Anger.

Rattle.

When he opened the door, Raku was indeed there.

Fortunately, Gu Seungheon was asleep, and only half the IV fluid had gone in.

Seeing Taesu, Raku spoke first.

“I was holding Mr. Gu’s cell phone.”

“You did well. If he says anything later, tell him I wouldn’t let you wake him.”

“He will be very angry.”

Taesu lightly brushed aside Raku’s concern.

“That’s for later. As soon as he wakes up, please set out.”

“Understood. But I never imagined things would unfold like this.”

“I suppose where there’s a will, a path is made.”

Taesu, too, gave a bitter smile.

He had not wished for anyone’s pain.

But only when someone was in pain could they move.

It was the same logic as not being able to go to someone who wasn’t sick and prepare them for illness.

It was contradictory, but that was reality.

And a short while later.

The Helicopter Medical Team’s first dispatch after resuming operations began.

Tadadada.

About thirty minutes had passed since the helicopter with Captain Austin at the controls had taken off as a PK helicopter.

Below their feet, the plains ended and a mountain range began.

As they flew on, Captain Austin’s voice came through the helmet radio.

“We are currently passing the border between Jammu and Ajid.”

At those words, Taesu and the other three met one another’s eyes.

“We’re going back and forth now like it’s our own backyard.”

“Shouldn’t we be saying it’s a relief no surface-to-air missiles are flying at us?”

When Jeong Minsu asked, Brad Kim’s voice came from beside him.

“Neither side would dare shoot down a helicopter marked with PKO and NGO logos.”

“Still, we need to be careful. Though it’s not exactly something we can solve just by being careful.”

Kim Hyeokgwon showed concern for their safety.

Everyone agreed with that thought.

They had not forgotten that this moment, flying in a helicopter, was when they were most vulnerable.

As they flew a little farther.

Captain Austin’s voice rang out once more.

“We have entered the Praono area. One minute until descent point.”

“Open the door!”

Grrng!

Taesu and Jeong Minsu threw open the helicopter’s sliding doors on both sides.

Looking down at the ground, they saw a river with quite a plentiful volume of water flowing below.

They were currently heading upstream along that river.

As they went a little farther, they saw the collapsed bridge in question that they had heard about from Gu Seungheon.

“That must be the bridge.”

“Dr. Choi, left side!”

“Hm? Taesu, right side!”

Brad Kim and Jeong Minsu called Taesu from both sides.

Taesu swept his gaze broadly left and right.

In the meantime, Kim Hyeokgwon’s voice came through, as if he had spotted it first.

“They’ve set themselves up real nicely on both sides.”

Just as he said, the Indian Army had established a position to the east of the bridge, while the Pakistani Army had built one to the west.

Since they had all received training from the PKO, they could roughly estimate the scale.

Whoooosh!

Because of the wind striking his face, Taesu narrowed his eyes to check.

“For a battalion, that looks a bit small.”

“About two companies. Since it’s not a Class One security zone, they probably didn’t deploy too many troops.”

“If it isn’t important, I wish they’d just take a break.”

“Why don’t you go and tell them that, Dr. Choi?”

Brad Kim answered in an easygoing tone.

Just because their conversation was calm did not mean they had let go of their tension.

Everyone was imagining what would happen if the forces on both sides moved.

Their expressions gradually hardened.

Because no matter how they looked at it, they could not expect a good outcome.

Even as they thought that, the helicopter quickly moved upstream.

The river gradually narrowed, and the mountain terrain spread out.

In the middle of it, an artificially created space appeared.

They could see terraced tea fields, and a small village formed below them.

Near the entrance to the tea fields, something blackened could be seen.

People were all gathered around it.

Taesu spotted it first and informed them in a low voice.

“There.”

“That mark is from a grenade… Hup.”

Jeong Minsu quickly shut his mouth and glanced at Taesu.

As expected, Taesu’s eyes flashed coldly.

‘Tsk. Damn it.’

The back that had once been hit by a grenade blast began to throb.

It had definitely healed completely, but seeing the blast mark seemed to bring the memory of the pain back to life.

Grit.

He even ground his teeth, showing irritation and anger.

At that moment, Brad Kim spoke in a subdued voice.

“I see the wounded over there.”

Kim Hyeokgwon reacted to those words.

“Looks like the people heard the helicopter, too.”

“It seems they’re making space for us to land.”

“If we land there, the propeller will turn the village into a wasteland.”

Brad Kim and Kim Hyeokgwon took turns reporting the overall situation.

Just then, Captain Austin informed them over the radio at the perfect timing.

“Approaching airspace over target point. Twenty seconds until descent!”

It was at the same time as his voice.

Everyone stopped scanning with their eyes.

Then they shouldered their large packs and finished preparing to rappel.

Clack!

“Ready!”

“This side too!”

“Okay!”

“Give the signal!”

Each of them announced in a firm voice that they were ready.

And exactly nineteen seconds later.

Tudududu!

The helicopter hovered in place.

At the same time, Captain Austin shouted in a booming voice.

“Helicopter Medical Team, deploy!”

“Descend all at once!”

Like the team leader he was, Brad Kim gave the order in a firm voice.

At the same moment.

The four of them jumped from the helicopter at once and descended toward the ground together.

Among them, Brad Kim’s stable posture was impressive. The rappelling he had learned during Squad Leader Sam’s hellish training was truly textbook.

