Chapter 168: Kasai Op [1]
Chapter 168: Kasai Op [1]
Kanghyeok had been walking from the palace entrance, following the Japanese warrior who had been guiding him.
So when the warrior stopped, Kanghyeok had no choice but to stop as well.
Ah, he could have stopped a little farther ahead.
The warrior had halted in a position that very neatly blocked Hideyoshi’s face.
Even for Kanghyeok, who was much taller, it was difficult to make him out properly.
So naturally, the people following behind had not been able to see Hideyoshi either.
“My lord Kanpaku, as instructed, I have brought Assistant Baek.”
Standing straight, the warrior bowed at the waist and announced Kanghyeok’s arrival.
Then Hideyoshi, who had been sitting with his back leaning at an angle, slowly opened his eyes.
“You have done well.”
The voice that came out was sharp beyond measure.
Just hearing it, you can tell straight away he’s the irritable sort.
As he said that, Hideyoshi motioned for them to come in.
Only then did the warrior step aside.
“You may enter.”
“Mm.”
Kanghyeok strode forward boldly past the warrior and toward Hideyoshi.
The rest of his party came in close behind him, sticking right to his back.
So that’s Hideyoshi.
Hideyoshi was sitting with his back against the wall, wearing a black samo.
It was a posture that looked quite lacking in decorum for receiving guests.
But Kanghyeok was more interested in his face than in his posture.
In historical descriptions, was Hideyoshi not always compared to a rat?
He had been curious whether that was true.
He really does look like that. But…
The Hideyoshi before his eyes really did have a rat-like face.
His sharply upturned eyes, his slightly protruding front teeth, his narrow face, and so on.
Almost every part of his face resembled a rat.
But his overall impression did not look easy to deal with at all.
Rather than a lab rat, he looks more like some kind of monster rat out of a game.
In other words, he was not the sort of rat bastard who got chased around by cats.
Whatever else he was, the man before him carried the aura that only someone who had unified the brutal Sengoku period could possess.
There was no helping the fact that his appearance itself looked unimpressive.
“So you are Baek Kanghyeok.”
As expected, the words that came out were in blunt informal speech.
Kanghyeok’s mood soured at once.
It was not just anyone, but Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the enemy of his people.
He briefly wondered whether he should speak informally in return, but quickly made up his mind.
I’d better pick my fights with some sense…
Just as he was about to reply in the same tone, an incident suddenly came to mind.
It had to do with Yasuhiro, who had come to Joseon as an envoy a few years ago.
They said he got his head cut off because he came back without a satisfactory answer.
A man who had followed Hideyoshi until he was over fifty, and one trusted enough to be sent as an envoy to Joseon.
If Hideyoshi could cut down even a subordinate like that as if he were throwing away an old shoe, then there was no reason he would treat Kanghyeok any differently.
“That is correct.”
“Indeed. Just as I heard, you are quite fluent in our language.”
At Hideyoshi’s praise-that-wasn’t-quite-praise, Kanghyeok gave a bitter smile.
Originally, Kanghyeok’s Japanese was not all that bad to begin with.
He could watch most videos without subtitles.
But he had absolutely not been at the level of freely communicating with native speakers like this.
Just because I knew a little Japanese, they worked me to death with it…
Hwang Yungil and Kim Seongil had been especially bad.
First of all, they outranked him, and it seemed they thought Hideyoshi and Kanghyeok were incredibly close.
So he had ended up being dragged to practically every banquet.
Even though there was a perfectly good interpreter traveling with them.
Well, thanks to that, now I really have gotten a lot better.
He might even have become more fluent in Japanese than English.
These days, he had had no occasion to use English at all.
“Yes, I improved a bit after coming here.”
“Hmm. For now, everyone, sit.”
At his command, the women standing behind came bustling forward and guided them to their seats.
It seemed Hideyoshi did not fully know the circumstances of Kanghyeok’s group.
The seating arrangement had been made purely by body size.
So it went Kanghyeok, Dolseok, Makbong, Yeoni, then Yeoju.
Yeoju’s probably going to be a little pissed off about that.
Hideyoshi silently waited until Kanghyeok and the others had all taken their seats.
Only after plain earthenware cups had been set in front of each place did he speak again.
“I heard that you examined my son. Is that true?”
Compared to his sharp voice, the way he spoke carried a great deal of weight.
Kanghyeok felt a surge of dislike, but there was nothing to be done.
Since he had already chosen to bow his head, he decided to keep bowing for now.
After all, he had his own hidden scheme.
“Yes, that is correct. I did examine him.”
“I also heard that there is a way to treat him… is that true?”
There was something odd in the way the end of his voice curled upward.
When Kanghyeok looked up, the man’s eyes were no joke.
So this is what devouring people with your eyes looks like.
How many people had that bastard really killed?
Kanghyeok was bold and gutsy enough by nature, but even he found it difficult to keep meeting that kind of gaze for long.
So he hurriedly gave his answer.
“Yes. Treatment is possible.”
Not that he was about to tell the whole truth.
“Mm.”
After hearing Kanghyeok’s answer, Hideyoshi’s face visibly brightened.
He still did not seem to have let go of suspicion entirely.
Even so, he could not keep the smile from spreading to the corners of his mouth.
Judging only by what he was doing now, he almost looked like some foolish neighborhood father.
“I see. So…”
He nodded for a while, then asked with a more worried expression, “That treatment… is it dangerous?”
That question was not one Kanghyeok could answer immediately.
If I tell him straight, he might decide not to go through with the surgery.
Then Kanghyeok’s plan to create confusion in the middle of the Imjin War might fall apart.
