Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 430

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 430
The work of Baekrin Medical Institute remained constant.
First and foremost, inheriting the spirit of Florence Nightingale, it was hygiene first, hygiene second, and hygiene third.
Somehow this got packaged as the angel of compassion, the angel in white, and stories circulated in biographies about how she held patients’ hands whenever they suffered.
But holding hands doesn’t cure illness.
In an era that didn’t prioritize hygiene, it could be the decisive finishing blow that sent sick patients to sepsis.
Well, at least it might bring some peace of mind.
But Nightingale would scrub with alcohol before holding a sick soldier’s hand.
And she would wield statistics and politics as twin weapons, fighting fiercely to save even one more life.
Baekrin Medical Institute first dug out a place to use as latrines, then thoroughly disinfected the surroundings with flame.
From the field beds where patients would lie to the surgical area, everything began with disinfection.
“We’ve received word from Hwaju Medical Institute that the alcohol smell in Baekrin Medical Institute’s field tent is far too strong.”
Jin Cheon-hee answered.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. We’ll just continue.”
It was called a report, but it was really a complaint.
While constructing the field hospital this way, a soldier arrived.
“The alcohol smell is so overpowering that they say they cannot detect the scent of medicinal herbs.”
‘If they can’t distinguish that much, they should quit being a doctor.’
As I thought this, my Master spoke.
“If they can’t even discern that much, how did they become doctors in the first place?”
My goodness, my Master was saying exactly what I was thinking.
The soldier left in embarrassment.
Whether word had spread or not, this time a lower-ranking doctor from Hwaju Medical Institute came.
“We hope the medical institutes would respect each other in a friendly manner.”
“We cannot avoid using alcohol. Moreover, if you’ve come all this way over something so trivial, it seems like nothing but harassment, no matter how I think about it.”
At my Master’s sharp remark, the lower-ranking doctor from Hwaju Medical Institute’s face turned crimson as he left.
Jin Cheon-hee spoke.
“Master, is it alright to speak so bluntly?”
“During the Yongbong Conference and Bidong, we could directly oversee the field medical operations ourselves, and all the doctors followed our principles, Hope. But here, the highest command lies with the imperial physicians. They already lack the energy to concern themselves with us.”
‘Because they’re being torn apart without mercy.’
Normally, they would have come to greet us around the time we set up the barracks.
But the fact that they haven’t shown their faces means it’s not a lack of courtesy—it’s that they have no time for anything else.
They said all the doctors belonging to general medical operations, not those affiliated with the martial world, had been conscripted by them.
And if they’re still being torn apart even after that, there’s nothing more to say.
“Once our barracks are completed, patients will come flooding in, and then we won’t have the capacity to concern ourselves with anything else.”
“Then it’s quite remarkable that Hwaju Medical Institute has the energy to cause trouble in the midst of all this.”
Looking to the side, there too an endless line of patients stretched on.
Baek Rin-ui-seon spoke calmly.
“Since there have been debts exchanged between us over time, they must hate us quite a bit.”
Ever since Baekrin Medical Institute began its growth, Hwaju Medical Institute had suffered continuous defeats.
In any region not firmly controlled, they lose a portion of their stake every year.
It was certainly frustrating enough to resent.
‘Not my concern.’
As a modern-era doctor, I was dying from anxiety over the hygiene conditions of the Hwaju Medical Institute.
If I could, I’d love to grab one of their doctors by the collar and pour medical alcohol down their throat.
“Still, it’s too much… the way they talk.”
My Master spoke.
“If you’re frustrated, just summon the Patriarch of the Hwaju Medical Institute, Hope. Haha. But he’s not here, is he?”
Right. He’s not here?
In the end, they couldn’t stop the Baekrin Medical Guild, which was constructing fortifications like a bulldozer.
Because if frustrated, they’d have to summon the Patriarch of the Hwaju Medical Institute.
But the Patriarch’s construction work was so demanding—there was no way he’d come.
Truth be told, my Master was quite stubborn, insisting he’d go himself rather than send his disciple to the battlefield.
Feeling my gaze, my Master answered with blue eyes.
“Still, the Vice-Patriarch of the Hwaju Medical Institute at least doesn’t spend every day breaking his own arms and bathing in poisons of Hyeongyeong-level potency, does he? Hope.”
“….”
I had nothing to say, struck by the truth.
Before long, the barracks were completed.
Patients were already beginning to pour in.
‘How wonderful it would be if these people were customers from the Yeonmu City.’
Warriors had flocked there from all directions even before completion.
All of them striving so harmoniously to become peak masters—how beautiful that sight was.
Not a single person was even injured.
But here, severely wounded people were being carried on stretchers, some being supported on others’ backs, forming long lines.
“Sigh.”
The smell of blood and sweat and gunpowder and iron and rotting flesh.
Unmistakably the smell of war.
“Everyone, enter emergency mode immediately. However, maintaining our stamina and energy is also important, so everyone move according to plan!”
“Yes, Soggakju!”
All the doctors shouted in unison.
And so treatment began.
* * *
Most were trauma patients.
Surprisingly, there weren’t that many burn victims.
Trauma encompasses abrasions, contusions, lacerations, and various wounds caused by blades—a comprehensive term.
Particularly, terms like puncture wounds, incised wounds, and bite wounds emerged depending on the cause of injury. To give a simple example, incised wounds refer to injuries caused by blade weapons with considerable weight.
Roughly speaking, wounds like these occur from axes or crescent-moon blades.
Rather than how sharp the blade is, it’s when both the weapon’s mass and sharpness act upon the body that such wounds occur.
That was it.
Once you began examining trauma in detail, it divided into quite diverse categories.
