Chapter 196: It’s Not Something You Should Recklessly Cut, But [2]
“Hmm. Cheomjeong Baek. If you have something to say, then say it.”
Seonjo spoke as he watched Baek Kanghyeok repeatedly wetting his lips.
Even while looking at Seonjo, Baek Kanghyeok decided to think it over a little longer. Because if he suddenly told the king that his head had to be opened, there seemed no way a good reaction would come of it.
At the very least, even Lord Yi Hangbok here looks like he’d make a scene.
If he had to choose the coolest-headed person Baek Kanghyeok had met since coming to Joseon, it would still be Yi Hangbok. Making fun of his father-in-law was an everyday matter for him, and he had even gone so far as to have cosmetic surgery done for his own wife. Judging by the way he casually tossed out remarks, there were many besides his father-in-law whom he liked to mock.
If given the chance, he could probably even make Seonjo, right before his eyes, into a laughingstock. He’s probably done it plenty of times in his head already.
Seonjo was a king who provided plenty to ridicule. But even so, how would he react if told that His August Majesty’s head had to be opened?
With all the rapport I’ve built up, I don’t think he’ll start babbling about treason or anything, but...
There was no knowing.
“Cheomjeong Baek, are you deaf?”
As he hesitated for a moment, Seonjo pressed him. Ignoring the king once was already dangerous enough. Ignoring him twice was out of the question. Left with no choice, Baek Kanghyeok opened his mouth.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I asked whether there is no other method. Though I have certainly seen some effect... is it not still lacking compared to the effort I am putting in?”
“That is true, Your Majesty.”
Baek Kanghyeok had to admit that as well. Seonjo had been following the treatment so diligently that even he himself was surprised. To be honest, even among patients at university hospitals, few followed instructions this well.
Right. If he follows non-surgical treatment this well, then he’ll probably follow other things well too.
Did they not say that seeing one thing let you know ten?
Perhaps Seonjo was suffering from Ménière’s disease even more than Baek Kanghyeok had expected. That was perfectly understandable. He had once seen research showing that patients with Ménière’s disease had higher rates of depression than those who did not suffer from it, and even attempted suicide more often.
Good. Let’s at least bring it up.
Watching Seonjo’s face carefully, Baek Kanghyeok began speaking with caution.
“Your Majesty. There is another method.”
“Is that so? Then why were you standing there without saying it at once?”
Seonjo looked as though he was truly willing to do anything. Baek Kanghyeok moved his lips, hoping that resolve would not falter.
“However, that method is somewhat dangerous, and also... rather strange.”
“The current treatment is already strange enough. Never in all my life had I heard that I should eat less salt.”
“It is stranger than that... To speak of it plainly is a little difficult.”
Only when Baek Kanghyeok had gone this far did Seonjo finally grasp at least a little of the seriousness of the matter. Who was this Baek Kanghyeok, after all? Was he not the fellow who had dared to shout back right in front of him on the very day they first met? He had let him be because his skill was extraordinary and his attitude toward treatment was sincere, but Seonjo still vividly remembered just how infuriating that day had been.
And yet such a man now found himself hesitant to speak of the treatment.
“W-what kind of treatment could it possibly be?”
“Well... hmm.”
After hesitating briefly, Baek Kanghyeok raised his index finger straight up. Then he tapped Yi Hangbok lightly on the shoulder. Yi Hangbok had been sitting there silently at the side.
“Will this be all right for a moment?”
“Hmm? What are you trying to do... No, well, I suppose it’s all right.”
Yi Hangbok nodded, partly because he was curious what Baek Kanghyeok intended to do, and partly because he lacked the courage to refuse in front of the king.
At once, Baek Kanghyeok ran the extended finger down behind Yi Hangbok’s ear.
“First, an incision is made with the knife, like this.”
“With a knife, behind the ear?”
“Yes. And after that...”
Baek Kanghyeok tapped the area he had just traced with his finger. To describe it properly, he should have mimed hammering, but he had no intention of showing that to the king.
