Doctor Goes Back to Joseon

Chapter 59: Letter from Hanyang [3]

People would always have a desire to possess power, and Ganghyuk was no exception. He wanted to be a Congressman in that world. But, he felt that it would not be feasible, so he gave it up soon.

‘It is tempting indeed.’

The proposal of the governor could be realized. However, there were too many disadvantages.

‘I feel stuffed in the house already, and the palace will be worse.’

Ganghyuk liked freedom as a part of his nature, and he was from the other world, which was much freer. Hence, he did not have the confidence to live in the palace.

“Why? Don’t you like to be on office?”

It seemed that Ganghyuk had shown all his agony on his face, allowing the governor has read his face.

Ganghyuk answered with an embarrassed smile. “Yes…It is a really good offer, but I…”

“Okay. You can change your mind at any time.”

“Sure, sir.”

“You just need to remember that I will go to Hanyang to work in Internal Affairs.”

“Yes, sir.”

The governor left some room for Ganghyuk and drank the liquor. Ganghyuk followed him, finding it to be quite tasty. It seemed that they had same taste in liquor.

“By the way, it is said that the daughter of Changgweon is still in your house.”

He seemed to have some suspicion as he was beating around the bush. As he knew that they were together from Anseong to Eotanmyeon, he might have had some thoughts. It could be a reasonable suspicion from his perspective.

“Yes, we could not leave her in an empty house. So, my father gave her the detached house.”

“Good! She is not a bad candidate for your spouse.”

At this point, he did not have just a suspicion; he had a firm misunderstanding. Ganghyuk shook his hands to deny it. He would have to marry someday if he had to live in Joseon, but it was not the time right now.

He would rather go to the palace and serve King Seonjo.

“No, sir. My father did that because she is the daughter of his student.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

He seemed to not believe Ganghyuk’s explanation, but fortunately, he did not continue talking on that matter.

At that moment, Clerk Lee Jeongbok arrived. He opened the door carefully and came inside.

“Your lordship, I have something to discuss with you.”

“Hey, why do you call me lordship? Not yet.”

The governor laughed even though he spoke to Jeongbok like that. Jeongbok confirmed in response, “You will be a minister soon, so you deserve the title of lordship.”

“Heo heo… You make too much fuss like Ganghyuk.”

It was better to laugh together. Actually, it was a little funny indeed. So, Ganghyuk laughed loudly.

“Congratulations!”

The three of them ended up laughing for a while before stopping. The governor had work to attend to.

“Good! Ganghyuk, I have to work now.”

“Yes, sir. I will be leaving.”

“I will take care of what you said.”

“Thank you, sir.”

With that, Ganghyuk left the room hastily. When he got out, Dolseok was telling his story from the battlefield. A group of soldiers were gathering and listening in with interest.

“Then, my master picked up the bag. You know the bag, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“You mean the black one?”

Although he had heard a part of it, it seemed that he had bluffed a lot. Ganghyuk did not want to interrupt him, so he approached him slowly.

“He hit the masked man with the bag, and the masked man collapsed.”

“Then?”

“Then I stabbed immediately.”

“Wow! Wonderful!”

He had clearly told a lie, but it sounded real as he told the story with passion and color.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, Sir!”

Dolseok bent his head quickly as if he were caught in the middle of bad behavior. The other soldiers bowed as well.

“Lord Baik!”

“Scholar!”

“Doctor!”

They used different titles, but they all greeted him with respect.

“Good. How is your arm.”

“It is good. Thank you, sir.”

“How is your stomach?”

“I am much better now, sir.”

The soldiers showed their small or big wounds. Some of them were treated by Dolseok, and some were treated by Ganghyuk.

“Ok, ok. May I take Dolseok now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s go. Don’t bluff too much.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dolseok ran hastily to the stable while hiding his embarrassment. Ganghyuk opened his mouth after getting on the horse.

“Dolseok…”

“Yes?”

“Did you have fun telling a lie?”

“Lie? Why do you use such a word?”

“Ok, it’s good. By the way, are you good at climbing?”

“Yes, sir?” Dolseok asked him back without knowing his fate.

Ganghyuk pointed at the hill ahead laughing. The hill did not look attractive, because there was a thick growth in the woods on it.

“I mean, are you good at climbing such a hill?”

“Yes, I did it in the past…to cut firewood.”

Before he became the body servant of Ganghyuk, he had to do house chores like the other servants. These days, he worked like an assistant rather than the body servant, so his status had changed a lot.

Dolseok could not remember when was the last time he had gathered firewood and carried an A-frame on his back.

“Good!”

“Will you go to the mountain?”

“No, I am not going. I have something else to do. And, I need to take rest.”

He had Chooh already. It was an ingredient of the deadly poison given to the criminals in Joseon, so it was not hard to find. There was some in the government office, as well as in the drug stores in the marketplace.

Once he got Seomsu (poison of toad), he could start with the animal experiments.

‘Human beings are bigger than dogs.’

It would be safe if he used half the dose that showed side effects in dogs. It was a primitive method, though. But, what could he do? He did not have any other choice.

“Then, shall I go alone?”

“No, with soldiers…Take other servants in my house and go get some toads.”