The treatment methods vary subtly depending on the injury.
‘On Earth, we would have lumped them all together as lacerations.’
If every household had a longsword, a celestial dragon crescent blade, and an iron mace readily available, things might be different, but since the Joseon era, the Korean peninsula typically deals with kitchen knife wounds.
For reasons I don’t understand, tattooed individuals occasionally come in with saber wounds, but even they don’t fight wielding spears or bastard swords.
These days, even that’s becoming a thing of the past.
Everything’s becoming corporatized, so stab wounds are decreasing compared to the old days.
However, in this Gangho, with so many different blades and martial techniques being used against one another, we receive all manner of wounds imaginable.
The first priority is hemostasis and pain management.
On Earth, I would use anesthetics, but true to Gangho tradition, I use acupoint sealing.
Tap, tap!
Stopping the bleeding.
“Given the emergency, I’m sealing the Hun acupoint.”
The moment I sealed the Hun acupoint, the patient lost consciousness and fell into a comatose state.
Normally, I should have the patient take medicine beforehand and check their condition, but if there were time for that, this wouldn’t be a field hospital.
“Sealing the Ma acupoint.”
Once the Ma acupoint is sealed, all sensation vanishes.
‘The problem now is twofold. First, if the patient moves too much, the sealed acupoint breaks. Second, if I don’t treat them quickly and wake them, they could suffer total paralysis.’
This is why anesthesia before surgery requires examining the patient’s condition and constitution, with preparations made the day before.
It must be accompanied by herbal decoctions.
But that’s just how life is.
How many patients arrive with exactly the condition the surgeon wants to treat?
Even now, the Sukshin clan and their allies are continuously creating new patients in real time.
‘Wow! Patients are multiplying like copies!’
I’m so delighted I could cry.
This is a surgeon’s paradise, absolute paradise.
“Patriarch, the treatment is already complete….”
“Fast, isn’t it? That’s me for you.”
Grinning widely, I reassure the nursing staff and the middle-aged physicians.
“You can finish up now.”
Time to receive the next patient.
My Master and the other senior physicians also rushed off to their own treatments.
The normal rotation system from the Medical Guild is impossible here.
There are three principles to field hospital operations.
First is triage, second is triage, third is triage.
It might seem odd, but triage must be the absolute priority.
During my time at the military hospital, according to a paper from twenty years ago, average patient stay time at field hospitals was around sixty minutes, while rear hospitals averaged eighty-one minutes.
Emergency medical systems ultimately divide into three stages: scene, transport, and hospital.
Normally, after emergency treatment, patients should move to the hospital treatment phase, but that’s completely impossible here.
Ultimately, we must allocate an average of sixty minutes per patient plus additional surgery time, so treating within those limited resources is nothing short of hellish.
Therefore, amid the flood of incoming patients, I must make accurate initial diagnoses and allocate time based on those diagnoses—which is ultimately the domain of triage.
Yoo Ho is excellent at that, but I don’t have him.
I have no personal slave.
‘Fortunately, supplies are abundant.’
I’m not worried about that.
Still, this is a world with the concept of emergency medicine.
Looking at the history of medicine, emergency medicine ultimately goes hand in hand with war, and in Gangho, large and small wars continue to occur.
On Earth, tracing back to the Napoleonic era, there was a military physician’s report that the more medical personnel and carriages deployed, the lower the mortality rate of patients—that’s where it began.
Modern emergency medicine was born here with a cry of “wah.”
In Doshan Geomrim Gangho, the basic method is to seal pressure points and then dash to the medical tent.
Since there are many ordinary soldier patients here, usually they can’t seal pressure points and just press the wound and rush over—that’s the basic approach.
And that’s how I extract the arrows too.
“I’ll pull this out in one go. It’ll hurt less that way. I’ll count to three.”
“Yes.”
“Three.”
Crunch!
“Ahhhhh!”
“Hmm, nice sound.”
“Ahhhhh, damn it, you f***ing dog… f***ing… d***… f***ing a**…!!”
When people are in pain, they say all sorts of things.
Now, seal the pressure points again, disinfect.
The more I think about it, the more I appreciate having abundant supplies.
* * *
On this damned battlefield where patients endlessly multiply, I moved my hands, and moved them again, repeating the cycle.
If my hands slow down here, a grave appears.
What parent wants to see their grown child’s coffin?
Besides, in this season the body would rot during transport, so for convenience they either cremate and send back only ashes, or often can’t even send the body.
‘If I collapse, that’s what happens to me too.’
Since energy distribution was crucial, Jin Cheon-hee chewed honey nuts and energy bars mindlessly.
High calories, high sugar—made with reference to modern energy bars.
The Hwaju Medical Institute in the adjacent tent sends patients into Baekrin Medical Institute but few bodies come out, so apparently that’s become a point of pride.
They keep sending Ha Uiwon’s people on reconnaissance, and it’s strange that kids with the mental fortitude to worry about such things in this situation exist.
‘I must not collapse.’
I lack the energy to guess what strategy is being used at the front, but judging from the massive influx of patients at dawn, either a night raid was conducted or one was suffered—it’s one or the other.
‘I must not waver.’
The face of a common young man.
A face that would be plowing fields and weeding paddies after waking in the morning.
Faces for which parents clasp their hands every dawn and pray to send back with all limbs intact.
What good is it to send such a person back as a corpse?
Yet many have already died.
Some die from blood loss before I can even attempt treatment.
I attempted surgery to save some patients by any means possible, yet there were cases where they ultimately couldn’t overcome their injuries and passed away.
There is no time to grieve over the deaths unfolding before my eyes.
Every doctor is desperately struggling with their own patients, each trying to save at least one more life.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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