It was because of what Taesu said next.
“Thirty minutes until surgery starts.”
“What, you bastard!”
“Why are you yelling at me? Look here.”
“……Ah, shit. Just kill me first thing in the morning, why don’t you! I’m going ahead!”
Tadadak!
Watching Jeong Minsu hurry away, Kim Hyeokgwon made a remark.
“He says to kill him, but then runs off. Does that mean he’s eager to croak?”
“Ask Dr. Oliver that.”
“That’s where I’m headed?”
“Yes. Same thing, thirty minutes before surgery.”
“Nothing’s easy when it comes to making money. I’m going. I’m off. Let’s try to see each other today.”
It seemed another rough day was expected.
Taesu and Brad Kim felt the same way.
Swoosh.
Taesu checked the schedule again, then took a step back and said,
“Looks like I’ll be dancing the blues with Dr. Bruce. With the patient’s heart, no less.”
“What kind of surgery is it?”
“Adhesive mediastinopericarditis.”
“They should start a campaign to simplify these names. Adhesive mediastinopericarditis…… Even in Korean, it’s hard.”
“Tell me about it. Then if you’ll excuse me.”
Step. Step.
Taesu gave a nod and immediately turned to move.
If it was operating tent B1, he had to walk briskly.
It seemed his guess had been right after all.
“Yeah. This is a blessing.”
It was on a completely different level from running around with test results or managing blood transfusion packs.
What was strange was that he was once again in the second assistant position.
Jeong Minsu and Brad Kim were also in positions similar to yesterday. Kim Hyeokgwon was even in the position of the surgeon’s second assistant nurse.
It felt as if their four names had been inserted into already scheduled surgeries.
But that thought lasted only a moment.
“Ridiculous.”
He dismissed his own excessive conjecture.
It was clear James’s promise was being fulfilled one by one.
The promise that he would open up various opportunities even for residents.
Being able to receive that benefit right now was happiness.
The thought that it was happiness lasted only until just before the surgery.
The moment the surgery began, Taesu’s happiness turned into screams.
“Uh, uh, it tore!”
“What the hell! Dr. Choi, hurry!”
“I can’t see because the bleeding is pouring out!”
“Huh? Arrhythmia!”
“Damn it!”
Taesu’s screams continued throughout the surgery.
Those screams were not something he let out only once a day.
They burst out several times a day.
Since the patients had been transferred to the medical camp, their conditions could only be serious.
They were at a level that would have sent them to the ICU at any hospital.
Performing several such surgeries a day was enough to drive a person mad.
But it was not something only Taesu and the other three were experiencing.
Even now, somewhere, there must have been someone going through something similar.
That was purely Taesu’s own thought.
‘I have to think that much, at least, if I’m going to survive.’
If he couldn’t even comfort himself like that, he felt he wouldn’t be able to endure a single day.
That was how relentless the surgeries were.
He participated in at least two, and as many as five, surgeries a day.
He joined as either the second assistant or a simple support staff member.
Even so, he was often utterly exhausted.
The moment he collapsed onto the bed was the beginning of sleep.
Days like that passed, one after another.
Then one day, Squad Leader Sam came to see him.
The place and timing were not good.
It was in front of the operating room entrance, and Taesu had to go in right now.
“Sam, I have to go into surgery, okay? Just the point, no, quickly.”
“Will you be able to testify tomorrow?”
He froze.
Taesu’s urgent movements stopped for an instant.
It seemed the day he had been waiting for had arrived.
The day they would settle matters with both militaries.
He intended to release not only all the irritation he had suppressed until now, but also the fatigue that had piled up recently, all at once.
“As much as you need.”
Taesu’s eyes gleamed coldly.
The next day.
A conference room inside the PKO command building.
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, Kim Hyeokgwon, and Brad Kim were seated neatly.
Only their outward appearances were neat.
When the Indian Army entered, Major Mohandas was among the group.
The Pakistani Army brought Major Rashmika with them as well.
Seeing that, the four of them smiled coldly.
The PKO and NGO were also present.
Naturally, Colonel Clark and James each held the center.
Before sitting down here, they had already received advice.
— Do as you please.
— Don’t leave regrets in your hearts.
They were words of permission to rampage if they wished.
Gladly.
They waited with bated breath for it to begin.
Fortunately, the wait was not long.
It was time to determine right and wrong and reveal the exact facts.
“From this moment……”
Whatever they were babbling about, Taesu had no interest.
He only waited impatiently for the moment they would be given the right to speak.
Both sides were still shameless and refused to accept any of the results investigated by the PKO.
So naturally, the opportunity to speak passed over to their side.
Taesu was first.
“There’s a limit to having an iron face, but meeting people with faces made of specially processed alloy truly moves me beyond words.”
“Please be careful with your remarks……”
“I nearly died because of those bastards. And you want me to speak nicely?”
“Insulting remarks of this sort……”
Someone kept talking and provoking Taesu.
He had no interest in who it was.
If they weren’t NGO or PKO, he didn’t even look at their faces.
Taesu glared at the officers from both sides who had sat at the negotiation table and vented his anger properly.
Thwack.
“You’re saying you don’t know, even though this agreement has your signatures on it!”
“Can you ignore these photos with the NGO flag flying right there?”
“What? You didn’t know who was there? You bastards, you came up and spoke directly with the village representative, and I was right there!”
Thud! Thud!
Taesu even pounded the table as he lashed out fiercely.
It was not only Taesu’s time to vent.
When Jeong Minsu showed his temper, he was not much different from Taesu.
“These are letters your soldiers left behind. Why do I have letters thanking us for treating them!”
“What handwriting analysis! Don’t pull this shit to stall for time.”
“Neither side fired the mortar first? Then did I do it? Was I the one who fired it?”
