When Taesu asked, having expected as much, Jeong Minsu rose from his seat and nodded.
“She was found twenty minutes ago. She was in too much pain, so I chose to put her under.”
“You did well—but wait. Then she was trapped for nearly two hours!”
“At most, yes.”
“Then why is there so little bleeding?”
Splash.
Taesu asked as he continued spraying saline.
He asked because the old, hardened blood would not wash away easily.
But Jeong Minsu’s expression darkened for an instant.
“Right. There’s so little bleeding it’s almost strange.”
“Jeong Minsu. What do you mean?”
“Her fingertips… Don’t you see them?”
At the same time as Jeong Minsu’s heavy question—
Whoosh!
Taesu’s gaze shot straight to the patient’s hand.
The back of her right hand was blue-black.
And her middle and ring fingers were torn—no, crushed.
The flesh had been mangled so badly that bone was faintly visible.
Even from those fingertips, the bleeding was extremely slight.
“Mm?”
Taesu’s pupils trembled.
Then Jeong Minsu spoke in a voice he had forced to keep calm.
“By sheer luck, it seems the humerus fractured and blocked the brachial artery.”
“Ha. Ha. Sheer luck, you say.”
Taesu forced out a laugh that broke off in jerks.
Jeong Minsu knew the reason as well.
“Yeah. I hate my own mouth for calling this sheer luck.”
“No. It is luck. Otherwise she would have died from excessive blood loss.”
Taesu’s voice hardened.
When speaking of an utterly cold reality, he could not allow emotion into it.
Jeong Minsu was the same.
“It’s not that there’s no bleeding at all.”
“To stop it, we have to cut.”
“I explained it to her before putting her under.”
“That must have been even more of a shock. That’s why you had to put her under.”
Taesu was certain, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
And Jeong Minsu agreed.
“Yeah. It was terrible.”
“We don’t have time. Let’s finish this before the necrosis spreads upward.”
“Damn it. What the hell are we doing with babies right in front of us?”
Clang!
Jeong Minsu hurled the empty disinfectant bottle onto the floor.
Mentioning the babies was an excuse.
What pained him more was that a patient who looked around their age would have to live the rest of her life with only one arm.
Taesu had finished disinfecting and had even put on his surgical gloves.
He immediately picked up a surgical tool and cut the patient’s clothes from the shoulder.
Snip, snip.
As he peeled away the filthy clothes, the affected area became clear.
Jeong Minsu had already washed and disinfected it first.
But it seemed fresh bleeding had made it look messy again.
The wound was around the middle of the upper arm.
Splash!
Taesu poured another bottle of saline over it.
For an instant, the bleeding was swept away, and every wound became distinct.
At that moment, Taesu’s eyes shook.
The bone, muscles, and nerves of the upper arm were all severed.
Only skin and small strands of muscle were holding the upper and lower parts together.
Above all, perhaps because she had been buried in a pit of dust, necrosis had already begun.
What Taesu truly wanted to say was this.
‘Even so, let’s save it.’
But the words could not leave his mouth.
No—they caught in his throat and did not even rise to his lips.
This was not something emergency treatment could resolve.
Even a formal operation would be impossible.
For them, who had only one foot in orthopedics and neurosurgery, it was beyond their abilities.
Perhaps if it were at least Doctor Quentin and an orthopedic specialist on his level.
Even that was only Taesu’s wish.
To put it coldly, even for them, it would be impossible.
An arm that had already lost all function and begun to rot could not be brought back.
“This goddamn war. What son of a bitch started it?”
Clang!
Taesu kicked away a broken dining chair.
Jeong Minsu understood far too well how he felt.
“I hate this. I really hate war so damn much.”
“Jeong Minsu, get a grip.”
“You get a grip!”
Jeong Minsu suddenly shouted.
It was a reaction born from irritation that had climbed all the way to the top of his head.
Taesu felt the same.
But he stayed silent.
“……”
At times like this, conversation had to stop.
That was the wise way to avoid touching each other’s raw nerves.
Perhaps Jeong Minsu sensed it too, because he apologized quietly.
“That was too harsh.”
“It’s that kind of situation.”
“Damn it.”
“Let’s deal with this first.”
Taesu returned to the fundamental problem.
That was the wise decision, and Jeong Minsu immediately agreed.
“Yeah. Let’s.”
“Damned war.”
“Fuck.”
They could not help adding one more curse each.
After that, even that much conversation disappeared.
Snip, snip.
Only the heavy sound of scissors could be heard.
A short while later.
White bandages were wrapped thickly around the patient’s shoulder.
And in Jeong Minsu’s hands was a long object wrapped in the same bandages.
It was the patient’s arm, which they had had no choice but to amputate.
There was no way emergency treatment ending like this could feel good.
Both their faces were filled with heaviness.
Still, since they had begun it, they had to mark its end.
Taesu opened his mouth with a heavy expression.
“I’m sorry.”
He bowed.
All he could do was lower his head like this to a patient who would not even remember it.
He bowed while supporting the babies with his arm so they would not shift out of place.
Drip, drip.
The sweat that had formed on his head poured down.
Sweating should have brought some relief, but right now he felt nothing.
