And at the restaurant they had arrived at, some twenty tourists had gathered.
They all looked shocked and mentally exhausted.
Taesu made full use of Sergeant Sam and Corporal Guseupia.
"Guseupia, have them take one of this and one of this."
"Roger."
Rustle.
"Sam, we're on the patients."
"I'll assist."
The moment the decision was made, Taesu stepped forward and approached the people.
"We're from an NGO."
"An NGO? Huh-uh."
"Are we, are we going to be okay now?"
Murmurs.
Hope and expectation ignited in the subdued restaurant.
Taesu, without rushing, sought out the patients who caught his eye.
"Where does it hurt?"
"My leg here……."
"We'll begin first aid immediately."
Taesu nimbly positioned himself and moved his hands swiftly.
There was no sign of exhaustion.
Just as the people were full of expectation, and just as they had found hope in life, Taesu too was overflowing with energy.
Sergeant Sam, assisting him, was also full of motivation from that vigor.
Fortunately, emergency patients made up a small proportion of the tourists.
For trauma, it was to the extent of draining pooled blood from fracture patients.
For internal injuries, there were cases where patients suffered severe pain from serious indigestion due to shock.
That said, it wasn't that there were no patients.
Patients definitely existed.
It was just that their proportion was small by the standards of emergency care.
Beads of sweat formed on the faces of Taesu and the soldiers.
They replenished fluids and cooled their heat with barely a sip of water.
Because there were patients outside, they couldn't let their guard down.
It was around the time the tourists' first aid was wrapping up without major incident.
A radio transmission came through the earpiece.
*Click.* "Doctor Choe, the patient's lips are turning blue."
"Are you saying cyanosis?"
"Hurry up and come take a look."
Gim Hyeokgwon had called out loudly.
No matter how brilliant a talent, one couldn't deduce the disease.
But it wasn't only Gim Hyeokgwon looking for Taesu.
*Click.* "Taesu, when are you getting here?"
"Aren't you finished over there yet?"
"Like hell we're finishing. We're running out of blood packs, and the patient is exhausted."
At those words, Taesu's expression hardened completely.
It couldn't be said to be Jeong Minsu's lack of skill.
Hoping the condition would improve had actually been Taesu's wishful thinking.
Reality was harsh.
Now Taesu had to choose which side to prioritize.
One was a thoracic surgery case, the other a general surgery case.
Taesu immediately wrapped things up and sent a transmission.
*Click.*
"Hyeokgwon, I'm on my way."
*Click.* "Please hurry."
"Minsu, hold on for 10 more minutes. I'll bring you a gift."
*Click.* "*Sigh.* I'm serious about 10 minutes. You have to come within 10 minutes."
"Got it……. Then I'm moving out."
Taesu, having ended the transmission, immediately rose from his seat.
Sergeant Sam and Corporal Guseupia approached like lightning.
Snap.
It seemed Sergeant Sam had a radio and heard it together.
But Taesu couldn't take both of them.
"Guseupia, stay behind."
"Roger."
"Keep a close watch, and if a problem arises, immediately carry someone and run over here."
Taesu conveyed a somewhat extreme request.
But with Corporal Guseupia's build and stamina, it was possible.
It was also something he could say because he had examined all the tourists.
There were no patients who would be harmed by that level of shock.
Corporal Guseupia's shoulders slumped at not being able to step up to the front lines.
Of course, since it was a medical matter, Taesu didn't bat an eye.
"Sam, let's go right now."
"Understood."
Swish.
Taesu and Sergeant Sam hurriedly left the restaurant.
They had entered like the wind, provided first aid like lightning, and slipped out like the ebbing tide.
They hadn't stayed even 10 minutes.
But it couldn't be helped.
A leader wasn't made for free.
One had to work that much harder and run around that much more.
Soon Taesu and Sergeant Sam entered the white tent.
It was no exaggeration to say the patient was wrapped entirely in gauze.
There were parts where the burns were that severe.
However, the enthusiastic team had somewhat overtreated.
This was a treatment where excess was beneficial, so there was no problem.
Taking the patient in with his eyes, Taesu seated himself beside Gim Hyeokgwon.
"Cyanosis, you said?"
"Look at the face here."
Following Gim Hyeokgwon's urging, he looked at the patient's face.
The dark complexion seemed to have taken on a slightly blue hue.
Looking at the thick lips, that bluish tint was showing even more intensely.
It was indeed cyanosis.
Taesu's gaze immediately shifted to Private Anthony, who was holding the ambu bag.
"Anthony, how's the ambu bag?"
"There's slight resistance."
"Resistance?"
"Yes. It's similar to exactly what I felt back then on the snowy mountain."
"Hmm?"
A look of puzzlement rose in Taesu's eyes.
The patient Jeong Minsu had been in charge of back then had had a pneumothorax.
Since Private Anthony had been in charge of the ambu bag, he would surely know the sensation.
Then did the patient really have a pneumothorax or hemothorax?
He'd have to check to know.
"Stethoscope."
"Here……. Hmm?"
Gim Hyeokgwon, who was handing over the stethoscope, paused.
Taesu was also narrowing his eyes.
Convulsing, convulsing.
It was because the patient's body was beginning to show crisis symptoms.
Everyone's expressions hardened stiffly.
"Doctor Choe."
"One moment."
Snap.
Taesu quickly pressed the stethoscope against the patient's back and listened to the internal sounds.
The breathing sounds on both sides were different.
