Taesoo barked out orders as they came to him, plans be damned.
"First, cut while checking the lesion border!"
"I'm holding it here. Cut quickly!"
"Give me time to get my fingers in... Argh!"
Snip.
Taesoo forcibly moved the awkwardly gripped Metzenbaum baby and cut.
That was the beginning.
Taesoo grabbed the necrotic tissue with the Mixter and repeatedly cut quickly and precisely with the Metzenbaum baby.
Snip, snip.
In the meantime, Jeong Minsu gauged the necrotic range while clearing away the remaining bleeding.
At a glance, they seemed to be in sync.
But when things grew too urgent, they were bound to clash.
"Minsu, bleeding here. What are you doing, not clearing this!"
"I dabbed there; it's pushing back out from inside!"
"Stop making excuses and do it right!"
"Hey, you son of a... Do you think I'd waste brainpower making excuses when we don't even have time!"
The exchange immediately grew rough.
Indeed, this rough side suited Taesu and Jeong Minsu better.
They themselves didn't have the presence of mind to realize that.
Shhk, shhk.
Taesu, his hands moving, glanced at the time.
His expression hardened instantly.
"Damn it, over eight minutes have already passed!"
"Wow, time is tick, tick, ticking..."
"Stop cursing and use that energy to clean up first!"
"You're the one who should stop cutting and cover it up!"
Nervous shouts filled the temporary operating room.
The two didn't even have time to be conscious of it.
"We have to close quickly. Quickly!"
"Hey, hey, hey. You have to let go of my fingers!"
"Pull them out yourself; it's been over nine minutes!"
"Argh... Fine!"
Jeong Minsu raised both hands first.
Right after, Taesu pulled his hands out and checked the time again.
"Seventeen seconds left."
"If we're like this from the start, it's going to get exhausting."
"We'll argue about that later; I'll hold it, so release the vessels."
Click.
Taesu carefully enveloped the kidney with both hands.
It had been wrapped tightly with cotton and gauze to temporarily pack the lesion.
Soon, Jeong Minsu released the renal artery and renal vein side by side.
Whoosh.
Blood began to fill the hollow kidney.
He couldn't hear the sound, but Taesu, holding the kidney, felt that sensation.
He had no time to think about how that felt.
Now was not the time for a brief rest.
He had to gauge how much blood was entering.
If compared to breathing, it was enough for the kidney to take one big breath.
Taesu's fingertips were what judged that.
The squishy-feeling kidney gradually swelled up firm and taut.
Taesu focused all his nerves on his fingertips.
"A little more..."
"More?"
"Mm, mm, mm... Now!"
"Clamp!"
Clack!
Jeong Minsu quickly clamped the renal artery and renal vein.
Gauge the blood volume needed for circulation?
That was something to check later.
Since blood flow was blocked, the ten-minute count started again.
Swish.
Taesu quickly removed the gauze and cotton wrapping the kidney.
The kidney immediately gaped open and vomited out all the blood it held.
Jeong Minsu despaired as he saw that.
"Ugh. When are we going to clear this again!"
"Pour saline over it!"
"That would be good. But then how do we clear that?"
"You'll have to take care of that yourself."
Snip, snip.
Taesu replied half-heartedly, but both hands were already moving.
Jeong Minsu wanted to glare fiercely, but he didn't even have time for that.
"Dab it with gauze and throw it on the floor!"
"You do it. It's blocking my view!"
"I got it, I said I got it. I'm going crazy!"
Splurt, splat!
Jeong Minsu was confused by the constantly changing situation even as he moved his hands.
Taesu had no leeway to accommodate Jeong Minsu's circumstances.
He was already buried up to his own nose.
"Quickly clear it and help with the resection!"
"Do you think that's as easy as it sounds!"
"What. I only made two scissor cuts and already four minutes passed?"
Taesu's eyes widened.
He had thought it was just a moment, but they were already nearly halfway through the time limit.
Jeong Minsu was on the verge of tears.
"I can't not check the time, argh!"
"Move faster, faster!"
"Urgh!"
Swish-swish, clack-clack.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu were chased and chased again by the relentlessly advancing time without stopping.
Another ten minutes passed.
"Time's up!"
"Ugh. Barely made it."
Jeong Minsu's complexion was deathly pale, showing how much he had been rushed.
Once again, Taesu was holding the kidney with both hands.
And he hurried the exhausted Jeong Minsu.
"Hurry up and release the bulldog clamps."
"I said I got it... Releasing."
The moment Jeong Minsu tried to manipulate the bulldog clamps held in both hands.
Taesu urgently stopped him.
"Wait!"
"Huh, why!"
"Transfusion check."
"Ah, right."
Jeong Minsu blamed himself for forgetting something important.
In the meantime, Taesu's gaze went to the transfusion pack. The bulging transfusion pack had slimmed down somewhat from providing blood.
Jeong Minsu also looked at the transfusion pack.
The two slightly moved their lips as if calculating the amount used.
And soon they spoke the calculated results.
"Four."
"Five."
At the different results, the two glanced at each other.
Among them, Jeong Minsu spoke with a dumbfounded expression.
"Didn't you learn basic math? If you divide by the amount used, it's exactly five, so how is it four?"
"You have to subtract the last one. Are you going to finish surgery with the kidney left open?"
"Do you think I'm an idiot? I calculated that too."
"Is the kidney the only thing bleeding?"
When Taesu asked further, Jeong Minsu flinched.
Although they were operating intensively on the kidney, bleeding was continuing around it too.
"I'm the stupid one."
"Good that you know. Now release the vessels."