With that, they all started to hunt toads. Soldiers thought that it was a part of their training, and the servants of Seungmun did not know the reason at all. At the same time, they caught the street dogs as well. Some villagers thought that there was a tiger out there that was eating the dogs.

These toads and dogs were brought to the clinic.

Dolseok had his nose sunburnt and turned red as he came back from the toad hunting mission and asked, “Where do you want to use them?”

“Wait, I am busy right now.”

“Why are you operating on a toad.”

“I am separating the poison sac.”

Dolseok thought that his work would be finished after catching the toads. But clearly, it was not. If he had read the letter from Heo Jun, he could have known in advance.

‘Seomsu is the poison sac of the toad. If you separate and dry it, it can last longer.’ Therefore, Dolseok had to cut up stuff every day.

“Then, all of these are…?” Dolseok pointed at all the Seomsu being dried in the yard and asked. The amount out there was enormous indeed, which was why Ganghyuk termed it as ‘enough’.

“Yes, they are the poison sacs of toads.”

“Would you like to kill someone? If you do, it is better to tell Yeoni or Makbong.”

“Fellow, I am a doctor. I want to save peoples’ lives, not kill them.”

“But, it is a poison, sir! Will you use poison to save people? That sounds strange.”

It was natural that Dolseok would show such a response. Ganghyuk was surprised at first as well when Heo Jun mentioned these poisons. But, he could understand what he meant because he knew of the pharmacological concepts behind it.

‘We can call them anesthetic before the neural poison causes paralysis.’

Nevertheless, it was very dangerous indeed. The primitive anesthetics in Western medicine were very dangerous too. Some people had died during dental treatments as well cause of that very reason.

“Dr. Heo had told me about it. So, I think that it is worth trying.”

“Then, you don’t need any more toads, right?”

“Yes, I have already told the governor to stop.”

“Good! There is a rumor that a tiger is coming down to the village frequently nowadays.” Dolseok said while his body shuddered.

Ganghyuk knew about the cause of the rumor, as he was the one responsible for the incident.

‘No matter what, Makbong did a good job.’

As the interests of Ganghyuk and Makbong coincided, he could get many dogs thanks to their collaboration. The dogs in the village bothered Makbong a lot when he circulated through widows’ houses for his night service.

As a result, Ganghyuk could gather dogs easily thanks to him, and the latter enjoyed his night trips without any barking dogs. It was hard to find a better win-win situation than this.

“Why are there so many dogs in the clinic? It seems like all the dogs in the village are gathered in one place.”

“When you were catching toads, I was working too. Let’s go to the clinic.”

“Will you kill a dog? We did not have meat this summer because we were in the temple… Hehe.” Dolseok went to the backyard while laughing in a pleased and excited manner.

Although the backyard had quite a large area, it was very crowded with all the dogs.

“Eum…I will use that.” Ganghyuk pointed at the dog barking in the front line and said.

“Yes, you have good eyes! You chose a very strong one indeed.”

Although it barked harshly, Dolseok was not scared at all. He came to the dog and seized it by the scruff of the neck. With that, the dog rolled its tail and urinated on the spot.

“Shall I kill it now?”

“No, I will feed it something.”

“Feed and then kill? Okay! There is a saying that a ghost who dies after eating looks better.”

Dolseok pulled the dog and went to the front yard, bringing some leftover food in a bowl.

“Stop! Mix this with it.”

“Give him some herbs? Do you want to rejuvenate it?”

Dolseok laughed while thinking of eating the dog. He seemed to have forgotten all the pains that he had endured in order to catch the toads.

But, his face became dark when he noticed what Ganghyuk put in the bowl. He had put some extraordinary herbs in there.

“You told me that that was a poison!”

“Yes, it is a poison.”

“If he eats a poison, then we cannot eat him.”

It was not always true, but of course, there was a huge possibility of it to go bad. So, he did not have any intention to eat that kind of meat.

“If you want, I will give it to you.”

“Wow…You want to kill me? I have been so loyal to you!”

“Wait! I will make an anesthetic with this.”

Ganghyuk mixed the Seomsu powder and Chooh extract with the dog food by using a syringe, which he used to check the contents and specify the dose.

“Will you give it to him?”

“I don’t think he will eat. He is terrified right now.”

“He must eat it.”

“Eo! He is eating it alright. He seems to have a good appetite!”

Although the dog was terrified, he could not overcome the hunger. Furthermore, there was meat in the bowl, which tempted him to eat.

“He seems alright. Are you sure that it is a poison?”

“Strange. I put equal to the amount used in the deadly poison…Look at that, Dolseok!”

“He is frothing!” Dolseok clicked his tongue while feeling sorry. However, Ganghyuk did not know why Dolseok clicked his tongue. Was it because he was sorry for the dog, or the fact that he could not eat dog meat?

Soon, the dog became completely dead.

“Eum… It is too strong. Bury him.”

“Bury a dog?”

“It is a part of an experiment to save people. So, we need to bury him.”

“Heo…Where?”

“I don’t know. You must dig the ground.”

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“Now you are asking me to dig the ground…” Dolseok complained and then went to get his shovels and the A-frame carrier. As he was going out, Ganghyuk shouted from behind.

“Hurry up. We do not have time. I must finish this experiment soon.”

“Why is that?”

“Sunshin asked me to come to Hanyang. I need to go within the next month.”

“Ok, sir.”