Watching Taesu’s back as he left, Jeong Minsu gave a hollow smile.
“He’s giving us a laugh at a moment this serious.”
“Aja, aja?”
“It’s childish, isn’t it? But that bastard seems to think if he blindly says we can do it, then everything will work out.”
Jeong Minsu was grumbling with a bitter expression when Kim Hyeokgwon asked, dead serious.
“Why wouldn’t it work?”
“Aja, aja, we can do it.”
Jeong Minsu quickly cheered him on, moving his hands.
It was the exact same cheer Taesu had used.
Kim Hyeokgwon also hurriedly disinfected his hands and put on surgical gloves.
Now was the moment to truly dive in.
“Ready.”
“Here, below the spleen.”
“There, okay.”
Ssak.
The two focused on emergency treatment again.
At the same time.
As Taesu ran, he checked his wristwatch.
Roughly forty minutes had passed since the first report was received.
‘Too much time has passed.’
It was not simply a matter of heat.
The toxic gas was more dangerous.
Enduring forty minutes in that was incredible.
He pushed all other thoughts aside.
If they were alive somehow, then it was his job to keep that life going.
As he ran, the changed conditions at the scene began to come into view one by one.
The fire on the minibus was almost extinguished.
Chwarak. Chwarak.
They were scattering water-soaked sand from the bed of an old truck.
The black smoke had turned white.
That meant they were definitely dealing with the remaining embers.
Looking at the structure of the minibus, the engine was at the rear.
And the minibus, which should have been lying on its side, was tilted slightly.
He could see something supporting the minibus.
‘A jack lift?’
It was a type of small lift capable of supporting a car.
People were gathered near the front of the minibus, which had been raised on one side.
Among them, he saw Squad Leader Sam.
That spot was farthest from the engine.
“Right. Then it might be possible.”
It felt like seeing a ray of light in the midst of despair.
But he had yet to face the patient, so it was still too early to jump to conclusions.
Taesu calmly composed his expression as he ran.
As he approached, he heard Squad Leader Sam shouting.
“Pull.”
At the signal, everyone strained with all their might.
“Eusha.”
“Grrngh.”
Chajak.
What came out dragged in their hands was a large mass of soot.
No matter how he looked at it, that pitch-black lump of soot was moving.
It was only a faint twitch.
Taesu was seeing it clearly with his own eyes.
Soon, he sensed the true identity of that soot and opened his eyes wide.
A person.
“Son of a—”
Pababak.
Taesu’s run turned rough, like a runaway locomotive.
In an instant, he reached the vicinity of the emergency patient.
“Move.”
When Taesu roared, the police glanced over and their eyes widened.
Grrrr.
It was because it felt as if a wild beast were lunging at them.
“@#%$@^$%.”
“&#%^$%.”
Shouting something at one another, they quickly cleared the area.
Before their shadows had even disappeared, Taesu hurriedly filled the empty space.
Ssak.
“Damn it.”
What he had seen from afar had not been a mistake.
This blackened object really was a person.
The body was curled up tightly, and a considerable portion of the clothes had burned away.
On top of that, there was a vile smell of burning.
“Hup.”
It was a stench that nearly made even Taesu cover his nose for a moment.
The smell of synthetic fibers burning was that terrible.
First, he had to check the consciousness and breathing of the patient, whose back was bent.
“Sir, sir.”
Thud.
Taesu set down the duffel bag and shouted with all his strength.
As if reacting to the sound, a strange noise came from the curled-up patient.
Shiiik, shiiik.
‘Hm?’
Taesu’s ears twitched sharply.
This was definitely the sound of air leaking.
He wondered if this sound was truly coming from the patient.
For now, he pushed aside anything uncertain.
It was right to resolve the definite symptoms first.
The most urgent thing now was reducing the patient’s pain.
Suddenly.
Taesu pulled out the special military syringe he had received from Jeong Minsu.
He stabbed it into what he guessed was the shoulder.
“Hup.”
Ssssss.
He felt something leave the syringe.
Administration took only a moment.
Ting.
The instant he tossed the empty syringe aside.
Morang morang.
Right before his eyes, smoke and steam were rising together from the patient’s back.
No one could have seen that and kept their head on straight.
“The heat first.”
The moment he made that judgment, he grabbed the duffel bag.
He did not know what was inside.
Then?
When would he find it?
Tedeoreok.
He simply dumped out the entire duffel bag.
Perhaps because Kim Hyeokgwon had packed it, there were definitely many supplementary medical supplies.
Saline, disinfectant, gauze, and so on.
“There’s enough.”
The moment he estimated that, he picked up saline and scissors at the same time.
He cut off one end of the saline and poured it broadly over the patient.
Jorureuk.
The body was getting wet, but it was still nowhere near enough.
He had to quickly prepare and pour on a much greater amount.
He needed anyone’s hands.
The moment he made that judgment, he rapidly looked around and saw Squad Leader Sam.
“Huff, huff.”
He looked somewhat exhausted.
Taesu felt sorry, but the patient’s condition was too poor for him to take Squad Leader Sam’s circumstances into account.
