Chapter 43: A Strange Sound (2).

Yeah.

No matter how you look at it…

Huh? But still, declaring someone dead and pronouncing them deceased in the 19th century…

"That shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen, but still..."

I found myself recalling what had just happened.

Since arriving in the 19th century—no, since coming to London—I had certainly been making a lot of unforgettable memories.

Memories related to people were usually good, but those related to medicine were often not.

No, they weren't just bad; they were downright horrific.

—"To treat a headache, of course, you need to let out some blood!"

Maybe it was so horrifying that my memory had slightly distorted it.

—"Come here, you bastard!"

For some reason, in my recollection, Dr. Jemel's face had morphed into that of Dr. Robert Liston.

At first, he drained blood from the ankle, then from the arm, then from the forehead, and eventually, he used a goose feather to induce a nosebleed.

That damn fool.

The patient's complexion had grown increasingly pale.

At that point, the headache was the least of their concerns.

As blood drained from their body, hypovolemic shock set in. What did a headache matter then?

The only silver lining was that, due to his lack of skill and knowledge, he hadn't been able to cut an artery.

Bleeding from veins or capillaries often stopped on its own once enough blood had been lost to make the person appear dead.

"If that happens, they'd look just like a corpse."

Determining someone's death wasn't easy.

It couldn't be.

Just as medical knowledge was necessary to save a life, it was also necessary to declare someone dead.

"Hey, what are you thinking about so deeply?"

"Do you know that person who was carried away?"

I had been staring at the entrance that had just been opened and closed—the entrance leading to the grave—when Joseph and Alfred called out to me.

Both of them still had hungry, eager looks on their faces.

Their eyes kept shifting between me and the arm I had just been suturing.

Well, of course.

Anyone with a brain would realize just how important and valuable the knowledge we were learning was.

"No, it's not that… I just thought I saw something move."

"Huh?"

"Move? But they said he was dead."

"You must be mistaken."

"That must be it."

"Still, it seems a bit..."

Joseph nodded at my words, but Alfred's reaction was a bit odd.

So, Joseph and I turned to look at him, waiting for an explanation.

Since Alfred wasn't from an aristocratic background but rather from a wealthy, self-made family, he didn't hesitate much.

"You guys… haven't heard of it?"

"Heard of what?"

"What?"

"Oh… You're from Upton, right? There are still a lot of places there that hold funerals the old-fashioned way."

"Huh?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Still, it wasn't quite clicking for me.

Seeing my blank expression, Alfred continued speaking.

"Here, you see… A lot of people can't even afford a proper funeral."

"Oh... That's..."

"...That makes sense."

Yeah.

A funeral.

I recalled the people I had passed by while riding in the carriage.

Surely, life quality must have been much better for those farming in the countryside.

Life here seemed no different from hell.

If living was this bad, what was dying like?

"So they just bury them. Sometimes they even put them in someone else's grave. The guy from earlier at least got a bit of money for his burial, but… he'll still end up in a mass grave."

"Why… Why is that?"

"This is just a rumor, really. Most people ignore it, but… I just can't shake the feeling that something is off."

Alfred had the look of a conspiracy theorist from an American documentary.

Given the eerie subject, it wasn't even an unfair comparison.

Before I knew it, we were in the corner of the dissection room.

Alfred had led Joseph and me here.

Some of our other classmates seemed curious about what we were talking about, but since Colin was around and clearly disapproving, no one dared approach.

"Do you know the novel Frankenstein?"

Of all the books to mention in the corner of a dissection room filled with corpses…

Hearing that name made goosebumps rise along my arm.

Joseph, on the other hand, looked completely clueless.

"I don't."

"I've heard of it."

I didn't say I had read it.

I had only seen the Junji Ito manga adaptation.

It might sound like an excuse, but trying to study medicine while keeping up with literature was nearly impossible.

"It's a story about a corpse being reanimated with electricity… But that idea didn't come from nowhere. There are constant rumors about noises coming from graves in London's mass cemeteries. They say the dead are coming back to life."

"Oh, come on. That's ridiculous."

Joseph made a disgusted face and waved his hands dismissively.

Yet, he kept glancing at the corpses around us.

He was scared.

It was understandable.

People kept talking about science, but in reality, the gaps in knowledge were still filled with superstition.

But for me, something clicked.

It was like a light had suddenly turned on.

"Wait… Are you saying… they're burying people alive?"

"No one says it like that. They just say the dead are moving. But I can't shake the feeling… That's what's actually happening. It doesn't make sense for corpses to just wake up—unless they're not really dead."

"That's true. And… that guy from earlier."

"You said he moved, right? That makes it even more likely."

"Should we go after them? We can always come back and do our practical work at night."

Alfred and I were already on the move.

Not toward the grave, though.

The family had taken the body away on a cart, but if the three of us, dressed as we were, walked down that road, it would be practically suicidal.

If a professor was with us, it would be different, but as we were, we'd just get robbed—over and over.

"Go there at night?"

Joseph was visibly terrified.

No surprise.

He had just been hearing about Frankenstein and resurrected corpses.

'This is unexpected.'

I thought he was fearless.

Turns out, zombies scared him.

It was fine.

Zombies didn't exist.

"We'll keep a lantern on."

"It's not that, it's just..."

"What, are you scared? Say a pr

ayer."

"No, it's not that..."

"Let's just go. If they're burying people alive, we need to stop it."

"Ugh..."

With me pressing him so hard, Joseph had no choice but to sigh and follow.