When Kureha spoke the name Dr. Hiriluk, her wrinkled face was full of sorrow and nostalgia.
Hiriluk's medical skills were not advanced. On the contrary, he was a quack. He would climb down through a patient's chimney, and even if the patient was unwilling, he would sometimes use forceful means, ignoring their wishes to treat them.
When family members disagreed and tried to call the national guards to arrest him, he would even use anesthetic guns to knock them out, then treat the patient with his newly developed medicine, which he called a panacea.
However, most patients who took his so-called cure-all would foam at the mouth and pass out.
Thus, Hiriluk was also called a "Mongolian doctor," meaning he had no formal medical training and practiced entirely based on guesswork.
But Hiriluk was the one who gave Chopper his name and treated him like his own child. He was also the first humanoid form that could make Chopper happy and feel pain.
One day, six years ago, after treating a patient, Hiriluk was pursued by the guards. While fleeing, he encountered Dr. Kureha, sitting on a bridge railing, drinking her favorite plum wine.
It was a night with a full moon hanging high in the sky. On a snow-covered bridge, these two doctors, who disliked each other, had a brief conversation.
Kureha was already 133 years old at the time. She called the middle-aged Hiriluk a "young man" and asked if he was happy.
Kureha believed the most terrifying thing in the world was a doctor with poor skills. She thought if Hiriluk didn't call himself a doctor, maybe hundreds of patients would have only had common colds.
In other words, these people, after receiving Hiriluk's treatment, would…
Hiriluk paid no mind to Kureha's sarcasm. He disliked her practice of taking whatever she wanted from a patient's house after curing them, calling Kureha an evil doctor with no right to criticize him.
In the Drum Kingdom at that time, apart from the medical team of twenty doctors controlled by Wapol, all other doctors had been arrested by him. The entire country was left with only Hiriluk and Kureha to help treat common people.
Even so, people avoided Hiriluk because his skills were too terrible.
Wapol wanted to control all the nation's doctors. He very much wanted to capture Kureha and Hiriluk and ordered the national guards to arrest these two doctors who dared oppose him.
But Hiriluk firmly told Kureha, "I will absolutely not be caught by them! One day, I will discover a panacea!"
"Is that so? Don't end up destroying this country instead," Kureha said, taking a drink, half-joking.
At that point, the guards discovered Hiriluk's location, and he and Kureha hurriedly escaped.
In the darkness, Hiriluk fled into the forest through the snowstorm. He accidentally came across Chopper lying in a pool of blood.
Seeing Chopper was bleeding heavily, Hiriluk stepped forward to stop the bleeding.
Chopper lay bleeding in the snow, still in his human form. Seeing Hiriluk approach, his eyes stared fixedly at this human who said he wanted to save him.
"You don't look human. You're the yeti everyone's been talking about lately, right?" Hiriluk saw the fierce, hate-filled look in Chopper's eyes but didn't mind. He even took out medicine he had developed three days ago that could supposedly heal broken bones to treat Chopper, saying Chopper was really lucky.
But Chopper, having just been hunted by villagers who shot at him, screaming that he was a yeti and that he must be killed before someone died, their hateful, pursuing faces flashing in his mind… That Chopper was at his most fearful of humans.
Seeing Hiriluk guessed his identity and spotting the pistol that fell from Hiriluk's coat onto the snow, a strong sense of danger made Chopper instantly go berserk. He knocked down Hiriluk in one move while he was trying to give him medicine.
Then Chopper let out a beast-like roar and punched Hiriluk in the head. Hiriluk was immediately smashed until his head split open and bled.
The blood flowing from Hiriluk's head soon stained the white snow crimson red.
"We hit him!"
"Don't let up, surround him!"
Chopper, shot multiple times, was not only covered in blood but too weak to even stand and run. Crawling slowly through the thick snow, he recalled the villagers shooting at him, their piercing laughter when they hit him. He just wanted to get far away from humans.
"You dare do this to me?! Who do you think I am?!" Hiriluk climbed up from the snow, blood still on his forehead, his face darkened as he looked at Chopper crawling slowly away. He called out, "Wait!"
Chopper, dragging his severely injured body, hadn't crawled far when he heard Hiriluk, whom he had beaten bloody, calling him. He thought Hiriluk wouldn't let him go, but he was wrong.
