That was when it happened.
In the distance, Bread Gim could be seen.
Taesu shouted in a booming voice.
“Bread!”
Swish.
Bread Gim’s reaction was fast.
As if reading the atmosphere on this side in an instant, he immediately shouted back.
“Go.”
At the same moment that voice was heard.
Taesu released the strength with which he had been holding on, and simultaneously shouted to Jeong Minsu.
“Minsu, scoop everything up and bring it.”
“Just hurry up and go already.”
“I’m going. Let’s go.”
Freed from the shackles that were the tent, Taesu broke into a run at maximum speed from the very first step.
Gim Hyeokgwon ran a step ahead of such a Taesu.
At the same time.
Rough flames were lit in Jeong Minsu’s eyes too.
Swish, swish.
Jeong Minsu, who had quickly turned around, grabbed the bag that happened to be in sight.
Immediately overturning it and pouring out its contents, he simultaneously began filling the empty space as he saw fit.
“This, this…….”
Rustle.
Hadn’t they said the hands are faster than the eyes?
He was so swift that one would never think he had a sturdy build.
Bread Gim, who had approached before anyone knew it, joined in too.
“Here, put this in too, this, this.”
“Just let Bread do it.”
“I’m putting them in.”
Rustle.
It was chaos because there was no prepared emergency dispatch bag. Still, since the contents were etched into his mind, he packed them as if to sweep them all in.
Soon, Jeong Minsu, who had zipped it up, slung it directly over his shoulder and shouted to Bread Gim.
“I’m leaving.”
“You’re late. Run fast.”
“Uwaack.”
Patapat.
Jeong Minsu sprinted forward, his screams giving voice to the protests of his wailing leg muscles.
It was an extremely serious and urgent sight, but perhaps because of his physique, it couldn’t be helped that he felt slightly cute.
All of that had happened in less than a minute.
With them shouting and making such a fuss, there was no way those around them wouldn’t have noticed.
All gazes were focused on this side.
Doctors and nurses alike wore blank expressions.
“Wh-what just went by…….?”
“I don’t know. It was too instantaneous.”
“Wow. What in the world…”
“That’s Doctor Choe and Doctor Jeong, right?”
The doctors were not merely surprised but on the level of being appalled.
They were the very ones who, just moments ago, had been following them around asking to be taught.
But now, their appearance was the exact opposite.
Could they react that quickly just at the word “emergency”?
It was hard to be confident.
While everyone was unable to snap out of their astonishment.
There was one person who was composed.
Naturally, it was Bread Gim.
He wore a faint smile and calmly addressed the medical staff.
“What are you all so surprised about? Continue with your business.”
“Um, Bread.”
“Oh, Doctor Talon? Yeah, what is it?”
Bread Gim faced him and brightened.
Though he might be a senior to Taesu and Jeong Minsu, to Bread Gim, he was a junior he had known for a long time.
Unlike Bread Gim, who was full of composure, Doctor Talon asked with a face full of worry.
“Shouldn’t we follow them?”
“It’s an emergency situation.”
“Yes. That’s why.”
“Yeah.”
Bread Gim’s answer ended curtly.
Perhaps because that answer was too absurd, Doctor Talon quickly followed up.
“Aren’t you worried?”
“What worry?”
“Those two…….”
“Yeah. With those two having gone, what is there to worry about?”
No matter what, Bread Gim’s answer was nonchalant.
Conversely, the flustered Doctor Talon’s gaze could not easily settle.
“Still, looking at career or experience, wouldn’t it be better for Doctor Gim to go instead?”
“I can be sure of one thing.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“That emergency patient……. will live.”
Bread Gim’s voice was filled with conviction beyond decisiveness.
None of them could understand his meaning.
Bread Gim did not explain any deeper.
It was a pain to explain.
It was faster for them to see with their own eyes.
And furthermore.
He wanted to make sure they knew exactly what kind of people those two, whom they had disregarded even for a moment, were.
No matter what the situation of the emergency patient, Taesu and Jeong Minsu would save them and bring them back.
Bread Gim’s faith in that was absolute.
Bread Gim, who had been so serious, momentarily realized his mistake and reproached himself.
“Oops, this is no time to be idle. Allen, please bring the patient.”
Though it was a tent he had settled into by chance, Bread Gim showed the ease of being in his own home.
At the same time.
Taesu, who had run frantically ahead, arrived at an old building near the temporary hospital.
Burst.
The moment he stepped inside the entrance, a fork in the path spread out.
Simultaneously, Gim Hyeokgwon, who had been running a step ahead, abruptly turned the direction of his body.
“This way.”
Swish.
Taesu closely followed him and turned.
Before him, a long corridor stretched out, and rooms lined up one after another.
Taesu felt that the scenery was somehow familiar.
‘A school?’
It was merely a guess.
But seeing the crowd gathered up ahead, it gradually turned into certainty.
He saw many young children wearing colored-paper decorations similar to Gim Hyeokgwon’s.
Between the children, quite a few adults were also situated.
They were crowded in front of a classroom, and volunteers were blocking the way and controlling access.
Buzz, buzz.
Unintelligible voices overlapped, creating a considerably chaotic atmosphere.
Gim Hyeokgwon threw himself into the crowd, roughly bulldozing his way in as he shouted.
“Doctor’s here, everyone move aside. %2%^$%.”
Following English, there was Hindi and other languages as well.
They were completely different pronunciations, but their meaning was surely the same.
As if that prediction had hit the mark, the people turned this way and discovered Taesu wearing a white gown. At the same time, they began pushing each other to open a path.
