Chapter 32: Another Master Physician [2] When Kanghyeok looked more closely, it turned out Dolseok was right.
A physician was seated there, dressed neatly though not extravagantly.
He had likely already seen quite a number of patients, because fatigue was written all over his face.
"There is nothing to worry about."
The kindness ingrained in his life showed even in his voice.
For some reason, he reminded Kanghyeok of the old professor of pediatrics he had known at Chungmu Hospital.
A great teacher who had spent his entire life treating children and conducting research for their health, and in the end had even compiled a pediatrics book under his own name.
Different field, same kind of master.
Just from hearing his voice, Kanghyeok felt he had to be skilled.
It was that kind of voice.
The sort that inspired trust in the listener.
Should I go over?
After getting down from his horse, Kanghyeok slowly approached the physician.
At once, some lowborn fellow stepped in front of him and blocked the way.
"My lord, please keep your place in line."
His turn?
There was no misunderstanding quite like this one.
Kanghyeok let out a good-natured laugh and waved his hand.
"I did not come here to be treated."
"Then what business brings you here?"
"I came to see that physician."
Even as he said it, the wording felt odd.
Isn't that the same thing?
The man who had blocked him looked troubled as he replied.
If it had been someone else, he would have snapped immediately, but Kanghyeok looked too obviously high-born.
The silk clothes, the gently swaying fan, the unfamiliar but expensive-looking bag.
There was no need even to mention his unusually fair face and confident build.
"My lord, the physician will be displeased."
At once, Dolseok and Makbong stepped forward.
"Hey, you bastard! The Young Master said he did not come here for treatment!"
"Do you even know who this gentleman is?"
With two rough men confronting him, the fellow could not endure it.
At this rate, they were no different from that magistrate who had come from Anseong before.
There's nothing more irritating than someone causing a scene while you're seeing patients.
Without meaning to, they had ended up committing a discourtesy.
Kanghyeok hurriedly shoved Dolseok and Makbong aside and stepped forward.
"Haha. These fellows misunderstood my intentions. Fine, I understand. I'll wait. About when do you think the consultations will end?"
"As you can see from the line, it will take a long time."
"Mm."
Looking around, the line truly was long.
It stretched not only through the courtyard, but beyond it as well.
It seemed the entire village had come out.
In an age when there were many sick people and too few physicians, that was only natural.
"It's getting late. Will he keep going?"
They had set out in broad daylight to begin with.
Even within Suwon, it had taken quite a while.
The sun was already nearing the mountain ridge.
If it had been Kanghyeok, he would have closed the clinic long ago.
"Well, the physician cares so deeply for his patients. It will probably be the middle of the night before he finishes."
"The middle of the night."
In that case, they could not simply plant themselves here and wait.
"Dolseok, let's go to a nearby tavern. He's only human too, so he'll have to rest at night, won't he?"
"Shall we? I'll go find us a place right away."
After all, they had already spent the entire day walking.
There was no reason to refuse the chance to sit down and rest.
And in a tavern, no less.
Dolseok hurried off with Makbong.
"Still, this is rather unfortunate for Yeoju."
"It's all right. There is plenty of time."
"Fine, then let's wait a while."
Fortunately, the tavern was fairly large.
Since the village sat at the foot of the mountain, it seemed there were quite a lot of travelers passing through.
"Young Master, I've secured us a place. Two rooms should be enough, right?"
"Yes, that will do."
No matter how convincing their male disguises might be, he could not very well put Yeoju and Yeoni in the same room.
Only after getting Kanghyeok's approval did Dolseok finally grin.
Then he shouted in a booming voice,
"Tavern mistress! Bring us a table spread!"
"Yes, yes!"
"You should have something to settle your stomach too, Young Master."
"Mm... no."
"What's this? Refusing a drink?"
To Dolseok, that was an unfamiliar sight.
Seungmun was not sick, nor was there another patient in front of them right now.
Yet he was turning down alcohol.
"If I've got the smell of drink on me when that physician comes, I don't think that will do."
"From what I hear, he's quite capable, but surely he can't compare to you, Young Master."
Kanghyeok did not think so either.
Surely there could not be a doctor in sixteenth-century Joseon better than he was.
He can't be better than me.
The depth of knowledge accumulated over the centuries after this was completely different.
The amount of medical knowledge newly created over the last ten years alone was about equal to everything that had existed before it, which said it all.
Textbooks had truly grown thicker and thicker, and the groans of students had only increased day by day.
Still, I feel like there's something I can learn.
He had only seen the man from a distance.
But the resonance in his voice had sounded remarkably good.
It had even felt familiar somehow.
"You never know. You and Makbong go ahead and drink. Don't mind me."
"As expected of you, Young Master. Thank you."
Bowing over and over, Dolseok and Makbong began to drain their drinks with great satisfaction.
Gulp.
At the sound of swallowing, Kanghyeok turned his head and saw Yeoni staring fixedly at the drinks on the table.
Right, she can really drink too.
Not just "for a woman," but simply by any standard.
If she really put her mind to it and drank in earnest, she might not beat Kanghyeok, but she could probably beat Dolseok.
"Yeoni, you drink too. Don't hold back."
"What? Yes!"
As though she had just heard the best thing imaginable, Yeoni rushed toward the table.
Dolseok and Makbong, already used to it, handed her a cup.
The three of them drinking together had already become something close to an everyday occurrence.
Given the situation, only Yeoju ended up looking like a sack of barley set aside and forgotten.
Kanghyeok, by nature, did not care about differences in status, but Yeoju could not be like that.
In a world where men and women were kept strictly separate, was it not even harder for a yangban to share a table with commoners?
