Chapter 199: Endolymphatic Sac Decompression [1]
Seonjo stared at the dark herbal decoction Baek Kanghyeok had placed before him.
The medicine had already gone cold. It was not that Baek Kanghyeok had deliberately cooled it before bringing it. It had cooled after arriving here. In other words, Seonjo had truly been hesitating for a very long time.
I looked into it separately, and they said some of the ingredients used in poison draughts are in this.
When it came to suspicion, was he not surely first or second among the many kings of Joseon? He had mobilized everyone he could—eunuchs, Seonjeongwan, staff from the Royal Medical Bureau, and more—to investigate. When he first heard what they reported back, he had nearly ordered Baek Kanghyeok arrested on the spot, because he had assumed they were trying to poison him.
But then they also said it’s been used an enormous number of times.
Did not even Ryu Seong-ryong, who had come with him, say that he too had drunk this decoction and undergone surgery? So Seonjo could neither go forward nor pull back.
“Hmm.”
He could only keep letting out groans. In the end, Chief Royal Secretary Yi Hangbok had to step forward.
“Your Majesty, you must drink the decoction for the surgery to proceed.”
“I know that.”
“Then why...”
“This... no, never mind. Hmm.”
Seonjo recalled the dizziness that had suddenly struck him again just yesterday. Truly, he felt that if only that one thing disappeared, he could go on living.
“Very well, very well. Cheomjeong Baek, I will trust you.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Baek Kanghyeok did not realize just how long Seonjo had agonized before those words came out. But Ryu Seong-ryong and Yi Hangbok, standing beside him, looked deeply astonished, because Seonjo was not the sort of man who readily said that he trusted anyone. In fact, even they had hardly ever heard such words from him, despite being, in everyone’s eyes, the men most trusted in the current court.
“Huh.”
Baek Kanghyeok looked at Seonjo, who had finally finished all the decoction and was letting out a groan. He was counting the time inwardly. A special decoction made exactly to match his body weight. Whether he liked it or not, a king was still a king, so Baek Kanghyeok had been forced to pay meticulous attention. The result was the special decoction now before him.
“Hmm.”
“Good.”
Just as Baek Kanghyeok counted to seven, Seonjo began to topple sideways. But he did not end up sprawled on the floor. That was thanks to Yeoni and Jeong Yeoju, who had been waiting in advance.
“Oh dear.”
A faint groan escaped Jeong Yeoju, whose physical strength was relatively weak, because Seonjo was much heavier than expected.
“Heave.”
In the meantime, Dolseok and Makbong brought over a table made specifically for Seonjo. It was a very precious table carved from solid wood, but its shape was rather peculiar. It had been made so that when Seonjo’s body was turned onto its side, he could be fixed securely against it.
In any case, to do that, they first had to lift Seonjo. Since anyone could see that Seonjo was fairly heavy, even Baek Kanghyeok had to pitch in.
“All right, lift on three.”
“Yes.”
“One, two, three.”
“Hup.”
But once Baek Kanghyeok, Dolseok, and Makbong lifted him, it proved as easy as lifting cold porridge. They not only succeeded in placing Seonjo on the wooden table, but even in fitting him into the groove hollowed out in the middle all in one go. The groove was lined with soft silk, so there was no danger of injuring his face or shoulders. That was also why the Seonjeongwan, who stood there like mountains, had not bothered stepping in.
“Good... now I need to settle the breathing.”
Baek Kanghyeok inserted a tube into Seonjo’s mouth as he lay on his side.
“Ah, this is difficult.”
Naturally it was. There was a reason the textbooks specifically said to insert it with the patient lying flat. But after struggling a few times, Baek Kanghyeok inserted the tube as if by magic.
Then he handed the bag to Makbong. At the same time, he held up four fingers.
“Breath, respiratory rate, pulse, blood pressure. You know them, right?”
“Oh... yes.”
“Oh my ass. You know that office you got was all for today’s work, right?”
“I know. I’ll do my best.”
