Chapter 3: The Nineteenth Century [3]
Chapter 3: The Nineteenth Century [3]
“Ugh.”
Unfortunately, I did not faint.
I had definitely felt like I was about to pass out, but the weight of having lived as a surgeon for over ten years kept my mind firmly in place.
And because of that—no, because of that, I had to witness all of the aftermath as well.
“How long did it take?”
Before Doctor Robert Liston even asked, he already wore the expression of someone who could guess the answer.
His assistant, likewise full of pride and practically beaming, replied, “Thirty-two seconds for the amputation. About five minutes for the suturing.”
“Then the operation was a success.”
Yes.
That much I had to admit.
Thirty-two seconds to cut off a man’s leg.
I almost wanted to drag over the orthopedic surgery residents who had trained with me and show them this.
The amputation they performed with such care and effort—this man did it in thirty seconds.
Without anesthesia or disinfection… and even bare-handed.
Fuck.
I kept cursing.
I was not usually this kind of person.
I was the sort of person who could endure even blatant racism right in front of my face.
How?
Because I had suffered so much under the senior faculty at the university hospital.
I really had done everything I could just to become a professor.
Bare-handed.
Even so, this was too much.
Surgery with bare hands.
If you are going to use your bare hands, go practice martial arts instead.
“Ah, but did the patient survive?”
Of course, it seemed it was still too early to be shocked.
He declared the surgery successful, and only now was he checking whether the patient had actually lived.
The nineteenth century…
Was this not a bit much?
“Ah, just a moment.”
Just a moment?
You bastard, you are a doctor—you should have been checking whether the patient was alive during the surgery.
“Uh… ah, yes. He’s alive. For now.”
“Then it truly was a success.”
Doctor Liston nodded at his assistant’s words, then casually tossed the same knife he had just used to cut off the leg back into his bag.
As before, he did not wipe off the newly smeared blood or the greasy residue from fat.
It seemed he believed those too were proof of experience.
Damn him.
“Now then, citizens of London!”
Liston shouted with a booming laugh.
Maybe because he was so large, and because as I had just seen, his natural strength was no joke, it felt as though the entire square reverberated with his voice.
“As you have just witnessed, my surgical skill is the very finest in London! If any of you have an illness that requires the removal of a leg, an arm, or a jaw, come find me! I will cut it off in thirty seconds. Those of you who know, know this well—anyone else would take not one minute, but five! For me, thirty seconds. Just endure the pain for thirty seconds, and that is all!”
The more I listened, the more I had to admit he was not entirely wrong.
This was an era without anesthesia in the first place.
Surely anesthesia does not exist and he is not pulling this insanity while ignoring it.
My memory was hazy, but it felt like proper anesthesia had only been introduced not that long ago.
If someone asked how I could not know that despite being a doctor, I had a perfectly valid answer.
History of medicine.
Yes, a fine subject.
It even seemed like something one ought to know.
But in medical school, where the amount of required study was already overwhelming, classes like that were usually pass or fail, and naturally, all you had to do was memorize the exam notes.
Five minutes of cutting without anesthesia, or thirty seconds… that really would make a difference.
But judging from what I saw, the patient did not look likely to survive.
“Ugh…”
He had only just regained consciousness and was groaning, but…
He had already been drunk before the surgery.
They had cut him open without anesthesia.
They had not disinfected anything.
He had lost a lot of blood, and there was no such thing as Blood Transfusion.
I never thought it would take this long just to list all the reasons he might die.
I was standing there with my mouth hanging open in horror when someone smacked me hard on the back.
When I turned around, it was the man.
“Well, well, today’s shock must have hit this Upton country boy pretty hard. That scared?”
Of course it was scary.
It felt like I had just watched someone get butchered and killed right in front of me. If that did not frighten a person, what would?
But the nuance in the man’s voice was simply that he meant the scene itself, and I was not so stupid that I could not pick up on that.
“No? I’m perfectly fine.”
And to be fair, this level of spectacle was not really much to me.
Modern surgery had advanced and was increasingly being replaced by ultra-precise procedures.
But trauma surgery, orthopedic surgery, or open abdominal surgery was still genuinely gruesome.
The feeling was different, but…
Anyway, I was used to it, is what I was saying.
“What about you, Joseph? Do you still want to become a surgeon?”
After carefully studying my face, the man apparently decided it did not matter and turned to Joseph instead.
Joseph’s face was flushed with excitement.
“Yes. I want to become like that too, Father.”
And then he repeated the very same thing he had muttered earlier in a daze.
He absolutely should not become like that.
Still, that was something I could fix from beside him.
Whenever that time came, anyway.
“Uh… sir?”
I was thinking that when the man strode forward.
Even though there was blood splattered all over the ground, he walked right out across it.
Then he called out to Doctor Liston.
“Um… Doctor?”
With his fierce face splashed with blood, he looked far more like a gang leader than a doctor, and the moment their eyes met, I could see the man shrink back despite having been the one to approach first.
“Haha. There’s no need to be afraid. I’m a doctor, a doctor.”
Apparently used to that kind of reaction, Liston laughed heartily.
Then, putting on as friendly a smile as he could while still leaving the blood on his face, he asked, “So what is it?”
