Chapter 182: Chapter 55
Changkwon’s resistance fighters got a big boost in morale when Yoni joined them as an experienced sword fighter.
Watching the fighting scene with half-closed eyes, Changkwon moaned,
“That’s great...”
He was smiling quietly now.
Kanghyok pressed on his wounds with his hand and said, “Sir, stay here like this for a moment.”
Red blood gushed out between his fingers.
“Let me give him some medical fluid first...”
Kanghyok then gave a shot into his vein miraculously.
As his blood pressure was so low, Kanghyok could barely locate his blood vessel.
Of course, it was not a problem at all to a veteran like Kanghyok.
Then he looked at Changkwon’s wounds over his body.
‘Oh my god... if he were hospitalized in a modern hospital, he can’t survive in this condition...’
With no medical facilities for surgery, it was impossible for Kanghyok to save his life.
All he could do was press on his wounds hard to stop the bleeding.
Even that seemed futile.
“Sir, please hang in there a little longer.”
Now, Changkwons’ eyes were more and more blurred.
As his blood pressure was too low, the medical fluid Kanghyok injected in his vein was useless because of continued bleeding.
‘Damn it!’
There was nothing Kanghyok could do to save Changkwon’s life at this moment.
“Master, let me help you,” said Yoni, putting the blood-stained sword back in a sheath.
Obviously she was done with killing all the remaining Japanese nearby.
“Good! Can you open this wider?”
“Ah, yes...”
She also seemed to sense that Changkwon was hopeless.
“Give me the tweezers first.”
“Yes, master.”
She gave him several small tweezers.
Kanghyok touched the blood vessels one by one by using them.
He couldn’t dare to touch the main artery.
While Kanghyok and Yoni was working hard to stop Changkwon’s bleeding, the cavalry troops led by General Shin arrived at the village, at last.
The swords held by the advance party of the troops were stained with blood. They must have cut down lots of the Japanese raiders who stormed the village.
It was the mayor Yunkil Kim who got off the horse first and came running.
“Oh my god!”
He lamented, looking down at Changkwon, who was heavily wounded.
“Uhhhh....”
Even though he was in a critical condition, Changkwon recognized the mayor.
Then he clearly began to speak,
“I’m sorry....I failed to defend the village school...”
That was true. Most of the students of Confucianism were killed.
On the other hand, almost all the farmers survived.
“No, that’s not your fault,” said the mayor.
Yunkil found it hard to keep looking at Changkwon covered all over with wounds.
He turned his head to Kanghyok.
“What do you think of his condition?”
Given his critical condition, Changkwon might not likely survive.
But the mayor hoped against hope that such a fine doctor like Kanghyok could save his life.
“Well...”
Kanghyok answered shortly, but that was enough for the mayor to conclude that Changkwon was doomed.
“Got it...”
“I think I have to lessen his pain first.”
“Can you do it?”
Looking at Changkwon moaning with extreme pain, Yunkil felt so sorry.
“Yes, I can do.”
Then he took out all the pain relievers from his bag.
There were only three painkiller pills available at the moment.
“Yoni, just keep pressing them.”
He then gave him an injection of narcotic analgesic.
She blocked the hole of the wounds with gauzes and her hand, which was caused when her sword pierced through his back.
“How do you feel now, sir?”
“I’m okay...I feel better.”
Now Changkown couldn’t see anything before him.
Probably he couldn’t see Kanghyok, either.
The blood vessel going into his eyes was pretty thin, affected greatly by the blood pressure.
Still, Changkwon had a smile on his pale face.
He began to speak in a feeble voice,
“You’re my daughter’s savior as well as the son of my teacher...”
As his mouth was bleeding, Changkwon could hardly speak.
After coughing for a while, he opened his mouth again,
“So, I couldn’t let you be killed here...”
This time Kanghyok’s face turned pale.
For he could not figure out whether his daughter Yoju was alive or not.
“Master, Makbong is coming here!”
“Really?”
Fortunately, Makbong, Dolsok and Yoju succeeded in escaping with General Shin’s main force.
Backed up by the cavalry troops, they kept toppling the enemies.
