Doctor goes back to Joseon

Chapter 86: Advisor of Heo Jun [1]

 

“Gwanghae?”

“Hiss! How dare you call him without title?”

Heo Jun stopped Ganghyuk after his rude remark.

He was always wondering how a son of a famed scholar could act like that.

His father, Baik Seungmun, was one of the greatest scholars in Joseon.

How could his son be such a scoundrel?

On the other hand, Ganghyuk thought of Gwanghae while Heo Jun stopped him from speaking by covering his mouth with his hand.

‘Gwanghae?’

He remembered he was the king who was dethroned by King Injo.

Therefore, he could not have a posthumous epithet like Jong and Jo. He had to use the name he used when he was a prince.

‘When I was a child he was a crazy king.’

When he was a secondary school student, he learned Gwanghae was a terrible king.

He was compared to Yeonsan.

History books wrote that he was someone more notorious than King Seonjo.

‘But these days, they have reevaluated Gwanghae.’

In that world, there were more scholars who evaluated King Injo as the man who dethroned the evil monarch Gwanghae.

He could not remember the exact time, but the evaluation for Gwanghae was changed to a more favorable one.

Ganghyuk himself agreed on the new evaluation.

Gwanghae showed impressive activities in Imjinwaeran.

He showed different aspects from King Seonjo who was too busy running away.

He governed the people quite well and he even fought with the Japanese himself.

“Heum”

Ganghyuk made himself released from the fist of Heo Jun.

Ganghyuk tried to comfort him.

“Don’t worry. I was surprised to hear the unexpected name.”

“Did you? Eum.”

Heo Jun looked at Kyehan with a worried face.

Fortunately, Kyehan was sleeping, snoring hard.

It did not mean it would be a good idea to call the name of a prince carelessly.

‘Gwanghae?’ How dare him call the prince’s name without his title?

If somebody heard and reported it to the authorities, he could be accused of treason.

It was a rough time.

“Please be careful.”

“Yes. Haha. Anyway, where is the sick prince Gwanghae? Why are you so worried?”

“I am afraid to say this, but I really don’t understand what the problem is. It is the conclusion I have made.”

Heo Jun took out a scroll from his chest.

The edges were worn. Perhaps he was always carrying it in his chest.

Considering his loyalty and perfectionism, he must have been thinking about it nonstop.

Being moved by his diligence, Ganghyuk received the scroll.

“He tried to pull the arrow, but he failed. It seemed his hand did not have any strength left. He felt a painful sensation in his hand for quite a long time after that. It was trembling.”

“He slipped his sword during the practice. He told me he felt needles in his hand. He could not hold the sword for a while.”

“He sighed, placing the brush during calligraphy. He suffered from pain. He was very much worried about it.”

Such symptoms were written in the paper.

Heo Jun followed Prince Gwanghae and recorded what he observed.

“Eum.”

Ganghyuk read the symptoms as he rubbed his short beard.

When he read a few sentences in the beginning, he thought it might be a cervical spinal disc.

Soon he shook his head.

He had a different symptoms to be diagnosed as a disc.

‘It seems symptoms are caused by the movement of the hand.’

If it is a disc, he should feel needles puncturing his arm or he should have difficulties to lift his shoulder.

Of course, there is a possibility for Heo Jun to miss the symptoms.

‘No, he cannot miss such symptoms.’

The record he made could be mistaken to have come from an obssesed stalker.

It had all the details a human being can observe.

It was nearly impossible for Heo Jun to miss something.

Therefore, it might be a different problem.

That is much better for Prince Gwanghae or Heo Jun.

‘It is nearly impossible to operate a cervical spinal disc.’

He did not have the courage to break somebody’s cervical spine without proper facilities.

Furthermore, the patient is a prince of the nation where Ganghyuk lives.

If he made a mistake, he might pay for it with his life.

“Eum”

When he made moaned for a second time, Heo Jun approached him.

He looked at Ganghyuk with eyes filled with curiosity and expectations.

“What do you think? Do you have any disease in mind?”

“I would like to ask first. What treatments did you give him?”

Trials and errors of others can help people much.

That is why people want to read books regarding experiences of other people even though they were failures.

Ganghyuk belived people in Joseon had already known that.

After all, they made the saying ‘Learn wisdom through the follies of others.’

“I…I thought…I am ashamed of presenting this…”

“It’s ok. It is difficult for me to diagnose him with the symptoms we have.”

“Okay. Then I will tell you what I have done.”

Heo Jun sighed.

He opened his mouth looking around Dolseok, Yeoju, and Yeoni in the room.

