The Doctor’s Diagnosis and the Student’s Discovery

“What was the solution you had in mind, student? And what do you think our supplement was?”

Beneath the shadow of his fedora, Julian’s sharp gaze fixed on Ellie. ‘That’s a rather interesting question for a student to ask.’

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a particularly high-level question. Julian was already well aware of the side effects of insulin and had prepared for them in advance. He had already sent guidelines to the Healing Order, and the healers were already using the supplements created by the Merkur Merchant Group to manage those side effects. That had been the case for two years now. In a sense, Ellie’s question was based on obsolete knowledge.

However, ‘She must have studied the class materials quite diligently.’ Julian didn’t forget that she was a middle-schooler and that her only sources of knowledge were textbooks and the Academy.

‘I suppose it can’t be helped, since the knowledge taught in schools must be infallible.’ Textbook knowledge was notoriously conservative. It wouldn’t do to teach incorrect information to students who were still building their foundations. Unlike the field where knowledge was updated annually—even in his past life—textbooks updated at a glacial pace. And in a world without the internet? It was only natural that Ellie wouldn’t know the current standard.

‘If anything, I should take this as a sign that she listened to the lecture that intently.’ Because of that, Julian found Ellie’s question quite endearing. There was only the minor issue that she was currently unaware of the image she was projecting.

“Feel free to answer,” Julian said. He thought he was playing the part of a kind, "Daddy Long Legs" figure—a mysterious, reliable adult who was always gentle with children and spared no expense in investing in them. He was projecting that image onto himself.

But the person sitting at the head of the table was an entirely different character. He was a genius half-elf Director, his face obscured by the shadow of a fedora, possessing knowledge that seemed to have no bottom. No matter how much he consciously softened his tone and vocabulary, the weight of a question thrown by such a man at a middle-schooler could never feel light.

‘Ugh… did I ask that for nothing?’ Feeling the sharp(?) gaze of Director Shun from beneath the shadow of his hat, Ellie lowered her eyes to the table. It wasn’t that she was afraid Director Shun would harm her; it was just that, much like a student fearing a professor, she felt a sense of resistance that was difficult to put into words.

‘Still, since I asked the question, I’ve prepared an answer.’ Ellie spent a long time having a staring contest with the white tablecloth, steadying her breath. Finally, she steeled her resolve and answered Director Shun.

“Digitalis…”

Despite her resolve, her voice grew smaller and smaller. “It’s a material mainly used in the ‘Elixir of Concentration’… it slows the heartbeat, but it has the effect of strengthening the force of the heart’s contraction.”

Ellie recalled what she had heard in a recent class. In alchemy, there was a potion called the ‘Elixir of Concentration’ used for doping when one needed to focus on sniping or spellcasting. One of its ingredients was digitalis, used to slow the heart rate and strengthen the heart’s contractility. It was also a potion used for elderly patients with weak hearts.

“When the heart becomes weak due to an insulin overdose, I thought… what if we used digitalis to support the heart’s contractility?”

Ellie waited for Director Shun’s reaction. Director Shun remained silent for a moment. Ellie’s fingers fidgeted with her glasses frames again. Soon, Director Shun opened his mouth.

“You’ve studied very hard.” Julian’s voice remained soft. Ellie’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Logically, it’s a decent guess. The heart is weak, so you use a drug that strengthens the heart. It’s an intuitive and rational approach.”

“…Thank you.”

“However.” Julian’s finger stopped on the table. “Unfortunately, the principle of heart failure caused by insulin overdose is a bit different.”

“Is… is that so?”

“Yes. The side effect of insulin isn’t that the heart stops because it’s weak. It stops because the blood potassium concentration drops rapidly.”

Ellie blinked. Potassium. As an aspiring alchemist who had to live and breathe the periodic table, it was an element she was bound to know. However, this was the first time she had linked it to the heart.

“Insulin draws blood sugar into the cells, and potassium is drawn in along with it. That’s why the blood potassium concentration drops rapidly. If you administer digitalis in that state…”

Julian paused for a moment. He looked around at the students’ faces. Blank gazes were fixed on his hat. Erika was even nodding off next to him.

“…”

A faint, bitter smile spread across Julian’s lips. He was dealing with middle and high school students. There were even students from departments unrelated to the subject. Most of all, this was a restaurant, not a lecture hall. Realizing his mistake, he corrected himself.

“I’ll explain it more simply. Insulin has the property of maximizing the effects of digitalis. It’s like oil and fire.”

A few nodded. Most were the top students from departments that spent a lot of time sitting at desks. Students like Erika, for whom physical activity was the norm, didn’t seem to understand, but they just nodded along anyway.