Turning his head, Chopper saw Hiriluk, in this icy, snow-filled world, strip off all his clothes. Shivering violently from the cold, he stood naked in the vast white snowfield, limbs spread, waving continuously at Chopper and shouting, "I absolutely will not shoot you! I am Dr. Hiriluk! I am a doctor!"
Snow fell. Chopper stood frozen, watching the completely naked Hiriluk, who had gone to such lengths to gain his trust, wearing not a stitch.
Since meeting humans, Chopper had never encountered one who could face him so openly, neither shunning nor attacking him for being a monster. For the first time in his life, he felt trust from another.
Hiriluk, in his own way, expressed the greatest kindness, finally making Chopper let down his guard. Then, gravely injured, he passed out.
Waking up in bed, Chopper had returned to his human-reindeer form—the one with antlers and a round body. Bandages covered him. He looked around the small room.
Hiriluk sat on a chair, wrapped in a blanket, sleeping soundly, occasionally sneezing. His clothes were drying nearby. On a stone platform not far away were various test tubes and reagents. It was clear he often experimented here.
Chopper touched the bandage on his forehead. Having not eaten for days, his stomach growled uncontrollably. Then he saw the bread and glass of milk placed to the side, clearly prepared for him by Hiriluk.
While eating the bread, after a few bites, hot tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes. He cried loudly and messily.
After meeting Hiriluk, Chopper, who had lived alone, despised by all, with no family or companions, felt human warmth for the first time. He couldn't help but cry.
After three days together, Hiriluk discovered Chopper could talk and asked why he had pretended to be mute.
Chopper remained silent because he feared Hiriluk would dislike him. He thought this because previous humans who heard him speak treated him as a monster and shot at him. He was afraid Hiriluk would hate him and drive him away. After all, a talking reindeer was indeed strange.
"So what if you can talk?" Hiriluk said to Chopper. "There's nothing to be proud of. I can talk too, and I speak more and more fluently than you."
Chopper froze for a moment hearing this. Clearly, Hiriluk saying that meant he didn't see Chopper as a monster.
Later, Hiriluk's house exploded due to a failed experiment, blowing both him and Chopper out.
Lying in the snow, Chopper asked Hiriluk why he had given him the name "Chopper."
"From now on, I'll call you Tony Tony Chopper!" Hiriluk said to Chopper lying beside him in the snow. "Because you're a reindeer with antlers strong enough to knock down trees. It's a good name, right?"
"Chopper…" Listening to Hiriluk's hearty laughter, Chopper repeated his name, then happily covered his mouth and laughed.
The snow seemed to never stop for even a moment. White flakes fell continuously. On that day, Chopper finally had his own name.
Learning Chopper, like him, was hunted by the guards, Hiriluk said to Chopper while conducting experiments from a book, "Don't hate humans. This country is sick right now—its citizens, king, and government alike."
"Some say it's impossible to cure a sick country, but that's not true."
Hiriluk told Chopper a story. In a distant western country, there was once a great thief with an incurable disease. Though wealthy and consulting many famous doctors, none could cure him.
Later, this man, told by doctors to await death, disheartened on his way home, saw a mountain. On that mountain, he saw a sight he had never seen before, incredibly beautiful.
Cherry blossoms. He saw the entire mountain covered in vivid cherry blossoms, pink petals fluttering everywhere like a pink veil floating in the wind, brilliant as if dripping, the air filled with intoxicating cherry blossom fragrance.
This never-before-seen beauty filled the man with joy and moved him deeply.
Later, when he went to a doctor, he was told something astonishing: his disease was cured.
"This is a miracle!" Hiriluk's eyes full of light, he said seriously to Chopper. "It truly is a miracle! But it's not just that. It's also medicine! The emotion changed that man's body."
"A disease doctors said was incurable was healed. That's amazing, right?" Hiriluk went to the skull flag hanging on the wall, slapping it heavily, saying to Chopper, "No matter what others say, I will save this country as a doctor! All diseases, I will cure everyone with this skull spirit!"
Chopper didn't understand the meaning of the skull. Hiriluk told him, "This symbolizes the belief to turn the impossible into the possible! I will fight hard like the pirates who fly this flag!"
This was the first time Chopper heard about pirates.
