Chapter 173 General Seaweed [2]
Chapter 173 General Seaweed [2]
Wakizaka Yasuharu.
A general who proudly held one of the seats among the Seven Spears of Shizugatake alongside none other than Katō Kiyomasa.
What was more, ever since Hideyoshi became Kanpaku, he had become the head of a massive pirate force, and his authority was considerable indeed.
Even Dolseok, illiterate as he was, had at least heard the man’s name before.
Oh. So he’s a big shot.
In any case, he was one of the names Toyotomi Hideyoshi kept talking about all the time.
So Dolseok immediately bowed his head politely.
He did not want to act up for no reason and land himself in trouble.
“Th-then please wait a moment.”
“Very well.”
Wakizaka Yasuharu merely nodded, seemingly pleased by Dolseok’s halting Japanese.
Taking advantage of the moment, Dolseok ran inside to Kanghyeok.
“Ugh. That smell.”
The moment he opened the clinic door, the thick scent of steroid brew came wafting out.
They had truly been boiling it every single day to the point of exhaustion.
With only slight exaggeration, the amount of steroids produced here over the past few days was comparable to the total amount made in all of human history up to now.
“What?”
With things like this, even Kanghyeok could not help feeling tired.
He looked at Dolseok with eyes shadowed by dark circles.
“Um… the reserved patient has arrived.”
“A reservation? Every patient who comes here is a reserved patient, so why are you making such a fuss?”
“Ah… well. He’s one of the people you marked with a star, Young Master.”
“Oh, really?”
At the mention of a star, color returned to Kanghyeok’s face.
Nearly everyone scheduled in the clinic could be called one of the power brokers of present-day Japan.
But the men marked with stars carried a little more weight.
They were either famous enough that even I knew them… or people widely known as close aides of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
For example, men like Katō Kiyomasa, Konishi Yukinaga, and Ukita Hideie on the military side, and Maeda Toshiie and Ishida Mitsunari on the civil side, were representative figures.
Each one of those bastards was exceptionally capable, and therefore each would also render tremendous service in the coming Imjin War.
If possible, it would be best to ruin every last one of them.
Konishi Yukinaga… does bother me a bit, since he’s Sō Yoshitoshi’s father-in-law.
In any case, that man was not even in Kyoto right now.
Which meant there was no chance he would be coming to the clinic.
Thinking of the galaxy of names he himself had marked with stars, Kanghyeok asked with anticipation written all over his face.
“Who is it? Maeda Toshiie? Ukita Hideie?”
“N-no. He said it was Wakizaka Yasuharu.”
“Wakizaka… ah.”
Kanghyeok’s face instantly stiffened.
Why the hell did I put a star next to that guy?
Thinking back, he had probably marked it simply because he was glad to see a familiar name.
In The Immortal Yi Sun-sin, which he used to enjoy watching, that man had been portrayed almost like Yi Sun-sin’s rival.
But in reality, he was just an unlucky general who got beaten to a pulp by Yi Sun-sin every time.
At Hansando in particular, had he not gotten cocky relying on his pitiful navy, only to suffer the crushing defeat known as the Battle of Hansan Island?
The story that he got stranded on some deserted island afterward and survived by eating nothing but seaweed was fairly famous.
That was how Wakizaka Yasuharu had earned the nickname “General Seaweed.”
Some small fry came.
He was not even worth the trouble of deliberately ruining.
It was not so much that it could not be done as that the time spent on him would be a waste.
“Um… should I just tell him to go back?”
“Huh? You said the people with stars were the ones we had to treat with utmost care. I already told him to come in.”
“Did I? Ah, hell…”
After telling him to come in, it would be awkward to send him away now.
“All right. Send him in.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Dolseok bowed deeply, then ran back outside.
Not long after, he led Wakizaka Yasuharu inside.
The man was quite imposing in stature, though his appearance differed somewhat from what Kanghyeok had imagined.
At least in his current appearance, he looked no less formidable than any other member of the Seven Spears.
Oh… well, I suppose.
Come to think of it, being beaten by Yi Sun-sin was not exactly something that could be counted as a flaw.
This was not just anyone. It was Yi Sun-sin.
A general so outstanding that he was not only the greatest naval commander of his time, but was still spoken of even in the modern era.
And I fixed that man’s leg.
Kanghyeok let that sudden sense of pride pass and greeted Yasuharu.
“Come in.”
“Ah, so you are the famous Baek Kanghyeok.”
“Yes, more or less.”
Even if his impressive build slightly changed the image, once seaweed, always seaweed.
That was why Kanghyeok’s reaction could only be lukewarm.
Whether a guy like this got ruined or not would not make much difference to the overall course of things.
It seemed far more worthwhile to put effort into Ishida Mitsunari, who was currently receiving water acupuncture from Yeoni along with refined steroid brew.
After all, Mitsunari was important enough to be one of Toyotomi’s Five Magistrates.
“Ah, as I thought. First… please accept this.”
But Yasuharu turned out to be rather well-mannered.
Oh… that’s…
The object Yasuharu carefully pulled out from his robe was none other than a glasswork piece.
Nowadays glass was nothing special, but back in the Joseon era it was precious enough to rival gold.
What was more, the glass bottle Yasuharu produced had gold leaf applied here and there, making it extraordinarily beautiful.
“Ah, you really didn’t have to…”
“One does not come seeking treatment empty-handed, does one? Hahaha.”
Yasuharu set a full five glasswork pieces onto the table and laughed heartily.
Seeing that, Kanghyeok had no choice but to reconsider.
Mm. Fine. Let’s at least hear what’s wrong with him first.
As he carefully put away the glass pieces one by one, he looked at Yasuharu.
“So then, Lord Yasuharu, what brings you here? Where are you hurting?”