“So, if you administer them together, digitalis actually causes heart failure. Instead of helping a weakened heart, it stops a perfectly healthy one.”

“I… I see. I was being presumptuous…”

“Not at all. It was a good question.” Director Shun’s mouth curved into a smile. “There is no need to fear asking questions or to apologize. On the contrary, that is the desirable attitude of a scholar.”

“…”

“And you said this was content learned in the Healing Department’s undergraduate division, right? It’s only natural for a middle-school alchemy student not to know. In fact, the very fact that you thought that far is impressive.”

While speaking, Julian glanced toward the restaurant entrance. He was checking to see if the next course was coming. Seeing that there was still time before the next dish arrived, he continued.

“And to give you the answer to your question, you use a supplement called Hartmann’s solution.”

Hartmann’s solution. In the world Julian originally lived in, it was an intravenous fluid created by a doctor named Alexis Hartmann. The origin of the name was, of course, the creator’s surname. However, in this world, Julian had created it.

When he first made Hartmann’s solution, the option of naming it ‘Schnabel solution’ had crossed his mind. But just as he hadn’t called quinine ‘Tinin,’ he had simply named it Hartmann’s solution because he found it confusing otherwise.

‘Come to think of it, Ringer’s solution was also named after a person…’

Julian pushed the chain of random thoughts into a corner and explained Hartmann’s solution to Ellie. “It’s a Ringer’s solution made by adding potassium salt, sodium, and lactate.”

“Ri… Ringer’s?”

“You know what Ringer’s is, right?”

“Yes… I do.”

Ellie, the alchemy student, and Ayla, the aspiring healer, nodded. Ringer’s solution was also one of the pharmaceuticals supplied by the Merkur Merchant Group. It was primarily a drug for treating patients with excessive blood loss or dehydration, and it was the most basic of basic treatments taught from middle school.

‘I had no idea such a Ringer’s solution existed… Director really had it all planned out.’ Of course, Hartmann’s solution wasn’t taught in the middle school curriculum yet. Therefore, the fact that an IV fluid could reduce the side effects of insulin felt fresh to Ellie.

Director Shun smiled awkwardly at the students’ reactions and said, “It wasn’t such a special supplement. Still, you studied really well. I look forward to you becoming an even more excellent alchemist in the future…”

At that moment, Director Shun’s mouth snapped shut.

“…”

The students looked puzzled. The man who had been speaking softly until just a moment ago had suddenly stopped. What could be the matter? The students watched Director Shun nervously.

“Director…?” Erika called out cautiously. He was staring fixedly at a point in the air without answering.

“…Hmm.”

After letting out a low murmur for a while, he opened his mouth again. “Talking with the student, I just realized this could be used in reverse. Why hadn’t I thought of this…?”

“Pardon?”

“Insulin must have a heart muscle protective effect.”

Julian pulled out his notebook. Scratch, scratch.

It was a modified use of insulin that Julian had frequently used in his past life. ‘Why did I forget this?’ It was so obvious that he had forgotten it. Just as a fish might forget it is in the sea, GIK therapy was so obvious that Julian hadn’t even thought to announce it. He even tucked a bookmark into his notebook to ensure the memory wouldn’t evaporate.

“…”

The students stared blankly at Julian. A student froze with a spoon in their hand. A student stopped mid-chew on a blini. A student stopped with a water glass held to their lips. The story of the genius archmage who ran out into the street after getting inspiration while taking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bath came to mind on its own. A strange silence engulfed the room. And Erika, beside him, held her forehead as if to say, ‘I can’t stop him.’

Soon, Julian, having finished his notes, looked up again. “Thank you, student Ellie.”

“Ye… yes… by any chance, have you thought of a new medicine?”

“Not exactly. But thanks to you, I was able to think of a new way to use insulin. I won’t need to invent anything new; I’ll just need to add guidelines to the drugs the company is already selling.”

Julian said, tucking his notebook away. “Heavy snow will be coming soon, so I should send the guidelines to the Healing Order by telegram then. It will be a great help to patients with heart disease in the winter.”

Perhaps it would become a basic emergency treatment guideline by next spring at the earliest. Julian smiled softly as he thought so. “It was a really good time.”

Ellie’s heart pounded wildly. It wasn’t the flutter of youth. It was simply the heart pounding at the fact that, as a scholar, she had contributed to a moment that would leave a mark on history. The other students looked at Ellie with envious eyes. Along with that, a small buzz of murmurs bloomed among the students.

“What just happened?”

