Chapter 139 (1/2)

Chapter 139: Chapter 12

It was a typical morning as usual.

Kanghyok got up early, washed his face with warm water and had breakfast.

‘Is it because I eat the dishes that taste flat? This one, too, tastes good.'

He looked down at the rice bowl he just emptied.

He used to eat only half the bowl before, so it's a big progress in terms of his diet.

While he was taking a break on the main floor, somebody knocked on the door.

“Is anybody in?”

It was Makbong.

As Kang was waiting for patients, he quickly walked to the door.

But Dolsok was already ahead of him.

“Can I open the door, master?”

“Yes, he'll keep coming for the time being.”

“Wait a moment.”

As the door was pretty heavy, it was not that easy to open it.

Dolsok removed the latch and opened the door skillfully.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Well, I don't feel any pain in my arms at all.”

With a smile Dolsok pushed the door open.

Makbong and Yoni were standing there.

It was always Yoni who came forward first.

“Sir, how are you?”

Everybody knew Yoni was a woman.

But she was speaking in a male voice like before.

Though Kanghyok felt it awkward, he didn't point it out.

“How about your father's condition?”

“He's okay. All thanks to you. But he has not got up yet.”

“Good. How long can you stay here?”

She scratched her lower chin at his asking.

“We haven't yet decided on it. But as a big market is soon opened in a nearby village, we have no problem.”

“I see. Here you are. This is the pill for your father today.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Yoni strongly.

When she was about to leave, Kanghyok stopped her.

“Why are you in a hurry like that?”

“Do you have any direction for me?”

“Well, please do me a favor. I want you to find out something.”

Kanghyok spoke in a low voice.

“Yes, please. Tell me.”

Makbong nodded his head.

After hesitating for a moment, he said,

“When you happen to go to the market, or meet other people, can you ask them if they know about the Republic of Korea?”

“What?”

As the word was rather difficult for him to understand, Makbong tilted his head.

Kanghyok instantly learned from the start that Makbong was not that smart.

But Yoni nodded her head as if she read his mind.

“You mean ‘Republic of Korea,' right?”

“Yes.”

“Got it. Let me ask anybody I meet about that.”

“Don't overwork, though.”

“Don't worry, sir.”

“See you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bowing to him, they disappeared into a dark alleyway.

Whenever he saw them, he felt they were pretty speedy.

‘I used to do some workout in modern Korea.'

Kanghyok looked at them with envy.

When he turned back, he saw the yard so barren.

‘When I get used to my life here, I need to bring some fitness equipment here.'

As he had to idle away here in old Korea, compared with his busy life in modern Korea, he was really bored out of his skull.

He couldn't afford to be stuck in the study and read books all day.

‘Shall I go to the examining room now?'

He felt he could kill time when he was there.

“Dolsok?”

“Yes, master.”

“Let's go to the examining room.”

“What? Ah, you mean the guest room, right?”

When he walked into the room, it was warm inside unlike yesterday.

Obviously Dolsok heated it before he came.

In one corner of the room was a basin with boiling water where steam was rising.

Kanghyok looked at with a pretty satisfied expression, but Dolsok found it just strange.

First of all, there was nothing like incense that Dolsok usually smelled in a doctor's house.

“Master, don't you need any medicinal herbs?”

“Medicinal herbs?”

“Yes, I can buy them at medicinal herbs stores in the market street.”

“Oh, let me see…”

Kanghyok conjured up his childhood memories.

The oriental clinic that he visited with his mother.

And the bitter herbal medicine that the doctor prescribed for him.

‘What was that medicinal herb?'

As he was little interested in oriental medicine, he knew little about medicinal herbs.

‘I don't know anything but harts horn.'

He didn't know about the effects of such medicine.

‘As I don't know anything about it, I can't prescribe it, either.'

Kanghyok looked down at the bag in his hand.

He felt he could cure any disease with the medicine in his bag.

“No thanks. I've got this.”