Bread Kim and Jeong Minsu watched it with blank faces and said,
“Doctor Choi grabbed him and held him right there.”
“And Mr. Hyeokgwon threw a straight one-two slap combo?”
“Wow.”
It seemed all they could do was marvel.
From the standpoint of spectators, it must have been shocking enough to make their jaws drop.
But for the one who’d been hit, stars seemed to be sparkling before his eyes.
“Grrk.”
Thud.
He clutched both cheeks and staggered backward.
Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon approached him with identical ferocious expressions.
Step.
“Hup.”
The middle-aged man flinched in surprise.
Taesu spoke first, and Kim Hyeokgwon relayed it exactly.
“First, the herbs you fed her as a folk remedy worsened your daughter’s condition.”
“#%#$.”
“And everything you’ve said and done until now has been so irritating I don’t even want to deal with you.”
“^%#$%.”
As if each word felt cathartic, Kim Hyeokgwon’s interpreting voice rose higher.
Taesu didn’t care and added,
“But we’ll operate. Not because of you, but because I feel sorry for Sarubia, who is looking at you and grieving at this very moment.”
“^$#%#$%.”
Kim Hyeokgwon translated in a forceful voice.
At that moment, the middle-aged man flinched and asked something.
Kim Hyeokgwon frowned and relayed it to Taesu.
“I don’t think this man has come to his senses. He’s asking if the surgery can succeed.”
“Tell him I don’t know.”
“He says what kind of irresponsible answer is that. This bastard really is a bad guy.”
“It doesn’t matter, so tell him this. He can move the child wherever he wants, but she won’t last until then. If he has eyes, he should look.”
Taesu gestured toward the operating table.
Sarubia had both hands over her abdomen, but her belly was even more swollen.
In just a few minutes, it had visibly distended.
Seeing it with his own eyes, the middle-aged man seemed to grow increasingly dizzy.
He shouted something angrily.
Kim Hyeokgwon immediately relayed it.
“He says what are we doing, hurry up and operate. Wow, he’s really something. Really something.”
“If we have permission, that’s enough. Tell him to leave.”
“Let’s do that. Get out. I said get out.”
Thump, thump.
Kim Hyeokgwon deliberately shouted in Korean as he drove the middle-aged man out.
The middle-aged man was chased out, and the door shut.
Clack.
Everyone tensed sharply.
But Taesu quickly stopped them.
“She hasn’t been anesthetized yet. Slowly, smoothly.”
“Ahem.”
“R-right, of course.”
Bread Kim and Jeong Minsu forced smiles and moved gently.
But inside, their hearts were melting with anxiety.
Taesu stepped close to the operating table and asked Kim Hyeokgwon,
“Mr. Hyeokgwon, the strongest anesthetic you have.”
“Even to my eyes, this calls for that size. Wait.”
Clatter.
The sound of him preparing it came from behind.
Taesu’s gaze was already on Sarubia.
Sarubia’s mouth opened and moved faintly.
“…I’m… sorry.”
“……”
Shake, shake.
Taesu calmly shook his head.
Then he smiled.
It was the most peaceful-looking smile in the world.
Sarubia hesitated, then imitated that smile exactly.
They could not understand each other’s words, but she seemed to feel what it meant through his eyes and heart.
“I’ll do my best. You have to be strong too.”
“……”
There was no way Sarubia could understand him.
Still, Taesu did everything he could.
“You still have to live more. You’re too young.”
“……”
“I’ll help you. Even if the god of fate comes, I’ll grab him by the collar.”
Taesu meant every word.
Then the syringe arrived.
Snap.
“Here. The strongest one.”
“Please tell her it’s time to sleep now.”
“Let’s do that.”
Kim Hyeokgwon translated Taesu’s words.
Meanwhile, Taesu took Sarubia’s hand.
Slide.
This time, she offered her hand gently.
With a satisfied expression, Taesu administered the anesthetic in the proper amount.
The strongest anesthetic clearly had a different effect. As soon as it was administered, Sarubia’s eyes slowly began to close.
And soon, Sarubia was completely asleep.
Taesu confirmed it by lifting her arm slightly.
Thud.
Her arm fell limply.
It meant the anesthesia had taken effect.
At that exact moment,
Taesu’s calm gaze abruptly turned urgent.
“She’s under.”
“That sure took long.”
“Only what’s necessary.”
“Quickly, quickly.”
Everyone’s hands and feet, which had been moving leisurely, turned rough.
Crash.
The operating room was becoming a chaotic mess, but no one cared.
They had no room to worry about every little thing.
They needed the minimum preparations, then had to enter surgery as quickly as possible.
The core of this surgery?
Speed, no matter what.
The operating room was filled only with a stinging, sharp atmosphere.
The order of surgical preparations?
There wasn’t even time to trade it for taffy.
Whatever their hands grabbed became the order.
“Here, the surgical drape.”
“Disinfect first.”
“Lay it down first and disinfect.”
Crash.
There was no chaos quite like this.
That was how much of an emergency it was.
Everyone was moving without order.
Taesu and Bread Kim met above the operating table.
Step.
The moment their eyes met, they both pointed toward the surgeon’s position as if by instinct.
“Bread.”
“Doctor Choi.”
