A faint smile played across Taesu’s face as he headed back toward the surgical site.
‘I really got lucky.’
Even he could hardly believe he had found and blocked the blood vessel in one try.
Thanks to that, Jo Jeongmin had been able to postpone the death that had come within arm’s reach.
Literally, they had only pushed it back.
The situation was not stable enough to drive it far away.
They had merely gotten past the most desperate crisis.
Dangers still lurked everywhere.
Avoiding those dangers and saving the patient was their duty.
And that duty had already begun.
The surgery continued without pause.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu’s gazes turned back into the surgical site.
Jeong Minsu gasped in shock.
“Gah. What is this?”
“Why is he like that again? Dr. Jeong, what is it?”
Kim Hyeokgwon was focused on managing the IV, so he could not see the condition of the surgical site clearly.
At his sensitive reaction, Jeong Minsu quickly answered.
“The inside is completely filled with blood.”
“What? Dr. Choi, didn’t you stop the bleeding?”
At Kim Hyeokgwon’s question, Taesu answered in a subdued voice.
“Do you think the bleeding was only in that one place?”
“You’re saying that as a joke, right?”
“In this situation?”
Taesu’s voice turned fierce once more.
Kim Hyeokgwon reflexively stiffened his expression and muttered.
“Damn it. This really is welcome to hell.”
His grumbling fit the current situation perfectly.
Taesu spoke first of the problematic areas.
“First, a liver rupture.”
“And the stomach is torn a little too.”
“Not to mention the intestines.”
“Wait, if he was stabbed that deep, then the kidney…”
Just as Jeong Minsu’s eyes began to widen at his own guess, Taesu said,
“The kidney is fine.”
“Huh?”
“The adrenal gland is torn a little, but it missed the kidney.”
Since Taesu had searched through the surgical site thoroughly, there was certainty in his answer.
In contrast, Jeong Minsu had helped with the emergency treatment, but he had been more focused on suctioning the blood.
Only after hearing the explanation could he draw the situation in his head.
The kidney and adrenal gland were a pair attached above and below.
Yet when he heard that the adrenal gland was injured while the kidney was unharmed, the crease between his brows instantly eased.
“At this point, didn’t heaven and earth and every spirit out there help us?”
“It might have been the village guardian shrine.”
“Either way, I seriously want to bow down to every god there is. I’m completely sincere.”
“Find them later. For now, operate.”
Taesu brought the conversation back to its starting point.
At the scolding tone in his words, Jeong Minsu bristled.
“You think I’m playing around right now?”
He was right too.
Swish, swish.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu were already proceeding with the surgery.
With surgical instruments held in each hand, they were securing the surgical field.
Among them, they were focusing on the liver, which had taken the heaviest damage.
Perhaps because they had seen it once during emergency treatment, finding the liver again was not difficult.
The problem was that the damaged area lay along the same line as the torn vein.
Even now, bleeding continued.
The amount was less than that from the ruptured hepatic vein, but it was not a trivial amount.
To secure the bleeding site, Taesu gave an order.
“Gauze.”
“Dropping it in.”
Thud-thud-thud.
As white gauze poured in, Taesu cleared away the blood and tossed it off the operating table.
He repeated it several times, but the bleeding showed no sign of stopping.
The pile of gauze on the operating room floor kept growing.
Jeong Minsu kept adding more and more gauze until he finally said something.
“You’re sure you gave him the hemostatic?”
“Did you forget yesterday’s blood test results?”
“I remember. Delayed blood coagulation. But still, this is too much.”
As Jeong Minsu added more gauze, the crease between his brows narrowed again.
When liver function declined, it also affected the production of white blood cells, which played a decisive role in blood clotting.
This phenomenon was not unique to Jo Jeongmin; it had appeared in several other people as well.
It was a completely different case from Village Chief Jeon Nosik’s.
Aside from these cases, there were also cases suffering from other symptoms.
They all showed the same symptom of decreased liver function. But the symptoms that appeared were all different.
They said there was nothing in the human body that was unnecessary, but the liver simply did too much.
As Jeong Minsu had said, it was too much.
And for Jo Jeongmin, who was in a state of massive hemorrhage, the delayed blood coagulation was acting as a significant bad move.
However, the operating room had modern tools with them.
Lights that cast a powerful beam.
Suction that drew in blood.
And a Bovie capable of forced hemostasis.
The general anesthesia machine was continuously adjusting the depth of anesthesia, and the ECG was showing the patient’s current condition on the monitor.
In the current surgery, those surgical machines were a tremendous help.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu’s hands proved that.
Gurgle, crackle.
When Jeong Minsu suctioned to secure the bleeding point, Taesu cauterized it with the Bovie to stop the bleeding.
Even while concentrating on the surgical site together, they spoke to increase precision.
“Minsu, that side.”
“I see it. I’ll make a little more space.”
“The suction position is off. Fix it again. And add gauze.”
“What is gauze, some kind of unlimited refill here?”
Rustle, thud-thud-thud.
The nagging was merely an added option.
Both of them were focused on progressing with the surgery, and it was going quite smoothly.
At this rate, they would be able to finish without much trouble.
But that hope stopped swelling at the news Kim Hyeokgwon delivered.
“The transfusion packs are almost out.”
At those words, Taesu’s hands stopped where they were.
This was an important problem.
Whip.
Taesu immediately turned his head and asked Kim Hyeokgwon,
“How much is left?”
“About two packs. At this infusion rate, I think about thirty minutes.”
“We’ll have to secure more.”
Taesu spoke bitterly.
