The land of war, Kashmir.
Among its villages, Sahad, located in the northwest.
This place, too, had by no means escaped the maelstrom of war.
Before the monster called war, which utterly destroyed human nature, tragedy unfolded as a matter of course.
The sight left behind by the claws of war that had swept through only two days ago was truly wretched.
Buildings shattered and scorched.
People standing before them, stunned and vacant.
Children crying and fussing.
Adults trying to salvage even a single household item.
And, here and there throughout the village, there were people lying beneath broad sheets of cloth.
They were those whose lives had come to a futile end before the cruel joke of fate.
It was as if all the despair in the world had crowded into this small village.
However.
Even within that nightmare of war, hope was sprouting.
Shouts rang out as people dug through the collapsed debris.
They were people searching for neighbors buried beneath the rubble.
“I hear something.”
“What kind of sound?”
“Listen carefully. It’s definitely a groan.”
“Hurry, dig.”
Many people sweated profusely over a single threadlike lifeline of hope.
Meanwhile, another scene was unfolding.
The living had to live.
Here and there, people could be seen trying to build temporary shelters to escape the night dew.
Human effort not to kneel before despair was, if anything, noble and awe-inspiring.
And where did it begin?
At the medical tent set up on the hill behind the village.
Because almost all doctors avoided this place due to the danger of combat, it was all the more precious.
In front of the medical tent.
This place was pandemonium.
There were so many injured that the word was not an exaggeration.
“Uuugh……”
Groans.
“Grrk. Grrk.”
Unpleasant breathing.
“Waaah.”
Even the sound of crying.
Men and women, young and old alike, cried out in pain from broken or torn wounds. To make matters worse, there were so many of them that their number could not be grasped at a glance.
Yet only three people were moving among that crowd.
They were Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon.
Only three hours had passed since they arrived in Sahad.
Neat?
There had been no time to care about that.
Their white coats were already stained with blood and pus, and their faces were drenched in sweat.
Taesu quickly wrapped the arm of the patient he had just treated with a pressure bandage. If he spent too much time on this patient, another patient would be in danger.
Naturally, it was fast emergency treatment carried out with the utmost effort.
But that was from Taesu’s perspective.
The patient, exhausted in both body and mind from pain, suffering, and the ravages of war, could not keep up with that speed.
“Ghhh. Ghhhhh……”
Stop.
At the patient’s deepening groan, Taesu immediately stopped his hands.
When he looked, the patient’s gaunt face was twisted in agony.
The pain was so vicious that even his thick, full beard trembled.
Only then did Taesu realize his mistake.
Just like before, he had thought only of himself again.
He had promised not to do that.
But as his heart grew impatient, he had paid attention only to his own circumstances.
A line from Caprene’s writings suddenly came to mind and struck Taesu sharply.
— Illness and wounds are pains endured by people. Before you erase the pain, look at the person.
A sting.
The advice that surfaced in his mind pierced his chest.
“What the hell is wrong with me? Why don’t I ever improve?”
Self-reproach surged up inside him.
Meanwhile.
When the pain suddenly stopped, the patient revealed confusion on his grimacing face.
“……”
Even his groaning ceased.
But even after waiting, the pain did not worsen.
Glance.
The patient cautiously looked at Taesu’s face.
At that moment, the patient flinched hard.
“Hup.”
It was because Taesu, who had been treating him, had bowed his head deeply.
At the same time.
When Taesu’s eyes met the patient’s, he instinctively lowered his head and apologized.
“I’m sorry.”
He meant it.
His apology carried his remorse for his mistake in being preoccupied only with the number of patients.
However.
“……”
The patient did not understand Korean.
Regardless, he seemed to grasp what Taesu was trying to say from the sight of his bowed head.
Around them?
“Huuugh.”
“Grrk, grrk.”
Even at this moment, groans continued without end.
Without looking around, the patient himself knew their circumstances better than anyone.
A brief moment passed.
Even so, Taesu did not move an inch.
Thump, thump.
The groans made his heart pound.
His body twitched.
He wanted to run to the groaning patients and treat them at once. But the patient in front of him right now was the man with the full beard.
Then he came first.
No patient’s treatment should be swayed by a doctor’s emotions.
That was the most fundamental reason Taesu was apologizing.
Then it happened.
Rustle.
A hand came to rest on Taesu’s shoulder.
It was filled with a gentle feeling.
Since the hand had reached out from in front of him, Taesu slowly raised his head.
He saw the patient.
It was not a grimacing face.
The patient was smiling brightly at Taesu.
And then.
Nod.
He gave a small yet solemn nod.
Lastly, he closed his eyes and turned his head away.
“Hup!”
He even let out a small gasp.
He looked as if he had firmly steeled himself to endure any pain.
Only after seeing that did Taesu’s drooping eyes return to normal.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“……”
Nod.
Though the patient did not understand his words, he nodded once more.
No matter how devastated his heart had become from war, it was not so barren that it would reject another person’s sincerity.
If the patient had braced himself?
From a doctor’s perspective, that was a blessing.
