Chapter 48: Ultra-Short-Term Military Physician [1] Samyeongdang.
Also known as Great Master Samyeong.
No matter how illiterate Kanghyeok might be, even he knew that name.
He had never known the name Yujeong, though.
"Ah, Great Master Samyeong…"
"I am not a Great Master."
"Ah, not yet?"
"I do not understand what you mean."
Yujeong stared fixedly at the blinking Kanghyeok.
There was a strange energy in his eyes, giving Kanghyeok an odd feeling.
So much so that, for a moment, he wondered whether the legendary tales about Great Master Samyeong might actually be true.
No, don't get carried away.
What if he carelessly said something and the man's fate somehow went wrong?
He was someone destined to do great things later.
"I was moved by your sermon earlier and called you that without thinking."
"Thank you for regarding me kindly. Lord Busa and Head Monk, please rise as well."
"Yes, yes."
The Busa got to his feet with a deeply reverent expression.
In that brief time, the knees of his clothes had already grown worn.
Kanghyeok doubted he would bow this devoutly even to the king.
"This is truly an honor. I must make an even greater offering."
"Please do not overdo it."
"No, no. However much I give, it will still not feel like enough."
The Busa bowed politely, then hurried out of the room.
He looked ready to stop by the government office at once and bring back something, anything.
"What in the world is all this commotion?"
When they opened the door, they found Makbong, Yeoni, and the many people the two had been holding back all listening with their ears perked.
That was only natural, given that words like living Buddha, Buddha, and relic had been coming from inside.
The Head Monk drove a stake through their curiosity.
At some point, he was already standing before the crowd holding the relic—the salivary stone.
"This came from Monk Yujeong's body."
The stone had been white already, but under the sunlight, it gleamed with an especially radiant brilliance.
Even to Kanghyeok, who did not possess even a hair's worth of Buddhist faith, it looked like no ordinary stone.
Is it really a relic?
Kanghyeok looked at Yujeong with doubtful eyes.
After all, this was none other than Great Master Samyeong.
Still, that's a salivary stone.
It could not be anything else.
But the people's reaction was entirely different.
"Oh my!"
Someone screamed.
"Buddha…"
Someone else bowed.
Smiling in satisfaction at the response he had hoped for, the Head Monk continued.
"This honored guest removed this relic from Monk Yujeong's body."
This time he pointed at Kanghyeok.
Again, the response was explosive.
"Oh my!"
"He is an honored guest!"
In an instant, Kanghyeok became the physician who had treated a living Buddha.
The rumor spread as though it had grown wings, and Kanghyeok's fame rose even higher.
Even without going to the market, it was not uncommon to hear people talking about him.
Some stories were badly distorted, and most were complete nonsense.
"Did you hear Monk Yujeong's sermon?"
"He gets better by the day."
"They say it was Scholar Baek who treated him."
"I heard a relic came out of Scholar Baek too."
"Huh. No wonder he drove out Duchang."
"Duchang?"
"You didn't know? They say he had a huge fight with the Smallpox Deity at Gwanggyosan."
At some point, he had even become a miraculous physician who fought the Smallpox Deity hand to hand.
Some people went so far as to call him a Divine Physician, and no one dared object.
With things like this, there were not a few donated items that arrived in Kanghyeok's name every other day.
"Let's see... this was sent by the Gwacheon Hyeongam, this one from Juksan, and this one from Yangseong."
Because of that, Kanghyeok's party had no time to rest.
Among them, Yeoju's role was particularly important, since she could read.
Even now, she was in the middle of organizing the goods that had come in from all over.
The amount was so vast that it filled an entire book.
"Then where should I put this?"
Dolseok asked, sweating profusely.
He had a whole sack of rice balanced on his back, so it was only natural.
"Just give that one to the temple."
"Ah, yes."
Normally, Dolseok would have charged in with both eyes blazing.
He was the sort who was greedy despite not having earned any of it himself.
But not this time.
That was because so much rice had come in that it was beyond absurd.
Even just selecting the valuable things to take with them was already difficult.
"Where did Young Master go?"
Makbong asked as he carried a pile of fur pelts.
He was not free from hard labor either.
Since he was naturally strong and had built up his lower back, he excelled at carrying loads.
"Ugh."
Dolseok set down the sack of rice and answered.
His voice could not have sounded flatter.
"He went to spar in taekkyeon with Yeoni a little while ago."
"Huh."
If someone had seen that, it might have looked like a situation worth getting furious over, but it was not really so.
That was because all the goods he was carrying were gifts Kanghyeok intended to give to Makbong and Yeoni.
Rice, of course, but also fine furs, silk, salt, and even the ox cart to carry them.
Following Kanghyeok around was a hundred times better than risking his life performing in the market.
"I could teach him better."
"You got thoroughly beaten by Yeoni this morning."
"What do you mean beaten? I just stepped wrong and fell."
"Young Master and I both saw it. If I were him, I'd learn from Yeoni too."
"Damn it, you little—"
Makbong raised his fist, but in the end did not swing it.
After all, Dolseok was still the friend who drank with him every night.
If this had not been a temple, a master of nighttime arts like Makbong would have had all kinds of things to do in Anseong too. It was truly regrettable.
While Makbong smacked his lips in disappointment, Kanghyeok was running here and there.
"Why are you so fast!"
"Would I be an Eoreumsani otherwise?"
He ran with everything he had, but soon Yeoni's instep lashed across his back.
"Urgh."
It was a blow that made a groan come out on its own.
Yeoni approached with a worried face.
"Are you all right? I held back."
"It hurts."
