Doctor Goes Back to Joseon Chapter 59: Letter from Hanyang [3]

Chapter 59: Letter from Hanyang [3]

People would always have a desire to possess power, and Ganghyuk was no exception. He wanted to be a Congressman in that world. But, he felt that it would not be feasible, so he gave it up soon.

‘It is tempting indeed.’

The proposal of the governor could be realized. However, there were too many disadvantages.

‘I feel stuffed in the house already, and the palace will be worse.’

Ganghyuk liked freedom as a part of his nature, and he was from the other world, which was much freer. Hence, he did not have the confidence to live in the palace.

“Why? Don’t you like to be on office?”

It seed that Ganghyuk had shown all his agony on his face, allowing the governor has read his face.

Ganghyuk answered with an embarrassed smile. “Yes…It is a really good offer, but I…”

“Okay. You can change your mind at any ti.”

“Sure, sir.”

“You just need to rember that I will go to Hanyang to work in Internal Affairs.”

“Yes, sir.”

The governor left so room for Ganghyuk and drank the liquor. Ganghyuk followed him, finding it to be quite tasty. It seed that they had sa taste in liquor.

“By the way, it is said that the daughter of Changgweon is still in your house.”

He seed to have so suspicion as he was beating around the bush. As he knew that they were together from Anseong to Eotanmyeon, he might have had so thoughts. It could be a reasonable suspicion from his perspective.

“Yes, we could not leave her in an empty house. So, my father gave her the detached house.”

“Good! She is not a bad candidate for your spouse.”

At this point, he did not have just a suspicion; he had a firm misunderstanding. Ganghyuk shook his hands to deny it. He would have to marry soday if he had to live in Joseon, but it was not the ti right now.

He would rather go to the palace and serve King Seonjo.

“No, sir. My father did that because she is the daughter of his student.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

He seed to not believe Ganghyuk’s explanation, but fortunately, he did not continue talking on that matter.

At that mont, Clerk Lee Jeongbok arrived. He opened the door carefully and ca inside.

“Your lordship, I have sothing to discuss with you.”

“Hey, why do you call lordship? Not yet.”

The governor laughed even though he spoke to Jeongbok like that. Jeongbok confird in response, “You will be a minister soon, so you deserve the title of lordship.”

“Heo heo… You make too much fuss like Ganghyuk.”

It was better to laugh together. Actually, it was a little funny indeed. So, Ganghyuk laughed loudly.

“Congratulations!”

The three of them ended up laughing for a while before stopping. The governor had work to attend to.

“Good! Ganghyuk, I have to work now.”

“Yes, sir. I will be leaving.”

“I will take care of what you said.”

“Thank you, sir.”

With that, Ganghyuk left the room hastily. When he got out, Dolseok was telling his story from the battlefield. A group of soldiers were gathering and listening in with interest.

“Then, my master picked up the bag. You know the bag, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“You an the black one?”

Although he had heard a part of it, it seed that he had bluffed a lot. Ganghyuk did not want to interrupt him, so he approached him slowly.

“He hit the masked man with the bag, and the masked man collapsed.”

“Then?”

“Then I stabbed imdiately.”

“Wow! Wonderful!”

He had clearly told a lie, but it sounded real as he told the story with passion and color.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, Sir!”

Dolseok bent his head quickly as if he were caught in the middle of bad behavior. The other soldiers bowed as well.

“Lord Baik!”

“Scholar!”

“Doctor!”

They used different titles, but they all greeted him with respect.

“Good. How is your arm.”

“It is good. Thank you, sir.”

“How is your stomach?”

“I am much better now, sir.”

The soldiers showed their small or big wounds. So of them were treated by Dolseok, and so were treated by Ganghyuk.

“Ok, ok. May I take Dolseok now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s go. Don’t bluff too much.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dolseok ran hastily to the stable while hiding his embarrassnt. Ganghyuk opened his mouth after getting on the horse.

“Dolseok…”

“Yes?”

“Did you have fun telling a lie?”

“Lie? Why do you use such a word?”

“Ok, it’s good. By the way, are you good at climbing?”

“Yes, sir?” Dolseok asked him back without knowing his fate.

Ganghyuk pointed at the hill ahead laughing. The hill did not look attractive, because there was a thick growth in the woods on it.

“I an, are you good at climbing such a hill?”

“Yes, I did it in the past…to cut firewood.”

Before he beca the body servant of Ganghyuk, he had to do house chores like the other servants. These days, he worked like an assistant rather than the body servant, so his status had changed a lot.

Dolseok could not rember when was the last ti he had gathered firewood and carried an A-fra on his back.

“Good!”

“Will you go to the mountain?”

“No, I am not going. I have sothing else to do. And, I need to take rest.”

He had Chooh already. It was an ingredient of the deadly poison given to the criminals in Joseon, so it was not hard to find. There was so in the governnt office, as well as in the drug stores in the marketplace.

Once he got Seomsu (poison of toad), he could start with the animal experints.

‘Human beings are bigger than dogs.’

It would be safe if he used half the dose that showed side effects in dogs. It was a primitive thod, though. But, what could he do? He did not have any other choice.

“Then, shall I go alone?”

“No, with soldiers…Take other servants in my house and go get so toads.”