Because they were so focused, a slight commotion occurred.
“Urk.”
“Ack.”
Screams were heard here and there.
Nevertheless, everyone was prioritizing making way.
It meant the situation was not good.
Taesu, who had sensed this, prioritized entering the classroom over the screaming sounds right away.
Soon, Taesu and Gim Hyeokgwon broke through the crowd and entered the classroom.
Inside were a woman collapsed on the floor and two volunteers standing guard beside her.
It was the moment he laid eyes on the patient.
Taesu, who had been following right behind, overtook Gim Hyeokgwon in an instant.
Swish.
“Hyeokgwon-ssi, briefing.”
Taesu shouted roughly while looking only at the patient.
His body had already reached the front of the patient.
Thud.
Taesu lowered his body and began examining the collapsed woman.
The first thing that caught his eye was her abnormal breathing.
“Hrk, hah……. Hnng.”
Clutch.
The front of her clothes was gripped so tightly that the cloth was nearly pierced by her fingernails.
Her lips were blue with cyanosis, and her eyes were rolled halfway up.
Typical symptoms of arrhythmia.
Acute myocardial infarction?
It was something that could very well happen.
Especially seeing the emaciated woman’s body, one could immediately predict severe nutritional imbalance.
Taesu guessed only that far.
Now was not the time to examine, infer, and grope for the cause.
For now, he had to compress the heart and restore the pulse to normal.
The problem was?
The patient, writhing in agony with her chest clutched, was curled up in a situation where her heart could not be compressed.
There was no leisure to ponder.
Taesu immediately shouted to the volunteers on either side.
“Hold her hands, each of you. Hurry.”
“Yes, nngh, h-hurk, strength.”
The volunteers quickly grabbed the patient’s hands respectively. But they were faltering, unable to pull at once.
Since the emergency patient was a woman, the volunteers were also of the same gender. Even so, it was absolutely not that their strength was lacking.
The patient’s pain right now was not merely pain.
It was accompanied by the fear of death approaching right before her eyes and an instinctive struggle for life.
How fierce would that strength be?
To overcome it, the helpers also had to be resolved to that extent.
Taesu’s urging became brutal.
“Harder, pull her firmly.”
“Nnng.”
“If you can’t pull, that person dies.”
“Aack.”
As Taesu pressed them, the volunteers also exerted themselves to the utmost.
The veins in their necks were bulging to the point of popping.
But Taesu was not merely flapping his gums.
Shake, shake.
He roughly shook his wrists as he prepared to start CPR.
At that time, without paying any heed to the atmosphere, Gim Hyeokgwon’s briefing was heard.
“Patient’s name, don’t know. Age, also don’t know.”
“Skip to the point.”
“I first saw her right before the talent show started, and she immediately reminded me of Ohamed……. Damn it, it’s nothing like it.”
Gim Hyeokgwon’s briefing was surprisingly concise.
Since they had experienced the same case together, it was easy to match.
However, with nothing nearby to help, his voice was full of irritation.
Taesu was listening with his ears but could not respond.
It seemed difficult to spread the patient’s curled-up arms with the volunteers’ strength alone.
The moment he made his judgment, Taesu changed his position.
“Hyeokgwon-ssi, this side. And you, the opposite way.”
Taesu’s hand?
Swish.
He roughly pulled off the stethoscope hanging around his neck.
He had clearly been unable to bring anything.
But this was the only medical instrument that had not left Taesu’s body all day today.
Since the CPR was being delayed, he had changed direction to first check the pulse.
Just as Taesu inserted the stethoscope into his ears.
Swish, swish.
The positions of those around him changed drastically.
Gim Hyeokgwon was at Taesu’s left, and two volunteers were together on his right.
Taesu quickly confirmed with only a sidelong glance and immediately turned the chest piece toward the patient’s neck.
It was an alternative chosen because this was not a situation to listen to the heart sounds directly.
“Nnngh. Heurk, ung…….”
The patient’s screams continued.
It was the surest evidence that her agony was ongoing.
His heart was urgent.
But the moment he located the carotid artery with the chest piece, things were different.
Thud.
“…….”
Taesu, who had put intense focus into his eyes, began concentrating on the sound of the carotid artery.
The carotid artery was swollen, perhaps because the breathing difficulty had been going on for a long time.
However, the stethoscope was a medical instrument that transmitted sound through vibrations, so it didn’t matter.
Now it was time to concentrate.
That wasn’t easy.
There was something hindering Taesu.
It was the continuing briefing sound of Gim Hyeokgwon.
“It definitely felt similar to Ohamed. When she felt strange, she had her hand on her chest, and her breathing was labored.”
“…….”
“And then she suddenly bent her body forward and couldn’t move.”
“…….”
Taesu remained consistently silent.
Even so, he didn’t tell him to stop because it was interfering with his concentration.
Information about changes in the patient’s condition was extremely important.
Because it was the best guide to grope for the root of the emergency.
Even in the midst of that, Taesu’s other ear was focused on the carotid artery.
Thump, thump.
It was the sound of a heartbeat.
Taesu’s brow furrowed sharply.
‘Strange.’
It was heard from too far away.
The heart and the neck were clearly far apart.
But at best it would be half the normal volume; there was no way it should sound this distant.
Moreover, the pulse was slow.
If it were arrhythmia, the characteristic was generally an abnormal beating sound. However, the heartbeat itself was regular.
Then it wasn’t arrhythmia.
‘This, this is strange.’
He boldly erased his earlier gut judgment that it was arrhythmia.
Then what could it be.
Due to his worries, Taesu’s brow furrowed sharply.