The patient classification was divided into three groups.
It wasn't a big deal.
Matching age and gender was about all it was.
It would have been better if past medical history, smoking, or drinking habits were also included in the classification...
But past medical history? Other than syphilis, there's practically no way to know anything else, right?
As for smoking and drinking habits, you could just ask...
But that's difficult too.
Why?
Because there's no one who doesn't do it!
"This time, there are women too."
"That's right."
"Don't feel too sorry for them. They're people who've killed multiple others."
"I know."
"Then again, you're not particularly interested in women, are you?"
"Huh?"
"Haha. Well... maybe your virility is a bit weak. If you're smart, that is."
"No, that's not it! I'm full of energy!"
"Haha."
Crazy.
It would be unfair to be known as a womanizer, but this is just as unfair.
Don't casually dismiss a man's... you know...
Of course, Liston is Liston in every other way too, so maybe he's qualified to say that...
'In a way, it's not an unreasonable assumption.'
Joseph, Alfred... whether they realize it or not...
It seems people are talking about whether I'm seeing someone or not.
You'd think the 19th century would be very sexually rigid, but it's actually not particularly so.
For marriages among nobles... things like chastity and purity might hold some importance.
But after marriage, there were quite a few people who engaged in free love.
It's not for nothing that the condom business is sailing smoothly.
'Even so... I...'
Just kissing is a hurdle.
It's probably because I haven't met any lovely young ladies yet...
But most women I know—no, most people in general—don't brush their teeth properly...
Well, they do, but not well.
Actually, I've seen what they sell as toothbrushes?
Looking at them, you start to wonder if you really need to put that thing in your mouth.
A toothbrush made from pig bristles...
Do you think they made it disinfected?
No way.
'And it's not like there's proper toothpaste.'
They just brush.
I'm on the wealthier side, so I boil and disinfect my pig-bristle toothbrush and use salt to brush...
But because of that, my toothbrushes wear out too quickly, and it costs a fair amount of money.
Which means that to meet someone in this era who brushes their teeth properly, you need the rare coincidence of that person being both somewhat wealthy and genuinely committed to dental hygiene.
But does just kissing make someone your lover?
'Sigh...'
And for physical intimacy to progress from there...
There are just too many hurdles, at least for me.
When you read time-slip or otherworld stories, especially older ones, the protagonist goes and builds a harem...
Those authors are being naive, that's what it is.
Try going there yourself.
You just can't meet anyone, I'm telling you.
"Don't worry too much about it. Thanks to that, you use the energy you'd put into your lower body for thinking, which is why you're so successful, isn't it?"
I was silent, lost in these thoughts, and this uncle jumped to another outrageous misunderstanding.
He has no idea how often a teenage boy gets... you know...
It's not like my room constantly smells of, ahem, night blooms, for no reason.
But arguing about that would only damage my dignity, that much was obvious.
So, instead of retorting, I started guiding the patients to their rooms and handing out the medicine as we had discussed.
The chemist uncle originally wanted to just give it to them recklessly, but I stepped in and prepared the dosage.
It's based on dog experiments, so it won't be exact...
But I'm sure fewer will die than if we just gave it to them recklessly.
'I mustn't be greedy.'
A complete cure?
Nice words.
It's actually a goal medicine should pursue.
But there is one more, even more important goal that medicine should pursue.
Namely, Do no harm.
That is, do not cause harm.
It's a phrase that came about because doctors kept killing people under the guise of 'treatment'.
Well... it's a bit ironic considering the person who mentioned it was the famous Hippocrates.
Because of his damn theory of the four humors, medieval medicine—no, even early modern medicine—kept doing weird things like bloodletting for nearly 2,000 years.
'Rather than a complete cure... the goal is to minimize deaths caused by the medicine itself.'
But that doesn't make it wrong advice.
At least, I've never heard a more poignant maxim in my life.
Of course, the potential for harm in 21st-century modern medicine is greatly reduced compared to previous eras...
But ultimately, the practice of medicine is also an act performed by humans, isn't it?
Hence, mistakes can happen, and they mostly stem from excessive greed.
It was like that back then, and here?
If I do that, I'll become a real human butcher in an instant.
"Is giving them a little bit like this going to work? You should give it to them strong."
Of course, it seems only I think that way, for now.
These guys...
19th-century doctors forgot the old teachings they should have remembered and stubbornly followed the ones they should have forgotten.
"Sir. We didn't call them here for execution, but for treatment."
"I know that, but... will syphilis die from something like this?"
"We have to hope so. Wouldn't it be best to at least keep the person alive and only kill the syphilis?"
"Well, that's true, but... if syphilis were weaker than humans, how has it survived until now? I heard it's even in Joseon?"
"That's true."
Syphilis...
The more you think about it, it's an absurdly remarkable disease.
It's generally thought that our friend Columbus brought it over from the New World...
Who from that time could you compare Columbus's popularity to?
Probably any top star would pale in comparison?
Is that why?
It spread terrifyingly fast in Spain, and within just a few decades, it had crossed Europe and Asia to reach Joseon and Japan.
Is that all?
Even with penicillin, a reliably effective treatment, it hasn't been eradicated, even in the 21st century.