But saying the opposite was also troublesome.
If I say it’s nothing at all and he dies, then that’s a disaster too.
Of course, Kanghyeok was confident.
No matter how poor the conditions were, and no matter how terrible the child’s state was.
He had the skills he had built up, and the disciples he had trained.
But medicine was not something in which anyone could guarantee one hundred percent.
Well… maybe I’ll open with a little bargaining.
Kanghyeok slowly started warming up his silver tongue.
It was not that he used it often, but once he started, it was no joke.
There was even a saying that a divine physician was made half by the hands and half by the mouth.
“The treatment is… dangerous, and also difficult.”
“Dangerous and difficult? And you intend to perform such treatment on my son?”
A sharp edge entered Hideyoshi’s voice.
It was a voice that almost made it feel as though the smell of blood were drifting in from somewhere.
But Kanghyeok was not particularly flustered.
After all, he had brought this up to provoke exactly that response.
Nor did he intend to answer Hideyoshi’s question directly.
He simply went on saying what he wanted to say.
“That is why there are almost no people in this world capable of performing that treatment.”
“Mm.”
“They probably do not even know that such a treatment exists. The reason is…”
Kanghyeok slowly looked around.
He noticed that O-no-dono and Katō Kiyomasa, who had not been visible earlier, were now standing behind them.
With the faintest of smiles, he continued,
“They do not know what the child’s illness is, nor why it occurs. Probably every physician the Kanpaku summoned was the same.”
“Mmm…”
It was painful, but it was the truth.
Hideyoshi now looked at Kanghyeok with eyes less filled with anger than before.
By now, his ears were more open than ever.
“But I understood the reason the moment I saw the child. I am sure you heard as much from the two who were there with me.”
“Hmm.”
That too was true, so Hideyoshi remained silent.
Since it was rare for him to sit there and merely listen to someone else, the eyes of those close to him went wide.
In that strange atmosphere, Kanghyeok went on with his explanation.
“The treatment I am speaking of is… yes, certainly dangerous and difficult. But it is the only treatment, and I am also the only person who can perform it. However, I am Joseonese, and I must soon return to Joseon. Everyone here is well aware of that.”
The room was very quiet.
Everyone was focused only on Kanghyeok’s words.
“So this can be said to be the one and only opportunity to treat Lord Kanpaku’s son, Lord Tsurumatsu.”
“Mm.”
Hideyoshi could not open his mouth easily.
Kanghyeok quietly watched him.
Just looking at his face, well…
How many patients and guardians had Kanghyeok persuaded over the years?
Among them were many who refused treatment even when told they would die without it, simply because they were afraid.
Sometimes the patient remained calm while the guardian caused the real uproar.
And that happened especially often when the patient was very young, like Tsurumatsu.
Even then, once I stepped in, there wasn’t anyone who kept holding out and refusing.
With a thoroughly relaxed expression, Kanghyeok waited for Hideyoshi’s answer.
He did not have to wait long.
Hideyoshi opened his mouth in less than five minutes.
“That… treatment, exactly how dangerous is it?”
For the question to come out that way meant he had already made up his mind to go through with it.
I scared him a little earlier, so now I should ease up.
If he pressed too hard now, the resolve he had barely turned might waver again.
“The preparations are in place, so I would not say it is extremely dangerous.”
“I see. Then when can it be done?”
“I would be fine even right now. As you can see, Lord Tsurumatsu is in very poor condition, so the sooner, the better.”
“Yes, I see.”
Hideyoshi nodded several times and looked back behind him.
When his eyes met O-no-dono’s, she nodded as well.
She had already been persuaded by Kanghyeok from their very first meeting.
“Then… I entrust him to you. Attend! Serve wine to Assistant Baek and his party.”
At his command, the women who had moved earlier began circulating once more, carrying bottles of liquor.
Pour, pour, pour.
The woman pouring for the others also poured a cup for Kanghyeok.
Since it was warmed sake, steam rose gently from it.
It was just enough for a single swallow.
Hmm. The scent is good. But there’s no way I can drink before surgery.
When he looked back, sure enough, Dolseok and Makbong were already smacking their lips.
They drank all the time, and still they could never resist alcohol.
Kanghyeok shook his head and whispered, “Hey, don’t drink. We’re operating right away.”
“What? Right now, today?”
“When else are we going to come back here? We do it now.”
“Ha…”
He gave the same warning to Yeoju and Yeoni as well.
Since the iron was already hot, he intended to get the surgery done today.
Hideyoshi, on the other hand, clearly wanted at least one drink no matter what.
He had already raised his cup to chest height.
“Well then, I will drink first.”
With that, he tossed back the warmed sake in one gulp.
Then the warriors beside him emptied their cups one after another.
It looked almost like watching a wave go around.
This takes me back…
Wasn’t this exactly the sort of thing they always did at drinking gatherings?
So Kanghyeok unconsciously lifted his own cup as well, then abruptly came back to his senses.
Ah, no.
Now that Hideyoshi had returned, they needed to finish the treatment quickly, deliver the Royal Command, receive the reply, and get back to Joseon.
That way, they could at least prepare for war a little.
He set back down the cup he had already raised and declared boldly, “I will drink this wine after Lord Tsurumatsu’s surgery.”
“Mm?”
“If I drink, it will interfere with the treatment. I will go at once.”
“Huh, is it truly all right to do that?”
“Of course.”
Taking his grumbling disciples with him, Kanghyeok followed O-no-dono toward Tsurumatsu’s room.
As he walked, he glanced back.
Steam was still rising in soft curls from his untouched cup.
If I can get back before that wine cools, that’ll be stylish as hell.