Swish, swish.
Just then, Jeong Minsu’s voice came from near the patient’s legs.
"I took off his shoes and socks."
Taesu simply kept his ears open.
He knew Jeong Minsu had already arrived and was helping with first aid. For all his timidity, he was thankfully proactive at times like this.
Taesu unbuttoned his sleeves and jerked his chin.
"The belt."
"On it."
Shuffle.
From beside him, he could feel Jeong Minsu’s feverish warmth.
Taesu, having unbuttoned both sleeves before he knew it, made an additional request to Jeong Minsu.
"Find an operating room or a medical tent."
"You mean Dr. Schmidt’s? Where is his tent?"
"The tenth tent that way from here."
"Belt’s done. I’m going."
Pat, pat, pat.
Jeong Minsu shot to his feet and ran.
In the meantime, Taesu placed his hand on the patient’s carotid artery and kept checking the pulse.
If it was angina, you shouldn’t administer chest compressions recklessly.
There was a possibility the attack would stop between one and two minutes.
It was time for the blood flow to accelerate with the body’s self-preservation instinct, pushing out the clot blocking the coronary artery.
But if this state lasted beyond five minutes, it would truly become dangerous then.
For that reason, once two minutes passed and it entered the third minute, emergency measures had to be carried out no matter what.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
Feeling the patient’s fluttering heart with his fingertips, he counted the seconds with his wristwatch.
Due to the heart problem, the patient’s breathing gradually grew rougher.
"Sss... *gasp*, *grunt*, *huff* *huff*."
Just then, Gim Hyeokgwon said while rummaging through the patient’s pockets.
"He’s the guardian, apparently. His wife was badly injured and brought here, and she’s in surgery right now."
"Why the pockets?"
"To pull out his guardian card. We need to know his name and who’s in charge of her."
Gim Hyeokgwon’s judgment was correct.
Soon, as if having found the guardian card, he abruptly pulled it out and read it, saying,
"The name is Ohamed... Not Ohamma or whatever, anyway, and the team in charge of his wife is the Special Trauma Response Team?"
"It’s a level below James’s surgical team. If she went there, she’s definitely severely injured."
"Damn it, if this goes wrong..."
The moment Gim Hyeokgwon was about to speak, Taesu sharply cut him off.
"A slip of the tongue becomes reality."
"Ahem. It was a slip of the tongue."
"Since you misspoke, go get me some cardiotonic and a thrombolytic agent."
"From where... I’ll just scrounge some up myself."
As if acknowledging his wrongdoing, Gim Hyeokgwon accepted readily.
Swish.
And so Gim Hyeokgwon got up.
"Nngh. Nngh."
The patient’s attack was continuing.
Taesu gauged the elapsed time on the wristwatch he was keeping an eye on.
‘One minute.’
He had been watching since the onset of the attack, so the time was accurate.
The first minute so far had merely been the opening skirmish.
The minute to come would be even more agonizing.
The blocked coronary artery had to open quickly, or he had to help make it possible.
But then Gim Hyeokgwon’s voice came from directly behind him, though he was supposed to have gone to fetch them.
"Dr. Jeong."
"*Huff* *huff* *huff*. They’re saying there’s no room right now."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Just, *huff* *huff*, I just, *huff* *huff*... a moment."
Jeong Minsu passed Gim Hyeokgwon and approached the patient, gasping raggedly.
He hadn’t come back empty-handed; he had a syringe and ampoules.
"A cardiotonic and lidocaine."
"What about the thrombolytic agent?"
"They said there’s none right now."
At those words, Taesu faltered.
"Where did you go?"
"*Huff* *huff*. Dr. Schmidt’s... *huff* *huff* emergency surgery... they said no."
Though he spoke in broken sentences, Taesu understood perfectly and asked again.
"Then what about these?"
"Huuuu. I just grabbed them... Here, the syringe."
Abruptly.
Jeong Minsu held out what he had prepared in the meantime, and Taesu received it, dumbfounded.
‘And to think he was timid.’
He had clearly stormed Dr. Schmidt’s surgical tent and seized these by force.
With this kind of initiative.
He definitely had that final edge.
That was as far as his thoughts went.
Taesu’s gaze was already sweeping over the patient.
The patient’s hand, gripping his shoulder, was clenched tight.
Tremble, tremble.
It was shaking from the sheer amount of strength he was exerting.
"Nngh..."
Cold sweat was streaming down as well.
Administering an injection in this situation was difficult.
However, Taesu knew several alternative vascular sites thanks to his countless battlefield experiences and Caprene’s knowledge.
One of those was the pelvis.
The belt had been undone, and the front of his trousers was already open.
Swish.
Taesu boldly rolled the patient to the side and pulled up his shirt as well.
Soon, the pelvis came into view.
Looking closely, faint blue veins could be spotted.
Taesu carefully aimed the injection needle toward the pelvis.
Seeing that, Jeong Minsu flinched hard.
"Is that okay?"
"Why not?"
"Well, the vein’s diameter is different, for one."
"When do we have time to check that? You think we’ve got time?"
It was simultaneous with those words.
The target locked in his sight, Taesu immediately moved his hand.
Thwick.
The needle pierced the flesh, parting it with the sensation of lifting a thin flap.
Since it wasn’t the familiar dorsum of the hand, even Taesu couldn’t succeed on the first attempt.
Wiggle, wiggle.
After adjusting it several times, Taesu nodded.
"Good."
Squeeeeze.
Pressing the plunger, the cardiotonic rapidly flooded into the body.
"Lidocaine."
"Yeah. Here."
Tap.
Taesu followed up by pushing in more.
