In an instant, the conversation vanished.
"……."
"……."
Because what needed to be done was all too clear.
Swish.
Pouring saline.
Rustle.
Wiping away with gauze.
The same actions were repeated swiftly, over and over.
Before anyone knew it, Gim Hyeokgwon was holding the fourth bottle of saline.
But then, Taesu shouted like a bolt of lightning.
"Mr. Hyeokgwon, wait."
"……."
"Hold it right there."
Moving as if applying the brakes, Taesu shifted the gauze.
His hands were now so careful, they were the exact opposite of what they had been just moments ago.
Jeong Minsu seemed to sense something strange as well and tried to step in.
"Should I?"
"No, stay back."
"Why, what is it?"
"……."
Taesu put off answering.
Something seemed to have caught on his careful hand movement.
Taesu extended his other hand toward Gim Hyeokgwon.
"DeBakey."
"Here."
Clack.
What he received was a tweezer-shaped surgical instrument.
Taesu slowly aimed the DeBakey toward the gauze.
Slide, slide.
After moving it a few more times, he pulled out the DeBakey.
A small piece of tissue was attached to the end of it.
It was tiny, barely the length of a finger joint.
It was clearly a fragment of some organ.
Taesu's eyes, which had been watching quietly, shook violently.
"Damn it."
"What is it?"
"Liver."
Taesu spoke briefly.
At that moment, Gim Hyeokgwon beside him frowned and asked.
"What do you mean, liver?"
"The liver has been crushed, ruptured, and torn apart."
"What?"
"……."
Taesu cut himself off.
He didn't want to repeat the same answer twice.
At the same time, his expression toward the patient grew incredibly grave.
Jeong Minsu was no different.
Even as thoracic surgery specialists, they were not unaware of the role the liver played in the human body.
There were many symptoms related to the liver that were closely connected to thoracic surgery.
Perhaps because of that, their eyes went wide.
"Tae... Taesu."
"Find it first."
"No, you said the liver is torn and shattered. Then what?"
The moment a brief respite appeared, timidity immediately sprang forth.
Conversely, Taesu's gaze grew cold.
"So?"
"……."
"We're out of time. We have to secure the liver first. Hurry."
Swish-swish.
Taesu moved first.
His gaze, his tone, even his hand gestures.
Everything was firm and sharp.
To that extent, the atmosphere around Taesu grew heavy.
Jeong Minsu was swept up in it as well.
"Here, over here. U-uh...."
"Move to the side there. Don't get in the way."
"Got it... Yeah. To the side."
"Damn it. Faster. More, more, more."
Taesu kept urging them on.
He had no choice.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
The ECG readings were racing toward the worst.
If the numbers dropped any further, there would truly be nothing they could do.
The more that happened, Taesu's eyes became as fierce and intense as a tiger's.
'I have to save him.'
In his heart, he vowed and vowed, and vowed again.
Even if it was forced, it was fine.
He wanted to save him.
Even now, his wrist throbbed.
His grip was growing stiff as well.
But the heart of the guardian must have been torn and burst a thousand, ten thousand times more than that.
What about the patient himself?
Yet he couldn't call this mere degree of pain real pain.
'Please, please.'
Swish-swish.
As urgent as his heart was, the movements of both hands gradually sped up.
I don't want this.
I'm sick of it now.
He knew all too well how it felt when a patient who had been under his knife passed away.
He didn't want to taste it again.
And that included Jeong Minsu.
It was his first surgery.
He wanted to show him life before death.
Even if it was something a doctor, a thoracic surgeon, would have to face someday, he wished it wasn't now.
But that was Taesu's one-sided greed.
The bleeding only increased the more they wiped it away.
Additionally, bits of liver came out with it.
Taesu had never seen a liver so torn and ruptured.
He was also gradually realizing the reason.
The patient had been crushed strongly by the rubble of a collapsed building.
And had remained in that state for more than a day.
Honestly, it was a miracle he had been alive until rescue.
That was a coldly objective and accurate fact.
'But give up? Not a chance.'
He shouted to himself, hoped, and acted again.
Moved by Taesu's desperation, Jeong Minsu and Gim Hyeokgwon also gradually focused on the surgery.
After a bit more time passed like that.
In the end, there was no miracle.
Beeeeep—.
A high, long tone rang steadily from the ECG.
That was the death signal.
At that sound, Taesu's terrifyingly sharp eyes lost their edge.
"No."
He hadn't done anything yet.
He couldn't let him go like this.
Taesu's hand quickly moved toward the patient's heart.
Thump, thump.
He reflexively started CPR.
But.
Taesu lowered his hands without even performing a few rounds.
"……."
Taesu, standing in silence, looked at Jeong Minsu on the opposite side.
Jeong Minsu?
"……."
He was standing blankly.
It seemed he was in even greater mental shock because it was his first patient, and at a moment when he had poured his heart and soul into it.
In contrast, Gim Hyeokgwon pressed Taesu nervously.
"Why did you stop? You said he wouldn't die right away. Then why stop?"
