The operating room sank into silence.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The sound of the Ambu bag being squeezed was all there was.
They couldn’t simply keep letting time pass just because they had no plan.
They had to break through this situation somehow.
Each of them was deep in thought when, all of a sudden, Jeong Minsu spoke in an uncertain voice.
“Now, let’s sort out the situation first.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have a plan either, so I’m just talking for now.”
Jeong Minsu shouted, as if in frustration.
No one objected to his sharp reaction. In this situation, none of them could possibly feel any differently.
Just then, Gim Hyeokgwon rolled his eyes around and tossed out a remark.
“What if I take over the Ambu bag?”
“What?”
“It feels like everyone’s thinking about this too complicatedly.”
“Mm.”
Taesu and Jeong Minsu both showed interest in the different perspective.
To the two of them, Gim Hyeokgwon explained in a bit more detail.
“You can squeeze the Ambu bag with intervals in between, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then during those gaps, couldn’t I handle the IV and check the vitals too?”
“Ah.”
Taesu, who had been thinking it over, let out an exclamation.
If he had been alone, he would still have been trapped in complicated thoughts.
The surgery might no longer have been possible.
But Jeong Minsu and Gim Hyeokgwon were here.
How to make use of them was up to Taesu.
He quickly reorganized the situation in his head.
Gim Hyeokgwon’s remark had been key.
Using that as a foundation, everything fell into place.
Taesu immediately gave an order.
“Minsu. You can check the generator while receiving blood donations, right?”
“I can.”
“Don’t forget to exclude anyone with delayed blood coagulation symptoms.”
When Taesu gave the firm warning, Jeong Minsu nodded.
“I’ll proceed while checking the notebook like a chart.”
“Then Hyeokgwon, take over the Ambu bag.”
Taesu gave the order in a voice that sounded as if things had been organized.
But then Gim Hyeokgwon objected.
“Not yet.”
“What do you mean, not yet?”
“We need to fill the medical cart first. Dr. Choe has to keep operating.”
Swoosh.
As soon as he finished speaking, Gim Hyeokgwon headed straight for the shelves.
Taesu smiled faintly.
There was certainly no one like Gim Hyeokgwon when it came to seeing the whole picture.
A short while later.
Not only the medical cart, but even the stand above the operating table was filled with medical supplies.
It looked as though he had prepared them with the determination that there would be no time limit.
And now Gim Hyeokgwon was holding the Ambu bag.
Whooosh, whooosh.
He carried out the most urgent task first.
In between, he checked the IV that had been moved to the side, and also confirmed the numbers on the automatic blood pressure monitor.
“Current vitals are…”
Gim Hyeokgwon reported in a calm voice.
Meanwhile, Jeong Minsu had approached the front door.
He was holding the house-call bag in his hand.
“I’ll be back.”
Thud.
At the same time as he announced it, he quickly went outside.
It was a movement intended to minimize the inflow of outside air.
Taesu’s position was, naturally, at the operating table.
It was a surgery that could not be stopped, yet it had been unavoidably delayed.
Now it was time to make up for the time they had lost.
Taesu’s expression was quite solemn.
Letting one second slip by during surgery was easy.
On the other hand, shaving off one second that had already passed was several times harder.
But he had to do it.
Before moving his hands in earnest, Taesu spoke to Gim Hyeokgwon.
“I’m going to focus.”
“Isn’t that why I’m standing here?”
“I won’t be able to pay attention to anything else.”
“When have you ever done that for me?”
Gim Hyeokgwon’s answer sounded a little crooked.
But inside it was not irritation, but expectation.
That was because he knew better than anyone the true strength of Taesu, who had performed countless surgeries under conditions even worse than this.
Taesu had said it with that much resolve as well.
And once spoken, words could not be taken back.
At that moment, the look of determination in his eyes flashed firmly.
It was the starting signal.
Taesu’s hands, which had stopped, began to move.
The beginning was slow.
But it was too early to be disappointed.
Little by little, he began to increase his speed.
His movements were like something being built up step by step.
There was a reason for that.
Each surgical site required a different method of progression.
He was adjusting his tempo according to those methods.
His movements were that varied and ever-changing.
And that was not the end.
The range of what he used, from surgical instruments to surgical supplies, had expanded enormously as well.
In particular, the speed with which he fixed the position with a Mixter and cleared away bleeding with gauze was art.
Bleeding.
For trauma patients, it was a symptom one could call inevitable.
He had faced it dozens, no, hundreds of times.
Taesu’s response was incredibly swift and precise.
On top of that, he washed with saline and sprayed liquid hemostatic agent as an added measure.
And the real part began after that.
“Like this… this way… this is…”
As he murmured faintly, his movements changed again.
Swoosh, slash.
This time, it was direct treatment of the affected area.
Since there was no one to help with exchanges, the Mixter in his left hand remained fixed.
On the other hand, the surgical instrument in his right hand changed constantly.
Metzenbaum, straight forceps, Allis, DeBakey, International forceps, and so on.
He swapped them out so diversely that it was difficult to list them all one by one.
But right now, Taesu was not feeling the same sense of liberation he had during Bak Huinam’s surgery.
Back then, everyone had operated together. Now, he was alone.
He was putting forth the greatest effort he could manage by himself.
Thoughts?
There were none.
Plans?
None of those either.
He reacted the instant he saw something, and the instant his hands moved, he changed the surgical method.
It was an extremely impromptu way of operating.