Makbong nodded repeatedly. His face was so grim and resolute that he looked ready for the battlefield. In a way, that was only natural. A commoner had been appointed as a Chambong of the Royal Medical Bureau, a Junior Ninth Rank post. Of course, it still had the tail of a temporary appointment attached, but once his merit from going to Japan and this current service were combined, there was no knowing what might happen. And even if it remained temporary, he was still now a man who had held office. That meant he had become a proper yangban.
Well, he’ll do his best.
Baek Kanghyeok turned away from Makbong. The fellow was already capable to begin with, and now that he was this tense, he was all the more trustworthy.
“Good. Now... let’s get ready for the surgery.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
At Baek Kanghyeok’s words, Dolseok and Yeoni moved in a flurry. Jeong Yeoju, now a Bujeongja of the Gyoseogwan, began diligently writing everything down in a book to fulfill her duty as the temporary official recorder.
“Take off his hat.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
At Baek Kanghyeok’s order, Dolseok removed Seonjo’s hat. His neatly twisted sangtu was revealed in full. To make the surgery easier, it would have been better to cut some of that hair away. But that had to be abandoned.
They made such a huge fuss over it.
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Baek Kanghyeok looked at Ryu Seong-ryong and Yi Hangbok standing in attendance behind him, along with the Seonjeongwan.
I mean, if we’re putting a knife to his body anyway, what’s the big deal about cutting some hair...
If they had tried to forbid the surgery altogether, he might at least have understood. The king in Joseon was practically the guardian of Confucianism. But that was not it. They still insisted that the treatment had to be done at all costs. So the idea was: open his head with a knife... but leave the hair alone.
At least it was fortunate that this was surgery for Ménière’s disease. There was no need to extend the incision line into the hair-bearing area. Still, the nearby hair was undeniably a nuisance. So Baek Kanghyeok ordered Dolseok, “Pull this a bit more.”
“It looks like it’s going to come out.”
“If a few come out, just toss them aside quietly, idiot.”
“Uh... if I do that, I feel like my head might come off.”
“Your head won’t come off. No one can even come close enough to inspect the hair. And just say it’s yours.”
“You want me to insist that His Majesty’s hair is mine?”
Dolseok replied with a secretive expression, like a man discussing treason. Hearing it put that way, it did sound a little plausible. Claiming anything belonging to the king as one’s own did sound somewhat dangerous.
“Then just drop it on the floor or something. This is annoying.”
“Ah... understood.”
“Yeoni, fold the ear forward a little. I have to disinfect.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
By now the whole group had been granted office, so properly speaking they should have called Baek Kanghyeok “Cheomjeong” instead of “Young Master.” But no one did. Or rather, it was more accurate to say they could not. Habit was a frightening thing.
Swish, swish.
Baek Kanghyeok carefully wiped down the area behind Seonjo’s ear. In an instant, the back of Seonjo’s ear and the surrounding area were stained brown with Betadine.
Good. The incision line... about seven centimeters in a curve behind the ear should do it.
He had made a similar incision on So Yoshitoshi before. That time had been much easier, since the head had been shaved and the incision could be extended a long way down toward the neck. But this time had its own advantages.
Looks like that operation served as good practice. Planning this approach is a lot easier.
In an instant, Baek Kanghyeok organized how he would reach the lesion from the incision. At the same time, he injected the local anesthetic.
Now it was time to assign everyone’s roles.
“Good. Disinfection is done. Dolseok, did you sort out the hair?”
“Huh? Yes. I think this should be enough.”
“Fine. That’ll do... Which of you two wants to hold the head?”
“The head?”
At Baek Kanghyeok’s words, Dolseok and Yeoni both looked at him at once, because it sounded like easy work.
“Yes. What did you hear in yesterday’s briefing? I said this operation only needs one assistant surgeon.”
“Ah, right.”
“But someone has to hold the head tightly. Makbong is handling the breathing, so he can’t do it.”
“Yes, yes.”
