Chapter 186: This Is an Experiment [1]
Chapter 186: This Is an Experiment [1]
“Uh...”
Dolseok looked around with a dazed expression.
No matter how he looked at it, they were definitely on the way to a gisaeng house.
Did this gentleman get completely drunk after drinking?
Makbong had much the same thought, so he secretly stole a glance at Kang Hyeok’s face.
Was that not only natural?
The man had drunk a basin of wine, gathered up sundae casings, and then headed straight to a gisaeng house.
This was not the kind of thing a person in his right mind did.
Yet Kang Hyeok’s face looked perfectly fine.
Now that’s strange.
Just as Dolseok thought, it was an extremely rare and peculiar thing.
Kang Hyeok normally did not go near gisaeng houses, or even similar places.
In fact, during the nearly year-long trip to Japan, the only time he had gone to a red-light district was that one day when he treated Kuki Yoshitaka.
Why else would Yeoni and Yeoju constantly tell the others to learn from Kang Hyeok whenever they got the chance?
“Young Master...”
In the end, Dolseok could not hold back any longer and spoke.
Kang Hyeok turned around with a face that seemed to ask why he kept calling him.
“What.”
“Are we really going to a gisaeng house right now?”
“I told you we are. How many times do I have to say it?”
“But you don’t go to places like that, Young Master.”
“I’m not going there to do anything weird. I’m going there to run an experiment. An experiment.”
“An experiment...?”
That only made the expressions of Dolseok and Makbong even stranger.
An experiment at a gisaeng house.
What on earth was that supposed to mean?
But before their curiosity could be answered, Kang Hyeok strode straight inside the gibang.
A gisaeng immediately came hurrying over when she saw him.
“Oh my, sir. Please come inside.”
She even sang out the words with a lilting tone.
It was not because the gisaeng recognized Kang Hyeok at all.
How could she recognize someone who never even came near this place?
Rather, it was because she could tell at a glance that the official robe and samo he was wearing were far from ordinary.
“Wow, she’s really throwing herself at me.”
With an annoyed expression, Kang Hyeok shoved away the gisaeng who kept pressing close and hooking herself around his arm.
Had he not spent all his time around beauties like Yeoni and Yeoju without showing the slightest interest?
There was absolutely no reason for him to feel moved by a gisaeng who only barely escaped plainness with layers of makeup.
“W-where shall I escort you?”
Made awkward by that, the gisaeng asked again with a much more modest bearing.
At that, Kang Hyeok had no choice but to fall silent for a moment.
He had absolutely no idea how a gisaeng house worked.
I’d have to have come here before to know. Don’t you just go into an empty room?
After pressing his lips together for a while, quick-witted Dolseok suddenly stepped forward.
“Hey, girl, should a Young Master like ours be choosing rooms himself? Take us to the biggest and widest room. Don’t worry about the money!”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
Just as the gisaeng was about to turn away, Makbong caught hold of her instead.
He looked more confident than ever.
“And call in Wolhyang, Baekok, Baekwol, Okgum, all of them.”
“Uh... those girls are a bit expensive...”
“Do you have wax stuffed in your ears? Didn’t you hear what I said just now? I said don’t worry about the money!”
“Yes, yes. I’ll make the arrangements right away.”
At the smooth, unbroken stream of words from Dolseok and Makbong, the gisaeng ran off in a hurry with a completely stunned expression.
“Wow, you two are practically Lü Bu in a place like this.”
Kang Hyeok looked back at Dolseok with a face full of admiration.
“Of course. Do you know how much money we’ve thrown around in places like this?”
The two men scratched the backs of their heads and laughed loudly.
There was not a trace of exaggeration in what they said.
Unlike Kang Hyeok, who was about as interested in women as a stone Buddha, Dolseok and Makbong were fairly famous pleasure-loving young men in Hanyang.
If their faces had been even a little more worth looking at, they probably would have been far more famous.
“Sirs, this way, please.”
Soon a soft, melting voice called out to Kang Hyeok.
It was not the first gisaeng who had run over, but one who looked slightly older than her.
