In some brothels, they even used expensive poisons.
Without the medicine provided by the Hao Clan, the poison would act up inside the body, leading to death.
Fortunately, she and her sister weren't considered valuable enough for such measures.
However, if they ran away and got caught, there was no hope.
Even if they succeeded in escaping, many ended up returning.
Having known only the life of a courtesan, adapting to a different life suddenly was impossible.
She knew nothing about farming or trade.
She had never experienced a normal life.
She gave up on the dream of escaping.
The last thing left for her was to become the leader of the Hao Clan.
In the world of martial arts where strength is justice, the strong could become the leader.
She managed to grasp the position of branch leader at the very end.
And then, she was brought down by syphilis.
She leaned her face on Muwol's shoulder.
"Still, the gaze of the young master was comforting."
"Ah... I felt the same, sister."
"Yes. He didn't ask me many questions, nor did he interfere. He just saw me as someone to treat."
"He only thought about what he had to do."
"Yes. He looked at me as a person. I liked that lukewarm gaze. Ordinary people must have always looked at each other like that, right?"
"..."
Instead of answering, Muwol stroked his sister Muhwa's head.
"I hope you get better, sister."
"Still hoping... foolish one."
"I hope you can call me a fool even three years from now."
"Hahaha, three years? Why not ask to be called a fool until you're a hundred?"
"That would be too greedy."
"You're already being greedy."
She stopped speaking there, unable to continue.
Her throat hurt as if it was tearing apart. 'I've talked too much.
It hurts...'
The pain grew worse with each passing day.
Even though she tried to endure it with her internal energy, it was martial arts of the dark path.
Her internal energy wasn't pure, so she couldn't expect the same healing effects as orthodox martial arts.
She changed her dream.
She hoped to live until next year.
She knew it was greedy, but she wished for her last wish to be granted.
The next day, she had a particularly high fever.
Her consciousness kept awakening and sinking due to the pain.
It felt like her limbs were being torn apart.
The rash covering her body was a symbol of syphilis.
Jin Cheonhee placed his hand on her forehead to check her temperature and then took her pulse.
"Doctor... can I get better?"
At those words, Jin Cheonhee's brow furrowed. "..."
Syphilis has stages.
In the first stage, it's hard to realize one has it due to painless rashes.
The second stage shows symptoms all over the body.
After a latent period where it seems like nothing is wrong, it reappears in the third stage.
In the third stage, gummas can be found in the eyes, organs, brain, and bones.
It damages organs, the cardiovascular system, and nerves, drastically increasing the mortality rate.
In the first and second stages, a muscle injection suffices.
The prognosis would be good at these stages.
But the current state was dangerous. 'Third stage... but it might have spread to the nerves.'
In modern times, they would extract cerebrospinal fluid for testing, but that was impossible here. 'Even if it's the third stage, if it's not neurosyphilis, a muscle injection might work.
But if it has spread to the nerves, it's a different story.'
Penicillin struggles to cross the blood-brain barrier with just a muscle injection. 'For now, her motor skills seem normal, so let's give a muscle injection and observe her condition.'
If she improves with just this, it means the nerves are safe.
But if not, they would have to move to intravenous injections.
As Jin Cheonhee remained silent for a long time, Muhwa thought, 'It must be difficult even for the young master.
An incurable disease is an incurable disease...'
Her chest felt prickly.
She thought she had let go of everything, but it seemed she still had regrets.
Eventually, Jin Cheonhee spoke.
"I think it will go well. So let's try together."
'He's different from other doctors who just click their tongues.
Different.'
'From here on, it's a marathon.'
He managed the patients' conditions and administered medication at set times.
For patients in the third stage, where the bacteria had invaded the organs, necrosis might have already occurred.
He kept observing in case their condition changed suddenly.
'Next is the data.'
He had to continuously record the patients' improvement and any potential side effects as data.
Jin Cheonhee couldn't be sure if the penicillin here worked exactly like the penicillin on Earth.
After all, this world had qi.
Humans could break rocks with bare hands and run like horses.
Upon enlightenment, they could ascend to become immortals, and somewhere, there were monsters.
'Will the antibiotics made here work the same as modern Earth's?'
Animal experiments had been successful.
But he couldn't be sure about the future.
The one who helped the most was the head of the medicine hall, Manpagok.
"The progress is good, isn't it?"
She released the doctors of the medicine hall to assist Jin Cheonhee in the treatment hall.
If penicillin succeeded, it would create an internal injury treatment that had never existed before.
It could save many lives.
"If there's anything lacking, just say so, young master."
"You always help more than enough."
At Jin Cheonhee's words, Manpagok laughed heartily.
"It's us who are receiving help. There are already patients showing improvement. I even think we might be able to cure this incurable disease with human power."
