Chapter 28

Chapter 28 < The Escape of the Sacrifice. >

Of course, Kim Ki-woo could force any issue to pass if he wanted to.

But he rarely did that.

He tried his best to lead social consensus.

He knew that if he became a dictator who ignored the opinions of the majority, discontent would inevitably pile up.

He had no intention of breaking this principle this time.

“You are all greatly mistaken. The autopsy of the corpse is not a choice but a necessity. I think we need to know more about the human body for the sake of the health of the imperial citizens.”

Kim Ki-woo’s remark made the faces of the anti-autopsy faction stiffen.

He did not miss that. He immediately opened his mouth to help them understand.

“Industrial Minister.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“May I ask you something?”

“Please do.”

“What do you do if a machine like a water cart made by the Industrial Department breaks down?”

The Industrial Minister tilted his head. It was an obvious question.

“Well, if it’s too damaged, we discard it, but otherwise, we repair it and use it again.”

“Right. You would surely repair it. Then what do you do if a person’s body breaks down?”

“Of course, the healers would treat the patients, wouldn’t they?”

“That’s right. There is a common point in these two cases. If something goes wrong, you fix it. Isn’t that so?”

“It seems so when I hear it.”

“But isn’t it strange? When a mere machine breaks down, you make sure to identify where it broke and then proceed with the repair, but when a person is sick, you just look at the symptoms that appear and treat them. Why does this difference occur?”

As the words continued, the ministers could sense Kim Ki-woo’s intention.

“It’s simple when you think about it. The craftsmen can do that because they understand the structure of the water cart deeply. But what about the human body? Is there anyone who knows in detail how humans can maintain their vital activities?”

The ministers closed their mouths as if they were glued together. They had never thought about this deeply before.

“The healers today hardly know how the human body works. They just look at the symptoms and treat them. How can medicine develop like this? How can they say they fix the body without knowing the body in detail?”

“But isn’t the human body different from a machine like a water cart?”

“Ho ho. Then can you explain to me how they are different? I didn’t know you knew so much about the human body. Please teach me a lesson.”

“That is…”

It was obvious that the mechanism of life and the structure of a machine were different. But without looking inside the human body, he could not give a clear answer to this.

“You have to know more about the subject to point out how they are different. That’s why we intellectuals should constantly explore and learn about differences.”

Kim Ki-woo’s speech ended, and there was a brief silence in the conference room.

Everyone was chewing on his words.

But that time did not last long. Soon voices of agreement began to erupt.

“To learn about differences… That’s a really cool thing to say. I feel like I’m realizing one more truth today.”

“Indeed. As Your Majesty said, we need to accumulate knowledge through autopsy.”

The atmosphere gradually flowed as Kim Ki-woo intended. The ministers who had been neutral turned to support autopsy.

“However, we will not be able to stop the backlash of the imperial citizens.”

But the Security Minister still seemed to have some lingering attachment and brought up the imperial citizens.

Kim Ki-woo said briefly about this.

“It is your role as administrators to prevent such imperial citizens from causing trouble. Isn’t that right, Security Minister?”

Kim Ki-woo emphasized the word ‘Security Minister’.

Dealing with trouble was largely the role of the Security Department. In other words, he warned him not to hold on to any excuses by saying that security would be disturbed.

“…I will follow your order.”

It was then that the Security Minister bowed his head. The atmosphere had completely tilted by then.

“Then let’s proceed with the autopsy-related proposal as it is.”

“Let it be done.”

The decision was finally made to allow the dissection of the condemned prisoners.

‘The empire’s prisoners are truly pitiful.’

Especially the male ones.

They had to fight as gladiators in arenas like the Colosseum until they died.

And if they died, they had to suffer the additional misfortune of having their corpses dissected.

‘Well, they shouldn’t have committed such heinous crimes.’

Kim Ki-woo quickly shook off his sympathy for them. They were the ones who were useless to the empire.

It was only right that they could wash away some of their sins, even if it was only before they died, and after they were dead.

*

“Ugh! What a dreadful thing to say! How dare they think of desecrating the bodies of the dead!”

“That’s right. Tsk tsk.”

“Don’t tell me they’re going to take our bodies and rip them apart after we die?”

The news that the proposal for dissection was approved spread widely throughout the empire through newspapers.

And of course, there were negative reactions to it.

This tendency was especially strong among the elderly, who had fixed notions.

They didn’t have much time left to live.

They showed such reactions because of a vague fear that they might become targets of dissection after they died.

“Dissecting corpses. Ugh, it’s horrifying just to think about it.”

“Hmm. But reading the newspaper, it seems that His Majesty is right again this time. What, do you think His Majesty would do anything harmful to us?”

“Well, that’s true…”

“I have no doubt in His Majesty. I hope you don’t either.”

“Haha. I didn’t mean to doubt His Majesty.”

But except for a few people, there wasn’t much resistance.

