Chapter 33: Another Excellent Doctor [3]

Heo Jun was a very diligent person, so he woke up Ganghyuk very early in the morning.

“It is time to get up.”

“Why? The sun is still in its nest and the bell is not ringing yet.”

“We cannot hear the bell here.”

“Then, can I sleep some more?”

“You told me you would like to learn…”

“Yeah, that’s true. Okay I am getting up.”

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Like Lee Sunshin, Heo Jun clearly had some special characteristics.

Ganghyuk got up and saw Dolseok sleeping. It was no wonder that they had drinks till late night. Makbong had been calling the mistress of the inn constantly, but he was not to be seen anywhere now.

‘They are good. Only I…’ He thought that only he had to face hard times even though he was a nobleman. He intentionally hit Dolseok as he went out.

“Ugh”

But, that did not make much difference; he did not wake up at all, and just continued to sleep like a log.

“Come here.”

“Yes”

Heo Jun had already dressed up, so Ganghyuk followed him after making himself tidy. Although it was a noisy inn, there was no one there right now because it was too early in the morning. Perhaps, even the mistress of the inn was sleeping right now.

Makbong was a ‘Byeongangsoi'(1) himself.

…

‘It is quite pleasant.’

It was still spring, so the air was fresh. And because of the mist, the atmosphere seemed somewhat mysterious.

Heo Jun stretched his body in the yard.

“A doctor must handle somebody’s body. Therefore, we must know how to control our own.”

“Yes.”

“It is the movement to make cold spirit rise up and hot spirit go down to circulate the spirit in the body. Follow me.”

“Yes”

To control the body… It sounded great and profound. Ganghyuk agreed with the opinion completely.

‘I trained myself in the gym. What will he do to control his body?’ He wondered, not understanding about the spirit thing though.

“It is the ‘Anmadoin’ method created from arranging movements that have been passed down.”

“Anmadoin?”

Heo Jun started his body very slowly after that remark. He moved his mouth and then pulled his ears; he rubbed his palms and then put them on the ears, followed by rubbing his forehead.

‘It looks like a ritual rather than an exercise.’

Ganghyuk could not understand the principle because he was soaked into the modern medicine. Ganghyuk felt good while following him, so he followed his actions faithfully.

“Now, I will do a little harder movements. Follow me carefully.”

“Ok.”

He expected something like Yoga, but Heo Jun moved to the right and then left like dancing. While Ganghyuk was feeling some kind of déjà vu, he heard a shout of concentration.

“Ik, Aek”

“…”

“Follow me”

“Ik”

“Aek”

“Aek”

He did not expect him to perform this movement. He thought he had seen it on the Internet in his previous world. But, he could not say that he would not do it, as he was the student anyway.

‘If I have to do it, I would like to do it in the right way.’

He could not exercise after he had come to this world, so he felt like starting with something. It would not be bad to learn a martial art.

He thought that he would be able to learn ‘Taekyeon’ easily.

…

“Oh my God!”

“We are not even halfway yet.”

“Oh my goodness!”

“Ik”

“Ik!”

But, it was not as he had expected; Taekyeon was not easy at all.

‘It was said that a Taekyeon expert could beat several fellows at the same time. I did not believe it at that time.’

Heo Jun seemed capable of beating Ganghyuk in a second. After all, whenever he hit the air, a sharp wind sound was heard.

Without their knowledge, Makbong and Yeoni came out and watched them.

“Good!”

“Very good!”

Those two were martial art experts, and even they remarked in that way. That meant that Heo Jun was surely good at martial arts.

‘If I do it constantly, can I be an expert as well?’

Ganghyuk followed Heo Jun sincerely, but he thought that he might die before being an expert because of breathlessness.

Heo Jun stopped just when Ganghyuk thought he would truly die.

“That’s it for today.”

“Whew… I thought today would be my funeral.”

“You look very young and you cannot follow this?”

“Eh… I thought I had good strength.”

“You must make more effort.”

Ganghyuk could not say anything in response, as he just could not follow Heo Jun’s movement quickly.

…

As the sun came out, the mist shrouding the area disappeared gradually. At that moment, the mistress came with rice with soup.

“Dolseok, wake up.” Hearing Ganghyuk’s shout, he hurriedly came out of the room.

“You are the last, Dolseok. Everybody else has already gotten up.”

“Sorry, sir.”

“Come and eat. You must give a hand from today.”

“I will, sir.” Dolseok felt that he had to pay back as his master paid him with good food and entertainment, so he hurriedly nodded his head. Yeoju had already dressed up and come out of the room.

She looked awkward in the male clothes, unlike Yeoni.

“Yeoju, come here. Yeoni and Makbong, too.”

“Yes, sir.”

When everybody came to the table, Ganghyuk stirred his soup, feeling that it would be just dog food back at his home; the rice was seen floating in the weak broth.

‘Is it the food that we need to pay for?’

The food was not good at all. Dolseok and Ganghyuk were stirring the broth as they tried to eat, but they had lost their appetite.

On the other side, Makbong was eating with delight. Then they found that Makbong’s soup was different from theirs.

“Makbong, your soup has meat.”

“Yes, sir.”

With the comment of Ganghyuk, Makbong showed an indecent smile. When he looked back, the mistress ran away with blushed cheeks.

“Heo… Your bones will not last long.”

“It is fine, sir. I eat a lot.”

“Yes, that is true. Anyway, the work here will be different from that in my clinic. You must follow the doctor’s orders.”

“Yes, sir. I will.”

