Chapter 52: Escort Warrior [2] A strong smell of blood washed over him from Yeoni.
It was because the blood from her wound had mixed with the blood smeared on her from that Japanese raider.
There was no way he could properly examine the wound like this.
First, I need to wipe it clean.
Kanghyeok hurriedly opened his house-call bag.
He cut open one of the IV fluid bags inside and soaked some gauze with it.
There was no other water nearby, and if he cleaned her with just any water, it might cause an infection for no reason.
"Ugh..."
The liquid must have been cold.
Yeoni squirmed with a groan.
Every time she moved, blood seeped little by little from her thigh.
"Stay still. Let me wipe your face first."
Kanghyeok scrubbed Yeoni's face hard.
Until all the dried blood crust came off.
Once the red blood was gone, Yeoni's original face emerged.
Eyes slanting upward like a cat's, a sharp nose, red lips, and tanned skin.
She really is pretty.
In their desperate escape, her sangtu had long since come undone.
Thanks to that, she was showing off a rather modern kind of beauty.
"Ah."
While Kanghyeok was staring blankly for a moment, Yeoni came to her senses.
That was only natural, since her face had just been rubbed with cold liquid.
"Y-Young master?"
"Uh, yeah. I was wiping the blood off you."
Kanghyeok hurriedly showed her the bloodstained gauze.
"What happened to the enemy?"
Yeoni asked as she grabbed the sword lying on the ground.
Her face was filled with tension, as if Japanese raiders were scattered all around them.
She seemed to have lost consciousness around the time Kanghyeok had carried her on his back.
"It's fine. I killed that masked one and escaped. A few of them pretended to chase us, then turned back."
That pretending had been rather intense, and rather long.
Kanghyeok forced a bright smile.
Because of that, a little blood trickled from the small cuts on his face.
Yeoni widened her eyes and came closer.
"Young master, are you hurt?"
"Ah, this? It's nothing. I got scraped by branches."
"You're bleeding."
"You're bleeding a lot more than I am. Lie down first."
"Yes...? Ah, ow."
Only then did Yeoni seem to feel the pain in her thigh.
She looked down at her pants, now dyed entirely red.
And at Kanghyeok's durumagi, stained the same way from carrying her.
"I'm... sorry. Because of me..."
"What are you saying? I survived thanks to you."
Kanghyeok's voice was full of sincerity.
If not for Yeoni, he might have died in his sleep without even knowing it.
Or maybe he would have burned to death.
Even if he had barely managed to escape, he likely would have been cut down by a sword.
"I also survived thanks to you, Young master."
"Hm?"
"That... stone."
"Ah. That."
Come to think of it, that meant he also owed Great Master Samyeong his life.
What on earth was that stone?
Now that it had lost its light, the stone was no different from any ordinary rock.
There was no way to distinguish it from the others scattered nearby.
If he had been a little more clearheaded, he might have picked it up.
But even carrying Yeoni on his back had been more than enough at the time.
It's a miracle we survived at all.
Thinking back on last night, the whole thing really was miraculous.
He had survived the first war of his life.
"When did you become so skilled at slinging stones?"
"Slinging? Haha. It was luck, just luck. Let me look at your wound first."
"Yes... yes?"
Yeoni started to nod, then opened her eyes wide.
Because the injured area was not just anywhere, but her thigh.
"Don't worry. I'm a doctor."
"Even so, this is a bit..."
"If we leave it like this, it'll be serious. Don't you remember Yeoju?"
"Yeoju..."
She had nearly died because of a tiny piece of needle.
Or else she might have lost her leg.
Yeoni's condition had to be even worse, since she had been cut by a sword.
She briefly recalled when Yeoju had been ill, then finally nodded.
"Yes. Understood."
"Good. You made the right choice. I think the rest of you is fine."
Kanghyeok nodded as he examined Yeoni's face and upper body.
There were clots here and there, but it was not Yeoni's blood.
He had already wiped away all the heavily stained areas, so he was sure of it.
That meant the only place he needed to treat was her thigh.
"I'm going to unwrap the bandage."
"Yes."
Kanghyeok removed the tightly wound bandage.
Even though quite a bit of time had passed, blood was still seeping out.
He had thought it was just a graze, but the wound seemed fairly deep.
That bastard... he really was skilled.
From Kanghyeok's perspective, Yeoni's swordsmanship had been no joke either.
The number of Japanese raiders who had fallen by her hand was close to ten.
Compared to all the soldiers who had escaped with them, Yeoni had clearly been better.
And the one who had pushed even her this far was that masked raider.
I should've at least looked at his face.
He had fled without even thinking to remove the mask.
Partly because they had been chased by the raiders, but the bigger reason was that Kanghyeok had been scared out of his wits.
Thinking about it now, it was absurd.
He had run like mad because of those chestnut-sized bastards.
"How is it?"
"Hm? Ah, first I need to clean it."
"Clean it?"
"Yes. Didn't you see him? Even before he cut you, he had already cut down several others."
That blade reflecting moonlight.
It had clearly been soaked with both blood and grease.
Which also meant Yeoni's wound was far from clean.
"While I wash it with this, eat these first."
"Yes."
"It's saline, so it'll taste strange. I know because I've tried it. Still, it's fine."
"Uh... yes."
Yeoni swallowed the antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medicine Kanghyeok handed her.
With her whole face scrunched up.
Yeah, I know that taste.
That taste that made the tip of your tongue feel foul even now.
Not every doctor had tasted normal saline.
It had not been made to drink in the first place.
Kanghyeok had only drunk it in order to survive. That had also been during his internship. More specifically, while he was an emergency room intern.
