James calmly pointed that out.
“Help doesn’t mean it’s urgent.”
“Then why was Catherine in such a hurry?”
“She’s always like that.”
At that answer, Taesu thought back to the moments he’d spent with Nurse Catherine.
She was the type to fret until the problem in front of her was solved.
It had been so long that Taesu had forgotten.
“Oh, right. That’s true.”
“And Dr. Choi, do you know who’s in there right now?”
Taesu hesitated at James’s question.
Dr. Ozma, Dr. Isaacson, Dr. Maximilian, and so on.
The faces of James’s surgical team members came to mind one after another.
They were currently the best surgical team in the world.
Naturally, they were not people who would make a fuss just because James wasn’t there.
Taesu had forgotten that for a moment.
Suddenly feeling awkward, Taesu lowered his voice.
“This is a secret.”
“Would it be embarrassing?”
“They’d tease me mercilessly if they knew.”
Taesu, too, had already let go of the tension of an emergency and answered with a troubled expression.
But the person he was talking to was James.
“We’ll think about that after the surgery.”
“I’ll pour everything I have into it.”
“No need to be so needlessly solemn. More importantly, Mr. Kim must feel rather wronged.”
When James subtly changed the subject, Taesu gave a small shrug.
“You said you’d pay him an allowance, so he probably won’t think much of it.”
“Then we’ll hear fewer complaints.”
“More than that, he’s probably in a huge hurry.”
Taesu’s guess was correct.
Flap.
The tent curtain flapped roughly, and Kim Hyeokgwon, sticking out only his head, shouted.
“Are you arriving tomorrow?”
“We’re coming.”
“Don’t just say it, run. Run, hurry up and run.”
Swish, swish.
Kim Hyeokgwon gestured harshly. But despite his urging, the doctors walked slowly.
All of them had only faint smiles on their lips.
A short while later.
The inner curtain of the surgical tent was pulled aside.
Sarak.
Nurse Catherine was holding it pushed to one side.
Through that gap, people fully prepared for surgery entered one after another.
Taesu entered second, after James.
Beep, beep. Beep, beep.
The ECG sounds that had been muffled outside became clear.
Reflexively, he checked those numbers first.
The pulse was fast, and the blood pressure had shot up as well.
“Mm?”
“Huh?”
The gazes of Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Brad Kim wavered slightly.
Wasn’t this an emergency?
The ECG numbers said so.
But that was by their standards.
The operating room itself was astonishingly quiet.
A calm atmosphere filled the room, enough to make one doubt the sharp reactions of the ECG.
The patient was lying sideways on the operating table.
In spinal surgery, it was impossible to operate with the patient lying on their back.
The patient’s altered position was bound to be uncomfortable for the medical staff.
Even so, the tone of the conversations going back and forth was subdued.
“Hold there.”
“Yes. I’ve got it. You can see it, right?”
“Good. Stay like that for just a moment.”
Familiar voices sounded calmly.
By contrast, the movements of the hands going in and out of the affected area were different.
Clack, clack.
Their swift reactions and nimble hands were so fast they were hard to follow with the eye.
What was strange was that this all felt as natural as if it were an everyday scene.
Taesu’s gaze had already shifted to the medical staff.
All of their surgical gowns were a mess with bloodstains.
At the same time, it was obvious just from looking how drenched they were in sweat.
Taesu clearly distinguished the medical staff, who at first glance seemed similar.
Dr. Ozma as the lead surgeon, Dr. Maximilian and Dr. Jonathan as assistants.
Dr. Isaacson on anesthesia.
Nurse Lumie assisting, and……
“Ellen?”
Seeing the nurse on the other side, Taesu spoke without thinking.
Even Taesu had not expected Nurse Ellen, whom he had first met during Dr. Schmidt’s surgery, to be here.
Perhaps because she was support personnel, she looked the cleanest among them.
As Taesu looked properly, their eyes met.
Glance.
“Dr. Choi?”
Nurse Ellen seemed to recognize him too.
Perhaps she had not known Taesu would come in with James, because her eyes widened in surprise.
Taesu had looked closely, but only for a brief moment.
It would not be an exaggeration to say he had called Ellen’s name almost at the same time he entered.
Maybe that was why James’s words only now reached his ears.
“Everyone, stand by for a moment.”
“Yes.”
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Brad Kim answered at the same time.
James had already headed toward Dr. Ozma, who was in the middle of operating.
Perhaps because of the patient’s posture, they were lined up in a somewhat unusual position as they performed the surgery.
James called first in a voice that would not break anyone’s concentration.
“Ozma.”
“Professor, you’re here.”
Since he was in the middle of surgery, he greeted him only with words.
That was only natural.
James stood on the same line and asked while looking at the affected area.
“The situation?”
“Well……”
Dr. Ozma’s explanation began at once.
Meanwhile, Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Brad Kim were growing more and more tense.
They had long since forgotten the fatigue from their long journey.
Just then.
Kim Hyeokgwon was already moving separately from Nurse Catherine.
Then, from the direction the two of them had gone, a quiet conversation could be heard.
“You’ve never received nursing training?”
“I told you, I’m just an interpreter.”
“Then the surgery……”
“Give them what they ask for, hold what they tell me to hold. Done.”
Kim Hyeokgwon spoke as if it were obvious, but Nurse Catherine’s voice was thick with disbelief.
“That’s all? Is that really all?”
“I did get better as I kept doing it. But is there anything special about it?”
