Chapter 124: He Even Does Facial Surgery [1] -Clatter.
Kanghyeok's room, which normally overflowed with ease, was filled with an unprecedented tension today.
Especially once Kanghyeok began laying out the surgical instruments on the table, no one could make even the slightest sound.
"Does the surgery really have to be done like this?"
Hwang Yungil spoke with eyes full of worry.
If it were merely ordinary acupuncture, he might have accepted it as one thing.
But looking at the instruments Kanghyeok had taken out, not a single one of them seemed ordinary.
To begin with, there was a blade.
A blade for a wound caused by a blade.
It was difficult to understand by common sense.
"It won't heal easily with medicine, so it can't be helped."
Kanghyeok answered as if it were nothing serious.
Since this brat was already widely known for having no manners, that much was understandable.
But Kim Simin having a similar attitude was rather strange.
"Come now, Simin. Did you really think this through before deciding?"
"Sir, you were the one who introduced me to him, so how can you start making me anxious now?"
"I had only heard he was skilled. I hadn't heard he treated people like this, that's all."
Hwang Yungil muttered as he kept looking around the room.
In a way, his anxiety was only natural.
To begin with, the sight of this treatment room was far too different from that of any ordinary physician.
Kanghyeok looked at Hwang Yungil as if to say he understood completely.
Well, it couldn't be helped. I've brought in a lot of new equipment.
The metalworkers Heo Jun had introduced were not skilled only in metallurgy.
They were also close with excellent furniture craftsmen, and thanks to that, Kanghyeok had been able to secure a large quantity of convincing-looking equipment.
The days when he laid patients on bedding and operated on them were now a distant memory.
That was because he had prepared an operating table that came precisely to the height of his pelvis.
Thanks to that, Yeoni, Makbong, and Dolseok, all of whom were short, were having a miserable time.
But Kanghyeok was not someone who concerned himself with such minor problems in the first place.
He was only satisfied.
Now I even have an operating table to place the tools on. And a lamp that can cast light from above...
As always, because Kanghyeok had paid extremely generously, the quality was good too.
Moreover, perhaps because they were all craftsmen, they had not even neglected the antique-style ornamentation.
As a result, at a glance, the operating room looked even more luxurious than Chungmu Hospital, where Kanghyeok had once worked.
Though to other people's eyes, it was merely a bizarre and peculiar sight.
"Sir, please don't worry so much. Ah, right... you do know Kim Gyehan, don't you?"
"I do. Of course I do."
Was Kim Gyehan not the so-called rising eunuch who had recently been promoted from Sangchaek, Junior Fourth Rank, to Sangda, Senior Third Rank?
There was not a single minister in court who did not know him now.
He was one of the people most often by Seonjo's side.
"You know he was seriously injured some time ago as well, don't you?"
"I do. His Majesty's favor toward him only deepened after that."
"I'm the one who saved him in exactly this manner."
"Ah...? I heard he was treated at the Royal Medical Bureau. They say Cheomjeong Heo Jun is a truly famous master physician."
Hwang Yungil looked Kanghyeok up and down as if asking what nonsense medicine he was peddling.
Heo Jun, who had already been called a master physician before, had been soaring these days.
According to rumors wandering through the markets, he was even said to be serving some teacher, but the scholar-officials, including Yungil, did not believe it.
If he had a teacher, that person would have to be even better than Heo Jun. How could that be possible?
These days, if you were not a senior official, it was hard even to see Heo Jun's face.
If that had been possible, would he have gone so far as to come to Baek Kanghyeok?
Well, unless it were for erectile dysfunction.
Kanghyeok smiled similarly as he looked at Yungil's bitter smile.
Honestly. Life must be miserable for doctors from small hospitals.
There was a firm belief that since the Royal Medical Bureau was Joseon's finest medical institution, the physicians inside it must also be the best.
In truth, Heo Jun really had become skilled enough to aim beyond being the best in Joseon and even toward being the best in East Asia.
But then what of Kanghyeok, his teacher?
There would not be another doctor like him even hundreds of years into the future.
Professors from provincial hospitals used to say similar things at academic conferences all the time.
Within the academic world, professors recognized as masters were often utterly disregarded by patients.
All because of the prejudice that if the hospital was small, then the doctor's skill must be just as insignificant.
Back then, he had laughed it off, but now that it was happening to him, it felt truly unpleasant.
Though I do look a little unimpressive.
Kanghyeok took several neatly folded letters out of the drawer and showed them to Yungil.
"These are letters exchanged with Heo Jun."
"With Heo Jun? Hmm... hmm?"
"The treatment he used for So Yoshitoshi was something he learned directly from me. And Kim Gyehan was also treated by me personally at Heo Jun's request."
"Huh... Then how is it that no rumor spread?"
"What is so remarkable about a physician treating people that he should go around boasting about it to everyone? Heh heh."
Kanghyeok smiled with a benevolent expression, and Hwang Yungil looked moved.
"It's also thanks to my teaching that his skill has improved somewhat these days. It's all written there clearly, isn't it?"
"That is true. He addresses you as Teacher in every single letter."
"Even though I tell him not to... Heh heh. I also learn a few things from him. Physician Heo's character has always been like that."
"I heard he is an upright man. As the saying goes, one becomes black by staying near ink, so I can tell what your character must be like too."
Kanghyeok having an upright character?
Any passing dog would have laughed at that.
Even Baek Seungmun, who doted on his son like a fool, would not have been able to let that one slide.
Others were no exception. Kim Simin, who was lying down, and Dolseok and Yeoni, who were busy preparing for surgery, all wore expressions like they had bitten into shit and shook their heads.
It's only because he feels awkward letting it become known that he came and went freely through the palace whenever he wanted.
