“What is this?!”

Kanghyok tried not to curse.

Dolsok, the heavily bearded servant, was still staring at Kanghyok.

“Master… you'll get it in the neck if your Ladys.h.i.+p knows of this.”

“Are you talking to me now? Who are you? And where am I now?”

“Master, are you making fun of me again? What the heck is this anyway?”

Kanghyok held the thing that Dolsok pointed at.

It was a black bag that he desperately held onto while he was flying unconscious.

But… his clothes looked strange. “What is this? Why did I put on this clothing?”

“Because your Ladys.h.i.+p made it for you.”

“My Ladys.h.i.+p?”‘

“Oh my G.o.d! You are not supposed to joke now, sir. Let me go and see Oksok first.”

That stranger came out of the room.

“Ha…” Left alone in the small room, Kanghyok let out a sigh.

‘What the h.e.l.l happened to me?'

He quickly examined himself.

He was sitting on a blanket, dressed in white clothes. There was a small lamp and desk before him. The wall was plastered with white paper, but it was not what he used to see at the folk village.

‘What happened?'

With difficulty, Kanghyok recalled what happened to him before he lost consciousness.

‘Okay, I went to see the director… and met the chairman….'

But he couldn't recall what happened after that.

It looked like somebody cut off that portion of his memory.

‘What am I doing here?'

While he was agonizing over this for a moment, he heard someone yelling at him from outside.

“Where is Kanghyok?!”

“Well, I really don't…”

“Tell me honestly right now!” Obviously, the man outside was very upset.

The thing was, the target of his anger would most likely be Kanghyok himself.

Sure enough, the door was flung open. As it was opened so violently, even the hinge shook.

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Are you still in bed when the sun is already high?!”

The man who was screaming at him was an old man with a nice mustache.

Looking at his face, he was a person whom Kanghyok was already familiar with. So, Kanghyok felt some disbelief. It can't be true that the guy was still alive.

He cremated the guy's body himself and spread his ashes into the river!

Kanghyok rubbed his eyes to double-check.

At his second look, the guy was still the same.

“Dad?”

“Dad? Seems like you're not yet awake.”

“Is it you, Dad? You pa.s.sed away last year. What's going on right now?”

“What? Huhuhu…”

That old man, Sungmun, laughed as if he went crazy. His nice mustache trembled.

‘Is he my real dad?'

The look of his smile was the same as that of his late father. Kanghyok felt as if he was enchanted by a ghost.

That old man was consumed with anger at that moment. “Are you asking for a whipping now, b.a.s.t.a.r.d?”

Then he rolled up his sleeves and picked the broom placed on the main floor.

Watching him become more enraged, Dolsok quickly stepped in and said, “Please calm down, my lord. He has been laid up with a fever for a while!”

“Let me go, man. Dolsok, let me go!”

“Oksok is also sick now. Are you going to let him get sick again?”

“Heavens! What should I do about him then?” Angry and gasping for breath, the old man put down the broom.

Helping him up, Dolsok said, “Let me take care of the young master.”

“You're having a hard time because of that stupid son of mine. When is the doctor coming?”

“He will soon be here.”

“Okay. I got it.” Shaking his head, that old man turned to leave.

“Good heavens, how can my only son be so lazy like that? He didn't even wash his face…”

Hearing him mumble, Kanghyok felt very uncomfortable. It was the first time he got rebuked by someone because he was always the top student in school before becoming a full professor right afterward.

‘If I'm dreaming now, this is really bad.'

Dolsok came up to him when he was watching the old man disappearing. Lowering his head, Dolsok said, “Master, please come with me. Your Lords.h.i.+p might become sick because of you.”

“You just kept asking me to go somewhere for some time. Where am I going?”

“Please don't use honorific language to me, master.”

Kanghyok also felt strange about the landscape in the distance. He noticed the smoke of boiling rice rolling up into the blue sky.

‘I don't think I'm dreaming right now.'

But he had no idea at all about what's going on around him.

While he was lost in his spiralling thoughts, Dolsok stood without moving much at all.

‘I'll follow him anyway.'

He felt Dolsok wouldn't do any harm to him.

“Let's go now. Let me follow you.”

“Very good, sir.”

Dolsok began to move.

As if impatient, Dolsok was picking up the walking speed.

In a short while they arrived at a small thatched house where many people were gathered.

He saw that old man who rebuked him a while ago pacing up and down.

Watching Dolsok, he asked, “When is the doctor coming?”

“Not yet, lord.”

“This is serious. Acute indigestion is so scary.”

That old man was nervously pacing here and there.

There was constant groaning from inside the room. Kanghyok looked inside quickly out of curiosity.

Sweating profusely, a boy who seemed to be 15 years old at most was lying down on the bed.

Dolsok went inside and asked, “Are you sick a lot, Oksok?”

“Yes, brother…”

The boy looked very sick in Doctor Kanghyok's eyes. With his lips dried and his body dehydrated, the boy seemed to have a high fever.

“Here comes the doctor!” Someone came with a doctor quickly.

The doctor bowed to the old man politely. “How are you, sir, Master Sungmun?”

“I'm alright, as usual. How about your father?”

“He's doing well, sir.”

“My servant is very sick. Take care of him well.”

“I heard about his condition. Let me check.”

The doctor came into the room and rolled up Oksok's sleeves. “Let me check your pulse.”

After feeling the pulse on his wrist, he nodded.

Kanghyok observed him, amused by his act.

“There is a block in his extravasated blood. Let me get some blood from his finger by sticking a needle quickly.” The doctor tied one of Oksok's fingers with a thread and stuck a needle into it deeply. Dark blood came out of it.

It was Kanghyok who was surprised.

‘Did he really stick it into his finger?' Kanghyok thought that the doctor would just pretend to stick the needle in, but he really did.

He thought that this might not be his dream, nor someone's trick, but something happening in the real world.

“Uhhhh…” Oksok groaned out in pain. At least Oksok's pain was real.

Then Kanghyok could not sit idle to have him treated like that.

“Wait a minute. Can I check him?”

n.o.body responded to his question. Only that old man looked at him with an angry expression.

Kanghyok cautiously went into the room and told Oksok, “Can you fold your knees like this?”

“Oh, yes, master.”

“Let me touch your belly.”

“Okay, sir.”

Kanghyok poked it with his finger.

Instantly, Oksok grimaced.

‘His belly feels stiff and hot. This is not a feigned illness.'

When Kanghyok took off his hand, Oksok felt more pain. His pain was acute only in the lower right part of his abdomen.

Kanghyok quickly held his wrist to check the pulse rate through his radial artery.

‘120 per minute. It's too fast!'

Kanghyok stopped the doctor sticking a needle into his finger. “Stop it. This is not an upset stomach.”

“What did you say?”

“I told you to stop now if you don't want to do more harm to his body. Call 119, Dolsok.”

Dolsok tilted his head at his instruction.

“What did you say? What is this 119?”

“Oh my G.o.d! Just give me that black bag that I brought here a while ago!”