“I’m tightening it again.”
Squeeze.
Taesu put strength into his hands as he wrapped the pressure bandage.
The patient was clearly different from before.
“Ghhh.”
He clenched his teeth and endured desperately.
Even his groan was faint enough that only Taesu could hear it.
Within his endurance was gratitude toward those who had risked their lives to come to this dangerous battlefield and find them as they groaned in pain.
Taesu clearly received that feeling in his heart as well.
The sincerity he had offered had returned to him as sincerity.
“Good.”
Whip, whip.
Taesu’s hands became more meticulous as he wrapped the bandage.
On top of that, they grew even faster.
His speed increased so much that there was no need to calculate the time he had lost apologizing.
The patient’s endurance became a driving force that allowed Taesu to shorten the time far more, even for the same treatment.
That was what medicine was.
When heart met heart, it created greater synergy.
It was a miracle drug called the human heart, something difficult to prove through science.
Whip, whip.
Soon, after neatly covering the wound, Taesu immediately reached out beside him and called out.
“Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
However.
No one was there.
Taesu had practically shouted into thin air alone.
Just then, a sharp voice came from right behind his back.
“I told you, I’ve only got one body.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m dressing wounds. I’m busy as hell, and you’re making a fuss talking to me.”
Snap, snap.
His irritation sounded even sharper and louder.
Dumbfounded, Taesu turned his head.
But.
“……”
He could not say a word.
Kim Hyeokgwon had not shouted for no reason.
He held saline solution in one hand and gauze in the other.
Pouring, wiping.
Repeating it again and again.
His speed was quite fast as well.
Just as fast, the temporary gown he wore was drenched with blood.
His eyes were hollow, and his fingertips had grown clumsy from exhaustion.
No matter who looked, he was in no situation to help Taesu.
If anything, Taesu felt sorry for stealing even a moment of his time with conversation.
Taesu immediately looked for someone else.
“Jeong Minsu.”
“Hey, I’m…… Damn it. Please, wait, no…… No, I’ll—”
Jeong Minsu’s voice, filled with panic, came from over there.
Taesu’s gaze turned in that direction.
He saw Jeong Minsu, round in both build and face, wearing a gown. For a completely different reason from Kim Hyeokgwon, he was caught in a difficult situation.
In short, his face had gone pale from the cries of patients unlike anything he had ever seen in his life.
“Ghhh.”
“Ugh, ugh.”
Patients were gathering around Jeong Minsu, letting out pained groans.
Standing in the very center, Jeong Minsu did not know what to do at the sight of them.
“Excuse me. I…… Please don’t come at me like this……”
“Hel, help……”
“No, sir, your arm is broken…… I’m thoracic surgery……”
Cold sweat already covered his forehead.
Just from his restless expression, it was obvious how hard this was for him.
On the other hand, Taesu understood.
From Jeong Minsu’s perspective, it was a situation he had never seen before in his life.
No matter who looked, it was pandemonium.
He wanted to run away, but he was trapped by the patients’ desperation and could neither move forward nor back.
On top of that, patients outside his specialty were pouring in, making his predicament plain on his face.
Looking at that sight, Taesu chose severity over sympathy.
“Was your first burst all you had?”
A doctor overwhelmed by the force of his patients.
Honestly, it was absurd.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that he had not been like that from the start.
The traces of patients staining his gown from top to bottom proved that. But it was easy enough to guess that he had panicked because too many patients had crowded in at once.
By nature, he was timid and passive.
Taesu knew that all too well.
Even so, he was a doctor.
And besides, the only doctors here were Taesu and Jeong Minsu.
He absolutely had to do the work of one doctor.
Taesu faced reality with cold eyes.
Putting everything else aside, treating the many remaining patients came first.
The reality that it would be difficult to expect support from anyone else was the same.
Taesu changed his mind.
One hand was holding the end of the pressure bandage, while the other held it down so it would not loosen.
Both hands were in a situation where they could not do anything else.
He had no intention whatsoever of waiting like this.
It was not as though he had never experienced a situation like this alone.
If you had no teeth?
You just had to push forward with your gums.
The moment he made up his mind.
Clack.
Taesu bit down on the end of the pressure bandage with his mouth.
“Mmph.”
As a bonus, he had the sense to turn his head to the side and keep it taut.
One hand was enough.
He moved the hand that had become free to his heart’s content.
In an instant, he finished the emergency treatment with improvised application.
Now it was time to move.
Clack, tap.
Taesu hurriedly collected the scattered medical tools.
Then it happened.
Clack, clack.
A hand suddenly crept toward him. After fumbling a few times, it began helping him gather the medical tools with quick understanding.
“Hm?”
Taesu, who had stopped for a moment, looked at the owner of that hand.
It was the very patient whose opposite arm was wrapped round and round with a pressure bandage, the one he had just finished treating.
When their eyes met, the man gave an awkward smile.
Slide.
He even lightly raised the arm covered in pressure bandages.
“%$#^%#^.”
He said something, but unfortunately, Taesu could not understand it.