"They say even in Joseon, there's no cure."
"That's true."
They must be trying something.
It might have weakened by the 21st century, but at this point in time, people are dying in pretty horrifying ways.
But are any of those attempts meaningful?
Probably not.
Is it because it's a country of scholars? They tend to be cautious and stick to formalities in everything.
In Joseon, they might use slaves, but they don't have a culture of whipping slaves for no reason.
They might beat cows or horses, but they don't beat people.
But here, they do.
They just beat the crap out of them.
'So... because they do all sorts of experiments recklessly like that, medicines eventually get developed.'
I don't know.
I don't know how I ended up thinking like this.
I was once a fine scholar myself...
"In that case, we should still give them more."
"No, let's give them more later. Let's see the effect first. We need to see if it's okay before increasing the dose."
"Ah, right! This isn't the final dosage, is it?"
"Of course not. Obviously."
"I knew it! That's our Pyong! Haha!"
Liston liked my answer so much he let out a hearty laugh.
The prisoners couldn't laugh.
Some of them even started coughing, as if they'd choked on the word 'Pyong'.
These men, who still looked intimidating even in their prison uniforms inside a hospital room, were that scared.
'Maybe there's no reason to change my image?'
After all...
I'll probably keep conducting experiments in the future, won't I?
I don't want to, but I have no choice.
The air is like that, lead is like that.
I'm just too scared to touch them right now, but aren't they issues I'll have to address someday?
I don't know if it's because my brain has completely hardened...
But I keep thinking about gas chambers and lead pipes.
"Shall we go treat the diabetes patients now?"
"Yes. You guys, keep a close watch. If anyone acts strange, call us immediately."
"Yes! Professor!"
The observation of the prisoners given arsenic was assigned to the students the director had sent over for training.
Anyway, this is the second floor, and I'll be on the first floor, so I can come up right away if they call.
Besides...
Could I or Liston even save someone from arsenic poisoning?
Well... if it's not a lethal dose, maybe we could...
I'm not really sure.
"This is nice."
"Nice?"
"Yes. Very nice. Even the sommelier is satisfied."
"Yes, if it's just sweet, this taste is... Haha. But now it's bittersweet, which is perfect."
Anyway, having left it in their hands, I focused on treating diabetes.
Insulin was also essentially born through experimentation, and the fact that it's saving lives like this now... is truly amazing.
And it's not just saving older people.
This kid, who came through an introduction from Lord Jamie, is only 6 years old.
He's a type 1 diabetic, meaning...
He got here very quickly thanks to Lord Jamie, who's practically a diabetes expert, happening to discover him.
If it weren't for him, he probably would have languished with an unknown illness and died.
"Good. Doesn't it hurt?"
"It does hurt... but since I started getting these, I can play with other kids, so it's good."
"That's... a relief."
"Thank you so much, Doctor. This..."
"Oh, you say that every time you come. Thank you."
"Please keep working on your research. Save more kids like ours."
"Yes, yes, of course."
Since he's from a noble family, they have no resistance to spending money.
Seeing the parents' smiling faces is also a truly joyful thing.
I wish I could expand this further, but...
Since the only source is cow pancreases, it's impossible.
Another hospital proposed a partnership, offering royalties, so I went to check it out, but their process looked more likely to kill people than save them, so I dropped it.
Instead, I told them to send people here to learn, and they're standing over there.
"Did you see well?"
"Yes, yes. We're watching."
"Good. Watch carefully."
"Yes, we'll keep that in mind."
In the past, they would've gone crazy, saying 'Huh? Teaching white people?' or something.
But not now.
What if they get 'cursed' or become a sommelier or end up eating shit?
I do have that typhoid-producing chef, you know.
Actually, to handle it cleanly, Liston could step in.
With a single stroke...
"How is it?"
"No one has died."
"That's a relief. Any improvement?"
"That's going well."
Anyway, a day passed, then two, and still no one died.
The problem was...
It was hard to tell if the syphilis was actually getting better or not.
'Now that I think about it, these are all chronic cases.'
Who knows where or how they got infected... At best, they might have ulcers or chancres, and those tend to get better and worse on their own anyway.
It would be much easier to judge if they were acute cases.
I happened to mention this during a meeting, and Lord Jamie and Alfred's father, smelling money, laughed heartily.
They said if such a thing existed, why hadn't I told them right away?
"So you're saying the prisoners aren't dead!"
"Yes, that's right."
Just because we couldn't confirm the treatment effect doesn't mean the experiment was meaningless.
We at least confirmed a safe dosage.
Of course, whether we can increase it from here or not is unknown...
"So we need newly infected people?"
"Yes."
"Haha. For that, the two of us are the perfect men for the job."
Lord Jamie continued, looking at Alfred's father.
"Traditionally, soldiers and sailors get STDs the most. And it's正好 recruitment season."
"I was planning to recruit sailors too."
"If we offer free treatment..."
"Anyway, we need to open up sales channels there too. Shall we try a free promotion, as Pyong suggested?"
Unintentionally, we skipped the animal testing—no, the prisoner testing—and moved straight to clinical trials.