Chapter 74: Cosmetic Surgery [5]
Ganghyuk opened one of the books Dolseok brought.
“Please see this. I think it would be better to explain in pictures, so I brought these books.”
“Oh, do you have medical books with pictures?”
“Yes, I am making them with the help of a painter.”
“Wow, that is a good idea.”
Lee Hangbok looked at the book with curiosity.
In the first part, the side-effects of blowfish poison were described.
“What is this?”
He pointed Ganghyuk who blew air to the patient using the blown scrotum.
“Ah, when the patient is intoxicated by the poison, we can revive the patient through this method.”
It was a side-effect during the treatment, but he did not explain it like so.
It was to remove any suspicion he might be having.
“Heo. I am surprised. Is there a way to save a person who is intoxicated by blowfish poison?”
Lee Hangbok was poor when he was young.
His mother tried to abort him by taking poison because of poverty, but he survived in the womb and saw the light of the world.
It was said he could not open his eyes for several days after birth.
Therefore, he had a great interest in medicine.
“Yes. The poison of blowfish can paralyze the human muscles. The reason why the intoxicated people die is that their breathing stops once intoxicated.”
“Ha…I see.”
“The scrotum is a tool to make him breathe artificially till the patient can breathe on his own.”
“Great. What is this?”
It was the picture of a patient whose face was paralyzed.
Yeoju caught the characteristics of facial hemiplegia.
The eyebrows and oral angle in the paralyzed side were lowered and those on the other side were raised.
“It is a side-effect that can arise during treatment, but we have already found the right content, so you do not need to worry.”
“If my wife’s face became like this, I would be very depressed, but it would not remind me of her father anymore. Haha.”
“Don’t worry, sir.”
“Then you will give the same injection to my wife as shown in the pictures?”
Yeoju painted the injection scene in details as well.
“Yes, sir.”
“Ok. I trust you. I will see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lee Hangbok left the house.
He did not forget taking the leftover chicken.
Ganghyuk and his fellows were not fully satisfied.
Dolseok pointed the oil pot and asked.
“Sir, what should I do with the oil? Should I throw it away?”
“No. Why? We can fry chicken again.”
“Can we.”
“Yes.”
“Then, can we do it again now…?”
Dolseok pointed at the chickens feeding in the yard.
When Ganghyuk looked back, everybody had the same eyes.
They seemed to be wanting more.
‘I can eat more, too.’
He can buy chicken from the market place if he needs them.
“Ok, let’s have them all together.”
Ganghyuk nodded his head.
That night they finished all the chickens in the house, needless to say, the night ended with their smiling faces.
“Sir, wash your face.”
Dolseok gave him a basin for his oily face.
Yeoju and Yeoni who stood behind looked happy, too.
He felt a great sense of satisfaction after seeing them happy.
“Ok, have a quick breakfast and visit sir Hanbok.”
“Yes.”
“Get the scrotums in case of an emergency.”
“Ah, yes.”
Dolseok and the others showed a gloomy expression at the command of Ganghyuk, but their faces brightened soon thereafter.
They knew they would not need the scrotums anymore based on their experiences.
The last time they blew the balloons was three days ago.
All had the same thinking in their head.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, I will get a horse.”
“Ok.”
Ganghyuk was on the way on the horse.
Commoners around the house bowed to him as soon as he graced them with his presence.
“Sir.”
“Do not look at their faces. Your neck would be diced.”
They feared him rather than respected him.
He was from the house filled with cries of agony and screams of suffering every day.
Additionally, high-ranking officials such as Seongyong and Hangbok visited him quite often.
“Heo, they misunderstood me.”
The Flail showed a strange reaction to his expression when Ganghyuk said that.
He thought it was true Ganghyuk captured people and tortured them.
He still remembered the pain he had endured after taking medicine.
They thrust something in his anus and experimented.
However, after that, they accepted him as a member of their fellowship and treated him with compassion.
They were not the sort of people who would bow down blindly, and he thought it would be wiser to keep them as his friends rather than enemies.
“Ah, Sir Baik. Please come in.”
A salve of Hangbok came to them after recognizing Ganghyuk.
The gate was soon opened and Ganghyuk was guided to the room of Hangbok’s wife.
