Chapter 192: Why Was Seonjo Like That? [2]
Chapter 192: Why Was Seonjo Like That? [2]
Kang Hyeok stared at Ryu Seong-ryong for a moment, speechless.
No, it would have been more accurate to say he was not looking at anything at all.
His eyes were open, but he saw nothing.
Seonjo... I have to examine Seonjo?
In truth, ever since he had become a Cheomjeong of the Royal Medical Bureau, he had been somewhat prepared for this.
Once one held office, one could not do only the things one wanted to do.
He had always thought he would eventually end up treating high-ranking officials.
But he had never imagined that he would be seeing the king first, and so suddenly at that.
I wish I could say he was a better king than I had expected.
He did not have the confidence.
No confidence at all in saying that.
The Seonjo he had seen and experienced so far had not been all that good.
That also had much to do with the point in Joseon history at which Kang Hyeok had arrived.
When people said that Seonjo had at least done well before the war, they were talking about a somewhat earlier period.
The Gichuk Purge, and now this matter of establishing the Crown Prince...
If he forced himself to understand the Gichuk Purge, then to some extent, yes, he could understand it.
Had Jeong Yeo-rip not actually formed and operated an armed organization called the Daedong-gye?
Of course, there was no evidence that the Daedong-gye had actually done anything wrong.
And far too many people had been implicated and killed compared to the incident itself.
But from the king’s standpoint, considering that treason was such a grave matter, Kang Hyeok could at least think, Well, perhaps that could happen.
But what about the matter of establishing the Crown Prince?
Anyone could see it was slander and intrigue...
Seonjo truly was a king whose next move no one could predict.
And now he was in the position of having to treat such a king.
And for an ear problem, at that.
Was tinnitus and dizziness not connected, at least in part, to one’s emotional state?
Just thinking about it made a sigh escape him.
“Hoo.”
“What is it? Are you so overwhelmed by the honor?”
“Overwhelmed... yes, I am overwhelmed.”
If overwhelmed meant something close to feeling utterly flustered, then yes, he was overwhelmed indeed.
“Do not feel too burdened. Of course, beholding the royal countenance is no easy matter, but...”
“He also had a rather unpretentious side.”
Yi Hangbok added a word to Ryu Seong-ryong’s urging.
Naturally, it was in the past tense.
Even someone as shameless as Yi Hangbok apparently could not bring himself to say Seonjo was still unpretentious now.
“Hmm.”
Kang Hyeok looked back and forth between the two great men who were staring intently at his face.
One was the Right State Councillor, and the other was the Chief Royal Secretary.
Both were self-made figures who had done nothing but rise in office even while the factions they belonged to were being utterly smashed apart.
When the two of them were asking like this, how was he supposed to refuse?
“Hoo.”
“At this rate, the ground will collapse, man.”
With a look that plainly asked what on earth was wrong with him, Ryu Seong-ryong patted Kang Hyeok on the back.
It was not a particularly comforting touch.
At the moment, Kang Hyeok felt that even if Yi Sun-sin himself were standing there instead of Ryu Seong-ryong, he would not have felt comforted.
“By the way, this is a fine opportunity. If you cure His Majesty with your wondrous medical skill, just think of the glory.”
“Exactly, that is what I mean. And if you are worried you might make a mistake, then do not be. We will have Cheomjeong Heo attached to you as well.”
“Oh, Cheomjeong Heo. Come to think of it, is Cheomjeong Heo not your disciple as well? Hahaha.”
“That is right, yes. His Majesty’s trust in Cheomjeong Heo is by no means shallow, so if he speaks well of you, His Majesty will not take your words lightly either.”
“Well now. It has been a long time since every circumstance has lined up this neatly. Is that not so, Lord Ryu?”
“Y-yes. I think so too.”
Ryu Seong-ryong, ever serious and cautious in all things, did not even realize that Yi Hangbok was making fun of Kang Hyeok.
He seemed only to believe that Yi Hangbok sincerely thought so.
So he pressed Kang Hyeok even harder.
“Well then, instead of this, let me speak to His Majesty tomorrow at once, now that the matter has come up.”
“What?”
“It is not the proper duty of a subject to leave His Majesty suffering when there is a divine physician like you nearby. I will go and see him separately tomorrow.”
