Ah.
People who have had limbs amputated often feel pain in the area where the limb was severed...
"Phantom limb pain... these patients are becoming common."
It couldn't be helped.
The more people there are who get amputated, the more likely it is to happen.
Moreover, there are no real painkillers in this era, are there?
This meant there was a much greater chance of the brain being tricked.
"So, I asked around... and this is the answer I got."
"You asked... where?"
"Oh, at the ship."
"The ship...?"
I was completely confused.
Why would they ask the ship?
What on earth was going on?
However, after hearing the full story, it made sense.
Anyway, even in this crazy time, there had to be a reason.
"How many sailors do you think get injured on a ship?"
"Is that so?"
"Ah, haven't you been on a ship? You said you're from Joseon, right?"
Oh.
They're going for this kind of attack?
I was caught off guard for a moment.
I hadn't been on a ship yet.
I'm from Upton.
But living in this era, I was learning to lie, too.
"Well... yes, but I'm not a sailor."
"Ah... did you take a steamship? You said you're a noble, right? Even with a steamship, it seems like it shakes a lot. I've only been on a sailing ship once, and it was terrible."
"I see."
Before I died the first time, I had been on a ship.
Most of the time it was just a sightseeing boat on the Han River, but I had also been on a boat to Baengnyeongdo when I was a military doctor.
But did it really shake that much?
Wasn't it just seasickness?
Were sailing ships different?
I was thinking about this when Lister continued speaking.
"I heard sometimes people just fall off the ship into the sea. And when you're setting and taking down the sails, you're bound to get hurt. When the sea is rough, it's even worse. Plus, sailors tend to drink a lot. Many drink alcohol instead of water."
"Ah..."
They must have been alcoholics.
Later, I learned that this was an unfair judgment.
In this time, storing drinking water was a challenge, so they substituted it with alcohol, which doesn't spoil as easily.
In other words, they drank alcohol instead of water...
"If someone gets injured, it's up to the ship's surgeon. But the surgeon... will they really be a proper one? If they were a proper doctor, they'd work in a city like London, not on a ship."
"Ah... I see."
Even in the 21st century, ships are terrifying.
Though conditions have improved, the sailors of this era must have been really rough people.
Just from what I'm hearing, I can tell.
Well, at least I could imagine it, living in this era.
"The only thing those guys are good at is amputation."
"Ah... yes."
Hearing that made me feel confused again.
Aren't you the master of amputation?
Seriously, who in the world can amputate a limb in under 30 seconds?
I don't think even Genghis Khan could have done that.
"Anytime someone gets injured, if it starts to rot, they cut it off. It's no coincidence that there are so many retired sailors or experienced captains with missing limbs."
I kept quiet, not wanting to get my own limbs amputated, and Lister shamelessly continued speaking.
No matter how much a surgeon has experience, it couldn't compare to how many limbs Lister had amputated...
Anyway, as I listened to his words, various images came to mind.
"Ah... Captain Hook didn't just attach a hook for no reason."
He had been unwillingly amputated.
When I was a child, I just thought he was a bad guy, but now I realize there must have been painful memories behind it.
They probably just gave him rum and chopped off his arm quickly.
Not like someone as skilled as Lister, so it must have taken a few minutes.
I feel sorry for you, Captain Hook...
And I have to admit, you were probably a more impressive person than I thought.
How could you endure that pain for even a few minutes?
"That's why I know about it well. That's why I asked."
"You're amazing for even asking the surgeon about it."
"Haha. I knew you'd say that. I'm always ready to listen to anyone if it's for the progress of medicine."
"Yes, yes. You're really amazing."
Well, some people have done a lot and experienced a lot, and that's a good thing.
They're probably better than amateurs like me.
Though, this was just my delusion.
Even though I'm living through this harsh time, I still had some hope.
I regret that...
"They say that it's likely caused by the nerves clumping up at the site of the amputation. The concept of nerves has only been recently discovered, so it's impressive that they knew about it. The Alfred fleet seems to be pretty special. They must have some excellent surgeons."
"Uh... what?"
The peripheral nerves...?
Ah, that makes sense.
It's likely that nerve tissue would remain at the severed site.
Since the limb was cut off, there must still be something left at the amputation site.
"But it's clumping together...?"
Does that mean they believe nerve tissue will regenerate?
If it's clumping together, this would be a groundbreaking discovery, but it's actually nonsense, so we can just consider it a ridiculous theory.
I didn't have the courage to say that, though.
He seemed too confident.
Besides, unless the treatment is ridiculously bad, there was no reason for him to be so sure of it.
"So they say you just cut off the clumped-up nerves again."
"Huh?"
"They say if you cut them off again, the phantom pain disappears."
Ah.
I needed a reason for this.
"Wait... you're saying you're going to cut it off again?"
