Chapter 109: An Epidemic Is Spreading [3] At a glance, Kanghyeok led the group forward looking like nothing less than a thug.
Even on closer inspection, that was exactly what he looked like.
In fact, he was on his way to do something thuggish.
"Young Master, what should we do?"
Makbong asked with a face that plainly said his body was already itching for action.
He had already rolled his sleeves halfway up, and it was obvious he was prepared to beat someone down.
"First, we try words."
He did not bother saying that if that failed, they would beat the hell out of him.
It seemed everyone already knew that without hearing it aloud.
Yeoni, who excelled at kicking, checked her straw sandals first.
Even cowardly Dolseok put on a needless scowl.
Kanghyeok looked over the three of them and nodded.
Faces like these aren't exactly common.
There were more people around Dongpa than there had been during the day.
Still, it did not seem like that would amount to much.
This side had professional thugs, and higher status besides.
If things really came to it, he could even bring in Heo Jun, who held a post equivalent to Junior Fourth Rank.
And if even that failed, then shameless as it might be, he could invoke Gwanghae-gun.
"Ahem. Busy night, isn't it?"
At Kanghyeok's words, Dongpa turned his head.
It looked as though he had been about to lash out, thinking it was some underling calling him.
That much was obvious from the way he had been frowning fiercely.
But the moment he confirmed it was Kanghyeok, he replied with an awkward smile.
"Yes, well... and what brings Scholar Baek here?"
His tone made it sound as though Kanghyeok had come somewhere he had no business coming.
Something surged in Kanghyeok, but he held it in for the moment.
He could feel the Wonju's gaze from afar, watching this side.
Right... even Gwanghae-gun thinks I'm some great physician. It'd be troublesome to cause too much of a scene.
Kanghyeok forcibly calmed himself.
After all, he might soon have to enter official service.
With the Imjin War clearly drawing closer by the day, it was obvious it would help to hold some sort of title.
If that was so, then it was about time he started minding his reputation.
A little late for that, perhaps, given that he had already thrown Dongpa to the ground the moment he arrived earlier.
"I saw there were a lot of patients. I was worried whether you were handling it properly."
"Worried? There's no need for concern. I'm handling it very well. I've already had nearly all the patients gathered over there."
Dongpa pointed into Bojewon with his chin.
That was where Kanghyeok had been just moments ago, and where Heo Jun, Heo Im, and Yeoju still were now.
Hm. So he did gather them all. I'll give him that one.
It was something Kanghyeok had already felt during the smallpox outbreak too, but in this era, gathering people together was no easy task.
If Dongpa had done that work in his place, then it was something worth acknowledging.
Though the people he gathered have probably all been exposed too.
Among all the people moving around nearby, not a single one wore protective gear the way Kanghyeok's group did.
He could not even tell whether they were washing their hands after touching patients.
It was a complete mess, and Bojewon was turning into a breeding ground for contagion.
If left as it was, everyone here would soon be shitting themselves with diarrhea.
"You did well gathering them."
He began with praise.
After all, with Korean, one never really knew what something meant until the end.
"But after gathering them, the way you're handling it is a complete fucking mess."
"What? A complete mess?"
Perhaps because he had been shouting the whole time, Dongpa's voice was still quite loud.
Loud enough for even the Wonju in the distance to hear.
"It is a mess. They're shitting themselves like that, and you're telling them not to eat or drink anything."
"Hah. You speak without understanding. With diarrhea, people defecate because they eat. If you leave them like this, there won't be anyone left shitting."
Dongpa put on the expression of a seasoned master and began lecturing Kanghyeok.
From Kanghyeok's standpoint, it was a sight so absurd it barely merited a laugh.
In one sense, it was true.
After all, once they died, no one would be defecating anymore.
"Dongpa."
"Yes. What?"
"Did you even go examine those patients over there?"
"There's no need. It's diarrhea. I've experienced that plenty myself."
It seemed Dongpa was putting the occasional stomach upset he himself had suffered on the same level as cholera.
Kanghyeok could not say that was entirely incomprehensible, but that did not make it any less irritating.
"Hey, you... did you even look at their tongues or their lips?"
"What?"
"The water's draining out of their bodies and they're all on the verge of death, but you're the only one standing around relaxed. Do you think all diarrhea is the same?"
Kanghyeok threw the gloves he had secretly picked up earlier down at Dongpa's feet.
After throwing them, he felt a little bad since they were practically crawling with pathogens.
Ah, whatever. If he catches it, I'll treat him.
Setting aside that carefree thought, he kept pressing Dongpa.
"You bastard. Diarrhea has classifications too, and ways to tell them apart. Whether there's blood in it, whether it's sticky, how much liquid there is, how much the patient's actually passing, and so on, you little shit."
"What are you even—"
"You don't know a damn thing, do you? Then just go stand over there. Stop sticking your neck out. I'll handle things here."
"You were rude during the day, and now again—"
While the two were going back and forth, the Wonju quietly stepped in between them.
He had already been keeping a close eye on them since the moment Dongpa started bellowing earlier.
It looked like it would end in a fistfight if left alone, so he hurried over.
"Now, now. What is all this?"
"Hmm."
Kanghyeok lowered the hand he had been using threateningly.
The Wonju might not have been a very high-ranking man, but he was still a proper yangban.
He might even have once held some minor office in his youth.
In contrast, Kanghyeok was still officially nothing at all.
That made him someone Kanghyeok could not just treat carelessly.
"Ah, Wonju sir, you've come."
"Dongpa here is quite an accomplished famed physician. You cannot treat him so carelessly."
The Wonju first pulled Dongpa behind him.
He had already heard about the unpleasantness earlier in the day.
