Chapter 44: This Time, a Monk [2] "For fuck's sake."
The moment Kanghyeok realized that he too had ended up eating that cow, he cursed.
He had been running his mouth about Wonhyo and all that, and in the end, he had wound up attaining enlightenment himself.
The meat that had tasted perfectly fine while he was eating it now somehow felt as though it reeked of pus.
"What's wrong?"
Dolseok asked, blinking his small eyes.
He looked innocent enough, and he had not actually done anything wrong, but Kanghyeok still got angry.
"You little—... No, forget it. Let's go."
What was the point of exposing it now, when they had all eaten it together?
Once it goes in, it's all the same. Once it goes in, it's all the same.
All he could do was cling to that meaningless self-comfort.
After walking for quite a while, the question he should have asked from the beginning finally came to mind.
"Oh, right. Where exactly is this place where the monk is?"
"Um... that would be Anseong."
"Anseong? That bloody-shit Hyeongam?"
"Yes. That very gentleman."
The same man who had come all the way to Suwon with a cushion laid on his saddle.
He had arrived shouting, smacked Dolseok on the back of the head, and then eventually returned to Anseong shitting blood.
Once his asshole got better, even his personality got fixed.
He had been passing the kind of shit that felt like death every day, so how miserable must he have been?
Once that was resolved, his disposition seemed to have softened.
Later, he had even sent a letter of thanks.
Along with dried gulbi.
"Since we've already come this far, should we go see his face too?"
"Do we have to?"
Dolseok answered curtly, still apparently resentful about having been smacked on the back of the head.
"Why not? It'll be nice. We'll probably be treated well."
"Treated well..."
"Yeah. He'll probably give us rooms too. Taverns are a bit..."
Wasn't there that saying that life became hard once you left home?
In the Joseon era, that was genuinely true.
Even a tavern only had facilities at the level of an ordinary private home, and the food was poor.
And at the end of it all, they gave me pus meat too.
The more he thought about it, the more wronged and bitter he felt.
If he had not met Heo Jun, Kanghyeok would have punished the tavern mistress himself instead of Makbong.
Of course, in a completely different way.
"Wouldn't the government office be better?"
At Kanghyeok's words, Dolseok nodded in agreement.
No matter that he was a servant, he still belonged to the household of a great lord.
He had never known real hardship.
Lately, that had become even more true.
His life was probably better than that of most commoners.
"That's true."
Yeoju also nodded readily.
How often would she ever have gone out and rolled around like this?
Even if the house was shabby and cramped, she was still the daughter of a yangban household.
"If you know the Hyeongam, then I think it would be a good idea to go visit."
Yeoni and Makbong seemed not to care either way.
They were the sort who did not even mind sleeping outdoors, so a tavern already felt like a blessing.
And in any case, none of them were in a position to defy Kanghyeok's orders.
"Fine. Then let's go there first."
It was quite a long distance from the foothills of Gwanggyosan to Anseong.
They did not reach the outskirts until long after the sun had set.
A few patrol officers approached.
Their attitude was quite cautious.
Even from a distance, Kanghyeok did not look low in status.
He had four attendants with him, and behind them was a large ox cart.
At a glance, he looked like an important figure.
"Who are you, and where have you come from?"
In the past, Kanghyeok would have answered immediately.
But now he was a proper yangban of Joseon, was he not?
He sat calmly on horseback and gazed down at them in silence.
He was already tall, and from atop the horse, his presence was imposing.
The patrol officer unconsciously took a step back and asked again.
"Um... who might you be?"
It was only natural to answer after being asked twice.
Of course, the one who actually opened his mouth was Dolseok.
These were the moments he liked best.
His mouth had already been stretched up to his ears.
When else would he ever get to speak stiffly to patrol officers?
"This is Scholar Baek Kanghyeok of the Suwon Baek Clan. He has come to see Hyeongam sir."
"Ah... yes. I will guide you."
"Good. Lead the way."
Though the patrol officer tilted his head slightly, he obediently moved ahead.
He did not like that a mere servant was telling him what to do, but Kanghyeok looked far too lofty.
Besides, one of the men with him seemed to recognize Kanghyeok.
"You know... him."
"Who?"
"That one. After Hyeongam-nim came back from Suwon, for several days..."
