Chapter 92
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The Final Episode
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“The hardest part about Plus+ is choosing what to watch.”
Having finished cleaning the house, Olivia was ready to enjoy a relaxing weekend watching a drama on the paid streaming site [Plus+]. Munching on snacks, she searched for something interesting.
As long as there were subtitles, she didn't mind foreign dramas, but despite her eager search, nothing really caught her eye.
“This one’s no good either…”
Finally returning to the home screen, Olivia’s eyes landed on the [Actor of the Week] banner.
The [Actor of the Week] on the streaming site [Plus+] was a category that selected actors each week and compiled their works. Sometimes it featured famous Hollywood stars, and other times it was actors who were only famous in their own countries.
“Still, if they’re famous in their country, there’s usually a good reason.”
Olivia knew of many actors from around the world who had gained international fans thanks to ‘Actor of the Week.’
“I wonder who’s up today.”
When she clicked the banner, the screen filled with photos of actors. Their nationalities were diverse—India, China, France, Italy, and more. Among them, one picture stood out: a photo of a brightly smiling child.
[Seojun Lee]
“Jun is already a star. I’ve seen them all, but they’re still fun. Should I watch one again?”
Olivia, who had even watched the Korean movie ‘The Evil Spirit’ on Plus+, smiled and clicked on Seojun’s photo.
Shadowman 1, Shadowman 2, The Evil Spirit. As she was debating which of the three movies to watch, Olivia’s expression stiffened.
“Huh?”
[Play/ ‘Spring’ 1st-8th Performance] NEW!
[Drama/ Naeuiwon Ep. 1-8] NEW!
New works by Seojun Lee had appeared.
* * *
“So it’s causing a huge stir.”
KBC, the production company, and the paid streaming site [Plus+].
They had all anticipated the power of Seojun’s name, but the results far exceeded their expectations, sending everyone into a frenzy. The view count increased with each passing day, as did the number of people subscribing to Plus+ just to watch Seojun Lee’s new work.
“There are a lot of comments saying the Grand Prince is cute.”
“Things are going to get crazy when episode 14 is uploaded.”
Lee Jiseok laughed at Seojun’s comment. He placed a large bone from the gamjatang onto Seojun’s plate before putting one on his own.
“They’re uploading two episodes a week, so we still have a little time. Speaking of which, I heard the Naeuiwon special is also going to be on Plus+.”
At that, Seojun let out a hollow laugh. His gaze drifted to the television mounted in a corner of the restaurant. A rerun of the Naeuiwon special was playing.
[As many viewers may have seen in historical dramas, the first step is to lock down the village where the epidemic has broken out. After that, physicians are called in to begin treatment. While it's not a perfect cure for changjin, I will be making an herbal decoction today that can help. If it were up to me, this is the first decoction I would have prescribed to Grand Prince Seongnyeong.]
Spurred on by the fiery response from Naeuiwon viewers, KBC had enthusiastically aired the special.
It even featured a demonstration of how to prepare an herbal decoction that could aid in the treatment of changjin, using methods and medicinal herbs from the Joseon era, alongside an explanation of how they dealt with the disease back then.
On the television screen, a Korean medicine doctor was diligently brewing the decoction in what was clearly a studio.
“Is that really going up?”
“Of course. Thanks to Naeuiwon, there’s a lot of curiosity about Korean traditional medicine overseas. I hear traditional clinics abroad are getting more patients too. I don’t know what will happen when Grand Prince Seongnyeong dies, but for now, it's a hot topic. Someone I know said the Naeuiwon special will also cover how to treat changjin with modern medicine. Since Plus+ has a global audience, that wouldn't be a bad idea.”
“Why on earth would people watch something like that?”
“Sometimes, the most pointless stories are the most interesting. People wonder, ‘If this medicine existed, would Grand Prince Seongnyeong have lived?’ or ‘What would have happened if he had survived?’”
“I see.”
He said, but he didn’t understand what was so interesting about it.
Seojun took a spoonful of the broth. The hot gamjatang soup was delicious.
* * *
Episode 23 of Naeuiwon aired.
Upon hearing news of the changjin outbreak in Gyeonggi Province, King Sejong summoned a man without a moment's hesitation. With a cold expression, the prostrated Heo Yuseon raised his head at the king’s call.
“I have a request for you, Physician Heo.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Changjin has broken out in Muulli. I would like you to go.”
Heo Yuseon, who had been listening to the king’s words absently while bowed, flinched. Sejong knew. If any other physician had trembled upon hearing his words, it would have been out of fear of changjin, but this man was different.
“...Changjin?”
Forgetting he was in the king’s presence, the word escaped Heo Yuseon’s lips.
Changjin?
“Ha…”
Heo Yuseon lowered his head. His body tensed. His back trembled, just as it had on that day. But this time was different.
