Chapter 4
"Pretty young lady, did you come to buy mugwort? You can only get spring mugwort like this right now! I picked all of this myself!"
The old woman was short, but her back was surprisingly straight.
Her sun-darkened wrinkled face, rough white hair tied up carelessly, and large-knuckled wrinkled hands all practically screamed 'country grandmother.'
Her friendly and familiar manner made Im Gain smile.
"I'm only looking."
The grandmother grinned and put some seasoned mugwort from the basket on her left into a paper cup.
She held it toward Gain.
"What's the point of just looking? You have to taste it. If you make mugwort soup with this, it's amazing. Warms your whole body and every..."
Her voice suddenly stopped.
The paper cup fell from her hand.
She bent over.
Her breathing became rough.
Her face turned pale.
"Grandma?"
The mugwort scattered across the ground.
Someone stepped on it, crushing the leaves and filling the area with their strong scent.
Im Gain didn't care about the ruined mugwort or the rolling paper cup.
She immediately supported the old woman.
"Grandma!"
The woman's face had gone white.
"My back... feels like it's about to break. Since earlier, it kept feeling like something down below was falling out... And when I went to the toilet just now, something leaked out."
Gain immediately helped her sit down on the ground.
Another elderly woman nearby brought a towel and water.
The surrounding merchants gathered around and started talking.
"Malseon, are you all right?"
"Grandma, what happened?"
Gain was used to crowds gathering like this.
She had treated patients in marketplaces.
She had treated them on battlefields too.
Im Gain calmly spoke.
"Grandma, I'm a doctor. When you went to the bathroom just now, did you see any blood? Take your time and tell me exactly what happened."
"You're this pretty and you're a doctor? No way."
Another grandmother interrupted.
Gain ignored her and continued supporting the patient.
The mugwort seller groaned and slowly spoke.
"My underwear is completely soaked. My back feels like it's going to snap too. Really, if you weren't here, Doctor..."
Im Gain raised an eyebrow.
The grandmother selling bracken beside them added,
"Malseon has balls, you know. I saw them at the bathhouse last time. Isn't that what's causing the problem?"
Balls...
Uterine prolapse.
When the uterus descends outside the vagina, the protruding tissue can look almost like a scrotum.
That was what the bracken-selling grandmother was talking about.
Uterine prolapse itself normally didn't cause bleeding.
However, when an organ that should remain inside the body protruded outside, wounds or infections could develop.
Those could cause bleeding.
Acute uterine prolapse with vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain. This is dangerous.
"We need to reduce pressure on your abdomen. Bend your knees and sit like this."
Holding the grandmother's hand, Im Gain looked directly at the bracken seller beside her.
"This is an emergency. Call 119 right now. Tell them she has uterine prolapse with bleeding!"
"Uterine prolapse? O-okay!"
While the other grandmother called emergency services, Im Gain concentrated.
The market remained noisy.
People murmured around her like crashing waves.
But all of those sounds gradually moved farther away.
Instead, a prayer surfaced in her mind.
A prayer that felt both unfamiliar and strangely nostalgic.
Light.
Light, reach her.
Stop the blood and comfort her flesh.
She didn't even have to say it aloud.
Simply recalling the words was enough.
Something began flowing from her fingertips.
"!"
Grandma Malseon's eyes widened.
Warmth seemed to spread through her body.
The people gathered nearby couldn't see anything.
But the old woman's rapid breathing gradually became calmer.
"This is warm... I can breathe again."
A faint tingling sensation ran from Gain's fingertips to her elbow.
Huh?
She noticed it.
Her divine power remained.
The same power that had made her special in that world.
There was no brilliant halo.
No angels singing and cheering beside her.
But the power flowing from her hand now was warm like someone's spring day.
It was so faint that she could almost convince herself it didn't exist, like sunlight gently touching the back of her hand.
Gain froze.
No. I'm imagining it. Divine power can't possibly exist in this world.
But the grandmother's breathing had unquestionably become more stable.
...!
Without showing anything on her face, Gain checked the woman's pulse again.
Her expression remained perfectly calm.
Inside, however, she carefully searched for the edge of that familiar sensation.
It's really still here.
It was thin and faint like heat rising from the ground in spring.
But it was definitely real.
This was the same power she'd poured into tens of thousands of people in the other world.
Back then, it had overflowed like a river.
Now it had shrunk to something closer to a winter stream.
No...
More like water dripping one drop at a time from the edge of a roof.
Still, it existed.
The Goddess's blessing.
Gain closed her eyes for only a moment.
Then she immediately noticed something else.
The amount of divine power remaining inside her had sharply decreased by exactly the amount she'd just used.
This was no longer a river.
It felt like drawing water from a small pool that could run dry.
Because she'd used it on this grandmother, there was almost nothing left for the next patient.
Perhaps only enough to equal a single grain of rice.
Her fingertips trembled slightly.
The sound of an approaching ambulance siren reached them.
I thought everything would've disappeared once I returned to Korea.
The amount was shockingly small.
Still, even this much was something to be grateful for.
"119 is here!"
Gain held the grandmother's hand and firmly reminded her,
"You need to go to the hospital in the ambulance. Even if the bleeding has slowed, you still need a proper examination."
"I really would've... if you weren't here, Doctor..."
Grandma Malseon tried to say something else.
At that moment, the paramedic rushed over.
"Is this the patient?"
The paramedic's eyes widened for a moment when he saw Gain.
Gain calmly answered.
"Yes. I suspect stage-three uterine prolapse, and she has significant bleeding."
Im Gain removed her outer coat and used it to cover the area around the old woman's hips.
The paramedic placed Grandma Malseon on a stretcher and immediately moved her toward the ambulance.
