Episode 76: Syphilis [3]
“What, what?”
A sailor, indeed. Sailors of this era were the epitome of roughness. The man walking ahead, clearly the one with papules on his palms, immediately jumped and turned around the moment Liston called out. He wasn’t armed, but the hostility in his eyes was obvious. He radiated aggression.
Yeah… this won’t be easy. Though I doubt Professor Liston will lose.
Steamships had already been invented. Technically, they had existed since the late eighteenth century, but mostly in experimental form. Commercialization hadn’t come far yet, and most ships were still sail-powered. That meant sailors had to work whenever the wind blew. Even at dawn.
“What do you want? You looking to die?”
“Uh… are your bones aching or something?”
And then there was the food situation. Fresh water was hard to store, so most of their “hydration” came from weak alcohol. In short, while things were slightly better than in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, thanks to fewer cases of scurvy, there were still plenty of dangers. You couldn’t even dream of venturing into central Africa at this time. Tropical diseases like malaria were simply untreatable.
If you could make it there, you would earn a fortune and a name for yourself.
Alfred’s father had been quietly hoping I would go do just that ever since the whole condom incident. I heard malaria was the main issue, but since I didn’t know how to treat it, I just kept quiet.
“What do you want with our mate?”
“He doesn’t seem like he belongs in this part of town.”
“Hey, that man back there has a watch!”
“Ohh…”
These men had the kind of fierce camaraderie only found among people who lived hard lives. Even the ones I thought were bystanders rushed over. Seven of them in total. As for us? We had five: Robert Liston, me, Blundell, Joseph Lister, and Alfred. But honestly, there was no way Blundell, Alfred, or I could do much in a brawl. And Joseph? He would get eaten alive by this lot. Realistically, this was seven against one: Robert Liston.
“Great. Because treatment is so damn hard.”
Liston calmly unfastened the knife from his back, but he didn’t draw it. He just stood there, the sheathed blade still slung over his shoulder, scanning the crowd.
“I’m Dr. Liston. I’m here to treat a syphilis patient. Now move.”
Then he said something utterly absurd. Who waved around a giant knife and said that? As expected, the crowd didn’t react well.
“Is this man insane?”
“Who doesn’t have syphilis on a ship?”
“Treatment? Don’t make me laugh. You call killing people treatment?”
They weren’t just angry. They were furious. But the strange part was that the man who first called out to his friends was now hesitating and backing away.
That bastard… He knows. He knows he’s spreading it.
Maybe he hadn’t realized it at first, when it was only one or two women. But now? Blundell had already confirmed more than ten cases. Who knew how many more there were in London? Some were married, which meant they would infect their husbands, who might then infect someone else…
Considering London’s moral standards at the time, this man was basically a walking pandemic.
“Get him!”
“Ugh… it would’ve been so much easier if treatment worked.”
That was my honest thought as the sailors began rushing us. Some were even armed. I was just thinking that maybe we should also, you know, run, when I heard a bang.
Wait… are there trucks in this era?
Then I saw it. Liston had sent a man flying across the alley with a single strike of his blade, still in its sheath.
“Call the police!”
Some of the bystanders took off running, and others started cheering. Honestly, cheering made sense.
If this man had gone into bare-knuckle fighting instead of surgery, he would have taken over all of London by now.
Three men were already down. The rest froze. The man we were originally after pulled out his knife, but it was still sheathed. When Liston saw that, he stepped forward, hand resting on his own knife handle.
There wasn’t a man alive who could match Liston with a blade. He was born for it, holding a knife every day. The moment felt like something out of a medieval epic.
“Are you sure you want to pull that out?”
The implication was clear: If you do, I will too. And you’ll regret it.
“Oh, no…”
Apparently, he got the message. The man calmly put his knife down. The other three bolted without a second thought. I was sick of this already, but at least it ended well.
“Alright. Come here.”
“Y-Yes, sir. But… syphilis… why… why go this far?”
“Why? You really want to ask that now?”
Only when the dust had settled did Blundell step forward. From his tone, he made it sound like he had participated, but I knew full well he had been hiding behind me. I had tried to step back earlier, only to bump into him.
“You’ve caused a surge in patients! One of them is even pregnant, you monster!”
“Ugh. Do you really have to shout things like that here?”
Of course, there was no topic more scandalous than that one. The atmosphere shifted. Even though he already looked shaken from Liston’s pressure, the syphilis patient now seemed utterly rattled, darting nervous glances around the alley.
“There, there!”
“Did they catch Killian?”
“What kind of bastard is he?”
A commotion broke out as a group of sailors pushed through the crowd, dragging their companions with them. There were still seven of them, and Liston, visibly annoyed, drew his knife. Honestly, no doctor should be pulling out a blade with that kind of face…
Beep.
Just then, the police arrived.
“Stop right there! What the hell are you lunatics doing in broad daylight?!”
