Chapter 30: Fever, Fever [4]
Chapter 30: Fever, Fever [4]
Seungmun pulled the blanket over himself and lay down.
“Ugh…”
He trembled in discomfort for a while, then soon fell asleep.
Careful not to wake him, Kanghyeok took his temperature.
37.2. It did go down, but…
That had to be the effect of the anti-inflammatory.
As long as the malaria was not cured, the fever would obviously return.
The fever was definitely higher than last time.
His liver had been more swollen too.
That meant the illness was steadily progressing.
If the liquor infused with sweet wormwood showed little effect, there was a strong chance it would get worse.
That could not happen.
It won’t do for both fathers to die of illness when their son is a doctor.
One regret was enough.
Should I try meeting some physicians here too?
Clinging to even a straw, Kanghyeok recalled the physician he had met before.
He immediately shook his head.
Maybe with someone else, but not that bastard.
Had he not insisted appendicitis was just indigestion?
There was no way he could entrust his father to a quack.
For now, let’s wait. There’s definitely a component in sweet wormwood that works on malaria.
Surely they did not hand out Nobel Prizes in Medicine to just anyone.
Leaving Seungmun, now fast asleep, behind him, Kanghyeok stepped out of the room.
Dolseok was waiting with an anxious face.
“How is he?”
“His fever is down for now, and he’s asleep.”
“It’s amazing how he gets better the moment your hand touches him, Young Master.”
“We’ll have to wait and see whether it’s really that miraculous.”
Even in the middle of the chaos, Dolseok took good care of Kanghyeok.
As he helped him into his leather shoes, he asked,
“But Young Master, will that little bit of sweet wormwood be enough?”
Dolseok pointed toward the kitchen area.
Beside the cauldron, the tender wormwood leaves were piled up pitifully.
There was very little.
At best, it would last until tomorrow morning.
“No. We need to gather more.”
“Yes, I’ll send people out.”
“Good. Tell the troupe too and ask them to help gather it.”
“Yes.”
Dolseok dashed off at once to carry out the order.
Kanghyeok called after him.
“Wait, wait.”
“Yes?”
“Tell the troupe to also find out whether there’s a truly skilled physician nearby.”
“Ah, yes, Young Master. I’ll be back soon.”
“Good. You’ve worked hard.”
“It’s nothing.”
After sending Dolseok off, Kanghyeok leaned against a pillar.
A sigh escaped him on its own.
“Whew…”
Soon his resentful gaze turned toward the house-call bag.
Damn it… If this were at least some physical injury, I could fix it.
It had plates and quite a lot of surgical tools in it.
Enough to carry out most operations.
Of course, the patient had to be brave like Yi Sun-sin.
“What is making you sigh so heavily?”
That voice carried discipline in every syllable.
When Kanghyeok looked up, Admiral Yi Sun-sin was standing there.
Without even realizing it, Kanghyeok hurriedly got to his feet.
Whenever someone asked him to name a historical figure he respected, Yi Sun-sin was always in his top three.
Even Kanghyeok, who had all but eaten etiquette with his rice, knew there were things one had to observe.
“Ah, Hyungnim.”
“Why are you so startled?”
“It’s nothing. Whew.”
Kanghyeok let out another sigh and sat back down.
Sun-sin slowly sat beside him.
“You must be deeply worried.”
“Yes. I’m supposed to be his son, a doctor… no, a physician, and yet I can do little.”
“Don’t say that. Won’t the new medicine have some effect? He’s sleeping even now.”
He had fallen so soundly asleep that his faint snoring could be heard even outside.
Kanghyeok looked toward Seungmun for a moment, then turned back to Sun-sin.
“I can only pray that it works.”
“It will. Don’t worry.”
Sun-sin pointed to his own leg as he spoke.
“Look. I did as you said, and now I can already run without issue.”
“Mm.”
“Search the whole world, and you still won’t find a divine physician equal to you. So don’t worry.”
