Needles had been fitted to both ends of the catheter.
It was the very bridge they had used during the Shanmeheum surgery.
Taesu chided Jeong Minsu, who had started talking too much.
“It’s an emergency, and there are a lot of patients.”
“I know. I’ve got the position.”
“Hold it right there.”
Amazingly, Taesu was holding gauze and tape.
He wrapped the gauze around the aorta and the middle of the catheter at the same time. Then he wound sterile tape around it so it would not come loose.
Rrrip, press.
He repeated the same process on both ends.
When he was done, the aorta and the catheter lay side by side as though they had become one.
Because he had used gauze and tape, they did not move.
“Done.”
“Then it’s my turn.”
Click, click.
Jeong Minsu’s eyes gleamed as he moved the forceps-shaped DeBakey and International forceps.
The surgical instruments headed straight for the affected area.
Next, he pushed the needles connected to both ends of the catheter into the aorta.
Swoosh.
Dark blood filled the catheter in an instant.
He did not stop there. Switching to a needle holder, he even fixed both needles in place so they would not come out.
And so, the aortic bridge was completed.
Taesu carefully touched the aortic aneurysm that had formed around the middle of the bridge with his hand.
Press, press.
The thickly swollen vessel narrowed like a sponge, then returned to its original shape.
At the same time, a smile spread across Taesu’s mouth, hidden behind his mask.
“Done.”
“It’s really done?”
“Feel it.”
When Taesu moved aside, Jeong Minsu quickly reached for the aortic aneurysm.
After checking it exactly as Taesu had, Jeong Minsu’s eyes widened as if they might split.
“No, does it make any sense for this thing to have become this soft?”
“I explained it.”
“Yeah. You said the bridge would disperse the arterial blood and reduce the blood flowing into the aortic aneurysm.”
“And that’s exactly what happened.”
Taesu spoke indifferently, but Jeong Minsu could not take it that way.
“Hey, if this was something you could just throw together like this, would our seniors have gone through all that hell?”
“That method is the correct one.”
“Yeah. That method is… What the hell are you saying right now?”
Jeong Minsu’s face was full of disbelief.
Taesu kept observing the flow of blood and glanced at him.
“You don’t know why we did it this way?”
“Because it’s emergency surgery and we don’t have time?”
Jeong Minsu’s voice rose at the end without him realizing it.
It seemed he was not confident in his answer.
At that moment, Kim Hyeokgwon, unable to keep watching, spoke in a blunt voice.
“Isn’t it because this is emergency surgery, so all we have to do is hold out until the main team arrives?”
“Ah. Right.”
“Doctor Jeong, I’m starting to get tired myself. Please, let’s pay attention to grasping the situation and being aware of our surroundings.”
Press, press.
Kim Hyeokgwon frowned as he squeezed the Ambu bag.
Perhaps Jeong Minsu felt a little awkward this time, because the corners of his eyes shifted uneasily.
“When I’m in a hurry, I think I end up seeing only one thing.”
“Then don’t be in a hurry.”
“That’s not exactly something I can control.”
Right after Jeong Minsu answered bitterly,
Taesu, who had been repeatedly checking the vessel’s condition, cut in.
“That’s enough.”
“Ahem.”
“Fortunately, I think the patient will be able to hold out for a few hours, as expected.”
When Taesu spoke with certainty, Kim Hyeokgwon asked,
“Then is the emergency over?”
“Yes. Doctor Jeong, let’s close.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Jeong Minsu quickly moved his hands.
But closing the affected area took even less time than opening it.
That was because all they had to do was bring the wound together and temporarily suture it.
Swish, swish.
In an instant, he began suturing the skin with wire sutures.
That was Jeong Minsu’s responsibility.
At the same time,
Taesu prepared additional injections from the medical cart.
He handed the first one he had prepared to Kim Hyeokgwon and said,
“It’s an anticoagulant drug.”
“Doctor Choi, doesn’t something feel strange?”
“Here are the antibiotics. But what does?”
“Look at the time.”
When Kim Hyeokgwon pointed, Taesu’s gaze immediately headed that way.
Not much time had passed.
Considering that it was thoracic surgery, it was practically over as soon as it had begun.
By then, Taesu also realized what Kim Hyeokgwon was trying to say.
Taesu’s answer was simple.
“I’d like to return to you what you just said to Doctor Jeong.”
“Then why did it take so long before?”
“Because back then, there was no one behind us.”
Taesu’s answer was clear.
Even Kim Hyeokgwon had nothing more to say about that.
But his expression still looked somehow unsettled.
“Something’s different.”
Kim Hyeokgwon sensed it, but he could not be certain.
Taesu was not tense at all.
‘What are you going to do about it?’
He did not want to live forever on pins and needles.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s perception was still astonishing.
But that was as far as it went.
If he could not find the reason for the fundamental change that had occurred in Taesu, his doubts would only circle in place.
Taesu had absolutely no intention of revealing it.
While he was thinking, Taesu’s hands were moving busily, surprisingly so.
He had to clean up.
As part of that cleanup, he placed the patient’s removed rib into a sterile bag and submerged it in cold water.
Vacuum-sealing it and placing it in ice water would have been the best storage method, but they did not have the conditions for that right now.
It was a desperate measure, but it would be fine for a couple of hours.
Even this temporary storage method was an idea that had flowed out of Taesu’s head.
Just as they were finishing up the cleanup,
Jeong Minsu completed the suturing and took his hands away.
“Suturing complete.”
“Let’s close out.”
