Dr. Oliver burst in and immediately barked at Taesu.
“Doctor Choi, what is going on here?”
“Me again?”
“Aren’t you the one currently leading this surgery?”
Dr. Oliver pressed him ferociously.
Taesu was getting irritated now.
“We just don’t click.”
Nor did he have any desire to make it work.
As the atmosphere took a strange turn, Dr. Kuramoto’s eyes flashed.
“Dr. Oliver. I never thought I’d have to say something like this, but…”
“Then shut your mouth.”
“I think that’s a bit harsh.”
“Don’t run your mouth, trash. You stink.”
Dr. Oliver’s words were beyond rough; they were downright crude.
Even Dr. Kuramoto was visibly flustered.
“What in the…”
Dr. Oliver looked back at Taesu and scolded him.
“How could you let trash into the operating room?”
“Excuse me?”
“Get rid of the trash first. Then we can continue the surgery.”
Dr. Oliver spoke coldly.
From his tone, it felt as though he knew what was going on.
And apparently, he really did.
When Taesu stared at him in confusion, Dr. Oliver spoke directly to Kim Hyeokgwon.
“Mr. Kim, I’ll have to trouble the guardians.”
“Trouble? They’ll be thrilled. All right, then.”
After asking for permission, Kim Hyeokgwon immediately began speaking to the guardians.
“@#$%@#$.”
The moment he finished speaking,
the guardians entered the operating room.
Thud-thud, thud-thud.
Their footsteps sounded like the rumble of tanks.
With things turning out like this, Dr. Kuramoto grew desperate.
“Dr. Oliver, where and how did this absurd misunderstanding begin?”
“Misunderstanding?”
Dr. Oliver coldly took out his cell phone.
When he played the recorded file, Dr. Kuramoto’s voice flowed out.
— All we need to do is guarantee the patient’s life in the most efficient way possible. Just their life.
Dr. Kuramoto’s eyes shook violently.
“This is a setup.”
“You piece of trash.”
Click.
Dr. Oliver lowered the phone and moved.
Taesu stood in front of him.
Taesu still didn’t understand how things were unfolding, and his expression was truly bewildered.
Then, when their eyes met, Taesu flinched slightly.
“Ahem.”
“Did you have this prepared in advance, Doctor Choi?”
“Well. I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
When Taesu didn’t deny it, Dr. Oliver smiled bitterly.
“Then the person who set the stage should finish it.”
“Me?”
“Doctor Talon and I will prepare for surgery.”
At those words, Taesu doubted his ears.
“This is lung surgery.”
“I can at least serve as an assistant. How many years have I been doing surgery? You think I can’t manage that much?”
“Well, that’s true. Excuse me for a moment.”
Taesu had no intention whatsoever of letting this opportunity slip by.
Step.
Passing Dr. Oliver, Taesu approached Dr. Kuramoto.
He could hear a quiet conversation behind him.
“Dr. Oliver kept rushing me, saying it was urgent…”
“How did you know?”
“Shall we call it the great power of love?”
“Who on earth is in that kind of relationship with Dr. Oliver?”
It was a brief exchange between Dr. Talon and Jeong Minsu.
Taesu paid it no mind and approached his target.
Just then, Dr. Kuramoto’s desperate cry rang out.
“Help me.”
He was already being dragged away by the scruff of his neck.
The other Japanese medical staff also moved obediently without putting up any pointless resistance.
They were remarkably quick to comply.
So Taesu thought it was fortunate this moment wouldn’t drag on.
Step.
Taesu soon drew near.
When the guardians faced Taesu, they showed the complete opposite attitude.
“…”
The first thing they did was look at him with deep, earnest eyes.
Then they shoved Dr. Kuramoto in front of Taesu.
Swoosh.
He was brought before Taesu like a piece of luggage.
Taesu quietly looked at him.
“…”
As if he had found his final hope, Dr. Kuramoto pleaded with Taesu.
“Doctor Choi, I was wrong. I thought wrongly. If you give me just one chance, I will never come near an NGO again.”
“A chance?”
“Yes. With your great generosity, please help me just once, truly just once. I will bow my head like this and sincerely apologize.”
“Generosity?”
Taesu coldly repeated the word.
But Dr. Kuramoto, not caring how servile he looked, kept begging with both hands and bowing his head over and over.
There was no emotion in Taesu’s gaze as he looked at him.
It was, in a word, indifferent.
Soon, Taesu spoke in a low voice.
“Even in this very moment, you trampled on the efforts of doctors who are racking their brains and working themselves bloody to care for their patients’ health.”
“…”
“Life is a boomerang.”
Then Taesu slowly turned around.
Was that the end?
As if.
With his back turned, Taesu extended his foot behind him.
It landed on Dr. Kuramoto’s right hand.
Crunch.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Don’t ever think of holding a scalpel again.”
He let the words fall coldly.
Then Taesu looked at the guardians with a gentle smile.
Bow.
Taesu respectfully greeted them first.
They, too, bowed deeply in return.
“I’m counting on you.”
“Thank you.”
That was the meaning contained in the greetings they exchanged.
Even without saying it aloud, that was something that passed between people’s hearts.
