CLS-Chapter 97

Chapter 97

Even after the magistrate left, the banquet continued for quite some time. With the feast continuing well into the night, Jin So-ah felt like ten bodies wouldn’t be enough.

Receiving congratulations from people, sharing his future aspirations, and greeting everyone individually—it wasn’t until nearly midnight that all the events finally ended.

“Ugh…”

Jin So-ah collapsed onto his bed without even washing properly.

“Ugh, I’m dying…”

Then he fell into a death-like sleep.

The next morning.

“Wh-what in the world…”

Jin So-ah’s eyes trembled.

“Ah! I told you not to push!”

“Form a line! A line!”

Barely awakened by General Manager Ha Dae-bung’s commotion from early morning, Jin So-ah was shocked by the line stretching in front of the main gate.

“Th-the line goes how far?”

The line in front of the main gate filled the long street and wasn’t enough, extending even past the corner.

“Huhuhuhuh.”

Ha Dae-bung looked at that scene and laughed with his mouth wide open.

“Now it begins, Hall Master.”

“What?”

“Please go to the Hall Master’s office.”

“Ah…”

Jin So-ah headed to the Hall Master’s office, hiding his bewildered feelings. Sitting in the soft chair of the treatment room prepared in front of the Hall Master’s office, Jin So-ah wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.

“Is this a dream?”

He had ambitions.

He also had faith that business would go well. But the line currently stretching in front of the main gate far exceeded his imagination.

“I told you not to push!”

“There’s an emergency patient here! An emergency!”

“Hey! You there! Didn’t you just cut in line? Where do you get off cutting in line!”

The line was so long that people got tangled up with each other, creating complete chaos.

“Huhuhuhuh.”

Ha Dae-bung watched that scene, then turned around and shouted loudly.

“Prepare! We’re opening!”

“Yes!”

When the doors opened, patients swarmed in, but they couldn’t enter inside because they were blocked by the rope Ha Dae-bung had set up in advance.

“Receive initial examinations in order and then enter inside. Initial examinations are free!”

“Waaahhh!”

Usually, medical clinics charge fees that would make your eyes water just for a single glance from a physician. It wasn’t for nothing that people said going to a medical clinic a couple of times would ruin a household’s finances.

But with initial examinations being free, they couldn’t help but be delighted.

Physicians sat at desks brought in front of the main gate and began categorizing patients based on what the incoming patients told them. Since it wasn’t work requiring particularly high-level medical skills, they were trainee physicians specially hired by Ha Dae-bung.

When he offered to pay even small amounts instead of having the trainees pay to learn their work, fights broke out over who would take the job.

They judged it was killing two birds with one stone—learning medicine at the prestigious Sacred Hand Hall while also earning money.

“Please go to Treatment Room 3.”

“To Treatment Room 2!”

“…It just seems like indigestion, you could probably go home.”

Neatly categorized patients were guided by medical attendants to treatment rooms. Inside the treatment rooms, physicians from each field were waiting to receive patients.

Soon the sounds of patients murmuring and the smell of brewing medicine began to fill the medical clinic.

Jin So-ah, who had been opening the door and looking outside since no one was particularly coming in, kept rubbing his eyes.

“What in the world…”

Just holding a banquet once brought this many patients—what kind of miracle was this?

“The start seems good.”

Ha Dae-bung approached Jin So-ah and spoke. Jin So-ah pondered with a bewildered face what response he should give. But there was no need to ponder. The answer wasn’t given by him but by someone else.

“Well, it’s as expected.”

“Huh?”

The answer came from above Jin So-ah’s head. After that, there was a rolling sound from above the eaves, and Wei Yan-ho dropped down from the eaves.

“Huh, you were up there?”

“Yeah.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the swarming patients and smiled contentedly.

“Now all that’s left is to rake in money.”

“That’s right.”

“…Will this continue?”

Since Jin So-ah couldn’t understand why people were flocking like this, he could only tilt his head in confusion.

“Huhuhuhuh, Hall Master just needs to watch the show and eat rice cakes.”

At Ha Dae-bung’s confident words, Jin So-ah tilted his head.

“I just don’t understand…”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Jin So-ah as if he were pathetic.

“This is why physician types are no good.”

Jin So-ah’s face reddened.

“People who treat patients don’t know what patients are thinking, so of course they struggle to make a living.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“How many medical clinics are there in Wuhan?”

“…Huh?”

Jin So-ah fell into thought. There was the nameless medical clinic where he had been, and there was the fake Sacred Hand Hall.

And…

“Excluding the Sacred Hand Hall on the main street, there are almost no places that could be called medical clinics. At most, there are small ones. So people flock to the Sacred Hand Hall on the main street.”

This was because the previous Sacred Hand Hall had been such a massive medical institution. People living in Wuhan had no need to go to medical clinics other than the Sacred Hand Hall, so naturally other medical clinics couldn’t emerge. Then when the Sacred Hand Hall collapsed and a new medical clinic moved in, a gap was created.

“When you’re sick, you have to go to a medical clinic, but that place charges money for initial examinations, so people endure and suffer, afraid they’ll just waste money on something trivial, and end up making their illness worse.”

“I don’t understand. Then couldn’t they just come to the nameless medical clinic?”

“Did that nameless medical clinic have patients who could afford to pay?”

“…There weren’t any.”