As Makbong, Dolsok and Yoju had no horses, they walked a long way to this village.
Kanghyok felt as if he saw them again in ten years, though he saw their faces only last night.
“Master! You’re safe!.”
Dolsok came running to him in great joy.
Kanghyok was so happy to see him, too.
“Yes, I’ve survived.”
“Master, who is this... Ah?”
Dolsok easily recognized Changkwon’s face.
“He is my savior, Dolsok. Bring Yoju here quickly.”
“Yes, master.”
Helped by Dolsok due to her wounded legs, she slowly came to Kanghyok.
“I’m glad to see you safe, master,” said Yoju, bowing politely to him.
Kanghyok escorted her to Chankwon.
“Dad?”
At her asking Changkwon opened his half-closed eyes all of a sudden.
For he didn’t expect he could hear his daughter’s voice here.
“Are you Yoju?”
“Yes, I’m Yoju, your daughter.”
“I thought it was a dream, that I could hear your voice before I die...”
“Dying? Master, he is not dying, right?”
With a stunned look Yoju turned to Kanghyok.
Kanghyok had no choice but to avoid her eyes.
“Master?” asked Yoju again.
“Sorry.”
She immediately understood what he meant by saying that.
“Oh my....”
She looked at her father again, who was now dying.
As the medical fluid ran out now, there was no other way to save his life.
“Dad...”
“Yoju.”
Her face was tinged with tears now.
In a hoarse and feeble voice he stammered,
“I am sorry to you all my life...”
“Don’t say that, dad.”
“From now on...just follow your own wishes, not mine...”
“Dad?”
Yoju tapped him on the shoulder, but he didn’t reply.
She couldn’t feel any pulse on his arms any more.
She buried her face into his bosom and began to cry.
Only then did Yunkil realize that Yoju was a girl, Changkwon’s daughter.
“Hey, don’t look at them like that. Go away,” he shouted.
He ordered the soldiers, surprised at a woman’s sudden crying, to leave the scene.
“Don’t tell anybody what you saw just now. Got it?”
“Yes, mayor.”
Fortunately, General Shin and his deputies were in a different place.
They were interrogating the Japanese raiders who were taken hostage.
“Yoju...”
Yoni hugged her shoulder cautiously.
Trembling her shoulder, Yoju looked down her father’s body, all covered with wounds.
“Who killed him so brutally?
At her asking Yoni shuddered.
Kanghyok quickly stepped in because Yoni could tell the truth naively.
“That Japanese raider over there. Without your father’s help me and Yoni might have died.”
“Really?”
“Yes, not only us but all the people here would have perished.”
Kanghyok looked at the empty lot filled with the wounded and dead bodies all over.
Of course, there were many people who survived the Japanese’s cruel attack.
They agreed with Kanghyok’s remarks by nodding their heads.
“Got it. Then, who took revenge against my dad’s enemy?” Yoju stopped sobbing and asked, looking at that Japanese raider.
“Yoni did so.”
“Oh...”
Though Yoni was at a loss how to respond, she didn’t initiate any talk. She was just standing quietly.
“Thanks so much, Yoni,” said Yoju, trying to bow down to her.
It was quite unusual for a woman of a noble family to bow down to a commoner like Yoni in Joseon.
With an embarrassed face, Yoni raised her and said, “Madame, please don’t do this.”
“No, you revenged my father’s enemy, and you deserve it.”
Yoju insisted on bowing to her, and she did.
Kanghyok and others looked at them with an uneasy expression.
“Are you Yoju?” said Yunkil, approaching them slowly.
“Yes, mayor.”
“I’m sorry. I wish I had not built the new village school.”
“I heard from my father that he also wanted to work at the school.”
At that moment, General Shin was running toward him with a happy look.
“Mayor, I’ve found out their temporary location.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s not far from here. So, let’s ambush them right now.”
“Got it.”
After sending off General Shin first, the mayor looked around Kanghyok and others.
All of them were in miserable condition.
“Kanghyok, you just stay here and take care of the wounded soldiers, won’t you?”
“Yes, mayor. Leave them to me.”
“Sure, thank you. Please take care of that daughter of Changkwon’s, too.”
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