"...Releasing."
Whoosh.
The feeling of blood filling the kidney again was vividly transmitted.
In that brief moment, Taesu furrowed his brow.
"It's counting now too, so consider three left from here on."
"Can we solve it in that time?"
Jeong Minsu spat out his worry.
Since they had been performing the same surgery until now, he simulated it in his head.
"We have to finish at least half of the necrotic resection this cycle."
"Is that possible?"
"Honestly, I can't guarantee it."
"I want to say there's no plan... If you had guaranteed it, I think I would have distrusted it even more."
The two's expressions were not very bright.
The restriction of having three left came as a great pressure.
Time passed amid such worries.
The moment he felt the kidney had swollen to some degree.
Taesu looked for Jeong Minsu.
"Minsu, clamp again."
"Vessel occlusion."
Clack.
The moment the two bulldog clamps blocked the renal artery and renal vein.
Taesu immediately peeled off the gauze and cotton wrapping the kidney.
Now the limited ten-minute treatment began again.
Clack!
Taesu quickly picked up the Metzenbaum baby and Mixter and shouted.
"Forget the details for later and just run!"
"We can do it. We can do it, let's go!"
Jeong Minsu responded with a strong cheer full of power.
To that extent, the two turned their surgical instruments toward the kidney with fire in their eyes.
Twenty minutes passed in an instant.
Accordingly, the transfusion packs had become considerably thinner.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu, who had fought through two consecutive fierce battles, were catching their breath.
"Phew."
"Hmm."
Their expressions held not just seriousness but grim determination.
The final cycle would soon begin.
The fact that their expressions were not bright seemed to represent the current situation.
Now even silence was a luxury.
Taesu broke the heavy atmosphere first and asked Jeong Minsu to confirm.
"Now we have to extract fragments, clean up, and suture, right?"
"Can we do all that in ten minutes?"
"Jeong Minsu."
Taesu called out in a cold voice.
It was a strong encouragement not to grow weak again.
Jeong Minsu quickly shook his head.
"It's not that timidity is acting up; let's face reality."
"Hey, we've come this far."
"Don't I know we have nowhere to retreat, no matter how much more time we sink in?"
Jeong Minsu retorted sharply.
Taesu felt something from such a Jeong Minsu. He couldn't quite define it, but it was an intuition informed by the time they had spent together.
Taesu asked back with a slightly softened expression.
"So do you have any ideas?"
"If there's anything that can reduce the time even a little, it's just that suturing is the only option."
"We have to start soon, so hurry up and tell me."
Taesu urged, feeling the kidney swelling.
Jeong Minsu, seemingly having no intention to stall for time, quickly spoke what he had thought.
"If I start suturing while you extract the fragments, I think we can considerably reduce the time."
"Theoretically?"
"Right."
"Is the kidney that big?"
When Taesu asked, Jeong Minsu shook his head with a heavy expression.
"No. That's what bothers me."
"If you have nothing more to say, get ready. We have to start the final cycle."
Taesu signaled that the scheduled time was approaching.
It was something Jeong Minsu also sensed.
Perhaps because of that, his eyes drooped slightly at the corners as he spoke.
"Damn. Knowing it's the last one makes me feel strange for no reason."
"Stop the useless talk. Get ready."
"Taesu."
Jeong Minsu called out briefly in a heavy voice.
At that sound, Taesu raised his eyebrows and looked back.
"What?"
"Just look ahead. I'll cover the back somehow, no matter what it takes."
"Has this bastard gone crazy all of a sudden?"
Taesu furrowed his brow at Jeong Minsu's sentimental words out of nowhere.
But Jeong Minsu was serious.
"I'm not joking."
"..."
"Do you remember the emergency patient at Padum who had trouble with that lying bastard?"
At the sudden recollection, Taesu's eyes narrowed.
"Do we have time for that right now?"
"If we had that kind of time, I'd have already left."
"If you're going to, say it by the patient's name. It was Puankaz."
As Taesu responded, Jeong Minsu smiled a bitter smile.
"Right. We didn't know the name during emergency surgery; we found out later when visiting the hospital room. There were many well-built guardians too."
"Why Puankaz all of a sudden?"
"It's similar to then. Then it was lungs, now it's kidneys."
"That's right."
Taesu nodded clearly remembering.
Only then did Jeong Minsu bring out what he really wanted to say.
"I remembered what I said to Doctor Talon when heading to the improvised school operating room."
"The words about what would happen if people like us who had nothing to lose gained something to protect?"
"You remember?"
Jeong Minsu was surprised as if he hadn't expected it.
Taesu spoke softly to such a Jeong Minsu.
"Though I hinted at it then, looking back, it seemed like quite a good line."
"I want to say those words again now."
"Yeah. When have we ever lived worrying about what we'd lose?"
Taesu said with a bitter face and dropped his shoulders with a thud.
Strangely, it felt like his vision became clearer than when he was struggling.
But what Jeong Minsu really wanted was slightly different from Taesu.
"Is it just us? Would the factory manager here be any different?"
"Hmm?"
"When I first heard the circumstances from Raku, I thought they might be people with as little to lose as us."
"That's... right."
As Taesu answered carefully, Jeong Minsu added.
"They've gained something to protect. What would that obsession be like?"
"It must be tremendous."
"If I dare speculate, wouldn't it be to them what the patient's life is to us?"
"Probably."
"Then even if it's painful right now, even if it's hard, they'll overcome it. Because the tea leaf harvest they cherished day and night is upon them."
Jeong Minsu finished speaking, gazing at the factory manager's back with a deep, subtle light in his eyes.