Chapter 16: Me, You Punk, and the Suwon Busa [4] "Ah, and please see that fellow too."
The Busa opened the door slightly and pointed at the Hyeongam.
The Hyeongam was standing there with his head bowed pitifully.
There was no trace left of the swaggering manner he had shown when he first arrived.
"He's an old friend of mine from childhood, and he isn't a bad man."
Since Kanghyeok had already decided to grant the Busa's request anyway.
And in truth, he had never intended not to treat him, so he slowly nodded.
"Understood. But there are people who have been waiting, so I will see them in order."
"That is fair enough. Though then why did you see me right away?"
The Busa asked with a grin.
At times like this, he was not asking because he genuinely wanted to know.
Kanghyeok decided to say what he wanted to hear.
"How could I push some paltry principle on a man to whom I owe so much, sir? Whenever you come, you will always be first."
"You really do speak well every time. Very well, I'll be off."
"Yes, sir."
"Ah, yes. There will soon be a banquet at a pavilion near Paldalsan. I would like you to come."
"Ah, yes. I'll go."
"We'll be discussing poetry, so make some preparations."
"Yes, sir."
Kanghyeok answered almost by reflex, but there was no helping the cold sweat that broke out.
Poetry.
It surely did not mean children's verses.
I do know a few by heart…
But it would be embarrassing to claim he knew poetry.
At most, he had memorized three or four. What was that worth?
And more likely than not, they would expect him to compose something on the spot.
That's impossible.
Nor could he refuse to go.
After answering so firmly, if he broke the promise, the Busa would certainly never forget it.
Whatever. I'll just make a fool of myself, then.
What could he do at this point?
Kanghyeok was the sort of man who knew how to give up what had to be given up.
He promptly erased the banquet from his mind and resumed seeing patients.
"Dolseok, tell waiting number two to come in."
"Yes, young master."
At the mention of number two, the Hyeongam's face turned yellow.
He had expected roughly as much, but actually being told to wait still offended him.
He could not cause trouble, though.
Because of what the Busa had said on his way out.
—Don't even think of causing trouble in my district. And do you know who that young man is? He's the eldest son of Daegam Baek Seungmun. Be careful.
From the moment Kanghyeok had barked back at him, the Hyeongam had known he was no ordinary fellow.
But with the Busa and Seungmun both behind him…
For a Hyeongam who had only just entered office, Kanghyeok was too distant a person to pick a fight with.
"You, get out of the way. I need to sit."
The Hyeongam drove off an innocent farmer who had been sitting in the shade of a tree.
At once, one of the patrol men hurriedly spread a cushion on the ground.
The Hyeongam lowered himself onto it with great care.
It was better than standing out under the blazing sun, but it was no less tedious.
He had to wait for a long time.
Only when the sun, once high overhead, had begun to droop toward the horizon did word finally come.
"Number twenty-two, come in!"
"Use honorifics, you wretch."
"Oh dear."
The Hyeongam smacked Dolseok on the back of the head before entering the room.
Kanghyeok too was already growing tired, so when he spoke, his face was full of irritation.
"So, the Hyeongam has come? Well then, what is hurting you?"
Though he looked weary, his authority had not gone anywhere.
The Hyeongam, who had been huffing angrily right until he crossed the threshold, had by now turned into a meek scholar.
"Well… now…"
He fidgeted awkwardly, unable even to sit.
Kanghyeok had already guessed from the cushion, so he asked casually,
"Is your backside uncomfortable?"
"O-oh. Truly, you are a divine physician. Yes. For the past few months, every time I go to the privy, I bleed. I can't even sit, and every day feels like death."
Kanghyeok nodded as though he already knew.
Having come to Joseon, he had realized that there was no structure in place for one's anus to remain healthy.
There was no way anyone could use precious hanji to wipe themselves.
How shocked had Kanghyeok himself been when Dolseok first brought him a bundle of rice straw?
Now I at least have a basin of water brought instead of a bidet…
But other people likely would not even think of that.
First I'll have to see what exactly is going on.
A backside that certainly had not been washed properly.
Judging by the Hyeongam's face, that area was bound to look miserable too.
Unpleasant as it was, what could he do?
A doctor was not a god.
"First, lower your trousers."
"My trousers? Here?"
The Hyeongam asked in horror.
Kanghyeok's face remained calm.
"I have to look at it before I can fix anything."
"Hah… well now. Hah."
If there was one thing Kanghyeok had come to realize after arriving here, it was that everyone felt embarrassed, but if told to do something, they all did it anyway.
The Hyeongam was no different, and he slowly lowered his trousers.
As expected, it's a complete mess.
There were hemorrhoids, and an anal fissure, and an abscess as well.
It was practically a general hospital of anal diseases.
"Alright, lie face down."