Jin Cheonhee shook his head.
"Let's watch a bit more."
"All the doctors are excited, but our young master remains strict. Oh, by the way, when the medicine is complete, it might be better to change the name from penicillin to something easier to remember."
He hadn't thought about that.
"Why?"
"I don't know why it's called penicillin, but it's hard to remember. The other doctors feel the same. Something easy to remember is easier to use, so make it a bit simpler. Hahaha."
She patted Jin Cheonhee's back with her large hand.
"Where did such a blessing fall from? No wonder the master favors you."
With that, she went back to work.
Processing penicillin was the job of the medicine hall.
In an era without proper equipment, refining and processing the medicine while preserving its efficacy was a challenging task.
'I'm glad we have the medicine hall.'
Even the same herb could become medicine if used well, but poison if used poorly.
Not just the dosage, but the process of drying and boiling the herbs, and the compatibility between medicines could potentially kill a patient.
The medicine hall she led was working like clockwork even at this moment.
The strict discipline was surprising, considering her benevolent appearance.
Yet, her popularity was remarkable.
With her doing her job, it was now Jin Cheonhee's turn to do his.
Jin Cheonhee continued his rounds, checking the patients' conditions.
"Did you make this medicine, brother?"
A child asked while Jin Cheonhee took his pulse.
"Hold on. Don't talk for a moment."
The child obediently closed his mouth at Jin Cheonhee's words.
Congenital syphilis.
Children infected while still in the womb.
It was largely divided into early congenital syphilis and late congenital syphilis.
If syphilis manifested in a newborn, there was nothing that could be done with the technology of this era.
The child would die.
If it manifested after some growth, there were cases where they could fight the disease and survive.
But syphilis was a terrifying disease.
The scar covering half the child's face was one thing, but one of his eyes was already blind.
One ear was already hard of hearing.
His mother had already died of syphilis, and this child had come here thanks to Jin Cheonhee's request.
After finishing the pulse check, Jin Cheonhee asked, "Have you ever learned martial arts?"
"No."
"But there's internal energy flowing in your dantian?"
"Uh... internal energy?"
As the penicillin improved his condition, the movement of internal energy within his body was discovered.
The child himself was unaware of the internal energy.
Jin Cheonhee used gestures to explain.
"Uh, have you ever breathed strangely?"
"Oh, right. When I had a fever and was in too much pain, breathing with my belly made it hurt less, so I did it like this...!"
The child eagerly showed Jin Cheonhee how he breathed with his belly. 'Did he build internal energy like this? Without receiving any guidance?'
If that was true, this child was a genius.
Jin Cheonhee placed his hand on the child's back to check how the internal energy moved with each breath. 'He's circulating his energy? Circulating it without a master?'
Without a master, he was aligning his internal energy with his breathing to circulate it.
Simply building internal energy might be possible with a one-in-a-million, no, one-in-ten-million chance encounter with a miraculous elixir.
But circulating internal energy within the body was a different matter.
The fact that he wasn't aware of it was even more surprising.
"I thought this was normal...?"
The child tilted his head.
Because of his disfigured face, he covered one side with his hair.
When he first arrived, he was in a filthy state, but now he was clean and smelled nice.
However, the disfigurement remained, so people avoided looking at him.
Jin Cheonhee asked, "You said you don't have a name, right?"
"The Hao Clan people call me 'Hey' or 'There.' The kids call me 'Dog' or 'Leftovers.'"
"Hmm..."
Jin Cheonhee furrowed his brow.
He was the only child among the syphilis patients.
He expected his story to be tragic, but hearing it firsthand felt different.
"Let's do this. I can't write your name like that, so I'll just make one up here."
"Do as you like."
Even though he said he'd make it up, Jin Cheonhee sat there for a while, thinking.
Then he wrote this: Cheonwoo (天佑).
He took the first characters from "Cheonwooshinjo" (天佑神助), meaning "Heaven's protection and divine assistance," hoping that the heavens would help this child who had been so unfortunate.
"You're now Cheonwoo. It means 'Heavenly protection.'"
"Wow, that's nice!"
The child nodded.
"And if it's okay, would you like to live somewhere other than the Hao Clan?"
With such talent, he could do anything as a martial artist.
But that couldn't happen within the Hao Clan.
"Hehehe, if it's a place you take me to, brother, anywhere is fine."
Was he starved for affection? The child didn't hesitate.
It was understandable.
The adults were indifferent, and the other kids bullied him.
After the disease manifested, the abuse continued for a long time.
The children beat him, saying, 'You might spread the disease.'
Even after being moved to a place within the Hao Clan where patients gathered, the violence continued.
Jin Cheonhee's brow furrowed deeply. 'I'll need the master's and the Hao Clan's permission first.'