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Chapter 70: Cosmetic Surgery [1]

The person who shouted stood there thrusting his fist. The one staring at the others with unkindly eyes was Yeoju. The others standing side by side were familiar as well, probably members of the Aeogae group.

“It seems that there will be a fight soon. Which one do you think will win?” Lee Hangbok asked.

“Ah, I think it will be the group with fewer people.” Ganghyuk replied, although with a bit of uncertainty.

The situation did not look good. They were around five, including Yeoju; but the other party seemed to have more than ten members. Makbong was a good fighter, but it seemed that it would still be difficult to win easily.

“If you are Aeogae, you should go there to perform. Why are you coming here?” A person who had been staying silent came forward. He wore a rough hat made of bamboo braid, normally worn by mourners.

Considering his hat, he must be belonging to a lower class. However, he scolded Makbong as if he were a nobleman.

“What could possibly possess you to want to come in here and be cocky?” Makbong shouted with anger.

The man laughed and called his party, “Cocky? This crazy man wants to die here.”

“Die? Yes, you will die, son of a b*tch.”

“Fellows, teach him a lesson.”

“Yes, Pyeonsu!” It seemed that he was arrogant because he was the Pyeonsu, the chief of the performance group. Hearing his command, more than ten guys came forward aggressively.

“Please stay among the bystanders.” Makbong pushed Yeoju to the area the bystanders were standing at and he jumped in the air.

“Eo, eo?”

“Auch”

“Ak!”

In a brief moment, several among the adversarial group collapsed. The first one was hit by Makbong’s head-butt; the second one was beaten by his kick; the one beside him was hit by his hand.

“Wow, Makbong is strong!”

“Shall I help them?”

Yeoni asked Ganghyuk while holding her basket in her hand, looking like a medicine girl.

“No, you cannot. Look at your attire! Dolseok, help them.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you can do Taekyeon after all.”

“Eo…”

Dolseok had shown a talent in Taekyeon. He was really good at following the movements, which must be because of his good memory.

“Give me the basket.” Ganghyuk snatched his basket and pushed him to the fighting center. Just as the latter was trying to remain among the bystanders, Makbong shouted with gladness.

“Eo! Dolseok. Glad to see you here. Take care of these guys!”

Hearing this statement, the opposite group showed response faster than the intended target. They attacked Dolseok together, too many for Dolseok to fight against by himself.

“Auch!”

However, he was stout, and did not collapse easily.

While he stood there like that, Makbong beat the others one by one. The situation was already reversed favorably toward Makbong. And now, he had only Pyeonsu and one other guy beside him left to deal with.

“This rat!”

Pyeonsu shouted while retreating a few steps. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, I know you very well. You are the rat pretending to give s performance in this small place.”

“What? A beast!” He shouted loudly, but he was still retreating backward constantly. He was really different from Weolbaek of Aeogae group.

‘Weolbaek was dignified even before me.’ Ganghyuk compared the two Pyeonsu. He could not be so confident while considering the difference in classes, but he kept his dignity as the Peyonsu nevertheless, and showed his charm as a human.

Anyway, Ganghyuk could not see him these days at all.

“Do not come near me, fellow!”

“You were the one who attacked me first.”

Meanwhile, Dolseok had joined the fighting actively as well. He was quite angry at this point because he was beaten a lot. His spirit was so fierce, as if he might hit someone to death.

“These fellows!” Pyeonsu pushed the one beside him forward, making him stand in front of Makbong.

“Would you like to die?” Makbong asked menacingly.

“Eo, eo.”

The man pushed forward had seen Makbong fighting. Hence, he could not dare to fight with him, just standing there in a daze as the big hand of Makbong hit his head.

Puck!

He collapsed after a dull and dangerous sound, followed by Dolseok stepping on him.

“Son of a b*tch! You enjoyed hitting me, didn’t ya?”

It seemed that he was the one who gave Dolseok all those bruises.

“Don’t come near me.” Seeing this, the Pyeonsu stepped back while shouting in a squealing voice. However, Makbong had no reason to listen to him as he walked near to the Pyeonsu.

At that moment, one of the fellows shouted hastily, “Fellows! Do you know who our sponsor is?”

“Oh!” Hearing the word ‘sponsor’, Ganghyuk and Hangbok both showed interest. Although they showed the same response, they both had different thoughts.

Ganghyuk did not know that the group had a sponsor, and Hangbok was just filled with pure curiosity.

Anyway, Makbong was not interested in the sponsor. Instead, it just added to his anger. He dashed forward and asked while holding the Pyeonsu with his hands.

“Who is he?”

Pyeonsu did not say anything even though he was struggling to escape from Makbong’s hands. Staring at the fellow who had said that. He looked quite different from the time when he had retreated.

However, the fellow who was under Dolseok’s feet did not stop.

“Sir Jeong Yeorip… He is our sponsor.”

“Who?”

“Sir Jeong Yeorip!”

Pyeonsu tried to stop him, in vain of course. “Shut up! How dare you tell his name!”

Jeong Yeorip was a celebrity, a rising star in Dongin, until the incident a few years ago. He belonged to Seoin, but he criticized Yulgok and Seonghon, who were thought to be the founders of Seoin.

Makbong, however, did not know his name as he was ignorant. How could a mere slave know what even Ganghyuk did not know?

“What about it? Fellow, I serve Dr. Baik Ganghyuk.” He threw the Pyeonsu while shouting Ganghyuk’s name.

Splat!

The Pyeonsu was thrown down, resulting in a dull sound. On the other hand, Hangbok showed interest in the name of Jeong Yeorip. That guy had gone to the province and created a martial group called ‘Daedonggye’ a few years before. How could he sponsor a group in Hanyang?

It was strange!

