He was in the middle of peeling away about half of it.
As the affected area was exposed, Taesu’s brow tightened sharply.
It looked as though his flank had been caught in a grenade blast; the flesh was charred black in patches, and part of his white ribs were visible.
The wound was by no means shallow.
If Taesu’s eye was not mistaken, he could not guarantee that the lung was unharmed either.
‘Damn it.’
The situation was far too bad to perform first aid here.
Taesu snapped his head up and quickly began looking around.
Seeing him like that, the puzzled site foreman asked,
“What is it?”
“Is there anywhere we can operate?”
“O-operate?”
“We need to perform emergency surgery.”
Taesu informed him of the situation in a low voice as he looked around.
The site foreman turned to the factory manager with a startled face.
The fact that a military morphine injection had been administered was something any Korean man who had served in the military could guess.
The site foreman seemed to have guessed as well.
And yet, even after the morphine had been administered, the factory manager could not properly regain consciousness.
“Huuugh. Huuugh.”
His groans had merely become somewhat steadier.
The pain had lessened, but the underlying injury was clearly tremendous.
Suppressing his bewilderment, the site foreman said to Taesu,
“There’s a storage room nearby. It’s for storing tea leaves, so it’s relatively clean.”
“Is there a desk or anything we can use as an operating table?”
“Hmm, there’s a sorting worktable.”
The moment the site foreman answered,
Taesu took several folded surgical drapes from his backpack, handed them over, and made a request.
“Please go ahead and make an operating table.”
“Understood. Hey! #%#$.”
The site foreman headed off with several of the locals.
It sounded rough, but he seemed capable of basic Hindi.
Taesu had no time to focus on that fact.
First, he covered the wound again with the white cloth he had half-peeled away.
Then he poured disinfectant over it.
Splash!
Once it was soaked in the dark brown disinfectant, he spread a surgical drape and layered it over the top.
“Huuugh. Krrr.”
A reaction came from the patient.
But it was an indistinct groan.
Taesu spread his hand wide and pressed down on the surgical drape.
“Huuugh. Huuugh.”
Perhaps because of the morphine, he did not express excruciating pain.
Taesu checked the patient’s consciousness once more.
“Sir, Factory Manager. Can you hear me?”
“Huuugh. Uuugh. Yes……”
“The wound is deeper than I thought. What did I just say?”
“Wound…… deep……”
The factory manager’s response was faint, but it was definitely there.
Taesu was grateful simply that he was showing that level of response.
Concealing that emotion inside, he raised his voice a little more and informed him of what would happen next.
“We have no choice but to proceed with emergency surgery.”
“Emer…… surg……”
“Yes. So I’m asking you, what is your blood type?”
“A…… A……”
“Type A. Do you have any adverse reactions or allergies to medicine?”
Taesu asked again, drawing out the factory manager’s response.
This was not a situation where he could test everything one by one.
Above all, since the factory manager was conscious, asking him directly could reduce unnecessary time.
The factory manager was not in a state where he could think right now.
So he responded by conditioned reflex.
“Uuugh…… none……”
“None. Understood. We’ll be moving you soon and going into surgery.”
“A, ah……”
“Yes. You understand, right? You must not lose consciousness until then.”
Taesu spoke loudly into his ear.
That sight was different from how he had been before his hospitalization.
He was applying things he had experienced himself.
Perhaps because the patient had likewise been caught in a grenade blast, he was able to take care of things in greater and finer detail.
After finishing his warning, Taesu took the factory manager’s left hand.
Since his right flank was injured, he had chosen the uninjured left hand.
Squeeze.
He put strength into the hand he held, sending encouragement.
As if responding to Taesu’s action, a faint strength could be felt in the factory manager’s hand as well.
That was not the end.
Taesu quickly turned his head and looked for Brad Kim.
“Brad!”
“What!”
His response was sharp.
It was likely a response proportional to the patient’s condition.
Taesu’s expression hardened as he asked,
“This side is a right flank exposure, and his condition isn’t good. What about your side?”
“A flank injury? So that’s what this was.”
“What do you mean?”
“This patient’s blast injuries are concentrated only on his right back and shoulder. Only to the right of the spine.”
“That means this man shielded him at the moment of the blast.”
When Taesu inferred that, Brad Kim agreed.
“I’m thinking the same thing. Fortunately, the bleeding isn’t severe, but the burn and exposure are considerable.”
“Then do you need to go into emergency surgery over there too?”
“I think we’ll have to.”
Brad Kim’s answer was heavy.
It was then.
Tap.
Jeong Minsu arrived urgently at Taesu’s side.
“The lightly injured aren’t in immediate danger. And the factory manager’s wife knows a bit about emergency treatment.”
“Then can you move too, Dr. Jeong?”
“I can.”
At Jeong Minsu’s answer, Taesu’s eyebrows twitched noticeably.
Then they could perform emergency surgery on two critical patients at the same time.
It had become possible because Brad Kim had come out with them.
Taesu raised his voice again and shouted to Brad Kim.
“Brad, proceed with emergency surgery with Mr. Hyeokgwon!”
“Over there…… Dr. Jeong is here. Can the two of you manage on that side?”
“We’ll make it work. And Mr. Hyeokgwon!”
