Chapter 186: Chapter 59
Everyone has an ambition of power, and Kanghyok is no exception.
Back in modern Korea he sotis dread of running for the National Assembly elections.
‘Mayor’s suggestion is tempting.’
And there was a high possibility that his suggestion could co true.
But there were many pitfalls for him to accept right now.
Above all, Kanghyok, who lived as a free and liberal man, was not sure if he could adapt himself to the closed and narrow world of the royal court in Hanyang.
“Don’t you feel up to it?” asked the mayor.
It seed that the mayor already read his troubled mind.
With an uninvited smile, Kanghyok answered, “I really appreciate your generous offer very much, but I don’t want to take it now.”
“Oh, I see. You can change your mind later.”
“Yes, mayor.”
“Just rember that I’m going to Hanyang as the minister of the governnt administration departnt.”
“Yes, master.”
And then the mayor kept drinking in a cheerful mood with Kanghyok.
“By the way, I hear Changkwon’s daughter is staying at your house.”
Given the way that he asked with a sinister smile, he seed to think Kanghyok had so romantic relationship with her.
As Kanghyok stayed with her all along from Ansung to Otan village, the mayor naturally ca to form such a rational suspicion.
“Well, my father gave her a guest room, saying he felt uncomfortable about letting her stay at his late father’s empty house.”
“Got it. Yea, I think she could be your good wife as Changkwon’s daughter.”
Now, it was clear that the mayor misunderstood their relationship.
Kanghyok waved his hand strongly at that.
If he was destined to settle in Joseon, he would have to get married soday. But he didn’t want it now.
“No, no, sir. My father has taken that asure because she is the daughter of his disciple.”
“Hahaha, I understand.”
At that mont his chief secretary Jungbok Lee ca in cautiously.
“Daegam (Lord), I’ve got sothing to discuss with you.”
“Oh, no! Don’t call Daegam now!”
But the mayor made a hearty laugh as if he still liked the way Jungbok called him by the title ‘Lord,’ which was usually reserved for a governnt minister.
But Jungbok firmly confird once again by saying,
“You have been already appointed as a governnt minister, so I can call you Daegam.”
“Haha. Not only you but also Kanghyok are too hasty to call so.”
Kanghyok laughed loudly once again and said,
“Congratulations!”
Three of them giggle like that for a long ti and then suddenly stopped.
“By the way, Kanghyok, I’ve got so business to do now.”
“Yes, mayor. Let leave now.”
“Good. Don’t worry about the dicinal herbs you ntioned.”
“Thanks a lot.”
Then he ca out of the room and found Dolsok boasting of his fight with the Japanese recently to so soldiers in the yard.
“You must have seen that bag of my master’s at that mont, right?”
“Of course.”
“Are you talking about that black bag?”
Kanghyok overheard Donsok’s conversation with them.
Of course he knew Dolsok was exaggerating a bit, but he didn’t care.
“I saw a Japanese raider knocked down when your master hit him with that bag.”
“So, what happened next?”
“Well, I stabbed him right away.”
“Oh, I see. That’s great.”
Dolsok was so eloquently boasting that he didn’t know Kanghyok was right beside him now.
“What are you doing now, Dolsok?”
“Ooops, master!”
Dolsok turned his head embarrassedly as if he was caught watching adult sex videos.
Other soldiers lowered their heads before him.
“Prince Paek!”
“Your Majesty!”
“Dr. Paek!”
Though they called him by different titles, they showed imnse admiration of him.
Each of the soldiers showed him small and big scars on his body.
So of them were treated by Dolsok, while others were cured by Kanghyok.
Dolsok ran to the stable as if he was ashad of his exaggeration a mont ago.
Getting on a horse that he led, Kanghyok opened his mouth,
“Hey, Dolsok?”
“Yes, master.”
“So, did you have great fun when you lied to them?”
“What the heck? How could you say I lied?”
“Forget it, man. By the way, can you climb a mountain well?”
“What?” Dolsok asked back without knowing his own fate.
With a hearty laugh, Kanghyok pointed at the mountain in the back.
As it was quite wooded, nobody wanted to climb it.
“I an, can you climb that mountain well?”
“Ugh... I used to in the past to cut firewood.”
Before he beca Kanghyok’s personal servant, Dolsok did lots of chores like other servants.
But not these days, of course.
“Good.”
“Are you going to climb a mountain, master?”
“Nope. I’m going. I have sothing to do, and I need to take a break, too.”
He already obtained the dicinal herb Choh, poisonous herb, without any difficulty.
As long as they could catch toads, Kanghyok could test them on animals.
He chose dogs as the target of animal testing.
Though it was a primitive testing thod, there was no other choice.
“Am I climbing the mountain alone?”
“No, several soldiers here are joining you.”