Kim Hyeokgwon, understanding what he meant, immediately asked,
“We know all the villagers’ blood types, but who’s going to leave their post?”
“…”
Following Taesu, Jeong Minsu also looked at Kim Hyeokgwon.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s face turned grim.
“I asked something pointless. If I’m going anyway, I’ll fill up what needs to be filled before I come back.”
“Please.”
Taesu and Jeong Minsu spoke briefly and continued the surgery.
But then it happened.
Flicker, flicker.
The light illuminating the surgical site reacted strangely.
“Mm?”
“Huh?”
Everyone looked up in surprise.
After flickering a few more times, the light went out completely.
In that instant, the bright operating room became dim.
It was not pitch black, since sunlight came through the gaps around the window and the front door.
They could see their surroundings, but the illumination was absurdly insufficient to continue surgery.
“Why did the light go out?”
“Maybe the bulb burned…”
Just as Jeong Minsu was about to speak irritably,
Whir. Pop-pop.
The ECG and the general anesthesia machine stopped working.
The suction and the Bovie were the same.
When all the surgical machines stopped at once, everyone was flustered.
“What the hell?”
“Why the power?”
This had never happened during surgery before.
Everyone simply stared blankly around the operating room.
In the middle of that, Taesu caught himself.
They were in surgery.
The fact that all surgical machines had stopped was itself an enormous problem.
Figuring out why they had stopped was a matter for later.
They had to check the condition of the surgical site first.
Forcing his confused mind to settle, he quickly squeezed out his thoughts.
What did they need most right now?
“Mr. Hyeokgwon, headlamp.”
“There, bottom of the medical cart.”
“Minsu.”
When Taesu called him, Jeong Minsu’s voice came from below.
“I’m looking… Found it.”
Pop.
Jeong Minsu sprang up like a coil and held out the headlamp with its elastic band spread open.
Taesu, who was the operating surgeon, took priority no matter what.
The time of confusion was brief.
Because they all had field experience, they were able to calm the chaos quickly.
Relying on the light of the headlamp, Taesu quickly examined the surgical site.
“Here… and here…”
He focused on the area where they had been operating.
It was because, at the moment of the blackout, they might have been shaken and their hands might have trembled.
Fortunately, the surgical site had not worsened.
But the problem began now.
For the moment, the general anesthesia machine and the ECG were inoperable.
In particular, the general anesthesia machine was not only handling anesthesia, but also serving as a ventilator.
Click, click.
It seemed Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon had put on headlamps as well, as lights appeared one after another.
Taesu hurriedly gave orders to the two of them.
“Minsu, Ambu bag. Mr. Hyeokgwon, set up the automatic blood pressure monitor.”
“Got it.”
“What the hell kind of mess is this now?”
Kim Hyeokgwon moved urgently and snapped in irritation.
Taesu understood that feeling fully—no, a hundred times over.
Taesu felt the same way.
The chaos he had forced down was writhing again.
He had experienced many things, but this was a first.
‘Get a grip. Get it together.’
Taesu kept steadying himself first.
Then, for an instant, Taesu’s eyes wavered.
The fact that the general anesthesia machine had stopped was not simply a matter of breathing.
Right now, anesthesia was more important than the surgery itself.
“Damn it.”
Whip.
Taesu’s face twisted fiercely as he moved away from the operating table.
He went straight to the IV and shone his light on the ampoule box.
Various kinds of ampoules were mixed together.
In that confusion, he had to find the anesthetic and the sedative.
“No, not this one either.”
Clatter, clatter.
Perhaps because his heart was rushing, the wrong ampoules kept ending up in his hand.
He fumbled several times, but fortunately, he found the anesthetic and sedative.
Then he drew them into a syringe and injected them directly into the IV.
Push.
The injectables flowed in quickly.
“Whew.”
Only then did Taesu let out a breath of relief.
Soon, Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon’s reports followed.
“Switched to the Ambu bag.”
“The automatic blood pressure cuff is on, and the current numbers are…”
Kim Hyeokgwon rattled off the values like a machine gun.
Fortunately, perhaps because not much time had been lost, the changes in the numbers were not severe.
Even so, it was not a situation where they could feel reassured.
Even at this moment, the bleeding continued.
Jeong Minsu was the first to remind them of that.
“We haven’t even stopped all the bleeding, so what are we supposed to do like this?”
“You go check the generator… Damn it. The Ambu bag.”
“Right. I can’t move. But why did the generator stop? Did it run out of fuel, maybe?”
Jeong Minsu raised the most reasonable suspicion.
But Kim Hyeokgwon threw cold water on even that small hope.
“I put fuel in it.”
“What?”
“I said I put in one small can, the one set aside for emergency surgery. It means it’s not a fuel problem.”
At those words, Taesu’s expression turned serious.
“Then are you saying the generator really broke down?”
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s this or that. I also have to go get blood donations right now.”
“And Minsu has to use the Ambu bag…”
Taesu’s voice gradually faded.
The more he spoke, the more hopeless the situation became.
The power was out, and the transfusion packs were on their last legs.
On top of that, the surgery was still in progress.
With circumstances piling on top of circumstances, Taesu’s mind became completely tangled.
“This is driving me insane.”
Taesu muttered bitterly.
His utterly subdued appearance at that moment felt even more chilling.
“…”
“…”
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon remained silent.
It was absolutely not because they had shoved everything onto Taesu and felt at ease.
Their minds were complicated too.
Everything had suddenly become tangled.
They had no idea how to find their center.
They had not given up.
Even at this moment, they were wringing their minds for a way to break through.