“I judged it was because his highness did not have enough stamina.”

“Okay.”

It was natural for an oriental medicine doctor to think so.

The hand may tremble when blood sugar was too low or when the patient was deficient of other major nutrients.

Of course not onlythe hand, but other limbs tremble together.

Such as the muscles around the eyes, eyelids, or mouth.

“The symptoms were not limited to his hands. Therefore the restorative tonics I prescribed did not work.”

“Heum”

Heo Jun was an extraordinary man.

He learned lessons from his failures.

If he were born in the modern times, he would leave a bigger trace in the medical history.

“When I examined his highness closely, I found that the symptoms were far greater in his highness’ the right hand.”

“Oh, is his right hand the dominant arm he uses?”

“Yes. His highness always uses his right hand when he’s eating, when he writes, and when he uses tools.”

“Eum”

That was quite a helpful information.

If the symptom was seen in the more frequently used hand, the cause may lie in the ‘use’.

Ganghyuk listened to Heo Jun, nodding his head.

“Please go ahead.”

“Yes.”

Dolseok and Makbong were bored, so they couldn’t help but to eavesdrop.

If they were in a different location, they might go out and take a walk.

However, they were in the palace.

They did not want to be in trouble.

After all, they were not good with handling proper etiquettes.

Although they were bored, they opted to stay inside.

“With more observation, I found that the symptoms were related to the lower part of the wrist.

“Oh.”

“His highness did not have the symptoms when he woke up or after he took a significant amount of rest.”

“Good.”

Ganghyuk continued nodding his head.

He was surprised at the observation and flow of thought of Heo Jun.

It seems like that Heo Jun read a textbook.

Ganghyuk felt that he was back in the classroom in his original world.

Ganghyuk smiled.

‘Yes, it is.’

To narrow down from the whole body to the specific place.

When describing symptoms, describe it as specifically as possible.

Explain the factors which aggravates or mitigates in specific details.

They are the principles Ganghyuk knew, but he could not keep in his daily life.

Heo Jun did not learn it, but he followed the principle closely.

“When his highness repeated the same movement, the symptom seemed to be aggravated.”

“What kind of movement was it?”

“His highness liked drawing and he used very special material.”

“Special? What is so special?”

Ganghyuk was interested in Gwanghae as a person and as a patient.

He was listening to the story Heo Jun told.

It seemed like a scene where a child listened to his grandmother’s fairy tale.

“His highness would order to move a big rock in his residence,”

“Rock…?”

“Yes, his highness drew a painting on the rock every day.”

“Everyday? Then he drew a painting over older ones on it?”

Heo Jun shook his head slowly with a smile.

“No, the way he drew on the rock is rather special. Whenever he finished a drawing, he would erase it right away. His highness sprayed water on the rock and rubbed it with Hanji to remove the drawing. After this, the painting would be erased completely.”

“Wow. That is special.”

“Yes, his highness creates great paintings, but his highness would always erase his work whenever it was complete.”

“Then does the symptom grew stronger after erasing it?”

“Yes, his highness felt the pain worsen when erasing it. Does my explanation help you?”

“Yes.”

Prince Gwanghae was very humble.

He could paint as a hobby, but he did not need to erase it by himself.

‘No. He might think erasing itself constitutes the art.’

It might be too postmodern, but he might have such a notion.

He was the king who tried innovative policies.

He failed in the innovation and got himself dethroned though.

‘Anyway, his hobby might aggravate his symptoms rapidly.’

To erase something, he must sway his wrist right to left and grip hard.

They are all not good for the well-being of his wrist.

“Yes, I think so.”

“Oh, really? It is really hard to know the depth of your knowledge and skills.”

Heo Jun showed how moved he was with a vibrant smile on his face.

It was a natural response.

He saved several patients Heo Jun could not treat at all.

“You exaggerate.”

“No, not at all.”

Heo Jun stared at him, shutting his lips.

“Then what medicine should his highness have?”

“Eum”

Medicine…

He could think of many of them.

One of them was in the home visit bag.

‘I don’t know how much it will help…’

If it was the disease Ganghyuk thought of, there would be no medicine that could cure it.

As medication worked very well because people did not have tolerance, it might work though…

However, this was limited to antibiotics.

The same principle does not apply to other medicines.

“Give him this medicine. You must give this to him today.”

He did not add that it would disappear if it was not used that day.

Fortunately, Heo Jun did not ask why.

He only showed his gratitude.

“Thank you. I will give you another batch of this medicine again when I come see the patient again.”

“Ah”

“If the medicine failed well, I will see his highness.