Even calling it effort felt shameful.
Taesu lifted his head heavily.
But Jeong Minsu remained with his head bowed.
Holding the severed arm in both hands, his shoulders trembled faintly.
“Hooo. Hooo……”
His thin breaths shook.
He was a kindhearted guy by nature.
He had resolved to live harshly, but his essence had not changed.
Taesu slowly circled the table and lightly grasped Jeong Minsu’s shoulder.
Tight.
“There was no other choice.”
“Huuu. Let’s not say that.”
“I don’t want to say it either. But the truth is the truth.”
Taesu spoke rather coldly.
Inside, he was not much different from Jeong Minsu.
How could he not be heartbroken?
But he had no choice but to be cold.
He could not be swept away emotionally with him.
Also, because Taesu had never faced the patient directly, he was able to remain calmer.
On the other hand, Jeong Minsu had heard the patient’s pleas, so he was shaken more deeply.
If their positions had been reversed, perhaps their appearances now would have been different as well.
Taesu collected himself and picked up the radio.
“Mr. Hyeokgwon, emergency treatment here is finished.”
— Judging by the time, I suppose that’s the conclusion you came to in the end.
“Yes. That’s how it turned out.”
— I’ll send someone, so come this way. The canopy and tents are mostly set up now.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s voice over the radio also ended heavily.
Taesu lowered the radio and glanced to the side.
“……”
Jeong Minsu looked as if he needed a little more time to pull himself together.
That silence continued for a moment.
Tap, tap, tap!
The townspeople Kim Hyeokgwon had sent entered the building.
The moment they came in, they temporarily froze.
It was plainly visible at a glance what kind of emergency treatment had taken place.
Among them, a man who looked somewhat older asked Taesu in English.
“May we take her?”
“Yes. Please.”
“Go to Mr. Kim first. We agreed to handle the cleanup as well.”
“Thank you. And… I’m sorry.”
Taesu added the last words with difficulty.
It was not an apology offered because he had guessed what relationship they had with the patient.
It referred to this entire situation.
The other man shook his head with sunken eyes.
“No. We are grateful enough.”
“But…”
“There is much to do, so I think you should go first.”
The man said that and turned away.
The others were the same.
Their feelings?
He understood them fully.
No—he sympathized with them.
Before they knew it, Taesu and Jeong Minsu had returned near the container.
Now it had taken on the appearance of a proper medical zone.
Under the broad canopy, the injured were arriving one after another.
Men who could move were taking the initiative.
Some were setting up medical tents, and others could be seen running here and there.
The women were washing patients or preparing meals.
Even the children were trying to do something among them.
There were people here too.
People who were utterly selfless existed here.
After looking around, Taesu’s expression did not brighten at all.
Even seeing something being accomplished did not seem to stir him much.
At that moment, Kim Hyeokgwon approached.
“What are you looking at?”
“What percentage of the city’s total population would you say these people are?”
“There are so many injured. Let’s not calculate it in detail.”
“We should know what we need to know.”
Taesu answered heavily.
Perhaps because that was right, Kim Hyeokgwon spoke bitterly.
“I don’t know if it even reaches ten percent.”
“I think it would be better to gather the people split between three places into one.”
“Doctor Choi, this is a mid-sized city. If we gather them all, they won’t even be able to breathe.”
“I don’t think being separated is going to let them breathe any easier.”
When Taesu answered bitterly, Kim Hyeokgwon glanced at him.
“I agree that the patients should be somewhere within our sight. But.”
“But?”
“There are only three of us. It will still take hours for the main team to arrive.”
Kim Hyeokgwon pointed out the realistic issue.
Taesu knew it too.
They had been providing emergency treatment without rest until now, but their progress rate had not even reached one percent.
It was an extremely insignificant level.
Even at this moment, someone must be suffering somewhere beyond their sight.
Taesu spoke of that reality as well.
“We don’t even have a grasp on the situation.”
“We might run ourselves ragged like this and end up with nothing to show for it.”
“Let’s put talk like that aside for now.”
“Speaking bluntly, if we even start emergency surgery right now, what are we supposed to do about the other injured?”
There was nothing wrong with what Kim Hyeokgwon was saying.
They had just experienced it.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu had treated an amputee patient together.
During that time, the other patients had been defenseless.
It was not much different now.
At this rate, it would not be a matter of having no end, but of the number of dead only increasing.
The severity of reality was enough to choke him.
But then Taesu suddenly flinched.
“Huh? Uh?”
“What is this… Isn’t this the smell of urine?”
Just as Kim Hyeokgwon pointed out, the smell of ammonia wafted over.
Kim Hyeokgwon immediately covered his own nose.
But conversely, Taesu let out an awkward laugh.
“Ha, haha.”
“Aren’t you a little young for that already?”
“It’s not me.”
“Then why does Doctor Choi smell like piss? Ugh.”
Kim Hyeokgwon even backed away in disgust.
Strangely, Taesu’s smile only grew deeper.
“Heh heh heh.”
“Even if reality is bleak, let’s keep our sanity.”
“It’s giving us a laugh like this.”
“Am I supposed to laugh along too?”
Kim Hyeokgwon asked, frowning.