“Oh, you have arrived.”
Gwon Yul greeted him.
Ganghyuk was surprised because he thought Hangbok secretly arranged this operation.
“Eo, sir, good morning.”
“I heard my daughter had some sort of disease.”
“Yes, she is sick.”
“Heo. I did not know she was sick. Why didn’t they tell me?”
Gwon Yul seemed to feel sorry for her.
It was a very familiar reaction.
‘The president of the hospital showed the expression on his face quite often.’
His face was like that when he was talking about his daughter who did not study hard, did not follow his instruction, and did not have a beautiful face.
In others’ eyes, she was a bad daughter, but the president loved her with all his heart.
He tried to introduce her to Ganghyuk, hoping to make Ganghyuk his son-in-law.
The president had to pay for his wrong decision with the insults he received from Ganghyuk.
‘Is Gwon Yul like the president in that world?’
When he was remembering the times he had with the president, Lee Hangbok entered.
He always looked like a day off officer.
This is the first time he saw Hangbok in his official uniform.
“Did you meet my father-in-law? Are you ready for the treatment?”
“Yes, I will give her a good therapy.”
Hangbok was calm, although it was his wife’s treatment.
However, Gwon Yul was nervous and walked around the yard restlessly.
“Please give her the best treatment that you can give. She has a body as weak as mine.”
“Yes, I understand.”
His hands were warm and thick. As he grabbed Ganghyuk’s hands with enormous strength, he couldn’t let go of it easily.
Ganghyuk saw some threats from his eyes. He thought he could die here if he made a mistake in her treatment.
‘I don’t want to be his enemy in Hangjudaecheop. [A war Gwon Yul won against Japanese.]
He really did not want to die here.
Ganghyuk was firmly determined to make this treatment successful as took his shoes off before entering.
“Dolseok, give it to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dolseok gave the scrotum in the silk pouch.
‘I hope there will not be an accident that would need the assistance of this.’
Ganghyuk ignored the stern eyes of Gwon Yul and came into the room.
Yeoju and Yeoni, wearing nurse-like uniforms, and Lee Hangbok followed him.
When they were about to close the door, Gwon Yul added.
“If something happens, call me. I will come back from the palace as soon as possible.”
Then Hangbok answered with a stern tone.
“Yes, father.”
“You must remember that…”
“Father, it is time for you to go to the office.”
He closed the door without hesitation.
Gwon Yul said something, but Ganghyuk could not hear it since Hangbok started speaking right thereafter.
“He is always making a fuss when it’s related to my wife. Please understand.”
“Eo, yes.”
Ganghyuk thought Gwon Yul was not the person to be ignored like that.
He would be called Chungjanggong later.
However, Ganghyuk could not help but keep his silence. Hangbok would be the Prime Minister of Joseon later.
Ganghyuk opened the book, shaking his head.
There were all the details of the experiments he had made the entire week.
“Eum, here it is.”
On the page, there was a face resembling Hangbok’s wife.
When looking closely into the image, tiny spots were seen from her cheeks and ears, running towards the chin.
It was the spot where he would inject the blowfish poison into.
“It might be painful, so I will give anesthetic first.”
“Eum”
She was feeling the tension in her rising heartbeat thus she did not give an answer.
Instead, she nodded in response.
“Yeoni”
“Yes, sir.”
She took out the pre-made ointment.
It was a kind of aesthetic ointment made out of Jawoongo and Seomsu (toad poison).
Its effect was not remarkable, but it could reduce the pain.
‘When I give them the injection, their faces looked different when I applied the ointment.’
It was a non-scientific experiment.
If he was in his own world, he would reject such an inconclusive plan for an experiment.
‘But I cannot help using this as my guide. I have no choice; besides, it does not have any side effects.’
There was no other option for him.
Botox was notorious for the pain it causes.
He did not know the extent of the pain blowfish poison would exude, but it seemed whatever the intensity of the said pain, its stronger than Botox.
The fellows screamed in the experiment.
The screams gave him the stigma of being a torturous scoundrel among the villagers.
Some of them thought Ganghyuk’s house was a branch of Euigeumbu [National Police responsible for noblemen’s crime].
“Apply the ointment.”
“Yes.”