"Are you her guardian? Give me your contact information!"
"Ah, I'm..."
"I'm her guardian! I live next door!"
The bracken-selling grandmother quickly climbed into the ambulance.
The paramedic spoke to Gain.
"Only one guardian can ride with her, so we'll take this lady."
"Yes. Please do."
After the ambulance left, the crowd gradually scattered.
Im Gain looked around.
Then she headed toward another real estate office.
This was the last agency in the neighborhood.
The sign reading 'Happy Realty' had been faded by sunlight.
It looked like they'd been doing business here for a long time.
I have a good feeling about this place.
Gain opened the door and went inside.
"Welcome! Please sit down."
It was a small real estate office tucked inside the alley.
Beside the waiting chairs was a cheap leather sofa.
On the wall were notices about tenant-protection laws and charts showing local monthly rent and deposit prices.
A middle-aged female agent sitting at the computer smiled brightly.
Im Gain carefully handed over her business card.
"I'm looking for a property for an OB-GYN clinic. If possible, I'd like an old hospital building where the delivery-room layout is still intact."
The agent glanced at the business card, then looked back at Gain.
Recognition flashed through her eyes.
"...Wait. Aren't you the person who helped Grandma Malseon at the market? I thought you seemed unusually calm. So you're a doctor!"
Im Gain nodded in surprise.
"You were there?"
It had only happened a moment ago.
Had she seen everything?
The market shouldn't even have been visible from this alley.
Before Gain could ask, the agent laughed and explained.
"I heard about it while I was out buying dinner. Grandma Chunbong already told everyone that a female doctor saved someone's life."
Chunbong was probably the grandmother selling bracken.
"Then why don't you tell me exactly what kind of property you're looking for?"
After Gain explained her requirements, the agent thought for a moment.
"Then I have three places that fit your conditions. I'll show them to you now. The first is on the second floor of a commercial building inside the alley. Like you wanted, it still has a delivery-room layout, and it's currently empty."
The deposit was 150 million won.
Monthly rent was three million won.
Could Gain lease the necessary equipment, disinfect everything, and cover several months of staff wages with the fifty million won remaining?
"The second property used to be a dental clinic. You'd need to remodel it, but the sterilization room is still intact. The plumbing doesn't need any additional work either."
It was a first-floor shop near an elementary school.
A 100 million won deposit.
2.2 million won monthly rent.
I do like that it's on the first floor...
Gain studied the floor plan.
"Ah. Since this used to be a dental clinic, there's an X-ray room instead of an endoscopy room."
It looked like remodeling would be unavoidable.
"But it's wider than the other places, and the ceiling is high, so it would be easy to change the interior."
The third property was considerably cheaper.
It had once been a small family-medicine clinic.
It contained only two examination rooms and one treatment room.
It was on the first floor of a commercial building near the entrance to an apartment complex.
The price was attractive too.
"The deposit is eighty million won, and the monthly rent is 1.8 million. The ventilation and soundproofing are good."
But the layout made surgery or childbirth impossible.
If she operated only a women's clinic and focused on small procedures such as obesity treatment or cosmetic skin care, it wouldn't be a bad option.
Im Gain slowly turned through the floor plans.
Then she returned to the plan for the first property.
Isn't this directly in front of the hospital I just saw?
The dusty but structurally decent two-story OB-GYN building.
This place was across from it.
"Can we go see this first property in person?"
The agent immediately grabbed the key and stood up.
"Let's go. It's empty, so we can see it right away."
They didn't even need to drive.
It was close enough to walk.
It really is that place.
The first property was inside the alley, on the second floor of a commercial building.
The outer wall was old.
A little ivy had begun climbing between the bricks.
Dust from last winter still clung to the second-floor windows.
But the moment Im Gain opened the door and stepped inside, she knew.
This place has good energy.
The floor was solid beneath her feet.
Even though the place had been empty for a long time, it didn't feel like an abandoned ruin.
She placed one hand against the wall.
It felt good.
The moment the door opened, it even seemed easier to breathe.
There was dust everywhere, yet the air wasn't suffocating.
This space felt 'alive.'
This would be perfect for recovery.
It felt completely different from the abandoned hospital across the street.
During her years in the other world, Gain had transformed countless places into temporary clinics.
Collapsed tents.
Ruined temples.
Battlefields filled with smoke.
She had treated patients anywhere and everywhere.
But she liked this place more because she could feel that someone had cared for it for a long time.
I like it.
The examination rooms were empty, but the layout was good.
The hallway connecting to the delivery room remained.
So did the sterilization room and recovery room.
Most importantly, the water lines, plumbing, and electrical wiring were still usable.
It was old, but it wasn't run-down.
A thorough cleaning should be enough.
Im Gain looked at the agent.
"It's better than I expected."
The agent's eyes lit up.
"Right? There's a reason I showed you this one first. It would be wonderful if a great doctor like you settled in our neighborhood."
Then she took out her phone and winked slightly at Gain.
"Let me negotiate with the owner. Give me a moment."
She made a call.
"Hello?"
An unfamiliar woman's voice came through the phone.
"Ma'am, I have someone here looking at the property. She's really impressive. She gave perfect emergency treatment to the grandmother who collapsed at the market and sent her safely to the hospital."
A strong Gyeongsang dialect came through the phone.
After a short conversation, the agent hung up and smiled broadly.
"If you sign today, she'll lower the rent to 2.5 million won. She'll reduce the deposit to 120 million too. And she says she won't charge you any rent for the first month."
Im Gain's eyes widened.
It was an unexpected connection.
"Really?"
"She knows Grandma Malseon."
"I see... Please tell her I said thank you."
"Do you want to sign the contract?"
Gain opened her mouth.
