Today is an important day.
_'I even ate kimchi, that's why.'_
In my past life, I was a Korean who didn't particularly like kimchi...
Did England make me this way?
Or was I just an ordinary Korean?
Strangely, I really want to eat kimchi.
The kimchi my mother makes is subtly different from the kimchi I knew, which probably makes me want it even more.
You say I should just make it myself?
You think I tried?
I just lived at the hospital and then got hit by a truck and died.
_'Anyway, thanks to the pre-operative tests, this gentleman is stable too.'_
Patient number 5 had diabetes, remember?
He ate an English cucumber sandwich yesterday.
And the bread was even rye bread...
"It doesn't taste sweet at all now. Good."
"Good."
When I said that, our sommelier-like testing equipment determined that the sweetness had disappeared.
Of course, that doesn't mean diabetes is cured just because the sugar is temporarily controlled. In fact, if the sugar level is high enough to spill into the urine, it means the diabetes is quite severe...
But regardless, for this person, we just need to manage the diabetes treatment well only during the period when the transplanted hair is turning into scalp hair.
We just need to avoid infection, that's the point.
"About the third patient who has an STI, is it okay not to use medication?"
"Actually, using it would be safer... but since it contains arsenic, I'm worried it might adversely affect the hair loss."
"You mean... arsenic causes hair loss?"
While I was thinking about the fifth patient with a satisfied smile, Liston came over and discussed the third patient.
It was a valid point, since we've been using arsenic compounds whenever possible.
Come to think of it now, I believe hair loss was one of the very common complications of arsenic.
Thanks to London, the arsenic trend passed quickly because of me...
But actually, people just aren't using it for clothes and wallpaper anymore, but they still ingest it, right?
Logically, if you thought clothes and wallpaper were dangerous, you'd think ingesting it would be even more dangerous, yet those kinds of people still exist...
I've heard that in other regions outside of London, arsenic wallpaper is still used.
They say if you use it, rats and pests disappear from the house...
Shouldn't we consider it a house where even rats and pests can't live, by common sense?
I know I shouldn't use the word 'common sense' in the 19th century, but I keep using it, and it's a source of frustration.
Anyway, thanks to arsenic, which is still popularly used, we were able to conduct some research on complications caused by arsenic.
The main contributors were the research institutes that produced the arsenic compounds, not our side. I happened to see some of the corpses that were brought in.
And...
They all had very severe hair loss.
_"Wouldn't that be the case?"_
I vaguely remembered what I had learned, and on top of that, I had gained experience, so I could speak confidently.
I didn't expect Liston to make such a serious face upon hearing that...
"Why do you look like that?"
"No, I was just worried... what if I get syphilis?"
"You should start by thinking you won't get it."
"Think about it, Pyeong. I'm actually not that unpopular these days."
It was a bit irritating to hear, but he was right.
Given the era, a rugged man couldn't help but be popular, right?
Even in the 21st century, men who look strong are popular, so in the 19th century, it goes without saying.
Money?
He's earned enough to play and live comfortably for the rest of his life if he curbs his greed.
It's no exaggeration to say that a bright future is guaranteed if he stays with me.
"But if your hair becomes even more luxuriant, think how popular you'll be. But if that causes your hair to fall out..."
"Use a condom."
"But they're disposable..."
"Buy several and carry them around..."
"Ah."
But if you even get more hair on your head, you'd probably be even more popular.
I kind of wonder if there's a correlation between becoming more popular and the rise in syphilis prevalence...
"And if you want to marry someone from a high-ranking family, wouldn't it be better to be a bit careful with your conduct?"
"How did you know that's what I wanted?"
Anyway, I like Liston, and it's clear that I'd be in trouble in many ways without him, so I didn't hold back on the advice.
It wasn't particularly difficult to give accurate advice.
Because a human as transparent as Liston is rare.
If I were to say here, 'If you look into life, you can know,' I'd probably get scolded, so I phrased it nicely.
"Because that way, you'll be able to develop London's medicine even further."
"Ah, that's right. That's true."
Judging by his expression, it seemed he had realized something.
"Professor. We're ready."
"Yeah, let's go."
Small talk is enjoyable, but you can't just chatter away forever, right?
Following Colin's signal, I headed to the operating room, where a patient, literally scrubbed raw by Joseph, came into view.
Next to him, Alfred was waiting, holding a gas canister.
_'Disinfecting a fellow hair loss sufferer was enjoyable.'_
When I got closer, Joseph, grinning brightly, said this to me.
It's impossible to know what the patient was thinking, but it seemed obvious that Joseph had enjoyed himself immensely.
Otherwise, a person's head couldn't possibly get that red...