“Just a second… Done.”
Clack.
Jeong Minsu set down the surgical instruments and stood straight.
Kim Hyeokgwon also composed himself for this moment. Separately from that, the hand moving the Ambu bag could not stop.
Press, press.
The area around the operating table soon became calm.
Now it was time for Taesu to declare the end of the emergency surgery.
“Though it was brief…”
Just as he began his closing words,
Beep.
The radio set on one side rang, and Brad Kim’s urgent voice came through.
—Emergency, splenic rupture.
Emergency, splenic rupture?
The expressions of all three people immediately hardened.
The only people capable of emergency surgery right now were the three of them here.
And they were just in the middle of declaring the end of surgery.
There was not the slightest doubt that this was a patient they had to take.
Snap.
Taesu snatched up the radio and pressed the button.
“Brad, send them this way.”
—You’re in the middle of aortic aneurysm surgery.
“We just finished.”
—Al-already?
Brad Kim was so startled that his voice shook for a moment.
Taesu answered without concern.
“We need to move this patient to the tent next door and monitor him, so please take care of that part.”
—That’s already been discussed with Squad Leader Sam, so it’s fine, but you’re really done with the surgery?
“You said the spleen ruptured. Please send the patient over first.”
Taesu cut the conversation short.
They could talk about it later.
Perhaps Brad Kim thought the same, because there was no further radio transmission.
When the radio fell silent, Taesu clearly thought so.
But then Brad Kim’s transmission continued again.
Beep.
—Doctor Choi, emergency.
“You just said that.”
—Another patient. Femur fracture with femoral vein rupture. The leg is badly swollen.
At the sharp sound from the radio, strength entered Taesu’s eyes.
‘Two emergency patients?’
And both of them were bleeding patients.
Neither a splenic rupture nor a femoral vein rupture could endure for hours.
Then…
Taesu began moving his eyes in thought.
Meanwhile, Kim Hyeokgwon’s face twisted into a deep frown.
“If there are two emergency patients, shouldn’t one of them be sent to the other side?”
“Do they have the capacity for that?”
Jeong Minsu asked, tilting his head.
Jeong Minsu was right about that.
The emergency surgery had taken far too little time.
That meant they could not expect the situation outside to have changed dramatically.
The moment he realized that, Kim Hyeokgwon squeezed the Ambu bag forcefully.
Whoosh.
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“Exactly. It’s not like we can operate at the same time.”
“We can’t just leave them, either.”
Kim Hyeokgwon vented his frustration, unable to hold it in.
Jeong Minsu’s brow was also tightly furrowed.
At that moment, Taesu picked up the radio.
Beep.
“Brad, send both of them this way.”
The moment Taesu spoke,
Whoosh.
The two men opened their eyes wide and looked at Taesu at the same time.
They were just about to ask a question
when Brad Kim, through the radio, voiced what they were both thinking.
—Doctor Choi, can you handle them simultaneously?
“We’ll have to make it possible.”
—What does that mean?
“I’ll take care of it. More importantly, is the blood donation going well outside?”
—Fortunately, there haven’t been any problems.
When Brad Kim answered, Taesu’s expression softened a little.
“That’s a relief. Then please tell Squad Leader Sam to bring in one more table when he comes.”
—Doctor Choi, is it really possible?
“Is there anyone with time to spare?”
When Taesu asked back, Brad Kim’s voice lowered.
—No.
“Then we have to do it. And from now on, if you find any patients who need emergency surgery, call us immediately.”
—You’ll handle them all… You have no choice, do you?
“We said we didn’t exist until the main team arrived.”
Though he was speaking into the radio, Taesu’s eyes were on Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon.
The meaning of that gaze was extremely clear.
It was not a question asking whether they could do it.
It was a look of certainty that they had to do it.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon instantly grasped the meaning of that familiar gaze and let their shoulders drop.
“Right. We’re going to be worked to death again today.”
“I knew it. I thought something felt missing.”
“If the number of emergency surgeries increases, the extra pay will get nice and fat, though.”
At those words, Kim Hyeokgwon’s eyes sparkled.
“Let’s solve every last one of them.”
“Hyeokgwon, aren’t you not supposed to be showing that much enthusiasm right now?”
“No, no. A person must clearly know when to step back and when to charge in. Right now is the time to charge in.”
Kim Hyeokgwon was utterly firm.
It almost gave the illusion that a calculator could be faintly seen hovering above his head.
In any case, they concluded that emergency surgery would be handled entirely on this side.
Soon, Squad Leader Sam and his squad members brought in the new patients.
Switching out the patient and setting up a new operating table took place simultaneously.
In the meantime, Squad Leader Sam approached Taesu and spoke quietly.
“We received word from Leo.”
“What? Is there another patient?”
“We don’t know that yet. He says the Indian Army has entered the northern part of the city.”
At that, Taesu frowned deeply.
“What the hell are those bastards up to now?”
“They’re apparently helping with the city’s recovery.”
“Tell them to take care of it themselves.”
There was no way anything pleasant would come out of Taesu’s mouth as he grew more and more exhausted.
Squad Leader Sam tried to soothe the sensitive Taesu as he said,
“The commander went in personally, and a considerable number of troops have been deployed, so they’re apparently being helpful.”
“So?”
“I was just telling you how things are going.”
“Please tell them not to poke around here for no reason. Let’s live without seeing each other.”
Taesu meant it sincerely.
Now that he had even ended up performing emergency surgeries, nothing the Indian Army did could feel good to him.