“What?”
“Take them with you and catch toads, okay?”
From that day on, they began to hunt toads in the mountains.
And so of the dogs in the village disappeared sotis, which spread the rumor that tigers ate them.
The toads as well as dogs they caught were piled up in Kanghyok’s clinical office.
On that day as well, Dolsok asked again, “What are you going to do with these toads, master?”
“Wait a minute. Don’t you see I’m busy now?”
“Why are you doing the surgery on toads?”
“I’m separating the poison sac from the toads”
Dolsok simply thought that catching toads was all he needed to do, but it was not.
Joon Huh specifically ntioned to Kanghyok about the use of toads.
Dolsok had to separate it with a knife everyday.
“Then, are all these toads...?
He pointed to the poison sacs of toads being dried out in the yard.
As there was quite a large catch of toads, the yard was filled with the dried poison sacs.
“Yes, all these are the poison sacs.”
“Do you want to kill sobody?”
“Damn it. Do you think doctors want to kill people, not save them?”
“Well, I just can’t understand why you want to use poison sacs to save patients’ lives, master.”
In fact, it was not strange that Dolsok showed such reaction.
Kanghyok felt it strange, too, when he first heard from Joon Huh about the use of toads’ poison.
But he could understand it when he thought of its dicinal action.
‘I may call it anesthesia before neurotoxin causes paralysis.’
Of course, it could be terrible.
“That’s what I heard from doctor Joon Huh. And it’s worth testing.”
“Then, I don’t need to catch any more toads, right?”
“No, you can stop now.”
“Thanks, master. There is a rumor that tigers are appearing in the village.”
Of course, Kanghyok was aware of the origin of the rumor. He just smiled because he was responsible for the rumor anyway.
‘Makbong did a great job!’
Thanks to the nice collaboration of Kanghyok and Makbong, Dolsok and the soldiers caught lots of dogs, too.
Kanghyok could collect dogs easily, while Makbong couldn’t be happier because dogs didn’t bark at him while he was moving around to please widows in the village at night.
“By the way, how co there are so many dogs in the clinic, master?”
“I was busy catching them while you’re out to catch toads, Dolsok. Let take one of the dogs anyway.”
“Are you going to kill a dog? Well, we might need dog at soup for stamina as we had a hard ti at the temple during the sumr, master. Hahaha.”
Dolsok followed him with a cheerful laugh.
The spacious yard was full of dogs.
“Hmmm. Let take that one.”
Kanghyok pointed at a dog barking at him up front in the dog fence.
“Good. It looks like a delicious one.”
Though the dog was barking ferociously, Dolsok approached and took it by the neck quickly.
“Do you want to kill it now?”
“Nope. Let feed the dog first.”
“Killing it after feeding it? Oh my god...”
Dolsok took the big dog out to the yard, along with a side dish bowl with leftovers.
“Dolsok, mix this herb with the leftovers.”
“Feeding dicinal herbs? To increase your stamina?”
Doslok laughed rrily, thinking of delicious dog at soup.
He seed to have forgotten all the hardships he experienced while catching toads.
But Dolsok’s face beca more and more gloomy.
For the dicinal herb Kanghyok put in the bowl was unusual.
“Didn’t you say that’s poison?”
“Yes.”
“If you give it to the dog, we can’t eat it, master.”
“If you really want to enjoy dog at soup, I can give you so.”
“Oh my god! You want to kill a loyal servant like , master?”
“Wait a mont. I want to make anesthetic with this.”
By using a syringe, Kanghyok mixed with the dog food so poison powder of toads and Choh he brewed in advance.
“Can you feed it to the dog?”
“Do you think this dog can eat it? It looks like scared...”
“It should.”
“Huh? It’s eating, master. Yes, this is a mutt.”
Obviously the dog must have been very hungry as it quickly emptied the bowl.
“It looks okay, master. Are you sure it’s poison?”
“Yeah, it’s strange. I put a certain amount of poison that could kill even a human being... Oh, look at that, Dolsok.”
“It’s foaming at the mouth!”
Dolsok clicked his tongue with a sorry face.
In no ti the dog that had poisoned food beca still and died.
“Hmm... It looks like poison was too strong. Bury it, Dolsok.”
“Bury it?”
“Yeah, you should as this is part of our efforts to save people’s lives.”
“Where should I bury it?”
“No idea. Just dig in the ground.”
“Now you want to dig up the earth.”
With so grumbling Dolsok took an A-fra and a spade to carry it.
Looking at him, Kanghyok shouted in an annoying tone.
“Hey, hurry up! We can’t spend too much ti on this test.”
“Why is that, master?”
“Brother Soonsin asked to co up to Seoul as soon as possible. I have to be there by next month.”
“Got it, master. Let hurry it up.”
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