Chapter 74: He Also Did Beauty Treatments [5] Kanghyeok opened one of the books Dolseok had brought him.
"I thought it would be better to explain it with illustrations, so I brought this."
"Oh. Is there even a medical text with drawings?"
"Yes. I'm currently compiling it with the help of a painter."
"Well now, that's quite remarkable."
Yi Hangbok looked at the book with eyes full of curiosity.
The opening section mostly described the side effects caused by pufferfish poison.
"What is this?"
Hangbok pointed at Kanghyeok blowing air through an iron ball.
"Ah. It's a method for saving someone poisoned by pufferfish toxin."
In truth, it was a description of side effects that had occurred while trying to treat someone.
But as always, Kanghyeok was a master liar and even better at dressing things up.
"Huh. I see. So there's even a way to save someone poisoned by pufferfish toxin?"
Yi Hangbok had endured a very unfortunate childhood.
His mother had tried to induce a miscarriage by taking poison, yet he was born anyway, so one could only imagine how difficult things had been for him.
He had been so frail in infancy that he had not even been able to open his eyes for four days after birth.
Because of that, he had a deep interest in medicine.
"That's right. Pufferfish toxin has the property of paralyzing a person's muscles. The reason poisoned people cannot breathe and die is precisely because of that."
"Huh. So that's what it is."
"This is a method of forcibly blowing air into the patient and keeping them alive until the poison wears off."
"Amazing, truly amazing. Then what's this?"
This time, he pointed to an illustration of a patient with one side of the face paralyzed.
True to Yeoju's remarkable eye for observation, she had captured the characteristics of unilateral facial paralysis perfectly.
On the paralyzed side, the eyebrow and corner of the mouth drooped, while the normal side was lifted upward.
"This is a side effect that can occur during treatment, but now that I've found the proper dosage, there's nothing for you to worry about."
"Huh. If my wife's face turned out like this, I'd be a bit depressed. Though... I suppose at least she wouldn't remind me of my father-in-law."
"Yes, so please don't worry too much."
"Then will you be applying the medicinal acupuncture just like this shows?"
Yeoju had made sure not to leave out the scene of the injection either.
"Yes, that's right."
"Well... it should be fine. Very well. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes, Elder."
Yi Hangbok left the house, patting his full stomach.
And he even carefully took half a fried chicken with him.
Thanks to that, Kanghyeok and the others were left feeling a little disappointed.
Dolseok smacked his lips and pointed at the pot of oil.
"Young Master, what should we do? Are we throwing that away?"
"Hm? Of course not. Why would we throw it away? That'd be a waste. We'll fry more."
"Can we really do that?"
"Yes."
"Then one more round...?"
Dolseok pointed at the chickens that had survived so far.
When Kanghyeok turned to look, the others all seemed to want the same thing.
I'm still a bit unsatisfied too.
A few chickens could always be bought again later.
"All right, let's eat."
Kanghyeok nodded readily.
As a result, every chicken in Kanghyeok's house was wiped out, and everyone spent a happy night.
"Young Master, wash your face."
Dolseok handed Kanghyeok a basin with an oily face of his own.
Even Yeoju and Yeoni standing behind him looked especially radiant today.
It felt worth it to have fried chicken for them in such expensive oil.
"Right. We'll eat a simple breakfast, then head to Elder Yi Hangbok's house."
"Yes, yes."
"And bring the pouches too, just in case."
"Ah... yes."
For an instant, Dolseok and the others all went gloomy, but their faces soon brightened again.
Judging from their experience so far, the time when the pouches had been needed had long since passed.
The last time they had personally had to blow into the pouches had already been more than three days ago.
Everyone was thinking that things would probably be fine.
"All right, then let's go."
"Yes. I'll prepare the horses."
"Good."
Mounted on horseback, Kanghyeok headed out into the streets of Hanyang.
The commoners living near his house hurriedly bowed the moment they saw him.
"Oh dear, sir."
"You fool, don't look at his face. You'll lose your head."
There was far more fear than respect mixed into their voices.
That was only natural, considering he was a nobleman from the house where screams rang out day after day.
On top of that, figures like Ryu Seong-ryong and Yi Hangbok often came and went there as well.
"Well now. They've seriously misunderstood things."
At Kanghyeok's words, Dorikkae wore an ambiguous expression.
After all, it was undeniably true that they had grabbed people and tortured them.
Even now, whenever he thought about being forced to drink that unknown medicine and having something shoved into his anus, his knees still weakened.
Fortunately, after that, whether it was because they had accepted him as family or for some other reason, they had treated him well.
Still, he was definitely not someone you wanted as an enemy.
