Chapter 114: Lee Dae-Ron… I Don’t Think It Will Work [1]
A police officer… Even in the twenty-first century, I had never had to deal with the police. Well, except once. I got involved in reporting a child abuse case, but I was the one who made the report.
“Professor… what did you do?”
“Huh? What do you mean, what did I do?”
“No, I mean…”
Something felt different this time. I did not know whether it was just out of courtesy or some kind of gesture because I gave the police chief’s mother a ride in the carriage. But with mounted police surrounding me, I felt like a real criminal. Everyone else had already gone back to the hospital. Only Dr. Liston and I were being taken away. There was even a police officer seated in front of us.
“…Is this happening because I did something wrong?”
“No, I didn’t do anything.”
“Exactly. But you’re denying it so strongly… I heard you hit someone earlier.”
“That was me. You don’t have to be dragged into this.”
“Ah…”
“In my opinion… hmm…”
Liston rolled his eyes. He might look scary, but he was not a bad person. Still, when he made that face, I could not help feeling anxious.
“I don’t know.”
If someone who clearly did not know anything said “I don’t know,” what more could I ask? I let out a long sigh. That was when the police officer in front of us turned around to speak. It was the same man I had helped earlier.
“First of all, Dr. Pyeong, thank you. Thanks to you, I caught the culprit. It was her husband.”
“Ah… I see. I’m glad it worked out.”
“And don’t worry too much. You’re just here as a witness.”
“A witness…?”
The officer glanced around, slightly cautious. The carriage was loud, and the streets outside were bustling, so it was not exactly a secretive space. Still, he lowered his voice.
“I caught the gang.”
“…Right.”
Gang?
A gang? Why would a doctor be involved with a gang? I glanced at Liston instinctively. It… kind of looked like that might be the case?
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…No reason.”
Not only me, but the officer looked straight at me too and said something meaningful. It was as if everyone automatically assumed I had something to do with the mess.
“We didn’t just catch one gang. We dismantled seven of them. This is a major victory for the London police.”
“…Yes.”
The officer continued talking, but I could not figure out where he was going with all of this. I mean, even if Liston did not know what was happening, I really had nothing to do with any gang activity. A “gang”? Didn’t that mean something like a mob or criminal syndicate?
“Do you know what these men were doing?”
“No idea.”
“They were grave robbers.”
“…Grave robbing?”
Grave robbing? In London?
Were there even any noble or royal tombs worth stealing from here? Possibly. It was still a kingdom, after all. And given how recently some people must have been buried, the tombs could be filled with valuables. But even so, how would a random gang manage to rob them when they were guarded by the British Empire?
“I’m not sure what you’re imagining, but that’s not it.”
I must have looked thoroughly confused because the officer said this and got off the carriage. He motioned for us to follow, and we did. I was pretty obedient when it came down to it. I had even earned military commendations. I would do just about anything if someone asked nicely. And apparently, nineteenth-century British police were similar. Firm, but not unreasonable.
“What they stole… were bodies.”
“Corpses? Of nobles?”
“No. Just ordinary people.”
“Why…?”
I asked, but the officer gave me a look that said, “You really don’t know?” And I really did not. I gave him a helpless look, and Liston patted my shoulder. He looked like he finally understood, and he looked so smug doing it that I wanted to smack him.
“The bodies they stole… there’s a good chance we bought some of them.”
“…What?”
“Yeah.”
Wait. Don’t talk like that so casually!
I had suspected that some of the cadavers used in anatomy labs were not exactly obtained legally. But I assumed there was some arrangement, like a deal between the hospital and the deceased’s family. But this? Buying stolen corpses?
“Professor… you didn’t know about this, right?”
“I had no idea.”
“Well… I’ll take your word for it.”
That was already shocking enough, but what I heard next was even worse.
The officer went on carefully.
“The problem is… these seven gangs aren’t the only ones. All the ringleaders will be hanged, but I expect more will emerge.”
His expression was grave. Understandably so. What kind of world was this, where people stole corpses?
“We focused on poor cemeteries, just in case. At one, nicknamed ‘Bad Boy’s Pimple,’ we found a discrepancy of over two thousand between the burial records and the actual graves.”
“Two… thousand?!”
