Chapter 1 – Part 1 (As a Military Doctor)

The field hospital, surrounded by crumbling walls, reeked of blood mixed with the strong scent of cigars.

There was no air conditioning, which had been common in her previous life. Anne, with dried blood clinging to her arms, pondered.

‘Am I dreaming right now? ’

Even if she were, why, of all people, her—just an ordinary… graduate student. No, scratch that. Graduate students aren’t ordinary. They’re slaves.

‘But why am I volunteering to be a slave here?’ She stood there, momentarily lost in thought.

It would be nice if Anne Riley’s life were a little more peaceful.

“Injured incoming! We need immediate treatment!”

Anne shook her head as she watched the men in the distance running toward her, haphazardly throwing the wounded into carts.

She realize this is a reincarnation or a possession, but….

Why, instead of a graceful lady of the manor, was she stuck in this d*mn body, forced to work just to survive? There was no logic to it.

God did not show Anne any mercy even after her master’s degree, which did not allow her to graduate in over three years.

‘Oh no! Is it my fault for complaining that I only work 12 hours a day in a cool laboratory all year round?’

Anne cursed in a low voice.

“XX. What’s the point of that? It’s clear what happened!”

As she made her way to the wounded, Anne thought about the past.

The “Anne Riley” that had become her name was an unmentionable supporting character in the original novel.

In the memories that surfaced after her possession, Anne’s mother was a maid for an aristocratic family.

Other than the time she sat beside her mother and watched a noble master weep over the loss of his parents, Anne had little interaction with the aristocrats.

Anne’s mother had apparently taught her to be quiet and still.

She did. Let’s just say it’s okay to be dead and possessed by Anne Riley.

‘Being poor is… tough, but yeah. I can live with it. ‘

But why, out of all the countless novels, did she have to be possessed as a character in a war novel?

Anne couldn’t even escape because she had no money on hand. Her parents had already died of illness when the war broke out, and there was no one willing to help the destitute Anne.

She was desperate. After being possessed, she could only think of ways to survive.

The only place she could work under these circumstances was in a field hospital, and she’d been here for eight months.

Still, it was fortunate.

The only consolation was that she was being paid a lot more than the average person would make.

“Anne, where are you?”

Anne’s ears caught a distant voice calling out to her.

Medics clung to the patient’s side as blood began to flow from his mouth and he looked as if he might suffocate at any moment.

Anne’s coworker, Kyle, clutching at the wound, shouted at her, urging her on.

“Anne, come over and apply pressure! This person looks like they’re about to die!”

‘D*mn it, scratch the consolation. Scratch it!’

Anne approached the patient, deeply mourning that this world, this battlefield, had become her life.

The patient, who had been spewing blood until a moment ago, now had a pale face with froth at the mouth, and his body stiffened.

‘Is it epilepsy? ’

“Kyle, it’s not just about stopping the bleeding right now. It seems like there’s another underlying illness! Turn the body over right away. And loosen their clothes.”

Kyle’s jaw clenched, and two of the officers beside him turned him on his side and muttered, 

“From the start, he looked like he was in pain. Sometimes, he even drooled.”

Anne nodded. It was clear there was more to this man than trauma.

She pushed aside her sympathy for the man, who was shaking violently and writhing in pain.

“Who the hell allowed this man to enlist?”

“We don’t know, Lieutenant.”

The soldiers who brought the patient in fumbled with their hands together.

Anne pondered as she placed her hands on her waist. People here thought she was a competent doctor, but she wasn’t.

She just knew where the organs were and what they were, and all she could do was CPR and infection control to keep the person alive.

As it happens, Anne’s former self, Kang Ba-wool, was a life sciences major who grew and studied cancer cells in the lab, so she knew a little more about the disease than most.

It was impossible to save all the patients in this place without proper medicine.

Anne tied the tourniquet around his leg with a firm grip and called out to the soldier beside her.

“If he starts to lose his breath, call me. I can’t take care of him right now, and it may not be easy to get in touch during this war, but I want you to send a letter home to say he’s nearing the end of his life.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Lieutenant, you’ll have to take a look at this, too!”

“Ha, ha, I’ll go, I’ll go.”

Anne wiped the sweat from her brow and eyes, forgetting the blood on her hands, as she continued on with the parade of wounded.

“Oh, my mistake.”

Her eyes stung, and it was clear there was blood in them.

Anne stood dazed in the middle of the noisy Carl Hessen’s field hospital.

She wanted to rinse her eyes out, but everyone was too busy to help her.

Though she heard someone calling for her, her steps didn’t move any faster.

In her previous life, she had always said, “Surgeons are truly amazing. I couldn’t do what they do.”

The smell of blood lingered at the tip of her nose. Incessant crying.

She hated all of this—losing sleep and having to tend to patients. Anne, or rather, Kang Ba-wool, wasn’t someone who could do such things.

She never thought it would happen to her, but it did. Her life didn’t go as planned.

After three whole days of staying up all night to care for patients, Anne’s strength reached its limit.

Anne felt as if her whole body had been plunged into hot water. Soon, the world began to spin with dizziness.

She thought she was going to collapse.

She felt hard muscles on her back.

The man holding her up grabbed her shoulder and whispered,

“Hey, stay with me.”

“…….”

Anne scrambled to her feet, spinning around.

And with one eye, she saw the star embroidered on his chest, realizing who he was. He held quite a high rank. Anne bowed her head deeply before him.

“Um, what should we do about those eyes?”

“These eyes are….”

“There’s a basin over here.”

The man grabbed Anne by the back of her neck in a crude manner.

“No, wait a moment!”

“Open your eyes. I’ll wash it out with water.”

Lukewarm water was poured over Anne’s eyes. She could finally see clearly, but her whole body felt as pathetic as a drowned mouse.

“It won’t do to be seen like this. Get someone to call for help.”

Anne stared at his outstretched hand and shook her head.

“No. I appreciate your kindness, but there’s something more urgent.”

“What?”