No matter how great Yi Sun-sin was, he was still an outsider when it came to medicine.
One could say he was simply murmuring those words without knowing anything.
In truth, he was not yet Admiral Chungmugong, but merely an unknown scholar who had failed the military examination.
Still, this is strange.
For some reason, Kanghyeok felt his heart ease.
There was an unspoken trust that seemed to radiate from Sun-sin.
Maybe it was only because he wanted to believe it.
“Your eyes are red.”
“…What?”
“A man cannot be so soft-hearted. Come, get up. A walk would do you good.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Kanghyeok hurriedly wiped his tears with his sleeve and stood.
Then he began walking shoulder to shoulder with Sun-sin.
That alone was a comfort.
Sun-sin really was someone one could lean on.
“Your honored father worries about you a great deal.”
“That would be because I do not study for the state examination.”
“I told him there was no reason to worry. Where else would one find another man like you?”
“Thank you, Hyungnim.”
Soon the servants who had gone out to gather sweet wormwood came back one after another.
The amounts they held varied, and they were directly proportional to how long they had served Seungmun.
In other words, those who had served him longer brought a great deal, while those who had not served long brought little.
It drove home once more how well Seungmun had treated his servants.
Okseok had gathered nearly as much as his own torso.
“Hey, hey, you’ll get hurt, you fool.”
Kanghyeok had to hurry over and take it from him.
The moment he lifted it into his arms, the sharp scent of wormwood pricked his nose.
“Young Master, will this be enough?”
“More than enough.”
“I hope Madam recovers quickly.”
Okseok looked toward Seungmun’s room with sincere eyes.
The other servants’ eyes were not much different.
Neither were Sun-sin’s, nor Kanghyeok’s.
At the very least, everyone in the house wished for Seungmun’s recovery.
Perhaps because of that earnest wish, Seungmun looked quite livable the next day.
“I can live now.”
And the day after that as well.
“Ah, this feels good.”
By the third day, he looked even more restored.
“I think I’m fully recovered now.”
By the fourth day, he looked like someone who had never been sick in his life.
“I think I should go out somewhere today.”
“No. You must rest through today as well.”
Kanghyeok had to step in and stop him.
“You should listen to Kanghyeok.”
Even Sun-sin had to join in.
Seungmun was not the sort of man who only insisted on his own stubbornness, so he listened obediently.
And indeed, when the fever had been at its worst, he had truly thought he was going to die.
“For now, lie down.”
“Alright.”
Kanghyeok carefully felt around Seungmun’s abdomen.
Then he nodded with a satisfied expression.
Good. The swelling in the liver is almost gone.
It seemed the daily wormwood decoction was paying off.
Though he still could not say for certain that it was truly because of that.
The fact that there had been no fever by the fourth day in tertian malaria was a good sign.
As expected, I’m a genius.
To cure malaria without any malaria medicine.
Even if he brought in the head of Infectious Diseases from Chungmu Hospital, it would still be difficult.
It was only possible because of his excellent memory, which did not forget even passing news articles.
Once more, Kanghyeok marveled at his own genius and withdrew his hand.
His near-total inability to be modest was almost his only flaw.
“This is good. We’ll just observe through today. If there’s no fever tomorrow either, you may go out.”
“Is that so? Excellent. It is largely thanks to you.”
“It’s nothing, Father.”
“No, no. Now that I’ve been ill myself, I understand. Your medical skill is truly wondrous, worthy to be compared to Hua Tuo or Bian Que of old.”
Only Hua Tuo and Bian Que? Those words rose to Kanghyeok’s throat before he swallowed them back down.
This was not the same situation as when he had treated patients in a university hospital.
There had even been a time when he believed that if a patient was still breathing by the time he operated, he could save them.
But now things were different.
It used to be like that… but without equipment, what can I do?
Separated from all that infrastructure, Kanghyeok was not all that special.
This malaria case had driven that truth painfully deep.
Had he not nearly lost Seungmun because of a disease he had never even cared to think about?
