Yang’s Master Chapter 1.3 - Unlicensed Pharmacist

“A pharmacist who sells medicine in Yirang.”

“When you say medicine?”

“It’s not drugs, so mind your own business. Just find out who made him look like this.”

At the cold voice, Linlin shut her mouth and, on the notepad she carried, she wrote with a pen, ‘Find the guy who beat up the boss’s lover,’ and drew a star. Cheon Yeomyung checked Linlin’s notepad but said nothing. His lovers did indeed change so frequently and were so casual that it was only natural for Yang Euijoo’s existence to be perceived as trivial by his subordinates. Linlin, while scribbling in her notepad, discreetly watched Cheon Yeomyung’s expression.

“When we catch him, should we send him to the container box? Or present him at the mansion? Should we prepare another sotdae?”

There were three questions, but they were all different versions of ‘Should we kill him?’. Cheon Yeomyung considered, then shook his head.

“That’s enough, don’t kill him, just put him under surveillance. It’ll be troublesome if he crosses the line.”

“Understood. Should I have a doctor on standby at the mansion?”

“His bones might be broken, so let’s go to the hospital.”

As Cheon Yeomyung said, his condition did look serious. While the three of them were chattering about Yang Euijoo’s identity, his fever seemed to have risen a little more. Cheon Yeomyung wiped away his sweat with a handkerchief and ordered the air conditioning in the car to be turned up high. Watching their boss, who looked as kind as if he had been shot in the head, the subordinates exchanged opinions with their eyes. They were all just thinking of making a bet on whether it would be one month or two, since it wouldn’t last long this time either.

Feeling like a typhoon was raging in the silence, Linlin clutched her notepad tightly and looked at the unconscious man. He had very pretty features. He was thin and his lips were chapped, but the sight of him panting with short breaths, huff, huff, caught the eye even amidst the splotchy bruises. How could there be a face like that in Yirang without her knowing? Linlin, who was as meticulous as Cheon Yeomyung when it came to gathering information about the streets of Yirang, tilted her head in confusion but prayed inwardly. Please let this romance pass by quietly this time.

“Contact Doctor Cheong.”

“I will. Is there anything else you need?”

“That’s enough, don’t butt in trying to do things you weren’t told to do, just stay quiet.”

It was a statement so cold it was frigid, directed at subordinates who had stood by his side for over 10 years. Linlin thought to herself that that face must be quite to the boss’s liking and answered quietly. The other organization members were the same. Only then could Cheon Yeomyung fully concentrate on Yang Euijoo, who was in his arms. He had thought he looked quite precarious to watch even when drunk, but his injured state felt like a cracked glass sculpture that would shatter into pieces with a single touch. He gently shook Yang Euijoo, who was muttering incomprehensible things as if in a phantasmagoric dream.

“Pharmacist, can you hear me?”

“…Ugh…”

It was a sound closer to a reflexive reaction than an answer. Cheon Yeomyung did not give up. Gently placing his hand on the feverish forehead, he asked softly.

“Yang Euijoo, you have to answer.”

At that moment, the three people in the car felt a terrible sensation of goosebumps running down their spines. Roserock ran a hand through her red bobbed hair, as red as her name, and muttered murderously.

“I want to jump out.”

“Me too.”

“Boss, were you on drugs by any chance?”

“Roserock, shut up.”

Readjusting his hold on the body that seemed incapable of communication, Cheon Yeomyung kicked the back of the passenger seat. Roserock quickly sealed her lips.

“Just drive faster.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Yijarang, not wanting to have his throat slit or be shot to death by Cheon Yeomyung, answered politely and sped up. The Continental, a symbol of wealth, sped down the road.

🐑

Yang Euijoo regained consciousness after a series of tests had been completed and two hours had passed since he was administered a fever reducer. Yang Euijoo, who had walked the streets of Yirang completely unaware that he had fractures in his ribs, shin, and right arm, and a dislocated shoulder, was bombarded with a barrage of questions mixed with a doctor’s nagging as soon as he opened his eyes.

“Could you please state your name?”

“…It’s Yang Euijoo.”