“Aha, ahahaha!!!”
Heo Yuseon laughed like a madman. At the sound of his crazed laughter, the guards outside burst through the doors. Sejong silently waved them away. Ahahaha, Heo Yuseon’s laughter, which had echoed as if to tear the palace down, finally stopped.
“Your Majesty.”
Heo Yuseon lifted his head. Viewers were horrified by the close-up of his face. With a bizarrely twisted expression, Heo Yuseon cried out.
“Your Majesty's grace is boundless!!”
-Wow. They could have ended episode 23 with this scene.
-Right? But there's still half an episode left.
Heo Yuseon packed his belongings. He gathered the research materials King Sejong had compiled over the years, along with his own. Watching Heo Yuseon pack with frantic energy, the other physicians shook their heads.
“He must have gone mad, being sent to his death.”
“Didn’t you hear? He said he was eternally grateful after receiving the King’s order. He’s lost his mind.”
Before heading to Muulli, Heo Yuseon visited Grand Prince Seongnyeong's tomb. He bowed before the neatly kept grave and then set off for Muulli with a hardened expression.
Smoke rose in the distance. It was the typical scene of a plague-ridden village. Heo Yuseon tied a white cloth over the lower half of his face and entered.
Dead bodies were strewn everywhere. Without sparing them a glance, Heo Yuseon asked a soldier.
“Where are the patients?”
“This way, my lord.”
The soldier led the way. The patients were scattered about without any order.
Heo Yuseon first began to sort the patients by the severity of their condition. He entrusted those with milder symptoms to the physicians who had accompanied him and began to care for the critical patients everyone else was reluctant to approach.
“Hmph. This isn't it either.”
Heo Yuseon treated no one carelessly. However, the treatments he had researched were not working on the patients. One died, and then another. King Sejong, sharing Heo Yuseon’s determination, sent an ample supply of medicinal herbs.
Heo Yuseon was contemplating how to adjust his failed treatment methods.
“My lord! My lord!”
“What is it!”
A voice called for him from outside. He opened the door to see the soldier, the one who had previously recovered from changjin, carrying someone on his back.
“It’s the herb gatherer’s boy who lives deep in the mountains! He hadn’t come down lately, so I went to check, and what do you know, he’s caught changjin!”
“Lay him on the cot.”
“Yes, yes!”
The soldier carefully set the boy down.
Thump—!
The drumbeat, which had been silent for several episodes, sounded again. Viewers who had been diligently watching Naeuiwon flinched at the sound. Like Pavlov’s dogs, their hearts began to pound.
Thump!
The soldier’s dark shadow gradually receded, revealing the boy’s face. Heo Yuseon’s expression, which had been coolly assessing the patient, wavered for an instant. His mouth fell open.
People watching on their televisions also gasped in unison.
“He’s a very good boy. He gave my mother some good herbs when she was sick. My lord, you must save him.”
The soldier’s words were inaudible.
Thump! Thump!
His legs giving out, Heo Yuseon collapsed onto the dirt floor. The soldier cried out, “My lord, my lord!” but all of Heo Yuseon's senses were fixed on the boy.
Your Highness.
Watching the boy gasp for breath, Heo Yuseon finally uttered the words. His voice was cracked, as if something was caught in his throat.
“Grand Prince Seongnyeong!”
[Grand Prince Seongnyeong returns?!]
[Naeuiwon Episode 23 hits a peak viewership rating of 37%!]
-WTF? Seriously? Is that him?! Grand Prince Seongnyeong was here all along!?
-No way, it's been 7 years, but he hasn't aged a day! It's someone else!
-Whoa. Heo Yuseon must be losing his mind. A kid who looks just like the Grand Prince, and he has changjin too.
=…OMG! You're right!
-But that is Lee Seojun, right?
=Yeah, I thought he was done with the show! But he's back!
=His looks shine even in an herb gatherer's outfit!
[KBC Naeuiwon Final Episode!]
[The return of Grand Prince Seongnyeong?]
[All treatments have failed so far! Can he finally find a cure!]
-Ah… the final episode. I want to watch it, but I don't want it to end.
-It's gonna be a happy ending, right? Since he'll be cured!
=Isn't it already not a happy ending since the Grand Prince died?
=T_T So is it a normal ending? T_T Please don't be a bad ending T_T
Heo Yuseon brought the boy to an empty room. Although he had been mistaken for a moment, he came to his senses and realized it was a different child from the Grand Prince.
“It’s already been seven years…”
If it were the Grand Prince, seven years would have been enough time for him to grow into a fine young man. He couldn’t possibly be this small child. After staring blankly at the herb gatherer’s boy, Heo Yuseon quickly snapped out of it and sent a letter to King Sejong.