“You flatter me.”
“Haha. You even know how to be modest now. You really are something.”
Modest?
Kanghyeok smiled faintly as he looked at Seungmun, who still did not truly know his own son.
Regardless, Seungmun went on speaking.
“This illness taught me well how important medicine is. Kanghyeok, if you truly refuse to study for the state examination, I will not stop you. But you must become an excellent physician.”
“…What? You mean I don’t have to take the state examination?”
It was so unexpected that he blurted it out.
They said that when a person nearly died, they changed a little.
That was exactly what had happened to Seungmun.
“Yes. You may do as you wish.”
“Ah… thank you.”
“You seem too pleased. That makes me a little sad.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. Still, do not give up literary study entirely. A man must still be able to communicate through writing.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He had already been planning to seriously learn the written language anyway.
Sweet wormwood… it was probably called qinghao.
As Seungmun’s condition improved, Kanghyeok’s mind also settled more and more.
Thanks to that, he was able to remember the contents of that article more fully.
It said they referred to books of Chinese medicine.
Rather than creating a brand-new chemical formula, it would have been far more efficient to extract usable components from existing natural remedies.
Professor Tu Youyou had reportedly searched through old Chinese medical texts while reviewing possible treatments.
In the end, she had gotten her clue from Emergency Prescriptions Kept Up One’s Sleeve, written around 340 BCE by the Eastern Jin Daoist Ge Hong.
Which means… there must also be things to learn here.
Of course, there were surely far more wrong treatments than correct ones.
But with Kanghyeok’s ability, he could sort out only the right ones.
For that, exchanges with other physicians would be important, but he would also need to read medical texts.
“How admirable.”
Seungmun nodded with a satisfied expression.
“As it happens, this father of yours has gathered enough books not to be ashamed before others, so read as much as you please. There are quite a few medical texts among them.”
“Yes, Father. Thank you.”
Kanghyeok left the room with a much lighter face.
Sun-sin, too, wore a satisfied expression.
“As expected, you truly are a divine physician.”
“I still have a long way to go, Hyungnim.”
“Haha.”
Sun-sin laughed good-naturedly.
“By the way, is my leg not fully healed now?”
“Ah, yes. You may slowly begin martial practice again.”
“That is thanks largely to you. Thank you.”
“Haha.”
This time, Kanghyeok laughed.
“Then I should leave tomorrow. Your honored father has regained his strength, so I too must return to preparing again for the military examination.”
“Ah…”
Kanghyeok let out a sigh full of regret.
Looking back, he had faced Yi Sun-sin, a hero without equal, and yet had not really spent much time with him.
There had been reasons, yes.
Even so, regret was regret.
“I’ll be in Geoncheon-dong in Hanyang, so you may come and go whenever you wish.”
“Hanyang. I see.”
Come to think of it, Kanghyeok had not once considered going to Hanyang.
“Come before long. There is someone there who may need your touch.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed. In any case, let us have a drink today.”
“The honor is mine.”
“What honor?”
Was Kanghyeok ever one to refuse liquor?
And with Sun-sin as the drinking companion, there was nothing more to ask for.
Quick-witted as ever, Dolseok soon brought out a drinking table.
“Here, take it.”
“Yes, Hyungnim.”
As it turned out, Sun-sin could drink like a fish.
You know the type.
Not someone who drinks often, but once he starts, it goes on endlessly.
In the end, Kanghyeok failed to overcome the drunkenness and passed out in the same room as Sun-sin.
When he woke, Sun-sin had already left.
He had left behind only a short letter.
—Thank you. Come whenever you wish.
Kanghyeok grimaced with regret and a hangover.
“I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
He was muttering to himself when Dolseok came running in.
“Young Master, you’re awake now?”
“Yes. Ugh, my head.”
“Yeoni and Makbong are here.”
“They are? Why?”
“You once told them to look into any skilled physicians. Apparently there’s an extraordinary physician staying now at the foot of Gwanggyosan.”