Doctor Goes Back to Joseon - Chapter 59: A Letter from Hanyang [3]

It’s human nature to desire power.

Baek Kang-hyuk was no exception. Occasionally, he even dreamed of running for the National Assembly.

He would quickly brush off such thoughts, finding it foolish to waste energy on something so far-fetched.

‘Tempting, though.’

The magistrate’s proposal was a highly feasible idea.
But the drawbacks were too significant to accept it outright.

‘It’s already suffocating at home; the palace would be even worse.’

Being naturally free-spirited, and from an entirely different era, Kang-hyuk couldn’t imagine enduring life in the palace.

“Why? Still not interested?”

His hesitation was clearly visible.

The magistrate seemed to have caught on.

Kang-hyuk replied with an awkward smile.
“Thank you for the generous offer, but… not at this moment.”

“Well, thoughts can change anytime.”

“Yes, sir.”

“For now, just remember that I’ll soon be at the Ministry of Personnel.”

“Yes.”

The magistrate, leaving room for reconsideration, downed his drink.

Kang-hyuk followed suit, finding the taste delightful.

If nothing else, the magistrate’s taste in alcohol matched Kang-hyuk’s perfectly.

“By the way, I heard Chang-gwon’s daughter is still staying at your house?”

His playful smile hinted at suspicion.

Knowing about their shared journey from Anseong to Eotan-myeon, it was a reasonable assumption from his perspective.

“Yes, my father provided her a separate house, as it felt inappropriate to leave her alone in an empty one.”

“Ah, I see. Well, Chang-gwon’s daughter wouldn’t be a bad match as a spouse.”

It wasn’t suspicion—it was a solid misunderstanding.

Kang-hyuk quickly waved his hands in denial.

Living in Joseon meant marriage was inevitable, but he wasn’t interested now.

He’d rather join the palace and serve Seonjo than get married.

“No, no. It’s simply because she’s my student’s daughter.”

“Haha, of course.”

Though his expression said otherwise, thankfully, he didn’t pursue the topic further.

This was due to Magistrate Yi Jeong-bok’s timely arrival. Jeong-bok cautiously opened the door and stepped in.

“Sir, I’ve come to discuss an issue.”

“Hey, sir? That’s far too much.”

The magistrate laughed heartily, clearly not displeased by the honorific.

Jeong-bok cemented it further.
“Soon, you’ll be a minister, so it’s fitting.”

“Haha, you and Kang-hyuk both get ahead of yourselves.”

In such situations, it was best to join in the laughter.

And, honestly, it was a little funny.

Kang-hyuk let out a hearty laugh as well, chiming in appropriately.

“Congratulations.”

After laughing together for a while, they abruptly stopped.

The magistrate still had work to do.

“Well, Kang-hyuk, I’ve got some business to handle.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll take my leave.”

“Don’t worry about the task I mentioned earlier.”

“Thank you.”

At the magistrate’s signal to leave, Kang-hyuk exited the room promptly.

Looking outside, he saw Dolseok entertaining a group of soldiers in the courtyard.

“So then, the young master just went bam! You know that bag, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know!”

“The black one, right?”

Though he overheard only briefly, Kang-hyuk could already smell the exaggeration in Dolseok’s story.

Without intending to stop him, Kang-hyuk approached leisurely.

“And when he swung it at that masked guy, he was knocked out cold!”

“Then what?”

“Then I jabbed him right there!”

“Wow, amazing!”

Dolseok was so engrossed in his storytelling that his spit seemed ready to soak the entire yard.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Ah! Young master!”

Dolseok ducked his head like someone caught watching something inappropriate.

The other soldiers bowed as well.

“Master Baek.”
“Scholar.”
“Doctor.”

Their titles varied, but the respect in their tone was the same.

“Good work. Is your arm alright?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

“And how’s your stomach?”

“It’s fine now.”

Each soldier showed off the scars they had acquired—some treated by Dolseok, others by Kang-hyuk himself.

“Alright. Can I take Dolseok with me now?”

“Of course!”

“Let’s go, and stop your chatter.”

“Yes, young master.”

Dolseok, looking embarrassed, dashed toward the stables.

Once on his horse, Kang-hyuk spoke up.

“Dolseok.”

“Yes?”

“Do you enjoy telling tall tales?”

“Tall tales? How rude!”

“Anyway, are you good at climbing mountains?”

“What?”

Dolseok asked, clueless about his fate.

Kang-hyuk chuckled and pointed to a forested hill.

“Can you climb that?”

“Well… I used to, back when I was gathering firewood.”

Before becoming Kang-hyuk’s servant, Dolseok had done all sorts of menial tasks.

It had been so long since he’d carried firewood that it felt like another life.

“Perfect.”

“Are we heading to the mountains?”

“No, I’m not. I have work and need some rest.”

He had already gathered aconite long ago.

Despite being a poison used for royal decrees, it wasn’t hard to find.

The government office had some, and so did local apothecaries.

Now he just needed to collect toad venom to proceed with his experiments.

‘A human is much larger than a dog…’

It was safest to start at half the dose that caused side effects in dogs.

Primitive as the method was, there wasn’t another option.

“Am I going alone?”

“No, take the soldiers with you.”

“What?”

“Take the men and catch some toads.”

And thus began an unexpected toad hunt.

The soldiers treated it as training, while Seungmun’s servants didn’t know what they were doing.

