The Black-Haired British Doctor

Suddenly, rough-looking people grabbed me.

- "We'll have to cut off your leg! Huh? It's rotten, isn't it?"

As soon as they shouted this, Dr. Robert Liston, without any disinfection or anesthesia, thrust a blood-stained knife in front of my eyes.

He was already a man of much larger stature than me, but today he seemed even more enormous.

Should I say he was as big as a house?

- "It'll be over in 30 seconds."

When he said it would be over, it somehow sounded like my life would be over.

"Now, shall we cut?"

Dr. Robert Liston raised a knife befitting his massive size and swung it down toward me.

"P-please, save me, damn it!"

I screamed and woke up to see Joseph's face.

He was looking down at me with a face full of pity.

"What the hell are you doing?"

What the hell?

Did he just say "what the hell"?

I had just gone through something in my dream.

Of course, I didn't actually say that out loud.

If I said something like that, everyone would obviously think I was weird, right?

If the greatest surgeon of the time, Dr. Robert Liston himself, said he would cut off my leg, I should be grateful and let him do it. Who would scream like that?

"I had a strange dream."

"Are you okay? You seem more sensitive than you look."

Sensitive?

olah....

Even when I was a medical student, people said I was a born surgeon.

During anatomy practice, and even when assisting in the operating room, I never got nervous. I never made a mistake and always did everything perfectly.

"You've been having a lot of dreams since that day, haven't you?"

I admit it.

Even for me, that surgery was truly shocking.

I find you really amazing......?

Even if you have no concept of medicine, wasn't that scene alone horrifying?

How could you sleep so soundly without even drinking?

Really....

'Maybe you're a born doctor too.'

Whether doctors of this era are really people who cure diseases or save lives is questionable, but still, you were bold.

"Still, you sleep well."

"Yeah, it's good that you sleep well. If you're overdoing it because of me, you don't have to. Being a surgeon isn't exactly a high-paying job, is it?"

"Ah, well. I've heard that too."

I was so obsessed with surgery that I seemed like a different person.

Even in Korea, surgery wasn't exactly a bright future.

I remembered what the department head said: while other doctors drive Mercedes or BMWs, surgeons have to be prepared to drive a Sonata if they want to get into this field.

Still, surgeons are doctors, so there's a minimum standard.

But in this era, even that didn't exist.

In fact, surgeons were the lowest-paid in the hospital.

Not compared to other doctors, but the lowest in the hospital.

"If you think about money, it's much better to work under my dad."

Joseph was right.

If you think about money, it's much better to just go and carry wine.

I also struggled with that for a while.

'So, should I do internal medicine?'

Internal medicine.

The perception of this field was much better.

But when I looked into it, I found out they didn't even know who Dr. Fleming (the doctor who discovered penicillin) was?

That means there are no antibiotics, so what kind of diseases are they even treating?

Moreover, my knowledge of internal medicine was extremely limited.

I forgot everything I learned as a student because I was so focused on becoming a surgery professor.

'A caterpillar should eat pine needles, right?'

Besides, I later heard that if you become as good as Dr. Robert Liston, you can make quite a bit of money.

Even if the hospital salary isn't much, there's extra money from patients.

'Could I possibly... become the best here?'

All you need is a license.

I was thinking something like that.

"No, I'm going to be a surgeon."

"Alright, thank you. Let's do it together then."

"Okay. Shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's go."

The quick-witted man submitted his application as soon as we arrived at Upton.

And thanks to Dr. Robert Liston, who was in a hurry for some reason—maybe he needed sponsorship money—we were able to enroll in medical school right away.

How did we get the dormitory?

We went to see it once, but it was called a dormitory, but the inside looked like hell, so we left immediately.

Of course, if we had known what London boarding houses were like, we would have just gone in.

We were in hell beneath hell.

"Be careful."

"Yeah. Can you see my face?"

"No. But what are you going to do when summer comes?"

"I'll worry about that when the time comes."

Fortunately, it wasn't a slum.

Honestly, since we're still young and don't earn money, I thought it wouldn't be bad to live in a slum.

But when I heard that over 90% of the cadavers used for anatomy practice in medical schools come from slums, not hospitals, I quickly abandoned that idea.

Thud!

Of course, even the areas where ordinary people lived weren't exactly comfortable.

"Of..."

"I stepped in shit."

"It falls off when you walk."

"Damn it・・・・・・"

Piles of shit scattered on the streets were an everyday sight.

At first, I wondered why people would shit in front of other people's houses.

Since I'm Asian and Joseph is a Quaker, I was worried we might be targeted.

But it turned out that shitting anywhere was just a part of daily life, so it just happened to be in front of houses sometimes.

It wasn't comforting.

Damn bastards.

"Don't make eye contact."

"Yeah, let's walk quickly."

Of course, can I really call them damn bastards?

This was a completely different level of problem.

It didn't matter if they didn't understand Korean curses.

You shouldn't make prolonged eye contact with workers filled with rage at the world.

Why?