They called themselves police, but in reality, they looked more like soldiers. Or at least, that was how I saw them through my Korean lens. First of all, they were armed. With guns. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I still tensed up just seeing them. Meanwhile, Liston wasn’t the least bit fazed, even with a gun pointed at him like they were about to shoot his liver out. On the contrary, he smiled.
“Hey, I’m the one who cut off your chief’s mother’s leg.”
“You crazy, vicious bastard!”
How could he say something like that so casually? He really was a crazy and vicious bastard.
“No, wait. Are you… Dr. Liston?”
“Liston? The surgeon from the town square? Oh, that Liston?”
Shockingly, it started to work.
“Oh, right… The chief did say he asked for surgery for his mother. I remember now. Are you sure it’s him?”
“Yes, that’s him. So what about those men?”
“They were interfering with medical treatment.”
At Liston’s words, the police nodded as if it made perfect sense. Then they turned and started beating the sailors who had just shown up.
“What about this man?”
“He has syphilis…”
Killian, who should have been knocked out cold by now, somehow ended up collapsing into Liston’s arms and confessing that he had syphilis.
“Wait, really? You’re a patient?”
Just by looking at him, it was obvious he was an accomplice. But as those words were exchanged, Liston nodded with confidence.
“That’s right. He’s a patient.”
“Ah, I see. Must’ve been rough.”
“Yes. If you ever need to cut off someone’s limb, just call him.”
“Uh… that’s a weird thing to say, but… you mean cutting off limbs for the patient, right?”
“Exactly. Not just anyone can do it.”
“Yes, yes. You’re right.”
And just like that, the police let Killian go and arrested only the men who had been trying to drag him away.
“What’s going to happen to them?”
Worried that the sailors might be executed or something, I asked Blundell. He chuckled.
“No one died, so what’s the big deal? At most, they’ll be let off with a warning.”
“Ah…”
Even though one of them pulled a knife? Just a warning? I thought the death penalty would have been too much, but this was very lenient. I was shocked.
“Whew… I’m safe.”
Killian, watching all this unfold, let out a deep sigh of relief. Blundell, brushing it off like it was someone else’s problem, turned away. But honestly, weren’t the police terrifying, no matter the era? Even now…
One wrong move, and you could disappear without a trace.
They could have beaten someone to death right here, and no one would have said a word. It looked like a modern society on the surface, but underneath it all, barbarism still thrived. Could the British Empire really function like this?
What a joke. Why did I even come here?
“Is this really the time to be sighing?”
Liston snapped, eyeing Killian, who was still catching his breath. His knife, though sheathed, was still in his hand, and it looked heavy.
“Uh…”
“Let’s go. So, how many people did you infect?”
“More than ten…”
“For spreading an incurable disease like that, shouldn’t you be executed?”
“Hic—!”
The conversation turned bloody real fast. Well, not so much a conversation as a one-sided execution order from Liston. Thankfully, Blundell was the more reasonable one.
“No, no. Capital punishment is up to the courts. Besides, none of the other patients were prosecuted. That’s why we came to catch him, right?”
“Yes, so what now?”
“We catch him first. When is his ship leaving?”
Blundell turned to the patient as if trying to calm Liston down. It must have been a relief for Killian, though for some reason, he looked deeply troubled. He didn’t say anything for a while.
“When is it sailing?”
I couldn’t wait anymore and finally asked. Only then did he answer.
“Uh… I’m retired.”
Retired? What the hell was this man talking about? Blundell sighed and asked again.
“Retired? You’re not going back to Ireland?”
“I live in London now.”
“What? But your ship—”
“It’s too hard. I quit.”
“Then can you swear not to sleep with any more women?”
“That… that’s hard.”
“Yes, well… If I looked like you, I wouldn’t want to either.”
Blundell muttered under his breath, not even trying to hide his thoughts. Liston glanced at him and spoke up.
“So should we just kill him, then?”
“Why are you always trying to kill people? You’re a doctor!”
“People died anyway, didn’t they?”
“Still! We’re doctors…”
“Then should we treat him? There’s no treatment.”
Blundell let out another long sigh at that. Then, for some reason, he looked at me. That was bad enough, but then Liston looked at me too.
No, no. Don’t look at me like that. I don’t have a miracle cure either…
Wait… is there really nothing we can do?
Translator’s Notes
Syphilis — A sexually transmitted bacterial infection. In this period, it was difficult to treat and could become chronic or fatal.
Papules — Small raised bumps on the skin. In secondary syphilis, they can appear on the hands and feet.
Scurvy — Disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, historically common among sailors due to long voyages without fresh produce.
Malaria — Mosquito-borne infectious disease that causes fever and can be fatal. Effective modern treatment was not available in this period.
Steamship — A ship powered by steam engines. Steamships existed by this period, but sail-powered vessels were still widely used.
Bare-knuckle fighting — Boxing or fighting without gloves, common in rough entertainment and street-fighting culture before modern boxing rules became standardized.
Capital punishment — Legal execution by the state.
British Empire — The global empire ruled by Britain, associated with colonial power, trade, and military reach.