“And how old are you, patient?”

“Twenty-five, but, excuse me…”

“Do you remember anything before you fainted?”

“I was on my way to buy a fever reducer, but, sir.”

In a white hospital room where machines he had never seen before were whirring, Yang Euijoo suspected he might have gone mad.

“There seems to be no problem with your memory, but you’re quite injured, so let’s have you stay in the hospital for about two days for a check-up. You might not know this, but your head was also torn, and we stitched it up with twelve stitches. It’s best to be careful for a while.”

However, the doctor spoke as if Yang Euijoo’s mind was perfectly fine. How can I be fine when my head was torn and stitched up twelve times? He looked down at his own body, wrapped up like a mummy with his limbs in bandages. He felt nauseous, perhaps because his left eye was covered with a patch.

“You also have symptoms of mild malnutrition and a weak immune system, so please eat your meals well.”

“Doctor.”

Unable to move his body, Yang Euijoo called the doctor while lying down. The doctor, who had been endlessly listing points of caution, suddenly clamped his mouth shut as soon as he was called and changed his words.

“If there are any words you found difficult to understand, please tell me now. Or would you be more comfortable with English or Japanese?”

“No, that’s not necessary, but…”

“Then just keep listening. You do have a ruptured eardrum, but fortunately, the inflammation is not severe, so it will likely heal naturally. For the time being, absolutely do not touch it, and manage it so that you don’t receive any other potential shocks. Blowing your nose is also not allowed.”

The doctor spoke, barely taking a breath. He flipped through several pages of the chart, explaining Yang Euijoo’s condition and continuously adding the corresponding treatments, recovery period, and management methods. He would occasionally let out a long sigh and look at Yang Euijoo, and each time, Yang Euijoo felt as if he were a person who had done something terrible.

It seemed he was also incredibly injured. In response to the doctor’s questions, Yang Euijoo confessed that he ate an average of one meal a day and did not exercise, and was then nagged at with a look. The doctor’s explanation took over an hour. After signing the chart, the doctor had a magnificent expression, like someone who had finished a marathon. It seemed he felt a sense of accomplishment from having read this entire long chart. Only then was Yang Euijoo able to ask the question he had been holding back.

“Is this a hospital?”

“No, then what?”

As soon as he heard Yang Euijoo’s words, the doctor started to get angry, asking what it looked like if not a hospital. Yang Euijoo, seeing the doctor fly into a rage as if something had been pressed, quickly shut his mouth.

For some reason, the doctor seemed to have his profession and the soundness of his hospital frequently misunderstood. Yang Euijoo ended up hearing the excessive information that not only was this hospital very legally registered, but it also diligently paid its taxes, and the hospital doctors went to London once a year for training.

“It’s not that I misunderstood you, Doctor, it’s just that I, um.”

Yang Euijoo quickly spat out an excuse before the doctor could start recounting his own apprenticeship.

“It’s difficult for me to be in a hospital.”

“Ah.”

Only then did the doctor, Doctor Cheong, understand why Yang Euijoo had said such a thing. This patient was injured to a wretched degree, but he was not in a situation where he could receive the protection of the law. He was an illegal immigrant and stateless. A person whose rights could not be guaranteed in any country could not be in a hospital. Doctor Cheong needlessly shuffled through the chart.

“For now, you are not officially registered at the hospital, patient. That’s because, well, this hospital requires citizenship to be registered. You can get in without it, but you’d usually be kicked out as soon as you open your eyes.”

“…”

“Of course, all policies are an exception for sponsors.”

Doctor Cheong spoke like a ventriloquist, barely moving his lips. In other words, it meant that someone had put him in here with money. Yang Euijoo didn’t want to believe it, but only one person came to mind, causing him to grimace. The doctor nodded gravely, as if he understood Yang Euijoo’s expression, which seemed to contain a mix of all the joys, sorrows, and angers of life.

“I’ve contacted him, so he’ll be here soon. You probably can’t move, but don’t move and stay quiet.”

“No, excuse me…!”

However, Doctor Cheong ignored Yang Euijoo’s call and quickly left the hospital room. What kind of doctor is this? Even when Yang Euijoo grumbled loudly, the doctor did not return.