When Hiriluk went to a village to treat patients, Chopper followed, though Hiriluk told him to rest at home. Chopper said he wanted to help.
While evading soldiers, they heard about a mushroom called the "Ami Ugo," said to be unique to the Drum Kingdom and could be made into a medicine effective against any disease.
However, accompanying Hiriluk wasn't smooth. Hiriluk's skills were indeed poor. They were often driven out by villagers and unfortunately encountered the guards.
Pursued relentlessly, Hiriluk decided on a decoy operation. He kicked Chopper toward the guards and, while they were distracted, without hesitation ran, telling Chopper to take care.
Chopper with great difficulty escaped pursuit and returned to Hiriluk's house, immediately starting a fight.
Hiriluk had previously said not to follow him, blaming Chopper for his troubles.
Chopper also got angry, angrily scolding Hiriluk for being an idiot. What doctor kicks a patient? He was almost killed.
Hiriluk said if he hadn't saved Chopper, he'd be dead, calling him a stinky blue-nosed reindeer.
After fighting until out of breath, they stopped. Chopper honestly said it was his first time fighting someone.
"Of course. Fighting also requires an opponent," Hiriluk said, resting on a chair, then gave Chopper a pink top hat printed with white crossed bones.
Chopper cherished this gift, wearing it ever after—his first and most important possession.
After receiving the gift, they made up. Seeing Chopper holding the hat about to cry again, Hiriluk called him an idiot reindeer.
Chopper got angry again. Fighting Hiriluk, he transformed into his human form, as muscular as a gorilla. Hiriluk, no match, angrily scolded him for being despicable for growing bigger to fight.
Time flew by. A year later, under Hiriluk's care, Chopper's wounds finally fully healed. That year, they lived together day and night: experimenting, chopping wood, sleeping, treating villagers, even being chased and beaten together.
Claiming Chopper was healed, Hiriluk drove him out, saying he had no obligation to care for him anymore, that Chopper's future was his own, and not to interfere with his research.
Driven out, this sudden change left Chopper confused and heartbroken. Besides Hiriluk, he had no other friends and didn't know where to go.
In the blinding snowstorm, he stood below the mountain, shouting up to the house, begging Hiriluk to let him return.
Chopper cried and said he wouldn't cause trouble, would give daily massages, make tea, and clean.
No matter how Chopper cried and shouted in the snow, the door remained tightly shut. Hiriluk seemed to have truly decided to ignore him.
Wanting to be with Hiriluk again, Chopper rammed his head into a tree stump, making himself bleed profusely from the head. He thought this would make Hiriluk take him back for treatment, like a year ago.
But to Chopper's surprise, seeing him injured, Hiriluk not only didn't treat him but shot at him, coldly saying: "Go wherever you want! Just get lost!"
"Don't come back here!" Hiriluk fired again as he shouted. The bullet grazed Chopper's face, leaving a bloody gash. Chopper did not understand why the person who was once so kind had changed. He stood blankly in the snow, tears and blood from his forehead gradually blurring his vision. "Doctor… why…?"
Another bang. This time Chopper didn't hesitate. He ran away crying bitterly all the way into the distance.
Watching his lonely back fade away, Hiriluk threw away his gun, sat on the ground, covering his face and crying bitterly: "Chopper… please forgive me!"
The truth was Hiriluk knew he had cancer. A year ago, he started coughing blood occasionally. Now it was terminal, incurable, with only three or four days left. So he pretended to be heartless to drive Chopper away. He didn't want Chopper, who had with great difficulty found a companion, to watch him die and sink into deeper despair.
Hiriluk wanted Kureha to extend his life, even by a few days. He wanted his thirty years of research to bear fruit, not be wasted. He wanted cherry blossoms to bloom in this country.
But Kureha said it was impossible. This was a winter island, cold year-round. How could cherry blossoms bloom here?
"They will! If cherry blossoms could make an evil, dying thief live and reform, that's a miraculous treatment that cleanses the human heart! Such treatment must exist! I want to prove it on this land! It could save everyone in the world! I truly wish for just a little more time!" Hiriluk wanted Kureha to use her skills to buy him a few days.
But Kureha told him not to struggle, saying what he wanted wasn't medicine. Even if cherry blossoms bloomed here, the people wouldn't change.