Dr. Kuramoto, who did not understand that, was nothing but pitiful trash.
It was then.
Swoosh.
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had somehow come up beside him, said something in Hindi.
“&%#$%.”
“@#$%$#%.”
The guardians who answered began dragging the Japanese medical staff away.
“No, no!”
“Aaaaargh!”
The sounds of pleading and screams continued.
But no one so much as blinked at those cries.
Taesu was right.
It was karma returning to Kuramoto as a boomerang.
He truly had not the slightest intention of artificially stopping it.
And with that, the matter with Dr. Kuramoto was settled for the moment.
Now it was time to return to the emergency surgery.
Fortunately, the time lost had not been that long. But once they resumed, it would demand a great deal of split-second judgment and refined skill.
Swoosh.
Kim Hyeokgwon happened to come into view.
Without needing to think further, Taesu called him over.
“Hyeokgwon, come here.”
“I told you, I don’t want everyone getting worn out because of me for no reason.”
“Don’t decide that on your own.”
“I said it’s fine. You think it’s easy walking on eggshells everywhere? Anyway, I’ll be cheering you on.”
Kim Hyeokgwon phrased it nicely, but in the end, he made his refusal clear.
Just then, Dr. Oliver’s voice came from behind.
“Mr. Kim, not that way. This way.”
“And why are you doing this now?”
“We’re short on nurses, so lend us a hand.”
“Ah, seriously.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s expression hardened at once.
But by a hair’s breadth, Dr. Oliver’s voice came one beat faster.
“Your additional pay will be doubled.”
“I was planning to do my utmost with all my heart. Then I’ll get ready as well.”
That was indeed Kim Hyeokgwon’s way with words.
His actions were quick, too.
Flutter.
As if he had never been dissatisfied, he hurriedly spread out a surgical gown.
Watching that, Taesu lamented inwardly.
‘There isn’t a single normal person around me.’
Thinking about it any further would only give him a headache.
He soon shook off the complexity.
Now he truly wanted to focus on the surgery.
With that thought, he turned straight toward the operating table.
Everyone was preparing for the operation.
Taesu stood in the lead surgeon’s position.
Dr. Oliver had far more years of experience, but their specialties differed.
And Dr. Talon took the position of second assistant.
Jeong Minsu stood beside Taesu as well.
Lastly, Dr. Jo Uncheol firmly held his position as anesthesiologist.
The atmosphere for surgery had already been set.
They were waiting for Dr. Jo Uncheol’s signal.
At that moment, Taesu looked at Nurse Casey standing beside Dr. Oliver.
‘They’re supposed to hate each other.’
Since the two of them always snarled whenever they met, he was honestly a little worried.
But Taesu’s expectations collapsed completely.
Nurse Casey wiped Dr. Oliver’s sweat with a surgical drape and said,
“Honey, it must’ve been hard running all the way here.”
“Hardly. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. Not when my honey showed up just in time.”
“Ahem. Then that’s all that matters.”
The two of them were far too affectionate.
On top of that, that blunt nurse was acting sweet, and that troublesome doctor was getting embarrassed.
Everyone’s jaws dropped.
Only Nurse Ellen seemed to have known, smiling gently to herself.
Among them, Taesu, who had been working alongside Nurse Casey all this time, was shocked beyond words.
Taesu genuinely felt like rubbing his eyes.
But this was not the time for that.
Before the surgery began, he wanted to sort out his thoughts first.
“Um, you two knew each other originally… I suppose you would.”
“Yes. We’re married.”
“Mar… married?”
At Taesu’s question, Nurse Casey answered with a smile.
“Yes. A lovey-dovey couple.”
“The formal speech…”
“It was a public setting.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for telling me. Thank you very much. I’m losing my mind.”
It was bombshell after bombshell.
Taesu was busy trying to disperse the shock crashing down on him.
While Taesu was suffering through his headache,
Dr. Jo Uncheol spoke to him.
“You may begin.”
“Hoo.”
“Doctor Choi?”
Dr. Jo Uncheol called him again.
Snap.
Taesu, who had been hanging his head in confusion, immediately held out his palm.
After buying himself a moment, Taesu stayed still.
Had about five seconds passed?
“Let’s go.”
When Taesu raised his head again, the confusion had vanished from his eyes.
Now it was time for emergency treatment to continue.
There was no need to worry, and they had more than enough personnel.
There was no reason they couldn’t pull it off.
The explanation of how the surgery would proceed was already finished.
Only one thing remained.
“For the next two hours, you won’t even remember what happened.”
“Hah. Trying to scare us?”
“Dr. Oliver. Welcome to hell… Begin.”
Taesu’s gaze sank endlessly.
As expected, the moment they started again, chaos erupted.
“Bleeding.”
“We expected that. Don’t panic.”
“Hemostasis, quickly.”
Beep-beep-beep.
The ECG they had barely stabilized began jumping wildly again.
Taesu was leading that emergency surgery.
It was his first emergency operation conducted with mid-career doctors like Dr. Oliver and Dr. Talon.
In particular, Taesu shot Dr. Oliver a sharp sidelong glare.
‘Brace yourself.’
It was time to properly vent all the resentment he had built up until now.