Ganghyuk would watch Heo Jun’s examination by himself, so he wanted to make it sure everything would be in order.

‘After coming to Joseon, I came to have many honorable events.’

Ganghyuk tried to eat the food while hiding his excitement. Although it was not tasty, he could eat because he felt hungry due to the morning exercise.

“Let’s start the day.”

Heo Jun went out of the inn while shaking his arms and legs. Ganghyuk ran after him quickly to walk together with him toward the clinic.

“Well, Brother Heo Jun…”

“Brother? ”

“Yes, you are older than me, so you are my elder brother.”

Heo Jun laughed while looking at Ganghyuk. The latter reminded him of Miam Yoo Huichoon, who used to help him. He did not treat Heo Jun as a second-grade man, but as a human.

Heo Jun’s mother was a slave, so he was also a slave according to the law in Joseon. It was fully thanks to Miam that Heo Jun came to Hanyang.

“Ok, you can call me as you want.”

“Until when are you going to stay here?”

It was good to know the term when one wanted to learn something. Especially, Ganghyuk liked to have a schedule in advance and then follow it.

“About a month.”

“A month? I must learn diligently then.”

“Ha ha… I am not very special. You might be disappointed.”

Ganghyuk laughed. If he was to be disappointed with Heo Jun, then he would have no one to learn from. Ganghyuk wished that not to happen as he hastened his steps.

While walking on the road, they saw a group of people.

“They have gathered already.”

There was a clinic in the yard of a big house located in the mouth of the village. The owner of the house had his life saved thanks to Heo Jun, so he let him use it to show his gratefulness.

“Well, please give me a way.”

Hearing the remark, the people were divided into two just like the split of the Red Sea.

“Please let me…” Ganghyuk hurried to follow him. Behind them, Dolseok smelled the herbs on the way. It was a very familiar smell that he could not smell in Ganghyuk’s clinic.

“Oh, herbs! Yes, THIS is a clinic.”

“What?”

“Nothing, sir.” Dolseok lowered his tail as he continued walking. Following him, Makbong came into the place showing off his big fists.

“Give me way.”

After some time, they could finally settle in their spots. Yeoni and Dolseok assisted Ganghyuk and Makbong in distributing the number plates, while Yeoju prepared for drawing.

“Let’s start then.” With the remark of Heo Jun, the patients came in one by one; Ganghyuk observed them from behind Heo Jun. It was just like the years when he was a medical school student.

“Here… You could not eat because of blisters in your mouth.” Heo Jun diagnosed after examining the patient.

“For this disease, Yanggyeoksan is good. Do not swallow. Leave it in the mouth for a while and then spit it out.”

“Oh, a gargle!”

There was a gargle in Joseon! Ganghyuk did not expect such a prescription. He nodded his head with satisfaction, but Dolseok annoyed him with his comment.

“Sir, you made a ridiculous remark again.”

“Ah, you are…”

Ganghyuk almost hit him when he thought that it would not be proper in the current setting. He couldn’t help but hesitate in the presence of Heo Jun.

Heo Jun was trying to cure patient and Ganghyuk was trying to create a patient? He should not do that definitely.

‘Think of the Anmadoin method.’

When he remembered the movements from the morning, he could finally pacify himself. While he was doing so, Heo Jun called his assistant.

“I must make Yanggyeoksan. Get forsythia fruit, Baical skullcap root, gardenia seeds, balloon-flower, angelica, and liquorice.

“Yes, sir”

The names were all strange but somewhat familiar. These were the names of the herbs that Ganghyuk wanted to learn.

“Oh! Yeoju, can you draw them?”

“Yes, of course.”

“If you can, can you mark the quantities?”

“Yes.”

The man compounded the oriental medicine while Ganghyuk looked at him carefully in order not to miss any movement.

‘Gargle is nothing special.’

In his previous world, they usually used liquid anti-inflammatory medication. A disinfectant like alcohol would help in preventing infection, while glycerol would keep the mucous membrane moisturized.

If a steroid was used, it would accelerate the recovery.

‘Then, we do not need all of the herbs there.’ The necessary ingredients were not many, but Heo Jun put too many kinds of herbs.

‘As they cannot analyze ingredients, they cannot help.’

The fortunate thing was that it was a really old prescription, so the risk was very low.

‘Can I test removing herbs from the prescription one by one?’ It would be better if he could use only the essential herbs.

…

Ganghyuk looked at the prescription of Heo Jun from the perspective of a modern doctor. After spending a few days, he finally had some useful prescriptions in his kitty.

‘Banhasashim, Hwangryeohaedoktang, Jawungo… They may be useful, and I can use them right away.’

Yeoju was a good painter, so there was no difficulty in distinguishing the herbs. As Ganghyuk was looking at the paintings with satisfaction, a noise came from the yard.

“Doctor! Doctor!”

“What is it?” Heo Jun rushed outside to see what was going on. It was a serious shriek, so Ganghyuk could not pass it either. He went out hastily and saw a man bleeding from the head, brought here by two big men.

“He fell down from a tree. After that, he seems to be acting very strange.”

“En…”

Heo Jun grunted without thinking of the right treatment. These were the times that did not have good treatment for traumas. They did not have good knowledge in anatomy, so how could they perform an operation?

It was the limit of the era.

But fortunately, there was a man here who had good knowledge in surgery: Ganghyuk.

Ganghyuk went forward while leaving Heo Jun behind.

“I will take a look at him.”

1) ‘Byeongangsoi’ – Korean folk Cassanova, a symbol of masculine stamina