“Uh...”
Kang Hyeok let out a groan with a stricken face.
Yi Hangbok laughed heartily at the sight.
“It seems it was no coincidence that I happen to be serving as Chief Royal Secretary at this moment. I will let you know the time to appear before him, so come with us then.”
“Ah, would you really do that? Excellent. That is excellent indeed.”
“How about having Cheomjeong Baek come along tomorrow altogether? After all, no internal duties have yet been assigned to him at the Royal Medical Bureau. I will speak to the Seungji who is serving as Vice Supervisor of the Royal Medical Bureau. I will tell him not to even think of assigning any work to Cheomjeong Baek.”
“Is that so? Good. Then that settles it. Heh heh.”
“Heh heh heh.”
The two great men left Kang Hyeok, whose face had turned the color of earth, boxed between them as they laughed loudly.
One of those two laughs was clearly laced with mockery, but there was no need to determine exactly whose it was.
Looking at Yi Hangbok, who was practically snickering rather than laughing, Kang Hyeok shook his head.
Ah... I’m really, truly screwed.
Situations one hated always came quickly.
Especially when it was the kind of situation where one was truly screwed.
With each step, Kang Hyeok passed through heavy doors that flew open with a bang.
Naturally, they were not automatic doors; eunuchs were pulling them open for him.
Of course, Ryu Seong-ryong and Yi Hangbok were walking at his side.
If Kang Hyeok had come alone, they would never have opened them for him.
Hmm.
It was a situation that might have felt quite pleasant under other circumstances, but unfortunately, it did not.
Because he was not on his way out for leisure.
He was going to work.
And that work was to treat a king whose next move no one could predict.
Was it Cao Cao who killed Hua Tuo?
For some reason, the anecdote about the time Hua Tuo operated on Cao Cao came to mind.
He did not want to come all the way to Joseon only to die so pointlessly.
“Hoo.”
“Haha. Are you that nervous?”
Ryu Seong-ryong patted Kang Hyeok on the shoulder as he kept sighing from earlier.
It was not much of a comfort.
At that moment, Kang Hyeok felt that even if Yi Sun-sin, the great hero himself, were at his side, it would not ease him.
“Ah, greetings, Lord Ryu, Lord Yi.”
As they continued their uncomfortable walk, someone blocked the group’s path.
It was a very familiar uniform: a Seonjeongwan.
But there was one point that differed slightly from the Seonjeongwan Kang Hyeok had seen until now. A splendid feather was set in the man’s hat.
He was the Chief Seonjeongwan, a post of Senior Third Rank.
The fact that this man had come out meant they had finally reached the place where the king resided.
“Ah, it has been a while. Well then, is your mother in good health?”
Ryu Seong-ryong greeted him with easy familiarity.
The Seonjeongwan also received him warmly.
“Thanks to your concern, she is well.”
“Good, good. You work hard even in the middle of the night.”
“How could there be any negligence in serving His Majesty? Then.”
After briefly finishing what was essentially a greeting disguised as an inspection of Ryu Seong-ryong and Yi Hangbok, the Chief Seonjeongwan turned to Kang Hyeok.
Of course, Baek Kang Hyeok had been personally brought there by Ryu Seong-ryong and Yi Hangbok, and he himself held office as a Cheomjeong.
But even so, the man could not simply wave him through.
Unlike the other two, Kang Hyeok was carrying a strange bag.
“What is that?”
Since his mind had been half gone since the previous night, Kang Hyeok failed to answer the first question at all.
The Chief Seonjeongwan asked again, looking at the man who just stood there blankly.
His voice was sharper now than it had been a moment before.
“What is that?”
“Huh?”
“I asked what that is.”
Only then did Kang Hyeok face the Chief Seonjeongwan, who was glaring at him with both hands on his waist.
To find oneself standing before an armed man wearing a sword and leading subordinates...
It felt as though his runaway mind had suddenly come back.
“Ah... this is my medical equipment.”
“Equipment? Then is it acupuncture needles?”
“Ah, yes. Things like that are in here too. And things that are not.”
“Let me see.”
“Mm. Yes.”
Without thinking much of it, Kang Hyeok opened the bag.
