Squad Leader Sam saw the ferocity in Taesu’s eyes and quickly changed the subject.
“In any case, the situation outside is improving.”
“There won’t be any more emergency patients, right?”
“That, I’m not sure about either. At this point, I’d like to think there won’t be any more.”
As Squad Leader Sam hesitated, Taesu forced a smile.
“We’re fine, so you don’t need to try to comfort us.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I’m glad there’s nothing wrong with your eyesight.”
Taesu spoke with pointed meaning.
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Squad Leader Sam quickly looked around.
“It looks like the setup is almost finished.”
“Whew. So it does.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself first.”
Slip.
Squad Leader Sam quickly withdrew, afraid the arrows might needlessly turn toward him.
Sergeant Ryan, Corporal Guspia, and Private Antoni did the same.
In contrast, Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon’s expressions had hardened completely.
An awkward air flowed through the medical tent.
“……”
In that silence, each of them focused only on what they had to do.
A little time passed.
There was a small change inside the medical tent.
Previously, there had been only one operating table in the center.
Now, however, there were two in total, one on the left and one on the right.
The positions of the medical team were somewhat unusual as well.
Taesu stood in the middle, while Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon each took their places on opposite sides to the left and right.
Patients lay on each operating table.
Both had been anesthetized.
Fortunately, since these were not thoracic surgeries, Ambu bags were not needed.
They had been given spinal anesthesia and put to sleep with sedatives.
Plump, full transfusion packs were administering blood according to each patient’s blood type.
Taesu’s gaze first turned to Jeong Minsu.
“Minsu, your patient has a splenic rupture.”
“I know. The abdomen’s already swollen tight here.”
“Fortunately, she’s a woman in her twenties, so her vitals shouldn’t fluctuate too much.”
“She’s at the age where she could chew through steel.”
Jeong Minsu wasn’t saying that for no reason.
Just from the elasticity of a patient’s skin, one could tell whether they had been healthy in daily life.
This patient belonged on the healthy side.
Taesu knew that as well, so he added his next words.
“We’ll remove as much of the bleeding as possible, then proceed with gauze packing.”
“That’ll be a little much for me alone.”
“I told you, I’ll be moving back and forth.”
“Oh, right. Then there’s no problem.”
Jeong Minsu’s eyes were firm.
The time he spent floundering in unfamiliar situations had definitely grown shorter.
Taesu was extremely satisfied with Jeong Minsu as he was now.
To wish for more would be greed.
He immediately pushed that thought aside and focused on the current situation.
Step.
Taesu stood in a position where he could take in both patients at a glance.
Then he spoke quietly.
“We’ll do our best so that both of you can recover. Emergency surgery begins.”
“We’ll be in your care.”
Bow.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon each bowed to the patient before them.
And the emergency surgeries began at once.
Taesu turned his body toward Kim Hyeokgwon.
Facing him, Taesu took in the patient’s leg with his eyes.
Just as Brad Kim had said, it was swollen all the way down to the toes.
It seemed the internal bleeding had affected even the toes. Perhaps because the bleeding was that severe, symptoms of blood loss were visible all over the body.
After examining the patient overall, Taesu’s mind began to spin rapidly.
What had to come first?
Ding.
He knew it instantly.
A surgical plan immediately surfaced in his mind.
This time, it was not Caprene’s knowledge.
It was a method born purely from the experience Taesu himself had accumulated until now.
Taesu immediately explained that plan to Kim Hyeokgwon.
“First, we suture the blood vessels, drain out as much blood as possible, and then handle the fracture in that order.”
“What day is it today? Why is everything coming to you so smoothly?”
“If it has to be a day like this, then I’m just glad it’s today.”
“I agree with that. And that’s enough useless chatter.”
As expected, Kim Hyeokgwon knew exactly when to come in and when to pull back.
Taesu immediately raised the atmosphere with vigor.
“Then shall we get moving?”
Step.
Taesu immediately picked up a scalpel.
Then, with bold momentum, he cut into the patient’s thigh.
Drip, drip.
No sooner had the skin split than blood flowed out in streams.
Kim Hyeokgwon wiped away the bleeding with gauze and asked,
“There’s too much bleeding, isn’t there?”
“Just let it flow, and set up the Balfour, the fixed retractor.”
“A Balfour here?”
“It depends on how you apply it. A small size, quickly.”
“Let’s do it.”
Kim Hyeokgwon moved his hands reflexively.
He showed no lingering attachment to his curiosity.
When it came to medicine, he relied entirely on Taesu.
Because they did not invade each other’s respective domains, there was little trouble between them.
And their movements were quick as well.
Creak, creak.
The Balfour, now in position, gradually spread open and pushed the skin aside.
As the surgical field widened, the amount of bleeding increased too.
Taesu did not seem to intend to clear away the bleeding. Instead, he hung another transfusion pack, its surface disinfected, on the IV.
Soon, after widening the surgical field, Kim Hyeokgwon said,
“It’s done.”
“Then let’s look inside.”
Sweep, sweep.
Each holding surgical tools, the two began searching for the severed blood vessel.
But at that moment, Jeong Minsu’s sharp voice came from behind.
“Taesu, help.”
“Why?”
“The location of the splenic rupture is bad. It’s near the splenic artery.”
“Damn it. I’ll be right there.”
After answering, Taesu looked at Kim Hyeokgwon.
Perhaps because he had heard it too, Kim Hyeokgwon spoke first.