"Ah. Ah, then that Baek fellow is him?"
"Yeah. I saw him back then. I think that's him."
"Damn. If we make a mistake, we're dead."
Rumors and memories had a way of getting distorted.
At least in Anseong, Kanghyeok's image was tremendously overbearing.
Stories had spread that even the Hyeongam and the Busa had both been made to sweat under his pressure.
Of course, it was true that he had confronted the Hyeongam without backing down, so it was not entirely baseless.
In any case, thanks to the rumors, the patrol officers' manner grew much more respectful.
"This way, sir."
"Very well."
It reached the point where they could not even object when Dolseok answered in such an overstepping tone.
"I'll go in and inform him first."
"Do that."
The group stopped in front of a large gate.
The patrol officer entered through a side door set beside the main gate.
Now that they had actually come all the way here, Kanghyeok started to feel a little nervous.
They had shown up headlong without even arranging anything in advance.
"He'll receive us, right?"
"What?"
At Kanghyeok's words, Dolseok's face stiffened in disbelief.
He had been throwing his weight around purely because he trusted his master, so what was he supposed to do if Kanghyeok started saying things like this now?
"No... well. He did send a letter, but I can't remember whether I ever replied."
Most likely, he had not.
Back then, he still did not know that many characters.
Which meant he had committed two discourtesies.
Once during treatment, and once when he ignored the letter.
It's annoying enough when someone leaves you on read in KakaoTalk.
When the 1 disappears and there is still no reply, how infuriating is that?
Kanghyeok belatedly regretted it.
It turned out to be needless worry, though.
"Ha ha. Physician Baek, you've come."
The Hyeongam came running out quite literally in his beoseon.
He looked utterly transformed.
"Ah, yes. Have you been well?"
Kanghyeok used polite speech in a way he had not before.
Since the words coming toward him were now kind, it was only natural that the words going back would be kind as well.
"Of course, of course. Thanks to you, Physician Baek, I feel as if I've been given a new life."
"That is good to hear."
It really was fortunate.
If they had been turned away here, the problem would not only have been having to sleep out in the wind and dew—the patrol officers' reaction would have been something else too.
"Come, come, everyone, come in. Oh my, and what is all that?"
The Hyeongam pointed to the goods loaded on the ox cart.
A fragrant scent was wafting from them; no matter how one looked at it, they were medicinal herbs.
Perhaps because he had once suffered to the point of near death, he looked extremely interested.
That was all the more so because they had been brought by Kanghyeok, whose fame as a great physician had lately grown loud.
Right. I can give him some of this.
As Baek Kanghyeok, he could hardly repay the Hyeongam's favor with empty hands.
"I heard that good medicinal herbs grow near Gwanggyosan, so I was passing by there. These danggui and gamcho in particular are excellent. Try decocting them."
Once he set his mind to it, the bullshit came out fluently.
Kanghyeok recommended the cheapest herbs first.
He could not go around handing out rare things like Jinhwangjeong or Geumjeoncho.
That level of generosity was something only the Busa over there could pull off.
Besides, overly precious herbs had effects that were too strong.
They were unsuitable for simply taking as a tonic.
"Oh, oh. Thank you, thank you."
It seemed the Hyeongam was not very knowledgeable about medicine.
Just look at how delighted he was over mere danggui and gamcho.
"You bastards, bring out the table. We have guests."
The Hyeongam shouted toward the official servants attached to the government office.
Unlike the Busa, he did not seem to have kept a separate household.
That might have been because he had not been appointed long ago, or perhaps it was simply his nature.
"I'm sorry to have come so suddenly."
"Not at all, not at all. Important guests are always welcome. So then, what brings you all the way to Anseong?"
If Kanghyeok said he had come to see the Hyeongam, the atmosphere would improve even more, but he could not do that.
If that had really been the case, then naturally he should have sent a letter and given notice beforehand.
"I heard a monk had come down from Mount Geumgang, so I came to have a look. And also to see you, Hyeongam-nim."
"Ahhh. Yes, things have been quite lively lately."
"Really?"
"Yes. It seems his sermons are rather persuasive. I listened to some myself, and there were parts that made me nod along."
"Oh."
"There will be a great many people. Showing this should help."
The Hyeongam even handed over a plaque stamped with the seal of the government office.
