Chapter 37: Infectious Diseases Together [2] To put it simply, Kanghyeok did not even need to go searching all that hard.
One by one, patients started showing up in the middle of the night.
They had all been in contact with the first patient, and they were all showing similar symptoms.
"This..."
The patient must have been a very sociable man.
Nearly the entire village was pouring in.
They had kept saying smallpox, smallpox, and it truly lived up to its name.
Its infectivity surpassed any disease Kanghyeok had ever dealt with.
"What should we do?"
Heo Jun asked in a flustered voice.
He had been in the middle of decocting Yanggyeok-san, throwing in every herb he had and every herb he did not.
But looking at the flood of patients, it seemed hopelessly insufficient.
"We need to ask for help."
"Help? From whom?"
"From the Busa and my father."
"Ah. If it is those two, then certainly..."
Within Suwon, they were among the foremost men.
It should not be difficult to get medicinal herbs to use as ingredients from them.
Or rice to feed the patients.
Or manpower to handle the isolation.
Even aside from that, we have to report it.
There was no hiding the fact that disaster had broken out.
It was not common for a small village to be wiped out by smallpox, but it was not rare either.
They had to make people prepare somehow.
If it started spreading to other villages, then there would be no stopping it.
"Then who should go?"
Kanghyeok looked around at his party, who were now all wearing surgical caps.
Dolseok and Yeoni should stay and help me. Yeoju needs to keep drawing. Heo Jun obviously has to stay here.
As he eliminated them one by one, only Makbong remained.
Makbong noticed Kanghyeok's gaze land on him and immediately lowered his head.
He was not someone especially confident in his speed, but he had a loyalty that outweighed that.
"I'll run there and back at once."
"Mm."
No matter how dry a side Kanghyeok had, he could not help but be moved by Makbong's devotion.
"Fine. First, I need to give you immunity."
No matter how strong a man was, there was no overpowering a virus.
They had to prepare a countermeasure before he set off on a long trip.
"What exactly is this immunity?"
Heo Jun asked, stopping in the middle of decocting the Yanggyeok-san.
The others were equally curious.
What in the world was it that made Kanghyeok not fear smallpox in the slightest?
He had made the others wear gloves, masks, and even caps, and would not let them go near the patients.
All they could do was boil water, decoct medicine, cook rice gruel, and draw what they saw.
Kanghyeok, on the other hand, did wear gloves, but he handled the patients without hesitation.
To Dolseok, it did not look like Kanghyeok was displaying any kind of spirit of self-sacrifice.
That was not the kind of man he was, and there was not even a trace of worry on his face.
In this desperate situation, he was moving as though he alone were some absolute being.
"It's the power to fight smallpox."
"Power...?"
"Yes. Yeoni and Makbong, keep helping Physician Heo Jun. I'm going somewhere with Dolseok. Yeoju... keep drawing."
"Yes."
It was nonsense that came out of nowhere, but everyone still followed Kanghyeok's words.
After all, no one had ever gotten a bad result from listening to him.
Only Dolseok whispered quietly,
"So where are we going? At this hour of the night..."
"Because it's urgent. Didn't you see the patients?"
"I saw them. Looks like a whole bunch of them are going to die."
"Why are you so calm when people are dying?"
"It's smallpox. There's nothing to be done about it."
It was not calmness. It was resignation.
He had probably seen so many people die from childhood that he had gone numb to it.
This was a completely different era from the twenty-first century, where it was unusual for young people or children to die from illness.
Otherwise, why would there have been customs celebrating the fact that someone had safely survived into adulthood?
Kanghyeok once more felt the bitterness of the era.
"It's not that nothing can be done. There's a way."
"No matter who you are, Young Master... Mama is..."
"Be quiet and follow me."
"Yes, yes."
Holding a torch, Dolseok followed Kanghyeok out.
Fortunately, the moon was unusually bright that night.
At least it was not pitch-black.
"Where are we going?"
"I told you before. We're looking for the cow."
"There are cows nearby too."
"Not just any cow will do."
People said that even dog shit was hard to find once you needed it for medicine, and it turned out that a sick cow was also remarkably hard to find.
It felt much the same as animal experimentation.
A mouse with cancer was thousands or tens of thousands of times more valuable than a healthy mouse.
At least right now, a cow infected with cowpox was worth more than gold.
"But is it really okay to just take someone's cow?"
"Why?"
"Well, it feels a bit wrong. A cow's not... a chicken."
"It's a very sick cow anyway. If they won't give it to us, I'll buy it at a fair price."
"Buy a sick cow?"
"Yes."
"No, but why specifically a sick cow..."
"Wait. I think this is the place."
Since it was a small village, even a house tucked off in the corner was not far.
One lone cow stood in a ramshackle cattle shed.
It looked as though it might collapse at any moment, and it really was the same cow they had seen earlier.
"Ugh. Why is this cow so filthy?"
"It's because this one has cowpox too."
"Cowpox? In a cow?"
"Cows can get it too. Though it's better than the human version."
Kanghyeok did not even bother lowering his voice.
If anything, he raised it.
With a large torch in hand, there was no way he could avoid drawing attention.
"Who goes there!"
When they turned, an old man stood there wavering with a sickle in hand.
He had probably mistaken them for bandits.
Both Kanghyeok and Dolseok were large men, and both had a forceful bearing.
"Ah, are you the owner?"
"I-I am."
The owner's hand shook as he held the sickle.
"I came because of this cow."
"The cow? No, absolutely not, you rascal."