With that, they all started to hunt toads. Soldiers thought that it was a part of their training, and the servants of Seungmun did not know the reason at all. At the sa ti, they caught the street dogs as well. So villagers thought that there was a tiger out there that was eating the dogs.

These toads and dogs were brought to the clinic.

Dolseok had his nose sunburnt and turned red as he ca back from the toad hunting mission and asked, “Where do you want to use them?”

“Wait, I am busy right now.”

“Why are you operating on a toad.”

“I am separating the poison sac.”

Dolseok thought that his work would be finished after catching the toads. But clearly, it was not. If he had read the letter from Heo Jun, he could have known in advance.

‘Seomsu is the poison sac of the toad. If you separate and dry it, it can last longer.’ Therefore, Dolseok had to cut up stuff every day.

“Then, all of these are…?” Dolseok pointed at all the Seomsu being dried in the yard and asked. The amount out there was enormous indeed, which was why Ganghyuk terd it as ‘enough’.

“Yes, they are the poison sacs of toads.”

“Would you like to kill soone? If you do, it is better to tell Yeoni or Makbong.”

“Fellow, I am a doctor. I want to save peoples’ lives, not kill them.”

“But, it is a poison, sir! Will you use poison to save people? That sounds strange.”

It was natural that Dolseok would show such a response. Ganghyuk was surprised at first as well when Heo Jun ntioned these poisons. But, he could understand what he ant because he knew of the pharmacological concepts behind it.

‘We can call them anesthetic before the neural poison causes paralysis.’

Nevertheless, it was very dangerous indeed. The primitive anesthetics in Western dicine were very dangerous too. So people had died during dental treatnts as well cause of that very reason.

“Dr. Heo had told about it. So, I think that it is worth trying.”

“Then, you don’t need any more toads, right?”

“Yes, I have already told the governor to stop.”

“Good! There is a rumor that a tiger is coming down to the village frequently nowadays.” Dolseok said while his body shuddered.

Ganghyuk knew about the cause of the rumor, as he was the one responsible for the incident.

‘No matter what, Makbong did a good job.’

As the interests of Ganghyuk and Makbong coincided, he could get many dogs thanks to their collaboration. The dogs in the village bothered Makbong a lot when he circulated through widows’ houses for his night service.

As a result, Ganghyuk could gather dogs easily thanks to him, and the latter enjoyed his night trips without any barking dogs. It was hard to find a better win-win situation than this.

“Why are there so many dogs in the clinic? It seems like all the dogs in the village are gathered in one place.”

“When you were catching toads, I was working too. Let’s go to the clinic.”

“Will you kill a dog? We did not have at this sumr because we were in the temple… Hehe.” Dolseok went to the backyard while laughing in a pleased and excited manner.

Although the backyard had quite a large area, it was very crowded with all the dogs.

“Eum…I will use that.” Ganghyuk pointed at the dog barking in the front line and said.

“Yes, you have good eyes! You chose a very strong one indeed.”

Although it barked harshly, Dolseok was not scared at all. He ca to the dog and seized it by the scruff of the neck. With that, the dog rolled its tail and urinated on the spot.

“Shall I kill it now?”

“No, I will feed it sothing.”

“Feed and then kill? Okay! There is a saying that a ghost who dies after eating looks better.”

Dolseok pulled the dog and went to the front yard, bringing so leftover food in a bowl.

“Stop! Mix this with it.”

“Give him so herbs? Do you want to rejuvenate it?”

Dolseok laughed while thinking of eating the dog. He seed to have forgotten all the pains that he had endured in order to catch the toads.

But, his face beca dark when he noticed what Ganghyuk put in the bowl. He had put so extraordinary herbs in there.

“You told that that was a poison!”

“Yes, it is a poison.”

“If he eats a poison, then we cannot eat him.”

It was not always true, but of course, there was a huge possibility of it to go bad. So, he did not have any intention to eat that kind of at.

“If you want, I will give it to you.”

“Wow…You want to kill ? I have been so loyal to you!”

“Wait! I will make an anesthetic with this.”

Ganghyuk mixed the Seomsu powder and Chooh extract with the dog food by using a syringe, which he used to check the contents and specify the dose.

“Will you give it to him?”

“I don’t think he will eat. He is terrified right now.”

“He must eat it.”

“Eo! He is eating it alright. He seems to have a good appetite!”

Although the dog was terrified, he could not overco the hunger. Furthermore, there was at in the bowl, which tempted him to eat.

“He seems alright. Are you sure that it is a poison?”

“Strange. I put equal to the amount used in the deadly poison…Look at that, Dolseok!”

“He is frothing!” Dolseok clicked his tongue while feeling sorry. However, Ganghyuk did not know why Dolseok clicked his tongue. Was it because he was sorry for the dog, or the fact that he could not eat dog at?

Soon, the dog beca completely dead.

“Eum… It is too strong. Bury him.”

“Bury a dog?”

“It is a part of an experint to save people. So, we need to bury him.”

“Heo…Where?”

“I don’t know. You must dig the ground.”

“Now you are asking to dig the ground…” Dolseok complained and then went to get his shovels and the A-fra carrier. As he was going out, Ganghyuk shouted from behind.

“Hurry up. We do not have ti. I must finish this experint soon.”

“Why is that?”

“Sunshin asked to co to Hanyang. I need to go within the next month.”

“Ok, sir.”