I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy

154. Headless Corpse (4)

****

There aren’t many forensic pathologists in the country.

As far as I remember, there were only about fifty in Korea, and just one person per year got hired as a forensic pathologist. Usually, they’re from Seoul National University.

In other words, the country typically selects only one forensic pathologist a year, and usually from Seoul National University.

I lost interest in that field after hearing that, but it’s problematic for doctors not to know how to examine corpses since we still need to write death certificates at the very least.

Anyway, the lecture I recalled was about this:

– “Let’s say you receive a police request for investigative assistance. There’s a case where a headless skeleton was found in the mountains, with the head discovered hundreds of meters away.”

– “Is this a murder case?”

At the time, I answered during the lecture that it should definitely be investigated as a murder case.

The most realistic assumption is that someone killed this person and cut off their head.

But… it turned out I was wrong.

The police eventually found a suicide note. This person had hanged themselves in the forest, and during decomposition, the head separated from the body and fell off. Wild dogs had carried the head away.

The forensic pathologists involved proved that a pig hung on a tree in the mountain would have its head detach due to decomposition.

To sum up:

“Maybe we should rethink what common sense really is. After all, we judge most of what we experience through the lens of ‘common sense,’ right?”

I looked at Amy.

“Yeah.”

“But… Is our so-called ‘common sense’ about decaying corpses really grounded in reality? Most people lack knowledge or experience regarding the process of corpse decomposition, yet they try to apply common sense anyway. That’s kind of problematic.”

Amy nodded her head.

****

The Security Management Team guided us to where the corpse was stored. The entire basement was cold. If I hadn’t worn a surgical gown, it might’ve been chilly.

The corpse was frozen using ice magic in the basement warehouse of the Security Management Team. As expected, it didn’t have a head.

Scipio still seemed skeptical.

“The corpse is preserved by ice magic. By the time we retrieved it, it was already reduced to bones and skin…”

“I see.”

The police officer, either because they didn’t want to look at the decomposed corpse again or couldn’t stand the smell, stood far away near the door of the morgue.

“Can you really find anything useful? The corpse is practically liquefied now, especially around the neck area where there’s no flesh left.”

“We’ll check the bones.”

“Hmm… Alright. I’ll stay here. Let me know if you find something.”

Amy frowned. Through the Plague Doctor mask, her scrunched-up face was visible.

“This place gives me the creeps.”

“It’s the cold.”

It was indeed a horrifying sight.

Even if you often see sick people, you don’t encounter damaged corpses every day. Plus, the remaining maggots made my stomach churn.

Though horrifying, thankfully the smell of the decomposing corpse was lessened thanks to the plague doctor mask.

“So… What exactly are we looking for?”

“Just check if the cervical vertebrae are broken, then we’ll leave.”

The smell of the decomposing corpse…

It smelled like sewer water, rotten eggs, and grilled squid all at once. But the worst part was the sickeningly sweet aroma caused by amino acid decomposition or hydrogen sulfide.

I walked over to the neck area of the corpse.

“Professor, would a broken vertebra be attached to the head or the torso?”

“Uh… I don’t know.”

Let’s start with the torso.

I carefully began cutting along the spine of the corpse while staying as far away as possible. Since the skin had hardened like leather and the insides had liquefied, the knife didn’t easily penetrate. I had no choice but to hold the neck and use the protruding bone as leverage to tear open the skin.

“Amy, how many cervical vertebrae are there?”

“Seven.”

“How many are left here?”

“Five.”

I touched each vertebra individually. None appeared broken, meaning the broken ones must be attached to the head.

“Go fetch the head.”

Amy brought the head over. With more holes, it had decomposed faster than the rest of the body. There wasn’t much left.

I peeled back the skin at the back of the head and started cutting out the vertebrae. Though most of the surrounding tissue had liquefied, some ligaments connecting the bones remained.

Fortunately, since most of the tissue had liquefied, it wasn’t too difficult to separate two cervical vertebrae. Two small bones smaller than the palm of my hand.

“Water.”

Amy came over with a kettle and poured water over the bones. As the decayed fluid washed away, two yellowish bones appeared.

“Take a closer look.”

“Wow… I’m impressed, though I’m getting tired of being amazed.”

The second vertebra was indeed broken. The rear part of the vertebra, which once encased the spinal cord, was shattered. A classic hangman’s fracture.

“So… There are no signs of cutting or sawing on the vertebrae. Instead, there are clear signs of a break caused by hanging. It seems the second vertebra has rotted away.”

“Was it suicide, then?”

“Yeah.”

“How exactly does it break?”

“When someone falls with a noose around their neck, the neck bends sharply to the side or backward, breaking the second vertebra.”

I wonder if they found the suicide note.

I placed the broken vertebrae on the workbench and showed them to the distant police officer. Scipio looked at the bone fragments seriously.

“Ah, so this is the hangman’s fracture you mentioned. The broken vertebra…”

“The first vertebra supports the skull, and the second vertebra forms a joint with the first one. When someone hangs, the load concentrates on this second vertebra, which supports the first vertebra holding the skull.”

“Amazing. How do you even think of these things…? I’ll record it as a suicide.”

The police officer busily wrote something in their notebook, shivered from the cold, and left the morgue. After covering the corpse again, I hung the borrowed gown and followed the police outside.

I need to change clothes.

The corpse smell might have soaked in.

****

We returned to the temple ward. We left a note at the morgue stating that the cause of death for this corpse was determined to be suicide through autopsy.

Mr. Alarard tried to greet me but stopped due to a cough, nodding silently instead.

“Hello, Mr. Alarard. Today, I have both good news and bad news.”

“Tell me the bad news first.”

“It will take time to treat your pneumonia. It’s fungal pneumonia, making treatment more challenging.”

“Is it fatal?”

“No.”

The patient sighed in relief.

“What’s the good news?”

“I re-examined the headless corpse and confirmed beyond doubt that the cause of death was suicide by hanging, not murder.”

“How could you possibly determine that from such a decomposed body?”

“There’s always a method.”

Honestly, explaining it again was tedious.

“Thank you so much, Professor. I don’t know how to repay this kindness…”

“Hmm. You’ve already paid quite a bit. For the consultation fees, the autopsy request, and the money I received through the Security Management Team, which was kind of like a bribe.”

I decided to respond dryly.

Every day I see patients, and it’s exhausting to constantly match their emotional highs and lows—whether positive or negative.

“Oh my. Even so, can we ever put a price on life and honor? No matter how much I give, it feels insufficient.”

Money…

We’ll settle it when the illness is fully cured.

“By the way, there must be a reason why only the patient among the family contracted pneumonia. Did the patient discover the corpse?”

“Well, I have a study on the second floor, and I noticed a moldy smell. No matter how much I cleaned, the smell wouldn’t go away…”

“Ah.”

“While heading to the hospital, I instructed one of the maids to thoroughly clean the study. Looking back now, I suspect the corpse was directly above the study.”

So this patient inhaled the most Aspergillus spores… It makes sense why only he developed pneumonia.

“In that case, I’ll administer antifungal medication to the patient next. The drug is potent, so there may be side effects, and the already damaged parts of the lungs and bronchus might not recover.”

“That’s understandable.”

“But you won’t die.”

The uncle nodded.

“Are the rest of the family okay?”

The rest of the family was fine. Only this patient had inhaled a large amount of spores, so they only required a few days of symptomatic treatment.

“They’re almost recovered. Removing the antigen solves most issues. However, you must thoroughly clean the house. I recommend burning everything from the attic.”

You might as well tear up the floorboards and burn them too.

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