Of course, I noticed something.
Before Liston put on that friendly smile, he first gave the man’s clothing a quick once-over.
His eyes moved so fast I thought he was having a seizure.
Even though the man lived in the small town of Upton, he was still one of the wealthiest people there.
Since he was not the type to avoid physical work, he might smell a bit of sweat, but the fabric of his clothes itself was expensive.
Doctors…
Well, that was thinking by twenty-first-century standards, but still, they were people who made a decent living, so there was no way he would not notice.
“Ah, well, that there is my son. And beside him is my son’s closest friend.”
“Ah…?”
“He’s from Joseon. Next to Qing. He believes in God too, in his own way.”
“Aha.”
Doctor Liston let his gaze rest on my face for a moment, then nodded at the man’s continued explanation.
Since the words were coming from a wealthy man, and since I was, one way or another, another child of God, that seemed to be enough for him.
The man appeared to sense the same thing and continued speaking.
“And both of them dream of becoming surgeons.”
“Surgeons?”
“Money is no issue. I can sponsor them both anyway.”
“Ah…”
“And if possible, I could sponsor you as well, Professor.”
“H-hahahaha. Well then, this is not the sort of thing we should discuss standing here. Shall we talk as we walk?”
“The patient…”
“My assistant will handle him. Hahaha.”
The moment sponsorship came up, Doctor Liston’s eyes gleamed again.
Is he short on money…?
That felt strange.
Was he not supposed to be the finest doctor in London?
This was the early-to-mid nineteenth century…
Surely this was an era when London could be called the greatest city in the world.
Of course, with this blackened sky, these filthy streets, and the people wandering about who looked either like beggars or ordinary passersby, I did question whether it truly deserved that title.
Still, if he was a doctor in such a place, he ought to have money, so I followed while wondering why he was acting like this.
“This is the medical school where I work.”
“Oh… I have heard of it too. It is famous, is it not?”
“Well, it is a school in London. And besides, I am here.”
“Haha, naturally.”
“Would you like to have a look around, perhaps?”
“Would that be all right? We are outsiders.”
The school really was an imposing building.
It was a stone structure overgrown here and there with vines, and it gave off such an atmosphere that it felt improper to enter carelessly.
On top of that, there were guards.
Not the sort who simply felt like guards, but the kind who made you think things would go badly if you messed with them.
If I had to compare them to something, they felt more like military police.
I graduated from Seoul National University too.
In Korea, university campuses were practically picnic grounds.
Compared to that, this place was solemn in the extreme.
“It is fine. Come in.”
But when Doctor Liston laughed, the guard standing nearby quietly stepped aside.
“This is the lecture hall.”
He showed us the lecture hall too.
It was just that.
It would be hot in summer.
It would be cold in winter.
That was about all it made me think.
“Ugh.”
Then Liston’s footsteps led deeper inside, and as we followed after him, a strange smell began to reach us.
At first, I thought it might be the smell of medicine.
After all, a medical school, then as now, was inevitably attached to a hospital.
No, that’s not it.
Still, I do not think any medicine should smell like this.
As time passed, I became certain it was not medicine.
When I looked to the side, the man already looked like he was about to vomit.
Joseph was not much better.
The only one who seemed completely unfazed was Liston.
“Oh, and this friend here… what was your name again?”
Apparently I was the only one who still looked all right.
Liston looked at me and asked my name, and I answered, “My name is Taepyeong. You can just call me Pyeong.”
“Pyeong?”
“Yes, that is fine.”
“Good. You seem to be holding up a little better, but still, block your nose with this before going in.”
He handed me a wad of cotton, so I covered my nose with it.
I had already been thinking I needed to block it with something anyway.
The man and Joseph, as if possessed, hurriedly covered their noses too.
There was no helping it. The smell felt dangerous and harmful.
Creeeak—
After confirming that all of us had covered our noses, Liston immediately opened the wooden door in front of us.
“Bleurgh.”
The moment it opened, the man bolted.
Not just any grown adult, but a man old enough to have seen all kinds of things in life, running away like that.
Anyone would have called it an undignified sight.
But no one said anything.
It was not merely that this was not the first time.
It seemed like a common occurrence.
Naturally so.
“Joseph. Are you okay?”
“I closed my eyes.”
“Uh… good call.”
Beyond the door was the Anatomy Room.
The Anatomy Room.
Yes, even when I was a student, I had not exactly liked it either.
Not for any grand reason, but because of the smell of Formalin.
It stung your eyes and felt awful, did it not?
I suddenly miss Formalin.
Sorry, Formalin.
You were cursed unfairly, were you?
Yes, thanks to you, we were able to dissect bodies that had not decayed and learn properly…
“Now then, this is the finest anatomy room in London.”
To begin with, there were far too many flies.
Naturally, they had laid eggs all over the place, so there were maggots too.
The people who might have been assistants or students were sweeping the place with brooms, and even then the maggots were mixed in with everything.
Looking at this mess… he can still call it the finest?
Could the other places really be like this too?
No, they should not be.
“It’s far more sanitary than anywhere else!”
Okay.
This time, I really did want to faint.