Yeoni applied the ointment after wearing the gloves.
Ganghyuk continued watching her face being covered with the white ointment.
“You may feel numb. It means the anesthesia we are applying is working. Thus, you don’t need to worry. You will soon feel well again.”
“Eum.”
She did not answer this time either.
Swallow!
When he looked back, Hangbok was watching the process anxiously.
He swallowed with a dry mouth.
“Please lie down here. Wait for a moment here.”
Ganghyuk waited till the ointment worked.
He was nervous when it was the time for him to inject the blowfish poison.
He did not imagine he would feel this much pressure in injecting poison to a patient.
‘But it is much easier than the operation to cut bones.’
That might kill her.
“Ah, I feel numb now.”
“Good. Yeoni and Yeoju.”
“Yes.”
They were well trained because of their multiple practices.
They sat beside the patient in a hurry.
They carry four to five syringes in their hands.
As it was too painful, he thought it would be better to finish as soon as possible.
“Now, inject them.”
“Yes, sir.”
With the order of Ganghyuk, they moved without another word.
They made a hole with the needle on the skin and pulled the syringe to check if it was not a blood vessel. If they reached the right place, they pressed the syringe to release the medication.
They practiced a lot so their hands moved very with such quick yet precise movement.
“Aaaaaaaa!”
She screamed. Fortunately, Gwon Yul had left already.
“Is it good? Is she okay?”
Hangbok who was calm up to that point finally showed a sign of worry. If Gwon Yul were there, he might off Ganghyuk’s head.
The expression on her face looked terrible.
Poisonous medicine mixed with her blood spew out from the place where the injection was pierced.
“It will be done in no time.”
“Heo…”
Hangbok looked at his wife with pitiful eyes.
She often looked at Ganghyuk as she endured the pain after suffering through the injections.
It seemed that she wanted to ask something.
Instead of her though, her husband asked in her stead.
“Will it be effective?”
“Yes, I guarantee it.”
“Okay, then, it is good.”
She was the daughter of Chungjanggong.
She was a strong patient; one who did not lose her sense of dignity in spite of all the pain she must have been feeling.
She wiped her blood with a graceful expression.
Even men fainted after they got received the injection.
She must be a woman from Amazon.
“Let’s see for a while.”
“Why?”
Ganghyuk secretly looked at the scrotum in the silk pouch.
He wished not to use it.
“It is a principle to wait for one to two hours when a doctor cures a patient.”
“Okay. I trust you, anyway.”
She did not show any of the previous side-effects.
In fact, the effect their seeing right now was quite good.
Before a week passed, she had a perfect V line.
Even after a few hours, she was born again as a beauty.
She liked her new face very much and she looked herself in the mirror quite often.
“Wow, how can I be changed like this?”
“We realize the reason why people called you a great doctor.”
Lee Hangbok laughed.
“You must be using those injections some more in the future.”
“I can use this injection as many times as possible as long as the effect is always similar to this.”
She seemed to forget all the pain she had to endure. She showed a bright smile.
“I will go now.”
“Why? Do you have other business?”
“No, sir, but it is already very dark.”
Ganghyuk answered, pointing at the darkened skies outside the room.
As he mentioned, the shadow of the night roams from all around.
“Then sleep here.”
Hangbok tried to keep Ganghyuk, but he could not stop him.
‘I will make a real fried chicken using the flour you gave me today.’
Perhaps even King Seonjo could not stop Ganghyuk from leaving.
“Haha. I am going.”
Ganghyuk managed to escape from his house.
He and his fellows walked fast thinking of fried chicken.
“The road is empty today.”
Dolseok murmured with delight.
It was very dark and there were no people on the road.
Ganghyuk realized that it was unusual.
“No people at all.”
“It is not the time for the bell to ring.”
Yeoni frowned.
She felt something.
“Stop there, please. I heard something.”
“Ah. What is this?”
There were no people, but they could hear some steps.
He was sure some people were hiding in the darkness.
Makbong shouted.
“Who is out there? Come out.”
In no time, a group showed themselves in front of them.
The man who led the group was a complete stranger to them.
He had a beard and loud voice.
He must be a strong man.
“You are walking with your two legs after treating my brothers in that way.”
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