“People like cheap things, but conversely, if something is too cheap, they doubt whether it’s properly made. They offer free treatment, the building is falling apart, and the only physicians are a young woman and a little kid—who would trust their life to a place like that? They’d take out loans to go to the Sacred Hand Hall.”

Jin So-ah fell into confusion.

Then what had they been doing all this time?

“Only people who absolutely can’t afford to pay even if they die go there. So debts keep piling up, and no matter how much you work, there’s no income.”

Jin So-ah’s face turned pale.

“In the midst of this, when you say you’ll provide treatment without charging initial examination fees, everyone who felt even slightly ill had no choice but to flock here. And if you just charge less than them for medicine and acupuncture fees?”

Ha Dae-bung continued.

“From now on, we’ll dominate the medical clinics of Wuhan.”

“The little doubt that remained was ended by the magistrate’s visit. People would think it’s a medical clinic trusted and commissioned by the government, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Certainly.”

Jin So-ah nodded and asked.

“But how did you bring the magistrate here?”

“We had a good conversation.”

Seeing Wei Yan-ho’s sinister smile made his heart sink.

“Th-threat?”

“What threat! I just showed him the tribute ledger from the Black Earth Tavern.”

“That’s a threat!”

Jin So-ah shouted loudly.

That’s exactly what a threat is!

“Hey! This is called a deal.”

Wei Yan-ho pulled out a ledger from his chest and waved it gently.

Actually, for someone of the magistrate’s level to receive tribute wasn’t such a big deal. Even if evidence was discovered, punishment would be impossible.

When Wei Yan-ho infiltrated the magistrate’s house and presented the ledger, the magistrate just snorted.

But when Wei Yan-ho then presented the Censor’s Golden Sword, his complexion turned deathly pale.

What kind of place was the Censorate?

It was a place that sought out and punished officials who committed crimes or corruption. Just the Censorate’s authority was tremendously powerful, but when Lee Wang-ya took the position of Censorate Director, that power doubled.

But not just any censor—a censor who possessed the Censor’s Golden Sword?

This was an unimaginable situation.

Thanks to this, the Hubei magistrate had no choice but to obediently visit the Sacred Hand Hall as Wei Yan-ho directed.

“Additionally, I got an official position allowing free use of the wealth obtained from the Black Earth Tavern.”

He’s a devil.

This human is a devil!

What madman in the world would think to threaten a magistrate?

“But once people come here once, will they seek out this place again afterward?”

“Tsk tsk.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Jin So-ah as if he were pathetic.

The prestigious reputation of the Sacred Hand Hall passed down through generations, cheap treatment fees, and even the magistrate’s protection.

There was no reason for people not to seek them out. On top of that, with massive initial capital investment, they had carefully selected and placed skilled physicians, so money couldn’t help but be made.

“Money will be made. Money will be made, but…”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes blazed.

“The problem is whether we can recover the investment!”

“What?”

“Money will be made, but the money we poured in wasn’t insignificant either.”

“An enormous amount went in.”

Ha Dae-bung nodded as well.

Initially, they had tried to invest minimally, but after considering this and that, more money went in than expected. At least they were fortunate to be able to obtain the estate for free.

“So you must recover this investment.”

“…Me?”

“Yes! You! You have to recover it!”

Wei Yan-ho declared.

“Now there’s no time to sleep! I’ll definitely make you into Hubei’s greatest physician, so work like a dog! Like a dog!”

In that moment, Jin So-ah had an intuition that something had gone terribly wrong.

“…How did you come?”

“Doctor, my stomach feels really heavy… Since yesterday, it’s been stuffy as if a stone had settled inside.”

After finishing the pulse diagnosis, Jin So-ah began writing a prescription.

“It doesn’t seem like acute indigestion, but rather poor digestion. I’ll prescribe medicine to protect your stomach, so please go and take it for a week.”

“Thank you. Don’t I need acupuncture?”

“Acupuncture isn’t particularly necessary. But if you want to receive it, there’s an additional cost—would that be alright?”

“Yes! Of course it’s fine!”

“…Please guide them to the acupuncture room.”

When the medical attendant took the patient to the acupuncture room, Jin So-ah took his needle case and went to place needles on the lying patient, then returned to the treatment room.

Another patient was already sitting in the treatment room.

“…Listen here.”

“Yes, doctor?”

“Are there still many people in line outside?”

“Oh my, doctor! The line extends outside the main gate. I waited for three shijin.”

“I see.”

Jin So-ah let out a helpless sigh.

‘Is this how I have to live?’

Since people started flocking to the special treatment room, there wasn’t a moment’s rest.

At the nameless medical clinic, it had been busy, but not this kind of busy. Since there were few physicians, they had simply lacked time to manage and treat hospitalized patients.

But here, they were busy just handling the swarming patients.

“Ugh…”

Jin So-ah made a groaning sound once and started seeing patients again.

Wei Yan-ho, watching that scene from above the eaves, nodded.

“At least we’ll make some money.”

“Huhuhuh.”

Ha Dae-bung burst into hearty laughter.

“This is just the beginning.”

“That’s right.”

Wei Yan-ho couldn’t help but think he had done well to hire Ha Dae-bung.

“But you’re really amazing.”

“Not at all.”

No matter how much Wei Yan-ho had brought the magistrate, business couldn’t have gone this well with just that. Everything happened because Ha Dae-bung’s plan worked out exactly.

“From a merchant’s perspective, physicians are all idiots.”

Ha Dae-bung wore a bitter smile.