Squad Leader Sam quickly looked back and gave a negative answer.
"No. There isn't any."
"Catheter....... No. Keep pouring saline."
"Cut."
Shrrrip.
Squad Leader Sam continued what he was doing.
His help was appreciated but piecemeal.
That was undeniable.
They needed someone with more specialized knowledge.
Taesu boldly pulled the radio from his waist and called out in Korean.
"Minsu."
- Beep. Doctor Jeong is busy. He says he's listening, so talk.
Kim Hyeokgwon's reply came through.
The urgent Taesu figured he was basically talking to Jeong Minsu anyway, so he just comfortably used casual speech.
"How's it over there?"
- Beep. Just maintaining the status quo. The bleeding is a problem, but the organ damage is also considerable.
"Can you handle it alone?"
It was a question anyone could immediately sense the implication of.
Perhaps that was why Kim Hyeokgwon's voice dropped a little.
- Beep. Doctor Jeong is saying some rough and harsh words; shall I relay them exactly?
"No. However, Mr. Hyeokgwon, you need to come over here now."
Taesu got to the point so the conversation wouldn't drag on longer.
At that very moment.
Jeong Minsu's sharp voice suddenly stabbed through Taesu's ear via the in-ear receiver.
- Beep. Why all of a sudden.
"A patient with inhalation burn, flame burn over the entire back, and lacerations from face to whole body."
- Beep. ......Can they... be alive?
Jeong Minsu's momentum was immediately broken.
Perhaps knowing the question itself was rude, he was even careful.
Taesu answered heavily.
"They're definitely surviving."
- Beep. This one's not even someone who should make it, okay. I'll send Mr. Hyeokgwon.
"Minsu, you can hold out, right?"
Taesu asked in a cautious, weighty voice.
Jeong Minsu's voice was the same.
- Beep. I can hold on all day if I have to.
"Then hold out until I get there."
- Beep. Don't worry about me, just do your job right. I'll ask if I don't know something, so don't turn off the radio.
The end of his requesting voice trembled slightly.
But nowhere could be found any weak words saying he couldn't do it.
Then that was enough.
Taesu replied to Jeong Minsu and then called for Kim Hyeokgwon.
"I'll make sure to keep the radio on standby....... And Mr. Hyeokgwon."
- Beep. You're telling me to come right now, aren't you?
"Bring intubation supplies, something to lay on the floor, and burn ointment. As fast as possible."
- Beep. When have you ever given me time? Wait.
The radio communication ended with Kim Hyeokgwon's sharp voice.
Taesu, having clipped the radio to his waist, looked at the patient again.
"Hhss, hhss......."
Low, rapid breathing continued.
The intervals were getting shorter than when breathing through a straw.
There was no time to wait.
They had to increase the volume of spontaneous respiration.
He soon found a small pouch.
When he opened it, it was full of ampoules.
Without even a moment to be pleased, Taesu immediately rummaged through it to find the necessary medicine.
"First, lidocaine, and antibiotics....... Okay. Here it is."
Clink.
He pulled out an ampoule with a cry of triumph.
It was a bronchodilator.
Literally, it was a medicine that widened the bronchi and made lung breathing smoother.
There was no time to delay.
Pop, ssssh.
He quickly administered the medicines that would help immediately.
There was no time to watch for a reaction.
No matter how good the medicine was, it was merely buying time.
The more fundamental problem had to be solved quickly.
For that reason, he grabbed an ambu bag.
He found it, but there was no ET tube.
Tap, tap tap.
"This......."
He tapped the ambu bag and quickly looked for something to improvise with.
Catheters filled Taesu's eyes.
Flash.
The memory of Hong Nanju's emergency treatment flashed like lightning.
That method would work.
It would definitely work.
"Okay."
Taesu immediately picked up a catheter.
He aimed the end of the thin tube toward the patient's throat.
Since the airway was held open with a laryngoscope, he just had to find the airway and insert it.
It was a simple procedure.
Swoosh.
The catheter went precisely into the airway.
But it didn't go in far before it was blocked immediately.
Taesu wasn't worried.
There was a compression method with the force to burst a chest like Imanseok's.
The moment he formulated the plan and was about to place his hands on both sides of the patient's chest, Taesu paused.
"Ah."
This patient was in a state where the chest couldn't be pressed.
For that to happen, the back had to touch the ground.
Pressing down from above while putting the burned area against the ground would only cause terrible results.
Was there no other way?
At the same time as that thought, one place caught his eye.
The nose.
Since it was connected to the airway, it was the perfect substitute location.
"Kkuk, krrrk."
The patient's breathing sounds were growing more labored.
Looking inside the open mouth, he could see blisters forming.
The inside of the airway would surely be the same.
That was gradually narrowing the airway and making the patient's breathing rougher.
The bronchodilator's effect was unrelated to the airway.
That was the problem.
Squad Leader Sam, also worried, looked at Taesu.
"Doctor Choi, the breathing sounds are very bad."
"Hm, hm."
"Is there somehow no method?"
Squad Leader Sam pleaded with a stiff expression.
Taesu couldn't answer right away.
The most frustrated person was Taesu himself.
"Can't I connect directly past the airway to the bronchi?"
He muttered something absurd inwardly.
