Chapter 55: Scholar [2] The battlefield, which had been at a deadlock, began to turn in an instant with Yeoni's charge.
That was only natural. It was not some ignorant peasant rushing in, but a skilled swordswoman.
With eyes already half-clouded, Changgwon looked back at the scene.
"That is good..."
The blood-soaked words dropped from his mouth with difficulty.
A faint smile even formed on his lips, as though he truly meant it.
As he pressed down on Changgwon's wound with his hands, Kanghyeok said,
"Elder, just hold on a moment."
Bright red blood gushed through the gaps between Kanghyeok's fingers.
Yeoni's swordsmanship had been truly ghostlike, and the damage was beyond severe.
In a single strike, the stomach, pancreas, and even the aorta.
There was nowhere that had been spared.
Still better than that bastard...
The masked Japanese raider had already gone cold.
The blade had traveled upward and pierced his heart.
"First, the IV fluid..."
With ghostlike skill, Kanghyeok inserted a needle into a vein in Changgwon's arm.
His blood pressure had fallen so far that the veins were nearly invisible.
But to a veteran like Kanghyeok, that posed no real problem.
He knew the anatomy of the arm well enough to draw it out with his eyes closed.
He opened the IV line fully, then turned his eyes back to the wound.
Even in a hospital, I don't think there'd be much to do for this...
Unless he had some kind of superpower.
In a place like this, with no equipment at all, it was impossible.
All he could do was press down hard to keep any more blood from coming out.
Even that was barely of use.
"Elder, you just need to hang on a little longer."
All he could do was throw out impossible comfort like that.
Changgwon's eyes were even cloudier than before.
It was to the point where Kanghyeok wondered whether he could see anything at all now.
His blood pressure had dropped too far.
No matter how fast the IV ran, it could not keep up with the speed at which the blood was leaving him.
Goddamn it.
People called him the greatest surgeon and all that, but when it truly mattered, there was very little he could do.
"Young master, let me help."
Yeoni came running over as she slid her bloodstained sword back into its sheath.
It seemed she had already finished dealing with the remaining Japanese raiders.
"Good, here... can you hold this open?"
"Yes. Ah..."
By now, Yeoni had been assisting Kanghyeok for quite a while.
It seemed her experience was telling her the truth.
That this man would be hard to save.
"Hand me the mosquito forceps first."
"Yes."
Yeoni handed him several small clamps.
Using them, Kanghyeok began clamping the smaller blood vessels first.
He did not even dare touch the aorta.
It was not completely without effect, and the rate of bleeding slowed somewhat.
—Dududududu
While Kanghyeok and Yeoni were trying to stop Changgwon's bleeding, the cavalry finally reached the village.
The blades of the advance riders were thick with blood.
It seemed they had cut down quite a few Japanese raiders on the way.
At the very front, as expected, were Shin Rip and Busa Kim Yungil.
The one who dismounted and ran over first was Kim Yungil.
"Oh no."
He let out a sigh as he looked at Changgwon lying there in ruin.
"Ugh..."
Even then, Changgwon recognized Yungil.
Very slowly, but clearly, he began to speak.
"I am sorry... I could not protect the hyanggyo..."
As he said, most of the scholars had already died.
Almost the only ones left alive were the farmers.
"No. No, that is not so."
"Ugh..."
Yungil could no longer bear to look at Changgwon groaning like that.
With effort, he turned his head and looked at Kanghyeok.
How Kanghyeok had ended up here was a mystery in itself, but that was not what he wanted to know most right now.
"What do you think?"
From the look of things, it seemed impossible for Changgwon to live.
And yet, the Busa's heart was filled with the hope that perhaps Kanghyeok might do something.
Because Kanghyeok was always the kind of man who made the impossible possible.
This time, though, even Kanghyeok could not live up to that expectation.
"Well..."
It was only a short answer, but it conveyed enough.
His expression and tone both suggested a grim prognosis.
"I see..."
"For now, I should at least reduce his pain."
"Can you do that?"
Yungil looked at Changgwon, who was groaning without pause.
Regret seemed to drip from him.
"That much I can do."
"I see... all right."
Leaving Yungil behind, his mouth tight with regret, Kanghyeok took out all of his narcotic painkillers.
There were only three of them, but even so.
That was a hundred times better than having none.
"Yeoni, keep pressing on it."
"Yes."
Yeoni pressed the hole she herself had made shut with gauze and her hands.
In the meantime, Kanghyeok injected the narcotic painkiller into the IV line.
"How do you feel?"
"I... I am fine... good."
By now, Changgwon's eyes had almost completely lost their light.
He probably could no longer see Kanghyeok's face.
The blood vessels that reached the eyes were extremely thin and greatly affected by blood pressure.
"Thanks to you... I lived. Thank you."
"No, no..."
A smile still lingered on Changgwon's pale face.
With a voice gone rough and dry, he continued speaking.
"You... are my daughter's benefactor... and also the child of my one and only teacher..."
Blood kept flowing from his mouth, making it hard for him to continue.
After coughing for a long while, Changgwon opened his mouth again.
"How could I... allow someone like you... to die?"
My daughter's benefactor.
This time, Kanghyeok's face turned pale.
Come to think of it, he still did not know whether Yeoju was alive or dead.
"Young master. Over there, Makbong is coming."
"Ah, right?"
Fortunately, Makbong, Dolseok, and Yeoju had all managed to escape with the main force.
They were now advancing with unstoppable momentum alongside the cavalry that had arrived afterward.
Since they had no horses, it seemed they had only just entered the village now.
