Chapter 8 :The Tightrope and Swing [4]
-Thud, thud.
The sound of a club hitting a palm made **Dolseok** shudder.
**Baek Kang-hyuk** glanced over once before pulling out a stethoscope from his medical bag.
He listened to the **pyeonsu’s** heart.
‘There’s almost no noise. Fortunately, the bleeding seems to have stopped on its own.’
It didn’t seem necessary to open up his chest.
Not that he could even if he wanted to.
Kang-hyuk sighed in relief and muttered, “Good. He won’t die.”
He then took some gauze from the medical bag and firmly pressed it against the wound he had made.
Luckily, the **pyeonsu** wasn’t suffering from any other serious illnesses, and the bleeding stopped fairly quickly.
“Alright. Let’s wait and see for now.”
With a relaxed expression, Kang-hyuk looked down at the **pyeonsu**.
At that moment, the men, along with the **Eoreumsani** woman, rushed to the **pyeonsu**’s side, massaging his limbs.
It was an old folk remedy and was quite effective. It helped the blood circulate through the limbs that had been pooling with blood.
“Huff.”
After a short while, the **pyeonsu** let out a shallow breath and opened his eyes.
Still not entirely conscious, he blinked.
“Mother… My deceased mother…”
“Father! It’s me! Are you alright?”
“Huh? Ah, is that you, **Yeon**? What is happening…?”
Yeon pointed to her half-soaked clothes.
“You collapsed while drinking earlier. Don’t you remember?”
The **pyeonsu** seemed to have no memory of it at all.
“I don’t remember. And who is this?”
Despite the confusion, a leader is always a leader. He quickly noticed Kang-hyuk and Dolseok among the group.
He immediately recognized that Kang-hyuk wasn’t an ordinary person.
“This man is…”
Yeon’s lips quivered.
Now that she thought about it, she didn’t even know his name.
The men who had surrounded them earlier with murderous intent now scratched their heads awkwardly.
Unintentionally, they had wronged the man who had saved their leader’s life.
Starting with Yeon, everyone in the group knelt and apologized.
“We’re sorry! We committed a grave sin earlier.”
Kang-hyuk, who hadn’t been particularly concerned, nodded indifferently.
“It’s not a big deal.”
Dolseok, however, looked like he had come back from the dead.
“You fools! Do you even know who this is? This is **Baek Kang-hyuk**, a descendant of the **Suwon Baek** family!”
He finally raised his head proudly, though his voice still carried a nervous tension.
“I’m **Baek Kang-hyuk**.”
Kang-hyuk extended his hand in his usual manner.
The **pyeonsu** only managed to nod as he still seemed weak, and his speech remained hesitant.
Though he appeared quite sullen, Kang-hyuk didn’t mind.
“Ah… I see. But why did you come here?”
“Father, this man saved your life.”
“Did he? Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. But don’t get too comfortable just yet; you’re not fully recovered.”
Kang-hyuk waved his hand dismissively.
His words made everyone tense up again.
After witnessing the strange and miraculous technique that saved the **pyeonsu**, no one dared take his words lightly.
Moreover, Kang-hyuk was still holding a syringe filled with blood.
“Earlier… Yes, after you collided during the performance, how did you feel?”
Kang-hyuk pointed to the man who had been swinging. He was the same one who had been brandishing a club earlier.
Now, the man knelt and repeatedly bowed his head.
The **pyeonsu** grimaced as if recalling the pain.
“Ah… It hurt quite a bit, but I didn’t think it was fatal.”
“The blood vessels in the sac around your heart ruptured. The blood filled up, and your heart couldn’t beat. I removed the blood, so you’re alright now.”
Not many people seemed to fully grasp Kang-hyuk’s explanation.
Only **Yeon** and **Dolseok** appeared somewhat enlightened, though not entirely.
‘Not that they would understand anyway…’
Years of being a professor made it hard for Kang-hyuk to leave things unexplained.
He considered explaining further but decided against it with a sigh.
After all, he had no idea what to call the middle-aged man in front of him.
In moments like these, it was best to ask directly.
Keeping things bottled up only led to unnecessary problems, something Kang-hyuk had learned after many years working in hospitals.
“What should I call you?”
At Kang-hyuk’s question, the **pyeonsu** chuckled.
But the laughter made his chest hurt, and he grimaced again.
“Don’t just call me ‘this guy’ or ‘that guy.'”
“Then… alright. I’ll call you **pyeonsu**. How did you feel when you collapsed?”