Even some dogs started disappearing, leading to rumors of tigers causing havoc in the village.

Naturally, the captured toads and missing dogs ended up in Kang-hyuk’s clinic.

That day, while on another toad hunt, Dolseok asked.

For the past few days, climbing the mountains had left Dolseok’s nose red and sunburnt.

“What exactly are you planning to do with all these things?”

“Just wait. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“And why are you performing surgery on toads?”

“I’m separating their venom sacs.”

Dolseok had thought that catching the toads was the end of the task. However, that wasn’t the case.
If he had read Heo Jun’s letter from Hanyang more carefully, he would have understood right away.

“‘Seom-su (toad venom) can be extracted from the venom sacs of toads, dried, and preserved for extended use.’”

Because of this, he had to wield a knife every day.

“So, all of this is…?”

Dolseok pointed at the seom-su spread out in the yard to dry. The sheer quantity of toads they’d caught had resulted in an enormous amount of venom sacs.

It was no wonder Kang-hyuk had eventually ordered them to stop catching toads.

“Yes, all of this is from the venom sacs.”

“Did someone make you angry? If that’s the case, just let Yeon or Makbong handle it.”

“You idiot. A doctor’s job is to save people, not kill them.”

“Using poison to save lives just seems strange, that’s all.”

It wasn’t surprising for Dolseok to react this way.
Even Kang-hyuk had been skeptical when Heo Jun first explained it to him.

However, when he considered the pharmacological effects, it started to make sense.

‘If the neurotoxin causes paralysis before death, it can essentially be called anesthesia.’

It would certainly be dangerous.

The early anesthetics introduced in Western medicine had been no different.
People had died from dental treatments for that very reason.

“Heo Jun told me about it. It’s worth trying.”

“So, we don’t need to catch any more toads now?”

“Right. We’re done. I’ve already informed the magistrate.”

“Thank goodness. There’ve been rumors about tigers appearing lately.”

Dolseok shivered as he spoke.

Kang-hyuk simply smiled, knowing he was both the cause and the source of those rumors.

‘Makbong handled it perfectly.’

Thanks to their mutual understanding, Kang-hyuk and Makbong had been able to capture numerous dogs.

Makbong’s nocturnal activities had been hindered by barking dogs in the village, so their collaboration was mutually beneficial. Kang-hyuk got the dogs he needed, and Makbong no longer had to deal with their barking.

“By the way, why are there so many dogs in the clinic? It feels like every dog in the village is here.”

“You think I was just sitting around while you caught toads? Let’s go take a look.”

“Are you catching dogs now? Well, you were at the temple all summer, so…”

Dolseok laughed as he led the way to the backyard.

The large space was chaotic, filled with dogs of various sizes.

“Hmm. How about that one?”

Kang-hyuk pointed to a dog standing at the front, barking aggressively.

“Of course, young master. You’ve picked a fine one.”

Despite the dog’s ferocity, Dolseok showed no fear. He walked up and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck with ease.

The dog, which had been barking so fiercely, tucked its tail between its legs and urinated in fear.

“Should I catch it now?”

“No, let’s feed it something first.”

“Feed it and then catch it? You’re really something, young master. Well, they say even ghosts who die full look better.”

Dolseok dragged the large dog to the front yard and brought back some leftovers in a cracked bowl.

“Wait, wait. Mix this in first.”

“You’re feeding it herbs? How much vitality are you trying to give it?”

Dolseok laughed heartily, seeming to have completely forgotten about the hard labor involved in catching toads.

His laughter faded as his expression darkened. The herbs Kang-hyuk was adding looked anything but ordinary.

“Isn’t that poison?”

“Yes, it is.”

“If you poison it, we can’t eat it, right?”

That wasn’t entirely true. Of course, there was a significant risk of something going wrong.

For that reason, Kang-hyuk had no intention of eating it himself.

“If you really want, I’ll let you have some.”

“Wow… After all my loyalty, you’re going to kill me.”

“Just wait. I’m trying to make an anesthetic with this.”

Kang-hyuk ground up seom-su and mixed it with a decoction of aconite, carefully measuring the dosage before adding it to the dog’s food.

This was the only way to roughly estimate the effective dosage.

“Why don’t you try feeding it this?”

“Will it even eat this? It’s scared stiff…”

“It has to eat it.”

“Oh, it’s eating. Guess it’s just a mutt after all.”

Hunger apparently overcame fear.
The fact that Dolseok’s leftovers contained meat likely helped as well.

A servant eating meat and leaving leftovers—it was a sign of good fortune for commoners.

“It looks fine. Are you sure this is poison?”

“That’s strange. I used a dosage meant for capital punishment… Oh, look at that, Dolseok.”

“It’s foaming at the mouth! Oh no.”

Dolseok clicked his tongue in pity, though whether it was for the uneaten food or the dog’s life was unclear.

Not long after consuming the poison, the dog stiffened and died.

“Hmm. It’s definitely too strong. Let’s bury it.”

“Bury it?”

“This is all part of saving lives. It deserves a proper burial.”

“Uh… Where?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to dig the hole.”

“Now you’ve got me digging, too.”

Dolseok grumbled as he gathered a hoe and shovel.

Kang-hyuk added one last piece of advice as Dolseok turned to leave.

“Make it quick. This experiment can’t drag on.”

“Why’s that?”

“Brother Sun-shin told me to come to Hanyang soon. I have to leave by next month.”

“Yes, yes, young master.”