A sound of breath entering and then being blocked came from the left lung.
Slosh, slosh.
And a water sound that shouldn't be heard from a lung stimulated his ears.
At that moment, the answer flashed through his mind like lightning, to the point where thought itself was meaningless.
Taesu roughly removed the stethoscope and shouted low:
"Damn it, hydrothorax."
"The lung what?"
"Hydrothorax. It means the lungs are filled with water."
Taesu reacted sharply, but Gim Hyeokgwon couldn't understand.
"What are you talking about? How could there be a bowlful of water inside someone who was just in a pit of fire?"
"No time to explain. The biggest syringe you have."
He wasn't asking blindly.
With one hand, he was already brushing aside the gauze-covered back.
Since the patient was in a prone position, it was right to perform first aid like this.
He swept down below the scapula and began finding the spaces between the ribs.
Swoop.
Taesu's fingertips, having moved slightly lower, stopped.
"Here."
"Syringe."
Snap.
Along with Gim Hyeokgwon's voice, a large syringe was pressed into his hand.
Taesu pushed it in without delay.
The sight of the thick, long needle disappearing into the back was far from pleasant.
"Ugh."
"Hmm."
Private Anthony and Private Rachel even turned their heads.
Even soldiers couldn't unconditionally endure such horror.
Taesu didn't flinch at those sounds and stabbed the needle deep in.
It was when it had almost fully entered.
"That's it."
Taesu muttered low and moved his hand to pull the plunger.
Schloop.
As the plunger rose, opaque liquid began filling the cylinder.
Perhaps mixed with some blood, it gradually turned a murky red.
This was completely different from emergency care for hemothorax or pneumothorax.
Since the symptoms were different, it was right that the treatment method was different too.
Soon the opaque liquid filled the syringe completely.
It was astounding that this much liquid was inside the lungs.
Sergeant Sam was indeed marveling.
But Taesu was listening to the internal sounds again, the stethoscope in his ears.
"Hmm. Anthony."
The moment Taesu called out.
Squeeze, squeeze.
Private Anthony's expression, as he compressed the ambu bag, immediately brightened.
"The resistance has decreased."
"Please give 30 slightly shallow, rapid breaths."
"Yes."
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze…….
Following Taesu's order, Private Anthony squeezed the ambu bag, continuing to be amazed.
"Amazing. Wow."
The resistance he had vividly felt through the ambu bag disappeared like a lie, drawing continuous admiration.
Meanwhile, Taesu's mind raced.
Is this one done?
Then he should move to the next.
But when he tried to move, something felt off.
It was like having gone to the bathroom but left the cleanup incomplete.
'What is it?'
Nothing in particular came to mind even when he thought about it.
Then Gim Hyeokgwon asked:
"Is something bothering you?"
"Yes. But I don't know what it is."
"Listen again."
Snap.
Gim Hyeokgwon handed over the stethoscope again.
To Taesu as well, that seemed to be the right call.
Taesu, taking the stethoscope, asked Sergeant Sam:
"Please go first and help Doctor Jeong."
"Understood."
Swish.
Perhaps Sergeant Sam had also been uncomfortable waiting, as he moved quickly.
Meanwhile, Taesu carefully traced the back with the stethoscope.
Vaseline and gauze were thickly layered but posed no problem.
Slide, slide.
He moved the chest piece here and there, but no particularly problematic sounds were heard.
'Did I miss the mark?'
Taesu tilted his head.
Nevertheless, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing.
Just in case, he asked Private Rachel:
"Rachel, check the vitals, please."
"On it."
Beep.
Private Rachel immediately pressed the button on the automatic blood pressure monitor.
True to her expressionless impression, she had a cold and meticulous style.
Perhaps that was why she held out a notepad.
"Please check this."
"You've been writing it down."
"I did so because Doctor Choe said before that writing it down was much better."
"Of course. I don't trust my memory either."
Taesu replied, his gaze scanning the vital records.
He could almost read the progression of the hydrothorax.
This was why records were important.
If there was another problem, it was that the pulse was slightly fast.
'Since it was hydrothorax.'
Come to think of it, he didn't know what had caused the hydrothorax.
Hydrothorax usually referred to the phenomenon where serous fluid accumulated in the lungs as a complication of heart or kidney disease.
The heart had weakened considerably but was continuing its work without rest.
Then was it the kidneys?
He was approaching the cause by eliminating possibilities one by one.
At that moment, Gim Hyeokgwon had the stethoscope in and was listening to the internal sounds through the back.
It was his study method, occasionally watching Taesu and imitating him to learn one thing at a time.
But Gim Hyeokgwon looked at Taesu with a puzzled expression.
"Why is the heart beating with a thump-thump-thump-thump feeling?"
"Thump-thump-thump?"
"Yes. Thump-thump-thump."
When Gim Hyeokgwon repeated the same expression, Taesu's expression completely hardened.
"Give me the stethoscope. Rachel, vitals one more time."
"Here."
Swish.
"Roger."
Beep.
Both reacted sharply.
The moment Taesu hung the stethoscope back on his ear and placed the chest piece on the back.
Thump-thump-thump.
The sound of the heart fluttering thinly stimulated his ears.
"Damn it. Arrhythmia."
Gim Hyeokgwon was momentarily flustered by Taesu's shout.
"Why are you suddenly saying arrhythmia?"
"Rachel."
"The pulse is……."
As Private Rachel reflexively recited the figure, strength entered Taesu's eyes.