No matter how open-minded a person was, there were still limits imposed by the age.
"Yeoju, won't you have a drink too?"
"Ah... I'm fine."
"There won't be any drawing to do today anyway. You should have one."
"No."
To Yeoju, Kanghyeok himself was a complete disruption of all norms.
Though he came from a highly placed family, he did not mind associating with lowborn people.
He studied medicine, a craft held in comparatively low regard.
He had even snuck into a woman's room late at night to treat her.
If this is the sort of daily life he leads, it wouldn't be bad to draw it.
Wasn't he an extraordinarily interesting person?
He seemed to live however he pleased, yet people kept gathering around him one by one.
She was no different.
"It has been a long time since I came this far from home. I think I'll sketch the scenery."
"That's nice. Really, that's a fine hobby. By the way, what are you all finding so amusing?"
Holding a cup filled with water instead of alcohol, Kanghyeok joined the conversation.
By then, Dolseok's breath already reeked of liquor as he laughed.
"You should hear Makbong's story."
"What is it? What?"
"I'm always the same."
It turned out to be yet another installment in Makbong's widow-soothing series.
Soothing this household, soothing that household.
Thanks to him, the widow village was apparently overflowing with shrieks of joy that never ceased.
Naturally, the detailed descriptions were seasoned with just the right amount of lies, which made them thoroughly entertaining.
These days, if someone told stories like this, they'd be arrested on the spot.
Kanghyeok looked uneasily at Yeoni.
There were all sorts of words and expressions flying around that were embarrassing even for him to hear as a man.
"And then? Then what did you do?"
His concern had been pointless.
Yeoni's eyes sparkled as she demanded the next part.
Is she a man?
At times like this, he truly got confused.
Judging by the sharp line of her nose, elegant as a beoseon, and her flushed red lips, she was definitely a woman.
"So then what? I just grabbed that wench and—"
"Well now, that's impressive."
Dolseok murmured it with a face full of genuine admiration.
It was an expression he had not even made when Kanghyeok had set Sun-sin's broken leg.
Then again, that Kim Yungil fellow would probably love stories like this too.
Not just love them. He might well faint from excitement.
A man who could not live a single day without Viagra.
Kanghyeok had left notices at both the house and the clinic saying he had gone to the foot of Gwanggyosan, so they would send someone on their own.
It might even be a good opportunity for Kim Yungil to try going without the medicine for once.
Though that would probably be difficult.
Calling Viagra a cure was a bit misleading.
It only corrected erectile dysfunction in that moment.
Taking it consistently did not improve one's underlying ability to get an erection.
So it was not wrong to say that Busa Kim Yungil was in Kanghyeok's grip.
It sounded a bit harsh, but it was true.
I'm still getting worked up right now.
And indeed, as he listened to Makbong's story, even sitting cross-legged was becoming uncomfortable.
Just as Kanghyeok subtly shifted his legs, he sensed someone's presence.
Makbong and Yeoni, who had been laughing and chattering a moment before, immediately made ready to stand.
At times like this, they were unbelievably dependable.
Creak.
The roughly made gate swung open, and the physician entered together with the man who had been handling the introductions.
After seeing patients all day, he looked utterly exhausted.
Only his eyes still shone sharply, reminding Kanghyeok of Sun-sin.
"So you've finally come."
Kanghyeok hurried over to him.
"And you are...?"
"He is the gentleman I told you about earlier. He said he would wait here."
"Ah."
It seemed the word had been passed along in advance.
Feeling relieved, Kanghyeok greeted him.
"How do you do. My name is Baek Kanghyeok."
"Baek... Kanghyeok? Ah, the one from the Suwon marketplace?"
"That's right."
"Oh, oh. It's an honor, a real honor. I've wanted to meet you as well."
It seemed Kanghyeok's reputation had spread quite far.
That was clear enough from how excited the physician was acting.
"Ah, my name is Heo Jun."
"Heo Jun?"
"Yes, Heo Jun."
Heo Jun? Surely not that Heo Jun?
Kanghyeok stared at the physician without being able to close his mouth.
Not that it helped him much.
The only image of Heo Jun Kanghyeok remembered was the actor Jeon Kwang-ryeol.
That had been something.
The impact had been so strong that, in that year's entrance exam results, Kyunghwa University's College of Korean Medicine had actually surpassed Chungmu University's College of Medicine.
Back then, every student who was considered even somewhat smart had gone into Korean medicine.
Even Kanghyeok and his friends, who had already been enrolled in pre-med, had had to resist the temptation to start over.
There really isn't a single ordinary person among the people I meet.
First Yi Sun-sin, and now Heo Jun.
If it was this man, there would absolutely be things to learn.
No, there would be more than enough to learn.
That had to be the case.
"I see. It's a pleasure to meet you. I came to the right place."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I came seeking instruction. If it is you, sir, I believe I can learn with a peaceful mind."
"Instruction? I am merely an obscure physician without a name. I could never compare to the reputation of Scholar Baek."
Such humility.
It was something Kanghyeok could never possess, no matter how many times he died and came back.
He could not help but be impressed.
As expected. That must be why he became someone remembered in history.
Once he began seeing the man in a good light, there was no end to it.
"No. Please teach me."
Even before Kanghyeok had made a name for himself through medicine, he had already been rather well known.
Not in a very positive sense, but widely as the son of that remarkable Baek Seungmun.
Heo Jun also came from a good family, but whatever the case, he was still a son of secondary birth.
There was no way he could feel at ease watching a true yangban bowing his head before him.
"Oh dear, really. Very well."
"Thank you."
"Then starting tomorrow, let us see patients together. But if I am to teach you, I will not do it halfheartedly."
"That sounds good. Very good."
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