But Taesu and Jeong Minsu’s joy had not come yet.
How long had it taken?
That was what mattered.
Rustle.
They immediately checked the time.
About fifty minutes.
They had shaved off roughly ten minutes compared to the first CAGB.
“Good.”
“We did it.”
Taesu and Jeong Minsu rejoiced in exactly the same way.
It was not simply because they had cut ten minutes.
It was because they were certain those ten minutes they had saved would have a positive effect on the entire operation.
Brad Kim immediately sent out an SOS.
“Can’t we hurry up and finish the liver surgery, then celebrate together?”
“Yes.”
“Doctor Choi, what?”
Brad Kim, his face drenched in sweat, shot him a sharp glare.
It was then.
From the opposite side, Jeong Minsu’s voice rang out with another declaration.
“Beginning subclavian vein anastomosis. Taesu.”
“I’ve got it. Go ahead.”
“Shall I move my hands properly this time?”
Confidence had entered Jeong Minsu’s voice.
Because his moods swung so wildly up and down, Kim Hyeokgwon chimed in.
“Then does that mean you’ve been messing around until now…? You were messing around.”
The scolding tone of his voice changed at once.
That change came right after Jeong Minsu began the anastomosis in earnest.
Swish, swish, swish.
Jeong Minsu’s suturing hand movements were anything but ordinary.
They were truly fast.
It was because the affected area was not moving like the heart.
“Ajajajaat!”
A battle cry loaded with confidence burst out of him on its own.
Taesu also pushed himself harder in assisting him.
However.
Jeong Minsu’s suturing skill, bolstered only by confidence, had actually regressed.
It was crooked and uneven, the intervals inconsistent.
It showed a stark difference from the coronary artery he had sutured with such razor-sharp precision.
It was to the point that one might doubt whether the same person had done the suturing.
Assisting him, Taesu swallowed a bitter smile behind his mask.
‘Of course.’
When Jeong Minsu was praised, he flew off on his own.
But Taesu showed no intention of bringing him back down.
A weakness?
Compared to his strengths, that was nothing.
Blood vessels were so thin that their diameter was only a few millimeters.
He was stitching those thin vessels at speed.
As long as there was no problem with blood flow, that was enough.
The remaining surgery was still a series of mountain after mountain.
If the suturing speed increased, the progress of the surgery would naturally move forward as well.
There was nothing strange about Jeong Minsu’s confidence rising.
However.
Taesu could not lose either.
Anyone else could lower him, but not Jeong Minsu.
You could call it pride.
He had no intention of turning surgery into a competition, but he could not stand feeling that he was relatively slower.
Taesu’s hands stopped assisting and moved toward the blood vessels on the other side.
“Hyeokgwon, needle holder and Mixter.”
“Here. Did a fire get lit under you, by any chance?”
“It’s blazing. I’ll begin anastomosis on the other side right away.”
Swish, swish.
Taesu moved both hands and immediately began the vascular anastomosis.
Astonishingly, his speed was faster than Jeong Minsu’s.
Taesu himself was so absorbed that he had no mental room to gauge that speed.
‘Here, like this… Turn it to the side around here…’
Swish, swish.
Taesu’s two hands moved quickly and fluidly.
But this was a shortcut.
Strictly speaking, it was not Taesu’s true ability.
Based on Caprene’s memories, he was unfolding a suturing method Caprene often used with his own hands.
It could not be perfect.
Right now, Taesu lacked everything he needed to follow Caprene’s hands.
He was only imitating him.
And yet, that imitation alone far surpassed his existing suturing speed.
Taesu himself was astonished.
Just how remarkable a doctor was Caprene?
As Taesu was now, he could not even gauge that level.
No, the harder he tried to follow, the farther away it became.
But he did not obsess over it.
He was too busy focusing and pouring himself into the patient’s surgery right in front of him.
The gazes of Yun Juseong and Nurse Chu Gangik, as well as Nurse Lee Chorong and Nurse Hwang Jisu, changed subtly.
Nurse Chu Gangik expressed that astonishment first.
“What on earth is Doctor Jeong? What training hospital in Korea teaches a resident to suture at that speed?”
“Don’t you see Doctor Choi?”
“Damn. And they call themselves residents after that?”
“Absolutely not. They’re both incredible, but Doctor Choi is better.”
At Yun Juseong’s words, Nurse Chu Gangik asked quietly.
“With Doctor Choi’s level, shouldn’t we consider him specialist-class?”
“What are you talking about? He’s at least surgeon-class, someone who’s wrestled with operations for years.”
“He really is incredible.”
“Save the admiration for later… They’re really heating things up. I have my pride too, you know.”
Power filled Yun Juseong’s orders.
It seemed the surgery suturing the liver could not continue forever.
Above all, he himself was a specialist.
Not being able to match the speed of residents was a matter of pride.
But there was one more surgeon whose pride had been wounded.
It was Brad Kim.
“Doctor Yun, hurry it up.”
“Hup, huuup.”
“Faster. How long are you going to keep just clearing away gauze?”
“I’m doing it, aren’t I? Ajajat!”
“Me too, here… Hajaap!”
Brad Kim let out a shout.
That was how strongly Brad Kim now seemed to feel that he wanted to pull ahead.
Among them, he was on the better side in surgical skill.
But his adaptability and reflexes were relatively lacking.
It seemed that evaluation would have to change now.
Brad Kim, burning with passion, was sharp and precise.
Only now did the atmosphere in the operating room truly heat up.
It had started right after the CABG surgery.