Inside, as always, it was packed full of things like a large syringe and tools for pulling and such.
But to the Chief Seonjeongwan’s eyes, only one thing stood out: the scalpel.
“Is this not... a knife?”
“Ah, it is not a knife. It is a scalpel.”
“A what?”
“A scalpel.”
“No matter how I look at it, it is a knife. Are you saying you intended to bring this before the royal presence?”
Determined not to disgrace his role as one of the king’s guards, he was being exceedingly strict.
Kang Hyeok gave up on arguing personally and sought rescue from Yi Hangbok and Ryu Seong-ryong.
“Please say something here.”
“Ah, all right. Ahem.”
Ryu Seong-ryong, who had once offered his own anus to that knife, whispered quietly.
“Ah, is that so?”
“I told you. It is very peculiar.”
“I had heard that Your Lordship suffered from that illness. So it was Cheomjeong Baek who treated it.”
“That is right.”
“Then may he enter?”
“Yes... no, wait a moment.”
The Chief Seonjeongwan picked up a syringe that, no matter how one looked at it, seemed fully capable of killing a man with a single hard stab.
“What is this?”
“That... that, Lord Yi, please explain.”
Once again, Kang Hyeok passed the burden to someone else.
Without hesitating, Yi Hangbok whispered in the Chief Seonjeongwan’s ear.
His tone was secretive as well.
After all, having one’s wife undergo cosmetic surgery was not the sort of thing one could go around publicly boasting of.
“Oho... I see.”
“Well then, is that all now?”
“Understood. Cheomjeong Baek, you may enter.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Only after passing the strict inspection was Kang Hyeok finally able to step into Seonjo’s residence.
Unexpectedly, the king’s quarters were plain to the extreme.
The wooden floorboards even creaked, and there were hardly any decorations to be seen.
If anything, the gisaeng house he had visited not long ago had felt more splendid.
So saying he was unpretentious was not a lie after all.
Just as Kang Hyeok’s impression of Seonjo was about to change a little, a eunuch approached and greeted him familiarly.
“Cheomjeong Baek, I heard you were coming.”
It was Sangon Kim Gyehan.
Seeing a familiar face inside the palace immediately made him feel somewhat more at ease.
“Oh. Elder Gyehan.”
“Come, come, go on inside. Fortunately, His Majesty is in a very good mood today.”
At Kim Gyehan’s smiling face, Yi Hangbok brightened and asked, “Is that so?”
“It is.”
“It is night, yet His Majesty is in a good mood. That is unusual. Good, then. Let us go.”
With Yi Hangbok in the lead, followed by Ryu Seong-ryong and Kang Hyeok, the three crowded toward the door.
Then one of the eunuchs waiting in front raised his voice and cried out, “Your Majesty, Right State Councillor Ryu Seong-ryong, Chief Royal Secretary Yi Hangbok, and Cheomjeong Baek Kang Hyeok request an audience.”
“Let them enter.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Only after Seonjo’s permission did the three step into the room.
Seonjo was seated on a silk cushion, and before him stood a small drinking table.
Seeing that the cup was empty, it seemed he had been drinking alone.
The three first prostrated themselves before him.
“Your Majesty, this subject Ryu Seong-ryong greets you.”
“Very well, you may sit at once.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
In accordance with Seonjo’s permission, Ryu Seong-ryong, Yi Hangbok, and Kang Hyeok raised their heads in that order.
Only then were they finally able to look Seonjo in the face.
He does seem to be in a good mood.
Perhaps because he had drunk a cup, there was a line of gentle smile on his face.
But even so, a slight trace of irritation still clung to the corners of his tightly closed mouth.
Seonjo opened his mouth with that irritation still attached.
“It is amusing that two great ministers should wish to see me for the same matter. So then, is this Cheomjeong Baek truly such a divine physician?”
“This subject Ryu Seong-ryong trembles to report, but... Cheomjeong Baek also cured the chronic illness from which I suffered.”
“He also cured my wife.”
“Hm. Well.”
Even after hearing the two men speak, Seonjo only tilted his head.
He seemed not to trust people’s words very easily.
He kept at that for a long while before finally turning to Kang Hyeok.
“Well then. Go on and examine me.”