“Yep. Over two thousand bodies vanished, and that’s just from last year. If we dig deeper, we’ll find more. But honestly? I’m too scared to touch the rest.”
“Wait… that many bodies, in just one cemetery?”
Even Liston looked stunned.
Two thousand bodies in a single year? That was not even a scandal anymore. That was an epidemic.
“And as I said, that’s just one site. Who knows how many corpses are being traded around London? I doubt there’s a single medical school or clinic that hasn’t used stolen bodies.”
“…Well… now that you say it, I guess not every cadaver came with family consent.”
“So let me ask this. Is it really necessary to go this far? I mean, it’s just the human body…”
Even the officer sounded conflicted. And I understood him. When I studied anatomy in the twenty-first century, I learned from a single embalmed cadaver for an entire year. But here? The remains rotted too fast. A single body might only last a few days. So I understood, to a degree.
In truth, I thought there were advantages too.
Formalin-preserved cadavers were stiff and discolored, different from living tissue. Practicing on fresher bodies definitely helped me understand human anatomy better. And as a former professor, I knew that tactile experience was everything for a surgeon.
But these nineteenth-century doctors justified the endless corpse supply as educational necessity.
No. That’s not it. This isn’t right.
These bodies were stolen. No consent, no dignity. Forget respect for the dead. This was just wrong.
“It’s necessary. There’s a clear benefit. And with anesthesia advancing, abdominal surgeries and others will increase… We need anatomical knowledge. Isn’t it better to make mistakes on the dead than the living?”
“…That’s true. But still… isn’t this monstrous?”
“I agree.”
“And now that the supply’s cut off, we’re going to have a shortage. We need another solution. Something has to change.”
Liston rubbed his chin, troubled.
Regardless of the ethics, a sudden drop in cadavers would severely affect medical education. Learning anatomy in two dimensions from books was completely different from working in three dimensions on a body.
“…Anyway, don’t worry about next week.”
The officer turned his gaze from Liston back to the holding cells. Should I call it a detention center? Either way, it was overflowing. So many people were crammed in that there was not even room to sit.
“There are a lot of people in there who’ll die soon.”
Hah.
We walked out after that final grim statement.
Damn. We made eye contact.
They deserved death. I knew that much. Why? Because it was obvious they did not just steal corpses. The rate of Premature Burial was higher than people realized. You thought they would not have killed those poor souls themselves? There was a reason “murder” was added to their charges.
“What is this world…”
Next to me, Liston looked shaken, but for a completely different reason. Despite being a professor, his anatomical knowledge was limited. He was skilled with amputations, but outside of that? He was lost. His concern was not just educational. It was existential.
Wouldn’t surgery itself change dramatically in the future? He was in a panic.
This guy really did take medicine seriously. But still, whether it was about corpses or surgery, the whole thing felt heavy. I was not just regretting what had happened so far. I was looking ahead.
I was from the future. A time when anatomy could be studied legally, with donated bodies.
How did that even become possible?
Was it just because we knew enough to not need as many cadavers?
No. That was not it. There were not even any proper three-dimensional anatomy textbooks before I came back. Some things could only be learned hands-on, and those things were not few.
One reason modern anatomy was so advanced?
Preservation.
Formalin. I needed Formalin.
How did they make it again?
“Hey, Pyeong. What are you staring at again? What are you seeing now?”
Formaldehyde! Yes, when you dissolved that in water, it became Formalin.
Now, how did you make Formaldehyde?
“I’m really watching… and waiting. I believe this is the Lord’s guidance.”
Liston was rambling next to me, but I was focused. Chemical formula…
I did pretty well in organic chemistry back in college. Thanks, John, my tutor.
CH₂O… It was formed when methanol was oxidized!
Okay, now, how did you make methanol?
Footnotes
Translator’s Notes
Lee Dae-Ron — Korean phrase-like title meaning “with this theory/logic” or “according to this reasoning.”
Bad Boy’s Pimple — Nickname for a poor cemetery mentioned by the officer; retained as a proper place nickname.
Formaldehyde — Chemical compound with the formula CH₂O. When dissolved in water, it forms Formalin, used to preserve biological specimens.
Methanol — Simple alcohol used as a source material in producing Formaldehyde.