WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: LilGuyBlastoise
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Plague Doctor in a Peaceful World ◈
Chapter 9: It Was Too Much Money to Refuse
──────
Happy Quokka told me everything that had just happened.
-[They didn’t find out your secret, did they?? What if they take you away as a Plague Doctor test subject T_T]
I didn’t reply until I got into my car, parked far away in a paid lot.
[That’s not it, haha.]
-[The business card looked real too!]
-[(Photo)]
-[Look]
Could rumors about me have spread among homeless people, with someone who saw them tracing Happy Quokka through social media?
And it just happened to be someone from a pharmaceutical company.
-[Should I delete the post and comments where I was looking for the Plague Doctor now? They’ll notice, right? I should’ve deleted them sooner, I’m sorry T_T]
[No. I think they have some kind of misunderstanding about me too, so I’ll contact them myself. Don’t worry, Quokka, haha.]
They would learn that Happy Quokka knew the Plague Doctor and had denied knowing him, but otherwise, they might come looking for her again.
Our singer had finally released a new song. I couldn’t let my situation interfere with her career.
But what should I say?
After thinking for a moment, I emailed Lee Mun-yeong.
I only included my Plague Doctor social-media address.
After all, she had dug through social media to find Happy Quokka and suddenly started talking about one million won.
On a Saturday evening, no less.
So surely she was the one in a hurry.
* * *
“New email?”
Lee Mun-yeong had been anxiously checking her phone. When she opened the new email, her eyes widened.
One line. A social-media address.
When she clicked the link, a profile picture of a bird-beak mask came into view.
“The Plague Doctor!”
A little earlier, Lee Mun-yeong had asked Happy Quokka this.
“Do you know how to contact the Plague Doctor?”
Happy Quokka’s answer had been:
“Huh? The Plague Doctor... sir?”
The respectful title she added after “Plague Doctor” had made it clear that she was deliberately hiding something.
But Lee Mun-yeong hadn’t expected contact to come so quickly.
She followed the account and sent a DM.
She did not mention hearing rumors about him from homeless people. It could make him uncomfortable to know someone had secretly investigated him.
[Hello. My name is Lee Mun-yeong from Kang-geon Pharmaceuticals. First, I sincerely apologize for attempting to contact you in such a rude manner.
I am writing because I would urgently like to ask for your prayers.]
The homeless people had said that the Plague Doctor showed them the words, “I will say a short prayer for you.”
So instead of treatment, she chose the word prayer.
[As I told Happy Quokka, I have also prepared a small honorarium in case you require it for the prayer. Please contact me.]
A reply came.
-[I cannot guarantee that Heaven will answer my prayers.]
“Prayers! So that was his whole persona?”
Lee Mun-yeong’s heart raced.
She had worried that the Plague Doctor might deny everything and ignore her.
“Finding Happy Quokka was the right answer. But if I make it seem like I have leverage over him, he could change his mind at any time. I need to be careful and humble.”
If Kang Nara’s voice did not return by tomorrow and her musical casting was canceled, the CEO would be the one giving Lee Mun-yeong hell.
“And I’m so curious. How did he make a cold poof! disappear with one handshake or one gesture?”
The sensibilities of her adolescence, when she had been deeply immersed in subculture, stirred within her.
[There is someone who struggled for a long time and only now managed to grasp her dream of becoming a musical actor...]
She explained Kang Nara’s urgent situation in detail.
The Plague Doctor’s reply was brief.
-[The address.]
* * *
I had not come to this officetel because I had been blinded by one million won.
I wanted to show them that I was not some miraculous figure who could heal people with a single prayer.
It was all just coincidence, and Lee Mun-yeong was wasting her time and energy on a ridiculous misunderstanding.
In short, I intended to pretend to pray without actually treating her.
If she was sick, she should just go to the hospital.
They looked rich enough.
It was unfortunate that she had only just landed a supporting role and might lose her casting like this, but...
Honestly, what did that have to do with me?
I wasn’t a real doctor, much less an altruistic person.
Lee Mun-yeong was waiting outside the officetel.
As I came around the corner, she approached with a delighted smile.
“Hello, Plague Doctor. Thank you so much for coming. My name is Lee Mun-yeong from Kang-geon Pharmaceuticals. Here is my business card.”
“...”
I accepted the card with a silent bow.
It had been a while since I had dressed as the Plague Doctor, and my field of vision felt stifling. It was even worse at night.
I took out my sketchbook from my briefcase and opened it.
[I am observing a vow of silence.]
Lee Mun-yeong smiled and entered the code for the common entrance.
“Yes, I’ll show you the way.”
The security guard and someone who had just stepped out of the elevator both flinched when they saw me.
I shamelessly and confidently got on the elevator.
“You said it would be hard for you to pray with many people around, so Nara is the only one at home.”
I only nodded.
Still, something felt strange.
My face was covered by a mask, but it was obvious at a glance that I was a man.
And she was letting a mysterious stranger in a bogus Plague Doctor costume into the home of a woman living alone.
Could it be...
Maybe there were no other people inside, but she was armed with something like a gas gun or stun gun?
Hmm. That would make sense.
It should be that way.
She was letting a stranger into her home.
She needed to be careful.
We arrived on the twelfth floor.
“This is the place.”
While Lee Mun-yeong entered the door code, I looked around.
This place looked really expensive.
How much was the rent?
“Come in.”
I politely took off my shoes and changed into the living-room slippers.
