Taesu nodded and said to Kim Hyeokgwon,
“From this point on, you must follow my orders no matter what.”
“When have I not?”
“Whew. Good. Then we’ll begin immediately. Minsu, clamp the left pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein with bulldog clamps first. As fast as you can.”
“O-okay.”
Jeong Minsu shouted along with him.
He seemed to hesitate slightly, but soon picked up the bulldog clamps. The pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein were on the thicker side, so they were relatively easy to find.
While he was blocking the vessels,
Taesu had already blocked the left line of the bronchus.
“Bronchus blocked.”
Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep.
There was a slight change on the ECG.
Now that the patient was breathing only through the uninjured right lung, his oxygen saturation was actually rising.
Breathing must have become a little easier for the patient as well.
As they watched,
Beep-beep-beep, bek, beep-beep.
The ECG readings changed in real time.
Before Taesu even had time to wonder why, Jeong Minsu’s voice came.
“The pulmonary artery’s blocked. I can block the pulmonary vein soon too.”
“……”
Taesu looked at him for a moment with curious eyes.
There was hesitation, moment by moment, in Jeong Minsu’s gaze and fingertips. But contrary to that, his hands were moving quickly.
It was a sight Taesu could never have imagined in Korea.
He immediately realized the reason behind that contradiction.
Jeong Minsu’s timid and meticulous personality had carried over into his studies as well.
He had simply never had the chance to put it all into practice.
And now, for the first time, he was applying theory to an actual case.
The gap had to be larger than expected.
Jeong Minsu was adjusting to it on his own.
Taesu smiled without letting Jeong Minsu see.
‘As expected, squeeze hard enough and something comes out.’
But this was no time to be satisfied by the sight of Jeong Minsu squeezing himself dry.
It was time for Taesu himself to do the same.
In an instant, his thoughts returned to where they belonged.
Once the pulmonary vein was blocked as well, Taesu would have to lead the surgery in earnest.
That time was brief.
Jeong Minsu immediately shouted,
“The pulmonary vein’s blocked too.”
“How’s the bleeding?”
“Of course it’s decreased. Can’t you see?”
Jeong Minsu snapped back in a sharp voice.
Taesu had, of course, been watching.
He had asked to confirm.
Since the answer itself was not the important issue, Taesu immediately turned to Kim Hyeokgwon.
“Hyeokgwon, scalpel.”
“Here.”
“Minsu, support the lung.”
“I’ve got it.”
Something clicked perfectly into place.
For the first time, the three of them were finding their rhythm.
Was it because they had one goal?
It felt good.
An atmosphere like this made the desire to operate well up inside him.
This was a patient entrusted to him.
Already unconscious, the man could do nothing but weakly await the outcome.
In the end, the patient’s life or death rested in their hands.
It was burdensome.
But Taesu’s eyes flashed.
If the man had come trusting them,
then they had to repay that trust with their very best effort.
They had to face this surgery without a single regret.
There was only one reason.
A person’s life and a family’s future were at stake.
If things went wrong?
The pain of the child who had caused his father’s death would surely wrap around his mind like shackles for the rest of his life.
Today, they had to prevent that.
Taesu moved his hands powerfully, his voice charged with resolve.
“Beginning pulmonary resection.”
Slice. Spurt.
As he roughly drew the scalpel along the boundary of the necrotic lung, blood that had been pooled inside burst out.
At the same time, gauze poured out in clumps from Kim Hyeokgwon’s hands.
“Gauze coming in.”
“You poured in too much.”
“Dealing with that is Dr. Jeong’s job.”
“I’m telling you, I can’t see. Damn it.”
Thud, thud.
Even as he grumbled, Jeong Minsu quickly removed the gauze soaked with blood.
For a moment, he did not know where to put it, and his hand hung awkwardly in the air.
Taesu noticed immediately and spoke first.
“Throw it on the floor.”
“What kind of shitshow of a surgery is this?”
“What more do you want?”
“I don’t know either. Damn it, I really don’t know anymore.”
Whoosh.
Jeong Minsu dropped the gauze roughly onto the floor.
The first time was hard, but from the second time on, he threw them without hesitation.
It was something that could never happen in an operating room in a Korean hospital.
But here, it was only natural.
And so, a crack was being etched into the framework of what surgery meant in his mind.
Taesu was continuing to cut through the lung.
His touch, which had been rough at first, had already become delicate.
He had to clearly define the boundary of the necrosis in order to preserve as much of the lung as possible.
“Here a little further inside, here—damn, blood. Liquid hemostat.”
“Coming in.”
Squeeze.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s hand suddenly reached in and sprayed a clear liquid from a syringe.
At the same time, the amount of bleeding rapidly decreased.
Kim Hyeokgwon even quietly offered his own opinion.
“Dr. Jeong, don’t you think you need to open this up more so Dr. Choi can move more easily?”
“Huh? Ah.”
“Good grief. What am I even saying?”
He seemed to find it ridiculous that he was pointing something out to a doctor.
After some time passed, the resection of the necrotic lung tissue was complete.
The bleeding was extremely minimal.
It was thanks to Taesu and Jeong Minsu having plastered the area with liquid hemostat.
But that was not the end.
“Minsu, release the pulmonary artery first.”
“Wait. It’s released.”
“Check the bleeding on your side.”
“I know that much.”
Jeong Minsu’s sharp shout rang out.
Taesu smiled faintly and let it pass.
He could not respond to every beat of Jeong Minsu’s ever-changing rhythm in real time.
And right now, checking the pulmonary bleeding was more important.
They had coated it with liquid hemostat, but they had no idea where or how a hidden problem might burst out.