Hiriluk was that thief who saw cherry blossoms and was cured of cancer. Having experienced the miracle, he believed in a panacea. He could have returned to that distant northern country to see the cherry-blossom-covered mountain again and be cured.
But he didn't. He wanted to create that miracle in his own country. The Drum Kingdom was his homeland. He didn't want to leave while the country he loved was sick.
"We two are very alike. So I hope, at life's final moment, to use the blooming cherry blossoms to tell him… he can do anything too!" Hiriluk still worried about Chopper, even dying.
Chopper, who had followed Hiriluk, overheard and learned of his cancer. Remembering the all-healing mushroom, he decided to find it.
Kureha said she could help Hiriluk live three more weeks, but he had no money.
Hiriluk tried to threaten Kureha with his gun to treat him, but Kureha instantly subdued him—he had an anesthetic gun, not a lethal one.
Ultimately, Kureha decided to help, wanting to see what change this doctor could bring.
Before searching for the mushroom, Chopper found a tree, gathered his courage, and violently rammed into it. After several tries, the tree fell.
Yes, just as Hiriluk said, he had antlers strong enough to break trees. He could do anything! He was Tony Tony Chopper!
In that moment, Chopper finally became strong. Returning home, he searched through medical books, finally finding a description of the Ami Ugo mushroom in a book.
Knowing its possible habitat, Chopper set out.
To find it, he faced the wind and snow, crossed mountains and rivers, endured many dangers, finally locating it.
But the area was inhabited by a herd of reindeer. Passing trembling with fear in his reindeer form, he was attacked by a scarred, ferocious reindeer.
This time, Chopper didn't passively endure but rose up to fight back. After barely defeating it, he continued, but a thousand-foot cliff blocked his path, with the Ami Ugo on the other side. Behind him, a herd of reindeer watched menacingly—the defeated one had brought friends for revenge.
Meanwhile, Hiriluk returned home and devoted himself fully to researching the method to make cherry blossoms bloom on a winter island. But his experiments failed repeatedly, causing explosions that injured him.
"A man who flies the skull flag can do anything! That's what I told you, right, Chopper?" Despite his injuries, Hiriluk forced himself to rally, continuing his research. Behind him hung a pirate flag with three pink cherry blossoms.
A week passed quickly. Hiriluk spent those seven days almost without sleep researching, coughing blood during experiments, appearing listless from lack of rest.
Chopper returned then. Arriving home covered in wounds, his head full of blood, his precious pink hat torn and tattered, right leg fractured, right eye swollen shut, even his right antler broken.
Anyone could see the immense suffering and battle he'd endured. But regardless, he had obtained what he sought: the Ami Ugo mushroom.
"How did you become like this…?" Initially seeing Chopper's condition, Hiriluk couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't know what had happened, but he knew Chopper's injuries were far more severe than a year ago.
"Mushroom," Chopper said, standing at the door, blood flowing from his forehead and blue nose. He slowly raised the Ami Ugo in his right hand, looking at Hiriluk with his open left eye, a satisfied smile on his bloodied face, whispering, "Medicine."
Chopper's right hand trembled slightly uncontrollably. Behind him, white snow fell unceasingly.
Dusk approached, exceptionally quiet. The originally pure white Ami Ugo was stained with patches of red—his blood.
"You must live. You must survive, Doctor," Chopper said word by word. "Because I want to be a doctor too."
"You must teach me. I want to fight to the end, like a pirate." Here, Chopper lowered his head and laughed self-mockingly, saying softly, "Can a reindeer become a doctor?"
Hiriluk knew Chopper's severe injuries, his life half-gone, were for him. He hadn't expected, at life's end, that a non-human creature would care so much. Chopper's pure kindness moved him deeply. He crouched, hugged Chopper, hot tears flowing uncontrollably, choking out: "Chopper, of course you can become a doctor! You will become a wonderful doctor!"
By the end, the middle-aged Hiriluk was sobbing uncontrollably, repeating, "You can… you can… you can… because you're so kind… you idiot…"
Eager to cure Hiriluk, Chopper soon made soup from the Ami Ugo.
But when Chopper, on crutches, asked if the soup was good, Hiriluk said it was terrible, shocking Chopper so much his jaw nearly dropped.
