking back on it now, she had not been in her right mind because of the fever.
Anyway, the “Plague Doctor” really did visit, and Kang Nara recovered as if by miracle.
Her voice, hoarse from being sick, returned to perfect condition. Her fever went down, her headache vanished, and her blocked nose cleared right up.
‘But I promised the Plague Doctor I wouldn’t tell anyone.’
After that day, Kang Nara often thought of the Plague Doctor.
When COVID was at its peak, the term “mask-fishing” had become popular too. It referred to imagining the hidden part of someone’s face more favorably because of their mask, then feeling disappointed by their actual face, as though you had been scammed.
The Plague Doctor had hidden their entire face behind a bird-beak mask. Even the goggles had tinted lenses, so she could not properly see the shape of their eyes, but...
‘Somehow, I think they’d be handsome.’
Kang Nara imagined the Plague Doctor’s face in the best possible light.
‘They had a sharp jawline. Their hands were big, their shoulders were nicely square and broad enough... They were just under 180 centimeters, but that coat suited them well.’
She had also liked the faint scent of cologne when they held hands.
‘What kind of person are they really? They treat homeless people, and they turned down ten million won without a thought... Are they really a priest?’
Kang Nara’s eyes lit up as she took out her phone.
‘That’s it. I should give them a gift!’
“...You said you’d tell me the hospital, so why are you suddenly searching for a cross necklace?”
“Ah.”
* * *
-[They’re a researcher who must soon leave for the United States for an important project, but they caught the flu despite being vaccinated. They’re getting on in years, too...]
The explanation went on and on.
I put my phone down for a moment.
How much did it usually cost to go to the hospital for a cold or flu in Korea?
I didn’t know about other people, but I had never paid more than ten thousand won.
Even then, I was sometimes too lazy to go, so I wouldn’t take medicine and would just laze around all day until I got better.
I had wandered around with a cold, played basketball and soccer with one, and even drank alcohol.
I never took it seriously.
It went away on its own with time.
I had never suffered a major loss because of a cold.
But for some people, it was an illness that brought serious trouble the moment they caught it. That was why they mentioned one million won, handed over ten million without hesitation, or offered three hundred thousand won like this.
Still, the longer the tail, the sooner someone stepped on it. I should obviously refuse...
But I was tempted.
Treatment, yes.
That one word would put three hundred thousand won in my pocket.
I had received six hundred thousand won for treating the Kang-geon Pharmaceuticals CEO’s daughter’s flu.
I didn’t think I had taken that many bills, but it had been a whole six hundred thousand won.
Then Kang Nara, after I told her to use the returned money for something worthwhile, added enough to make ten million and donated it toward treatment costs for pediatric cancer patients at a university hospital.
Seeing that made me slowly regret not taking all ten million that day, since nothing bad probably would have happened.
But what was done was done.
Anyway, I started thinking that maybe it would be all right to accept this request.
Because she had willingly donated a full ten million won.
She could have ignored me.
Wasn’t it her way of saying she wanted to maintain a good relationship with the Plague Doctor?
In case she needed my help again?
...No.
This time, it might be a trap to catch me.
But wasn’t three hundred thousand won rather little for bait?
Which somehow made it feel more trustworthy, and less trustworthy at the same time.
“Kang Bongsik. What are you being so serious about... Hey, isn’t that ice cream mine?”
My older sister came out into the living room and flung open the refrigerator door.
“It is mine! There was only one left! Hey!”
I draped both arms over the back of the sofa and struck an arrogant pose.
“Are you really that upset your little brother ate it? I can just buy you ten more. What’s the problem?”
I, Kang Bongsik.
A man who earned six hundred thousand won in one day.
My sister’s expression turned icy.
“Then go buy ten right now. It’s no big deal, right?”
“Sure. Arong, want to go for a walk?”
Woof!
That night.
I arrived in front of a detached house.
Lee Mun-yeong, who had been waiting by the gate, bowed.
“Thank you for coming. The patient’s family has all gone abroad, so please make yourself comfortable.”
Lee Mun-yeong explained in a quiet voice.
She went on and on about when the researcher who needed “prayer” had joined Kang-geon Pharmaceuticals and what an admirable person they were.
“As I mentioned in the DM, they don’t believe in religion at all. They only reluctantly agreed when I suggested they receive a healing prayer today... Even if their attitude offends you a little, please be understanding.”
When I followed her inside, I saw the words [Contagious Disease Patient] through a closed door.
Knock, knock.
“Excuse me, I’ve brought them. May we come in?”
Cough, cough.
I heard coughing from inside.
“Uh... Yes.”
The room was filled with antique furniture.
