Taesu answered, showing him a syringe filled with clear medicine.
“A cardiotonic.”
“We’ve administered lidocaine for now, so yes. Let’s have everything ready.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s tone was stiff, but his eyes were blazing as he watched the patient.
Private Anthony and Private Rachel could hardly breathe.
It was probably the first time they had ever watched a patient’s heart thrash so wildly.
Everyone swallowed even the sound of their breathing as they watched the patient.
Before they knew it, Taesu was listening intently to the sounds of the heart and both lungs with his stethoscope.
Slip, slip.
After moving it a few more times.
Taesu weakly took off the stethoscope and let out a long breath.
Thud.
“Phew.”
“Is it done?”
Nod.
Taesu answered only with a tilt of his head.
Kim Hyeokgwon smiled with an expression that said he understood perfectly.
“Right. Once you’ve saved the patient, you’re allowed to find everything else annoying.”
“He’s alive? It’s over now?”
“Phew. Wow. Haha.”
Thud, thud.
As the tension finally drained from them, everyone sank right down onto the floor.
The pulse count on the AED monitor was staying within a stable range.
They could finally rest a little.
They had gained a brief moment to catch their breath.
Only now could Taesu draw a faint, bland smile on his lips.
Just as he was about to take a breather.
Taesu suddenly remembered the colleague he had momentarily forgotten.
“Oh, right. Minsu.”
He had promised ten minutes.
When he checked the time, twelve minutes had passed.
Because Squad Leader Sam had relayed the situation here, the radio had been quiet.
But he couldn’t expect it to stay quiet forever.
There wasn’t much time left before the NGO arrived.
The patient over there was said to be short on blood.
Matching blood?
Flash.
Taesu’s eyes gleamed, and he made a bold decision.
“Anthony, Rachel.”
“Sir. Doctor Choi.”
“You two, please monitor him here.”
“Will it be all right with just the two of us?”
Private Rachel asked with an anxious expression.
Taesu immediately nodded.
“We’re going to replace everything before we leave.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll leave the radio here too, so you can contact us at any time.”
Thump.
Taesu set down his radio.
It also meant this situation was nearly over.
Only then did Private Rachel look somewhat relieved.
“Understood.”
“We’ll monitor him like a fortress.”
Private Anthony, perhaps still troubled by his mistake, accepted with grim determination.
In the meantime, Kim Hyeokgwon, quick on the uptake, replaced the IV fluids with new ones.
As he did, he looked puzzled.
“Even so, wouldn’t it be better if I stayed here?”
“You’ve worked too hard, so I was going to let you rest a bit.”
“Rest? Me?”
Kim Hyeokgwon narrowed his eyes.
Taesu, on the other hand, smiled gently.
“You can truly just lie down comfortably and keep us company.”
“I’m sure I’ll be very comfortable beside a doctor performing emergency treatment.”
“You will be.”
“What on earth are you scheming?”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s suspicion deepened by the second.
But Taesu answered without so much as blinking.
“I swear to the heavens—no, I stake my friendship with James on it.”
“You’re dragging that old man into it too? Then it must be true.”
“A man’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.”
“Call.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Taesu moved ahead.
There was nothing very trusting in Kim Hyeokgwon’s eyes as he followed behind.
A short while later.
Kim Hyeokgwon was lying inside another tent.
It was exactly as Taesu had boasted.
But as expected, nothing in this world was free.
A thick catheter was connected to Kim Hyeokgwon’s arm. Dark red venous blood flowed out and filled a transfusion bag.
In short, he was donating blood.
Kim Hyeokgwon muttered with a hollow expression.
“I can’t believe I trusted the word ‘free.’”
“Comfortable, aren’t you?”
“Doctor Choi, are you a mosquito? Sucking people’s blood like this, you wicked doctors.”
Grrrr.
He looked ready to leap up and devour them at any moment.
Still, he did not get up.
Even though he could have pulled it out himself at any time and stood up, he continued donating blood.
Taesu smiled faintly at the sight.
But only for a moment.
He focused again on the female patient’s wound.
Jeong Minsu was in the middle of explaining their progress so far.
“……So, like you said, I held out like this.”
“Good thing you caught the main vessel first.”
“If I hadn’t, I would’ve sent Sam and Ryan to drag you back ages ago.”
Jeong Minsu spoke firmly, his face deathly pale.
It was obvious he had suffered as much as Taesu had.
Seeing how exhausted Taesu looked, Jeong Minsu was also cutting back on the nagging.
Each of them had truly had a hard time.
On top of that, they had cared for severe trauma patients while dragging along complete medical novices, so of course they were exhausted.
But it still wasn’t over.
Slip, slip.
Taesu visually checked every part of the wound and said,
“Let’s just stop the remaining bleeding, then pack everything else in and tie it off.”
“Brute force?”
“The NGO will be here soon.”
“Do whatever you want.”
Jeong Minsu’s ashen face began to regain life.
The same was true for Taesu.
Now that the end was in sight, they could draw up strength they didn’t have.
On top of that, Squad Leader Sam and Corporal Ryan were helping.
When it came to physical stamina, these men were outstanding, making them perfect for simple labor.