“I don’t know… we were talking about insulin, and then suddenly…”

“I understood up to him thinking of a new treatment.”

“While talking?”

“Is that even possible…?”

Julian left the students’ whispers alone. It was a barrage of praise he hadn’t heard in a long time. He resisted the corners of his mouth that kept wanting to rise. ‘To react like this over just Ringer’s solution.’ To him, Ringer’s solution was the easiest drug to make among all the medicines he had created so far. No, he was even embarrassed to call it a drug. It was just clean water made with magic, mixed with potassium chloride, sodium, and so on. Development period: one week. He could assert that there would be no invention he would ‘eat for free’ more than this for as long as he lived. Yet the students were reacting to the combination of such IV fluid and insulin as if it were the discovery of the century.

‘If I’m not careful, I might even start thinking I’m a genius myself.’

Creak. At that moment, with the sound of the door opening, Julian returned to reality.

“The main dish is ready, would that be alright, Director?”

“Ah, please, Chef.”

The chef nodded and snapped his fingers. Soon, ten staff members entered the room carrying silver trays.

“Today’s main dish is Beef Wellington.”

Julian focused on the chef’s explanation. Along with the thought that it was far too easy to play the genius in this world.

***

Civitas Square. In front of the boarding house where the sisters Ayla and Valeria lived. Under the light of a streetlamp, a woman was pacing back and forth. It was the priestess, the mother of the two daughters. She looked down the end of the street again and again, waiting for the carriage carrying her daughters to arrive.

‘They’ll be back safely, won’t they…’

Of course, she wasn’t without worry. Even if it was a banquet for a scholarship foundation, it was strange to keep middle-school children out until late at night. Had something happened? Was the person called Director Shun a bad person? Such worries followed one after another.

That was when it happened. Clatter, clatter. The sound of carriage wheels rolling on the road could be heard. The priestess’s head snapped up. A carriage was appearing at the end of the street. Upon confirming the carriage with the foundation’s mark, the priestess’s heart began to race. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠carriage soon stopped in front of the boarding house.

“Mom!” Ayla jumped down. Valeria followed her and stepped down slowly.

“…”

The priestess examined her daughters’ faces. Anxiously checking if they were hurt or if they had experienced anything scary. Fortunately, the daughters’ faces were full of bright energy. If anything, their faces seemed to be glowing. Relief drained the strength from the priestess’s shoulders.

“Let’s go in quickly. It’s cold outside. Thank you for bringing them, coachman.”

“Go on in, Ma’am!”

Clip-clop. The coachman gave a good-natured smile and disappeared back into the darkness of the street. The priestess took her two daughters and went into the room. Inside the small, rented room on the second floor of the boarding house, the priestess sat down at the table with her daughters and asked, “How was it? That person called Director Shun…”

Ayla smiled brightly as if she had been waiting. “The food was super delicious, and Director was kind, too!”

“Re… really?”

“Yes! He even knew I liked growing flowers!”

The priestess’s eyebrows rose slightly. It was a reaction that far exceeded her expectations. The priestess then asked Valeria as well. “How about our eldest daughter?”

Valeria nodded, wrapping her hands around her teacup. “…He wasn’t a bad person. If anything, it felt like he was paying attention to each and every student. Just like Ayla said, he knew what the students liked.”

“I see…”

The priestess’s expression softened a little. Fortunately, it seemed that the person called Director Shun was not the villain she had imagined. At that moment, Ayla said with sparkling eyes, “Oh! And Mom, I learned so much today!”

“What?”

“Insulin and IV fluid… uh… that…”

Ayla’s pupils turned toward the ceiling. She had an expression of trying hard to remember something. “That… what was it? Potassium? And glucose… if you use them together, you can protect the heart…”

“…What did you say?” The priestess’s eyes widened.

“And he said if you pre-treat with some kind of IV fluid before using insulin, you can reduce the side effects!”

“…”

The priestess was speechless for a moment. What on earth were they teaching a middle-school child?

“That… that’s content learned in the Healing Department’s undergraduate division…”

“Right! Director said so too! That I didn’t need to know it!”

“…”

The priestess felt dumbfounded, but at the same time, she felt a strange sense of relief. At least he didn’t seem like a strange person. Because someone trying to harm children wouldn’t go out of their way to teach them things like that. At the same time, she could catch a glimpse of the human side of the person called Director Shun.

‘Director Shun…’

Complex emotions flickered by. He wasn’t a bad person. That was very good news for both her daughters and the priestess. However, it bothered her a little that the reason the priestess had become connected to him wasn’t a very good one.

‘I just need to keep quiet.’

