26 – Kim Chul-soo Free Clinic vs. Hospital Association
“Kim Charles, it’s finally time for the showdown.”
At that moment, William led the Hospital Association and declared war.
I was engulfed in anger.
There was a severe shortage of firewood in the Reble village.
Even if William and the Hospital Association had provided support, the people of Reble would not have shivered in the cold.
Yet, William did not help the Reble village.
Even though he knew the village was struggling!
“William, how dare you neglect the Reble village!”
Hm..? Hehe, Kim Charles. Do we have an obligation to help the Reble village?
As a medical professional, it is a duty to serve the suffering patients!
It is a rule for medical professionals not to turn away from difficult patients.
Although in this era, treatment demands a lot of money, in some temples, service is also considered!
“You were a much more merciful healer than I thought, Kim Charles! But our Hospital Association cannot back down from this challenge! I will do whatever it takes to win.”
“You abandoned the Reble village for the sake of the challenge!?”
That’s right.
Ugh…
William’s attitude seemed indifferent to the well-being of the patients.
Even if medical costs are high in this era, isn’t this too much?
…Prepare yourself. I will do everything in my power to defeat you, by treating all the Reble village patients!
A noble aspiration. But is it possible? We have already assessed all your abilities.
William smirked arrogantly, exuding a sense of sanctity.
As if showcasing his sanctity.
Ziing!
A size as large as a huge torch!
While I could barely generate sanctity the size of a candle, William’s sanctity was immense.
“I am a full-fledged priest. But Kim Charles, you are an apprentice priest. I am at a higher level than you!”
“Ugh.. Don’t boast about just a one-step difference!”
“I can’t understand it just by words.”
There was a formal priest above the apprentice priest, so it was true that I was one step lower.
I felt a weakness!
William nodded his head.
The hospital staff who received William’s signal brought in a patient with a cold.
‘What are they trying to do?’
I narrowed my eyes.
It seems like they brought the patient to show something, but..
*Cough, cough!*
The patient brought by William didn’t look very well.
Extremely thin and with a bluish complexion, as if suffering from hypothermia.
William infused the patient with divine power in the upper body!
*Cough.. Cough… Wow…*
The patient’s complexion rapidly improved.
As the cold virus invading the body disappeared due to the divine power, the cold symptoms disappeared!
‘This.. this is.’
I realized.
To properly eliminate the cold virus, one must become a formal priest.
An apprentice priest lacks the firepower to eliminate the cold virus.
William treated the patient to demonstrate the difference in our abilities!
“Thank you for treating me, I’m really grateful!”
“It’s fine. It was just for the purpose of showing it to Mr. Kims Charles. Go on.”
William sent the recovered patient back and spoke to me again.
“Now you understand, right? I can quickly cure a cold patient, but it will take a while for Mr. Kims Charles. That’s the difference between an apprentice and a formal priest! If you want to give up, do it now! Hahaha!!”
“Ugh..!”
I feel disheartened.
Certainly, divine power is my weakness!
The temple people have told me that my progress is fast, but my divine power is not as good as that of an ordinary healing priest.
I still need training.
At that moment, when I was in a tight spot, Miss Catherine helped me.
“Kim Chul-soo, wake up! Healing patients so far hasn’t been because of divine power!”
‘…Ah.’
I suddenly came to my senses.
Come to think of it, I have been treating patients with modern medical knowledge so far.
Although I have received a lot of help from divine power, it is not essential for my treatment.
I can treat even without divine power.
I was momentarily confused by William’s scheme.
‘Pull yourself together.’
I regained my determination.
I lifted my head and glared at William.
“I can’t entrust Lette Village to such a negligent author!”
“Just because you have healing powers doesn’t mean that’s all there is to treatment! Let me make that clear!”
Catherine also chimed in.
“Our healing team isn’t just made up of the head physician. We have me and the Malboi brothers. Did you mention healing powers? The two of us brothers are more than enough to cover.”
“Hmm… So you do have power. Very well, let’s give it a try!”
* * * *
As soon as William disappeared, I called Matthew and told him to go all out on spying activities.
Matthew nodded grimly and said he would cause as much pain as possible to William!
“Alright, let’s put the internal operations aside.”
Now, it’s time for the real treatment of Lette Village.
First, I gathered a large number of victims through the people of Roland Viscount’s village and prepared a heating plan for Lette Village.
Cold is the strongest enemy of human immunity.
We need to treat the patients while keeping them warm.
The people of Lette Village, who received victims, thanked me with tears.
“Oh, receiving victims for free… Thank you so much, Mr. Kims Charles!”
“It was really painful because of the cold… Sigh, Mr. Kims Charles, you’re truly like an angel, just as the rumors say.”
“Thanks to you, we can survive the winter!”
The extremely wicked Hospital Association had neglected Lette Village so much that it wasn’t difficult to win over the villagers’ hearts.