"Don't be so dejected. Doesn't the saying go 'Good medicine tastes bitter'? If it's hard to drink, it means it's effective," Hiriluk said, seeing Chopper hang his head in disappointment. "I feel strength in my body. Thank you, Chopper."
Hearing this, Chopper thought Hiriluk was cured and a smile appeared on his face.
Then, Hiriluk made a discovery that delighted him: after thirty years of experiments, he had finally created something to make cherry blossoms bloom on this winter island. He was so excited he nearly went mad, joyfully shouting to Chopper: "I succeeded! My research succeeded! Cherry blossoms can bloom in this country!"
With his research complete, Hiriluk decided to go out, telling Chopper to rest at home since Chopper was more injured.
After Hiriluk left, Chopper remained alone, covering his mouth and laughing nonstop, happily thinking: The doctor looks so happy. I cured the doctor's illness.
Just then, Hiriluk returned, opening the door, saying with certainty to Chopper on the bed: "You will definitely become a great doctor. I can guarantee it."
This undoubtedly made Chopper even happier, unable to close his mouth from smiling.
Visiting Kureha again, Hiriluk learned something: the entire Drum Kingdom was in an uproar because all twenty doctors serving Wapol had fallen ill, meaning no doctors would be available for the sick.
Kureha found the mass illness ridiculous and asked why Hiriluk had come.
Initially thinking he came to thank her, she was wrong. Hiriluk gave her the product of his thirty years of research.
"This is the medicine I spent thirty years developing. This panacea can even cure this country's sick heart!" Hiriluk said. "The quantity isn't enough yet. I hope you can make the cherry blossoms bloom in my place."
Kureha flatly refused, saying he'd wasted thirty years making that ash-like stuff.
"I have one more request. Please teach Chopper medicine. He wants to become a doctor!" Hiriluk ignored her, solemnly requesting.
"Don't dream. And you have no right to ask me!" Kureha said.
Hiriluk knelt down, knocked his head hard against the ground. "Although he's a reindeer, a monster… he can become a great doctor!"
"He's a very kind fellow, risked his life to find medicine for me." Hiriluk knocked his head again. "I beg you, please train him to be a doctor!"
"Your skin is too thick!" Kureha looked angry, her face darkened as she said to the kneeling Hiriluk: "You want me to continue foolish research and care for your strange pet? Trying to gain sympathy because you're dying? I won't fall for it!"
"Thick-skinned or not, there should be limits! Get out now!" Kureha mercilessly issued an eviction order.
Knowing Kureha for many years, Hiriluk knew she would eventually agree. Looking at the tightly closed door, he said, "I leave Chopper in your care."
With Wapol's twenty doctors ill, many patients couldn't get timely treatment: children with fevers, victims of avalanches on the brink of death, some waiting a week without medicine.
More civilians gathered at Wapol's castle, demanding the twenty doctors treat patients, questioning whether they wanted to abandon the sick.
Kureha felt something off about Hiriluk today—giving her his thirty-year work, entrusting Chopper like a final testament. Under her care, he should have had two more weeks. He wouldn't give up easily.
Remembering Hiriluk mentioning the national uproar, Kureha felt a sense of foreboding.
Arriving at Hiriluk's house, she found he had gone to the king's castle. He forced back guards with bombs, forced a soldier to lower the gate at gunpoint, and entered via cable car.
At the house, Kureha found the panicked Chopper. After assuring him she wouldn't eat him, she asked where Hiriluk was.
"Since the doctor is cured, I think he went to town," Chopper said, hiding behind the stone table but his body exposed.
Kureha didn't believe Hiriluk was cured—his illness was incurable.
"That's not true! Look at this!" Chopper showed her the remaining Ami Ugo, happily saying: "The doctor took this medicine. He's fine now."
Kureha recognized the Ami Ugo at a glance. Hearing Hiriluk had taken it, she was shocked, her expression turning ugly.
The simple-minded Chopper, still unaware, happily continued: "It's a panacea, so the doctor is fine. He felt full of energy. I'll learn to be a doctor from him later—"
Before he finished, Kureha punched him to the ground. Her sunglasses and Chopper's crutch fell.
"Why hit me?!" Chopper loudly questioned.
Kureha grabbed him, threw him aside. His head hit the wall as she cursed angrily: "You idiot reindeer!"
