Chapter 176 Now We Need to Get a Reply, Right? [1]
Chapter 176 Now We Need to Get a Reply, Right? [1]
Drip, drip, drip.
The size of Yasuharu’s lesion was shrinking in real time at an astonishing rate.
Everyone had stopped moving and could not take their eyes off it.
It was that remarkable a sight.
Even Makbong, the living anesthesia machine, had stopped moving his hands.
“Ugh.”
The moment Kanghyeok noticed, he threw something that struck Makbong in the forehead.
It was the plunger he had pulled out of the syringe.
It was made of plastic, so it should not have hurt that much, and yet it unexpectedly did.
“Get a grip, you idiot. You’re the one who absolutely cannot zone out.”
“Ugh. Yes, yes.”
“But don’t squeeze like crazy either. If you burst all his alveoli, are you going to take responsibility and keep him with you for life?”
“Ah…”
“No, forget it. Do whatever you want. He’s one of the bastards coming to invade us anyway, so who cares if they burst or not.”
“Uh…”
Makbong was completely at a loss because Kanghyeok kept saying one thing and then another.
“Ah, just squeeze it already!”
“Yes, yes.”
Only after getting barked at one more time did he finally go back to what he had been doing.
While the two bickered, the iron basket Dolseok was holding had almost filled to the brim.
“It’s full already.”
“How in the world was he carrying this around? It’s heavy.”
Clicking his tongue, Dolseok lifted the full basket.
The basket held about a liter, and now that it was full, it was quite heavy.
Because this was not water, but a strange liquid mixed with fat and various cells.
“Hmm.”
Kanghyeok fingered the lymphatic sac, which had now become empty.
Since it had been swollen for so long, it did not seem likely to shrink back easily.
It’s not like there’s no way to handle it…
Even when restoring something to its original size was often impossible, shrinking it was sometimes at least partly possible.
That held true even now, but it was annoying.
And his favorite self-justification loop, the one that had been spinning constantly since he came to Japan, had started going round and round again.
He’s going to come as an enemy anyway.
Granted, he was the kind of fool who would end up becoming General Seaweed because he was incompetent.
Still, before that, he had displayed considerable force.
This was something Kanghyeok did not know.
At the Battle of Yongin, Yasuharu had been a formidable commander who defeated a Joseon force numbering in the tens of thousands with fewer than two thousand men.
Ah, whatever. Let’s just finish this roughly… I’ve already done more than enough.
Kanghyeok kept fiddling with the lymphatic vessel for a while longer, then quietly placed it back inside the abdominal cavity.
Seeing that, Dolseok tilted his head.
“Can we really just leave it like this?”
“Hm? Well… in most cases, it’s fine.”
“But that lymphatic fluid or whatever it is will spill into the abdomen.”
“Oh.”
Dolseok’s thinking had begun to work in a properly medical direction now.
It would not have been an exaggeration to say he had taken his first step as a medical trainee.
But that also meant he still had a long way to go.
“It will spill in.”
“Then… won’t his belly swell up like Tsurumatsu’s did?”
“Right?”
Yeoni, who had empathized especially strongly with Tsurumatsu, widened her eyes as well.
After all, for all this and that, she was still only a teenage girl.
The sight of a small child gasping for breath with a belly swollen like a mountain must have been deeply shocking.
Even if he was Hideyoshi’s son.
“Tsurumatsu, huh. That and this work on completely different mechanisms.”
“They do?”
“As far as Tsurumatsu’s body went, was there some hole open into his abdomen? If anything, the problem was that things were blocked.”
“Huh?”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
This time even Yeoju, who had been busily sketching, joined in.
Was that not true?
For fluid to collect in the abdomen, it felt like there ought to be some pathway, but that had not been the case there.
“Tsurumatsu…”
Kanghyeok trailed off and looked over the people staring at him.
Dolseok, Makbong, Yeoni, and Yeoju.
Except for Yeoju, they were all people who had never really studied anything.
And even Yeoju had never once studied the sciences.
Will they even understand this?
It was a moment that naturally made him tilt his head.
There really was a reason we went to school…
It was not that Kanghyeok had always thought this way about the twelve years of compulsory education.
Back when he was cramming for entrance exams, he had also thought, Why the hell do I even need to know this stuff?
