Doctor goes back to Joseon - Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Student [1]

Ganghyuk came out of the room and stood alone.

The yard of Bojewon which was full of crying and the odor of patients came to a state of silence.

It was because they established temporary toilets so that they could go to the toilet one by one.

While looking around the neighborhood, he found some workers of Bojewon who had worked overnight.

They wore the gloves and masks that Ganghyuk distributed.

‘They are making oral rehydration solutions quite well.’

On the other side, Yeoju and Yeoni made oral solutions with the workers.

As there was an enormous number of patients who needed the solution, they had already used up the honey they brought.

Fortunately, Bojewon had honey in their storage and they could use it.

‘I brought honey with me to make a dip for fried chicken.’

With the combination of fried chicken and honey, he could make a honey-dipped fried chicken.

It would be really tasty, but he could not leave patients die just so he could eat tasty chicken.

He could not help but give them his precious honey.

“Heum.”

While he looked around, he found the place where serious patients were gathered.

They fainted because of dehydration, and there were blood bags together.

‘Poor Dr. Heo.”

Although Makbong and Dolseok were very strong, they could not donate their blood for two days consecutively.

Therefore, the two Heos had to donate their blood.

Fortunately, the blood type matched with the patients.

‘Is Dolseok collecting blood well?’

He did not have hand skills but he did do well as he had followed and learned many things from Ganghyuk.

But the unexpected one was Dongpa.

‘He has some skill.’

He volunteered even though he was discharging.

He wore gloves and asked Ganghyuk to give him orders.

When Ganghyuk tested him, he drew blood well and learned how to use strange looking devices very quickly.

Ganghyuk thought that he could be a good student.

Dongpa seemed to throw away his pride and stubbornness.

‘Then should I take him in as my student?’

On second thought, he realized that the ones he taught up to now could not be said to have a relationship as a teacher and a student.

It was rather a relationship of a master and a servant.

It was not bad even up to now.

But Ganghyuk thought it would be better if he had a student.

In that world, he had a lot of students although he did not have a servant.

“Sir, the patient you treated some time ago is in a serious condition.”

While Ganghyuk was daydreaming, Makbong ran to him.

He pointed at the room next to the blood bag.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s breathing irregularly.”

“Heum, sadly he will die soon.”

“Die?”

“Yes.”

“Hugh, is there…”

Makbong shook his head.

Ganghyuk was not a god even though he was a good doctor.

Therefore, there were patients who became better but there were some who died.

On the first hand, there were too many patients.

Moreover, their health status was not good even before the disease.

According to Bojewon, most of the patients used to die with such an epidemic.

Therefore, the chief officer of Bojewon ordered people to dig up the ground found on the hill near the village.

He expected that most of them would die soon.

‘No, I will not make it happen.’

He would not leave them die like the officer expected, and he did not want to give the corpse to them.

‘I will get at least half of them.’

He could not say that nobody died.

If people go in the room and no one comes out, people will be suspicious.

Most of the workers here belong to Bojewon.

Therefore, they did not take Ganghyuk’s order seriously.

He had to be careful if he wanted to keep some corpses for himself.

It should not be caught.

-Drrrr

Makbong opened the door cautiously.

Unlike other rooms, the shadow of death was obvious in this room.

“There… there he is.”

“Eo, yes. It seems that he would die soon.”

Ganghyuk walked in and looked at the patient in the corner.

He did not need to use his stethoscope.

He could see the man’s breathing with his bare eyes as the man’s chest was moving up and down irregularly.

“He has a high fever.”

“Yes. That is the phlegm that he spit.”

Makbong pointed at the gauze beside the patient.

Yellow phlegm was collected there.

“His lung is not functioning. It is…”

“So people die because of this, right?”

“Yes, the last stage is pneumonia.”

“So we can’t help it…”

“Yes.”

Ganghyuk nodded his head.

The most frequent reason of death would be pneumonia.

It didn’t matter if he had cancer or if he died in an accident. Even people die of old age.

At the last stage, the immediate reason of death was mostly pneumonia.

The people dying here were not an exception. Therefore, most of the corpses that were stolen from here and delivered to the house of the Flail were the people who died of pneumonia.

“Can we trust Dongpa?”

Makbong pointed at the man’s back with an uneasy face.

Although there was only a wall, Ganghyuk noticed what he wanted to say.

“We cannot leave a patient to touch sick people.”

“But it can be dangerous to leave him with a corpse. If he divulges…”

“He is the only one who deals with the corpse now. If he makes a trouble, we have the Flail.”

“Yes, Dongpa cannot run away anyway.”

Running away is not easy even in normal times and now he is discharging continuously.

