It was quite cold.
The metallic chill sent a biting coldness through him.
His dizzy mind snapped into focus, as if cold water had been poured over his head.
"Hoo."
He drew a deep breath.
The surgical preparations were not yet complete.
But he could delay no longer.
He knew all too well that the patient's life depended on a race against time.
Further delay was dangerous.
In that case?
He would have to force it through as is.
"Beginning."
Swish.
Simultaneously with his words, the scalpel dug into the child's soft flesh.
And so the emergency surgery began.
The moment the flesh split, the ECG fluctuated.
Beep beep beep.
Then, opaque fluid that had accumulated inside mixed with blood and slowly flowed out.
This was ascites.
Removing as much as possible was the priority.
Taesu looked for gauze first.
There was only gauze wrapped in plastic.
Because the surgery had begun so urgently, there was no time to tear open the plastic.
"Damn it."
There was no time to even sigh.
But he needed it right now.
His mind raced.
Taesu's choice was simple.
'If there are no teeth, use gums… No, if there are no hands, use teeth.'
Tuk.
He bit the end of the plastic with his mouth and pulled it to the side. Then he grabbed the gauze that emerged with his other hand and pushed it straight into the affected area.
Rip, tuck.
The act of tearing the plastic by himself and inserting it into the affected area continued repeatedly, and rapidly.
Everyone's gaze turned toward Taesu.
Bewilderment filled the face of Jeong Minsu, who was administering medicine through the IV. However, he could not deny that this method was the best if one were alone.
"Like this, like this?"
Murmuring, his head moved along before he knew it.
Bread Gim, standing on the opposite side, slid his hands into his surgical gown and admired.
"Being a field specialist, your skills are different from the get-go."
Behind him, Gim Hyeokgwon poked only his head out briefly. Watching Taesu's actions, he grumbled softly.
"If you can do it that fast alone, why have you been making me do it all this time?"
"It doesn't look like he's doing that knowingly."
"I know that too. Hmph."
"Ugh."
"I tied my waist ties, so hurry up and dive in. Now, Doctor Jeong, look at me for a moment."
Gim Hyeokgwon turned toward Jeong Minsu, not Taesu.
Because Bread Gim was there, he acted boldly without worrying about his back.
Taesu continued tearing gauze and pushing it into the affected area.
Then Bread Gim's hands arrived at the affected area holding surgical tools.
Swish, swish.
He swept up the accumulated gauze, ascites, and blood to remove them outside.
Watching that, Taesu mumbled.
"Um, um?"
"Tear faster."
Rip, tuck.
Bread Gim gave an order to Taesu.
Yet it did not feel like he was asserting himself as the lead surgeon.
Concentrating on the surgery, he was quickly proceeding with what he could do.
— There is no lead surgeon in this surgery. There are only colleagues putting their heads together and sharing hands.
He conveyed this not through words but through atmosphere and action.
A faint smile flashed across Taesu's mouth as he bit the plastic.
It was a very fleeting moment.
Taesu's expression grew even more serious.
They say that a supporting actor who does their best for the protagonist is beautiful.
'Then let's become beautiful.'
With that heart, he exuded will and passion.
He moved as busily as his mind.
But the results were not as favorable as he thought.
Even though Taesu packed gauze and Bread Gim removed it, the ascites showed no signs of decreasing.
Meanwhile, time had passed, and Jeong Minsu approached.
He was roughly in surgical attire.
Jeong Minsu, standing at Bread Gim's side, reported first.
"All done."
"What about the blood packs?"
"Hyeokgwon-ssi is checking the blood type. What should I do now?"
When Jeong Minsu asked, Bread Gim spoke precisely.
"We need to open the affected area first."
"Wait a moment. The retractor is… here it is."
"Let's install it quickly."
"Yes."
Squeak, squeak.
Jeong Minsu quickly rushed in and opened the affected area with the retractor.
Slosh.
Suddenly, more ascites flowed out.
Jeong Minsu's hand paused for a moment.
"Oh."
"Minsu, continue."
"Okay."
At the urging, Jeong Minsu's hand moved again.
On the other hand, the corners of Taesu and Bread Gim's eyes lowered slightly.
Taesu opened his mouth first.
"It was filled with this much ascites?"
"It means peritonitis is one hundred percent."
"That is the problem."
"Let's see with our own eyes how severe it is."
"I agree."
The hands of the two who had quickly exchanged opinions moved again.
Their movements were faster than before.
Soon, the affected area widened through the retractor.
However, Jeong Minsu's eyes, which had actually widened it, shook.
"Why, why is it white?"
His voice trembled too.
Those words rang out so absurdly.
Yet they were not absurd at all.
Just as Jeong Minsu said, the revealed right side of the abdomen was coated white.
Bread Gim answered aloud.
"Damn, the peritonitis has spread this much."
"Bread, let's start with the appendix first."
"Yeah. Decompression is the priority. I'll go this way."
"Then I'll go this way."
Swish, swish.
Taesu and Bread Gim's hands headed to different places.
The difference was about the width of a finger.
About ten centimeters.
By common sense, it was an insignificant short distance.
However, in the human body, that ten-something centimeters was an enormously wide distance.
It could be seen as an entirely different place.
Perhaps that was why?
Watching them, Jeong Minsu quickly picked up surgical tools and began helping Bread Gim, who stood on the same line.