He studied because he had to, and once he realized he was better at it than other people, he worked hard.
But once he went to university and then later stood in the position of teaching others, he saw that it was different.
The fundamental knowledge acquired up through high school really did become the basic language needed to learn specialized knowledge.
I’m basically trying to teach sentences to people who don’t even know the words…
Still, there was nothing for it.
He had already accepted them as disciples.
If they don’t understand, that’s their own problem.
He was also having this kind of easygoing thought.
“Tsurumatsu’s liver function was extremely poor, right? Even now it’s not good, but before surgery it was so bad he could have died at any moment and it wouldn’t have been surprising.”
“That’s right.”
The group nodded, recalling Tsurumatsu’s ascites, jaundice, ammonia smell, and hepatic coma.
“As I told you before, the liver is an organ that does a tremendous number of things.”
“Yes. It isn’t the biggest organ for no reason…”
“Right. Since you brought it up, Dolseok, tell me what it does.”
“Uh… it stores sugar, detoxifies things… ah, and it makes protein too. Albumin?”
Dolseok even remembered the English term precisely, unfamiliar pronunciation and all.
He truly was the sort of talent Kanghyeok could inwardly consider his top disciple.
“Right. This brat’s memory really is incredible.”
“Thank you.”
“Anyway, that thing called albumin has several roles, but one of them is that it helps maintain a certain concentration in the blood.”
“Concentration?”
From here on, it was a bit more difficult.
Sure enough, Makbong had already shut his ears and was just moving his hands.
It was obvious he was thinking that since he would not understand anyway, he might as well just focus on the breathing.
“Yes. That concentration has to stay balanced with the abdominal cavity. If albumin is lacking, the concentration inside the blood drops. But solids like albumin can’t move back and forth between the abdominal cavity and the blood vessels.”
“Ahh.”
Yeoni nodded with her mouth hanging open.
It was a voice with absolutely no soul in it.
It was simply a response born from loyal desperation, because Kanghyeok was talking and she felt she had to react somehow.
“So then what moves? Only water. From water’s perspective, there’s too much water inside the blood vessels and too little in the abdominal cavity, so the water moves into the abdomen. That becomes ascites.”
“Ohh.”
This time it was Yeoju.
Her answer was equally soulless.
She was only responding because Yeoni had.
The only one still listening with bright eyes was Dolseok.
“This is called the principle of osmotic pressure… anyway, in Tsurumatsu’s case, that was what happened.”
“But in this fellow’s case, the lymphatic fluid itself is flowing directly in.”
“That’s right.”
“Then the water would go back into the blood vessels because of that osmotic pressure or whatever, right? Since this lymphatic fluid is obviously thick.”
Dolseok muttered while looking at the white liquid in the basket.
That was not always exactly how it worked, but in the abdomen, it was close enough.
“Right. When it comes to moments like this, Dolseok really is quite sharp.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
“Anyway, for that reason, it’s fine to just leave it as it is.”
“Yes, yes. I understand perfectly.”
And so it was decided that Yasuharu’s surgery would end there.
As for closing the wound, Dolseok and Yeoni had long since become skilled at it.
The suturing did not take long at all.
“Should we wait until he wakes up?”
Makbong asked while squeezing the breathing bag.
It was a perfectly reasonable question.
From Yoshitoshi to Tsurumatsu, lately they had not been waking anyone up by slapping them.
But Kanghyeok shook his head firmly.
“Wake him up right away. Look outside. It’s already late.”
“Huh. It really is, isn’t it?”
The sun was already sinking low.
The surgery itself had not taken very long, so the real problem was simply that Yasuharu had arrived late in the first place.
In other words, this bastard was the reason their quitting time had been pushed back.
Smack.
Makbong struck Yasuharu hard across the forehead with a palm full of pent-up resentment.
Whether it was because he deliberately aimed for it or whether Yasuharu had just been born that way, his forehead was incredibly wide.
It was very satisfying to smack.
“Mm.”
After about five or six good slaps, Yasuharu finally opened his eyes with difficulty.
His gaze was still bleary, as if the narcotic painkiller had not completely worn off.
Good.
Kanghyeok nodded as he looked at Yasuharu’s thoroughly dazed face.
At this rate, there was no chance he would remember the things he had babbled before the operation.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Hm? Baek… physician?”