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It would help with their cooperation in treatment.
As I expected, Village Chief Cabeon of Lette Village cooperated a lot.
“I don’t know how fortunate we are because of Mr. Kims Charles’ help… If there’s anything this Village Chief Cabeon can do to help, please let me know.”
“Village Chief, could you let me know the current patient status? I’d also like to know about any vacant houses we can use for isolation.”
Village Chief Cabeon informed me of the village’s situation with a gloomy face.
There are a total of 41 Lette Village residents.
Currently, there are 16 cold patients, and no cases of influenza have been confirmed.
“Almost half of the village residents are cold patients!”
As expected, it’s serious.
Lette Village doesn’t have the capacity to manage cold patients on their own.
If left as it is, the number of cold patients will continue to increase!
I isolated the cold patients in vacant houses.
With the help of the healthy Lette Village residents and the maids of Roland Viscount, we managed to make progress somehow.
Although it was mentally exhausting to control so many people.
In the end, 16 patients were placed in a large vacant house, and I prioritized those with severe symptoms.
“Achoo! Achoo! Sniff… Sniff…”
“Cough! Cough!”
The three patients coughed incessantly as they left the isolation room.
These three were the patients with the most severe symptoms in Lette Village.
“Suspected cases of influenza.”
Influenza is a dangerous disease that can lead to death if not handled properly.
—
If a cold worsens here, it can become the flu, it is commonly mistaken, but no.
Colds and flu are clearly different diseases.
The common cold is mainly caused by rhinovirus, and the flu is caused by the influenza virus.
The viruses of colds and flu are different.
So, in the medical field, to distinguish the two, the flu is called influenza instead of the flu.
“You have to distinguish between colds and flu.”
The management of colds and flu is similar, but.
Colds do not require special treatment, while the flu mainly uses antiviral drugs.
The symptoms of the flu are more serious than colds, and if they worsen, it can be a frightening disease that can lead the patient to death!
I instructed Miss Catherine and Mr. Malvoy to treat three flu patients.
Geez!
The sacred act of cleaning patients’ mouths, throats, and lungs.
The complexion of suspected flu patients gradually improved, and I felt relieved.
“Phew! Isolate these three patients separately from the cold patients!”
A cold patient can also get the flu at the same time.
Can one be afflicted with two respiratory diseases at the same time? There is nothing more dreadful than that!
“William, do you really know this fact?”
The fact that colds and flu are different.
This will be your downfall!
* * * *
William’s assigned village, the nearby town of Leblé, owned by Lord John.
Leblé, nestled in the mountains, had plenty of firewood, and out of a total of 60 residents, there were 12 cold patients.
“It’s much better than Letteville.”
William smiled as he looked at the village scenery.
With plenty of firewood and the villagers in good health, managing the patients will be easy.
This is an obvious victory!
“Dr. Kim, this will put an end to your tyranny!”
If he wins this match, Dr. Kim’s clinic will no longer be able to grow.
There will be no threat to the hospital committee.
With great confidence, William ordered the hospital committee members to isolate the patients in vacant houses.
Isolating cold patients is a basic part of patient management.
However, cooperation with treatment was not going well.
First, the village chief, Mr. Zerav, was uncooperative.
“We can introduce you to a vacant house, but our village folks are busy. If you want to treat them, William, you’ll have to do it yourself.”
“We came to treat Leblé, but you won’t cooperate?”
“Who said we won’t cooperate? Ha ha, we’re just busy and find it hard.”
That’s the thing.
William sensed a tricky situation.
It seemed that only William and the hospital committee members were responsible for managing the patients.
William was puzzled.
—
The villagers aren’t cooperating with the treatment?
In fact, the villagers suffering from the flu were supposed to be treated by Matthew later, but the village chief, Jérab, was uncooperative towards William.
Chief Jérab was one of the spies that Matthew had bought!
Unaware of this, William had no choice but to diligently go to the empty house introduced by Jérab and search for the patients one by one.
“Why is this happening? I refuse to receive treatment!”
Some of the flu patients refused to receive treatment and caused a commotion!
William felt like he was going crazy.
Even though we’re treating them, they still won’t accept it!
“Ugh, this must be some trick by that wicked author, Charles Kims!”
Fortunately, William wasn’t completely clueless.
“But Mr. Charles Kims, do you know this? If we just isolate them, we, who possess sacred power, will prevail!”
William didn’t doubt his victory despite the various obstacles.
He isolated only the patients who were cooperative.
There was no distinction between cold and flu patients.
One of the facts discovered in modern times is that people with colds are less likely to catch the flu.
When modern people catch a cold, their immune system is activated, making it difficult for the flu virus to enter.
However, this place is in the Middle Ages, where malnutrition is common.
Patients with weakened immune systems were vulnerable to both colds and the flu.
Of course, William didn’t know this fact.