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Director Shun was now a big shot in the healing world, comparable to a high-ranking priest or a cardinal. He was at a level where even the head of the capital’s treatment center would have to bow his head to Director Shun. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠In military terms, it was like a regular soldier being noticed by the commander of the Knights Templar. Thinking that, regardless of the fact that Director Shun might not be a bad person, her stomach began to ache.

In the end, the priestess decided that she would stop by an alchemy workshop on her way to work tomorrow morning to buy a stomach-protecting potion.

While the priestess was thinking that, Ayla opened her mouth again. “Mom.”

“Yes?”

“I really want to become a healer like Director Shun.”

At those words, the priestess’s hand stopped. “…Is that so?”

“Yes! I’ll study hard too, and later, I’ll help a lot of people like Director!”

The priestess looked at her daughter’s face for a moment. It was a bright face, one that didn’t yet know the cold reality. First of all, simply graduating from a seminary wasn’t enough to become a healer. Because a priest who graduated from seminary was just a regular priest, not a healer. To become a healer, in addition to graduating from seminary, one had to awaken divine power. And such an awakening of divine power was not an area that could be managed by bloodline or effort. It was an area that relied solely on luck.

‘I was able to become a healer-priest because I awakened late, too.’

Furthermore, even if one awakened divine power, not everyone could become a healer. Like a mage, knowledge was also required. It wasn’t for nothing that a low-level healer was treated like a master-level craftsman.

‘And even those healers don’t measure up to Director Shun…’

And Director Shun was someone that even those filtered-and-filtered healers dared not compare themselves to. Without knowing such facts, Ayla was blindly saying she would become Director Shun. Seeing that face, a bitter smile spread.

“…Yes.”

The priestess stroked her daughter’s hair. “Ayla can certainly become that.”

Ayla was still a 14-year-old child. Wasn’t it an age where she could still dream? Thinking so, the priestess wiped the seasoning off the corner of Ayla’s mouth.

*

Meanwhile. At that time, Julian was inside the limousine returning to the mansion. Clatter, clatter. Every time the car shook, red hair fluttered on his lap.

“Heh…”

It was Erika. The person who was supposed to be a bodyguard was sleeping with her head on the bodyguard target’s lap. She was even snoring happily. Since it wasn’t the first time it had happened, Julian chuckled and opened his notebook.

‘There’s a lot to memorize…’

He intended to organize his notes on the students he had met today as he remembered them. The fountain pen scratched across the paper.

Julian paused his pen for a moment. All that remained were the sisters.

Honestly, he didn’t know much about this child. That was because she had been quiet throughout the meal. Was she introverted, calculating, or just nervous? He needed to watch her more closely next time. ‘Judging by her appearance, she seems like she’d fit in the disciplinary committee… no. I’m not a physiognomist.’ He had thought about trying to guess her personality based on her appearance, following web novel conventions. According to those conventions, the girl named Valeria had an impression of being a bit strong-willed. But such guesses could unnecessarily create prejudices. In the end, Julian left Valeria’s column blank.

And finally.

Julian’s pen paused for a moment. It was because he remembered something about Ayla’s special characteristics. — She is very good at growing flowers.

Before the meal, Julian had remembered that and asked Ayla during the meal. — “I heard you like growing flowers, student Ayla.” — “Yes! I like growing flowers! Later, when I become a healer like my mom, I’m going to grow medicinal herbs myself!”

In the process, she revealed that her mother was a doctor, which briefly led to a misunderstanding among the students that the two sisters were ‘golden spoons’ (wealthy). Anyway, Ayla had said this at the time. — “I’m growing sunflowers even now!”

‘Sunflowers…’

Julian’s eyes narrowed as he recalled this. Sunflowers. Flowers that love sunlight. No, flowers that absolutely cannot grow without sunlight. But what was this world like? A world where sunlight was blocked by magical smog. In the city behind the walls, it was difficult to see a clear sky. Especially in middle-class areas like Civitas Square, it was even more so. The sunflower was a flower with very high ornamental value even in Sanctum Hill. Not to mention the maintenance costs.

‘Sunflowers in a place like that?’

Naturally, a child whose family situation was at a level where she needed a scholarship couldn’t have grown them with the power of money. In other words, this meant there was something about Ayla.

Julian fell into thought for a moment. If Ayla had really grown sunflowers… and without sunlight at that… ‘…Perhaps.’

Julian’s mouth curved upward slightly. The fountain pen moved again.

‘Hmm…’ Julian thought, biting his pen. Seriously, he wondered if he should take them on a factory tour next time instead of a meal.