Seeing how extraordinary the appearance of Kang Hyeok and his party was, and how even more extraordinary their spending seemed, someone of higher standing had apparently come out.
Naturally, Kang Hyeok had little interest.
Just as he had said earlier, he had not come here to have fun.
“Right, let’s go in quickly.”
Kang Hyeok nodded while fingering the sundae casings tucked inside his sleeve—that is, the pig intestines.
He desperately wanted to confirm this thing’s performance as soon as possible.
That was why he kept hurrying.
To Dolseok and Makbong, it definitely felt a little strange.
So wine bestowed by the king really is different from ordinary wine?
What did they put in that drink to make this gentleman this riled up?
Well, good for us. I’ve felt a little awkward all this time, sneaking off to have fun while leaving Young Master behind.
There’s a lot I’ll have to teach him.
Each carrying his own thoughts, the two followed Kang Hyeok into the room.
Inside, there was a lavishly decorated table inlaid with dazzling mother-of-pearl, so luxurious it looked expensive at a glance.
The folding screen, silk bedding, and everything else in the room also looked extravagantly opulent.
To Kang Hyeok, even the palace where Gwanghae-gun resided had not seemed this splendid.
So a gisaeng house makes this much money.
There had always been a saying that among all businesses, the liquor trade made the most money.
Still, standing on the eve of war—though that was not yet widely known—this kind of excess left a bad taste in his mouth.
“Young Master, over here first.”
Of course, Makbong and Dolseok did not care at all about such things.
Their only concern was how to make this innocent young master enjoy himself tonight.
That was the only way he would keep going around with them.
Makbong in particular even felt a kind of historical mission.
While I’m at it, maybe I should teach him some techniques for the lower half too.
Had they not spent all this time only learning from Kang Hyeok and receiving from him?
Now that he finally had a chance to repay him, he was deeply moved.
“Sit here?”
Kang Hyeok still wore a flat expression as he sat where the two of them guided him.
At once, Makbong and Dolseok seated themselves on either side of him, leaving a slight gap.
“All right, come in now!”
Dolseok called out in a deliberately lowered voice.
Then, not the door they had entered through, but the one opposite it, slid open with a rattling sound.
At the same time, several gisaeng entered in a rush, neatly dressed in hanbok with gache atop their heads.
Each one held a musical instrument.
Among them, the gisaeng with the most elaborate gache stood in the center and bowed.
“I am Wolhyang. I greet you.”
After her, the other gisaeng greeted them one by one.
Kang Hyeok nodded absentmindedly as he looked them over.
No matter how I look at it, they’re dressed way too heavily. So this isn’t the kind of place where things just start immediately, huh?
How could he know otherwise when he had never come to a place like this before?
Well, he had come once or twice, but each time someone had collapsed, so he had never properly seen how it worked.
“Then we will first offer music and verse.”
He had roughly guessed it from the moment they came in carrying instruments, and sure enough, there was a performance.
Come to think of it, ever since coming to Joseon, Kang Hyeok had never once properly listened to music, so for now he stayed quiet.
Hm. They’re actually pretty good.
The gisaengs’ performance was not just decent. It was high-level.
They were not merely pretending for appearances’ sake. They had been properly trained.
It was a pleasant time for the ears, but only for a little while.
Kang Hyeok was a dry, hard science man who knew nothing of romance.
All he wanted was to hurry up and try out the pig intestines he had brought.
“Hey, Makbong. When does this end?”
So he asked Makbong, who was sitting beside him.
Makbong was already getting worked up, and his face had turned red.
He answered as if the question were absurd.
“It only just started. What do you mean, when does it end?”
“No, I mean... when do we get to the main point?”
“The main point? Ah... wow, Young Master...”
There was probably not a single grown man alive who would fail to understand what “the main point” meant in a place like this.
Especially not someone like Makbong, who had lived roughly in all kinds of places.
Wearing the lewdest smile in the world, he clapped his hands.
“All right, all right. We’ve heard enough music. Come over here and start pouring some drinks!”
“Huh? Already?”
The gisaeng who had introduced herself as Wolhyang widened her eyes.
They had barely finished even a single verse of music.
