Flash.
Taesu’s eyes gleamed as he quickly gripped the scalpel and said,
“I’m making an additional dilaceration (incision).”
“Did you find the source of the bleeding?”
“No. I can’t see it, so I’m going to make it visible.”
Taesu’s words sounded almost like wordplay.
But unexpectedly, Jeong Minsu understood what he meant right away.
“Since we can’t see it as is, you’re saying we should incise further and expose the bleeding point.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, hold on.”
Clack.
Jeong Minsu quickly switched surgical instruments.
He was fully prepared to assist with the International forceps and hook.
Then Jeong Minsu moved first.
Tap, tap.
“Like this. Good?”
“Good. Beginning additional incision.”
The moment he declared it,
the scalpel scattered a silver gleam.
Soon, the affected area changed from an “I” shape into an ambiguous “ㄷ” shape.
In proportion, the bleeding increased as well.
And then—
Beep, beep.
For the first time, the ECG sound changed.
It was proof that the bleeding had increased enough to affect the body’s rhythm.
That much faster did Jeong Minsu’s hands become.
“I’ll clear it from here to here.”
Swish, swish.
With one hand he spread gauze, and with the International forceps he swiftly wiped it away.
Surprisingly, there was ease in Jeong Minsu’s movements.
There was not even a trace of panic on his face.
“This goes this way… a little farther down from here…”
He even slightly altered the flow of the bleeding.
Compared to thoracic or abdominal surgery, this level of bleeding was nothing more than cute.
Taesu, on the other hand, was serious.
The positions of the facial muscles, nerves, and blood vessels were still unfamiliar to him.
In such a situation, finding the bleeding point was no easy task.
“Not here. Then if I retract this like this…”
Slide. Tap.
He moved the Mixter and the bulldog clamp, sharpening his gaze.
He wandered only briefly.
The affected area was slowly becoming familiar to his eyes.
Along with that, he gradually grasped the flow of the bleeding.
How many massive hemorrhages had he stopped before?
Taesu’s experience surpassed Jeong Minsu’s several times over.
Just as he was following the flow of the bleeding with that keen eye—
Slide, slide. Click.
The bulldog clamp, which had burrowed inside the muscle, stopped at a certain point.
Then Taesu raised his head and asked Jeong Minsu,
“How is it?”
“Huh? Uh… It’s caught.”
“Okay.”
“What the hell was it?”
Jeong Minsu asked with his brow furrowed in curiosity.
Slide.
Kim Hyeokgwon also approached beside him with the same expression.
Taesu immediately moved the Mixter.
Slide.
He gently retracted the area beside the bulldog clamp.
Beneath it was a thickly settled neurofibroma.
That damn thing was cunningly spread across the eye, nose, and mouth.
The bulldog clamp was not clamped on the neurofibroma, but stuck beside it.
Jeong Minsu, who had been looking closely, flinched and asked,
“What is this? Why is there a blood vessel here?”
“It’s called the external nasal vein.”
“This vessel is supposed to be a little farther to the side.”
Jeong Minsu looked puzzled and demanded an answer.
This time, Taesu responded not with words but with his eyes.
Glance.
Following his gaze, Jeong Minsu’s expression instantly turned cold.
The neurofibroma sat at the end of his line of sight.
“You’re saying the neurofibromatosis grew and pushed the vessel aside?”
“That’s right.”
“It’ll be the same elsewhere too, won’t it?”
When Jeong Minsu asked seriously, Taesu nodded.
“Probably. So first we need to figure out where and how the neurofibroma has affected things.”
“That would be the right order.”
“Then starting with the vessel…”
Just as Taesu was about to speak—
Slide.
Jeong Minsu’s hand stopped him.
“I’ll take care of this.”
“You sure?”
“You know. I’m in charge of vessels.”
Jeong Minsu showed firm confidence.
It was not mere bluff.
He had proven it clearly during the Syammeheum surgery.
Taesu had seen it himself, so he nodded.
“Good.”
The moment he gave permission,
Jeong Minsu extended his hand to the side.
“Hyeokgwon, switch to a needle holder and long-nose forceps.”
“Here… Okay, received.”
The exchange was completed in an instant.
At the same time, Jeong Minsu’s hands headed straight for the blood vessel torn by the scalpel.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Both hands moved without hesitation.
It seemed rushed.
But it was not.
Jeong Minsu was controlling both hands with cold precision.
They were not merely fast.
Within that speed, spacing and balance were properly blended.
“Like this, then pull and turn it once, then again…”
Jeong Minsu’s soft muttering could be heard as well.
It did not feel as though he was drawing thoughts out of his head.
It felt as though he was retracing thoughts that had already been drawn out through his voice.
At that moment, Kim Hyeokgwon quietly said to Taesu,
“If you thought you were the only one improving, you were mistaken.”
“This time, I really was mistaken.”
“Nothing beats effort.”
“We can figure out when exactly he practiced later. I’ll go in deeper.”
Now it was Taesu’s turn to move.
Slice, swish.
No sooner had Taesu spoken than he moved the Mixter.
His right hand, now without the bulldog clamp, was empty.
He immediately reached out to Kim Hyeokgwon and said,
“Hook.”
“It’s your right hand.”
“Figuring it out comes first.”
“Let’s do that, then.”
Click.
Kim Hyeokgwon immediately placed the hook in his hand.
Once surgical instruments were held in both hands, Taesu’s movements grew even faster.
That was not all.
Before he knew it, strength had filled both his eyes.