Having no choice, Taesu gestured roughly and called out loudly.
“Sam, help me.”
“Sir.”
Ssak.
Squad Leader Sam erased his tired expression and approached swiftly.
The traces of his hardship remained on his sweat-soaked face and his ruined hands.
Fortunately, what Taesu needed to ask of him was simple.
Taesu explained briefly.
“You see the saline over there, right? Pour it like I’m doing now.”
“Understood. Hooop.”
Thud, chak.
Taking in a deep breath and drawing up his strength, Squad Leader Sam moved both hands quickly.
Then he began pouring the prepared saline over the patient’s back.
Now he had to identify the source of that strange sound.
Seuk.
Taesu brought his ear close to the patient’s face.
“Shiiik. Shiiik.”
Again, that strange sound could be heard.
‘Breathing.’
It was definitely the sound of breathing.
Taesu spoke loudly and pulled the patient’s arm downward.
“Excuse me… Hm?”
“…Shiiik.”
Only the sound of breathing could be heard; the arm did not budge.
In cases like this, it was described as decreased consciousness.
It meant determining that the patient had lost consciousness.
At times like this?
“Excuse me.”
Press.
Taesu used strength to pull the arm down.
Only then could he face the patient.
The patient appeared to be a Black man in his forties.
His skin was a dark coffee color.
Here and there on his face were wounds scratched and torn by glass.
On top of that, the clothes he wore were also black in color.
It was not for nothing that he had looked like a large lump of soot from afar.
As expected, he was unconscious.
Something long was clenched in the patient’s mouth.
“A straw?”
It was clearly the plastic straw used for drinking beverages.
Just then, that strange breathing sound came again.
“Shiiik, shiiik.”
But Taesu could not understand why he was biting it.
“Why is this…”
“We found him near the minibus entrance when the smoke cleared during extinguishing. He was curled up tightly, with only the straw sticking out like a mosquito.”
Jjoreureuk.
As he poured saline, Squad Leader Sam described how it had looked when they found him.
Taesu quickly pictured the scene in his head.
Had the patient been in the middle of trying to get off?
It was an uncertain guess.
What was certain was that the shock of the explosion and the heat of the fire must have engulfed him.
He must have become lost in toxic gas so thick he could not see ahead.
Even in that terror, he had not given up.
He had coldly assessed the situation and acted.
‘That much is right.’
Taesu added a little more certainty to his guess.
The proof was the straw the patient was biting now.
He had also curled his body up tightly to protect vital areas.
Whatever safety training he had received, it was an extremely calm response despite being in such a confined space.
Right now, the patient had been rescued by everyone’s hands while breathing like this.
His will to live was this strong.
Then wasn’t that enough?
There were more than enough reasons to support that will.
‘Overcome it… No, let’s overcome it.’
Taesu shouted firmly inside.
The patient’s condition was such a mess that he had to say it.
His entire body was covered in burns.
First-degree burns could not even be seen.
Most were judged to be third-degree burns.
Even Taesu had never seen burns this severe before.
But.
‘Is there anything in this world that isn’t a first at some point?’
That thought was the answer.
Now, and in the future, situations that were firsts would come to him.
He could not fall into despair every single time, could he?
Taesu had no intention of hesitating or stopping.
It was time to move forward.
And Taesu was not alone.
There was Squad Leader Sam.
He opened up every bit of knowledge he had stored in his head.
This was not a time to spare anything.
It was the courtesy owed to a patient who had not given up on his own life.
Taesu’s eyes changed first.
His concentration rose all at once.
Now he had to secure breathing stably first.
Taesu opened the patient’s mouth and shouted to Squad Leader Sam.
“Sam, saline here.”
“Pouring.”
Jjoreureuk.
Taesu used the saline that pooled up to rinse the inside of the patient’s mouth first.
Blackish powder came out mixed with the saline.
Could it be?
Thud.
He opened the mouth wider.
Vesicles had formed all over the inside of the mouth.
The moment he saw them, one medical term rose clearly in his mind.
Inhalation burn.
It was the medical term for a burn caused by inhalation.
It referred to cases in which the respiratory tract was damaged by momentarily inhaling high-temperature heat or toxic smoke.
It was not merely a problem inside the mouth.
He had to keep bronchiostenosis in mind.
“Cough, krrk. Krrk.”
The patient’s breathing sounds also began to worsen.
In a case like this, tracheal intubation was needed.
Taesu looked among the medical supplies scattered around for a laryngoscope.
Thud.
He hooked it lightly and opened the mouth even wider.
From within, the smell of burning surged out.
“Grrk, grrk.”
The breathing sounds were even more unstable.
Squad Leader Sam’s expression also stiffened.
“Doctor Choi.”
“Just a moment.”
Clatter.
When Taesu kept rummaging, Squad Leader Sam quickly asked.
“What are you looking for?”
“Is there an E-tube there, by any chance?”
Taesu asked in technical terminology.
It was possible because he had performed intubation with Squad Leader Sam on the snowy mountain before.