Left all alone in the large hospital room, Yang Euijoo briefly attempted to escape, but of course, it didn’t work. As soon as a passing nurse saw Yang Euijoo limping down the hallway with broken limbs and no crutches, she glared with daggers in her eyes and, in a voice faster, more precise, and sharper than any he had ever heard, ordered him to return to his bed immediately.

Are hospitals always this scary? Yang Euijoo, recalling the nurse who had made a face scarier than a water ghost, lay in bed with a sour expression and stared at the ceiling. The hospital room was white and clean. So clean it was scary to lie in. The bed was fluffy and soft. The hospitals in Yirang were only slightly cleaner than a regular house, and the moment you lay on a bed, if you were lucky, you lived, and if you were unlucky, you died. The latter was, of course, more common.

Of course, there were decent doctors in Yirang, but they usually set up shop in the relatively large and clean commercial buildings centered around the main roads. If that was difficult, they would open a clinic in a commercial building attached to a more ordinary downtown area. There was no way people like Yang Euijoo, who had come to Yirang penniless, could go to such hospitals.

Feeling like he was contaminating the clean hospital for no reason, Yang Euijoo twisted his uncomfortable body this way and that, but it was no use. Judging by the words of the nurse who had flared up in anger, asking if he even knew he had fractures, it seemed it was a feat in itself that he had even gotten out of bed.

“Excuse me.”

The nurse who had sent Yang Euijoo back to bed just a moment ago came in. Seeing Yang Euijoo lying quietly in bed, the nurse gave a very soft and kind smile and took his temperature.

“Your fever has risen a little.”

It was as if she were saying it was all his fault for getting out of bed and moving around on his own. This was a first in Yang Euijoo’s life. He had lived a life where he had to work even when sick, and everything that happened in a hospital was unfamiliar.

“It’s not severe, so it would be best to monitor your condition until this evening and then give you a fever reducer. Can you eat on your own?”

“…Of course.”

The thought was that if he couldn’t use his hands, he would have to eat by licking like a dog. The nurse smiled with a face as lenient as the doctor’s when it came to meals.

“If it’s very difficult to eat, please press the nurse call button next to you. After you’ve finished eating, if you leave it to the side, a caretaker will take care of it for you.”

“Yes.”

It was a gracious treatment. Yang Euijoo, not knowing what expression to make, answered, sweating profusely. The nurse soon left, and just as she had said, a meal was brought in. They were foods he had never seen before, and they were all incredibly warm and fresh. The ingredients had a lively texture. To Yang Euijoo, who had always spoon-fed himself vegetables that were not just finely chopped but practically mashed, the hospital meal was a feast. There was even meat. The meat was stewed very tenderly, and it melted softly in his mouth as soon as he put it in. Not a trace of gaminess could be found.

He ate hurriedly. The thought that his body wrapped in bandages or his arm in a cast was uncomfortable didn’t even cross his mind. After scraping off every last grain of rice stuck to the bowl and drinking water, he wondered if he had already died and come to heaven.

Being served meals just by sitting still, and having them cleared away, was something only possible in a first-class cabin. Sometimes, the noblewomen who roamed the ship would call him over to be their conversation partner, and after chatting and playing, while leisurely enjoying their Western-style breakfast alone, they would hand Yang Euijoo, who was standing beside them, a few grapes. Of course, even for that much generosity, there was always a price.

Yang Euijoo, who had eaten his fill, was stretched out in the warmest, most comfortable, fullest, and most languid state of his short life. The finished meal tray was indeed cleared away by someone else. They even complimented him on eating so well and cleanly.

Not being scolded for eating? If possible, he thought he wanted to live in the hospital forever. Everything was perfect except for the pain in his body. If he could live like this, he felt it would be okay to have his bones broken a few more times and be kicked by Du Shanchong. Li Su would sigh and say it was a stupid thought, but Yang Euijoo was serious. If the first luxury of his life came at the price of pain, Yang Euijoo could pay it about three more times….

