So many things were tangled up that something kept popping out and getting on his nerves.
They said he was a patient.
That was only in name; in the end, these were matters Taesu had to run around and handle himself.
Seeing that, Jeong Minsu cautiously suggested,
“Should I go and meet them once?”
“Would that be all right?”
“It’s stranger watching you keep darting around like a grasshopper right now.”
“Then I’ll ask you for that. How they’re doing, what’ll happen from here on.”
Taesu asked earnestly.
At his expression, Jeong Minsu looked at him even more incredulously.
“They’re important people to me, too.”
“I got it, so hurry up and go.”
“Don’t rush me. You get some rest.”
Tap.
Jeong Minsu patted Taesu’s shoulder for no particular reason and turned away.
His touch was warm.
It was clearly a touch telling him not to worry.
Step, step.
To Taesu, Jeong Minsu’s shoulders, growing distant, felt broad.
“That punk. When did he grow up so much?”
Jeong Minsu, now that he had confidence, had definitely become more reliable than before.
To put it extremely, one could even say he had “become a dragon.”
It was a moment when the idiom “feeling as if a generation had passed” came to mind all too vividly.
Leaving the dependable Jeong Minsu behind, Taesu entered the hospital room.
Beep, beep.
The sound of the ECG was doing its best to keep silence from settling in.
The darkness had fallen even more thickly over the sleeping Doctor Hanks’s complexion.
Looking at him, Taesu was reminded of Old Man Wang.
Death.
It was its shadow.
It had drawn so close that it could be seen with the naked eye.
James had not said those things last night for nothing.
But it was still too early.
For Doctor Hanks, the three months had not even begun yet.
Taesu’s face tightened of its own accord.
‘Why are you just leaving it be?’
Doctor Hanks must surely know about his own condition.
He knew, and yet he was clearly in a state where he had no clear motivation to muster strength.
At first, he must have missed his family.
But contrary to his expectations, he had only despaired at the reality that he had become a stranger.
Taesu sensed it as well, but he set his pity aside for the moment.
If there was a problem, it could be solved.
Tomorrow, a card that could aim for a rebound in his vitals would appear.
Until then, minimizing stimulation would likely help instead.
Flop.
Settling onto his own bed, Taesu raised the backrest and sat there for a long time, observing Doctor Hanks.
Time was truly strange.
He could not understand why it flowed so slowly when one was waiting.
He looked at the clock, then looked again.
He had looked dozens of times, but it was still in the same place.
‘I should just knock myself out or something.’
Out of frustration, Taesu even had such a thought.
It was the first time a single day had ever felt this long.
Taesu’s anxiety was not merely needless worry.
Beep-beep, beep-beep-beep.
The ECG numbers were dropping sharply.
Taesu, who had been watching from his own bed, was suddenly right beside Doctor Hanks.
“Krrr. Huuu……”
Doctor Hanks’s breathing did not sound good either.
The pulmonary abscess had worsened considerably and was affecting his respiration.
He had no strength, and the anticancer drugs were far too powerful.
For Doctor Hanks, who had no will to overcome it, only the suffering was growing deeper.
Taesu, too, was in no state to simply stand by and watch.
Without hesitation, he pressed the call bell and summoned the nurse.
“Nurse Navis, prepare the medical cart and come over here!”
Taesu’s shout rang heavily through the hospital room.
Less than a minute had passed.
Rattle.
“What’s going on?”
Nurse Navis appeared with the medical cart.
Taesu was fitting a ventilator onto Doctor Hanks. Perhaps his back was throbbing, because sweat was pouring down his face.
Straining with effort, Taesu called to Nurse Navis for help.
“Help me!”
“I’m coming!”
Rustle.
Nurse Navis quickly approached and assisted him.
Soon, the ventilator was attached to Doctor Hanks.
“Hooo. Hooo.”
Breathing through the respirator began in earnest.
But his vitals did not improve at once.
Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep.
Watching the ECG, Taesu shook his head.
‘They’ve dropped too much.’
Respiration and fever, in particular, were the problems.
If they were not brought under control, there was a high chance they would lead to an even bigger problem.
Right now, Doctor Hanks’s body was weakened as much as it could be.
Even a single episode of arrhythmia could very likely spiral into an irreversible situation.
This was absolutely not something they could handle by relying on the vitals currently visible.
This in itself was an emergency.
They had to act immediately.
Taesu immediately requested of Nurse Navis,
“First, prepare an apophlegmatic, an expectorant, as soon as you can and give it to me.”
“You’re going to administer it yourself?”
Nurse Navis asked.
Taesu only continued giving orders in an even heavier voice.
“And codeine, hypertensor, a pressor!”
“Doctor Choi, instead of doing that, how about calling someone else?”
Nurse Navis responded quickly.
From her position, it was understandable.
She was an elite nurse belonging to Surgical Team 1 at NGO headquarters.
Of course, she had heard rumors about Taesu, but it would be difficult for her to trust him blindly.
In her eyes, Taesu was simply a young doctor.
Taesu had no time to concern himself with such a gaze.
“If you’re going to call someone, call them quickly.”
“I will.”
“But I’ll administer the drugs.”
Taesu immediately reached for the medical cart.
It was a gesture meant to push through with action rather than argue.
Clatter.
Taesu bent at the waist and began searching the second drawer of the medical cart for a syringe and ampoules.
Nurse Navis, who had been reaching for the emergency bell, was greatly startled.