He ran to the Pyeonsu and shook him, but the latter was already unconscious.

“What did he say?”

“Jeong…Something.”

Dolseok, who had a good memory, answered instead. “He mentioned a name like Jeong Yeorip.”

“Are you sure?”

Lee Hangbok had changed his attitude greatly by now. He did not look like a playboy any more, but a sharp blade. He looked like Ganghyuk while holding a scalpel.

Dolseok was tensed on seeing this, hesitating for a while.

“Why do you not answer?”

“Eo… Yes, I am sure. He said Jeong Yeorip.”

“Ok, ok…”

Ganghyuk tried to join the conversation carefully because of the serious mood. The name was familiar to him, but he could not remember exactly why.

If he had more information, he could probably remember him clearly.

“Who on earth is he?”

“Ah, nothing. He is my personal acquaintance.”

It was very strange, because Hangbok murmured without giving a clear explanation. Anyhow, Ganghyuk did not ask anymore. The other might not give him an answer anyway.

“Oh… Sorry! If you know him, we may have executed discourtesy.” Ganghyuk said while looking at the people lying down here and there on the ground. Some of them were heavily injured.

“No, no. Can I take him?” Hangbok pointed at the Pyeonsu and asked.

“Yes, of course!”

“Yes. You need not hurry my wife’s treatment. I will give you a notice.”

“Yes, sir. I need time, anyway.”

“Good! Please take the blowfish with you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hangbok returned to his usual attitude, disappearing with his smile after leaving a few jokes. Nevertheless, he took the Pyeonsu on his horse.

“Hugh!”

But, the changed mood made the group quite embarrassed; especially Dolseok, who had encountered the sharp gaze of Hangbok, and could not easily return to his usual self.

Hangbok was a joyful playboy until he came here. When he heard the name ‘Jeong Yeorip’, he had changed completely.

“Who on earth is he?” Makbong asked.

“He is Lee Hangbok. He holds the office of Yejojwarang.”

“Ah…!”

Makbong did not know what a Yejojwarang did, but he understood that the person in question was a high-ranking official.

“Lee Hangbok and Jeong Yeorip… It is not a small thing.” Yeoju opened her mouth. Her face was very dark. She clearly must have known something. Among them, only Yeoju was a nobility after all, apart from Ganghyuk, of course.

“Ah, yes. You must know something, Yeoju. Who is Jeong Yeorip? Why does he act so sensitively?”

“You don’t know Jeong Yeorip?”

“No.”

“Heo…” She felt that the rumors were true. Ganhyuk was a scum indeed. How could he not know about Jeong Yeorip as a nobleman?

Yeoju explained with a surprised face. “He was originally Seoin. He was close to Yulgok and Seonghon, and had good offices because he had a great knowledge.”

“Offices? What kind of offices?”

“Yejojwarang and Hongmungwan Suchan…”

“Ah, my father has mentioned him, I remember.”

“Yes, I think so. I heard that I am his relative.”

“Really? A relative?”

“But, we don’t communicate, so I don’t know how closely related we are.” She was not interested in Jeong Yeorip, so she did not try to know him. “Anyway, he belonged to Seoin at first, but he became close to Dongin later on. Finally, he criticized Yulgok and Seonghon.”

“Aha!”

As far as Ganghyuk knew, Hangbok was Seoin, and a follower of Yulgok. He might have bad feelings for Jeong Yeorip.

“He was supported by Dongin, but he was severely attacked by Seoin still.”

“I understand. He might be considered as a betrayer.”

“He went to the province as the king hated him, and it is said that he might be in Jinan in Jeollado. Right now, even people in Dongin are not friendly to him.”

“He is in a situation of isolation!” Ganghyuk finally connected the dots.

“Yes, I think so.”

In this case, it seemed that they did not need to be careful. Ganghyuk had a lot of better backgrounds to fear for him; such as Ryu Seongyong, who was the current Minister of the Ceremonies, and Kim Yungil, who would be the Minister of Internal Affairs soon.

“Why is Sir Hangbok weary like that?”

“I heard that he made an organization called ‘Daedonggye” in Jinan.”

“Daedonggye?”

“Yes! I don’t know it very well, because I only heard about it from my father. Anyway, he said that Daedonggye was a kind of martial group.”

“A martial group?” It reminded him of something.

Jeong Yeorip…He had had revolutionary ideas. Ganghyuk did not remember what his idea was exactly, but he had led to a big incident.

And that was Gichukoksa!

“Eum…”

“It is no wonder why Sir Hangbok was startled at the name.”

“Yes, I can understand now.” Ganghyuk nodded in comprehension.

“Ouch!”

Meanwhile, some of the beaten fellows had recovered consciousness. But still, they could not stand up, and just stayed lying there. If they were left without treatment, some of them could even be left disabled.

“What should we do with them?” Dolseok received the basket that Ganghyuk held temporarily and asked.

‘Heum…’ Ganghyuk decided not to meddle in the matter between Lee Hanggok and Jeong Yeorip. He was neither interested nor knowledgeable. Furthermore, he did not have the power to intervene it.

‘Anyway, Lee Hangbok survived in the history while Jeong Yeorip will die in a few years.’

People should know which one could make for a good background. If he were with the man who survived in Imjinwaeran, there would be a greater possibility for him to live. Moreover, he liked Hangbok.

If he could help him, it would be better to give it now.

Moreover, he had found the method too.

Ganghyuk looked at the poison in the basket and the men who were lying on the ground. ‘Okay, then let’s take these ones to home.’

“Bring them to home?” Ganghyuk ordered Dolseok.

“To the house of the lordship?”

“No, the house that the governor gave us.”

“Ah…For practice?”

“Yes, it is in lieu of their treatment fee.”

“Yes, yes!”