The expressions of Taesu and Squad Leader Sam hardened the instant they saw them.
"Damn. I expected as much, but still."
"It seems the first batch truly are the worst patients."
That was the end of the conversation.
Taesu and Squad Leader Sam quickly rushed toward them.
Thud, thud, thud!
The moment they drew close, Taesu shouted in English.
"Anyone who speaks English!"
"Sir!"
Swish.
A soldier abruptly stepped forward.
His face looked surprisingly young, and his rank insignia was different from the other soldiers, so Taesu asked:
"Who are you?"
"I'm the platoon leader. I cannot tell you the details."
"I don't want to know the details either. For now, tell everyone to sit over there."
Taesu urgently pointed at the wooden platforms.
But the platoon leader didn't move immediately.
He was strangely hesitating.
"Um, well…."
Taesu instantly narrowed his eyes and pressed him.
"What are you doing? I told you to have them sit!"
"I was trying to t-tell you this first."
"What are you talking about!"
Taesu shouted in a fury.
He didn't like that the platoon leader was dawdling with the wounded behind him.
His desire to slug him upside the head was plain on his face.
Squad Leader Sam was also watching with an unpleasant gaze.
Even so, the platoon leader still couldn't meet their eyes.
Taesu felt like he was going crazy with frustration.
Just as it was about to become reality, the platoon leader spoke with difficulty.
"To meet the Hero of Ijambakeu again like this… it's an honor."
"What on earth… what do you mean, again?"
"I didn't think you'd remember. At the Ijambakeu hospital, I came with wounded at dawn just like this."
At those words, Taesu quickly racked his memory.
Indian Army wounded who came at dawn?
The person who had supported him?
Taesu tilted his head.
Because he hadn't been the patient, the memory hadn't sprung to mind immediately.
So he approached it from the opposite direction.
If he thought based on the patient?
Ding!
It came to him in an instant, making his deliberation pointless.
"The soldier who was covered in blood after being hit by rock fragments from a direct bomb strike… are you the one who came covered in blood alongside him while supporting him?"
"Huh! You remember?"
"Vaguely. But now doesn't seem like the time to reminisce."
Taesu stared intently at the platoon leader, who kept wasting time.
Perhaps the platoon leader had finally worked up his courage, for he quickly opened his mouth.
"Most of the time, when we showed our soldiers to the medical officer, they were prescribed painkillers."
"I see."
"Each time, I overstepped and talked a lot about Doctor Choe."
"What kind of talk?"
Taesu asked, sensing something unusual.
The platoon leader's answer wasn't far from that premonition.
"I said that if this were Ijambakeu, Doctor Choe would have healed them all."
"I- is that so?"
"It's true that we volunteered for the army because it's an all-volunteer force. But most of the soldiers enlisted because they have large families and no other talents."
The platoon leader blatantly shook Taesu's heart.
"Hmm."
"And the soldiers just do what those above order them to do. They take up their guns because they don't want to die, because they have no choice."
"What… I understand what you're saying."
Taesu tried to end the conversation at an appropriate point.
But the platoon leader added one more thing, as if it weren't over yet.
"One of the scouts who was at the accident site two days ago is among those waiting for treatment."
"Is that so?"
"He's a new recruit who transferred in this year. Right now he can't sleep, can't eat, and is trembling with anxiety. And…."
Just as his words were about to continue.
Swish.
Taesu raised his hand and firmly cut him off.
"Stop. Please stop talking."
"I'm sorry for overstepping and saying this."
"Let's talk later. Those soldiers you're asking me to look after are suffering, aren't they?"
The platoon leader, who had wilted at Taesu's words, quickly switched gears.
"Then what can I do to help?"
"Please write down the patients' names, ages, and chief symptoms."
The moment Taesu spoke.
Squad Leader Sam held out a blank sheet of paper as if he had been waiting.
The platoon leader immediately took it and answered with a determined gaze.
"With the resolve of charging into enemy territory, I will thoroughly interrogate—no, question—the soldiers."
"Very well, but before that, one thing."
"Yes. Please speak."
"There are no soldiers here right now."
Taesu said firmly.
In that instant, the platoon leader's eyes sparkled.
"Of course. Just like at Ijambakeu, we will come quietly and leave quietly."
"Good. Then tell me who is suffering the most."
"That soldier lying over there… that friend."
The platoon leader quickly corrected his form of address, perhaps because he was quick-witted.
Taesu welcomed that kind of tact.
He quickly put an end to that thought as well.
Now was the moment to face the real patient.
Taesu immediately moved and found Squad Leader Sam, who was waiting quietly.
"Doctor Sam."
"Yes. Doctor Choe."
Tap.
The two quickly headed toward the soldier the platoon leader had indicated.
Taesu and Squad Leader Sam arrived in front of the soldier at the same time.
"Guh… guh…."
The soldier was lying on the wooden platform, groaning.
Taesu's expression hardened slightly as he examined him.
"Mental fog (clouded consciousness)?"
His tone was closer to conviction than doubt.
The reason he was so certain was because the patient showed no reaction to another person's approach.
The patient's hands were positioned on his right lower abdomen.
Taesu found that odd.
"Why?"
"What do you mean?"
"If your stomach hurts, you curl up, but instead he's stretching his body out."
When Taesu briefly explained with an example, Squad Leader Sam understood immediately.
"That's right. It really is strange."
"Doctor Sam, please check the vitals first with the automatic blood pressure monitor."
Taesu asked and approached the patient even closer.
