Just then, Sergeant Ryan rose and spoke.
“Situation resolved. You may continue.”
“Ryan, what happened?”
“Terrorists attempted to fire an RPG-7 in our direction. A sniper spotted them in time and successfully neutralized them by a hair’s breadth.”
Having said that much, Taesu spoke his guess with a face that seemed to suspect something.
“Then was the explosion we heard just now the sound of an RPG-7 striking another building and detonating?”
“Correct. We’re told it was a house located thirty meters to the left.”
“There really are some crazy bastards out there.”
“With casualties mounting, they say the terrorists are boiling with rage.”
Sergeant Ryan said with an impassive face.
It was the confidence that any danger could be suppressed by the PKO’s firepower and combat capability.
Taesu agreed with that as well.
So he asked about something else.
“When is Doctor Jeong expected to arrive?”
“Excuse me for a moment…. Baby to Fox, respond.”
Swish.
Sergeant Ryan turned his head lightly and quietly called for Squad Leader Leo.
Radio transmissions went back and forth rapidly after that.
Soon, Sergeant Ryan lowered his radio and spoke to Taesu.
“They say he’ll arrive soon.”
At those words, Gim Hyeokgwon flared up.
“Tell them to speak in terms of time or distance. ‘Soon’ is all you hear whether you’re at a restaurant or asking for something to be made. It’s all the same.”
“They said really soon.”
“So does that mean right now? Is he coming in right now?”
Gim Hyeokgwon grumbled coldly, as if frustrated.
But then.
Tap-tap-tap!
Jeong Minsu urgently strode through the doorway.
Sergeant Ryan, who spotted him first, looked for Sergeant Gibson.
“Gibson, he’s friendly.”
“Yeah.”
Sergeant Gibson, who had been about to aim his muzzle, quickly lowered his rifle.
In the meantime, Jeong Minsu stopped, sweating profusely.
“Huff, huff. Where, where do I go?”
“Hey!”
“Yes. Mr. Hyeokgwon. Huff, huff. Coming.”
The sound of Jeong Minsu’s breathing was no ordinary matter.
Taesu was concerned, but he focused on cleansing the affected area again.
That was because Gim Hyeokgwon was about to ask.
As expected, he heard Gim Hyeokgwon immediately question Jeong Minsu.
“What were you doing, arriving only now?”
“I nearly died twice. So I had to take a detour and got delayed.”
“You don’t seem to be hurt…….”
Gim Hyeokgwon glanced around as if sorry for having raised his voice.
Jeong Minsu caught his breath while simultaneously washing his hands first.
Even so, his mouth kept moving.
“After encountering the terrorists at first, I switched to Route 2, but it seems that area was near a secret hideout.”
“So?”
“There were two more minor firefights, and one more close call at the end.”
“Is the situation resolved?”
“Battalion Commander Valentino rushed over himself. ‘You goddamn bastards, I’ll wipe you all out!’ he shouted like that.”
Jeong Minsu spoke while roughly imitating him.
At that sound, a suppressed laugh leaked out from Sergeant Gibson in the back.
“Pfft. Ahem.”
“Is your battalion commander always like that?”
“He’s very hot-tempered. He clearly distinguishes between likes and dislikes, and he mingles with us often.”
Sergeant Gibson spoke of the battalion commander as if talking about a father, not a superior.
The conversation continued in bits and pieces.
Taesu judged that it had gone on long enough and cut them off.
“That’s enough. I don’t plan on living here.”
“Who said I wanted to live here?”
“Let’s hurry.”
Taesu spoke more sharply.
Time was not that generous.
Especially if they had aimed and fired an RPG-7 at this building, their position was exposed.
There was no telling where or how the terrorists, moving like special detachments, would strike again.
Until then, minimal emergency treatment, and escape as well.
There was too much to do.
It wasn’t something only Taesu was thinking about.
Everyone except Jeong Minsu had that much sense.
So the room fell silent in an instant.
Taesu stared intently at the affected area where he had finished the secondary cleansing.
Sergeant Ryan approached Taesu’s side.
“Order carried out.”
“Good work. But how will we get the patients out?”
“The battalion has sent troops this way. Once they arrive, the patients will be moved to the barracks.”
At those words, Taesu narrowed his brows and asked urgently.
“What’s the estimated time of arrival? And how long to the barracks?”
“That is…. I cannot say for certain.”
“Then I’ll have to intervene with the affected area.”
Taesu said decisively.
The situation was just that unfavorable.
Sergeant Ryan unconditionally agreed with Taesu’s opinion.
“Do as you wish, Doctor Choe.”
“Then please help me.”
“By all means.”
Sergeant Ryan’s eyes gleamed.
It was because he owed Taesu an enormous debt.
Even if Taesu seemed to have forgotten, Sergeant Ryan appeared to see things differently.
Taesu roughly caught on but did not mention it now.
The immediate problem was Corporal Aiden.
There were no blood packs.
But there was something else instead.
Clack.
Taesu took out an IV fluid similar to glucose from his medical bag.
He had used it before.
volume expander (blood volume expander).
It was an IV fluid used in bloodless surgery.
Taesu connected the glucose and volume expander to Corporal Aiden’s hand.
He administered one more drug after that.
A hemafacient, a drug that promoted blood cell formation. He added iron supplements as well, doing his utmost to guard against bleeding.
He also administered a trace amount of muscle relaxant.
Hiss.
Then he asked Sergeant Ryan.
“Lend me your two hands.”
“Use them as you please.”
“Then this, this, and….”
Clack, clack, clack.
Taesu handed over gauze, cotton pads, saline, and liquid hemostatic agent.
