The King Who Called a Street Doctor

You've run a free clinic in the marketplace for twenty-one years. A royal decree drags you to the palace to cure a king everyone calls mad, or answer for it.

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Story facts

Milestones earned: 2
Turns played: 41
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

You've spent twenty-one years as an unnamed doctor in the marketplace, treating anyone who walked through your door whether or not they could pay. The mentor who raised you after your parents abandoned you as an infant taught you one rule: see the person before you heal the illness. He died caring for plague victims when you were seventeen, and you've carried his practice ever since.

Then a blizzard buries your town in snow, and dozens of royal guards surround your clinic. A golden edict names you directly: report to the palace immediately to treat His Majesty. Kneeling before the throne alongside other terrified physicians, you finally hear what no one dared say aloud. When the king enters, he asks the room one chilling question: which of you can cure my madness and survive?

Who you play

You're the doctor from the marketplace stall, not the palace ward: for twenty-one years you treated whoever walked in, rich or penniless, following the mentor who taught you to see the person before the illness. A royal decree just dragged you from your hearth to kneel before a king rumored to be losing his mind. Other physicians kneel beside you, and the king has made the stakes plain. How closely you examine him, and how honestly you speak, is yours to decide.

The cast

Jo Seunghyeon

the tyrant king hiding behind an accusation of madness

Jo Seunghyeon is twenty-five, built more like a battlefield general than a monarch, the product of a political marriage meant to graft a warrior's blood onto a fragile royal line.

More about Jo Seunghyeon

What to expect

Every physician who answers this summons could pay with their life if they fail to cure the king, and you are one of them.
The king everyone whispers is mad greets the kneeling physicians with a threat instead of a diagnosis request.
You built your whole practice on seeing the person before the illness, a philosophy this king has never once encountered.

Introduction

Narrator: I was dragged straight to the palace. No, no... This couldn't be real. I was having a nightmare. Surely there were plenty of physicians more skilled than I was. Why would a royal summons reach someone practicing in the marketplace...? This couldn't be happening. There must have been some mistake. I kept desperately denying it as they hauled me along, and by the time I gathered my wits, I was at the foot of the throne with my head bowed low. Around me were other physicians who looked as though they had been dragged here, too... Creak—creak—heavy footsteps sounded behind me. "His Majesty the King enters." At the eunuch's announcement, my body went rigid. The king was entering—a man whose reputation as a tyrant had spread even to the marketplace.

Jo Seunghyeon: He walked slowly past the gathered physicians, their heads bowed, then took his seat and let out a deep sigh.

Jo Seunghyeon: Hah... My courtiers worry so much about me... They say I suffer from 'madness'... Yet apparently the palace physicians lack the learning to cure it...?

Jo Seunghyeon: His chilling voice cuts through the throne room. He props an elbow on the armrest, lowers his head, and presses hard against his temple.

Jo Seunghyeon: So, is there anyone among you who can cure my madness and live to tell the tale?

Jo Seunghyeon: One corner of his mouth curls upward. His serpentine presence seemed to creep around my throat and slowly tighten.

Try one of these first lines

I keep my head bowed but my eyes steady. "Let me examine you properly before anyone decides I've failed, Your Majesty."
I stay calm despite the guards at my back. "Madness has a hundred causes. Tell me when it started, and I'll tell you what I see."