Chapter 14
The perfectly hidden divine power passed gently through the woman's skin.
It wrapped around the inflamed breast tissue.
It lubricated the hardened area around the abscess and formed a protective layer around the living tissue.
The instant that happened...
Now.
Gain applied firm pressure without hesitation.
Her movements were careful.
Persistent.
Precise.
"Ahh...!"
The mother swallowed a short scream.
Then yellow pus and thickened old milk suddenly burst from the previously blocked nipple.
Eunjae, standing beside them, looked nervous.
"Kidney basin."
Eunjae immediately held the basin beneath the breast and caught the discharge.
Gain could clearly feel the heavy, sticky lumps leaving the woman's body.
Cloudy milk clotted like cheese mixed with thick greenish pus.
As the material drained, Gain could feel the pressure inside the breast dropping beneath her fingertips.
At the same time, a powerful smell pushed through even her mask.
There was the sharp, sour odor unique to infection.
Mixed with it was the stale smell of breast milk that had remained trapped long enough to begin spoiling.
Most people would've wrinkled their noses or gagged instinctively.
Gain's expression didn't change at all.
In modern medicine, this kind of direct manual drainage normally wasn't something an ordinary OB-GYN doctor performed personally.
After finding an abscess with ultrasound, a doctor would usually prescribe antibiotics and send the patient to surgery for incision and drainage.
Or if it was simply blocked milk, the patient would be sent to a breastfeeding specialist for massage.
There was little reason for a doctor to personally roll up their sleeves and sit there squeezing out old milk and pus with their own hands.
But to Gain, there was nothing strange about it.
To Eunjae, however, who was handing over sterile gauze beside her...
The sight went beyond amazing.
It was shocking.
When Im Gain had begun pressing on the inflamed breast with her bare hands and without even using a scalpel, Eunjae had almost screamed internally.
This is insane!
She's going to squeeze out that huge abscess with her bare hands without making an incision?
With that much pressure, the inflamed glandular tissue will rupture inside!
A major medical accident on their very first patient.
Eunjae valued sterilization and proper procedure almost more than life itself.
For a moment, she had started writing her resignation letter in her head.
She'd even wondered whether she should physically stop the director before the clinic was destroyed on opening day.
Then something impossible happened.
The breast that should've ruptured remained perfectly intact.
Only the blocked pus and thickened milk came out.
The surrounding tissue somehow endured the pressure without damage.
It completely contradicted everything Eunjae knew about medicine.
The tissue isn't damaged at all?
What kind of technique is that...?
The breast was fine.
The patient was satisfied.
Eunjae's shock gradually became respect.
Our doctor really is incredible.
The smell was terrible.
The small enclosed room quickly filled with the sour odor of spoiled milk and pus.
Eunjae wanted to cover her nose and run outside.
Director Im didn't even flinch.
Instead, she let the splattering discharge hit her own coat while comforting the patient.
"We're almost done. The blockage is open now. Just endure a little longer."
Eunjae had worked in university-hospital delivery rooms and large OB-GYN hospitals.
She'd seen countless doctors.
Most would measure the size of an abscess with a cold ultrasound probe and say flatly,
"Go to surgery and have it opened."
Or,
"I'll prescribe antibiotics. Let's wait and see."
Then they'd move on to the next chart.
Eunjae had never seen a doctor willingly stand there while foul pus from someone else's body splashed all over them.
This wasn't ordinary medical care.
To Eunjae, Gain looked almost like a saint standing against some terrible disaster with her own body.
A doctor who put aside the weight of authority and personally stepped directly into the patient's suffering.
A chill ran over Eunjae's skin.
So that's what a real doctor looks like.
Without realizing it, Eunjae tightened her grip on the sterile gauze.
This director was different from every doctor she'd ever met.
She was the real thing.
Ah.
It's been a while since I've seen pus like this.
It's strangely satisfying just watching it come out.
Gain smiled slightly without realizing it.
During her years as the Saintess, Im Gain had visited some of the dirtiest and most miserable places in the world.
Even the homeless clinic near Seoul Station where she'd once volunteered couldn't compare.
Homeless people with jaundice and malnutrition after years of drinking?
People who hadn't washed and smelled stale?
They were nothing compared to plague patients.
The smell was different.
The pus was different.
The boils covering their entire bodies were different.
To treat plague victims whose bodies were covered in swollen abscesses, she had to open the boils and drain them.
When the abscesses beneath the armpits and groin burst, rotten blood clots, yellow pus, and foul-smelling mucus spilled out together.
The smell had been horrific.
People seeing it for the first time often vomited.
Compared to that, this little bit of pus mixed with the smell of milk was nothing.
There wasn't even much of it.
And the smell wasn't particularly bad.
Then it happened.