After all, he had spilled that story while drinking just a few days ago.
But since Hwang Yungil had no way of knowing that, it worked extremely well on him.
So well, in fact, that he even began considering whether he should take Kanghyeok along on the upcoming diplomatic mission to Japan.
First, I'll have to see how Simin's treatment turns out before deciding.
Only in the twenty-first century was travel truly travel and enjoyable. In Joseon, it was literal hardship.
And not even within the country.
It was Japan, across the sea.
This was not an age where you went to the airport, boarded a plane, and arrived within a few hours like now.
The voyage by ship would take a considerable time, and the chances of everyone remaining healthy through it all were slim.
I was already planning to take several capable physicians along anyway...
The best choice would, of course, have been Heo Jun.
But he already had a packed schedule of prior appointments with many ministers, including the State Councillors.
Moreover, Seonjo summoned him whenever he pleased for consultation and treatment.
They had managed to select the most excellent and hardest-working physician, only to find themselves unable to use him for matters of state.
Still, in place of that aching gum... this one would do well too. He doesn't seem especially greedy, either. He may even be a physician as good as Heo Jun.
In truth, even mediocre physicians would have to be conscripted and taken along in large numbers.
There was no need to even mention how difficult the road would be, and they would not be staying in a land with a different climate for just a day or two.
In fact, when they drew up the plan from the very beginning, they were already accounting for the number of people likely to die along the way.
"As for my character... well, in any case, we need to begin soon, so please go wait in the sarangchae."
"Ah. Can I not stay here?"
"No. It is better to keep as few people in the operating room as possible."
"Well, all right."
Without asking further questions or making objections, Hwang Yungil stepped outside.
It was common enough for those who possessed unusual skills like Kanghyeok to dislike showing them to others.
From Kanghyeok's perspective, who was sending him out because of infection concerns, that was a deeply unfair assessment, but it could not be helped.
If he started explaining, it would take time and become troublesome.
-Clunk.
Once Yungil left, silence once more settled over the operating room.
Even Kim Simin, who had been calm until then, swallowed dryly.
The time when a blade would truly be taken to his face was now approaching.
"All right, Makbong, you're on breathing."
"Yes."
"Today the surgical site is close to the mouth, so you especially have to do well."
"Yes..."
"Didn't you eat breakfast? You sound weak."
"No. I'll do my best."
Makbong still sounded half-dead.
Thinking about it, Kanghyeok had a tremendous influence on why he was so dispirited.
Whenever Kanghyeok said things like you especially have to do well today or your role is important today, it meant it was truly one of the days when he went especially insane.
Had that not been exactly how he acted during Kim Gyehan's surgery too?
Thanks to that, the patient survived.
But if it had lasted any longer, Makbong's balls might have shriveled up and made him a eunuch.
"Dolseok and Yeoni also have to do well."
"Yes..."
"What the hell is wrong with all you bastards?"
"No, sir. We'll do our best."
"Oh, there's no need for that. Just do well."
"Yes..."
Kanghyeok then turned his gaze to Kim Simin.
As befitted a commander who treated life as no more than straw, his face was composed.
Though it did not seem he could completely hide his tension.
Thinking about it, Brother Sun-sin really is an incredible man.
Back then, it had not even been full general anesthesia, yet he had gone through leg surgery without batting an eye.
Thinking back on it, he himself had performed quite a remarkable operation as a doctor, but in truth, it had also been a case where the patient had done exceptionally well.
Compared to that, our Brother Kim Simin is in a much better situation.
After all, this time they were at least using an incomplete form of general anesthesia.
Though Makbong would be the one dying for it.
"All right then... Please take this medicine."
"Mmm. That's more than usual."
"Yes. Once you take it, you'll become sleepy. Just think of it as going to sleep and waking up again."
"All right... Then I'm in your hands."
"Understood."
"Mm..."
Even Kim Simin, for all he was, was no exception in front of medicine.
Before exactly seven seconds had passed, his head had already turned to the side as he fell asleep.
Since it also contained pufferfish poison with a muscle relaxant effect, there was no time to delay from here on.
"Give me that."
"Yes, yes."
Kanghyeok took the metal tube from Makbong and pushed it into Kim Simin's throat.
Even plastic tubes could break front teeth during insertion, so when using a metal one, he had to be especially careful.
At least elder brother has a somewhat long neck.
If he had a build like Makbong's, it truly would have been utter hell.
"It's in. Now, Makbong, you're fully in charge of breathing."
"Yes, yes."
"Don't just do the same thing mechanically. Watch his lip color and his heartbeat too, and adjust accordingly. Got it?"
"Yes... I'll follow your orders, Young Master."
"No. You've been seeing patients on your own for ages now. Figure it out yourself a little. Today's surgery is difficult."
"Uh... yes."
Makbong began forcing air in with an uncertain expression.
Unlike his expression, the breaths were tremendously strong.
There was a reason Kanghyeok kept using Makbong specifically for respiration duty.
"All right... then..."
With a more tense expression than ever before, Kanghyeok ran his hand over Kim Simin's face.
He could feel the rough, uneven texture of the scar clearly.
This is how tissue becomes fibrotic once it has been injured...
That was the real reason repeat surgery was difficult.
It was all because of this damned fibrosis.
Because of it, even tissue that would normally separate with a light touch of the hand often had to be cut with a blade.
And when the use of sharp instruments increased, the likelihood of causing injury inevitably rose too.
The facial nerve and the artery absolutely must not be injured.
If that happened, it would have been better not to operate at all.
After reviewing once more the surgery he had already simulated countless times, Kanghyeok finally picked up the scalpel.
"All right, then... I'm starting now."
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