Thus, he protected the heartbeat and guarded against arrhythmia.
Painkillers were neither mentioned nor requested.
Just because he was in pain didn’t mean painkillers were the unconditional answer.
Especially with coronary artery pain, medicine was hard-pressed to reach it, and even if it did take effect, that was problematic.
Because one would be unable to tell whether there was something wrong with the thin arteries surrounding the heart.
"Nngh."
It was heartbreaking to see the patient’s cold sweat increasing.
Taesu checked the time.
Roughly about one minute and thirty seconds had passed.
Yet no tangible result had materialized.
Taesu grew increasingly anxious.
At this rate, he would end up unable to do anything.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
Taesu quickly looked around.
Pat, pat. Rumble, rumble.
Though fewer than before, many medical staff were still coming and going.
Taesu shot to his feet and grabbed whoever he could.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"This is an angina patient. His coronary artery is blocked and needs to be opened immediately. Do you have a place?"
"I’m sorry. I don’t have time to... I’m really sorry."
The person genuinely apologized and hurriedly moved on.
Taesu did not give up.
"Excuse me. This patient here..."
"Our team doesn’t have space..."
"Excuse me, an angina patient..."
"Sorry."
It was a continuous string of rejections.
Taesu was frustrated but didn’t blame them.
Not a single person brushed him off casually.
Since Taesu was wearing a surgical gown and there was an emergency patient, everyone had stopped even for a moment to answer before moving on.
Even those in impossible situations answered as they passed.
They too were in the middle of transporting patients in critical condition or rushing to emergency surgery.
Because he knew their situation, he couldn’t bring himself to resent them.
Taesu cast his gaze wide.
Medical tents were densely set up far into the distance.
Examination tents, operating tents, ward tents.
Each had a role suited to its type.
He could see the medical staff going in and out of them as well.
Everyone had a destination—a place to care for emergency patients.
But for them, there was none.
There was nowhere for them to head within this vast medical camp, among these many tents.
Fine.
It didn’t matter what happened to them.
It didn’t matter if they were drenched in night dew or left sitting in the street.
But what sin had the patient committed?
He had come following his severely injured wife as her guardian. That worry must have become stress and caused a problem in his heart.
This kind of angina could happen to anyone.
Nor was a disease where the coronary artery gets blocked anything unusual.
But in Ohamed’s case, the likelihood of it clearing on its own was rapidly dwindling, making surgery necessary.
It wasn’t even a long procedure.
Just a short while would do.
It could be finished within an hour.
Yet the agony of having nowhere to relieve Ohamed’s pain was crushing.
"Fuck."
Taesu spat out his pent-up frustration.
Just then, Gim Hyeokgwon approached, panting as if about to keel over.
"*Huff* *huff* *huff* *huff*."
"Did you find anything? Is there a place?"
Taesu looked to Gim Hyeokgwon with hope, for he always had an answer.
But he shook his head, panting heavily.
"Heurk... N-none... *huff* *huff*."
"Ugh."
"It’s too wide... *huff* *huff*. Couldn’t check... *huff* *huff*. Everywhere... *huff* *huff*."
"It’s damn wide, isn’t it. Wide as hell... Damn."
Taesu felt dejected.
If only there were an empty medical tent somewhere.
In the middle of this chaos, it was unlikely such a tent existed.
Taesu, who had been thinking that, froze.
There was.
There was one place.
Recalling the location, Taesu quickly shouted to Jeong Minsu.
"Minsu, carry him."
"Huh? Uh, okay."
"Mr. Hyeokgwon, please help him, and come to the second medical tent on the right after passing the third medical tent this way."
Gim Hyeokgwon, who had been memorizing the directions, immediately objected.
"I passed by there, and it looked like they were in surgery."
"No. It’s empty."
"How do you know?"
"Because it’s James’s surgical tent. I’m going first."
Pat, pat, pat.
Taesu turned and ran hard.
James was away.
And he was the most respected doctor in the NGO.
Even if he wasn’t there, no one would dare use his surgical tent without authorization.
No—there was one.
That person was Taesu, one who cared nothing for propriety when it came to a patient.
Taesu arrived at James’s surgical tent in one dash.
A partition curtain was drawn.
Swish.
He opened it?
Sure enough, it was empty.
And inside, surgical scrubs and various auxiliary equipment needed for surgery were neatly stacked on shelves.
"Perfect."
Taesu went right in.
He had to open the blocked coronary artery.
Then what?
"What I need is..."
Taesu quickly scanned the shelves.
Swish, swish, swish.
He moved with such agility that a flying squirrel would have been put to shame.
Taesu’s expression brightened as he grabbed the items one by one.
"This is here, and this too, of course."
Whenever he thought of something and looked for it, it was always there.
These shelves were like a magic bag.
James’s surgical team was surgery-centric but not limited to general surgery alone.
As the NGO’s finest surgical team, it pursued the tradition of ‘surgery’ capable of operating on everything from head to toe.
It was only natural, with specialists from every field stationed there.
Having gathered what he needed, Taesu immediately headed for the second partition.
This was the prep room; beyond there was the real operating room.
But it was then.
Pat, pat, pat.
"Hey, you."
At the shout, Taesu turned to look.
Unfamiliar medical staff had crowded in.
An unfamiliar doctor pointed at Taesu and shouted harshly.
"Look at this guy."
"Hey, who are you? How dare you come in here, do you know where this is?"
"Put everything down and get the hell out."
Growls came from every direction.
Right now, in the eyes of the NGO medical staff, Taesu was an insolent bastard who had trespassed into the respected James’s operating room without permission.