“So then, which of you wants it? The head must not move.”
“Uh...”
“Me.”
While Yeoni hesitated and read the room, Dolseok quickly shot up his hand, because he remembered the conversation they had before bed the previous night.
Young Master said that if a man isn’t touchy when opening the king’s head, then that man’s crazy.
The more he thought about it, the more right that sounded. To be frank, their master Baek Kanghyeok was not exactly some saintly man to begin with. Especially during surgery, he was no different from a demon. And today, he had said outright that he was going to be especially irritable. The best strategy was to escape where possible.
“Hmm. Fine. Dolseok, you hold it then.”
Fortunately, Baek Kanghyeok accepted Dolseok’s volunteering without much thought.
“Yes, I’ll do my b— no, I mean, I’ll do my best.”
“Good. All you have to do is hold it firmly.”
“Yes, yes.”
A smile kept spreading over Dolseok’s face no matter how much he tried to suppress it. Seeing that, Yeoni finally began to understand how things were going. Since when did Dolseok ever volunteer for something that put him at a disadvantage? If he was stepping up so eagerly, there had to be a reason. Either that job was a sweet one, or this side was hell.
“Then, Yeoni, you assist me. There cannot be a single mistake. Understood?”
This seemed to be the case where this side was hell. With a face darkened by gathering storm clouds, Yeoni nodded.
“Yes...”
“All right, then pull the ear forward.”
“Yes.”
“No... you have to pull it just enough for me to make the incision. If you pull that hard, the shape gets distorted.”
“Then like this?”
“This time it’s too weak.”
Sure enough, the operation got off to a deeply unsettling start, stumbling from the very first incision. Yeoni was grilled for over five minutes before she finally managed to hold the ear properly.
Slice.
Just as he had planned, Baek Kanghyeok made the exact incision line he had intended behind the ear, now pulled just right. There was a reason he had been making such a fuss.
The target lesion is extremely small and deep. Yes, it has to be right here. Only then can the incision remain as close to vertical to the lesion as possible. And at the same time...
There was almost no bleeding. Of course, that was partly thanks to the prior anesthetic injection, but most of it came from his ghostly precise choice of position.
“Good. Yeoni, you can let go of the ear now.”
“Yes.”
“No... not all at once like that.”
Baek Kanghyeok grabbed the ear again himself while simultaneously hooking the incision edge with a hook and handing it to Yeoni.
“Hold this while you let go.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Stay exactly like that. I need the incision to tilt a bit more now.”
“Yes.”
“But don’t stay too still either. Move the hook a little depending on where I’m cutting.”
“Uh, yes, Young Master.”
The more the conversation continued, the darker Yeoni’s expression became. Baek Kanghyeok could be difficult during surgery, yes, but he had never made this much of a fuss from the very first incision. The road ahead looked plainly visible to her.
Which meant she could see nothing at all.
Because it was pitch black.
“All right, then. I’m starting.”
Baek Kanghyeok began dragging the scalpel across the skin, not perpendicular to it, but laid down at an angle. It was the exact opposite of the proper principle. At that, Dolseok, Yeoni, Makbong, and Jeong Yeoju all stared wide-eyed. If any one of them had held a scalpel like that, he would have chewed them out brutally.
But the man before them was Baek Kanghyeok.
There had to be a reason.
Why’s he doing that?
How should I know, idiot.
Can’t somebody...
I’ll ask.
Jeong Yeoju, who had been tasked with the record, took the lead. After all, compared to Dolseok and Makbong, Baek Kanghyeok treated her and Yeoni much more gently.
“Young Master...”
“What.”
Even so, the answer was as brusque as could be.
As expected, operating on the king really is difficult.
Thinking that, Jeong Yeoju gathered her courage.
“Why are you holding the scalpel that way...?”
“Ah. Because the head is round. And... you’ll see in a bit. Today’s difficult, so just watch for now.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Yeoni, move a little faster while pulling that.”
“Yes, yes.”