“Hmm…”
“Did it feel like everything went dark?”
“Ah, yes. Exactly.”
When the heart stops, blood can’t circulate to the body, including the brain.
Naturally, losing consciousness would cause the world to go dark.
This was basic knowledge that even a high school student in modern times would understand.
Of course, no one in this room had received such an education.
Gasps of admiration spread throughout the room.
Dolseok, too, looked at Kang-hyuk with eyes full of respect.
“Your heart stopped, which is why I pressed on your chest. That was to get your heart beating again.”
“So I died and came back to life?”
“Well… in a way, yes.”
If he hadn’t done anything, the man would have certainly died. In fact, he *had* briefly died.
“Does this mean I’m alive now?”
The **pyeonsu** asked, but Kang-hyuk shook his head.
“Not yet. The bleeding from your heart sac has stopped for now, but it could start again at any time.”
“Then what should I do, sir?”
This time, **Yeon** stepped forward, her attitude suddenly much more proactive after seeing her father come back to life.
In the earlier confusion, Kang-hyuk hadn’t noticed, but now that things had calmed down, he realized she had quite a pretty face.
The poem of **Na Tae-joo** [1] came to mind.
‘You’re pretty when you look closely, and even prettier when you look for a long time.’
Thinking that the more he looked at her, the more charming she appeared, he responded.
“For now, take the medicine and monitor his condition. After a few days, he should be fine.”
“Is that really true?”
“What should we do? Just give us the orders!”
**Yeon** and the burly men began bowing repeatedly before Kang-hyuk.
The people who had been ready to kill him earlier had suddenly changed their tune.
‘Do they all have bipolar disorder?’
Kang-hyuk looked down at the group with a slightly exasperated expression.
He wondered what the **pyeonsu** had done to earn such fierce loyalty from his troupe.
‘Well… it wouldn’t hurt to have them owe me a favor.’
Kang-hyuk recalled the performance he had seen earlier.
Their acrobatic skills were no joke.
He didn’t know how long he would stay here, but it wouldn’t hurt to have some connection with the troupe.
“It’s nothing difficult, and you don’t need to do anything. **Dolseok**.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Bring the bag.”
“Yes.”
Dolseok immediately brought over the black leather bag.
The sturdy, square-shaped leather bag was clearly not an ordinary item.
Naturally, someone carrying such a bag couldn’t be an ordinary person.
Respect for Kang-hyuk grew in the hearts of the kneeling troupe members.
With a nonchalant expression, Kang-hyuk rummaged through the bag and pulled out two pills.
Since it was obvious that giving more would just lead to unnecessary questions, he decided it was best to hand them out one by one.
He handed the pills to **Yeon**.
“Take one of these each day.”
“How do we take them?”
“Just swallow them with water. It’s for your heart… well.”
The pills Kang-hyuk took out were two different kinds.
One was an antibiotic, to prevent infection from internal injuries and the wound caused by the syringe.
The other was a steroid, which, in non-viral cases, acted as a catch-all cure.
Kang-hyuk considered giving a proper explanation but ultimately decided to simplify things.
“It’s medicine that helps prevent bad energy from building up in your heart. But if you injure the same area again, there’s nothing more I can do. You’ll have to stop performing.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll just manage things from now on.”
“**Pyeonsu**, did you understand?”
“I understand. I will follow your orders.”
The **pyeonsu**, who had gathered his wits by now, sat upright.
In that position, he bowed his head in gratitude to Kang-hyuk.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, we’ll be able to perform tomorrow.”
“Is performing really the issue right now? Well, in any case, it’s nothing to worry about. If anything happens, come to my room. And come to my house tomorrow to get more medicine.”
With the treatment complete, there was nothing left to do.
He did have something he wanted to ask of them, but it could wait.
It wouldn’t be right to give an assignment to someone who had just come back from the brink of death.
‘I’ll ask them tomorrow when they come for more medicine.’
Kang-hyuk brushed off his clothes and stood up.
At that moment, the **pyeonsu** called out in a desperate voice.
“Hey, hey! Where do you think you’re going, benefactor? **Yeon**, bring him a drink!”
***
Footnotes:
[1] Na Tae-joo is a contemporary Korean poet known for his simple yet poignant poetry that often evokes deep emotions through everyday language and imagery. His works focus on themes such as nature, love, and the beauty of small, ordinary moments. One of his most famous poems, “Flower,” expresses the idea that true beauty and worth are revealed when one takes the time to observe closely, a sentiment that resonates with many readers for its warmth and sincerity.