“The bone is shaved away like this.”
“The bone?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Huh.”
Seonjo, perhaps dizzy just from imagining it, could not even continue speaking. Yi Hangbok too had fallen silent, mouth hanging open, at the chill of Baek Kanghyeok’s touch.
Naturally, only Baek Kanghyeok kept speaking.
“If the bone is shaved away further and further like this, one eventually reaches the structure that is causing Your Majesty’s dizziness. Once the fluid accumulated inside that structure is drained, the treatment is complete.”
“Hmm. Will it truly be cured that way?”
“It will, Your Majesty.”
“Hmm.”
Seonjo rested his chin on his hand, unable to answer at once. From the way his eyes darted here and there, it was obvious he was deeply conflicted. Only then did Yi Hangbok, finally freed from Baek Kanghyeok’s grip, wear a similarly troubled expression.
Silence born of shock ruled the room for a long time.
But Baek Kanghyeok looked relieved.
This reaction is fairly calm, actually.
To be honest, he had imagined Seonjo flushing red and calling for the Seonjeongwan on the spot. Yet the man was simply sitting there with his mouth shut. Compared to what he had expected, it was a far better reaction.
“Mm.”
Seonjo sat still for almost half a gak before suddenly clutching his head. A groan full of pain escaped him. It seemed a vertigo attack had come over him. At such times, making a big fuss did little good, so Baek Kanghyeok calmly waited.
The only ones panicking were the eunuchs.
“Y-Your Majesty, are you all right?”
“Withdraw for now!”
“Yes, yes! Your Majesty!”
“Ugh...”
Just as Baek Kanghyeok had expected, after a little more time Seonjo’s face became much more at ease.
“Your Majesty, are you feeling somewhat better now?”
“I am. Hah, it really is unbearable, feeling as though it might improve and then suddenly being struck like this. How can a man live this way?”
“That is simply how Japan Ear Disease is. It is a truly nasty illness.”
“It truly is. Mm.”
After removing his hand from his head, Seonjo looked at Baek Kanghyeok. Most of the signs of hesitation had vanished from his face. It seemed that the sudden bout of dizziness had changed his mind.
“Cheomjeong Baek, that treatment... it is not excessively dangerous, is it?”
“Y-Your Majesty.”
The first to react to Seonjo’s changed attitude was not Baek Kanghyeok, but Ryu Seong-ryong.
“What is it, Right State Councillor?”
“It is true that Cheomjeong Baek’s skill surpasses that of ordinary physicians. However... to put a blade to the royal countenance? I do not believe that is a method Your Majesty, who must serve as the model for all scholars, ought to choose.”
“A model, you say? Then is it setting a model to withdraw in the middle of a royal lecture because of dizziness?”
“Ah.”
“And is it setting a model to abruptly leave one’s place when an envoy of the Ming arrives?”
After that, Seonjo mentioned several other troublesome incidents caused by his dizziness. At the very end, he even brought up Ryu Seong-ryong’s hemorrhoid surgery. It was almost as if he were saying, So when I do it, it’s scandalous, but when you do it, it’s fine?
At that, even Ryu Seong-ryong, born a Confucian to the core, had no choice but to fall silent.
After silencing him, Seonjo looked back at Baek Kanghyeok.
“Now then, Cheomjeong Baek. I ask you again. Is that method truly dangerous?”
Baek Kanghyeok cleared his throat briefly, then recalled the style of Tears of the Dragon and put on a roughly similar tone.
“How could I dare report falsely on matters of safety? There are certainly dangerous aspects to it.”
“And yet, as a subject, you would present such a treatment to me?”
“However, at present, it is the only treatment.”
It was an answer with not a single lie in it. Of course, there was also the recent method of directly injecting an antibiotic substance called gentamicin into the ear. But that was a highly experimental treatment, and there was no way to do it here. There was no medicine, no injection, and no instrument to look inside the ear.
“The only one...”