“You’re going to tell me to find the ruptured vessel, aren’t you?”
“I suppose I have to.”
“Let’s not trust my skills too much.”
“If you can’t find it, please raise the transfusion rate to the maximum. Then.”
Taesu said only what he needed to and turned away.
But if it was Kim Hyeokgwon, he would not give up easily.
At the same time as that thought,
“Why doesn’t this country have any medical laws?”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s grumbling voice immediately reached his ears.
Taesu smiled faintly.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s grumbling was his trademark when he had already taken action.
It was obvious without even looking.
He had surely begun searching for the damaged blood vessel.
Meanwhile, Taesu quickly changed his surgical gown and gloves.
No matter how urgent the emergency surgery was, this was essential.
Snap.
Pulling the surgical gloves tight, he arrived in front of Jeong Minsu.
He looked straight down at the surgical field and asked,
“Where?”
“Here. It ruptured like this, and the location is this way.”
Point, point.
Jeong Minsu explained while indicating the problem area of the spleen he had already secured.
It was Taesu’s first time seeing the surgical field.
At that moment, Taesu’s own experience and Caprene’s cases jumbled together in his head.
On top of that, he overlaid James’s surgical methods.
The tip of Taesu’s nose began to sting.
Bzzzt.
His head also grew slightly tangled.
The aftereffects of using his brain too much in such a short time were slowly appearing.
But he could not lay down his hands now.
“Hup.”
Taesu endured with tenacity and sheer grit.
Then the confusion slowly faded, and the three elements formed a subtle balance.
Ding.
Soon, the solution filled his mind.
Taesu immediately explained it to Jeong Minsu.
“It didn’t directly hit the splenic artery, so from this side… And finish with gauze packing. Okay?”
“W-Wow. When did you climb onto a shaman’s blade?”
“Is there a shaman’s blade here?”
“Who knows. But how did you… Huh? Taesu, step back.”
Jeong Minsu, who had been lifting his head in admiration, suddenly shouted at Taesu.
His expression was so urgent that Taesu immediately took one step back.
At the same time,
Drop, drip.
Blood fell to the floor in droplets.
The moment he saw it, Taesu flinched in surprise.
“What blood is this all of a sudden?”
“You bastard, do you only look at the patient’s condition without knowing your own?”
“Me?”
Grab.
Taesu felt around his mask.
When he felt the unpleasant dampness, he quickly took it off and checked.
The inside of the mask was full of blood.
“A nosebleed?”
“Hurry and move aside. Don’t spray blood everywhere.”
“Got it.”
Step.
Taesu immediately moved toward the entrance of the medical tent.
Then, when he wiped with gauze, it really was his own nosebleed.
“So that’s why it was stinging.”
In truth, he had felt it not just once, but several times.
He had dismissed it as nothing and brushed it off.
It seemed it had finally burst now.
Taesu felt refreshed instead.
He was forcibly drawing out and using someone else’s memories. If the price for that was a nosebleed, it was a cheap bargain.
And he clearly realized that his mind was overloading.
“I see.”
Taesu accepted it as something utterly natural.
He did not even weigh whether it would benefit him or harm him.
With that knowledge, he had already been able to help countless patients.
He focused only on that fact.
Taesu first wiped away the nosebleed with his own emergency treatment.
“Sniff. Sniff.”
He sprayed saline and cleaned even the inside thoroughly.
It did not end there. He rolled up cotton wool and slipped it into both nostrils.
Even if his nose bled again, it would not flow out easily.
Taesu was satisfied with his own emergency treatment.
Then he immediately began putting on fresh surgical preparation gear.
There was no thought or plan behind it.
His body moved naturally, just as it always did.
And one more thing.
Clack.
He flipped the desk clock over.
It was an expression of his will not to rely on time.
“They’ll arrive before I collapse.”
He steeled his resolve like that.
Soon, having finished preparing anew, Taesu returned to Jeong Minsu.
Jeong Minsu, struggling alone, had no idea.
“Ugh. Nngh.”
He was straining with his face scrunched up.
When Taesu glanced over, he saw that Minsu was proceeding according to the plan he had explained earlier.
Taesu’s eyebrows twitched 크게.
“Look at him.”
He was carrying out alone a surgery that was supposed to be done by two people from both sides.
Taesu could not help but be surprised.
At the same time, he recalled what James had said in the past.
—You should consider Doctor Jeong to have gone beyond the resident level.
At the time, Taesu had thought it an excessive evaluation.
But seeing him now, he had to admit that he had been underestimating Jeong Minsu all this time.
A heated gleam flashed through Taesu’s eyes.
“There’s no way I’m the only one who improved.”
There was no way Jeong Minsu, who had been with him every moment, had remained standing still.
He simply had not had the opportunity to show himself until now.
Taesu reflected on the fact that he had been so focused on patients that he had failed to look after those around him.
And he once again chewed over Kim Hyeokgwon’s advice to share the burden.
Taesu stopped thinking there.
It was enough that the stinging in his nose had subsided this much.
He had also grasped the entire state of the surgery.
It was time to jump back in.
Step.
Holding a surgical tool, Taesu immediately headed toward the surgical field and said,
“Hold that there just as it is.”
“What about your nosebleed?”
“It stopped, so I came back. You can move the parenchyma slightly to the side from there, right?”
“Like this?”
As Jeong Minsu responded at once, Taesu also moved immediately.
Step, step-step.
The two moved in turns, one at a time.
And as they did, they gradually dealt with the problematic area.