No matter how many warnings Jeong Minsu received, he ignored them and pressed on.
And next came Kim Hyeokgwon.
There was no need to speak of his eloquence.
On top of that, he was extremely professional.
“You said you brought the ranks and names of every soldier in the unit in question? Let’s start comparing them now. #%#$……”
“We just matched dozens of people, and what? You’re saying I guessed because they’re common names? You son of a……”
“You did something that deserves cursing, so what the hell are you talking about!”
Brad Kim, too, showed a selfish side rather than an altruistic one today.
“I took photos of all your vehicle numbers.”
“What, scrapped last year? Then did I take pictures with your soldiers last year?”
“You’re truly pathetic. Is this why you were bowing and scraping like that? When we gave you Toritina tea, you even lowered your heads to accept it.”
They shouted out everything that had built up inside them in a public setting and let it all loose.
No matter who tried to stop them, they did not yield.
Unless James and Colonel Clark moved, there was no reason to listen to anyone.
They caused a complete uproar as they testified and submitted every piece of evidence.
After that, the four of them came outside.
Click.
The moment the door closed.
“Huuuuaaa……”
“Huuup! Ah, damn, that feels good!”
“My shoulders are loosening up.”
“Tonight’s sleep is already guaranteed. Before that, we need to prepare for afternoon surgery. Let’s go.”
With refreshed faces, Taesu, Jeong Minsu, Kim Hyeokgwon, and Brad Kim walked side by side.
Now their role in this incident was over.
All that remained was to wait for the results.
They had no intention of sitting blankly and waiting.
There was an endless amount to learn and feel within a single surgery.
Now, it felt strange if there was no surgery.
It was fine to be exhausted, and fine for it to be difficult.
The fact that someone’s life could change because of one person—himself—was something that made his heart swell.
He wanted to keep feeling that explosively fulfilling moment.
Step. Step.
Their steps toward the medical camp were full of strength.
As soon as they returned to the medical camp, the surgery hell began.
It truly had no end.
It felt as if they were trapped in an infinite loop.
Then one day, Taesu and Jeong Minsu both participated in Dr. Ozma’s surgery at the same time.
It was already Jeong Minsu’s fourth surgery.
He was so exhausted that his arms and legs moved on their own.
“Just kill me instead!”
“You said you wanted to feel fulfilled.”
“You need time to breathe to feel that kind of emotion!”
Jeong Minsu let out a scream.
There was no way Dr. Ozma would tolerate that during surgery.
“You people, do you think surgery is a game!”
“……”
With startled faces, Taesu and Jeong Minsu had to move their hands.
And they snapped their minds fully awake.
They couldn’t let a patient go by saying they were tired.
They continued the surgery, taking care with every single touch.
Those times passed lightly, like flipping pages on a calendar.
On the other hand, for Taesu and the other three, living through each day required them to feel the limits of their bodies and minds.
Effort always yielded results.
Taesu was occasionally able to participate in surgeries as an assistant at the medical camp.
Considering his experience as a second-year resident, it was exceptional.
Even so, Taesu could not rise beyond second assistant in the NGO headquarters operating room.
Jeong Minsu moved back and forth between assistant and second assistant at the medical camp. Even so, he still participated more often as the second assistant.
Brad Kim was recognized enough to stand on-call duty.
Thanks to that, he sometimes led emergency surgeries in the dead of night as the primary surgeon.
The prevailing evaluation was that, in terms of skill, he was not greatly different from Taesu.
However, a specialist was still a specialist. It was inevitable that he would be evaluated a little more highly.
Sometimes, Brad Kim would call Taesu in the early dawn, and they would switch between operating surgeon and assistant as they coordinated with each other.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s growth shone more than anyone’s.
He was called an all-weather nurse in the operating room. No one cared that he didn’t have a license.
Because of that, he received even more remarkable evaluations.
They did not merely participate in surgeries.
There were days when they focused on patient care in the wards. And surprisingly, they also achieved considerable results in radiology, a field where they had little experience.
As a result, they could handle all the medical examination equipment, and their eyes for diagnosing disease also improved.
They were called not only to surgery, but also to internal medicine.
Dr. Wallik’s influence played a strong role in that.
Diseases and drugs. Even percutaneous procedures.
Across various fields, they continuously repeated and mastered them.
At one point, a rumor even circulated.
— James is training Dr. Choi and his companions to create a new model for doctors.
Whenever they heard it, they laughed it off.
Because it could not exactly be called wrong.
And occasionally, they also participated as staff in James’s surgeries.
Just watching the world’s best surgical team operate from right in front of them was of great help.
Aside from that, there were also many cases where they participated in important positions in the individual surgeries of James’s surgical team members.
Time passed like that, until one day.
Taesu suddenly looked down at his own clothes.
“When did they get cut in half?”
The chilly weather that had required long sleeves and a cardigan had, at some point, turned hot.
If he recalled the days that had passed?
Brrrr.
His whole body trembled.
It had reached the point where his mind openly refused to reminisce.
He had overcome a period he didn’t even want to think about.
Thanks to that, he had developed something called pride.
Anyone would have.
It was the confident feeling one could savor after immersing oneself in one’s work and overcoming it.
However, Taesu briefly settled down his sense of satisfaction.
‘It’ll be trouble if this turns into arrogance.’
Because the boundary was not clearly defined, he had to always be on guard.
Taesu then glanced sideways at the gazes he felt from his left and right.
Jeong Minsu, Kim Hyeokgwon, and Brad Kim’s gazes were focused on him.
Taesu asked with a puzzled expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Taesu. You were scary just now.”
“What now?”
Taesu glared at him, but Jeong Minsu subtly put some distance between them as he spoke.