“And because I myself would perform the treatment, that danger would also be greatly reduced. I tremble to say it, but I take pride in the fact that even if one searched the whole world under heaven, there is no physician equal to me.”
It was an astonishingly arrogant statement. In Joseon alone—no, even within the palace—Heo Jun was very much alive and breathing.
But Seonjo could not dismiss those words lightly. Because he remembered a conversation he had once had with Heo Jun. It had been when Heo Jun had miraculously cured Imhae-gun.
—Joseon is fortunate indeed to have a physician like you.
—I am overwhelmed, Your Majesty.
—Even in Ming, physicians who could match you would be rare.
—I do not know about Ming, but within Joseon, there is one physician before whom someone like me does not even reach the tip of his foot.
—And who might that be?
Heo Jun had named none other than Baek Kanghyeok, who now stood before him. At the time, Seonjo had naturally dismissed it as nonsense, but now that he had experienced it for himself, was it not exactly so? Heo Jun had been unable to lay a hand on this disease, yet Baek Kanghyeok had diagnosed it in a single day and brought things this far.
“Hmm. So you are confident.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Then... let us do it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do my utmost.”
The matter between Baek Kanghyeok and Seonjo concluded on a warm note. From then on, all that remained was for Baek Kanghyeok to make the proper preparations and come.
But Ryu Seong-ryong’s worry was as vast as a mountain. These days, whenever he found spare time, he often shared drinks with Baek Kanghyeok. And at such times he occasionally heard stories about So Yoshitoshi, and opening the head was no ordinary matter.
“Y-Your Majesty.”
“I have already made up my mind.”
Seonjo pushed out his lips. Seeing that, Ryu Seong-ryong put away any thought of changing his mind. Because it meant that stubborn Seonjo had now evolved into royally stubborn Seonjo.
“I have no intention of opposing the surgery, either.”
“Then?”
“However, we must prevent others from learning of this surgery. Does Your Majesty not think the same?”
“Hmm.”
Seonjo looked at Ryu Seong-ryong, who sat there with his head bowed. Whatever the others might be, Ryu Seong-ryong was a loyal subject in the truest sense. He had always done his work in a manner Seonjo found pleasing. But the same could not be said for the others. There were too many men who seemed suspicious. Especially after the issue of establishing the Crown Prince, they only seemed more numerous.
The fact that I am ill enough to undergo such a surgery must not become known.
If it did, they would start bringing up the succession issue again. Gwanghae-gun’s reputation was not especially bad, but one never knew. The throne was more than enough to drive a man mad.
“Do you have a good plan?”
“There are too many eyes within the palace. I cannot feel at ease there. Therefore... what if Your Majesty were to go on an inspection tour?”
“An inspection tour?”
“Yes. As it happens, there is a place in Suwon that suffered a raid by Japanese marauders. If it were said that Your Majesty is going to calm the people there, it would serve as a good reason.”
At the mention of Suwon, Baek Kanghyeok’s eyes widened. Had he not already been troubled because, ever since returning from Japan, he had not seen Seungmun even once?
Ryu Seong-ryong quietly raised his thumb toward Baek Kanghyeok. It could only have been consideration for his sake.
“Suwon...”
“Moreover, Cheomjeong Baek’s honored father, Lord Baek Seungmun, is there. He is a loyal man, so it would be good to have his assistance.”
“Hah, so Lord Baek is there, is he?”
Seonjo too had a rather favorable impression of Baek Seungmun. When Seonjo had been younger, they had spent quite pleasant times together at the Hongmungwan. And Suwon was not all that far from here, either, meaning the journey would not be too arduous. The excuse of going to look after the people was a good one as well. He could save face and cure his illness. There was profit in every direction.
Having made up his mind, Seonjo laughed loudly and issued an order.
“Good. Then prepare for an inspection tour.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Cheomjeong Baek, do you need time to prepare for my treatment?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“How long?”
“If Your Majesty would grant me only five days’ leave, that should suffice.”
“Very well. Then let it be so.”