How much time had passed in such a carefree state? Yang Euijoo, who had been counting the patterns on the ceiling, was startled by the visitor who came to his hospital room. Since the doctor had sent a telegram, it was only natural that Cheon Yeomyung would visit. Of course, the fact that the man had come in person was a little unfamiliar.

“My, oh my. You looked more human when I picked you up.”

Cheon Yeomyung sighed as soon as he saw Yang Euijoo, wrapped in bandages. Yang Euijoo hesitated for a moment, then forced strength into his languid, sinking body and muttered. He had taken the medicine the nurse gave him a little while ago and was overcome with drowsiness, dozing off and then waking up startled by the unfamiliar environment, over and over again.

“Are you making fun of me?”

His mouth was swollen, so the words didn’t come out properly. Every time Yang Euijoo mumbled, the pronunciation leaked from his mouth.

“I’m serious. Have you not seen a mirror by any chance?”

Cheon Yeomyung helped Yang Euijoo sit up. To be precise, he raised the bed a little, allowing Yang Euijoo’s body to be half-forced to lean back and sit up. Yang Euijoo was very surprised to see the bed that folded up neatly like a sleeping bag, but he tried his best to look at the man with a calm demeanor.

“I haven’t. I got scolded by the nurse as soon as I got out of bed.”

The man nodded, arms crossed.

“That’s because you were walking around not looking like a person. Do you know how dumbfounded I was after hearing the doctor’s explanation?”

As if it were true, Cheon Yeomyung shook his head lightly and reached out to Yang Euijoo. When an adult male larger than himself reaches out his hand, it’s one of two things. To forcibly rape him, or to make him submit through violence. Yang Euijoo tensed his body, but Cheon Yeomyung did not do so. He moved the hair covering his forehead, and his hand rested on top of it to check his temperature. Yang Euijoo realized this act was deceptive because Cheon Yeomyung was still wearing leather gloves, but he couldn’t say anything.

“You have a fever.”

It seemed it could be felt even through the gloves. The nurse had asked him to press the bell next to the bed if he had a fever. Yang Euijoo was about to press the nurse call, but before his finger could press the red button, he was caught by Cheon Yeomyung.

Ominous golden eyes looked at Yang Euijoo. Cheon Yeomyung was holding back his irritation. Yang Euijoo clutched the very soft and cozy blanket in his palm. It instantly became damp with sweat. This man is scary. Yang Euijoo trembled as if a warning light had gone off in his survival instincts. The man before him is someone who can kill people. And after killing, he wouldn’t suffer from paltry guilt or blame himself for being a murderer. He couldn’t understand why a man more versed in killing people than saving them had saved him. Yang Euijoo pondered for a very short time. His fever was rising again, and he might not be able to think normally. But the man’s favor was certainly blatant.

“Excuse me.”

With bandages stuck all over his face and his mouth raw, his own pronunciation all leaked out. Still, Yang Euijoo tried hard to say something. After moving his lips a few times, Yang Euijoo looked straight at Cheon Yeomyung and asked.

“Do you normally act like this toward someone you’ve just met?”

The pharmacist was truly quick-witted. Cheon Yeomyung smiled faintly to himself and asked back.

“Do you dislike it?”

At the short question, Yang Euijoo lifted his head. The pupils, engrossed in the thought of killing something, glinted dangerously. The golden color was mesmerizing. Yang Euijoo remembered the gnats that would fly with all their might towards the electric light on a late summer night when it was turned on, crashing into it and burning to death.

“Usually, when a person likes something but wants to refuse because their pride is at stake, they point things out before asking their true feelings.”

“…”

“Just say one thing.”

The snake opened its jaws. Just because it pretends to hide its fangs doesn’t mean its long tongue cannot be seen.

“Whether you dislike it, or like it.”

But from that poison came a very sweet scent. While in the hospital, Yang Euijoo ate his fill and slept in a fragrant place. Exhausted by a comfort he had never experienced in his life, he finally made a choice.

“The result of the pharmacist’s choice will not lead to an unjust affair.”

Even knowing this man’s words were a lie, the lamb slowly crawled into the snake’s jaws.

It was predation.