It had only been a day since he last saw them, but it felt like ten years.
"Young master! You are safe."
Dolseok came trotting over.
He was just as glad to see Kanghyeok.
"Yes, I lived."
"This person is... ah?"
There was no way Dolseok would not recognize Changgwon's face.
He had gone to his house himself, and the man had often come to Seungmun's house.
"He is the benefactor who saved my life. It's a long story, so bring Yeoju here first."
"Uh... yes, Young master."
Dolseok quickly ran off and brought Yeoju.
It seemed her foot was still troubling her, because she was being supported by Makbong.
"Young master, you are safe after all."
Yeoju lowered her head in greeting.
After acknowledging the greeting vaguely, Kanghyeok led her over to Changgwon.
"Th..."
"F-Father?"
At Yeoju's words, Changgwon's half-closed eyes flew open.
It must have been because he heard the voice of the daughter he had not expected.
But just because his eyelids opened did not mean he could see anything.
He asked into empty air,
"Y-Yeoju?"
"Yes. Yes, it's me, Yeoju."
"To hear your voice... before I die... it feels like a dream."
"What do you mean, die? Young master, that is not true, is it?"
Yeoju turned to Kanghyeok with a shocked face.
All Kanghyeok could do was avoid her gaze.
"Young master?"
"I'm sorry."
Was Kanghyeok not a man who hardly ever apologized?
At least, Yeoju had never seen it even once.
Even Dolseok standing behind her widened his eyes.
The same apology, but when it came from Kanghyeok's mouth, it carried weight.
Yeoju immediately understood the meaning hidden in it.
"Oh no..."
She turned back to Changgwon.
His life was fading away helplessly.
The IV had already run out, and there was no proper means left to prolong his life.
"Father..."
"Yeoju."
"Yes, yes."
Yeoju's face was quickly soaked with tears.
In a worn-out voice, Changgwon slowly continued.
"All my life... I was sorry to you."
"What do you mean, Father?"
"Now... now... not according to my will, but yours..."
"Father?"
Yeoju patted Changgwon's shoulder. But there was no reply.
There was no pulse at all in the arm that had gone limp.
"Ah..."
Yeoju buried her face in Changgwon's chest and burst into tears.
Only then did Yungil, who had been nearby, realize that Yeoju was a woman.
And Changgwon's daughter at that.
"All right, you lot. There's been a death here, so what are you staring at? Away with you."
Was he not a Confucian scholar who was quick-witted and knew how to compromise when needed?
He sent the startled soldiers away from the sudden sound of a woman crying.
"And don't go wagging your tongues about this anywhere. Understood?"
"Yes, yes."
He did not forget the subtle threat and warning either.
Fortunately, Shin Rip and the other officers, who would not listen to such words, were elsewhere.
They seemed to be roughing up the Japanese raiders they had taken prisoner.
Judging by the occasional screams filled with agony.
"Miss Yeoju..."
Yeoni carefully wrapped an arm around Yeoju's shoulder.
Yeoju's shoulders trembled slightly as she looked down at her father's body.
Looking closely, there was not a single unharmed place on his arms or legs.
"Who... did this to him so cruelly..."
At Yeoju's question, Yeoni flinched.
"Ah, well, that is..."
Kanghyeok stepped in quickly.
If he let it go like this, innocent Yeoni looked ready to tell the truth exactly as it was.
"That masked Japanese raider... if not for Elder, both Yeoni and I would have died."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Not just us. Everyone here would have died."
Kanghyeok looked around the clearing, which was full of corpses and wounded people.
There were many dead, of course, but there were just as many living.
All of them owed their lives to Changgwon.
They silently nodded, agreeing with Kanghyeok's words.
"I see. Then who avenged my father?"
Having stopped crying, Yeoju looked toward the masked Japanese raider.
"Yeoni did."
"Ah..."
Yeoni looked at a loss, but she did not babble uselessly.
She only stood there silently.
"Yeoni, thank you."
At that, Yeoju suddenly gave Yeoni a deep formal bow.
She came from a poor household, but she was still the daughter of a proper yangban house.
With a flustered face, Yeoni hurried to help her up.
"Miss, please don't do this."
"No. If I cannot even do this much for the person who avenged my father, then that will not do."
Yeoju stubbornly completed the bow.
Kanghyeok and the others could only watch with complicated eyes.
"So you are Yeoju?"
Yungil, who had stepped back before, slowly approached.
"Yes, Busa."
"I am sorry. I should never have insisted on building the hyanggyo."
"No. I heard it was something my father also wished for."
"Do not worry about the funeral. I will take responsibility for all of it."
"Is not the war the more urgent matter right now?"
"Do not worry. Now that the cavalry has come, the Japanese raiders are no longer a threat."
The Busa pointed to the cavalrymen lined densely around the village.
Just then, Shin Rip came running over with a broad grin on his face.
It seemed he had learned something from the captured Japanese raiders.
"Busa, it is done. We found out where these bastards are staying temporarily."
"Is that true?"
"It is not far, so if we attack now, it will do. Come as soon as you are ready."
"Understood."
After sending Shin Rip on ahead, the Busa turned back to the group.
Everyone, including Kanghyeok, was in terrible shape.
There was no need to even mention Yeoju.
None of them were in any state to be dragged onto a battlefield.
And there was no need for that anyway.
"Kanghyeok, can you stay here and tend to the wounded soldiers and the villagers?"
"Ah, yes. Of course. Leave it to me."
"Good. Then I entrust it to you."
"Yes, sir."
"And... please look after Changgwon's daughter as well."
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