But there was no time to admire Brad Kim’s form.

The patients were close by.

Shaaak!

The expressions of the four descending down the ropes were rigid to the utmost.

Soon, the four landed on the ground.

Sak, sak.

They quickly undid their safety gear and ran toward the wounded.

Kim Hyeokgwon, the last to come off the rope, reported the ground situation to the helicopter.

“All medical personnel have landed. Helicopter may depart.”

“Roger! I hope everything is resolved smoothly.”

Tadadada.

After Captain Austin’s words of encouragement came through, the helicopter left the scene.

Meanwhile, Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Brad Kim, who had run ahead, were approaching the accident site.

The people were opening a wide path for them to reach the wounded.

Raku had clearly given them information in advance.

Thanks to that, the medical staff were able to approach the wounded without any friction.

It was then.

At the end of the path the people had opened, Koreans were urgently beckoning.

“Hurry!”

“Quickly!”

The people urging them on came into view first, and behind them, two people were beside the wounded.

Each was pressing down on a patient’s bleeding with white cloth stained red.

Taesu and Brad Kim exchanged glances.

‘Left.’

‘Right.’

And one more person, Jeong Minsu, was looking roughly left and right.

‘Where are the minor injuries?’

Not a single word passed between them.

Even so, each of them instinctively knew what they had to do.

At that moment, Brad Kim gave a heavy order.

“Spread out.”

Whip!

The doctors split into three paths at once.

Among them, Taesu headed left.

Arriving beside the patient in an instant, Taesu lowered his posture and checked the person applying pressure.

It was a Korean man in his forties.

Taesu introduced himself comfortably in Korean.

“I’m Choi Taesu of the Helicopter Medical Team.”

“Ah, you’re…”

“I’ll examine the patient first.”

?!

As Taesu opened his pack with his hands, his eyes followed the patient.

The patient was also a Korean man.

Compared to the man beside him, he looked somewhat younger.

Taesu rummaged through the bag with his hand as he asked.

“Is this the site foreman?”

“You met President Gu? Did you hear the situation from President Gu and come here?”

The Korean man pressing down on the bleeding grew increasingly agitated.

Taesu immediately suppressed that emotion.

“There’s a patient in front of us. Is that what comes first?”

“I’m sorry. This is the factory manager. I’m the site foreman.”

At those words, Taesu paused.

Because no matter how one looked at him, the factory manager looked younger.

The pause lasted only an instant, and he first checked the patient’s consciousness.

“Ugh…”

When he heard a groan, Taesu raised his voice and asked,

“Factory Manager, can you hear me? Factory Manager!”

“Ugh… Uuugh. Who…”

“I’m a doctor. I came to help you.”

“Doc… President Gu… Choi…”

He spoke each word with difficulty, but Taesu could roughly grasp the context.

So Taesu pieced it together and answered.

“Yes. I met President Gu, and I’m Choi Taesu!”

“Help… help…”

“Help or whatever, let’s take care of your health first. Administering painkiller!”

Thuk!

Taesu unhesitatingly drove a military morphine injection into the factory manager’s right shoulder.

Because the white cloth was covering the area around his right flank.

Squeeeze.

Once all the morphine had been administered, he placed the empty syringe beside him.

In principle, he should have waited until it took effect.

But judging by the state of the bleeding, he did not seem to have that kind of time.

Taesu took saline from his pack and quickly looked around.

“Support here… none.”

There were no team members free to help.

Nearby, Brad Kim and Kim Hyeokgwon were performing emergency treatment on another critically injured patient.

“Hold that tight!”

“Okay. I’m pressing hard!”

“Gyaaah, aaah!”

After the two urgent voices, the patient’s scream rang out as well.

And Jeong Minsu was at a spot a little farther away.

He was examining multiple slightly injured patients all at once by himself.

“Sir, the area by your eyebrow is torn… You there, don’t move. Is there anyone here who can translate?”

“I can translate.”

“What are you doing over there instead of coming quickly? Tell that man over there to stay still!”

Jeong Minsu shouted with fierce momentum.

Like that, everyone was facing patients, with no room to turn their attention elsewhere.

After confirming that in a single glance, Taesu turned his gaze back to the patient he was responsible for.

When you had no teeth, you used your gums.

Taesu handed the saline to the site foreman and said,

“Tear that open and pour it over the wound.”

“Me?”

“What did you say?”

Tap.

Taesu stopped both hands and looked at him heavily.

Under Taesu’s intense gaze, the site foreman quickly nodded and accepted the saline.

“I can do it.”

“Please hurry.”

He called it a request, but it was practically a threat.

However, there weren’t enough hands, and the patient’s condition was serious, so there was no helping it.

After asking him to use the saline, Taesu continued by administering medication with syringes first.

At the very least, antibiotics and hemostatic agents had to be administered no matter what.

Set, squeeeze.

He quickly administered the prepared injections through the vein.

‘The urgent meds are in, for now.’

In the meantime, the site foreman’s voice came.

“I’m pouring it!”

Shaaak!

As he poured the saline, the white cloth laid over the wound became soaked, and then the blood was washed away.

Taesu grabbed the white cloth in time with that.

It was called white cloth, but it was so soaked in blood it could have been called red cloth.

He had added moisture with saline to reduce irritation.

Sssk.

Taesu slowly peeled away the moisture-heavy white cloth.