"...cold."
"What?"
"It's cold."
Taesu said something inexplicable.
But Gim Hyeokgwon didn't take it lightly.
Having watched beside him like that in Ijambakeu, there was no way Taesu would give up on a patient like this.
Could the word "cold" have been the hint?
Thud.
Gim Hyeokgwon placed his hand directly on the patient's chest.
His eyebrows, which had shot sky-high, instantly drooped. And his eyes began to tremble.
"Thi... This... Why, why is it like this?"
"……."
"The heart, the chest—why is it cold?"
Gim Hyeokgwon shouted, demanding an answer.
Then Taesu, wearing a somber expression, spoke in a low voice.
"Because too little blood is returning to the heart."
"With all this blood, can't you see it? This person's vomited blood is all over the floor."
"That's the problem. Blood shouldn't come out like this."
Taesu answered helplessly.
His voice was so hollow it felt like a sponge soaked heavy with water.
But Gim Hyeokgwon, whose medical knowledge was too fragmented, couldn't properly understand that concept.
"No, what is this? What's still pouring out now?"
"……."
"It's all blood, it's all blood."
"Later... I'll explain later."
Taesu subtly pushed Gim Hyeokgwon aside.
He still didn't understand, but he didn't say anything more.
Turning away, Taesu clenched his empty fist so hard it trembled.
Clench.
"Damn it."
He couldn't do anything.
The surgery had lasted only about thirty minutes.
Literally, they hadn't progressed beyond skimming the surface.
Before he could even lift a hand, yet another life had passed from the world in vain.
Feeling a sharp shock, Taesu slowly closed his eyes.
The operating room atmosphere was instantly filled with grief.
Only hollowness filled the faces of Taesu and Gim Hyeokgwon.
Jeong Minsu in particular couldn't take any action, his expression blank.
That was what death was like.
It shattered all motivation into pieces.
In that quiet operating room, only the ECG death signal rang out.
Beeeeep—.
That sound stimulated not just the ears but the nerves as well.
Perhaps that was why.
Gim Hyeokgwon turned off the power nervously.
"Phew, damn it."
He vented his surging regret and dizzying turmoil on the blameless ECG.
Taesu still had his eyes closed.
But that time was brief as well.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Somehow, his gaze felt deeper.
With that same gaze, Taesu took a deep breath and found Gim Hyeokgwon.
"Mm, Mr. Hyeokgwon."
"What is it."
"Please bring only the Chief quietly."
"Let's do that."
Gim Hyeokgwon answered, forcibly suppressing his grief.
He knew why Taesu was looking only for Chief Kandor.
Thud, thud.
No strength could be felt in the sound of Gim Hyeokgwon's footsteps passing behind Taesu.
After Gim Hyeokgwon went out like that.
Taesu began to move his faintly trembling hands.
Without a word, he quietly proceeded with something.
He saw Jeong Minsu's hollow appearance, but for now, he said nothing.
A moment later.
Taesu's hands stopped.
The operating table, which had been covered in bloodstains, had become considerably cleaner.
But Taesu just stood there without any change in expression.
Although his skin color was different and they didn't share a language, he had nonetheless been a human being and a critically ill patient.
With exactly that feeling, Taesu quietly prayed for the departed's soul.
It was then.
Rustle.
Chief Kandor entered with Gim Hyeokgwon.
His face was grieved and somber, as if he had heard the news.
The moment Chief Kandor's eyes turned to the operating table, he showed fierce agitation. Even though it had become cleaner, a gaze toward the dead could not be a kind one.
"Hm, Bashu. Hoo."
"Let's go."
Gim Hyeokgwon lightly patted his back and guided him.
As Chief Kandor approached, Taesu bowed his head ninety degrees and first offered words of apology.
"I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry."
"Hnngh."
The sound of him steadying his breath was full of thin trembling. He was maintaining his reason and acting calmly.
He was markedly different from how most people reacted.
That was a bit strange.
Still, Taesu's heart was too heavy to have the energy to ask about it.
Now he had to say why he had called Chief Kandor.
Steel himself to face harsh treatment, Taesu opened his mouth.
"I called you to tell you about the cause of death."
He forcibly squeezed out a faltering voice.
Chief Kandor nodded with trembling lips.
"I-I... I will listen."
"Due to severe damage to the liver...."
Taesu explained calmly.
He completely excluded emotion and spoke only facts. Meanwhile, he rather concealed what efforts they had made.
Now was not the time to determine right and wrong.
Doing their best to make it even slightly easier to accept the patient's death was the best they could do.
Curses, blame, contempt.
It wouldn't matter even if he heard all of it.
That was something a doctor had to endure.
No matter what mental anguish he himself had suffered, it wasn't as much as what the guardian felt.
Therefore, Taesu's explanation focused on symptoms rather than emotions.
It was not time for Taesu alone.
"#$%^*&$."
With a somber face, Gim Hyeokgwon interpreted beside him, translating the professional terms into simpler words.