They yielded the lead surgeon’s spot to each other.
Taesu prioritized Bread Kim’s career.
Conversely, Bread Kim valued Taesu’s experience highly.
It was a ridiculous sight created by their mutual respect.
Of course, to doctors, it was an important matter.
But to Kim Hyeokgwon, it seemed pathetic, and he shouted,
“Just stand anywhere.”
“What?”
“Does surgery only work if you stand in that exact spot?”
At the same time as that question,
Taesu and Bread Kim’s eyes widened.
It felt as though they had been struck in the back of the head.
Taesu was the first to come to his senses.
“Anywhere.”
“The patient is what matters.”
Bread’s words followed almost simultaneously.
The phrases they tossed out one by one fit together subtly.
And both of them thought of Doctor Schmidt.
More precisely, they recalled James’s advice that he had conveyed.
The doctor is the supporting role.
The patient is the lead.
Does a supporting actor fuss over where he stands?
Ridiculous.
All that mattered was doing one’s best for the protagonist, wherever one was.
It had been a vague realization.
But now, the concept was clear and engraved deeply in their minds.
At that same moment,
Taesu and Bread Kim turned around.
Then each returned to the closest position.
Meanwhile, Jeong Minsu was connecting the ECG.
“It’s connected.”
The response?
Beep, beep.
Naturally, it could not be good.
Bread Kim immediately spoke aloud to announce the current situation.
“There’s a severe gap between pulse and blood pressure.”
“Her temperature is extremely high.”
Taesu added.
Cutting through both their words, a sharper voice came from elsewhere.
“Preparations still aren’t done.”
Crash.
Kim Hyeokgwon was rushing so frantically he couldn’t even look their way.
Jeong Minsu?
“What do I do? What now?”
He was truly beside himself.
Bread Kim?
“Something we absolutely have to do before starting surgery…”
Whip, whip.
He was frantic searching for what was needed.
In that instant, Taesu’s brow furrowed sharply.
There was no system. None at all.
This would be a problem.
This disorder might delay the start of surgery even further.
No, it was already doing so.
At this rate, there was no telling when the surgery would begin.
The current situation honed Taesu’s nerves sharper than a scalpel.
Whip, whip.
His head moved quickly from side to side.
People, machines, medical instruments, and more.
He took in everything inside the operating room.
His mind moved as quickly as a computer.
A field hospital was an endless series of unexpected variables.
Having learned the basics there, Taesu came up with a way to organize this pandemonium.
When one’s heart was urgent, a decision would be made somehow.
After finishing the calculations in his head in a brief span of time, Taesu began coordinating everyone.
“Jeong Minsu, secure respiration with intubation first.”
“Yeah.”
“Then connect the IV and administer the muscle relaxant, antibiotics, hemostatic, and electrolytes one after another.”
“Say them one at a time.”
Jeong Minsu snapped back.
His eyes were already full of blue venom.
At a moment when a life was at risk, he saw nothing else.
But that did not mean Taesu would back down.
Rather, he pressed him even harder.
“Hurry. Move first.”
“I said I got it. Muscle relaxant, antibiotics.”
“Glucose first. And the blood pack too.”
“Damn it. Glucose, muscle relaxant.”
Jeong Minsu scowled fiercely, but kept repeating the words so he wouldn’t forget as he moved.
Seeing that, Taesu immediately changed targets.
“Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
“What?”
“Surgical gloves.”
“How did this doctor ever operate without me all this time? Anyway, here are the surgical gloves.”
Whip.
The surgical gloves came to him as if by machine.
Taesu immediately pushed his hands into them and asked,
“How much is ready?”
“What’s there to say? I’ve laid things out roughly for now. What else do you need?”
“For me, this is enough for now. Instead, please put Bread in a surgical gown first.”
At Taesu’s request, Kim Hyeokgwon looked at him with curiosity.
“Your assistant?”
“I’ll handle it myself. We don’t have time to worry about that right now.”
“Let’s do that. Other hand.”
Slide.
Kim Hyeokgwon held out another surgical glove.
As Taesu put it on as well, he turned his gaze to the opposite side of the operating table and spoke.
“Bread, urinary catheter.”
“I’m doing it. Okay.”
Snap.
Bread Kim immediately gave him a thumbs-up, as if the treatment had gone well.
It was a simple procedure, but an important measure.
Even in this urgent situation, he took care of the basics properly.
Bread Kim was clearly showing how important surgical experience was.
Then,
“You’re done putting them on. Take this, and I’m going to Doctor Kim.”
Whip.
After handing him cotton soaked in disinfectant, Kim Hyeokgwon swiftly moved away.
Through that gap came Jeong Minsu’s voice.
“Airway secured. IV connected, and muscle relaxant administered. I’ll find the rest and administer them right away.”
“Okay.”
Taesu answered only with words.
His gaze was directed to the side.
Where Kim Hyeokgwon had been standing, only a medical cart sat by itself.
But it was not an empty cart.
An emergency surgical kit was roughly spread out on top of it.
A scalpel blade had even been attached.
It was hard to believe such preparations had been made in such a short time.
Admiration could come later.
Snap.
With his hands drenched in disinfectant, Taesu gripped the scalpel.