But Makbong, smiling even more suggestively than before, continued.
“Our Young Master has just come back from Japan after a full year away, so he’s in a hurry! He hasn’t even gone home yet—he went to the palace first and came straight out here!”
“Ah, now that you mention it... ah, so it’s you!”
Wolhyang’s face lit up, and she immediately squeezed herself in beside Kang Hyeok.
That was because just the day before, she had seen Kang Hyeok striding proudly through the Four Great Gates.
And not just anywhere, but right behind Kim Seongil, whose name was famous throughout the capital.
“Uh...”
Kang Hyeok had not come here wanting this kind of physical contact, so he quietly withdrew his arm.
But Wolhyang was a seasoned gisaeng, and she knew exactly how to deal with this kind of man.
“Young Master, so you’ve got a more proper side than I expected? Just hand me your cup. I’ll pour for you.”
The way she mixed honorifics and banmal while acting coy made her feel exactly like one of those aunties at a good restaurant.
In particular, there had been plenty of aunties with that tone of voice in the back alleys near Kang Hyeok’s old university.
For some reason, the aunties at places that made really good stir-fried pork were almost always like that.
In other words, it still did not stir any special feeling in him.
“All right, pour it first.”
Still, now that he had come all this way, it would have been awkward to just sit there blankly.
So he decided at least to drink.
Besides, today’s experiment might be a little hard to do while completely sober.
Watching Kang Hyeok accept drink after drink without hesitation, Wolhyang rejoiced inwardly.
What a lamb to slaughter.
She had already finished scanning Kang Hyeok’s clothes long ago.
The silk outer robe he wore casually over himself was clearly an item that had come across from Ming.
The gat tossed aside carelessly was a top-quality piece woven from horsehair from Jeju Island.
And the shoes he had taken off earlier were a premium article made from deer hide, rabbit hide, and even fox fur mixed together.
If she managed to latch onto a sucker like this, would it not be enough to change her whole fate?
“Here, have some food too...”
Wolhyang offered him side dishes with even more honeyed sweetness than before.
To Kang Hyeok, lost in his memories, it was actually a very welcome dish.
Oh, stir-fried pork.
Somehow, because it was being offered by a woman with a face like Wolhyang’s, it felt even more flavorful.
So despite the excessive, unnecessary contact mixed into it, he endured it and accepted the food.
Excellent.
And while Wolhyang’s misunderstanding continued to deepen, Dolseok and Makbong were also growing thoroughly heated.
From Kang Hyeok’s point of view, Dolseok’s excitement was the more astonishing of the two.
That idiot really still hasn’t come to his senses after all that.
He had been going on and on about how venereal diseases had to be eradicated, yet now he looked ready to become a full-fledged missionary for them.
At last, with a flushed face, he began asking Kang Hyeok for permission.
“Y-Young Master. I’ll just head to the next room now...”
“The next room?”
“Yes. With her. Ha ha.”
Dolseok answered shyly, already half-undressed.
Kang Hyeok waved his hand back and forth.
“No need to go anywhere else. Do it here.”
He pointed at the bedding behind them.
Dolseok looked a little taken aback.
“You want me to do it here?”
“Yeah. Here, put this on first.”
Kang Hyeok tossed him the pig intestine he had been fiddling with all this time.
At some point he had cleaned it, and now it was perfectly clean.
“I disinfected it with alcohol, so it’s clean.”
“Uh... where exactly are you telling me to put this?”
“Where else? Put it on there.”
Kang Hyeok pointed at the offensively jutting part.
Dolseok still wore an expression that said he did not understand what was being said.
No, more accurately, it was the expression of someone who did not want to understand.
“Th-this?”
“Yeah. This is a method of preventing venereal disease.”
As the conversation shot off in an utterly bizarre direction, Makbong quietly tried to slip out of the room.
But naturally, he failed.
“You too. Stop.”
“Huh?”
“The two of you are both putting this on and doing it.”
Kang Hyeok rose to his feet and declared it in a solemn voice.
Only then did Wolhyang finally understand.
The man before her was not some lamb to fleece at all.
He was a mad scientist.