The moment Taesu called him,
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had been dressing the wound from the opposite side of Brad Kim, snapped his head up and looked at him.
“What is it?”
“Set up an operating room.”
“Someone from that side just ran off!”
“That’s the one we’ll be using.”
Taesu showed not even the slightest sign of yielding.
Both patients were in similarly serious condition, so there was no question of yielding or not.
Kim Hyeokgwon seemed to sense that too and made a bitter face.
“Where are we supposed to find an operating room…… #^#$%#$.”
Grumbling, he asked the people nearby for help in Hindi.
Just like that, it was decided that each side would proceed with emergency surgery.
Meanwhile, Jeong Minsu’s hands were busy.
Clack, snap.
Strange sounds came along with them.
When Taesu looked, to his surprise, a stretcher was being assembled.
“What’s that?”
“A four-fold stretcher. New equipment for our team.”
“It’s exactly what we need. Is it ready?”
At Taesu’s question, Jeong Minsu set the fully extended stretcher down beside them and answered,
“It’s ready.”
“Then let’s move him.”
“Since his flank is injured, it’d be better to hold him from the left and right, right?”
“I’ll take the left.”
Taesu volunteered to stand on the side of the wound.
Lowering his posture, Taesu slid one hand under the patient’s shoulder and held his waist with the other.
On the opposite side, Jeong Minsu did the same.
Once preparations were complete, they looked at each other, trying to match the timing to lift.
But then,
Rustle.
Several locals surrounded them.
Before Taesu even had time to wonder, Jeong Minsu brightened at the sight of a local man with a thick beard.
“Mr. Himan.”
“How can we help?”
“Thank you. Two of you, please hold his legs. One of you come to the head and hold his shoulders. Once we lift the factory manager, Mr. Himan, please slide the stretcher underneath.”
Jeong Minsu spoke in English, quickly assigning everyone’s positions.
“@%#%#$%#.”
The local man named Himan gestured and spoke in Hindi.
Rustle.
Following his gestures, the people began moving hurriedly.
Only then did Taesu grasp the situation.
His gaze turned toward the factory manager.
Even after something like this had happened, the people here were voluntarily helping.
He could tell how Gu Seungheon, the factory manager, and the other Koreans had treated the locals in their everyday lives.
‘What you give comes back to you.’
That was the truth.
He was seeing it with his own eyes.
In the brief moment that passed, everyone took their positions.
Immediately, Himan, who was waiting by the feet with the stretcher, said in English,
“Everyone can count numbers in English.”
“Good. Then we’ll move on ‘three.’”
The moment Taesu emphasized the number,
Nod, nod.
Everyone nodded in unison.
After confirming it, Taesu drew up the tension and counted.
“One…… two…… three!”
“Mr. Himan, the stretcher!”
“Yes!”
Slide. Rustle.
As everyone moved in time, they were able to place the patient carefully onto the stretcher.
But their help did not end there.
Himan said to Taesu and Jeong Minsu,
“We’ll carry him, so please go on ahead.”
“We’ll leave him to you.”
“He’s our manager. We should be the ones asking you.”
Sincerity could be felt in Himan’s expression as he answered.
The others were the same.
Instead of worrying, Taesu and Jeong Minsu picked up their dispatch bags and stood.
“We’ll move first.”
“Please just make sure he doesn’t shake too much.”
“Of course.”
Dadadak.
After making their requests and giving their cautions, Taesu and Jeong Minsu moved.
They were running side by side toward the tea leaf storage room up ahead.
Taesu said in a low voice,
“It looks like they didn’t only put effort into growing tea.”
“If they’re people who all want to help like that, it makes us want to help too.”
“Of course. But……”
Taesu trailed off heavily.
His gaze was turned to the side opposite Jeong Minsu.
“Hm? Ah……”
Jeong Minsu noticed something was off and turned his head.
And just like Taesu, the corners of his eyes drooped downward.
Where the two of them were looking, a local woman was collapsed on the ground, bursting into tears.
“Huuuaaah!”
In front of her was something covered in a white cloth.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu could guess what it was without anyone saying it.
It was likely a victim of this accident.
Beside the local woman sat several other women.
Among them was a Korean woman as well.
She was closer to the bereaved family than anyone else, comforting them.
Her figure contained sincere apology and sorrow.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu looked ahead again and ran.
Both of their expressions had settled heavily.
Someone’s death could never be pleasant.
Their irritation and resentment turned toward the two armies that had caused the problem.
“Those rotten bastards.”
“Why did they have to run into each other here of all places?”
Their insides boiled.
But they did not express that anger right away.
Emergency surgery came first.
They could get even angrier after bringing the surgery to a successful end.
Dadadak.
After running and running, Taesu and Jeong Minsu entered the tea leaf storage room side by side.
A short while later,
The tea leaf storage room had been transformed into an emergency operating room.
In the center of the spacious warehouse stood a hastily assembled operating table.
On top of it, the factory manager who had just arrived lay on his side with the wound facing upward.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu wore surgical gowns and stood facing each other across the operating table.
Each had a waist-high workbench beside him.
Surgical drapes were spread over the workbenches, and surgical instruments were laid out on top.
The workbenches were serving in place of medical carts.
Lastly, each of them had put on a headlamp.
They were substitutes for lighting.