It was also an action possible because he was alone.
In that way, Taesu was making the fullest use of the fact that he had to perform the surgery alone at this moment.
Gim Hyeokgwon also glanced at Taesu’s movements, now fully ignited.
“Looks like you’re still more comfortable doing it alone.”
That was an objective assessment.
His current appearance was exactly the same as back in Ijambak.
With Jeong Minsu’s current skill, assisting this version of Taesu was still too much.
That was the cold reality, without a single bit added or taken away.
The surgery continued, Taesu’s hands moving endlessly back and forth.
Compared to that, however, the progress of the surgery was not fast.
It was moving forward little by little.
The reality was that Taesu was doing everything alone.
Operator, assistant, aide.
All of it was Taesu’s share.
But a person had only two hands.
No matter how swiftly he moved, there was no overcoming physical limits.
Lastly, stamina was finite.
He could not maintain this merciless speed until the very end.
A tingling pain brushed through his grip.
It was likely proof that he was overdoing it.
Even so, Taesu did not show it.
‘Not yet. More.’
He scolded himself, drove himself on, and lashed himself fiercely.
Time was passing.
But Taesu did not have the mental space to feel it.
Before he knew it, sweat slowly began to build.
Drip.
“Hoo.”
Even the sound of his breathing changed slightly.
Swoosh, swoosh, slash.
Lastly, his hands gradually slowed.
The moment in which he had burned with passion was coming to an end.
Noticing that, Gim Hyeokgwon broke the silence and spoke.
“Current vitals are…”
Only now, when his concentration had eased a notch, did he make his report.
Taesu heard it as well.
Fortunately, as if to prove that he had not been struggling in vain alone, the vitals had risen slightly.
Clack, scrape.
Taesu began to regulate the pace of the surgery.
If he pushed himself any further, he would not be able to continue operating until the end.
Restraining himself in that way, he asked Gim Hyeokgwon.
“What’s the status of the transfusion pack?”
“It’s almost all in.”
“Hoo. And there’s been no word from Minsu at all?”
He meant the radio.
It also meant that even if a radio transmission had come in, he might not have heard it.
With Taesu’s momentary concentration, that was possible.
Gim Hyeokgwon, who knew that well, answered calmly.
“He left the radio behind.”
“Well, it’s not as if he had the presence of mind.”
“More importantly, how’s things on your end?”
When Gim Hyeokgwon asked, Taesu recited the treatments he had performed so far.
“I bought time on the liver rupture with gauze packing, and in the meantime, I’ve handled the adrenal gland and stomach to some extent.”
“What exactly does ‘to some extent’ mean?”
“To the point where only the finishing touches remain.”
When Taesu answered after setting a rough standard, Gim Hyeokgwon understood right away.
“You pushed incredibly hard over those thirty minutes.”
“Hoo. I only proceeded with the parts I could immediately touch.”
“You looked like a fish in water.”
Whoosh, whoosh.
Gim Hyeokgwon spoke exactly as he had seen while pressing the Ambu bag.
Taesu also answered while working his surgical instrument to clean up the torn intestine.
“When I’m going to indulge my temperament completely, being alone is better. But…”
“But?”
“I did feel the empty spots.”
Thud.
Taesu said it as he placed the piece of intestine he had cut away into the basin.
At that, Gim Hyeokgwon showed doubt.
“It didn’t look like a level Dr. Jeong and I could keep up with.”
“When we’re together, there’s synergy. Alone, there isn’t.”
“It’s nice that you’re looking at us favorably, I guess.”
“Have I ever paid lip service when it comes to surgery?”
Clack, swoosh.
Taesu asked while still moving his surgical instruments.
It was a habit that had continued since Ijambak.
It was a conversation he had begun in order to lessen the burden and disperse excessive force.
Only Gim Hyeokgwon, who had shared those days with him, could be his conversation partner.
Because Gim Hyeokgwon was relatively less burdened, answering was not difficult.
“You haven’t.”
“At some point, surgery with the three of us together became more exciting to me.”
“I suppose I should be glad I’m of help.”
“You’ve always helped. Hup, how are the vitals now?”
Taesu asked next.
Beep.
The automatic blood pressure monitor sounded.
But Gim Hyeokgwon’s answer did not sound very good.
“Dr. Choe, why is it that the pulse is staying the same, but only the blood pressure is dropping?”
“Only the blood pressure is dropping?”
“The fall is considerable.”
Hearing the answer, Taesu thought it over in his head and asked again.
“How’s the transfusion?”
“Three… two… one… It just ended.”
“It ended?”
Glance.
For the first time, Taesu turned his head and looked that way.
On the IV stand hung two transfusion packs and two glucose bags.
The two sides looked like complete opposites.
There was not a single drop of blood left in the transfusion packs.
On the other hand, both glucose bags were still plump.
At a glance, the proportion of glucose being administered had grown markedly higher.
Then this situation was possible.
The corners of Taesu’s eyes rose slightly as he gave an order.
“Cut the glucose administration rate in half.”
“I reduced it.”
“The blood’s become too diluted.”
“Then should we add Pentaspan and inflate the volume?”
Gim Hyeokgwon offered the idea, but Taesu shook his head.
“No. It just tricks the body into thinking the blood volume has increased. It can’t actually serve the role of blood.”
“So it’s like bluffing and then ending up broke.”
Gim Hyeokgwon expressed it with a rough but fitting example.