episode_0198

Pharmacy Street.

It was a truly unfamiliar phrase.

In the areas we lived, the word ‘street’ never had anything attached to it.

To think that pharmacies gathered densely to form a single street.

That was only possible because it was Deseo.

But strangely, it felt familiar.

I arrived at this street, whose location I didn’t even know, by walking there myself without asking anyone.

I knew.

This was… the street Tia first sought out when she set foot in Deseo, in order to obtain Dienbus.

What she ultimately obtained was not Dienbus, but Deseo’s cold reality.

Through Tia’s eyes, ‘Deseo’s pharmacies’ were shops that welcomed the rich, those who loved to spend lavishly.

Nobles in elegant, flowing dresses came and went, and the street was always filled with pleasant fragrances.

Tia felt sad inside as she watched pharmacies where the sick and ailing did not visit.

That was Deseo.

I thought the scene I would soon witness wouldn’t be much different. But…

Marie, who was following, spoke.

“There are so many people.”

…Why?

Pharmacy Street was bustling with people.

Surprisingly, they weren’t wealthy aristocrats.

They were just ordinary city dwellers who didn’t seem much different from us.

Coughing sounds, a person missing their right arm, a newborn crying in its mother’s arms.

Countless sick people stood in lines in front of the pharmacies.

The scenery was completely different from what I remembered.

“So this must be Pharmacy Street.”

“…Yes.”

What kind of change had occurred?

I slowly walked along the street with a bewildered gait.

The line was extremely long. It snaked like a serpent’s tail, so much so that the stone pavement was barely visible.

Among roughly 20 shops, only five or six had people gathered.

The rest were operating normally but had no customers.

As I passed by the shops,

I could hear the chatter of the waiting people.

“Looks like we’ll have to wait for quite a while.”

“Still, this is really fast. Who would have imagined? Selling ‘cold medicine’ on Pharmacy Street! And at such a cheap price too.”

“Indeed, a year ago, many people died just from being sick, unable to even get treatment, let alone medicine…”

They sighed.

It seemed like a sigh of relief, thankful for having survived safely until now.

“This is the first time someone has taken care of the common people immediately after their ascension.”

“You can say that again. Honestly, I was worried if a ‘Queen’ who was also the same age as my daughter could truly lead the country properly. It was truly a needless worry.”

Creak—.

The pharmacy door opened.

A man emerged, clutching a bag of medicine tightly to his chest, and with a deeply moved expression, he shouted,

“Long live Her Majesty the Queen!”

“Long live—!”

The waiting people cheered as if on cue.

For the common people of Deseo, whose lives were harsh, ‘medicine’ was truly precious.

In this city where money was absolute, would there really be doctors to care for the poor?

No.

There were only a few doctors who helped out of a strong sense of duty.

Here, ‘medical care’ was a privilege only the wealthy could enjoy.

In such circumstances, how much more difficult would ‘medicine’ be, which required complicated manufacturing methods, significant ingredient costs, and skilled techniques?

There were many people suffering on the streets, unable to even obtain simple cold medicine.

It seemed the Queen… still hadn’t forgotten the terrible sights she had witnessed in the slum streets.

Immediately after her coronation, she introduced several policies, among which was a measure regarding Pharmacy Street.

The content was to make medicine easily accessible to everyone.

As a result, from today, pharmacies placed over-the-counter medicine on display,

and the sick, who desperately needed medicine, flocked to the street.

Marie, having heard the explanation, smiled faintly.

“That’s just like Tia Unnie.”

“…”

“Unnie said that if there were people struggling around her, she should always help them.”

“She did.”

“Seeing everyone happy makes me truly feel that the Queen is Tia Unnie.”

Yes. It was a good thing.

It was certainly a good thing that the poor and sick common people were receiving help.

But… I couldn’t sympathize with the voices praising the Queen.

For some reason, I didn’t know why.

I just couldn’t bring myself to.

I swallowed, a bitter taste lingering on my lips.

“…Let’s go.”

Leaving the bustling street, we arrived in front of the sparsely populated pharmacies.

The tenth shop.

This was the place the Royal Physician-nim had told me about.

Surprisingly, even this shop felt familiar.

I remembered Tia visiting here in the past.

Seven months had passed, and I had arrived at the same place Tia once had.

I looked at the shop’s display shelves. They were lined with high-end perfumes and cosmetics.

I wondered why people weren’t even approaching here. It turned out this was a pharmacy that didn’t sell over-the-counter medicine.

Creak—.

As I opened the door and stepped inside, a slightly dark and spacious interior appeared.

“Is anyone here?”

Upon entering, the shop owner was sitting with an annoyed expression.

He trimmed his nails while looking at us indifferently.

“Who are you? We don’t sell cold medicine or anything like that here.”

It seemed he judged we weren’t customers as soon as he saw our attire.

“We haven’t come to buy medicine. We were introduced by the Royal Physician-nim.”

“Royal Physician-nim?”

“Yes. That we could meet the rebels through you…”

“Quiet!!”

Suddenly, the pharmacy owner shouted.

Marie, startled, hid behind me in fear.

“Are you crazy? What if someone hears us?!”

The owner quickly got up and locked the shop door. Then he swiftly hung a ‘[Closed]’ sign on the window.

“Follow me.”

Clank!

The storeroom door opened.

It was a cramped space filled with various medicinal ingredients.

He checked several times to make sure there was no suspicious person outside, then asked us in a low voice,

“The Royal Physician, are you talking about *that* physician-nim? The Head of the Medical Institute?”

“Yes. He’s currently held at an inn near the docks, and when we secretly asked for help, he introduced us to this place.”