He could have accepted not being given food, but he had never imagined they would not even give him water.
He still vividly remembered cleaning a patient's wound like this and then drinking it after nearly losing his mind.
Those sons of bitches.
Calling themselves seniors while working their juniors like that.
The real rotten old evil was not somewhere else. It was right there.
"All right, this will be cold."
"Yes. Ugh."
"Let's see... hm."
Kanghyeok began cleaning Yeoni's leg with saline.
Since he was washing inside the wound, there was no way it would not hurt.
"Uht."
Yeoni let out a pained groan.
He could see her toes curling tightly.
Feeling sorry, Kanghyeok moved his hands faster.
"I need to know how badly you're hurt."
"Yes, yes. I'm fine."
"Fortunately, it looks like your muscles and blood vessels are okay. Can you bend and straighten your knee?"
"Ah... yes. It hurts, but... I'm okay."
"I see. It's just the skin that was cut."
It seemed she had bled so much because a blood vessel hidden in the fat had been cut by chance.
A vessel of that size only needed to be tied off at once.
It was a blood vessel that barely mattered anyway.
"I'll numb it."
"Yes, Young master."
Kanghyeok carefully injected local anesthetic around Yeoni's wound.
That made it start bleeding again, but he did not pay much attention.
It was blood that would soon stop anyway.
"If it hurts, tell me."
"Yes."
Kanghyeok did not consider himself a particularly kind doctor.
He had never once resolved to become a kind doctor either.
Because he believed a real doctor was not someone who made patients smile inside the examination room, but someone who could make them smile once they left it.
Strange.
But when it came to Yeoni or Yeoju, he was a little different.
Was he not trying, without even realizing it, to make them hurt less and feel more at ease?
It's not like I'm the sort of person who deliberately treats women and men differently.
Otherwise, would he ever have earned the nickname "Professor Cool Vibes"?
He remembered getting that nickname after boldly giving a D to a practicum group made up entirely of women.
In other departments, everyone doted on them even if they slacked off, but Kanghyeok had given them grades barely above failing, so they must have been at quite a loss.
"Young master."
"Mm?"
"It hurts a little."
"Really? That won't do."
Kanghyeok made a great fuss as if his own flesh were being pierced.
He quickly injected more anesthetic and asked,
"How about now?"
"I think it's okay now."
"Good. Keep telling me like that."
"Yes, Young master."
"I'll stop the bleeding first."
Kanghyeok probed around the bleeding point with a small forceps.
Since it was an unnamed blood vessel, it was incredibly thin.
And yet there was not the slightest hesitation in Kanghyeok's hands.
It would be perfect if I could cauterize it.
That was one of the things he regretted after coming to Joseon.
But what could he do? He did not have the tools.
When there were no teeth, the gums had to do.
Kanghyeok tied off the blood vessel with black thread.
Normally, it was supposed to be done with both hands, but it could be managed with one.
It was also a technique Kanghyeok was particularly confident in.
"Good. The bleeding's almost stopped now. It doesn't hurt, right?"
"What? Ah, yes."
"Good. Now I'm going to suture it. You've seen this a lot, right?"
"I've even done it myself."
"Ah, that's right. You're actually quite good at it."
"Am I?"
Yeoni asked back with a faint smile.
Kanghyeok nodded readily.
"Yes. You're the best among everyone I've taught."
"Oh. I never would have thought that."
Had Yeoni not always done physical work?
The so-called feminine work, things like sewing, was something she had never done before.
No one had expected it of her either.
And yet she was good not at sewing cloth, but at stitching people.
"Thank you."
"For what? If you're good, then I say you're good. I don't say things I don't mean. You know that, right?"
"I know."
Where else was there someone as straightforward as Kanghyeok?
His temperament was plain and direct to the extreme.
"It's almost done now."
Even while talking, Kanghyeok's hands did not stop.
Before she knew it, he was tying the final knot.
Yeoni spoke with an amazed expression.
"How are you so fast?"
This was not something Yeoni had never done before.
That was why she knew very well that it was no simple task.
"Well, I've done it thousands of times."
"Thousands of times... Young master, you truly are amazing."
"I think you're even more amazing."
"What?"
"How many did you cut down last night?"
"Ah..."
Only then did she seem to have the presence of mind to recall the events of the night in detail.
Yeoni's eyes naturally turned beyond the bushes.
Toward the place where smoke was billowing upward.
"Do you think the others are okay?"
At her words, Kanghyeok also looked at the smoke.
Come to think of it, he had no idea whether Dolseok, Makbong, or Yeoju were alive.
Perhaps even the Busa, their commander, or Shin Rip might have died.
What had happened last night had truly been beyond urgent.
"I don't know. I wonder what happened."
Kanghyeok's voice was full of worry.
There was even deep sorrow in it, enough to surprise Kanghyeok himself when he heard it.
"Makbong is there, so... they're probably fine."
"He's pretty good too, isn't he?"
"Not as good as me, but he's skilled."
That meant they would probably be all right as long as there was no monster like the masked one.
"Then should we go back?"
"No. I think that would be too dangerous."
"Then where do we go?"
They could not stay here forever.
They had no food, and barely any water.
Though he did still have some saline.
But as he had said earlier, that was not made for drinking.
Frowning, Yeoni leaped lightly up onto a rock.
For someone who had just been stitched up, her movements were surprisingly light.
That was possible because the muscles had not been injured.
"Be careful. You'll split the wound open."
"Ah, yes."
"Can you see anything?"
"I've been near this area before. Hmm... if we go this way, there was a fairly large private house. Shall we head there first?"
"There?"
"Yes."
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