“Oh, my. This isn’t the time to explain that. For now, stand in the back and……”
Nurse Catherine clutched at her confused thoughts and barely managed to assign him something to do.
No matter how Nurse Catherine reacted, Kim Hyeokgwon remained consistently calm.
Taesu and the doctors did not have to wait as long as expected.
Having already heard the full explanation, James said to Dr. Isaacson.
“Anesthesiologist, call the timing for the changeover.”
“I’ll make it three minutes from now.”
“Okay.”
Tap, tap.
After answering, James gestured to Taesu and the doctors. At the same time, he called their names and assigned their positions.
“Dr. Kim, stand on the opposite side.”
“Yes. Huh, as assistant?”
“Aren’t you a surgeon?”
At James’s question, Brad Kim swallowed hard and answered.
“I am.”
“Relax and stand by. And Dr. Choi, next to me.”
At James’s words, Taesu quickly approached.
“I’m ready.”
“Dr. Jeong, take your position behind Jonathan and prepare.”
Step, step.
Each of them moved according to James’s orders.
Before long, James and Taesu were standing on one side, while Brad Kim and Jeong Minsu stood side by side on the opposite side, finishing preparations for the changeover.
Just then.
Dr. Jonathan, standing across from them, glanced up and looked at Taesu.
His eyes were hollow, but he forced them into a smile, conveying both gladness and a groan at the same time.
“Heh, hehe. I feel like I’m going to collapse.”
“How many hours have you been operating?”
“Since the professor left, this is my fifth, in and out. Almost forty hours.”
Jonathan answered, his eyebrows drooping as well.
Even Taesu was startled by that amount of time.
Even if they had taken short breaks in between, it meant they had been operating continuously for at least thirty-five hours or more.
“You really might collapse.”
“Still, in the meantime, we got the spine and nerves under control.”
“So that’s why Ozma was leading the operation.”
“We were going to handle the spleen first, but there just wasn’t enough space. We’re draining the blood through a drainage tube, so there shouldn’t be any major issue.”
Dr. Jonathan forced his sinking voice open and explained.
It was because, as the second assistant, he had enough leeway to catch his breath. But Taesu could not listen lightly.
The vitals were still not stable.
In a situation like that, it was hard to take at face value the claim that there would be no major issue.
He did not know how it was for them, but to Taesu right now, this was a highly difficult surgery.
‘They call this easy.’
A bitter smile formed behind his mask.
Their level really was different.
Just then, Taesu blinked and looked at Jeong Minsu waiting behind Jonathan.
As expected, Jeong Minsu had already frozen solid.
He was moments away from suddenly performing surgery with James, the world’s greatest surgeon.
On top of that, by his standards, the patient’s vitals were enough to make his mouth go dry.
‘There are a hell of a lot of problems.’
That cry was written all over Jeong Minsu’s wavering eyes.
Time passed no matter what the moment was.
Soon, as if three minutes had gone by, Dr. Isaacson raised his hoarse voice.
“Changeover.”
Sarak.
Everyone paired up and changed positions front to back.
As James stood in the lead surgeon’s position, even the atmosphere changed.
There was no trace left of his relaxed demeanor.
A taut tension hovered in the air.
At the same time, however, he gave off enough composure to keep that tension from stretching too far.
His atmosphere affected the entire operating room.
Then James murmured quietly.
“I will do my best. Please lend me strength.”
It was a sound that hovered at his lips like a prayer.
Only Taesu, standing beside him, could barely make it out.
James’s attitude toward surgery was clear.
Taesu also muttered inwardly.
‘Let’s fight together.’
His body filled with strength equal to his resolve.
Just then, James gave the order that would control everyone.
“We secure the spleen first.”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s begin. Long-nose forceps, straight forceps.”
Clack.
James, now holding the surgical instruments, immediately began to move.
Not to be outdone, Taesu also asked for instruments.
“Senn retractor, Mixter.”
“Raise your arms.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s voice came from behind him.
Taesu reflexively raised both hands above his head. At the same time, surgical instruments suddenly popped out from both empty sides of his waist.
Kim Hyeokgwon’s grumbling came as a bonus.
“Damn it. I’m practically back-hugging a man.”
“I’m not happy about it either, but complain later.”
“Fine by me.”
Perhaps because Kim Hyeokgwon was tense too, he cut the conversation short.
On the opposite side, Nurse Ellen was assisting Jeong Minsu.
Meanwhile, Taesu quickly positioned the surgical instruments.
Tap.
With the Senn retractor, he hooked and pulled the side of the muscle located in the direction of the spleen.
Slide.
He lowered the Mixter slightly.
“I’m in position.”
Taesu’s low voice was firm.
There was no resentment over not being an assistant.
No matter where his place was, all that mattered was working for the smooth progress of the surgery.
Soon, the spleen appeared in everyone’s field of vision.
“Mm.”
“Hmm.”
Small groans came from all around.
A white bone fragment was embedded in it, and the area around it had formed scabs of blood, becoming lumpy and distorted.
On the opposite side, a thin drainage tube was connected, discharging the internal bleeding to the outside.
‘Roughly one-third.’
That was how deeply the bone fragment had dug into the spleen.
As soon as he grasped that, Taesu’s eyes narrowed.
The color of the spleen had turned slightly dark red. Because circulation was not happening, large and small necrotic changes were clearly progressing from within.
It was unknown how much of the spleen’s function remained.
Taesu frowned without realizing it.
‘This is……’
The words “hard to save” rose all the way to his throat.
But just then.