That was not an exaggeration. It genuinely hurt.
Yeoni was far more skilled than he had imagined.
"Let me take a look."
Yeoni lifted Kanghyeok's outer garment.
"Hey, hey, you're stripping me?"
"How else am I supposed to look at the injury? Don't you always do the same, Young Master?"
Now that she said it, she had a point.
"Fine, then."
Kanghyeok lifted the clothes himself.
"How does it look?"
"You've got a bruise."
"Right? I knew it hurt."
"What should we do?"
"I'm still a beginner. How can you kick that hard?"
"No. Sometimes you're actually pretty good, Young Master."
"Good my ass."
He had not been practicing seriously to begin with, so how could he possibly get good?
Even today, he had not managed to touch even a single hair on Yeoni.
He had, however, been beaten thoroughly.
This was just the first time one of the blows had actually hurt.
"No, really. You're fairly good."
"Sure. If you say so."
"Should I put something on it?"
"Is there even anything to put on it?"
An ointment for bruises.
There probably was one. At a hospital.
The problem was that there was nothing like that here.
"Let's just put cold water on it."
"Ah, yes, Young Master."
At Kanghyeok's words, Yeoni ran down as if flying.
Then she came back with her sleeve soaked in stream water.
"How does it feel?"
"It's cold."
"Does it feel a bit better?"
"Ah, yeah. Better."
Apply cold right after an injury.
That was the most basic rule of treating bruises.
As they stayed like that for a while, Dolseok came running toward them in a panic.
Unlike usual, he looked genuinely urgent.
That was strange.
What could possibly happen at a temple?
"Huff, huff."
He had run so fast that he could barely breathe.
Because of that, even when he saw Kanghyeok with his outer garment half off and Yeoni's hand on his back, he could not say anything.
"What is it? Something happened?"
"Oh dear."
"What is it, you bastard?"
Though his words were curt, Kanghyeok could already feel that something was off.
He hurriedly stood up.
Even then, it took quite a while before Dolseok could finally speak properly.
"Eotan-myeon... in Eotan-myeon…"
"You're going to pass out. Speak slowly."
"It's chaos, chaos."
"What are you even saying?"
Where was Eotan-myeon, and what did he mean by chaos?
To Kanghyeok, this current scene already looked like chaos.
But Yeoni, who knew the geography well—though that was only because Kanghyeok was hopeless at it—saw her face darken at once.
That was because Eotan-myeon was a place under Suwon Prefecture.
In an urgent voice, she asked,
"What in the world happened there?"
"The Japanese raiders…"
Kanghyeok still looked completely at sea.
The Imjin War was still a long way off.
So why would there be Japanese raiders in Gyeonggi Province at this time?
"Japanese raiders?"
"Yes. Japanese raiders."
"They come all the way here?"
At Kanghyeok's absurd question, Dolseok thumped his chest.
Kanghyeok seemed smart, but sometimes he looked like the greatest fool under heaven.
"This Chiljangsa too was rebuilt after those Japanese bastards burned it down."
"Huh."
He had heard it was rebuilt during King Jungjong's reign, but apparently there had been a story behind that.
"Then this is no time to stand around like this. We should run."
"No, there you go again, Young Master. The Japanese raiders came to Eotan-myeon, so why would we run?"
"So it's far from here? Then why is it chaos?"
"Lord Busa says he is going to launch a punitive expedition. He sent word asking that you come with him."
"Huh."
Even if it was a summons from the Busa, something he disliked was still something he disliked.
If war had broken out, one should flee. Why would he deliberately go looking for it?
He was not a soldier. Nor was he an official living on a government salary.
"Let me at least see the person he sent first."
"Yes, Young Master. He's waiting at the temple."
Dolseok and Yeoni hurried down the mountain path.
Kanghyeok followed slowly behind them.
What excuse should I use to refuse?
There were plenty that came to mind.
First, he was the eldest son of the Baek Clan.
As for the second son, people said he held office somewhere, but Kanghyeok had not seen his face even once in the several months since coming here.
For all he knew, the man might be the most unfilial son in the world.
Second, Great Master Samyeong was still under treatment.
True, there was not really much left to do for him.
Good. I'll use both.
By the time he had finished thinking up his strategy, they had reached the temple.
The man who came out to meet them was a familiar face.
Pangwan Yi Jeongbok.
Unlike usual, he was dressed in a cheollik.
So there really had been trouble.
"Ah, you've come."
"It's been a while, Pangwan sir."
"Heh-heh. There's much to say, but there's no time. Lord Busa has requested you as a military physician."
"Military physician... but I'm not all that familiar with trauma."
It was a blatant lie.
More than half the items in his medical bag were surgical tools.
Moreover, Kanghyeok's treatment of Yi Sun-sin's leg was widely known in the Suwon government office.
The Pangwan merely smiled, taking it as modesty.
"Where would one find a physician better than Scholar Baek?"
It did not seem likely he would be allowed to back out so easily.
"Mm."
Kanghyeok was just about to start laying out the excuses he had prepared on the way, when someone tugged at his sleeve.
When he turned, it was Yeoju.
"What is it?"
"I... I have something to say to you for a moment."
That was unusual.
And Yeoju's face looked too poor to refuse.
With no choice, Kanghyeok stepped slightly back and bent his ear toward her.
"What is it?"
"Lord Busa is calling you because of the Japanese raider problem at Eotan-myeon, right?"
"That's right."
"I know this is an shameless request, but could you please go?"
It really was a shameless request.
And he had no idea why.
"Why?"
"Father... my father went there because of Hyanggyo instruction."
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