"Ah, Scholar Baek, welcome."
One of Hangbok's servants recognized Kanghyeok and came trotting over.
The main gate was soon opened, and Kanghyeok was able to go straight to the room of Hangbok's wife.
"So, you've come."
Unexpectedly, the one who greeted him was Kwon Yul.
Because this had felt like he and Hangbok were secretly treating a thief, Kanghyeok flinched without even realizing it.
"Oh. Elder, greetings."
"Yes. I hear my daughter has something wrong with her?"
"Uh... yes. That's right."
"Well now. To think she had been letting an illness worsen without even her father knowing. I'm hurt, very hurt."
Kwon Yul grumbled with a face that really did look hurt.
It was an expression Kanghyeok had seen somewhere before.
The director used to look like that sometimes.
That was the expression he wore when talking about his daughter, who did not study, did not listen, and was not even pretty.
To anyone else, she looked like the kind of girl who would only give her parents grief, but the director always adored her.
He had even gone so far as to force Kanghyeok into blind dates with her.
Thinking of the humiliation the director had suffered at Kanghyeok's hands in return, even Kanghyeok himself almost felt sorry for him.
Could it be that Kwon Yul is a sixteenth-century doting father?
Just as that irreverent thought rose in his mind, Yi Hangbok finally appeared.
Somehow, the man always seemed to be off duty.
Even today, judging by the fact that he was wearing ordinary clothes.
"Ah, so you met my father-in-law first. Well then... you're ready, I assume?"
"Yes. I'll treat her properly."
Even though it was his own wife's matter, Hangbok remained as calm as if it were someone else's concern.
He stood in sharp contrast to Kwon Yul, who had been pacing anxiously the whole time.
"Yes, I'm counting on you. The child takes after me and has always been weak."
"Uh... understood."
The hand gripping his was so warm and thick that it was hard to pull away.
There was a faint note of threat in Kwon Yul's eyes too, enough to make Kanghyeok think he might actually die here if anything went wrong.
I can't very well experience the Battle of Haengju firsthand.
He could not go dying before the war had even started.
Steeling himself, Kanghyeok began removing his shoes.
"Oh, right. Dolseok, hand me that too."
"Yes, Young Master."
Dolseok handed over the ball pouch, wrapped tightly in a silk pouch.
Surely I won't have to use this, right?
Ignoring Kwon Yul's noticeably colder stare, Kanghyeok entered the room.
Yeoju and Yeoni, dressed as female physicians, followed behind him together with Yi Hangbok.
As the door was about to close, Kwon Yul added one last remark.
"If anything happens, call for me. I'll come at once, even from the palace."
Hangbok answered carelessly, as if he found it annoying.
"Yes, yes. Understood."
"That tone of yours is far too casual—"
"You'll be late for court attendance."
The door shut with a thud.
They could hear Kwon Yul saying something outside, but it was drowned out by Hangbok muttering to himself.
"He's always been a bit of an alarmist. Please understand."
"Uh... yes."
Kanghyeok wondered if it was really acceptable to treat Chungjang-gong Kwon Yul like that.
But what could he do? The one slighting him was Yi Hangbok, the man who would later become Chief State Councillor.
Shaking his head, Kanghyeok opened the book.
It was proof that he had not spent the entire past week merely struggling to adjust the dosage.
"Mm. Here it is."
On the page Kanghyeok pointed to was a face that looked exactly like Lady Kwon's.
Looking more closely, countless tiny dots had been marked densely across both cheeks, below the ears, and under the jaw.
Those were all the sites where injections would need to be given.
"This can hurt a little, so I'll start with anesthesia."
"Mm."
Lady Kwon must have been tense, because she was unable to give any long replies.
She only nodded her head.
"Yeon."
"Yes, Young Master."
Yeoni took out the ointment they had prepared in advance.
It was a kind of anesthetic ointment made by mixing toad toxin into Jawoongo.
The effect was not especially dramatic, but it did provide some numbing.
When I watched them getting stabbed, their expressions were a bit different.
It had been an extremely unscientific experiment.
Under normal circumstances, Kanghyeok would have thrown away a study plan like that at first glance.
Still... there are no side effects.
Right now, he had no other option.
Botox injections were notorious for being painful in the first place.
And from what he had seen, pufferfish toxin seemed even worse.
After all, full-grown men had screamed and collapsed from it.
Thanks to that, Kanghyeok's house had earned a terrible reputation in the surrounding area.
There were even conspiracy theories that the State Tribunal had set up a separate torture facility there.
"All right, all right. Apply it."
"Yes."
