Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (신입사관 구해령)

EPISODE 8

What are you doing?

-Who might you be? -His Highness Prince Dowon

is here as a wimusa. Be courteous.

Your Highness, I apologize for not recognizing you.

I am Kim Hong-rok, a former royal physician

at the Medical Office.

You were a royal physician?

Then why did you let her do that?

She was infecting the children.

No. She wasn't, Your Highness.

It is a medical procedure called variolation.

"Variolation"?

Since ancient times, it's known infecting healthy people

with fluid from those with active smallpox

immunizes them against the disease

after causing a mild case of it.

However, half of the people who are variolated die.

It is a high-risk prevention method.

I tested it on 12 children,

and seven of them have fully recovered.

-Then what about the five of them? -They aren't doing too well.

You wicked witch!

How could you conduct such a risky test on children, who are physically weak?

But she said she managed to save seven of them.

She saved seven children.

Providence is what saved those children's lives.

It has nothing to do with what she did!

Had she done nothing to the children, even the dying ones

might not have caught the disease at all.

However, we couldn't just sit back

and hope they wouldn't catch the plague.

We ought to do something to save at least one more life.

Your Highness. Please allow us to perform variolation on more people here.

It is the best solution we have at the moment.

No, you cannot.

We mustn't take such a huge risk using people's lives.

Stop this now.

My dear, what on earth are you doing here?

What if someone sees you?

Why did you bring His Highness here? You should've stayed in the office.

Well, I had no choice.

His Highness kept insisting on coming here.

The epidemic is in full force,

so please make sure His Highness never leaves the guest house.

He must return to Hanyang as soon as possible.

I will do my best to persuade His Highness.

By the way...

Are you all right, my dear?

Don't worry about me.

Just focus on taking good care of His Highness.

Okay, I will.

-I hope I did the right thing. -Pardon?

The procedure called variolation, which the female physician was performing.

I did the right thing by stopping her.

Yes, I did the right thing.

Don't you agree?

Well, I'm not so sure.

Her explanation made sense.

I don't think she's wrong.

Oh, she actually stopped by earlier and asked me

to make sure you never leave this guest house

as you might catch the disease.

She's obviously concerned about you. You were too unsympathetic earlier.

What do you mean?

Protecting the people is my duty as a prince--

Sure, of course. You're absolutely right.

Since you're a prince of this country,

you do not need to listen to what a mere female physician has to say.

Anyhow, you've already made your decision,

so don't have second thoughts and just get a good night's sleep.

Who cares about the people and smallpox?

What matters the most is you finding peace of mind, Your Highness.

Since ancient times, it's known infecting healthy people

with fluid from those with active smallpox

immunizes them against the disease

after causing a mild case of it.

Ma'am.

I'll do this. You can take care of something else.

Okay, thank you.

Let's eat.

I'm very impressed by you.

I heard all the physicians in other towns gave up and left

in fear of catching the disease,

but you came all the way here to look after the ill.

It must be very stressful.

It can't be as bad

as the pain these kids are experiencing now.

Besides, I'm responsible for this situation.

Well, about what His Highness said... Please don't take it to heart.

He can switch from being tolerable to totally obnoxious in a flash.

He can be quite moody.

She's burning up with fever. We should try to lower her temperature.

Aren't you afraid of touching those who are infected?

Judging from your skin, I don't think you've ever had smallpox.

No, I'm not afraid.

I actually remember

something was put into my arm, and I remember it really hurt.

They said it'd prevent smallpox.

Looking back, I wonder if that was variolation.

My father calmed me down by explaining to me that I'd be fine

after suffering for a short while.

Do you remember roughly when that was?

I'm 26 years old now,

so it was probably around 20 years ago.

Your father must've been well versed in medical knowledge.

Back then, not many people in Joseon

knew how to perform variolation.

He probably heard about it through the grapevine.

He had no medical knowledge. He just assisted a merchants' guild

and never held any public office.

He passed away when I was little.

My apologies.

I assumed you were from a prestigious family.

I shouldn't have brought it up.

Gosh, please don't worry. I'll take that as a compliment.

I'm truly flattered.

You don't look like a court lady.

What brought you here?

Right, I should introduce myself.

I'm a female historian.

I'm Goo Hae-ryung, an apprentice from the Office of Royal Decrees.

I'm Mo-hwa.

The news about the plague only reached the capital recently.

Are you saying people are already hoarding things in preparation for it?

Officer Seong.

-I apologize, Your Royal Highness. -How rude.

His Royal Highness can't even sleep due to his concern for our people.

How dare you doze off and even snore in front of His Royal Highness!

Does the palace look like your bedchamber to you?

As a historian, you must record everything you see and hear.

How dare you fall asleep!

I sincerely apologize. Please forgive me.

Your Royal Highness, that historian dared to mock the dignity of the court

and neglected his crucial duty as a historian.

Please send him to the Royal Investigation Bureau to be punished.

-Please punish him. -Please punish him.

Enough, all of you.

Everyone is aware of the historians' heavy workloads.

Who'd want to become a historian if we punished him

-for something like this? -But, Your Royal Highness--

Have you forgotten what we are supposed to discuss at this meeting?

I will think about what to do with the historian later on.

First, send all the rice from other provinces

to Pyongan Province and Hwanghae Province.

I will open the Royal Treasury if there isn't

enough money to buy all the medicine,

so search all over the country if you must

in order to obtain enough medicine for everyone.

Yes, Your Royal Highness.

Officer Seong got caught while dozing off.

-He dozed off? -At the royal meeting?

While he was recording it?

Don't even get me started.

My legs were all wobbly, and my heart was pounding like crazy.

Gosh!

Then what's going to happen to Officer Seong now?

Will he get fired?

Then he should be grateful.

A long time ago, a historian who had dozed off while on duty

was exiled to a faraway land...

That won't happen to him, right?

I'd love to send him

to the countryside to teach him a lesson,

but His Royal Highness

mercifully said he will be forgiven if he submits a letter of apology.

Officer Seong, consider yourself lucky.

Had it been His Majesty instead of His Royal Highness, you would've been...

I know.

I'm too ashamed to say anything.

Come on. It's not your fault.

We're swamped with work because of the plague.

It's because we're short-staffed.

That is true.

We have to be there for all the royal meetings and lectures.

Following around His Majesty is enough work,

and we have His Royal Highness too.

And as you know, our work doesn't end there.

We have to record all the royal commands and send them out.

Also, we must put all of them into the administration record.

I actually thought about visiting the guru in Gyeryongsan

so that I can learn how to clone myself.

We have to record our opinions on current events too.

Even when I go home,

I have to work as hard as I do here.

I don't even have time to enjoy a glass of wine with my wife.

Officer Son, you said you missed

your second grandchild taking his first step because of work.

Officer Yang, please file a petition on behalf of all of us.

Either hire more historians

or reduce our workload.

Please do something.

Why are you taking it out on me again?

Look, did any of you have no idea what you were getting yourselves into

when you decided to become historians?

Even during our Sungkyunkwan days, our seniors always said,

"Don't ever work at the Office of Royal Decrees.

The heavy workload will age you like there is no tomorrow."

They warned us countless times.

Has any of you never heard that before?