"Bread, if I hold it like this, will it work?"
"Come in a bit deeper and tilt it."
"Like this?"
"Yeah. Stay like that."
Suk, chik.
Through short conversation, they matched their unfamiliar breathing and rummaged inside the affected area.
On the other hand, Taesu was alone.
No, not alone.
Taesu glanced at the empty space beside him and spoke.
"Hook in the right hand, international forceps in the left."
"There are three doctors?"
Simultaneously with the answer, Gim Hyeokgwon revealed himself.
He had hung the blood packs and approached.
Taesu answered while concentrating on the affected area.
"Being alone is lonely."
"Are you the type to get lonely?"
"Hyeokgwon-ssi."
"Wait. Let me sterilize too."
Only his voice was sharp.
Scrub, scrub.
He was quickly hurrying to prepare to participate in the surgery.
And soon, the hook and international forceps Taesu wanted approached.
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"The hook is… like this. And… like this."
Tuk, clamp.
Taesu directly manipulated Gim Hyeokgwon's hands to position them.
Gim Hyeokgwon looked at Taesu incredulously.
"Now you just naturally take me and use me."
"Maintain that position."
"Yes yes, I got it."
Not a single word went by without a retort.
Still, Taesu was glad.
Because Gim Hyeokgwon's hands had secured a bit more field of view.
He looked deeper and more carefully into that interior.
While doing so.
After moving surgical tools a few times, Taesu paused and muttered a curse.
"Damn. Appendix located."
"Where… Huh?"
Bread Gim glanced and was bewildered.
Then Taesu spoke to Jeong Minsu.
"Minsu, grab here with tissue forceps and cut it off."
"Got it… What is this?"
"Quickly."
"Ah, okay."
Snip.
Jeong Minsu quickly made a scissor cut.
And lifted something clamped tightly in the tissue forceps.
It was part of a half-torn intestine.
It was the part called the appendix or cecum.
But its appearance was strange.
Something half-torn and blackened was tangled together.
Jeong Minsu, who had been looking closely without thinking, crinkled his face tightly and turned his head.
"Ugh, what is this smell?"
"Doctor Jeong, wait a moment… This is grass. Grass that mixed with food and decayed."
Bread Gim immediately identified it and informed them.
Taesu's expression, who had been suturing the cut part, crumpled roughly.
"So much for folk remedies."
"Why?"
When Gim Hyeokgwon asked, Taesu explained briefly.
"It seems things that should have gone to the intestines were mistakenly drawn here, making the problem serious."
"But if it is a folk remedy, doesn't that mean it had some effect? Then why is only this child having problems?"
"If it went to the intestines, it would have been medicine. It entered here and became poison."
Taesu's answer was concise.
However, Gim Hyeokgwon, who understood its meaning, flinched.
"So that is why he developed appendicitis?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Anyway, what should I do now?"
Gim Hyeokgwon shook off the complexity and asked what had to be done.
The answer to that came from Bread Gim's mouth.
"All this white is inflammation."
"I know that too. It's peritonitis."
"Correct. It's something that shouldn't be there."
"So you mean to remove it."
Gim Hyeokgwon defined it simply.
But Jeong Minsu was staring with wide eyes.
"All of this?"
"So leave it?"
"Taesu, that's not what I mean; the range is too wide."
"That is exactly why we need to do it quickly."
Taesu shouted fiercely back at him.
At that momentum, Jeong Minsu's brow narrowed.
"Fine. Damn it, we have to remove it. We have to remove it all for this kid to live."
"Obviously."
"……."
Jeong Minsu closed his mouth.
Because he was seeing with his own eyes that there was no time to waste on verbal sparring.
Then Taesu opened his mouth again and gave an overall order.
"Bread and Minsu, come down from the top while cleaning up."
"Okay."
"Got it."
After the two answered in turn, Taesu spoke to Gim Hyeokgwon.
"We go up from below."
"Of course you would. So what should I do?"
"Just lend me your hands."
"You use them gently and return them to their place, I see."
Gim Hyeokgwon relaxed the strength in both hands.
It meant to position them where needed himself.
Because such experience had been frequent for a time, that appearance was natural.
Taesu found that comfortable as well.
"Then I'll borrow the right hand first."
"As you please."
It was simultaneous with the answer.
Taesu lowered Gim Hyeokgwon's right hand to the very bottom.
Then, placing the hook somewhere, he said.
"Pull just like that. More, more… Stop."
"Stop."
"Now the left hand. Here, maintain just like that."
"Maintain."
Gim Hyeokgwon repeated Taesu's words like a parrot.
That appearance was exactly like a surgical machine.
For Taesu, it was the optimal, most advanced surgical machine.
Having created space with Gim Hyeokgwon's hands, Taesu began to move in earnest.
It was all white.
It was all inflammation.
The danger of peritonitis must never be underestimated.
If left like this, it would unconditionally develop into sepsis.
Even if not, inflammation could dig into other organs.
Hepatitis, nephritis, cholecystitis, and so on.
They were all life-threatening diseases.
Especially in such a field environment, the mortality rate rose sharply.
The surgery probability being fifty-fifty was also a probability estimated due to the variable called peritonitis.
If it spread beyond this?
'Absolutely not.'
Taesu's hand movements toward the white inflammation grew busy to the point of urgency.