Wearing gloves, Yeoni carefully spread the ointment all over Lady Kwon's face.
Looking at the face gradually being covered in white ointment, Kanghyeok continued explaining.
"It'll feel tingly. That means the anesthesia is working, so there's no need to worry."
"Mm."
Again, she could not manage a proper answer.
Gulp.
When he turned his head, even Yi Hangbok seemed quite tense.
He kept swallowing dryly.
"All right, now lie down. Let's wait like this for a moment."
Kanghyeok calmly waited for the medicine to take effect.
When it actually came time to inject, even Kanghyeok felt a little tense.
To think the day would come when he would inject pufferfish toxin into a human body.
Still, it's better than shaving down a jaw.
That really could have killed someone.
"Ah, it's tingling..."
"Good. Yeon, Yeoju."
"Yes."
Their practice over the past several days had paid off.
Yeoni and Yeoju quickly took their places on either side of Lady Kwon.
Each of them held four or five syringes in their hands.
Because it hurt so much, it was better to finish it all at once as quickly as possible.
"All right... now stab."
"Yes, Young Master."
At Kanghyeok's order, Yeoni's and Yeoju's hands began moving rapidly.
They pierced the skin with the needle, pulled the syringe back to confirm they were not in a blood vessel, and if all was clear, injected the medicine.
They had practiced this so often that their stabbing hands were almost too fast to see.
"Aaaah!"
A scream burst out at the same time, but fortunately Kwon Yul had already left.
"Is this really all right?"
For even Yi Hangbok, who had remained calm until now, to react like this, Kwon Yul would probably have drawn his sword if he had still been here.
And truly, Lady Kwon's face looked horrendous.
At each place the needle had gone in, medicine and blood were trickling down.
"It'll be done soon."
"Good grief."
Yi Hangbok looked at Lady Kwon with an unusually pitiful expression.
Shuddering from the shower of injection pain, she suddenly looked at Kanghyeok.
"I'll become prettier, won't I?"
"I guarantee the result."
"All right then. That's enough."
She truly looked like the daughter of Chungjang-gong.
With a resolute expression, she wiped away the blood running down both sides of her face.
Even full-grown men had ended up sprawled out for a while after just one of those injections.
At this point, the term heroic woman was no exaggeration.
"For now, let's observe a little."
"Why is that?"
Secretly, Kanghyeok glanced at the balls inside the silk pouch without Hangbok noticing.
Praying there would be no need to use them.
"It's standard practice for a physician to observe for a while after treatment."
"I see. As expected, a famous doctor does things differently."
Fortunately, Lady Kwon did not show any side effects.
Not only that, the progress was quite good too.
Before even a full week had passed since the injections, her V-line had already begun to emerge.
It was the moment when Kwon Yul's spitting image was reborn into something of a beauty.
Lady Kwon herself seemed extremely pleased with her face and could hardly put the mirror down.
"How could I change this much?"
"They kept saying Baek Kanghyeok, Baek Kanghyeok, and only today have I come to understand his true worth."
Yi Hangbok also burst into hearty laughter.
"You'll need several more rounds of injections from here on."
"With results like this, I'd gladly take several more."
Lady Kwon smiled brightly, as if she had already forgotten all the pain.
"Then I'll be on my way now."
"Ah, you're leaving already?"
"Yes? It's quite late at night."
Kanghyeok replied while pointing outside.
As he said, darkness had already fallen thickly all around.
"Then why not just stay the night?"
Hangbok's attempt to stop him was of no use at all.
I'm planning to make proper fried chicken tonight with the flour you gave me...
Even if King Seonjo himself had tried to stop him, it would not have worked tonight.
"Haha. I'll be going."
Kanghyeok forced his way out of Hangbok's house.
Thinking about eating fried chicken as soon as possible, everyone quickened their steps.
"The road's empty today too."
Dolseok muttered with an excited face.
Perhaps because it was so late, there were almost no people in the streets.
No, rather than almost none, there were none at all.
That was a little strange.
"There are especially few people around today."
"There's still time before the curfew bell..."
Yeoni, who was walking in front, frowned.
She too had sensed something odd.
"Wait a moment. Don't you hear something?"
"Hm? Ah. This..."
There were no passersby, yet the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard.
It was obvious that someone was hiding nearby.
Makbong shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Who goes there! Stop this filthy nonsense and get out here at once!"
Not long after, a group of figures revealed themselves.
The man at the front was someone they had never seen even once before.
His beard jutted out in every direction like a tiger's whiskers, and his voice was just as booming. He was clearly a powerful fighter.
"You've got some nerve, wandering around so freely after turning my younger brothers into that state."
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