“Oh my, Doctor Choi!”
“Don’t mind me. Do what you need to do.”
“I know Doctor Choi told Doctor James that he would look after the patient. But even so, this is pushing yourself too far.”
“Can you say that after looking at the ECG? First, the expectorant is ready.”
Sssht.
Taesu finished even the injection solution spray test in one go.
Then he immediately added the drug to the IV.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Taesu’s range of motion was quite large.
Nurse Navis was not a little flustered at the sight.
“Are you really going to be okay?”
“Exactly. I’m just a resident acting arrogantly. The pressor’s ready, too.”
“Um, Doctor Choi.”
When she called urgently, Taesu glanced at her and said,
“I’m administering it on my own, so Nurse Navis doesn’t know anything.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then do you think I’d do this to create a problem for my roommate?”
“I’ll prepare the rest.”
After a brief moment of thought, Nurse Navis’s tone changed immediately.
At the sound of it, Taesu paused.
“You’re saying you’ll follow the orders of a resident acting on his own?”
“Then what are we supposed to do right now?”
“That sounds much more realistic. In any case, please prepare the codeine first.”
Push.
Taesu administered the pressor as he asked.
Nurse Navis followed Taesu without any further complaint.
After that, they quickly administered several drugs, including an antiarrhythmic.
However, the oxygen saturation did not improve much.
“Damn it, SO2.”
“His fever is high, too. If this keeps up, isn’t it very bad?”
“It looks like we’ll have to drain the pulmonary abscess. Please prepare the emergency surgical kit.”
Rustle. Rustle.
Taesu rolled up the sleeves of his patient gown.
On the other hand, Nurse Navis’s eyes widened.
Flustered, Nurse Navis quickly tried to stop him.
“Wait a moment. Doctor Choi, that much is……”
“Do you not trust me?”
“What? That’s not what I mean……”
“What’s clear is that at this moment, I can be of help. If a problem occurs, I’ll take responsibility.”
Having finished speaking, Taesu moved right up to the medical cart.
Unexpectedly, however, Taesu did not look hurt or dissatisfied.
He had understood Nurse Navis’s concern from the start.
In the past, this would have been a situation where he bared his edge.
It certainly would have been, but not anymore.
Taesu had gone through many things and achieved mental growth.
He was showing now that he could fully carry out his will without clashing.
So Taesu said no more and bent at the waist.
Clack. Clack.
He began taking items out of the medical cart one by one and laying them out.
Soon, the emergency surgical kit was opened, and the drainage tube was prepared.
Then he reached both hands toward Doctor Hanks’s patient gown.
It was the moment he was about to undo the buttons.
His back throbbed severely.
It seemed the repeated violent movements had aggravated the wound that was healing.
Taesu flinched, his face twisting sharply.
“Urgh.”
A groan slipped out of him on its own.
Even so, Taesu’s hands did not stop.
Pop, pop.
With his brow deeply furrowed, he was undoing the buttons of Doctor Hanks’s patient gown one by one.
At that moment, a delicate hand approached.
That hand pushed Taesu’s hands away with utter naturalness.
“Move. I’ll do it.”
“Nurse Navis.”
“What do you keep trying to do with that body? Step aside for a moment.”
Tap. Tap.
She used her whole body to push Taesu away from the bed.
As an added bonus, there was the sharp scolding unique to a surgical nurse.
Pushed back, Taesu was honestly bewildered.
“Will you be all right?”
“Even I can see the situation is bad. Let’s take care of that first and talk afterward.”
“Then I’m grateful.”
Taesu accepted at once.
Even so, he had not the slightest intention of standing still until Nurse Navis made room for him.
Taesu reached for the alcohol first.
Splash.
Starting by pouring it onto his hands and washing them, he then prevented infection with antiseptic.
Lastly, he put on surgical gloves.
It had been a long time since he had felt that snug tightening sensation.
There was no time to marvel at it.
He was on the verge of performing a drainage procedure for a pulmonary abscess on a senior doctor, and a CS, thoracic surgery, specialist at that.
Even Taesu could not help but be nervous.
However, before being a senior, he was a patient.
And it was an emergency, so there was no time to weigh this and that.
“Hoo, preparations complete.”
“This side is ready, too.”
Slide.
Nurse Navis stepped aside with perfect timing.
Before he knew it, a surgical drape had been placed over the side of his torso. The position of the drape, with a hole in the center, was good for approaching the lung.
On top of that, antiseptic had been applied abundantly.
In addition, needle marks and traces of blood could be seen here and there around the secured operative site.
They were traces of local anesthetic having been administered evenly.
Was she a veteran nurse after all?
Her thoroughness, while remaining faithful to the basics, left nothing to criticize.
And she was neither tense nor anxious.
From the moment she firmly decided to help Taesu, her hesitation had vanished.
That, too, was full of a professional’s bearing.
Taesu keenly sensed Nurse Navis’s cooperation.
Now that their goal had become one, he erased his hesitation.
“Scalpel.”
“Here. I prepared a No. 10 blade.”
Clack.
Nurse Navis immediately placed the scalpel in his hand.
Seeing her mention even the blade size, she was clearly the type to have learned and act systematically.
The detachable blades of scalpels had the characteristic of differing slightly in shape according to their number.
The most commonly used one was the blade currently attached.
There was no sign anywhere that Nurse Navis intended to teach Taesu.
It was simply that telling him about the blade was the method she had been taught.