Green [Contagious Disease Patient] words came into view.
A young woman stumbled into the living room.
“You came... Cough, cough!”
“Nara, I told you to stay in bed.”
Good grief.
She looked worse than my sister had when she was laid up with a cold a month ago.
Her eyes were bloodshot red, with tears welling in them.
“I heard... Cough. I heard from her... Please make me better...”
“The doctor said you shouldn’t talk so much.”
“I have rehearsal tomorrow... Sob. Otherwise... they’ll really say I’m some bitch who took the role through connections...”
“What?”
“...?”
Kang Nara sniffled.
“One of my seniors called earlier... They said I wouldn’t get cut even if I missed rehearsal, so I should rest up... Unni, what do you think that means? Dad is sponsoring this production...! Cough, cough!”
“Okay, enough. Drink some water first.”
People became emotional when they were sick.
When you lay helplessly in bed, negative thoughts came more easily.
“Doctor...”
Kang Nara pleaded in a completely hoarse voice.
“Please help me... I really studied and practiced so hard... I don’t want all of that to be denied... They’ll see me as an actor who took someone else’s place without any talent or effort...”
“...”
She was not upset that the flu might get her casting canceled after all her hard work, but was already angry and hurt over the looks she would receive if she kept the role despite missing rehearsal.
Honestly, that struck closer to home than the former.
I could feel the injustice she had likely endured from other people’s suspicions.
But.
I was sorry.
If I treated her here...
“If you make me better...”
Kang Nara staggered over, pulled a bag from beneath the table, and held it out to me.
“I’ll give you this!”
Two stacks of fifty-thousand-won notes.
Ten million won in total.
“...”
I silently pointed toward the bedroom.
It was too much money to refuse.
* * *
Lee Mun-yeong helped Kang Nara back into bed.
Kang Nara lay there with her hands clasped tightly, gazing at me desperately.
[This is a Contagious Disease Patient. Would you like to treat them?]
[(Expected MP Cost: 130)]
I made the sign of the cross and clasped my hands in prayer.
“Treatment, please.”
I muttered so that the words would not travel beyond the bird beak.
“Yes, Jesus grants permission.”
I’m sorry, God and Jesus.
Please punish the ones who gave me this system.
And when you think about it, weren’t God, Jesus, and Buddha neglecting their duties too?
A warm-colored haze flowed from my hands and was absorbed into Kang Nara.
[System]
- Used 'Plague Treatment'.
- 'Plague Treatment' Proficiency +2
- Experience +6.4%
[MP 6/110]
“...”
“...”
“...”
Frrrip.
I flipped through the sketchbook.
[It is done.]
Lee Mun-yeong looked flustered.
“What? Th-that’s it?”
“Unni...”
Kang Nara, who had also looked confused, slowly sat up.
“My body... Huh? My voice! My voice is back!”
Her clear, lovely voice rang through the room.
“Ahh!”
Whoa, that startled me.
She had a seriously powerful voice.
Kang Nara threw off the blanket, leaped from the bed, and grabbed both my hands.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! I don’t know your name, but I’ll never forget this kindness for the rest of my life! Thank you so much, Doctor!”
I carefully pulled my hands free.
My gloves were damp with Kang Nara’s sweat.
I turned another page in the sketchbook.
[If you go around carelessly telling people about me, you will be punished by Heaven. Remember that.]
“Yes! Yes, I will!”
Only minutes ago, Kang Nara had been staggering around.
Now, as energetic as our Arong on a walk, she bounded off in a rapid tap-tap-tap and returned with the bag of money.
“Here you are, Doctor! Thank you so much!”
Genuine joy overflowed from her bright smile.
“...”
“Doctor?”
Only then did I come back to my senses.
Kang Nara, full of life again after only a few minutes.
Lee Mun-yeong, with an expression like she was about to shout, “Hallelujah!”
My eyes and reason, both turned by the ten million won, finally returned to normal.
Could I really accept this money?
She had handed over the enormous sum to preserve her pride, but might she regret it later?
What if she sent some scary guys after me and demanded the money back?
Had I watched too many dramas and webtoons?
I took one of the cash bundles, removed only a few bills, and returned the rest.
Scratch scratch.
[Your earnestness reached Heaven, and this grace was bestowed upon you. Please use it for good.]
“Doctor...”
Kang Nara clasped her hands with a moved expression.
Don’t look at me like that.
I was only doing this because I was scared.
I gave a small bow and fled from the place.
I took a dark road without any CCTV, filming a one-man spy movie as I made my way back to the car and drove home.
The next day.
I kept checking out the window.
There were no suspicious people.
I searched my car from top to bottom.
There was nothing wrong with it.
Right.
Even a huge pharmaceutical company couldn’t easily hire people to reverse-track CCTV footage and hack cell towers for information like they did in dramas.
The following day, and the day after that.
Only peaceful days continued, and I was gradually beginning to relax when...
Bzzz.
-[Hello, Plague Doctor!]
Lee Mun-yeong had sent me a DM.
-[Following your words, I donated the remaining amount to a good cause!]
-[(Photo)]
-[And, by any chance...]
-[Do you also accept 300,000-won prayer requests?]
Cough.
I nearly choked on my ice cream.
Footnotes:
“Yes, Jesus” incorporates the system’s answer, “yes,” into the Korean invocation of Jesus, fitting the Plague Doctor’s muffled, improvised prayer.
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