Taeho pushed through the ER doors.
Before him were three patients, with Kim Dohyun and Lee Chaerin each clinging to their own.
"Status report!"
"Traffic accident patients. Patient One is a male in his sixties with chest pain and hypotension, suspected ST elevation..."
"Patient Three is a teenage male with severe airway obstruction..."
The two spoke simultaneously. Behind them, Nurse Go Hayoung and the other nurses wore troubled expressions.
He could tell without needing an explanation.
With critical patients flooding in simultaneously, Kim Dohyun and Lee Chaerin had once again gotten their steps tangled.
When Taeho quickly activated his Bio Vision, the conditions of all three patients came into view at a glance.
Patient One's bio-energy was thrashing irregularly around his heart. Blood pressure 80/50, irregular pulse. Suspected myocardial infarction.
Patient Two was a woman in her twenties with ongoing intra-abdominal hemorrhage. Her bio-energy was rapidly weakening inside the abdominal cavity.
Patient Three was a teenage male student whose bio-energy throughout his entire body was rapidly destabilizing with ongoing airway edema. It was anaphylaxis.
Taeho immediately divided the roles.
"I'll take team lead. Dr. Kim, ACLS on Patient One. Dr. Lee, take charge of Patient Three's airway. Nurse Go, prep for trauma on Patient Two!"
"Yes! Understood."
"Yes!"
They each ran toward their assigned patients.
An irregular waveform spiked on Monitor One. Taeho shouted.
"Dr. Kim, what does Patient One's ECG rhythm look like?"
"V-fib is occurring intermittently. I administered nitroglycerin..."
Kim Dohyun was answering when Taeho cut him off.
"No. With his current blood pressure, nitroglycerin is dangerous. Stop immediately and start dopamine at 2 mcg/kg/min. Charge defibrillator to 200J! Nurse Go, prepare epinephrine 1 mg IV. Start norepinephrine at 0.05 mcg/kg/min and get MAP above 65!"
Taeho shouted to Nurse Go as he headed toward Patient One.
"What's the FAST scan result for Patient Two?"
"Positive for free fluid in the abdominal cavity. Hemoglobin is dropping to 7.2 g/dL."
"Prep for transfusion and call surgery! We need to secure Patient Three's airway first. Was epinephrine 0.3 mg administered IM?"
"Yes! Administered five minutes ago, but there's no response. Tongue edema is also progressing."
At that moment, Lee Chaerin shouted from Patient Three's side.
"Director! Patient Three's SpO2 is dropping to eighty-five percent. Airway obstruction progressing!"
Taeho ran toward Bed Three and shouted.
"Alright, repeat IM epi 0.3 mg! Start large-volume fluid bolus! Prep video laryngoscope, rocuronium, and ketamine. Have the cric kit on standby in case we fail!"
"Yes, prepping now!"
Lee Chaerin's hands moved faster.
Just then, an alarm began blaring from Patient One's ECG monitor.
Kim Dohyun's hands trembled as he prepared the defibrillation. The moment he tried to position the paddles, Lee Chaerin glanced over as she brought the medication and spoke in a low voice.
"Paddles a little lower."
Kim Dohyun quickly adjusted the paddles downward and shouted.
"Two hundred joules shock incoming! Clear!"
The patient's body convulsed with the electric shock. Kim Dohyun's eyes fixed on the ECG monitor.
"Checking rhythm. Still V-fib!"
"Prepare for second shock! Two hundred joules again! Have amiodarone three hundred milligrams on standby too!"
Taeho ordered rapidly as he assessed the situation.
Kim Dohyun repositioned the paddles and shouted loudly.
"Clear!"
The second electric shock was delivered. This time, Kim Dohyun's expression brightened.
"Rhythm captured! Pulse palpable! ROSC achieved!"
Taeho let out a sigh of relief.
"Good. Maintain blood pressure with norepinephrine, contact the cardiovascular center immediately! Have the cath lab ready!"
Beside Patient Three, Lee Chaerin prepared medications with a tense expression.
She was preparing for RSI on Patient Three, but couldn't find the ketamine.
'Ah, I brought it just now, where did it go?'
In her confusion, Kim Dohyun subtly pushed the medication cart toward her while checking Patient One's ECG.
"Ketamine's right here!"
Lee Chaerin tried to express her gratitude, but Kim Dohyun had already turned his back.
Taeho said.
"Starting RSI. Ketamine first. Administer rocuronium too!"
"Doctor, SpO2 has dropped to seventy-eight percent!"
A nurse reported in an anxious voice.
Lee Chaerin gripped the laryngoscope firmly with trembling hands.
"I see the vocal cords. Tube going in."
Once the endotracheal tube was successfully inserted, Lee Chaerin quickly checked.
"Cuff inflated! ETCO2 waveform is normal!"
"SpO2 ninety-one, ninety-two... It's continuing to rise!"
The nurse's voice brightened.
Taeho nodded and said.
"Well done, Dr. Lee. Transfer Patient Three to the ventilator, and prepare an epinephrine nebulizer. We also need to check for beta-blocker medication history!"
Just then, an alarm blared loudly from Bed Two.
Nurse Go Hayoung shouted urgently.
"Patient Two's blood pressure is seventy over forty!"
Taeho's expression hardened.
"O-positive PRBCs as fast as possible! Plasma and platelets too, one-to-one-to-one ratio! When is surgery getting here?"
"The OR is prepping, and Chief Yoo Sihyeok is expected in two minutes!"
"Don't manipulate the abdomen, and watch his temperature!"
Kim Dohyun checked Patient One's status and reported loudly.
"Definite ST elevation on ECG! The cath lab will take him within ten minutes! Starting aspirin loading and prepping heparin!"