Though he had once been a bloody-shit Hyeongam, he was still a proper Confucian scholar.
For him to speak this way in a time when the ideology of revering Confucianism and suppressing Buddhism was so prevalent, this monk was clearly no ordinary monk, but a great eminent monk.
It really did seem worth going to see at least once.
Not that he's some living Buddha.
Kanghyeok had no idea what exactly "living Buddha" even meant.
In that field, he was not merely an outsider—he was nearly ignorant.
"Anyway, you must have come a long way. Here, have a drink."
"Thank you."
"Ah, you all have a drink too."
"Yes, thank you, sir."
The Hyeongam arranged separate rooms for Dolseok and the others.
Yeoju hesitated briefly, then followed Dolseok.
If she suddenly insisted on being a yangban here and it came out that she was a woman, that would be a real problem.
She had long since deliberately changed her clothing into that of a commoner.
"This was sent up from Jeolla recently, and the taste is extraordinary."
"Wow. To think I'd get to try this here."
What the Hyeongam pointed at with his chopsticks was none other than ganjang gejang.
And not just any gejang, but proper soy sauce marinated crab, packed full of roe.
"Thank you for the meal."
"So you know how to eat gejang. You've got some taste too."
"I'd eat it every day if I had any."
"Ha ha. I heard you're a Suwon native, so when did you come to appreciate gejang? There's plenty, so eat as much as you like."
"Yes, yes."
Besides the gejang, the table was laid full of jeotgal, dried abalone, dried octopus, hwangtae, and more.
Since he had been eating nothing but gukbap all this time, his chopsticks could not rest.
Perhaps pleased by the sight of Kanghyeok eating so well, the Hyeongam kept pressing drinks on him.
Then the Hyeongam was the one who collapsed first.
Kanghyeok looked down at him lying sprawled out and snoring.
"Well. A person really can change this much."
Compared to the first time they met, he was practically a different person.
"The food is good too. This would be perfect for drinking alone for once."
Then again, it was not really drinking alone.
There was a moon in the sky, a moon in the cup, and a moon in the Hyeongam's half-open eyes.
"Wow, there really are a lot of people."
Dolseok muttered, shaking his head.
Even Yeoni, who had practically lived in the market all her life, stared wide-eyed.
"This many is a first for me too."
So it went without saying that Yeoju was even more overwhelmed.
Afraid she might lose the others, she was clutching Kanghyeok's clothes.
She seemed to think she was doing it secretly, but because she was so tense, the force of her grip came through clearly.
My clothes are going to stretch...
They were silk clothes.
Wouldn't it be a disaster if they tore?
Kanghyeok turned back with a flat look, then soon faced forward again.
She looked like she might cry if he said anything.
No matter how self-willed Kanghyeok was, he did not have a hobby of making women cry.
Eh, I'll just buy another one.
He had plenty of money, so what was there to worry about?
"Ah, I can see it now."
Yeoni cried out while standing on tiptoe.
At the end of her finger, the signboard of Chiljangsa came into view.
He had heard that it had been burned down by Japanese raiders and only recently rebuilt.
"Ah, I think that must be him."
"You can see the monk, Young Master?"
Short little Makbong looked at Kanghyeok with envious eyes.
He had tried standing on rocks and rising on tiptoe, but it seemed to be of no use.
"I can see him. But he's too far away to make out clearly."
"Let's hurry."
Dolseok, who had been singing the praises of this remarkable monk nonstop, dashed forward.
Thanks to that, they managed to get a fairly good spot.
They still had to stand, but at least they were able to see the famed eminent monk clearly.
"The greatest teacher who guides you is your own heart."
The monk was delivering a sermon in a deep, weighty voice.
His eyes burned with intensity, and his broad frame made it clear he was no ordinary man.
His voice also had an unusual power of appeal, enough to draw attention.
That, however, was not what caught Kanghyeok's eye.
"What do you think of that monk?"
"He's extraordinary, of course. Can't you already feel that he's different?"
Dolseok answered in an excited voice.
Kanghyeok had not realized it before, but now it seemed Dolseok was quite a fervent Buddhist.
"No, doesn't he look sick?"
"What? Aren't you looking at everything as an illness just because you're a physician?"
"No. There's definitely something wrong with him."
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