The imperial citizens trusted Kim Ki-woo’s decision very much, but more than that, they empathized deeply with his logic in the newspaper.

How could they treat themselves properly without knowing their bodies?

Especially as medicine advanced, it would benefit the health of the imperial citizens themselves.

“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“Of course. Even though I’ll die soon, if I can help people who suffer from the same disease as me, what’s the problem with having my flesh torn apart after I die?”

“You’ve made a very wise choice.”

Even ordinary imperial citizens, not just prisoners, volunteered to donate their bodies to medicine after they died.

A considerable number of patients who were difficult to treat with current medical standards showed such behavior, and many other imperial citizens who agreed with Kim Ki-woo’s will joined this movement.

Thus, the development of medicine began in the Wacantanga Empire.

*

‘I have to escape.’

The period of Quetzalcoatl was approaching soon.

He was sure he would be dragged away this time. The last remaining brother was taken away and became a meal for the god that those demons believed in.

He would die miserably someday anyway.

Golden Parrot couldn’t forget the scene of Quetzalcoatl last year.

He was mobilized to take away a sacrifice from his own tribe.

She was beaten with a club until she stopped breathing.

That wasn’t the end. No, that was just the beginning.

The demons who killed her cut her throat and separated her heart from her body. Then they stuck a long stick into her heart and offered it to their god.

So that he could drink her blood at ease.

Also, her head was skewered on a skull tower, Chompantli, and became a decoration, and her skin was peeled off and became a priest’s robe.

Her blood was sprinkled on the earth to pray for a good harvest next year.

The monsters living in Tenochtitlan thought of their tribe, Tequac, and countless other tribes as just bread. They started flower wars whenever they needed food and used them as food.

‘But can I survive by running away?’

They cunningly increased the number of sacrifices assigned to their tribe if someone from their tribe ran away. Because of this terrible situation where they watched each other, they had to wait for the moment when they became sacrifices.

The countless tribesmen who were sacrificed every year. He felt angry when he thought of especially the children.

But his tribe had no power to resist them.

‘But I don’t want to be offered as a sacrifice obediently. I’d rather kill myself.’

Golden Parrot decided. Even though more of his tribesmen would be sacrificed, he wanted to live.

He didn’t care if they criticized him for being selfish and cursed him.

But he wanted to make this excuse.

Wasn’t it the demons who did wrong, not him!

‘What’s wrong with wanting to live!’

And that night, he began a desperate escape.

It was a night when even the moon lost its light. Perhaps because of that, the guard was more strict.

On days like this, more of the tribals would run away.

But he was lucky.

The gatekeeper who was guarding the door happened to go to the bathroom.

‘Ha, I escaped!’

He couldn’t go back to the tribe now.

As a traitor, he would always end up as the next sacrifice.

The golden parrot ran without stopping.

Southward, and southward again.

He didn’t stop at any villages he saw. He always took the rough roads and the mountains, the forests.

‘Ugh…’

He was hungry.

He had eaten something wrong and his stomach hurt. His head was spinning too.

But he wanted to live, so he didn’t stop for a moment.

Although he had impulsively fled from the tribe, he was an excellent warrior and an expert in hunting and gathering.

Time passed and passed again.

The clothes he wore became rags, and his body was covered with wounds.

He lost weight from not eating well. He must have looked like a skeleton from afar.

‘I wonder what’s there?’

It was such a dangerous road that no one came or went. He had heard rumors that people lived beyond this place, but he doubted everything after wandering for so long.

But the golden parrot urged his steps with superhuman patience.

And finally.

‘At last…’

The forest ended. An open space filled his sight.

The golden parrot limped. His left leg had something wrong with it, so he couldn’t walk straight.

How long did he walk like that?

“A, a village…!”

His eyes widened.

He saw traces of civilization in his eyes.

At that moment, tears began to fill his eyes.

He survived.

He really escaped from those demons.

“Sob, sob…!”

He couldn’t suppress his tears. But his steps moved forward, even though they were limping.

When he got close enough.

“So that’s why…”

“Huh? Wait!”

“What? Why are you suddenly like that?”

“That…”

The man pointed in one direction with his finger. Then his colleague who was on guard with him looked over there.

“What? It’s a person, isn’t it?”

“A person came out of that jungle? Huh…”

While they were puzzled by the question.

The golden parrot confirmed that they had found him. Then the tension that he had been holding on to with superhuman strength suddenly loosened.

Thud!

The golden parrot finally lost his strength and collapsed on the ground.

“Whoa!”

The warriors were startled and approached him.

“Isn’t this dangerous?”

“He looks really bad. We have to take him to the village quickly.”

A man who looked like he could die at any moment.

The warriors quickly lifted up the golden parrot and ran into the village.

That’s how the man who escaped from the Aztec Empire’s Mexica people, the golden parrot, entered the embrace of the Wakan Tanka Empire.

A historic event that would be recorded as a turning point in history was unfolding in Panama.

< The Escape of the Sacrifice. > The End