"Uuuuh."
As expected, there was no reaction.
Just then, the platoon leader seemed to have overheard and quickly approached to speak.
"It was the medical officer's order."
"What was?"
"The order was not to curl up from the pain but to stretch out your body with pride. He said the Indian Army does not curl up."
At those words, Taesu's face contorted severely.
"That fu—"
A harsh curse that was almost too difficult to utter burst from Taesu's mouth.
The platoon leader's eyes widened so much they seemed to shake.
Still, Taesu's cursing continued.
"—cker, where is he?!"
"I'm sorry!"
"You have nothing to be sorry for. For now, since I understand, please continue writing."
"Sir!"
The platoon leader answered with crisp tension and quickly retreated.
In the meantime, Taesu first took out a small flashlight.
But at the thought of the medical officer, he was instantly overcome.
"I really want to tear that bas—… hoo!"
He forcibly suppressed his anger.
However lacking his medical knowledge was, there were limits.
He shook his head.
He brushed it from his mind, not wanting to think about it.
He roughly demanded of the patient with clouded consciousness before him, as if pressing him.
"This is Doctor Choe Taesu. Do you know where you are?"
"Huuuh."
"You don't have to speak English, so please try to say anything."
Tap, tap.
Taesu lightly prodded the patient to elicit a reaction.
"Uhh, uhhh."
The patient only groaned, showing no reaction.
Taesu's expression grew harder.
Without asking further, he immediately began the initial examination.
He used the flashlight he was holding to shine into the patient's eyes first. It was to stimulate the pupils and check the response (reaction).
'Almost none.'
Checking consciousness any further was a waste of time.
The moment Taesu quickly hung the stethoscope around his ears, Squad Leader Sam held out a pocket notebook.
Vital numbers were written in a row.
Taesu's eyes turned cold abruptly upon seeing them.
"Damn."
The bitter curse left his mouth.
Swish. Swish.
Moving the stethoscope head toward the point of tenderness, he quickly asked Squad Leader Sam:
"Doctor Sam, morphine. Quickly!"
"Here!"
Swish.
What he extended like lightning was a military morphine syringe.
It was an excellent choice.
The sense to have watched and learned over the shoulder was worthy of a thumbs-up.
The problem was there was no time for that.
Taesu stabbed the military morphine directly into the point of tenderness.
Swoosh.
He soon tossed the empty syringe and positioned the stethoscope head.
"Huuuh, uhhh."
He could tell by the groaning that the patient's pain was rapidly disappearing.
Even so, Taesu's hands were busy.
Swish, swish.
'Here? Or here?'
Taesu's expression changed from moment to moment.
Because there wasn't a single decent piece of examination equipment, he had to rely even more on his senses.
Taesu was continuing the initial examination.
"Still a ways to go?"
Jeong Minsu's loud voice was heard.
It seemed he had come out because he was curious after waiting inside.
It was then.
A sound reached Taesu's ears.
Gurgle, squirm.
It was the sound of bowels moving.
But the sound near the point of tenderness was different.
Taesu furrowed his brow deeply and listened intently.
That time was brief.
Swish!
Taesu frowned and ripped off the stethoscope roughly, shouting:
"Doctor Jeong, oclusive ileus and ascites!"
"Ileus and ascites? That's surgery!"
"Hyper-acute emergency, call Hyeokgwon!"
Taesu's order was forceful.
Jeong Minsu roughly pulled the radio from his waist and immediately radioed.
Beep.
"Hyper-acute emergency. Indian Army patient with ileus and ascites. Opening the surgery room on this side, requesting Hyeokgwon's support!"
The moment he took his hand off the radio, Gim Hyeokgwon's rough voice came through.
*Beep.* I don't know who you're talking about supporting, but that bastard isn't here.
"Why?"
*Beep.* I've got a patient here with a shattered femur (thigh bone) that healed however it wanted!
"This side is more urgent!"
Jeong Minsu shouted into the radio, but Gim Hyeokgwon fired back just as fiercely.
*Beep.* The bone fragment is scraping the femoral artery (thigh artery), and his thigh has become as big as an elephant!
"What the hell kind of mess is that now!"
*Beep.* Bread is asking for Doctor Jeong. He says we probably need to do an aortobifemoral bypass (aortic-bifemoral artery bypass surgery)!
The situation over there didn't seem normal either.
Having heard the entire radio exchange, Taesu scrunched up his face.
In a situation like this, fighting separately was the right call.
"Tell them it's every man for himself!"
Jeong Minsu interpreted Taesu's words in his own way and reported it over the radio.
Beep.
"Doctor Choe says to take care and survive."
*Beep.* Damn. Talk about variety right from the start!
"Tell me about it."
*Beep.* Anyway, let's see each other alive after treatment. Over and out!
Gim Hyeokgwon's intense voice vanished at once.
But no one could hear the words "see each other alive" as a laughing joke.
For them, it was a reality they faced.
Taesu immediately gave up expecting help and shouted to Jeong Minsu:
"Minsu, open the OR!"
"What do you mean OR, it's the next room over. But shouldn't we move the patient?"
"I'll handle it. Hurry up and set it up!"
"Got it!"
Thud, thud!
Jeong Minsu quickly slipped into the next room.
The main room served as both clinic and emergency treatment, and the next room had been prepared as an operating room.
Perhaps because the commotion outside was unusual, Private Antonio showed his face.
"Doctor Choe, I—"
"OR setup!"
"Okay!"
Thud, thud.
Private Antonio also moved frantically.