Yasuharu looked utterly confused.
He kept blinking and staring around for quite a while.
As expected, anesthetics really did have a strong amnesic effect.
And since narcotics brought about a similar effect, the synergy between the two was tremendous.
Feeling that if he left him like this, Yasuharu would keep glancing around forever, Kanghyeok spoke first.
“You had surgery. Don’t you remember?”
“Ah? Ah… ahh.”
Only then did Yasuharu hurriedly lower his head and look down.
Then he cried out.
“It’s… gone?”
“Yes. Gone, right?”
“Did you cut it off? Don’t tell me you…”
“Huh? Ah, no. I just drained the swelling.”
“Ah, I see. I see. Thank goodness…”
After confirming that both of his precious jewels were still intact, Yasuharu promptly fell asleep again.
He had awakened from the anesthesia, but the effects of the drugs had not completely cleared.
“He fell asleep again. What do we do?”
“Should we just leave him and go?”
“No. We’re meeting with Hideyoshi tomorrow. I heard he’s coming there too, and what if something happens after we leave him behind?”
“Then what?”
“You keep an eye on him, and come with him tomorrow.”
“Why just me…”
Makbong looked at Kanghyeok with resentful eyes.
He was still holding the iron-ball-sack breathing bag in his hand.
It suited him absurdly well.
“You’re the breathing specialist. And there’s a red-light district nearby, so once this gentleman wakes up enough, leave him and go have your fun for a bit if you want.”
Kanghyeok tossed him a lump of silver that he had received from Hideyoshi as a reward.
Unless it was at one of the high-end establishments run by the Kurushima Family, it was far more money than he could possibly need in the market red-light district.
Makbong’s face brightened instantly.
“Th-thank you.”
“But don’t play around too much and come late. Tomorrow is a really important occasion.”
“Yes, yes.”
Watching Makbong bowing and scraping while Kanghyeok spoke generously, Dolseok cautiously stepped forward.
Apparently he had completely forgotten the woman he had left back in his hometown, because lately he had also been roaming around quite a bit.
“Um… me too…”
“You too? Take it easy already. You went yesterday, and the day before too. At this rate, you’ll get sick.”
“Ah… no, I won’t.”
“No, I mean you’ll catch something.”
Unless there happened to be condoms in the house-call bag.
But as things stood, there was no real way around it.
Still, Dolseok stubbornly persisted.
“Ah…”
“Do whatever you want. But if even one of you catches something, you’re becoming teaching material.”
“Yes, yes.”
“All right then, take one too.”
Kanghyeok casually tossed him another lump of silver.
He had been given a mountain of the stuff anyway, so he did not even find it worth regretting.
“Have fun, but be careful. See you tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Dolseok and Makbong both bowed deeply again and again, boasting confidently that they would definitely return on time.
“Ah, those bastards. Why aren’t they here?”
“Let’s go in first.”
“Ugh.”
But the promise was not kept.
Because of that, Kanghyeok ended up heading to the meeting place with only Yeoju and Yeoni.
Ordinarily, by rank alone, Kanghyeok should never have been able to attend such a gathering, but Hideyoshi had requested it.
Since he was the benefactor who had saved his son, Hideyoshi believed Kanghyeok naturally ought to participate in the talks.
If he says come, then I go.
There was neither any reason nor any pretext to refuse.
Just in case, he looked behind him once more, but Dolseok and Makbong were still nowhere to be seen.
Those bastards… I’m sure they came back inside the castle, so where the hell are they?
It was not as if they had gotten into an accident, yet they still had not shown up.
At that point, it became obvious they were simply slacking off.
They’re dead when I see them.
Just as the expression of a full-fledged fiend was starting to rise on his face, someone greeted him.
“Oh, you’re here?”
It was Hwang Yungil and Kim Seongil.
He could hardly keep scowling in front of the two of them, so Kanghyeok immediately smoothed out his face.
“Oh, elders. Has the Kanpaku not arrived yet?”
“Mm. They say he’ll be here soon.”
“Come sit over here.”
“Isn’t this too high a seat for me?”
“You’re the honored guest, not us. Hahaha.”
While they were laughing and chatting, the sound of a horn began to echo from somewhere.
It was Hideyoshi’s entrance.
He was walking in with Tsurumatsu in his arms, smiling broadly.