At Kanghyeok's words, the owner waved the sickle around.
It was useless, given how far away he was.
"Watch your tongue, you old fool. Do you even know who you're speaking to?"
It was actually the torch Dolseok swung in anger that was far more threatening.
Sparks scattered wildly in every direction.
"Hey, Dolseok. That'll only make him misunderstand more."
"No, but still. How dare he call you that, Young Master."
"That part was fine. Fine, but I'll handle this."
"Yes, Young Master."
Dolseok stepped aside obediently, torch in hand.
In the firelight, Kanghyeok's face looked every bit the noble young master.
The sort of face that made his status obvious at a glance.
"Sorry for coming so late. The situation is urgent. Why else would I come at this hour?"
"Even so, the cow is out of the question."
"It's not as if I'm taking it for free. I'll pay properly."
If he managed to stop the smallpox, he would surely be rewarded by the Busa or someone later.
And even without that, he had enough wealth to manage it.
Kanghyeok began pulling fans one by one from his sleeve.
At the time, fans were precious enough that they were used in yangban households in place of currency.
Among the fans Kanghyeok took out, one was even decorated with silverwork and looked exceptionally extravagant.
It was an item beyond any easy reckoning of value.
Naturally, the owner's eyes widened.
"You'll give me all of those?"
"Yes. Ah, except this one is mine."
Kanghyeok took back the fan with the silverwork.
Even if he badly needed the cow, this was a bit much.
The owner's eyes grew a little less round, but it was still an enticing offer.
Then Kanghyeok drove in the final wedge.
"I won't even take it permanently. I have no intention of killing the cow. If it's still alive after I'm done using it, I'll return it."
"And I still get the fans?"
"No. Those are yours."
"Huh."
The terms were so favorable that it only made the man more suspicious.
"What are you planning to use it for?"
Kanghyeok was trying to do something good, yet the owner kept pushing back, and he was starting to get irritated.
He's barely standing. Should I just take him down?
Had he not been learning Taekkyeon from Heo Jun every day lately?
He felt sure that one blow would be enough to finish off an old man like this.
No. No.
He had come here to heal people, not to beat someone senseless.
"What am I using it for?"
"Y-yes."
The owner took a step back at the ugly edge that had briefly entered Kanghyeok's voice.
"If a physician needs a cow, what do you think it's for? To heal people."
"My cow has no bezoar, and all it does is ail."
"That's why it's good. Anyway, hurry up and hand it over. You're getting the fans."
This bargaining was becoming tiresome.
Kanghyeok tossed the fans one by one toward the old man.
The old man hurriedly set down the sickle and caught them.
A moment earlier he had been trembling, but now he moved quickly enough.
"Understood. I'll give it to you."
"Good. Dolseok, let's lead the cow away."
"Ah, yes. But just like the old man said, this cow is..."
"I told you, this is medicine. Stop talking and move it."
"It's your money, so I won't say much, Young Master... but still, all this pus..."
"The pus is exactly why it's good."
"Ugh."
Dolseok shook his head and led the cow along.
Fortunately, the cow walked much better than expected.
If it had collapsed on the way, even Dolseok would probably have protested.
By contrast, Kanghyeok looked at the wound dripping with pus with unmistakable affection.
Enough that anyone watching might have thought him deranged.
That is the medicine. I just need to inject the pus.
Unwanted bacteria would enter as well, but that could be handled with antibiotics.
Fortunately, he had sixty tablets, and they renewed every day, so that much at least was reassuring.
There would never be a shortage.
If not for this cow... I might have ended up doing human testing with variolation.
This was a cow that might save an entire village.
With a warm hand, Kanghyeok stroked the cow.
The cow itself, meanwhile, was terrified because of the strange people.
"We're here, Young Master."
No one in the party had been able to sleep.
There were so many patients that they had even given up the room they had originally been using.
And even those inside the rooms were not resting peacefully.
The sounds of groaning kept leaking out from within.
"A cow?"
Heo Jun asked, pausing in the middle of decocting medicine.
He had already finished preparing the Yanggyeok-san and now seemed to be decocting another formula.
Its scent and color were subtly different.
"This cow can give us immunity. What medicine is that?"
"It is Seonbang Hwalmyeong-eum. It is effective for removing pustules."
"Oh."
It might even have some antiviral effect.
If they used it carefully first on patients without complications, it should be fine.
Kanghyeok nodded in satisfaction.
At the same time, he drew into a syringe the pus flowing from the cow's wound.
"Good. Then let's all get one shot."
At the word shot, Dolseok reacted sharply.
"A shot? I didn't do anything wrong."
"Not a beating. An injection."
"That thick needle? I don't wan—ugh."
Kanghyeok immediately gave Dolseok an injection in his thick upper arm.
Since it seemed to hurt less than expected, Dolseok soon relaxed.
"This will give you immunity. Right, next is Makbong."
"Uh... yes."
"You've got a long way to go, so let's do yours quickly."
"Yes, Young Master. Ngh."
Kanghyeok gave injections one by one to Yeoni, Yeoju, and Heo Jun as well.
"Good. Now we just need to wait a few days. Until then, do not go near the patients. Makbong."
"Yes."
"Until you arrive, do not take off your gloves under any circumstances. Don't touch your face. Especially not your eyes, nose, or mouth. None of them."
He repeated the precautions he had emphasized all along.
"Yes, do not worry."
"Good. Then go and bring back herbs and people. Until then, I'll do what I can here."
"Yes, Young Master."
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