"Patient Two's blood pressure is up to eighty over fifty! Good response to transfusion!"
Nurse Go Hayoung reported in a relieved voice.
Taeho organized the overall situation.
"From now on, we're on cross-cover. Dr. Kim, monitor Patient One while also watching Patient Two's transfusion status. Dr. Lee, check Patient Three's ventilator status while also monitoring Patient One's ECG. Don't just look at your own assigned patients—keep communicating about the big picture!"
"Yes!"
"Yes, Director!"
The two emergency physicians and nurses answered.
Kim Dohyun reported confidently.
"Patient One's ECG is stable and BP is ninety-two over fifty-eight! Departing for the cath lab!"
"Patient Three is completely stable! Patient Two also responding well to transfusion, maintaining BP at eighty-five over fifty!"
Lee Chaerin also said in a bright voice.
The necessary treatments in the ER were now finished.
Taeho nodded with a satisfied expression.
"Patient One to the cardiovascular center, Patient Two to the OR, and Patient Three to the PICU!"
Thirty minutes later, all patients had been transferred to their respective departments.
Nerves that had been wound tight loosened, and tension eased.
It was the moment when the exhilaration of successfully performing emergency treatment and saving patients flooded in.
Kim Dohyun and Lee Chaerin, who had been organizing charts, suddenly locked eyes.
"..."
"..."
Kim Dohyun hesitated, then opened his mouth first.
"Thank you for correcting my paddle position earlier."
Lee Chaerin, who had been flipping through a chart, paused.
Her expression stiffened awkwardly.
Kim Dohyun let out a small sigh and picked up his chart again.
Just as he regretted speaking up for no reason,
"Thank you for finding the ketamine for me."
Lee Chaerin said quickly, then spun around and walked away.
"Uh..."
Kim Dohyun, having missed the chance to respond, blankly watched her retreating figure.
***
Amira stood in the hallway at the ER entrance, watching the situation unfold beyond the glass doors.
Taeho's voice could be heard all the way into the hallway.
Amira unconsciously leaned forward.
She saw Kang Taeho grasp the situations of three critical patients at a glance and divide roles among the medical staff. He was like a general commanding troops on a battlefield.
Kang Taeho suddenly stopped, and she saw him looking at the patients.
Eyes that were both coldly rational and profound.
'There's something special about that gaze.'
Amira had met countless people while growing up in the UAE royal family. Powerful figures, fraudsters, and true masters. She had learned to distinguish their gazes.
Kang Taeho's gaze was different from anyone she had ever seen.
It was an unusual gaze in which cold rationality and intense passion were intertwined.
"Clear!"
Bang!
"Clear!"
Bang!
"Rhythm captured! ROSC success!"
A sigh of relief escaped Amira unwittingly.
What was astonishing was the scene of Kang Taeho turning doctors who had been moving separately into a single team. It seemed that anyone who entered Kang Taeho's energy field would become that way.
"Amira. What are you thinking?"
Faisal asked from behind Amira.
"Ya akhi, I may have been wrong."
"About what?"
"Doctor Kang seems somewhat different from other doctors."
"How so?"
"How should I put it? Doctor Kang seems to possess the hands of a god. It seems that no one within the energy he emits can escape his influence."
Faisal too had felt something different about Taeho from the first time they met, something unlike other doctors. But seeing his younger sister Amira praising someone else to this extent was almost unfamiliar.
Faisal burst into laughter.
"Seeing our lioness praise someone this much, Doctor Kang must truly be special."
"This time, I think something will be different."
Fatigue was evident on Taeho's face as he exited the ER doors. Sweat stains had seeped throughout his surgical scrubs, and his hair was disheveled. In just thirty minutes, he seemed to have expended all his energy.
Taeho spotted the two people standing in front of the ER.
"Ah, Rashid, Amira."
Taeho greeted them lightly.
Faisal opened his mouth first.
"Doctor Kang, you've worked hard. We observed the ER situation just now, and it was truly remarkable."
A voice filled with sincere admiration.
"Ah, you were watching. It's only natural for a doctor."
Taeho replied modestly and bowed his head. Then his eyes met Amira's.
Huh?
Amira's gaze...
had changed somehow.
The cold wariness from when they first met had disappeared, but she also looked somewhat sulky, as if she was upset about something.
Is she still angry that I ran out to the ER?
"..."
Amira slightly parted her lips, then closed them again. She had stopped herself from speaking.
"Is there something you want to say?"
Taeho asked carefully.
Amira averted her gaze for a moment, then looked at Taeho again.
"It's just..."
Amira trailed off. It was unlike her usual confident and straightforward demeanor.
Faisal watched his younger sister's change with interest and smiled.
"Doctor Kang, my sister is usually quite talkative, but she's quiet today. I think she was deeply impressed by your performance earlier."
Amira sent a sharp glance toward her older brother, but Faisal just grinned.
Amira looked at Taeho.
"What you showed in the ER... It was impressive. I'm sorry about earlier."
Taeho said with a gentle smile.
"It's all right. I understand."
"But..."
"On the contrary, it's nice to see how much you care for your older brother."
Faisal looked back and forth between the two with a mischievous expression.
"Doctor Kang, in fifteen years of meeting doctors, this is the first time Amira has reacted this way. Usually, our lioness is confident with everyone."
"Ya akhi!"
Amira protested, her face reddening.
Taeho said with a laugh.
"Thank you. Then I'll go change and come back."
When Taeho smiled, Amira averted her gaze slightly.
In Amira's eyes as she watched Taeho's retreating figure, slightly more complex emotions were reflected.
Faisal laughed loudly.
"Hahahaha! Doctor Kang is amazing! To turn our lioness into a docile cat!"
"Ya akhi!"
Amira stomped her feet and shouted.