They could only say the pulmonary resection was finished once they had resolved all of that.
For that reason, he counted inwardly with his eyes blazing.
‘One… Two… Damn it, found one.’
The fear had become reality.
Taesu’s eyes flashed, and he quickly reached to the side as he shouted,
“Bleeding.”
“Liquid hemostat here.”
“Got it, applied it.”
“Gauze.”
Kim Hyeokgwon responded swiftly, one step after another.
At that moment, Jeong Minsu’s shout came from the opposite side as well.
“Bleeding here too.”
“Damn, syringe here.”
“What about gauze?”
“I’m doing it, aren’t I?”
It felt a little like they were bickering, but the treatment still proceeded quickly.
The bleeding decreased that way, but this was not a surgery that could end there.
This time, they had to suture.
“Hyeokgwon, needle holder. Prepare that side too.”
“I already did. Take this side, and that side too.”
Tap, tap.
Needle holders were placed in Taesu’s and Jeong Minsu’s hands.
Long strands of thread that would dissolve and disappear without a trace after a certain amount of time dangled from them.
Taesu immediately informed Jeong Minsu of the plan.
“I’ll start here, you start there, from both sides. Okay?”
“I’m a bit weak at suturing.”
“You’ll improve by doing it. If it doesn’t work, stitch twice as you go.”
“Got it. I’ll try. Whew.”
Jeong Minsu even took a deep breath as he gripped the needle holder tightly.
Then he began at once, but he was somewhat clumsy.
Taesu was in no position to criticize him.
Taesu’s suturing was not at an especially outstanding level either. It was only a little easier for him because he had experience as the operating surgeon.
“Damn it, the texture really is too different from skin.”
“All I’ve practiced on is leather.”
“What’s the point of arguing? Just push through.”
“I told you, I’m doing it.”
They snapped at each other.
The voices passing back and forth were irritable. It seemed they were that dissatisfied with their own suturing.
Even amid that dissatisfaction, their hands moved without rest.
Up to that point, it had been lung surgery.
The moment the surgery was finished, Taesu removed the clamp that had been holding the bronchus.
Slip.
The airway slowly expanded.
Seeing that, Taesu signaled to Jeong Minsu.
“Minsu, pulmonary vein.”
“Got it.”
The moment he answered, he released the blocked pulmonary vein.
The pulmonary artery had already been released, so the lung was full of blood. Since the pulmonary vein, the outlet, had now been released in that state, the blood naturally began to circulate.
Jeong Minsu, who had his hand directly on the vessel, immediately reported,
“It’s moving. It’s circulating.”
“Then now…”
What mattered was whether the bronchus would function with it.
When oxygen entered, it expanded; when it exhaled carbon dioxide, it contracted.
That action was expressed as “breathing.”
In the true meaning of the word, proper breathing had to resume.
If there had been any problem in the course of surgery, breathing would not occur.
That was why this confirmation process was important.
The eyes of all three, including Kim Hyeokgwon, were focused on the left lung.
Thump, thump.
Their hearts battered in the tension.
As they stared at it, even keeping possible emergencies in mind,
Rustle.
The left lung slowly began to swell.
Seeing that, all three men’s eyes widened at the same time.
“Uh. Uhhh?”
“It’s inflating. It’s inflating.”
“Wait.”
“……”
At Taesu’s single word, silence returned.
At that moment, the swollen left lung slowly contracted.
Then the sight repeated.
Finally, the sound of the ECG changed.
Beep, beep.
This time, the three men’s gazes turned that way.
The graphs and numbers were changing. After wavering several times, the readings at some point settled into a steady range.
There was a particularly large change in oxygen saturation.
Taesu shouted out the number.
“Eighty-six.”
“Oooh.”
“What? Is eighty-six good? Is it?”
Taesu explained simply to the bewildered Kim Hyeokgwon.
“It means eighty-six points out of a hundred.”
“Where did the other fourteen points go?”
“There’s some very slight bleeding inside, but that can be controlled with medication.”
At the added explanation, Kim Hyeokgwon still seemed half convinced.
“So what’s the conclusion?”
“That level falls within the margin of error after surgery.”
“Then he’s breathing? Properly breathing?”
“Yes.”
Taesu answered calmly.
At that moment, the irritation filling Kim Hyeokgwon’s face vanished, and his expression turned bright.
“Wow. Well, damn. Look at these doctors. Hahaha.”
“Hyeokgwon, we’re not done yet.”
“What, why? What other surgery is left?”
“We need to eliminate the empty space. Minsu.”
Taesu called him immediately.
At that instant, Jeong Minsu’s voice rang out, intense beyond excitement.
“Let’s do it. Hurry up and do it. Thoracoplasty or whatever, we can do it all.”
“That’s the spirit. Let’s begin.”
“Okay. But… how do we do it?”
Jeong Minsu, who had been overflowing with motivation, suddenly asked cautiously.
At that abrupt change, Kim Hyeokgwon finally said a word.
“Isn’t that kind of a problem?”
“A big problem.”
“Ah, right. Sorry.”
Kim Hyeokgwon understood in a strange direction.
Just as Jeong Minsu was about to flare up, Taesu quickly explained.
“Thoracoplasty. We cut the ribs and reconnect them…”
“Then the overall area of the left thoracic cavity will shrink.”
“And with that, this empty space here disappears too.”
Taesu pointed to the space where they had just resected the lung.
Only then did Jeong Minsu understand.
“Ah, but you’re going to…”
“Let’s finish the surgery first. A lot of time has passed.”
“R-right. Start, hurry and start.”
Jeong Minsu urged him on quickly.
Only then did Taesu begin the thoracoplasty in earnest.