Kanghyeok looked at the Wonju with eyes full of dissatisfaction.
His face is round. Is this one hooked on steroids too?
Seeing the effects himself, it was no wonder the man spoke of Dongpa as a famed physician.
Kanghyeok silently resolved that one day he would have to deal with the steroid addicts in this Bojewon too.
But that's not the urgent issue right now.
Everyone here was on the verge of dying.
If it had been death that could not be helped, Kanghyeok would not have stepped in this far.
Nor would he have had any reason to.
In fact, it might even have helped him.
There would have been enough corpses to let each person practice on one individually.
But this isn't that kind of case.
Cholera was certainly a frightening disease.
Without proper treatment, the fatality rate could rise as high as fifty percent.
But once oral rehydration therapy became widely used, the death rate dropped dramatically.
In modern times, it was reported at around one percent.
There were roughly two hundred patients gathered here now, which meant that with proper treatment, close to a hundred of them could be saved.
"Wonju sir, do you see that man over there?"
"What do you mean?"
"There. That dignified-looking gentleman."
"Ah. I do. Isn't that Physician Heo Jun?"
As expected, the one Kanghyeok pointed to was Heo Jun.
He had come rushing straight from the palace and was still in official robes.
Wearing cheollik and dallyeong, with an official belt as well, he looked to anyone's eyes like a proper government official.
If he had also been wearing his official black hat, it would have been even more perfect, but for now he had a surgical cap on instead.
Was the position of Cheomjeong at the Royal Medical Bureau something just anyone could hold?
And Heo Jun's reputation in particular was no small thing.
Even the Wonju of a Bojewon tucked away in one corner of Hanyang had long heard of his name.
"He serves as Cheomjeong at the Royal Medical Bureau, and he is also the physician who drove out smallpox together with me."
Kanghyeok smoothly elevated himself along with Heo Jun.
It was a fairly advanced technique, and quite effective too.
By nature, when one praised another person while lifting oneself along with them, the listener's psychological resistance tended to drop sharply.
"Ah... yes, I have heard of that."
Baek Kanghyeok's reputation, too, was not something to be lightly dismissed.
If anything, Kanghyeok's reputation was even greater among the common people.
Because every major incident around Suwon of late had somehow involved him.
"Dongpa here... may perhaps be good at treating aches and pains in the body."
In truth, he was surely no good at that either.
Still, Kanghyeok first began by offering praise for Dongpa.
Perhaps because of that, the Wonju's expression had eased compared to before.
"He is good at that, yes. Mm."
"But when it comes to an epidemic, Physician Heo Jun and I are better suited for it. We have experience with smallpox, for one thing..."
"Hmm..."
"Just look. Leave them as they are, and they'll all die. The magistrate trusted you, Wonju sir, and left this place in your hands. Can such a thing be allowed to happen, Wonju sir?"
Kanghyeok mixed in a subtle threat.
At the same time, he quietly watched the Wonju's face, and it seemed to have some effect.
Judging by how neatly he worked hand in glove with Dongpa, it seemed the man's guts were no bigger than a mouse dropping.
"But if you entrust them to Physician Heo Jun and me, then later you'll at least have something to say for yourself. Something like, 'Even the two men who handled smallpox failed,' if nothing else."
"Mm."
The Wonju's expression loosened a little more.
He stood there considering it for a moment, then finally reached a conclusion.
"Then... let us do this. Split them exactly in half. Our Dongpa will handle this half, and you will handle that half."
It did not look like he would yield any further.
Besides, cholera was not the kind of disease that always progressed at lightning speed.
So if Kanghyeok's side clearly showed much better treatment results, there might still be room for renegotiation later.
Of course, among them there would certainly be some patients whose course moved faster than that.
Ah, whatever. I did my best. Anyone who dies on that side can't be helped.
In any case, the rapidly dehydrating type of cholera would likely be too much for the crude oral rehydration mix they could make here.
And if he pushed further and offended the Wonju, that would be even worse.
All in all, this was already a big deal.
Kanghyeok nodded readily.
"Understood. We'll do it that way."
"Then... I'll trust you with it."
Dongpa muttered complaints from behind, but the Wonju shook his head.
Among the quiet whispers, Kanghyeok caught the word "prince" mixed in there.
As always, nothing beat royal backing.
"Then let's go treat our patients."
"And we're just leaving that bastard alone?"
Makbong sounded disappointed that he did not get to rampage.
He had looked like a timid schoolgirl during the dissection practice.
Now he looked like Lü Bu himself.
"The Wonju came over and made concessions. What's the point of beating him now?"
"Mm. That's a pity. He looked like he'd have a satisfying feel to him."
"You'll get another chance later."
Kanghyeok muttered that while looking at the feces smeared on Dongpa's waistband.
Judging by that man's level of medical knowledge, it was certain he would never in his life realize that stool itself was a source of infection.
And from the state of his clothes, he did not seem like the type who washed often either.
If he went on examining patients barehanded like that, he would wind up spreading the germs from one person to another.
Then eventually he'll come crawling to me.
The incubation period for cholera was roughly three to five days after exposure.
Before that span was over, Dongpa would be kneeling in front of him.
With a darkly satisfied smile, Kanghyeok turned and walked deeper into Bojewon.
"And besides, we have a lot to do."
"Ah, what should we start with?"
"I'm going to start triaging the patients. You lot boil water. A whole cauldron full. Get some salt too. And we brought honey, right? Have that ready too."
"Yes, yes."
At Kanghyeok's orders, everyone began moving busily.
Kanghyeok stopped Heo Jun and Heo Im, who had started running toward the cauldron.
"Leave the grunt work to them... and the two of you, let's learn how to sort the patients first."
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