“He resembles Seongnyeong?”
King Sejong shot up from his seat. Resembles my Jong? Gazing wistfully towards Muulli, Sejong sighed and sat back down.
“Head Eunuch.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Prepare all the medicinal herbs Physician Heo requested and send them.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.”
After the Head Eunuch left with the letter, Sejong let out a deep sigh that seemed to come from his very soul and rubbed his face with his hands.
“Please, this time, please…”
Though he was nearly thirty, the resurfacing memories made King Sejong feel weak. He could almost hear Seongnyeong’s bright voice calling him from afar, “Brother Chungnyeong! Brother!”
Heo Yuseon immediately began treatment. The more he looked, the more the boy resembled the Grand Prince from back then.
Not only his height and appearance but even the symptoms of his illness were similar to those of the Grand Prince, which Heo Yuseon had examined dozens of times. For that reason, Heo Yuseon couldn’t help but devote himself even more passionately to the treatment.
When he wasn’t treating the boy, he checked on other patients to observe the effects of the medicine. Some remedies worked for the boy, while others did not.
“My lord. You must rest!”
Heo Yuseon focused on the boy’s treatment to the point where the soldier had to try and stop him. When a medicine that had helped a recovering patient had no effect on the boy, he would weep alone.
The boy’s condition grew progressively worse.
Just like on that day. Heo Yuseon could do nothing but watch helplessly.
Your Highness. Your Highness.
He couldn't dare to cry then, but here, it was different. Heo Yuseon burst into tears as if letting everything out. Everyone shook their heads at the sight of him sobbing like a child.
Just then, something warm touched his hand. It was the boy's hand. The boy, with a pained smile, mumbled something.
‘Thank you.’
At the slow movement of the boy's lips, Heo Yuseon's mind cleared in a flash. 'Thank you, Physician Heo.' He heard Grand Prince Seongnyeong's voice. He could not let him go like this again.
Everyone watching television held their breath. Though the clothes and setting were different, the boy with the same face as the Grand Prince reminded both Heo Yuseon and the viewers of that fateful day. Heo Yuseon's face, his hands taking a pulse and placing needles, the boy's face contorted in pain.
Everyone watched, barely breathing.
The sun set, the moon rose, and the sun set again. The fever that had threatened to consume the boy’s body gradually subsided. The red rash faded, and his labored breathing returned to normal.
Heo Yuseon, his hands trembling as he examined the boy, finally took that small hand in both of his and bowed his head over it.
In the end, Heo Yuseon had succeeded.
Ah, Your Highness.
Upon receiving the letter that the boy had been cured, King Sejong shed tears without realizing it. Though it was not a perfect cure for changjin, just knowing that one child was saved felt as though half the burden on his heart had been lifted.
Sejong intended to appoint Heo Yuseon as the Royal Physician, but Heo Yuseon refused. After treating the boy and confirming that the situation in Muulli had improved, Heo Yuseon departed.
His destination was Grand Prince Seongnyeong’s tomb.
“Your Highness.”
After bowing at the Grand Prince's tomb, Heo Yuseon sat up straight.
“I, Physician Heo, have treated changjin. Unlike when I treated you, Your Highness, there were many methods available to me.”
Heo Yuseon read from his medical records. His voice, which had been calm, gradually slowed and became choked with emotion.
“The child has recovered. Once he regains his strength, he will be able to live as he did before.”
Heo Yuseon smiled through his tears.
“The days I spent with you, Your Highness, were so wonderful. I was able to dream of a future I never dared to hope for. As I thought of that future, a small seed was planted. What I saw and learned was the pursuit of power, so I wished to place you on the throne, Your Highness. I wanted to give it to you, no matter what, but I am certain you would have refused, wouldn’t you?”
Perhaps the blood of Chancellor Heo flowed in his veins, for whenever he saw the lacking Grand Prince Yangnyeong in the position of Crown Prince, resentment would surge within him. That position was better suited for Grand Prince Seongnyeong, who had made him bow his head instinctively from their very first meeting.
But before he could do anything, his master departed for the heavens. Heo Yuseon was consumed by guilt, feeling as if that death was his own fault for harboring such wicked thoughts.
“I was wrong. I, I truly…”
Heo Yuseon prostrated himself on the dirt ground, just as he had on that day. His ceaseless tears soaked the earth.
“So, so… please…”
That day he could never forget.
Heo Yuseon finally spoke the words he had been unable to voice.
“…Please come back.”
Sangwibok.
A ritual beseeching the soul of a deceased king, who has ascended to the heavens, to return.
As Heo Yuseon lay prostrate before Grand Prince Seongnyeong's tomb, sobbing uncontrollably, subtitles appeared on the screen.
[We thank all our viewers for watching Naeuiwon.]
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