Taesu was now certain it was the second case.
That was why he had hurriedly prepared the injections and told them to find his family.
It was not mere conjecture.
It was an order based on his vital signs.
His pulse was faint, and his blood pressure had not registered from the start.
Even his body temperature was low.
From his rapidly emaciated body, not a trace of vitality could be felt.
Lastly, his response to morphine had been slow.
It was clear evidence that even minimal circulation was not taking place.
That was how terrible Apsalaman’s condition was.
Everything proved that he was standing on the brink of death.
A patient without even the smallest hope stood before him.
A hollow laugh escaped him first.
“Ha, haha. I guess he wasn’t talking about death for nothing.”
“Let’s refrain from talking among ourselves.”
“Let’s do that.”
Kim Hyeokgwon now complied obediently.
It was because he was certain Apsalaman did not have much time left.
At that thought, the corners of Kim Hyeokgwon’s eyes drooped.
Taesu was the same.
He did not want to say such things.
Even now, he wanted to overturn everything.
But he could not.
This was not something that could be solved by forcing it.
Nor was this an environment where he could force anything.
Before the approaching shadow of death, he once again keenly realized how infinitely small he was.
And then, at that moment.
“%#$#. !#$#$.”
Apsalaman’s voice came.
Strangely, that voice had grown clearer.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s brow twitched as he translated the words in a heavy tone.
“He says it’s bearable now.”
“It seems the morphine is starting to take effect.”
“Huh?”
When Kim Hyeokgwon hesitated, Taesu looked at him in puzzlement.
“What is it?”
“……He’s asking us to save him.”
“Ah.”
“He says if it’s this kind of pain, he can endure it as much as needed. He says he feels like he has strength again.”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered with difficulty.
In contrast, Apsalaman’s expression had brightened considerably.
The time of pain must have passed, and peace had come.
In step with that change, his heart had shifted, and now he was harboring hope for life.
Taesu had to say something.
But he did not know what to say.
No matter how he racked his brain, he could only feel lost.
Before it was too late, he quickly sought Kim Hyeokgwon’s help.
“How should I answer?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
“I’ll take the blame, so please think with me.”
Taesu was so troubled that he pressed him with a grimace.
Kim Hyeokgwon was the same.
Still, he threw out a suggestion.
“One way is to just shut our mouths and say nothing.”
“Then he’ll ask us to get him out of here right now and save him.”
“There’s also the way of telling him the truth.”
“Do you think he’ll hear that and simply accept it?”
At Taesu’s answer, which only circled back to the same place, Kim Hyeokgwon flared up.
“If it’s neither this nor that, then what are we supposed to do?”
“That’s what I’m asking. What are we supposed to do?”
“Then why did you tell them to bring his family?”
“It would be good if his family made the decision, but we can’t just put this off until then.”
Taesu could only feel lost.
Kim Hyeokgwon was the same.
When the atmosphere between the two grew lukewarm, Apsalaman looked at them in confusion.
“#$$#@#%$.”
When he said something, Kim Hyeokgwon flinched in response.
“What do you mean why? We’re like this because of you.”
“Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
“What now?”
“Let’s just tell him the truth.”
When Taesu abruptly made the decision, Kim Hyeokgwon hesitated.
“Are you sure that’s all right?”
“We can’t postpone it forever. And honestly, it doesn’t look like there’s much time.”
“Right now his condition is completely…… probably sky-high. He got two shots of morphine.”
Kim Hyeokgwon once again had to twist the words he had been about to say.
That was how much the morphine and life-sustaining drugs were buying Apsalaman time.
They could not let that precious, hard-won time slip away meaninglessly.
Taesu spoke to Kim Hyeokgwon once more.
“Please convey it.”
“You said you’d take the blame, but I’m the one who has to say it.”
“I’m asking you to convey what I say.”
Taesu spoke with a resolute gaze.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s face turned bitter. But this was not a part where he could step forward, nor should he.
He accepted Taesu’s words.
“I’ll translate thoroughly, so start.”
“Mr. Apsalaman, first…….”
Taesu told Apsalaman about his current condition.
He also honestly laid out the evidence supporting it, and even the reason he was no longer feeling pain.
Naturally, Apsalaman could not believe it.
Instead, he flew into a rage.
“@$@#$@!”
“He’s asking what you’re talking about when he’s gotten this much better and it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“The medicine is helping. Even so, you will likely find it hard to clench your fist properly.”
“$@$#@……. He’s asking if it’s because he’s being a nuisance. Even so, he says not to say such things.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s tone as he translated was mechanical.
As he had said earlier, he was pushing away emotion and only conveying the conversation.
Taesu, on the other hand, was speaking while meeting the patient’s eyes.
And what he was speaking of was death.
It was tremendously difficult on his heart.
But he did not show it, and repeated the explanation until Apsalaman understood.
The more he did, the more Apsalaman’s mood changed from moment to moment.
“@#%#%@#$%.”
“No, save me, please save me.”
Apsalaman’s scream came out of Kim Hyeokgwon’s mouth translated without emotion.
It was not only the atmosphere that changed.
He even began to thrash.
“Uaaaagh, aaagh!”
Right now, sudden movement was the worst possible action, one that would shave away his life.
Thud!
Taesu quickly pressed down on both his shoulders and stopped him.
“You mustn’t. You can’t move like this!”