According to the Flail, the warehouse is full of the smell of feces rather than the smell of blood.

Although both are bad, most of people preferred the smell of feces.

It is rather familiar to them.

The smell of blood made people frightened.

“He is a good worker. He collected blood well and did the cleaning after the work.”

“I don’t know.”

Makbong shook his head.

Although he looked like a real man, he had the emotions of a girl.

He could not go near the warehouse and he vomited constantly.

As he vomited too violently, he thought he might catch cholera.

‘Compared to him, Dongpa is quite useful.’

As he had worked as a doctor for long time, he had a strong stomach for blood and gore.

He did not show any disgust.

‘Is it because he is an acupuncturist?’

He had a delicate hand, too.

As he was still sick, he had vibrating arms and legs but he did use the scalpel very well.

Not only did he cut the artery to drain blood but also he removed the intestines and colon which could easily rot.

He learned so quickly that Ganghyuk was somewhat surprised.

“Yes, he is doing very well. It seems he enjoys it.”

“What should we do with him?”

“Let’s see… Eum…”

Ganghyuk looked at the patient while knitting his brows.

Irregularly moving chest, gasping breath and high fever over 40 degrees.

He could not see any possibility to make him live.

There would not be any special help even if he could bring him to the modern hospital.

‘He can have a respirator for life-sustaining care.’

It meant that there was not enough time for him to enjoy life.

“How old is he?”

“He was nearly unconscious from the beginning… But I think he is over 60. He lived long.”

“60.”

In that world, people said that real life would start from 60.

But in this world named Joseon, they held a big event called Hwangap to celebrate long life.

Ganghyuk nodded his head.

“No family?”

“Yes, the people with family are lying down there.”

Makbong pointed at the line in the middle of the room.

It is the boundary which separates the corpse to be delivered to Bojewon and to warehouse for autopsy.

“Let’s reduce his pain. Hey!”

“Eu.”

“Painful?”

“Eu.”

The patient was already unconscious.

He already had a fever and was severely dehydrated. Not to mention, oxygen was not being supplied because of lung failure.

“Get it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Makbong took out a small sample from the bag that Ganghyuk brought.

He was the second one that had this injection that day so it was hard to use a good amount of it.

However, he could not leave the patient feeling the pain by himself without doing anything.

Makbong rationalized his behavior like this.

‘If I think of the patient yesterday, it is the right thing.’

They could not let the patient die like this, if the patient has a family.

Patients around him are watching them with their eyes and they need to explain his death to his family.

Therefore, they had to watch them dying.

Patients and families can have time to cry but it meant that patients have to endure the pain by themselves.

For example, the patients who died because of the drug did not show any changes in their appearance. But the patient who died yesterday had terrible appearance because of pain. His small veins were all burst and the jugular was stretched.

Capillaries on the lips and gum were burst and bled profusely.

“Makbong, what are you doing?”

“Ah, yes, here.”

“Yes. He feels too much pain. Reduce it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“When he passes away, send him to Dongpa.”

“Yes, sir.”

It happened like this.

When the patient died, Makbong who was strong but did not have any other skills lifted him and moved him to the backyard.

Then the fellows waiting for the corpse in the backyard moved it to the warehouse.

Dongpa arranged and preserved them so that they could practice later.

The cholera retreated after more than 10 deliveries were made.

“What did the officer of Bojewon say?”

“He thanks you for your deeds. He gave the things outside to show his gratitude.”

Dolseok pointed at the cart outside.

It did not carry precious things and most of them were things to eat and wear.

However, it was not a bad payment at all.

In Bojewon, there were many people who die of starvation.

“He does not seem to be richer than me and he overdoes himself.”

“Sir… you are a gold spoon.”

“Yes, right. I was born with a gold spoon in my mouth. Haha.”

“Yes, I was born with an earth spoon.”

“No, no. You did not have a spoon. I gave it to you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Since Ganghyuk has often talked about the theory of the spoon, they all understood the story.

Ganghyuk stroked the head of Dolseok and opened the door of warehouse.

“Eo… Sir, here you are.”

Dongpa stood there alone.

It was not clear if he stood or if he was hung.

With a glance, it was hard to find the difference between Dongpa and the other corpse.

“What happened to you? You look like a corpse.”

“Yes… I tried to make the dead body look like it was not rotten.”

“Heo, did you do this all by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful.”

“I tried my best.”

Ganghyuk laughed like a mad scientist and Dongpa licked his boots.

Makbong and Yeoju rushed outside to empty their stomachs.

Dolseok, Yeoni, Heo Jun and Heo Im were standing there but they did not look happy.

They managed to stand there.

It was a horrible sight for them to see.