Chapter 40: Infectious Diseases Together [5] "Ah, Father. Busa. You have come a long way. You must have had a hard trip."
For once, Kanghyeok bowed his head with unusual politeness.
There was dust all over his clothes, which somehow made him look even humbler.
"It is nothing. Well then, are you all right?"
Seungmun could easily remember that Kanghyeok had never had smallpox as a child.
That was why his voice was full of concern.
"I am fine. How are you, Father?"
"There is nothing for you to worry about with me. I had a mild case in childhood and got over it."
The Busa waited patiently for the father and son to finish speaking.
No matter how urgent things were, he had no intention of interrupting their brief reunion.
"Mm."
If Seungmun had really had smallpox, then there was no reason to worry.
He would already have acquired immunity.
But there was no way to know whether what he had suffered back then had truly been smallpox.
Scarlet fever or measles could be mistaken for smallpox.
A facial rash was a facial rash.
In Joseon, where no photography existed, there would have been no real way to distinguish them.
To begin with, it had not been that long ago even in modern times that people had started distinguishing all these diseases properly.
That was impossible without highly developed culturing methods and microscopes.
So the safe course was for everyone to get vaccinated.
But I only have enough injections for the patients.
Then again, the people who had just arrived did not actually need to come into direct contact with the patients.
Kanghyeok and Heo Jun would do the main work, and Yeoni and Dolseok could assist.
"Father, even so, it would be better to be safe. I have a medicine that is extremely effective against smallpox, so please take it just once."
"Is there medicine for smallpox?"
"Yes, there is."
"When have I ever defied your words? Very well."
His attitude was definitely different after going through malaria.
Probably not even if physicians from the Royal Medical Bureau who attended the king in person had come would he have been like this.
Seungmun quickly dismounted and walked over to Kanghyeok.
Then he waited with an easy expression.
That was, until he realized what kind of medicine Kanghyeok meant.
"You're saying you're going to put this inside my nose?"
Seungmun frowned as he looked at what Kanghyeok had brought over on his fingertip.
"Yes."
"You're not... joking, are you?"
"When it comes to curing illness, I do not joke."
"Huh, really."
The Busa, who was watching from the side, smiled kindly.
Since it was someone else's problem, it was amusing through and through.
"Lord Baek, go ahead. Your son is only doing this out of concern for his father."
"Busa. You have to do it as well."
"I do?"
"Yes. That is how you avoid catching smallpox."
"Huh."
Seungmun's and the Busa's faces darkened at the same time.
But who were they, after all?
If there were a ranking for Kanghyeok's most devoted followers, these two would be hard to beat.
In the end, they did as they were told.
Though they twisted their faces the whole time.
"Ugh. It stinks."
It was pus, after all.
And pus from a cow that had never once been washed in its life.
By unfortunate chance, he had had no choice but to scoop it from near the animal's anus.
He had already put all the pus from the other sores into syringes.
I got off easy, at least.
Dolseok's body trembled.
Yellow pus had just been smeared inside the noses of his master and the heaven-high Busa.
Taking an injection instead had been a hundred times better.
"Ugh."
Even the Busa kept wrinkling his nose, as if the lingering sensation refused to go away.
"Was there really no other way to do this?"
Seungmun's question carried resentment.
Kanghyeok only shrugged.
"There is also a way to put it in the mouth..."
"That is enough. Take it away."
Seungmun waved his hand with an expression of utter revulsion at the very thought.
The Busa turned away by himself and dry-heaved.
As Kanghyeok patted his back, he turned to his next targets.
The servants and soldiers who had come following the two elders.
There had to be at least fifty or sixty of them.
"Dolseok, Yeoni, bring some pus in a basin."
"In a basin?"
"Yes. We have to smear it in all of their noses too."
"Ah, yes, yes."
It was not going into their own noses, after all.
Dolseok and Yeoni cheerfully squeezed out the cow's pus.
"Good. We have everything we need."
Heo Jun was already examining the herbs they had brought.
His eyes were shining so brightly that he looked exactly like a child who had just been given a toy.
Kanghyeok was a face everyone knew, but Heo Jun was not.
The Busa, still frowning, walked over to Heo Jun.
Several soldiers hurried after him.
"And you, ugh... who are you?"
"Ah, greetings, my lord. I am a physician called Heo Jun."
Heo Jun had been busily rummaging through the herbs.
At the Busa's sudden summons, he bowed his head.
It was etiquette born from a lifetime of living as a son of secondary birth, despite being born into a distinguished family.
"Heo Jun?"
"Yes, that is correct, my lord."
"Heo Jun...?"
The Busa tilted his head, as though the name sounded familiar.
It was Seungmun who nodded first instead.
"Do you perhaps know Lord Yu Huichun?"
"Ah, I do."
"Huh."
Yu Huichun was a name even Kanghyeok had heard.
Had Seungmun said he had worked with him in the Hongmungwan?
They must have been fairly close, since even after returning to his hometown of Haenam, he still occasionally sent things over.
Seungmun had also sent him part of the wealth Kanghyeok had earned.
"I heard there was someone who saved the son of a great lord from death. So that was you."
"Ah, yes. I remember now. So you are that Heo Jun."
The Busa cried out as if he finally understood.
The most surprised of all was Kanghyeok.
He had never imagined that both Seungmun and the Busa would know Heo Jun.
The conversation between the three continued a little longer.
The Busa spoke first.