Initially confused and angry, Chopper soon saw Kureha burst into tears, telling him something unbelievable: "That mushroom is extremely poisonous! One bite, and you won't live half a day!"
By the end, Kureha collapsed to the ground, knowing Hiriluk would soon leave this world forever.
"That can't be! It's not true! I checked the book!" Chopper was stunned, unable to believe it. "I lost the book, but it was definitely a mushroom that cures any disease!"
"I remember correctly! Next to the Ami Ugo picture, there was definitely a skull!" Chopper recalled Hiriluk's words, pointing to the skull pirate flag: "This symbolizes the belief to turn the impossible possible! I'll use this skull spirit to cure all diseases!"
Yes, in Chopper's mind, the skull symbol naturally meant it could cure all diseases, just as Hiriluk said.
"The doctor said he was fine! He can't die! You're lying!" Chopper's eyes were full of tears.
Hearing this, Kureha finally understood why Hiriluk called Chopper kind. Collapsed on the ground, she forced herself to pull together, telling the worldly-ignorant Chopper a cruel truth: "That's because he was happy you cared. The skull on the picture means poison."
"You're lying!" Chopper couldn't accept it. The mushroom he risked his life to find would kill Hiriluk.
"I'm not lying! Remember this!" Kureha said. "There's no medicine that cures all diseases! That's why we need doctors!"
"Listen! A kind heart alone can't save anyone! To save lives, you need sufficient knowledge and medical skill!" Kureha looked up, tears flowing, stating a basic fact: "Without medical skills, you can't save anyone!"
Recalling giving Hiriluk the mushroom—his joy, gratitude—the truth nearly shattered Chopper. Wanting to cure the person he respected most, he had personally given him deadly poison. His heart felt like it was being cut by knives, writhing in agony.
After sobbing softly for a few moments, he finally threw his head back and wailed loudly. In the house full of warm memories, he cried a complete mess, heart-wrenching.
Outside, snow fell, the howling cold wind seeming to want to blow away the sorrowful cries.
At that moment, chaos had already erupted at the castle.
The citizens, desperate and angry, demanded that the twenty doctors treat the sick. The guards tried to suppress them, but the situation kept escalating.
Hiriluk arrived at the castle alone.
Facing the soldiers, he laughed loudly, shouting that he had come to cure this country. Using explosives, he forced his way forward, his thin, sickly body moving with terrifying determination.
Wapol, enraged, ordered his execution.
Hiriluk was surrounded by soldiers, guns aimed at him from all directions.
Yet Hiriluk did not panic.
Instead, he smiled.
"Do you know when a man truly dies?" he asked calmly.
"Is it when he is shot through the heart by a bullet?"
"No."
"Is it when he is ravaged by an incurable disease?"
"No."
"A man dies… when he is forgotten."
The soldiers hesitated, unsettled by his words.
Hiriluk continued, laughing wildly, declaring that his spirit would never die as long as people remembered him.
At that moment, snow began to fall.
From the sky, pink cherry blossoms suddenly bloomed, spreading across Drum Island — the very miracle Hiriluk had dreamed of his entire life.
Seeing the blossoms, Hiriluk's eyes widened.
For a brief moment, the violent battlefield became peaceful.
"This is my country's cure…" he said softly.
Using the last of his strength, Hiriluk activated the explosives on his body.
In a blinding flash, his body was engulfed in light.
The explosion echoed across the land.
Dr. Hiriluk was gone.
From afar, Kureha and Chopper witnessed the explosion.
Chopper screamed, tears streaming endlessly as he collapsed into the snow.
The man who had saved him, taught him kindness, and given him a name… was gone forever.
Dalton, witnessing Wapol's cruelty and Hiriluk's death, finally broke free from fear.
That moment planted the seed of rebellion that would later change the kingdom.
As the cherry blossoms continued to fall like snow, Kureha stood silently, her face hidden behind her sunglasses.
Tears slid down her cheeks.
Chopper clutched the skull flag tightly, sobbing uncontrollably.
In his heart, a vow was born.
He would become a doctor.
A doctor who could truly save lives.
A doctor who would never let kindness turn into tragedy again.
Under the falling cherry blossoms, Dr. Hiriluk's will lived on.
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T/N :
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