Because you'll die.

"Ah... we're here. Do I have to be this nervous every time I go to school......."

I'm not sure if I should call it fortunate.

But at least the school was close.

I should feel relieved every time I see the gate.

The brief relief I felt soon turned into despair.

"Ah... here it is."

Unlike me, Joseph's face was bright.

It was clear that his head was filled with nothing but flowers.

Considering that his environment had become even worse, how could he smile in this situation?

First of all, it smells like shit.

You stepped in shit earlier.

And not just dog shit, but human shit!

Squeak-

As we trudged along, we soon found ourselves in the lecture hall.

When I opened the door, there were several clueless-looking kids inside.

Of course, since the admission system wasn't fully established yet, there were also older people.

Some looked like they were well over thirty.

Anyway, these were people who had already gotten to know each other through preliminary classes before entering medical school.

"Hello. My name is Joseph Lister. I'm from Upton."

So we had to introduce ourselves.

If I went first, the reaction would definitely be strange, so Joseph always went first.

Even so, all eyes were still on me.

Anyway, after Joseph finished speaking, he introduced me as well.

"This friend's name is Taepyeong, but you can just call him Pyeong for short....... His parents were on their way to Macau with Father Aidan Turner but ended up in London, and he's a Joseon person who grew up here. He looks different, but he's a British person born and raised here."

A bit of backstory was necessary.

If we said that he settled here with the help of an Irish Catholic priest, they might still find it strange, but they wouldn't view him with hostility.

Besides, these are people dreaming of becoming doctors, so it might be a bit better, right?

They're here to save lives, aren't they?

"What kind of British person is an Asian? Does that make sense?"

Ah, I could immediately tell that wasn't the case.

I turned my head and saw some young punk sitting there.

Yeah, he's probably about my age.

"Where's this monkey-like guy...."

Instead of responding, I started scanning his appearance.

Clothes? High-end.

Even though the quality of mass-produced goods was improving due to the Industrial Revolution, high-end goods were still irreplaceable.

Especially materials that had to be imported from all over the world using the power of the British Empire.

'Hair too, this punk・・・・・・ is he from a rich family?'

This was a bit of a problem.

In this era, the rich could exert physical force if they wanted to.

In Upton, Joseph could act as a shield, but here.......

Thud!

While I was worrying, the door burst open with a force that seemed like it would break it.

I turned around and saw a massive man striding in.

It was Dr. Robert Liston.

"What's this? I was going to introduce you, but you two are already here."

He somehow ended up standing between us and slapped our shoulders with his pot-lid-sized hands.

"This is Joseph. This is Pyeong. They're friends who will study with you, so welcome them."

Then he gave an order.

Welcome them.

"Yes. Welcome, friends!"

Then applause and cheers poured out.

Surprisingly, the one leading the cheers was the rich kid who had called me a monkey earlier.

"Good, that's the way."

"Yes!"

His eyes were smiling, but his body was trembling.

'Ah...... he's tasted the doctor's power.'

Well, if a man who cuts people open in front of you gives an order, wouldn't you be scared if you weren't?

It's not like he's a teenager who's lived through thirty-something years like me.

"Go in."

"Ah, yes."

Even I was scared.

That person.......

He was scary even before he picked up a knife.

He's just a damn scary person.

"Now, today marks the start of regular classes. I don't know how many of you will graduate, but pray hard and do your best to study."

He seemed to be talking about the repeat system.

If you repeat too much, you'll get kicked out, right?

'But why does it sound like... you'll die before you graduate......?'

It wasn't just the speaker who sounded like that; the listeners did too.

There was something solemn and tragic about it, as if they were facing a battlefield.

Anyway, since it was the first class, I focused.

First, I took out my mini chalkboard.

Honestly, I wondered if they would teach me something I didn't know.

But I thought there might be things I had forgotten since it had been a long time since I was a student.

"The most important thing for a surgeon is anatomy. Of course, it's hard to consider these things during surgery."

But the lecture was strange from the very first sentence.

'Surgery without considering anatomy・・・・・・??

Isn't that strange even for a layperson?

That's why, damn it.

Just as I was about to curse, a valid reason came out.

"It's because of anesthesia. Whether you make them drink alcohol or hit them on the back of the head, they'll wake up when you cut into them."

Ah..

Well, there's no anesthesia in this era.

In other words, it meant you had to cut into the patient's flesh raw.

How painful would that be?

It was hard to imagine.

I've never done anything like that before.

"If you think slowly during surgery, the patient will die. They will definitely die. So once a surgeon picks up a knife, they have to move as quickly as possible. But they still have to consider anatomy. You can't do it in detail, but you have to do it. That's why you have to study anatomy even harder. To recall anatomy in a split second, you have to hammer it into your head!"

Dr. Liston paused and slammed the chalkboard.

A mark that wasn't there before appeared.

It looked like it would never disappear.

Because it was broken.

'If I don't focus, I'll die.'

I thought I shouldn't fall asleep even if there was nothing to learn.