"Then you must be on your way to Hanyang now."
"Yes, that is correct, my lord."
"To the Royal Medical Bureau?"
"Yes. I have received Lord Yu Huichun's recommendation. It is a great honor."
The Royal Medical Bureau.
The office that prepared medicine for the king and the royal household, and also handled treatment.
In other words, it was not an exaggeration to say that Heo Jun was heading to the capital to become a royal physician.
A trace of envy entered Seungmun's eyes.
Along with a desire to confirm his own son's talent.
"Then tell me, Physician Heo. In your opinion, how is Kanghyeok's skill? He is not lacking, is he?"
"You mean Scholar Baek?"
"Yes."
At Seungmun's question, Heo Jun almost wanted to laugh.
Kanghyeok was not someone the Heo Jun of this time could meaningfully evaluate.
"If I were not on my way to the Royal Medical Bureau, I would want to cast everything aside and take him as my master."
"Huh. Is that so? Truly?"
Seungmun forgot even his dignity and beamed.
Even the yellow pus stuck in his beard could not diminish his joy.
"Father, Busa. That is enough for reminiscing. We need to stop the smallpox."
The one who poured cold water over the moment was none other than Kanghyeok.
At his sharp interruption, both Seungmun and the Busa came back to themselves.
Pointing at the people he had brought, the Busa asked,
"Quite right, quite right. The herbs are here... and what do you intend to do with the people?"
"There are probably more patients in the village. First, they need to be brought to me."
Kanghyeok looked around.
Since the house being used as the clinic sat on fairly high ground, the other houses could be seen clearly.
Thin streams of cooking smoke were rising here and there.
"I see. And then?"
Kanghyeok pointed to the storeroom and another room.
"There are more than twenty patients packed into those two rooms. Men and women, old and young, all mixed together. They are extremely uncomfortable."
"Exactly. Then we need rooms to put the patients in. Do not worry."
With the Busa's authority, requisitioning a few houses was nothing.
I really was right to ask the Busa for help.
Kanghyeok smiled in satisfaction.
"Then first, those people also need to have the pus put in their noses."
"Ah, do so. You there! Everyone, come forward!"
At the Busa's command, the soldiers stepped up first.
They had already seen very clearly what had been done to Seungmun and the Busa themselves.
Since the two highest-ranking men present had already suffered it, there was no way out for anyone else.
They looked resigned from the start.
"Young Master, here it is."
In the meantime, Dolseok had brought over a basin full of pus.
The smell was so foul that even Kanghyeok, though wearing a mask, could not help frowning.
"Whew."
With his gloved hand, Kanghyeok scooped up the pus.
The soldier standing first in line squeezed both eyes shut.
"You have to bear it. This is the real medicine."
"Mmff."
"All right, next."
Dozens of soldiers and Seungmun's servants all had pus put into their noses.
Rub, rub, rub.
Yeoju drew every bit of the scene.
She was preserving medical knowledge that would remain in history.
Though she herself did not yet know that.
"All right, then... we need to go through the village."
But simply going around would accomplish nothing.
They had to identify the patients.
Kanghyeok slowly surveyed the people around him.
Heo Jun can obviously do it. Dolseok is...
That was a little uncertain.
Forget it. I'll just tell them to bring in anyone who looks sick.
He could make the diagnoses here.
It would be difficult to entrust that part to others.
No matter that they had put pus into their noses, it would still take quite some time for immunity to develop.
Actually touching the patients would have to be done by Dolseok, Yeoni, or Makbong.
"You, take six or seven men each and spread out. If someone looks sick, bring them here first. Only the three of you are to touch them."
"Yes, Young Master."
"As for Physician Heo... you can make the diagnosis right there."
"Understood."
At Kanghyeok's order, they scattered off toward the edge of the village.
Next, it was time to move the patients who were already there.
First, let's look at their current condition.
The ones who truly looked close to death had to be kept near Kanghyeok.
"The rest of you, wait here for now. Father, Busa, please get some rest."
"No. I should help the Busa."
"Is there anything for you to do?"
As far as Kanghyeok was concerned, the two of them had already fulfilled their roles.
To be honest, he thought they could go back now.
He was only worried they might fall ill if they stayed.
Especially the old man...
He looked vigorous now, but had he not once already seen him laid low by sickness?
But Seungmun's answer was one Kanghyeok could not help accepting.
"Just as a physician cares for patients, an official must care for the people. If an epidemic is spreading and the magistrate runs away, what will happen to the hearts of the people?"
"Mm. That is true. I was short-sighted."
That would have been fine.
At least until the shamans, under the Busa's orders, started dragging a cow up the hill.
"What is all that?"
"It is what the Busa prepared. He is about to gather the whole village."
"He is going to gather people together?"
"What meaning would a rite have if it were done in private? The people have to know."
"Huh."
Holding a rite was one thing.
If it gave people some comfort of mind, then perhaps so be it.
But gathering people together was unacceptable.
"Where is the Busa?"
"He will be presiding over the rite."
"Damn it."
Muttering the curse under his breath, Kanghyeok ran up the slope.
The image of the patients coughing in the storeroom flashed before his eyes, but there was nothing he could do.
He had only one body, and his work towered like a mountain.
Yeoju ran after him.
Still without letting go of her drawing tools.
"Are you going to watch the rite?"
"No."
"Then why...?"
"I'm going to stop it."
"What?"
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