"Yeah. And now we have anesthetics, so what's the worry?"
No...
This crazy person.
He's going to amputate the limbs of people who already have phantom pain?
"They'll just keep doing it until the pain disappears. Apparently, surgeons do it after giving them rum."
So they'd cut little by little until the pain stopped?
Is this a treatment...?
This is...
This is, man, torture.
And really excellent torture...
"So, what do you think? Would you try it?"
I was so stunned that I couldn't respond, and then Dr. Lister patted me on the back.
He was so strong that I was pushed forward.
It felt like I had fallen into a pit.
"Cut it again...?"
Sigh.
Hah.
All I could do was let out sounds of disbelief.
Seeing me like this, Lister laughed heartily.
"Don't worry too much. You have talent!"
You crazy person.
Don't laugh like that.
Saying you're going to cut off people's limbs and then laughing makes you sound like a demon.
"And there's evidence that it works. Of course, I'm not going to just listen to the doctors. I'll call in someone who's had the procedure done to ask."
"Ah..."
Okay, that's a relief.
If they were sane, they would've said it didn't work.
Please, let it be so!
As I prayed for this, Blundell had already moved the two poor patients to another quiet ward.
We took a brief round as a memento.
"Oh, I still hear screams in my ears."
"Same here."
What would the decibel level have been?
It probably wasn't small.
'It might become a breeding ground for massive hearing loss and tinnitus...'
My patients had only been exposed for about an hour, but it seemed the noise still had an effect on them. How bad would it be for others?
Thankfully, no one cared about hearing loss or tinnitus, so it wasn't a big deal, but it was likely having a huge impact.
As someone who had left-sided hearing loss in my past life, I didn't want to experience that situation.
I had to solve it somehow.
Knock knock.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
It was Dr. Lister's assistant.
"Dr. Pyung, the patient is here and asked to see you."
I still wasn't officially a doctor, just called Dr. for now.
Since I was young, most assistants addressed me informally.
This was better anyway.
If they started using honorifics too much, it might make people resent me.
After all, there are people who already hate me just because I'm Asian, so there's no reason to make more enemies.
"Ah... you mean the patient? Yes, yes. I'll go."
Hearing loss and tinnitus were urgent, but...
There was something even more urgent.
The crazy idea of cutting limbs... I had to do something about it.
With that in mind, I ran off.
Since my patients seemed to be doing somewhat better, I figured there was no immediate danger.
Of course, I shouldn't let my guard down given the times, but there wasn't much that could go wrong right now.
"Ah, you've arrived. Alright, let's talk."
Inside, there were not only Lister but also Dr. Robert, Jemel, Blundell, and several other doctors.
They were all watching the newly summoned patient with curious eyes.
No matter how you looked at it...
"This patient looks like he's been amputated in a strange area, starting at the wrist and gradually being cut..."
The wounds were already established, so the amputation must have been done several months ago.
That meant they did it without anesthetics, meaning the patient had gone through repeated torture.
No wonder his eyes were vacant and hollow.
"This patient says that after the fourth amputation, the phantom pain completely disappeared."
The person who brought the patient in was a muscular man with skin tanned dark from the sun.
He looked like a sailor, and his nose was so red it couldn't be hidden by his tan.
It seemed that sailors, not just the surgeons, drank alcohol instead of water.
Maybe that caused the hallucinations...
"How do you feel? Joseph? Does it still hurt?"
"No? No! It doesn't hurt at all!"
The surgeon, who seemed like a good person, tapped Joseph's shoulder.
The sailor Joseph, whose arm was cut off, shook his head as vigorously as he could.
He shook so hard, it was honestly pitiful.
'That man... he's still in pain... even now, he's still hurting.'
In the middle of his vigorous head shaking, I saw him trying to scratch the spot where his right arm used to be with his left hand.
But Dr. Jemel and Dr. Robert just laughed, as if they couldn't see it.
"Really impressive."
"Seems like it's caused by nerve clumping. So, if we just keep cutting each time it clumps, it'll work, right?"
They were saying some truly horrific things.
"Now that we have anesthetics, it won't be hard anymore."
"Yes, thanks to Dr. Pyung!"
They dragged me into it.
Stop, you crazy people!
I don't want to be remembered in history like that!
"Hmm."
The only thing that was a bit reassuring was that, after everything ended, Lister approached me with a suspicious look on his face.
He tilted his head and asked.
"I could swear that patient looked terrified. What do you think?"
"Well... I think so too."
"I've seen a lot of scared faces, so I'm good at spotting it."
Who could possibly argue with that?
At least among doctors, I'd bet he looked the most terrifying.
And who wouldn't be scared with someone like him holding a knife?
"I think... he's probably lying because he's scared of getting cut again. Hmm..."
"Y-yeah. I think he's definitely lying because he's terrified."