After finishing their discussion.
Taesu lightly jerked his chin at Jeong Minsu.
“Give the orders.”
“Doctor Choi, you just need to follow my hands.”
“Heh.”
Taesu laughed it off blandly.
Meanwhile, Jeong Minsu made a request of the soldiers.
“Please prepare a huge amount of gauze and cotton pads—no, just keep preparing them nonstop.”
“Nonstop, sir?”
“We’ll need a lot.”
“Understood.”
Squad Leader Sam still did not understand, but he asked no further questions.
He knew well enough that he would soon see it with his own eyes.
After taking one breath.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu were holding surgical instruments.
Since this was emergency treatment with Jeong Minsu taking the lead, he spoke calmly.
“We go all the way in one shot, straight through.”
“As much as you want.”
“Then let’s begin.”
“Yeah.”
Shhk.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu’s surgical tools slipped deep into the wound.
Tap, scrape.
Their final objective was to find minor bleeding points and clean up the wound.
Because Jeong Minsu had checked it several times, his reactions were quick.
“Let’s approach from this side.”
“Got it. Huh?”
“Right. Here, got one.”
It was a good start.
As tangible results appeared, Jeong Minsu and Taesu’s drive surged even higher.
“Next.”
“This way.”
“Search that area thoroughly.”
Back and forth.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu exchanged opinions without pause.
They were not simply shouting at each other.
This kind of abdominal emergency treatment in the field was the specialty of the two of them.
Shk-shk-shk.
Their high-energy hand movements continued.
With the expectation that this was the final stretch, they were pouring in every bit of strength they had.
Keeping pace with that speed, the soldiers preparing gauze and cotton pads were having just as hard a time.
Kim Hyeokgwon was observing while lying down for the first time in a while.
“Heh.”
That brief laugh was all.
His reaction said he had fully expected Taesu and Jeong Minsu to act like that.
Around the same time.
On the road, made even bleaker by the growing cold, trucks raced forward, kicking up clouds of pale dust.
Vroooom.
The vehicles entered Mohar all at once.
As a medium-sized city, it was crowded with people.
Even so, the vehicles did not slow down and moved rapidly toward the deeper part of the city.
After driving a little farther, a place packed with people came into view.
From inside it, smoke was rising in wisps.
Seeing that, the lead vehicle blared its horn loudly.
Baaang.
The people were startled, turned around, and hurriedly opened a path.
“@#^#@%@#.”
“@#%$#@$%.”
The people who stepped aside widened their eyes in surprise as they looked at the trucks.
Vroom.
The trucks ignored the people’s gazes and moved along the opened path.
A wrecked minibus could be seen in the distance.
But the smoke was not coming from there.
Once the trucks had approached to a certain point, they quickly reduced speed.
Screeech.
When the trucks came to a complete stop, people poured out of the cargo beds of each vehicle.
They were soldiers in camouflage and medical staff in white coats.
One of the soldiers took command and controlled the scene.
“Soldiers, unload the supplies first and start setting up the tents.”
“Sir. Open the cargo beds.”
“Carry them down one by one.”
Clack, clack.
The soldiers moved swiftly and systematically.
The medical staff, on the other hand, looked a bit scattered.
“Smoke over there.”
“It’s not the bus.”
“Then what the hell is it? Just grab what we need for now.”
“Start running.”
Clatter, crash.
They were somewhat scattered and disorganized, but their actions were swift.
Soon, the medical staff, each slinging a bag over their shoulder, began to run.
Among them, a middle-aged Black doctor running at the front with his white coat fluttering stood out.
He was Doctor Schmidt, the head of this medical team.
Behind him, his right-hand man Doctor Oliver and Brad Kim followed solidly.
Doctor Oliver pointed in a direction and said,
“Doctor, smoke is rising from that direction.”
“We’re going that way.”
Tap-tap-tap.
Doctor Schmidt and everyone else turned at once and headed toward the smoke.
As they were running urgently like that.
Doctor Schmidt spotted something and shouted loudly.
“Stop.”
“……”
Everyone quickly halted.
They were all seeing exactly what Doctor Schmidt was seeing.
What entered their eyes was the helicopter medical team.
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon were sitting with duffel bags propped behind them as backrests.
“Hoo, hoohoo.”
“You’re finally here.”
They were so exhausted that their lips had turned white and cracked.
Their white coats were blackened in places and stained with red blood.
Behind them, smoke was puffing upward.
Drums were placed here and there, and flames swayed inside them.
Even from some distance away, warmth could be felt.
Around those drums, cloths had been spread in several places, and people were lying on them.
Soldiers were guiding people to the warm areas.
It was not organized at all.
Yet it did not feel hopeless either.
After quickly looking around, Doctor Schmidt asked in a low voice,
“Doctor Choi, what’s the current situation?”
The moment the question ended.
Slowly.
The exhausted Taesu slowly raised his head and met his eyes.
“……”
Taesu silently stared at him, then moved his hand sluggishly.
He lifted his hand all the way and changed its shape.
Slowly, firmly.
It was a thumbs-up.
Soon, Taesu said in a calm voice,
“Mission complete.”
Wink.
He winked lightly and showed a thin smile.