The [Contagious Disease Patient] was sitting on the bed drinking water. Upon seeing me, they let out an incredulous laugh.
“I heard you would cover your face, but a Plague Doctor? Did you put herbs in that beak too?”
“...”
I only bowed.
They were green, so this looked like it would be over quickly.
“Excuse me. As I told you earlier, they’re observing a vow of silence...”
“All right, Secretary Lee. Should I lie down like this?”
“Yes.”
I approached the bed.
[This is a Contagious Disease Patient (2). Would you like to treat them?]
[(Total Expected MP Cost: 210)]
“...?”
What was this?
Contagious Disease Patient (2)?
Was it a system error?
As I blinked in confusion, two small system windows appeared over the upper body and feet of the [Contagious Disease Patient], who was covered by a blanket.
Upper body.
[Contagious Disease (1)]
[(Expected MP Cost: 130)]
Feet.
[Contagious Disease (2)]
[(Expected MP Cost: 80)]
Only then did I notice.
A foot sticking slightly out from under the blanket.
It was wearing a toe sock.
Athlete’s foot!
“...Pfft.”
I gritted my teeth and desperately held back the laughter about to burst out.
Well, athlete’s foot was a contagious disease too.
“Plague Doctor?”
As my shoulders trembled, Lee Mun-yeong looked at me cautiously.
I waved a hand to say it was nothing, then took a calm, deep breath. As I focused on the system window over their upper body, its outline darkened.
If there was more than one illness, it seemed I could only treat the one I was looking at.
I took out my phone and started some music.
[Hallelujah! Hallelujah!]
Lee Mun-yeong stared at me with a startled expression.
The [Contagious Disease Patient], who had been looking at me suspiciously, now wore an expression that said, Is this really right?
It was Handel’s oratorio Messiah, which I had added to my playlist beforehand.
Before coming here, I had thought about it.
If I cured someone instantly with just a few words like I had with Kang Nara... it would look like real magic.
So I decided to add a little performance.
Just look at me right now.
Was this the outfit of a normal religious person?
So I decided to lean all the way into looking like a cultist.
It would also hide the skill command.
I made the sign of the cross, clasped my hands, and pretended to pray quietly.
For about a minute.
I considered dropping to my knees too, but then my legs would fall asleep.
I hated that feeling.
“Treatment.”
My voice was swallowed by the grand music.
“Yes.”
A warm-colored haze was absorbed into the upper body of the [Contagious Disease Patient].
A moment later.
“My goodness...”
The [Contagious Disease Patient] stared at the thermometer with their mouth hanging open.
“My fever really went down... Ahem. Ah, ah. And my voice and blocked nose?”
I slowly backed away.
Because their eyes were filling with curiosity and scholarly interest.
Lee Mun-yeong stepped in at once.
“Excuse me. The healing prayer is over, so I’ll see the Plague Doctor out.”
“Wait a moment, Secretary Lee. Plague Doctor? Please talk with me for a moment.”
The [Contagious Disease Patient] sprang to their feet.
But they stopped short.
Because I clenched both fists and took a boxing stance.
“No, um, ahem. Sorry. I was just so surprised.”
I loosened my fists too and nodded.
Then I opened my sketchbook.
[If you go around telling people about me, heaven will punish you. Remember that.]
“Yes, I’ll remember. But what exactly did you do...?”
“Excuse me.”
“All right, Secretary Lee.”
At Lee Mun-yeong’s firmer tone, the [Contagious Disease Patient] looked at me with deep regret, then took an envelope from a drawer.
They added another one hundred thousand won and held it out to me.
“Thank you so much, Plague Doctor. Thanks to you, I can put off being called a sickly old person at work for a little longer.”
I accepted the envelope politely with both hands.
“Plague Doctor.”
After saying goodbye to the [Contagious Disease Patient] with athlete’s foot and coming outside, Lee Mun-yeong took a small box from her bag.
“This is a gift Nara asked me to give you if I saw you. She said she still feels bad that she did not properly repay you that day.”
After donating ten million won?
I opened the box with a puzzled expression.
Inside was a long cross necklace.
It looked much more expensive than the one I was currently wearing.
There wasn’t a tracking device or listening device attached to it, right?
“And may we contact you again?”
I put the necklace box in my pocket and struck a thoughtful pose.
“It can’t be too often, so only from time to time.”
I guess not just anyone could become a company CEO’s secretary.
She was quick to read the room. Nice.
When I nodded, Lee Mun-yeong smiled and led the way.
“Your music choice today was wonderful. Hallelujah!”
I raised both hands too.
Hallelujah!
...Forgive me, Lord.
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