But then, Taesu's eyes sparkled.
It works.
He could make it work.
"That's it."
"Pardon?"
"I think I've found a way."
"What should I help with?"
Squad Leader Sam quickly asked.
However, Taesu raised his hand to calm him.
"Thank you, but I think it'd be better if I do it myself."
"Understood."
"Then just a moment."
Taesu asked for his understanding.
He opened the emergency surgery kit that was somehow already in his hand.
Click.
It was a storage case containing the most basic surgical tools needed for surgery.
From there, Taesu took one out.
It was a scalpel.
Flash.
Taesu, holding the scalpel, picked up disinfectant with his other hand.
He poured disinfectant on the scalpel, and then poured it directly on the patient's neck.
Glug glug.
Whether black or reddish-brown, it was all the same.
Taesu used gauze to spread the disinfectant widely down to the clavicle.
While doing so, he recalled anatomical diagrams in his head.
A thoracic surgeon had to be able to draw the organs related to breathing in their head at a minimum.
To the cases Taesu had experienced with his own hands, he added Kaprene's knowledge as well.
Like that, Taesu drew a phantom of the lungs before his eyes.
He built up the bronchi toward the tops of both lungs.
Finally, he drew the target position and which blood vessels passed around it.
Thus, the phantom was completed in detail.
Having worked his brain like crazy for a short time, Taesu's nose stung.
His head was also slightly dizzy.
It was then.
"Hhss, hss, hss."
The patient's labored breathing stimulated Taesu's ears.
In an instant, his mind snapped to attention.
This was not the time.
Dizziness?
Shake shake.
He quickly shook it off.
Taesu, focusing his eyes intently, stared at one spot.
Below the Adam's apple.
The Adam's apple was bobbing with shallow breaths.
Taesu swept his gaze down to the point where the clavicle was most visible.
Looking with his eyes wasn't enough.
Swish.
He grazed lightly with his fingertips, gauging by feel.
Comparing it with the phantom drawn in his head, he found the right position—no, the perfect position.
"Hhssss."
The patient's breathing heaved greatly once.
At the same time, strength entered Taesu's gaze.
And the scalpel moved.
Srrrk.
Taesu's scalpel sliced across the patient's throat.
From another perspective, it was like murder.
Even Squad Leader Sam, who had been watching with a tense face, was aghast.
"His throat, Doctor Choi."
"Did I cut well?"
"You really cut his throat......."
Squad Leader Sam couldn't believe it even with his own eyes.
How could Taesu slash the patient's throat with a scalpel?
It was an even more shocked expression because he had never imagined it even in his dreams.
Taesu had no leisure to attend to Squad Leader Sam.
Exactly where the scalpel had moved, there was a clear incision mark on the lower part of the throat.
But the bleeding was remarkably little.
Only upon seeing that did Taesu feel relieved.
'Whew. I cut well.'
He had calculated and gauged from multiple angles, but he was anxious because it was his first time.
If there was this little bleeding, it was a success.
He had accurately cut only the trachea while avoiding the blood vessels.
Tok.
Taesu gently spread the incised area with a hook.
At that same moment.
"Huuuuuuh......."
The patient's breath became long and deep.
It wasn't a sufficient breathing volume compared to normal breathing.
As an inhalation burn had been diagnosed, there was a high possibility heat had penetrated into the lungs as well.
That was a problem to think about later.
The joy of breathing becoming this smooth was greater.
"Good. And......."
Swish swish.
Taesu performed a few more procedures with a pleased expression.
A short while later.
A catheter was connected to the patient's throat, and at its end was an ambu bag.
Squad Leader Sam was holding that ambu bag.
Swoosh, swoosh.
"Oh, ooh."
He was amazed even as he assisted with breathing directly.
Taesu caught his breath for a moment.
Because he had been so preoccupied with the patient's breathing, he had neglected his own.
"Whew. Whew."
Just as he was regulating his breathing like that.
Thud thud... thok thok.
The sound of urgently running footsteps suddenly diminished nearby, and immediately a question was heard.
"Why are you standing there blankly?"
Kim Hyeokgwon had arrived just in time.
Taesu immediately turned around and brightened.
"You've come at just the right time."
"I'm a bit uneasy when you're that welcoming."
"Does a remark like that come out after seeing the patient?"
Swish.
Taesu slightly turned his body to the side.
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had been standing behind, seemed to finally see the patient properly.
An extremely rare sound of shock was heard.
"Hup, this isn't a burn, it's cooked."
"Take the ambu bag."
Taesu ordered with a dumbfounded expression.
Kim Hyeokgwon also first took the ambu bag from Squad Leader Sam.
He was surprised once again at the catheter connected directly to the trachea.
Swoosh, swoosh.
"You've certainly got the breathing locked down tight."
"I've made it so he can't not breathe."
"Amazing. At times like this, you're truly a doctor."
That was high praise coming from Kim Hyeokgwon.
But to Taesu, it sounded like a bland remark.
Soon, Taesu's gaze turned to Squad Leader Sam.
Without a word of explanation, he made a request first.
"Sam, please lay out a spot and secure the surrounding space, then come back."
"I'll hurry."
Rustle.
Squad Leader Sam left in haste.