“Ah, well, that is…”
Yasuharu made a show of glancing around.
Only after confirming that no one was there except Dolseok did he rise to his feet.
“Hm?”
Why was he suddenly standing up?
But the answer came soon enough.
In a thoroughly undesirable direction.
“Wait, why are you taking your pants off—”
Because Yasuharu, without the slightest hesitation, dropped his trousers.
A narrow fundoshi was still barely hanging on, but it was far too thin.
There was no need even to try to look. Everything was visible.
“The place that hurts… is here, you see.”
Saying that, Yasuharu stripped off even the last remaining fundoshi.
“Urk.”
At that, Dolseok, standing behind him, recoiled and turned his head away.
It was only natural. He had just been forced to look at the backside of a middle-aged man out of nowhere.
Kanghyeok, on the other hand, who had to face it head-on, lost his words for a moment.
Because of the disaster spread out before his eyes.
What the hell is this, damn it…
Even while Kanghyeok kept silent, Yasuharu showed no sign of stopping.
“It’s been like this… for quite a while, and it’s extremely uncomfortable.”
“…”
“Why are you saying nothing?”
“No, it’s not that.”
To throw him into icy water without even a warm-up and then demand a reaction like this.
Still, Kanghyeok was, as expected, an experienced doctor.
The composure he had cultivated at that level soon managed to drag his mind out of the shock.
Though even then, he still had to tremble for quite a while.
After shaking his head back and forth a few times, Kanghyeok focused himself.
Yasuharu had begun swaying it along as well, so Kanghyeok desperately had to stop him.
“Ah, stay still a moment.”
“No… it just feels a bit less uncomfortable if I do this.”
“All right, I understand. Just hold on a moment.”
“Very well. My apologies.”
Only after finally calming Yasuharu down did Kanghyeok examine the disaster before him.
Yasuharu’s groin went beyond ugly and verged on grotesque.
What the hell, why is his ball sack this huge?
It was not both sides.
Only one side had drooped down, stretched out like a bull’s scrotum.
This was absolutely not a normal anatomical structure.
“Hmm…”
Without realizing it, Kanghyeok stroked his chin.
As time passed, his curiosity as a doctor began to rise more than the visual shock.
Because no matter what anyone said, Kanghyeok was a doctor through and through.
“Hm…”
Slowly, Kanghyeok opened his house-call bag and put on gloves.
He also hung a stethoscope around his neck.
Then he called Dolseok over with a tilt of his chin.
“M-me?”
“Is there anyone else here besides you?”
“Do… I have to join in too?”
“You do, you bastard.”
Being told to put on gloves was practically the same as being told to touch it.
Naturally, Dolseok’s face began to rot away.
He had hated it enough from the back, but from the front it was truly horrifying.
“Ah… his balls…”
“That’s where he says it hurts, so what else are we supposed to do?”
“Ah…”
“Come on. Want to touch it barehanded?”
“N-no.”
“Then put them on.”
While Dolseok grumbled and put on the gloves, Kanghyeok stepped forward first.
“All right, then. I’m going to touch it.”
“Y-yes. Please, then.”
“If it hurts, say so.”
“R-right.”
It seemed that, now that he was actually about to entrust his balls to another man, Yasuharu had become quite tense as well.
Judging by how he could not bring himself to look Kanghyeok in the face and instead turned his head away.
Of course, Kanghyeok did not care in the slightest whether he did that or not.
At this moment, he was not Baek Kanghyeok the man, but Baek Kanghyeok the doctor.
Mm…
The drooping area was abnormally soft.
Soft enough that it caved in wherever he pressed it.
It doesn’t seem to hurt much, either.
You could tell from his expression.
He only seemed ticklish.
I can’t tell much just by feeling it.
Kanghyeok tilted his head, then looked up.
“Lord Yasuharu.”
“Y-yes?”
“Would it be all right if I… tapped it a little?”
“Tapped it?”
Yasuharu instinctively took a step back.
Seaweed General or whatever else he might be, he was still a battle-hardened warrior who had spent nearly his whole life on battlefields.
Even so, it seemed humanity’s universal weakness could not be helped.
“No, not hard… I just mean I’d like to percuss it lightly.”
“Percuss…”
“It won’t hurt.”
“A-all right.”
Reluctantly, Yasuharu stepped forward again.
Though unlike before, he could not quite bring himself to present his balls squarely from the front.
Still, it looked sufficient for percussion.
“All right, then. I’m tapping now.”
“Ugh.”
Kanghyeok first placed the middle finger of his left hand over the lesion.
Then, using the tip of his right middle finger, he tapped the left middle finger.
Hmm.
It felt different from simply palpating it.
Dong, dong.
The resonance from the lesion was indeed strange.
This… isn’t solid.
But neither was it filled with a thick fluid like pus.
It was filled with a fluid that moved freely, truly like water.
I see. Right… it’s a lymphatic cyst. But that’s a bit strange.
Based on the examination findings, it was definitely a lymphatic cyst.
But for a lymphatic cyst to suddenly form in this area was something that should almost never happen.
This was Japan, not Africa.
If it were Africa, I could at least consider something like parasites.
The climates were far too different.
So Kanghyeok began carefully examining Yasuharu’s body here and there with hawk-like eyes.
“Wh-why are you doing this?”
Yasuharu finally tried to resist, but it was no use.
No matter how robust his build was, he was no match for Kanghyeok.
If he had been carrying a sword, that might have been different, but barehanded he had no chance at all.
“Stay still.”
“No, why are you taking all my clothes off—!”
“Let me see your back too.”
“H-hey.”
Only after rummaging around for quite some time did Kanghyeok find the cause.
Surprisingly, it was not that far away.
Pointing to a scar near the left groin, Kanghyeok smiled.
“Mm. Looks like you were stabbed here before, weren’t you?”