"Lie down…?"
"It will hurt a bit, but if you want it to heal, stay still."
"Hurt? How much more could this possibly—ugh!"
Kanghyeok immediately gave him an anesthetic injection.
One clean shot, right into the area most likely to hurt.
Then he began the procedure at once.
Perhaps because it was such a sensitive area, the Hyeongam screamed bloody murder.
Dolseok, assisting at his side, could not help shaking his head.
He whispered in a voice low enough that the Hyeongam could not hear.
Though really, even if he had spoken loudly, the man was in no state to notice.
"Young master, it seems like you're doing it on purpose to hurt him."
"Hm? Of course not. Surely a physician wouldn't do such a thing."
"Ah, true enough."
"I'm simply not going out of my way to make it painless."
"What?"
Was that not the same thing?
Thinking that the young master's warped personality really was going nowhere, Dolseok continued assisting.
At first, the sight of blood had terrified him, but now it no longer bothered him at all.
Rather, when pus came out, it was almost satisfying.
"Oh, it's coming out."
"That's right. It's all pus."
"Ugh, what filthy stuff."
Dolseok squeezed out all the yellow pus with gauze.
Even squeezing a pimple hurt, so how painful must an abscess on the anus be?
"Aaaaargh!"
The Hyeongam forgot all dignity and screamed at the top of his lungs.
But he had little hope of escaping Dolseok's rough grip.
Kanghyeok and Dolseok, both much larger men than he was, were holding him down tightly.
"Oh dear, you wretches are killing a man!"
He could not even see what they were doing, and yet it hurt like death.
The Hyeongam was seized by a terror so intense he felt he really might die.
He screamed so much that even the patrol men outside had begun hovering at the doorway.
But Yeoni and the newly returned Makbong were planted there firmly, so they did not dare come in.
Normally Kanghyeok might have reassured him, but instead he simply barked in a deep voice,
"You are a scholar-official. Can you not endure even this much?"
"You bastard, if this is torture, then of course—aaagh!"
"Just bear it a little longer. It's almost done."
The abscess had already been lanced long ago, and now he was nearly finished removing the hemorrhoidal mass as well.
For a while the man would likely be passing bloody stool, but after just a few days, he would probably feel as though he had been given a new life.
"There. It's done."
"Ohhh…"
Even in proper facilities, hemorrhoid surgery was painful and exhausting.
And this had been done with nothing but a scalpel and thread, so the suffering was hard even to imagine.
The Hyeongam collapsed limply, drenched in cold sweat.
"You've done well. From now on, you must soak your backside in warm water every day. Do that for a few days, and it will heal as if it had all been washed away."
"How long is this pain going to last…?"
"If you take some medicine, it won't be that hard."
While Kanghyeok was explaining, Dolseok gathered up the medicine and placed it in the Hyeongam's hand.
"My lord. Please take this."
"Oh dear…"
Groaning all the while, the Hyeongam barely managed to swallow the medicine.
He had come for treatment, yet he was in twice as much pain as when he arrived.
He wanted to be angry, but he had neither the strength nor the time.
Because Kanghyeok immediately issued the order to send him away.
"Now then, take your master and go. There is no need for him to come in person tomorrow. Just send one person to collect the medicine."
"Yes, yes, my lord."
The patrol men now fully understood what sort of person Kanghyeok was.
They had no choice but to obey.
They forcibly hoisted the limp Hyeongam onto his horse and hurried away.
The Hyeongam only found the energy to rage after they had gone some distance, but he could not bring himself to come back.
There would have been no point in coming anyway.
"The Hyeongam was the last one, right?"
Kanghyeok asked while wiping blood and pus from the floor.
"Yes, young master. Even if there were more, they've probably all run off."
Considering the screams coming from inside had sounded like they were from a butcher's yard, that was possible.
"Still, he endured pretty well."
"So you really were doing it on purpose?"
"Didn't you squeeze with all your strength too?"
"That was because he smacked the back of my head. There won't be a drop of pus left there now."
The two laughed and stepped out of the room.
By now the sun had completely set.
It was late enough that they would need torches to go home.
"Oh, my whole body aches. We ought to buy a doe of liquor on the way back."
Kanghyeok muttered while rolling his shoulders back and forth.
At that, Yeoni came to greet them with a troubled expression.
"Young master… there's still one person left."
"What? Still? Who is it?"
"Well… I think it's the person the Busa asked you to see. He came quite a while ago…"
Yeoni pointed somewhere into the darkened yard.
At the tip of her finger stood a young man.
He was broadly built, and there was discipline overflowing from the way he stood.
His eyes in particular shone so brightly that it almost felt as though only that place was illuminated.
But what truly caught Kanghyeok's attention was something else.
What? Is that a face I know? Why does he look so familiar?
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