“Ggaaah, aaaah!”
With dried-out eyes, Apsalaman screamed until his throat seemed ready to burst.
It was a cry of anguish.
A cry toward life.
That desperate scream pained Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon’s hearts even more.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
The only thing he could do was apologize.
Taesu hated this moment.
He resented this moment, when he could do nothing, so terribly.
It was exactly the same as back then.
When Caprene left.
When Sabi left.
Back then, he had been able to do nothing.
He had not even been given a chance to try something.
He had hated that.
So he had learned and trained, falling over, collapsing, and breaking himself again and again.
He had thought that now, he would be different from back then.
But that had been a misjudgment.
In this moment too, just like himself on that day, at that time, there was nothing he could do.
This time as well, he had to simply stand by and watch someone’s life come to an end.
‘What on earth am I……’
He even felt a sense of shame toward himself.
But he could not stop persuading Apsalaman.
“Mr. Apsalaman, you mustn’t do this. The current situation is…….”
He persuaded him, and persuaded him again.
Chakam would soon return with his family.
It was so that when that time came, Apsalaman could say what he wished to say.
By the time one felt the end approaching, it was already too late.
Before then, while he still had even a little reason and strength left, he had to recognize it.
Taesu had witnessed many deaths before his eyes until now.
This was the greatest consideration he could offer.
After he had repeated the explanation several times.
Apsalaman, who had denied and denied again, finally lost his momentum.
No, it seemed he too was now sensing something.
He sagged.
At last, he began to sob.
“@$@#$.”
Faint muttering continued on.
Kim Hyeokgwon deliberately did not listen to those words, and even if he heard them, he did not translate them.
Taesu did not ask either.
He could only resent himself for having to carry out this kind of persuasion.
Soon, Chakam brought people with him.
Fortunately, it was while Apsalaman still had some consciousness left.
Chakam explained in short words.
“Wife, and family.”
“The children?”
“Children, no.”
Chakam explained clearly.
His wife and siblings were unquestionably his guardians.
Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon did not delay and explained as concisely as possible.
“We’ll explain the details again, but right now, Apsalaman is…….”
“Huh!”
“Gasp!”
Their shocked reactions came first after hearing Taesu’s words.
But among the siblings, there were hot-tempered ones as well.
Grab.
“#!%@$@!”
“Let go of me. Doctor Choi, shake them off too!”
Kim Hyeokgwon mediated forcefully.
That was how rough the reactions of the excited siblings were.
Taesu simply endured the cruel hands as they were.
Even so, the persuasion continued.
“Now is not the time to do this to me…….”
“@#%@#%!”
“Who are you yelling at? Do you think we’re doing this because we like it?”
Murmur, murmur.
In a word, this place was utter chaos.
It had become a complete mess, but no one could easily bring it under control.
There was no way they could calmly accept the sudden death of a husband, and of a brother.
That chaos stopped with Apsalaman’s sudden change.
“Uuugh!”
Splatter!
Black blood poured from his mouth.
His complexion was turning a bluish hue.
He could not move his arms, and his neck was gradually becoming difficult to hold up.
His eyes, too, were slowly beginning to close.
Seeing that, his wife let out a scream.
“Kyaaaah. ^%#@$!”
“@%$#$%.”
In an instant, his siblings rushed toward Apsalaman.
In a crowd.
And in the place they left behind, Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon stood with heavy faces.
Without even thinking to straighten their rumpled clothes, they stepped back.
It was because the time for final farewells was drawing near.
“Huuhng, $@$@#.”
“#%#%.”
“@$@#.”
Their conversation passed back and forth, high and low, bitter and grief-stricken.
Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon watched them with heavy gazes.
Then Kim Hyeokgwon asked Taesu.
“Doctor Choi, is there really no way?”
“You know it’s already too late.”
“None at all, really no way whatsoever?”
“Phew. If several conditions were in place, we could try.”
When Taesu spoke with difficulty, Kim Hyeokgwon immediately pressed him like a flash.
“What conditions?”
“First, an unlimited supply of blood packs on standby.”
“How many people are there in this city right now? We can just draw blood here!”
Kim Hyeokgwon immediately offered an answer.
Taesu calmly stated the next thing needed.
“A sterile, or at least antibacterial, operating room. The latest electrosurgical instruments would be essential too.”
“That…… would be difficult here.”
“And lastly, a wheelchair.”
At those words, Kim Hyeokgwon flinched.
“A wheelchair?”
“One hundred percent lower-body paralysis.”
At that, Kim Hyeokgwon narrowed his brow and asked.
“How do you know that?”
“There was no response at all when I pressed on his spine.”
“That means paralysis has already started.”
“That’s right.”
When Taesu affirmed it, Kim Hyeokgwon’s expression abruptly changed to puzzlement.
“He said he could feel pain.”
“You’ve heard of phantom pain, right?”
“That…… yes. I have.”
“And I expect that even the slightest mistake during surgery could result in full-body paralysis.”
At Taesu’s added words, Kim Hyeokgwon shook his head.
“Damn it. Do you know what feels the filthiest to me after listening to all that?”
“I’m not sure.”
“In the end, it’s all armchair theory. We can’t prepare any of it here right now.”
“Even if we could prepare it, there’s no surgeon here skilled enough to operate on him.”
Taesu stated the worst of it.