The Butterfly Effect of Taesan-dang
I ran into my senior, Lee Young-seok, who'd just become chief resident in his fourth year at the Utilization Institute, at the nursing station. It was right after morning rounds.
"Do-yoon, I noticed you were looking up obstetrics stuff whenever you had a free moment last week... Something going on?"
"No, just personally curious about something."
Young-seok hyung smirked. "Yeah, makes sense. No one in their right mind would ditch internal medicine for obstetrics with no future..."
Why wouldn't obstetrics have a future? It's pretty popular...
That's when a nurse flipping through charts at the station chimed in matter-of-factly. "Hospitals don't deliver babies anymore. How could it have a future?"
What the hell is that supposed to mean...?
I felt deeply uneasy. To prevent the butterfly effect from Taesan-dang and Bosan-dang, I'd deliberately scaled up the costs in my advice to King Munjong. As soon as I heard about Princess Gyeonghye's delivery, I'd checked the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty too. Nothing unusual compared to the backup version.
Princess Gyeonghye gave birth to a princess.
Rice was bestowed upon her by royal order.
Staring at the updated annals, I'd been certain there was no butterfly effect. But that nurse's tone... it reminded me of my own mother's.
The way she'd spoken as if it were natural for her husband to be CEO of a 300 billion won company.
Still, I played it cool. It had been four months since Gatong communications with Munjong began. My acting skills were already beyond Grand Prize Best Actor level.
I smiled at Young-seok hyung and the nurse, then left the station. And bolted straight to the bathroom to search it up.
I underestimated Munjong's execution...
Concerned about Joseon's population growth, he'd rolled out a high-cost policy. My oversight.
Munjong was a man who'd lost his wife in childbirth and sent his firstborn straight to heaven.
What I found online was shocking. A public maternal and child health system, rooted in the Joseon era, had fully taken hold in modern times. Korean women register at local Taesan Centers the moment they confirm pregnancy. Babies are born at Taesan Centers, and mothers with newborns get limousine service to Bosan Centers for postpartum care and infant management.
I clicked a link to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Nutube channel. It was footage from a Bosan Center in Seoul. Women in the pool slowly walking forward, then backward—repeating. Suhaeng (Water Exercise), the fifth form of the maternal health exercise routine I'd created.
The most shocking part? Korea's birth rate, which I remembered as 0.6-0.7, had risen to 1.2. The cause? The fourth form, Geumhaeng, pelvic floor contractions and relaxations—Kegel exercises. I'd included them for postpartum recovery.
But the side effect had triggered a butterfly effect: stronger vaginal contractions boosting female sexual pleasure... Women give birth, do the exercises, sex life heats up, more babies... A virtuous cycle—or vicious, depending on how you look at it.
Unlike the Korea I remembered, multi-child benefits were gone. Most parents had multiple kids anyway.
I thought of a way to verify if this was real. One phone call would do.
"Mom, which hospital was I born in?"
She replied in an exasperated tone. "Do-yoon, even if you're swamped at the hospital, calling to ask something this silly? Obviously Cheonan Taesan Center!"
Ah... right...
"Dad's healthy, right?"
"Of course, still in his prime... I don't get why ours is the only single-child family..."
Mom, I was seriously asking if Dad's medically healthy...
"Okay, talk later!"
"Do-yoon, tell Seo-yeon to start the maternal exercises early. It'll improve their harmony."
I didn't respond.
I logged into the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
His Majesty summoned the superintendent of the Royal Medical Academy and said, "Childbirth is the foundation of the nation, yet there is no place to care for mothers in peril—how shameful. Henceforth, establish Taesan-dang for deliveries and Bosan-dang for postpartum care, overseen by a new Bosan-cheong. Female physicians and academy officials shall manage them. Admit destitute women without support nearing labor, with costs borne by the state. Make it available to all people regardless of status."
The superintendent replied, "Bosan-cheong has no precedent. Shall it fall under the Royal Medical Academy, or be an independent office?"
His Majesty said, "Do not attach it to the academy. Caring for mothers differs from dispensing medicine; it must stand alone to endure." He ordered the Office of Royal Decrees to issue the edict.
This was exactly a week after Princess Gyeonghye gave birth to her daughter. He'd observed their health for a week before deciding.
I set down my phone. Staring longer would just feel weird.
Dentistry's fish oil lost to obstetrics too... Munjong got me again.
That evening, a Gatong came from Munjong.
No reply. For a month.
Then, a month later, another Gatong.
Munjong was the culprit after all.
The Left State Councillor visited today. Kim Jong-seo. I bestowed Eojeonghwan upon him. He earnestly requested it also for those compiling my late father's annals, saying it prevents headaches and eye strain from all-night reading, and asked to give it to Jiphyeonjeon scholars too.
Jiphyeonjeon,