Finally, he held out long forceps.
“Hold onto them; I’ll position them.”
“Understood.”
“Then I’ll begin.”
Click.
A scalpel was in Taesu’s hand as he finished speaking.
He hadn’t used it for the penetrating wound.
But under the current conditions, there was no way to operate without widening this narrow passage.
Emergency surgery could not be the same as standard surgery.
For that reason, Taesu boldly split the calf with the scalpel.
“Kgh, urrgh.”
Ssss.
Bleeding began following Corporal Aiden’s pained sound.
It seemed he still felt pain despite the bupivacaine administration.
Taesu spoke calmly.
“It hurts much less than before. Endure it.”
“Hngh.”
Corporal Aiden forcibly closed his mouth.
Taesu could no longer tend to his pain one by one.
He focused only on what had to be done now.
Click, snip!
He pulled the skin and muscle apart with a retractor.
As the affected area widened, the gruesomely altered interior was fully exposed.
Sergeant Ryan’s eyes wavered slightly, but that was all.
“…….”
Taesu also paid it no mind and began emergency treatment in earnest.
First, the curette.
Scrape, scrape, scrape.
The blackened, necrotic muscles were scraped by the rough surgical instrument.
Soon black muscle fragments fell away, and red muscle began to show.
Bleeding increased proportionally.
As his vision was obscured, Taesu looked to Sergeant Ryan.
“Pour saline, wipe with gauze.”
“Roger.”
“Soak a cotton pad in liquid hemostatic agent, grip it with long forceps, and swab it clean.”
“Yessir!”
Clack, clack.
Sergeant Ryan moved his hands boldly and swiftly.
They were sick of seeing each other’s blood.
Due to the nature of their profession, they did not make a fuss about the gruesomeness of the wound.
Thus, Sergeant Ryan showed exactly what Taesu wanted through his actions.
Taesu continued scraping away necrotic muscle with the curette.
He didn’t scrape everything, only moving within a certain range.
These were typically the areas where blood vessels passed.
Even so, he had no intention of examining and treating every blood vessel.
The targets were the major arteries and veins, the large arteries and veins.
‘First…. posterior tibial artery.’
It was the most important blood vessel flowing behind the shinbone.
Scrape, scrape.
He carefully scraped the expected location with the curette.
After a few scrapes, bleeding welled up.
“Ryan.”
“Roger.”
Gush, swish. Squeak.
Saline, gauze, and liquid hemostatic agent passed over the wound in sequence.
It was done swiftly thanks to his proactive attitude and efficient handiwork.
As the affected area became clear from cleansing, Taesu moved on.
After repeating several times, the blood vessels were visible.
Since it was a place brightly lit by sunlight, they could be distinguished even without lights.
“For now, this one is safe.”
The posterior tibial artery was safe, as expected.
He had found one now.
Since there were still many to find ahead, Taesu moved without delay.
He repeated scraping and clearing away many times like that.
In the meantime, a considerable amount of necrotic tissue lodged in the calf muscles had come away.
It seemed to be roughly half of the total necrotic tissue.
Taesu did not dwell on it too much.
What mattered now were the blood vessels.
Fortunately, he had checked several blood vessels as he scraped away tissue.
Most of the important arteries and veins were intact.
However, several were severed or severely damaged.
For that reason, blood could not circulate sufficiently to the tips of his toes.
Several hours had passed since dawn until now.
To save his toes, corresponding treatment was now necessary.
That meant anastomosing the large blood vessels as much as possible.
Taesu pondered for a moment.
‘I can’t suture all of these.’
He thought of Jeong Minsu, but it was difficult in such a pressed situation.
There was no time.
Taesu estimated.
There was no military surgeon at the battalion.
Then he would have to be sent to the nearest Malnoi.
At most, about three hours.
He only needed to maintain the vessels for that long.
The method for that was….
“…That’s it!”
Taesu, who had been brooding, eyes sparkled.
Sergeant Ryan, seeing that, cautiously asked.
“Is it hopeful?”
“Considerably.”
“Do we not need to amputate the calf?”
“If that were the case, I would have taken him out already.”
Taesu showed clear confidence.
There was such a simple method to temporarily connect the blood.
It was a bridge.
It was quite useful when performing procedures related to blood vessels.
Rustle.
Taesu immediately searched through his medical bag and took out what he needed.
After laying out the materials in front of him, Taesu took a short breath.
“Hoo!”
Simultaneously, Taesu opened his eyes wide and began moving both hands quickly.
Meanwhile, Jeong Minsu and Gim Hyeokgwon were also passing a busy time.
“Why did the pancreas have to rupture of all things!”
“How did it rupture when it’s hidden away like this?”
“It must have been struck near the stomach. The stomach has elasticity to absorb impact, but the pancreas does not.”
Shhk, shhk.
Needle holders were moving busily in Jeong Minsu’s hands.
He was securing the pancreas and suturing the ruptured part.
Because of its proximity to the stomach and spleen, he was struggling considerably.
That wasn’t the only problem.
Parts of the large and small intestines had also turned dark.
It was evidence that the impact from hitting the debris had been considerable.
Jeong Minsu and Gim Hyeokgwon suppressed their emotions as much as possible and judged realistically.
Of the two, Gim Hyeokgwon spoke first.
“From what I hear over there, it seems the successful escape time hasn’t been set.”
“What is Taesu doing now?”
“Catheter, artificial blood vessel…. He’s taken them all out to make a bridge.”
“So he’s saying he’ll temporarily connect the blood vessels.”
Jeong Minsu immediately understood.