As his concentration rose, the affected area appeared clearer and sharper.
The range he could perceive widened accordingly.
“Hyeokgwon, keep what I say in your head.”
“Say it.”
“The displaced vessels are, first, the nasofrontal vein, angular artery, angular vein… and, uh, the muscles are…”
Medical terminology poured from Taesu’s mouth like speaking in tongues.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s expression turned dizzy as he listened.
“What the hell is he saying?”
He frowned at the specialized terms he was not yet accustomed to.
That reaction lasted only a moment, and he quickly pricked up his ears.
About ten minutes later.
Roughly thirty minutes had passed since the operation began.
Taesu was still examining the affected area.
Jeong Minsu, who had already finished the suturing, was calmly watching him while lightly shaking out his hands.
Kim Hyeokgwon was frowning fiercely.
Soon, Taesu’s hands stopped.
Then he looked away from the affected area and blinked his aching eyes.
“Phew.”
“More or less figured it out?”
“Most of it. And I’ve roughly drawn a guide too.”
“What kind of repetitive learning do you have to do for a reaction like that to come out?”
Jeong Minsu’s face was filled with disbelief.
Even though they had been together all this time, it seemed he felt frightened by the fact that he still had not seen the limits of Taesu’s skill.
That said, his words did not create a frivolous atmosphere.
By now, they had completely immersed themselves in the operation.
Taesu did not react sensitively either and said what he needed to say first.
“It looks like it grew up as far as near the lacrimal glands, and down as far as near the risorius muscle.”
“On this tiny face? Damn it. Then left and right?”
“As you sutured, it didn’t go past the left side of the nose. Maybe as a trade-off, the orbicularis oculi muscle, musculus zygomaticus minor, and zygomaticus major muscle have been affected.”
At that, Jeong Minsu blinked rapidly.
“W-what did you say?”
“You didn’t memorize the facial muscles?”
“How am I supposed to memorize blood vessels, bones, and muscles all at once? There are nerves too.”
“Ah. There are also some slightly tricky parts with the bones and nerves.”
When Taesu added that as if he had just remembered, Jeong Minsu’s expression turned hollow.
“Let’s talk about that when we get there.”
“Got it. So… Hyeokgwon. What vessels did I mention earlier?”
When Taesu asked, Kim Hyeokgwon glared sharply and growled,
“I’m so grateful you recited five or six vessels at me.”
“Recite them.”
“Listen carefully. Gauze is the nasofrontal vein, disinfectant and alcohol are the angular artery, angular vein…”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered while continuously keeping something in his line of sight.
It was a completely absurd association.
And yet, curiously enough, the unfamiliar vessel names Taesu had mentioned earlier flowed out.
Jeong Minsu, meanwhile, blinked his eyes wide.
“Did you write them down somewhere?”
“Not at all.”
“Then is that what they call associative memory, or whatever?”
Jeong Minsu asked using what knowledge he had. But strangely, Taesu lightly shook his head.
“No. It’s a memory method one level higher.”
“Huh?”
“He looked at gauze and instantly changed the word agreed upon as ‘gauze’ into something else.”
“What are you talking about? More importantly, is that even possib—since he’s doing it, I guess it is.”
Jeong Minsu somehow accepted it.
Then Kim Hyeokgwon said,
“I recited them all.”
“Thank you.”
“You didn’t just make me memorize them, did you?”
“Not at all. Minsu.”
The moment Taesu called him,
Jeong Minsu, who had at some point been staring intently at the affected area, nodded.
“Yeah, I’ve got a rough grasp.”
“Good. Then the eye is the most important, so let’s start with the lacrimal gland.”
“It’s thin and small.”
It was an abrupt remark.
But those words were directed at Gang Songhui’s eye.
It seemed he did not feel inclined to lay hands on the eyelid of such a young, delicate child.
Taesu felt the same.
However—
“If we don’t touch it, her pretty eye will be ruined.”
“That would be the sin of mankind.”
“Correct. So we have to touch only the muscle as much as possible.”
Hearing Taesu’s warning, Jeong Minsu instead showed determination.
“Even looking at it like this, I can tell the vessels are buried and weakened. You think I wouldn’t know that?”
“Okay. Then let’s go. Minimum speed, and that much more meticulous and careful.”
“Phew. I’ll show you Precision Minsu.”
“Let’s see it.”
Click, click.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu picked up their surgical instruments at the same time.
For their main instruments, they chose the Mixter and the International forceps respectively.
There was no special reason.
They were simply the instruments their hands moved toward.
That likely meant they were that familiar with them and skilled in handling them.
Because the operation required precision, they chose familiarity.
And with those familiar surgical instruments, the delicate operation began in earnest.
As mentioned earlier, both men’s hands headed toward Gang Songhui’s eyelid.
It was the area just beneath her left eye.
The exposed affected area contained the tip of the neurofibroma. The surgery to separate it was about to begin.
Arriving half a beat faster, Taesu briefly gave the precautions.
“This is roughly the boundary. I’m saying this again…”
“To be careful, and careful again.”
“Yeah. If we touch it wrong, she’ll go blind immediately.”
Taesu’s warning was utterly chilling.
But he was not exaggerating. It was a clear fact.
Perhaps because Jeong Minsu understood that well enough, his fingertips trembled faintly.
As if displeased with himself, an irritated sound escaped him.
“Phew. Shit…”
“If you’re not confident, move down.”
“Is it safe there?”
“…”
Taesu could not answer.