Once the patient’s life was secured at least to a minimum degree, each of them began to spread their wings.
That atmosphere was excellent.
They threw themselves into the work so fiercely in that hot-blooded, uninhibited atmosphere that they lost track of time.
In such a good moment, only Jo Uncheol was suffering.
Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep.
“This is driving me crazy. Ugh.”
Scratch, scratch.
He had to scratch his head without mercy while constantly reacting to the vitals that changed every moment.
A little later.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu raised their hands once again.
“Subclavian vein bypass complete.”
“First-stage clavicle fracture repair also complete.”
Whenever one surgery ended, Jo Uncheol cheered.
“Good work.”
“We’ll support the liver surgery now.”
“I’m seriously so grateful.”
Just as Jo Uncheol’s face lit up, Brad Kim stopped them.
“Don’t even think about joining this side. Go into the lung surgery.”
“Brad?”
“Let’s cut down the time. You can still do more.”
Brad Kim urged them strongly.
At that fired-up appearance, Taesu and Jeong Minsu’s motivation rose again.
“Yes. We’ll switch to lung surgery.”
“I’ll assist.”
At the same time the two made their declarations.
Jo Uncheol ground his teeth.
“Grrk. Let’s see if I ever operate with you guys again.”
There were limits to everything.
After an extreme forced march where he could not relax for even a moment, Jo Uncheol was now filled with spite.
Meanwhile.
Taesu, who had declared the lung surgery, gave Jeong Minsu an order.
“It’s the lower side, so lift it with the Deaver.”
“Aren’t you going to have to suture again anyway?”
“Do you honestly think you can?”
When Taesu asked heavily, Jeong Minsu flinched.
“Well…”
“Say it clearly.”
“Ahem, it’s a little… difficult.”
Jeong Minsu admitted, his face flushed, that he lacked endurance.
With a calm expression, Taesu quietly said one word.
“You’re a rabbit.”
“Hey, you.”
Jeong Minsu snapped and shouted.
But Taesu’s gaze had already returned to the affected area.
“Hurry up and hold it.”
“I’m a rab… You bastard.”
“The surgery isn’t even over yet, so stop talking and move your hands.”
“Ugh. Damn it.”
Jeong Minsu’s two hands momentarily lost their way and flailed in the air.
It seemed he wanted to smack something, anything, but was forcibly holding back because his surgical gloves would be contaminated.
Nurse Chu Gangik quietly asked him.
“But are you really a rabbit?”
“Argh, what are you talking about? I said I’m not. Look at these hands. See, they’re perfectly fine.”
Swish, swish.
Jeong Minsu, indignant, moved both hands to prove it.
But it was already too late.
“Khuhum.”
“Khk, khk.”
Suppressed laughter could be heard from here and there.
The more that happened, the more Jeong Minsu seemed ready to explode with anger.
“I said I’m really not.”
“Doctor Jeong, the surgery isn’t over.”
“That… bastard.”
Jeong Minsu glared fiercely.
But that expression lasted only a moment, and he concentrated again as he assisted Taesu.
The moment of laughter was brief.
It was merely a moment to catch their breath in the joy of having pushed despair far away.
Before long, they were once again focused on the operation.
The feeling from just moments ago, when each of them had seemed to be acting separately, had vanished without a trace.
An atmosphere as stable as that of a single team could be seen.
The one leading that atmosphere was not Taesu.
It was Shanmeheum.
As Shanmeheum’s vitals stabilized, their frayed nerves settled down as well.
Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep.
Not only the sound of the ECG, but the numbers and graphs as well, had become far more stable.
However, it was only to the degree that they had escaped the emergency situation.
The emergency surgery had naturally shifted into a regular operation.
Now that they had confirmed stability, all they had to do was truly run forward.
They were not running separately.
Everyone gradually began breaking down the boundaries of their positions and intertwining with one another.
“Assist here.”
“Lung, pause for a moment and move to the liver.”
“Minsu, up here.”
“Empty the suction canister.”
“Don’t just rush. Show a little sense.”
They encouraged one another while scolding one another.
They were already moving swiftly enough that such rebukes were meaningless.
Even so, they did not stop speaking.
Within those rebukes and nags were concern for the patient and closeness toward their colleagues.
At their core, they all had fiery personalities.
Perhaps because of that, the operation continued in a truly noisy fashion.
Everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs as they proceeded with the surgery.
Slide.
The classroom window quietly opened.
In that open window appeared the faces of Doctor Schmidt and Doctor Oliver.
They looked slightly drained, as though they had hurried over after finishing surgery.
But faint smiles hung around their lips.
That was proof that they had achieved good results in Lee Changgyu’s surgery.
They looked inside with hollow eyes, but Doctor Oliver’s expression was not very good.
“The vinyl is thick.”
“That won’t stop us from observing like thieves.”
“That is true.”
There was a slight inconvenience, but not enough to restrict their view.
They were watching the surgery through the obstruction of the vinyl when Doctor Schmidt spoke in a low voice.
“It looks like they’re operating on the lung and liver at the same time.”
“It’s too far to see in detail.”
“That’s a bit unfortunate… But looking at the ECG, it seems they’ve passed the crisis.”
Doctor Schmidt said this while observing with a broader view.
Doctor Oliver nodded as well.
“Yes. Judging by the numbers, it seems they’ve pushed back the major crisis. But…”
“Is something bothering you?”
“It’s noisy, but strangely calm. They aren’t fighting, are they?”
Doctor Oliver revealed his curiosity.