Even with carbolic acid, for it to get that red, you'd really have to...
"Why... why wasn't I given anesthesia...?"
Now I noticed the patient's eyes were also brimming with tears.
Essentially, a grown man was crying.
Maybe I should have given him anesthesia since he was scrubbed so harshly...
But honestly, a hair transplant is a pretty tough surgery, isn't it?
It might not be dangerous, but time is the issue.
As you know, the reliability of the anesthetic we use still isn't very high, so the anesthesia time had to be minimized.
Moreover...
"I'm sorry. But there are circumstances. We also need to discuss where to place the hairline."
"Ah..."
"Do you remember where it was roughly?"
I asked while holding up a mirror, and the patient fell into thought.
Looking at his condition, it probably wasn't that recent when his original hairline started receding.
It didn't seem like it was a very recent occurrence...
"Here...?"
"That's too low."
"No, I originally..."
"Right above your eyebrows, isn't it? It would look strange if a person's forehead was that narrow. Plus, if it's like that, the area will be insufficient and look hollow, like a monk's."
"Ah. Then here...?"
"Okay. Let's go with that."
Actually, the line the patient just indicated was also too low...
But looking at his expression, I thought he would get very angry if I said that wasn't right either, so I just nodded.
Thinking about it, since we're going to anesthetize and transplant anyway, what this person thought probably wasn't that important.
"It's higher than what you told me before, isn't it?"
"There's no other way. There are no follicles here to transplant."
"Then you should have said it was impossible..."
"You'll probably be happy once you see hair growing on top."
"Really...? But this... when I actually think about hair growing here... I feel a bit of rejection."
"It will change later."
"It will? Why did you lose confidence?"
It is a proven theory.
I know that no matter where the hair is from, if transplanted, it becomes scalp hair.
But I hadn't managed to verify how long it takes.
Because at the time, I was just a learner, not someone who would jump into the actual profession.
After all, it's difficult for a person to put in that much effort until something is right in front of them.
"Such a..."
"But you'll be wearing a hat, right?"
"But you said the survival rate could drop if you wear a hat..."
"Ah, that's right."
"Ah..."
Anyway, we began harvesting hair from the groin area.
To be precise, we were harvesting hair from above the pubic bone, that is, the flatter part.
Even if we went lower than that, perhaps because they are Germanic, the hair was quite thick...
But if we touch the wrong spot here and an inflammation occurs, I really feel like I'd get stabbed.
Because, you know, the urologist is the doctor who either receives gifts of liquor or gets stabbed by patients.
I learned that you shouldn't touch that area unless you're very confident.
"If we do it up to here, I think we can create the hairline you wanted..."
Perhaps due to a sense of camaraderie, Liston, who had begun to exhibit noticeably improved empathy, was being a nuisance, but stopping him wasn't that difficult.
"You might cut it here."
"That would definitely be a problem."
Because there were organs more important than hair.
"Hmm."
"Umm."
Using 21st-century techniques, I transplanted the harvested hair into the patient's head.
While doing it, I could fully appreciate the advantages of hair from this area.
Actually, hair loss doesn't just occur in one spot, does it?
All the hair is usually affected, which is why even the hair on the back of the head was a bit weak too.
But this...
"It's really easy, isn't it?"
"That's what I'm saying."
It sinks in deeply, almost as if it might pierce the skull.
For my part, I couldn't insert it like that just by talking, but Liston, seemingly genuinely worried, had noticeably relaxed the strength in his hands since earlier.
"Hmm... I think the survival rate might be higher than expected."
"That's a good thing, but..."
No, it seems his strength has left him.
For some reason, the look in his eyes as he gazed at the patient's head had become somewhat melancholic.
It was natural, after all.
Is there any reason why this would be fundamentally different?
If it were suitable for the head, it wouldn't be elsewhere in the first place.
It's elsewhere precisely because it would look awkward on the head.
If it were on the head...
_'What if the Duke says he won't do it?'_
This visual was enough to make even me, whose empathy is inferior to Liston's, feel a creeping worry.
The problem was that this wasn't just about the first patient.
The second, third, fourth, and even the last, fifth one, all had visuals that were a bit... like that.
Fortunately, there were no anesthesia accidents, and no patient seemed to have immediate problems with either the harvested or the implanted areas.
Even so, I felt a bit uneasy.
Especially when His Grace the Duke came running over with an overly bright face, I even felt a bit choked up.
"Where is it?!"
It turned out to be a false alarm.
"Oh, ohh. Lord."
To get straight to the point, it was groundless worry.
"It really works... This can't be..."
Our Duke was overjoyed.
It felt completely different to go from having nothing to having something.