“Hahaha! This is truly great news! So he finally changed his mind! Yes, yes. You came to the right place. The organization isn’t in a very relaxed situation right now, so we’re not in a position to be picky about who we take. And above all, if it’s an introduction from the Head Royal Physician-nim, there’s no room for doubt.”

The pharmacy owner pointed to his empty shop.

“You saw it on your way here, didn’t you? Those swarms of wretched beggars? I still can’t believe this dignified Pharmacy Street became like that overnight! This country is truly doomed!”

He explained with a genuine expression that it was ‘wrong’.

“Damn it! It’s all because of those disgusting noble bastards. Just a month ago, they would come to my shop, asking which perfume was good. Now that they’ve won the war, what? They want to sell medicine for the ‘common people’? Ha! It’s outrageous!”

“…”

“Yesterday, the Queen ordered them to throw away all those perfumes on the display shelves and sell trash like cold medicine, right? What a joke! How would that make money? If those smelly commoners come into my shop and cough, who will pay my shop’s rent? It’s clearly doomed to fail!”

Over his shoulder, as he vehemently ranted, I could see a ‘Deseo Pharmacist Certification Award’.

Ah.

In this city, is this the kind of person who is called a pharmacist?

I felt like I could understand, if only a little, the feelings Tia must have experienced.

“How can I meet the rebels?”

“Ah, right. We were talking about that. *Ahem*, yes.”

Rustle—.

The shop owner bent down and moved a sack of medicinal ingredients, revealing a large hole in the floor.

As a pharmacist myself, I knew.

This space was a type of freezer, used for cold storage of medicinal ingredients.

“Just follow me.”

“Understood.”

“But, that girl can’t come.”

The shop owner pointed at Marie.

“She’s my younger sister. Can’t she come?”

“No. Is our organization a daycare? You’re only being let in because of that Teacher-nim’s introduction. Normally, we wouldn’t have even accepted you.”

Just as I was thinking of trying to persuade him somehow,

Marie took a step back first.

“It’s okay, Oppa. Don’t worry and go. I’ll wait at home.”

“Marie…”

She waved her hand as if to say it was truly fine.

“Alright. I’ll be back.”

Leaving Marie behind, we descended into the basement.

***

The pharmacy’s freezer led directly to Deseo’s underground waterway.

It was much more complex than I expected. It was clear that if I didn’t follow the pharmacy owner, who was holding a lamp, I would surely get lost in this absolute darkness.

After traversing smelly, damp, and narrow passages for some time,

I climbed up a ladder at the end of the passage, and upon reaching the top—.

Someone’s house appeared.

But I wasn’t sure if I should call this a ‘house.’ There seemed to be plenty of tables and chairs, but no household items were visible. There weren’t even any windows, so it was dim.

It was strange. I couldn’t see outside, so I didn’t know if I had emerged above ground, or how much time had passed.

After walking down the corridor for a bit, I saw people.

They were conversing with serious expressions. They didn’t pay any attention even as we passed by.

“Wait here for a moment.”

The pharmacy owner left me alone and disappeared somewhere.

I slowly looked around.

Feeling curious about the people who had been conversing so seriously earlier, I went over there.

“Ughh—.”

“It hurts…”

Groans could be heard from somewhere.

I followed the sound and peeked to see what was happening.

“…Ugh.”

My breath caught at the terrible sight before me.

About twenty men lay injured there.

Someone had hastily stopped the bleeding, but in my opinion, it wasn’t proper treatment.

They were covered in bloodstains as if they had just come from a battle. Though they endured with open eyes, their complexions were dark.

A wounded soldier stammered,

“Is anyone… anyone there? Water… some water.”

First, I looked for anything that might be helpful around me. But no matter how much I searched, there was absolutely nothing useful here. Not even in drawers or cupboards. Not a single sprig of herbs was visible.

At best, all I could do was change their blood-soaked bandages and give them water.

While I was busy tending to the patients,

“So this is where you were.”

A calm voice came from behind me.

Turning my head, I saw a young man standing with his hands behind his back.

He wore a coat that, while not extravagant, was luxurious and perfectly fitted, a large hat perched on his neatly trimmed hair. And the monocle resting on his nose made him look somewhat like a scholar.

However, seeing that he wore a ‘money pouch’ on his belt instead of a book or a sword, I could roughly guess he was of merchant origin.

“I heard the story. You said you came through an introduction from the Head Royal Physician-nim, correct?”

“Yes.”

The young man introduced himself with a smiling face.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am ‘Ralph Klaus’, the operations chief.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ritsu.”

After a formal handshake, he looked down at the injured and said,

“First, I apologize for showing you such an unpleasant sight. The timing was unfortunate.”

“What happened?”

“Should I call it an enemy ambush?”

Klaus had an indifferent expression, but his voice was far from cheerful.

“We were recently bringing in supplies from foreign merchants, but a few days ago, enemies attacked along that route. The comrades who managed to escape to this place were fortunate. A significant number of people didn’t return.”

To have suffered such heavy losses.

Moreover, for these ‘rebels,’ who seemed to have limited forces, wasn’t it almost a complete annihilation?

…That would be problematic.

Because I didn’t come all this way just to take care of the injured.

“Um— Mr. Klaus.”

“Please speak.”

“I heard from the Royal Physician-nim that you might know a way to enter the royal palace. Perhaps…”

“The Royal Physician-nim said that?”

The chief was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into loud laughter as if something had occurred to him.

“Haha! Indeed! I understand what you mean now.”

“…Yes?”

“You have given us a timely and excellent inspiration, given our difficult situation.”

He said with a smile,

“Perhaps… you might be our savior.”