It was while that tension continued.
Jeong Minsu’s mind, as he watched, was in turmoil.
Because it was an emergency treatment method he had seen many times before.
As if the memory had just come back to him, Jeong Minsu’s eyes flew wide open.
“You’re using that needle to do a pericardiocentesis……”
Just as Jeong Minsu’s voice was about to rise—
Flash.
Taesu called sharply, his voice stinging.
“Minsu.”
“Hup.”
Thud.
Jeong Minsu was so startled that he covered his mouth with both hands.
Seeing that, Kim Hyeokgwon quickly grabbed the Ambu bag he had dropped and pressed it, his face twisting into a deep frown.
“You had to drop that, of all things.”
“Mmph, mmph.”
Shake, shake.
As if he hadn’t heard him, Jeong Minsu kept his mouth covered and shook his head violently from side to side.
The restless movement of his eyes was the clearest possible expression of disbelief.
Taesu shut him out again.
He poured every last bit of his concentration into the tip of the needle.
Tuk, tuk.
Though the movements were incredibly minute, he could feel the sensation of the muscle.
That was how sharply honed his senses had become.
In contrast, his insides were burning up.
‘It’s nearby. It definitely is……’
Taesu had superimposed Caprene’s anatomical chart in his mind onto the emergency patient.
He was imagining the inside of the body as if drawing it in a hologram.
He might not know about other departments, but this was an emergency disease in thoracic surgery.
Right now, even if it were advice from Dr. Schmidt, he could close his ears to it.
Instead, everything depended on his fingertips.
Pressure. Burden.
They were emotions he felt all the time.
He no longer regarded them as anything special.
If anything, he accepted them.
That gave far more stability to his fingertips.
Sssrk, sssrk.
He moved the needle carefully, millimeter by millimeter.
Little by little, ever so slightly.
He focused and focused again for a single moment.
There was no time.
But he did not hurry.
While maintaining the sensation at the tip of the needle, he had to pierce through one last layer.
As a time of blood-drying anxiety passed—
Tuk.
A sensation as if something had burst transmitted through the tip of the needle.
‘Huh?’
It was an unfamiliar feeling.
Then—
Pshhk.
A small stream of fluid spurted up from the back of the needle.
And then.
“Huuu……”
A long breath flowed from the patient’s mouth.
It was a long, heavy breath that could be heard even outside the respirator cover.
It was unmistakably breathing.
Then the patient’s body, which had been stiff as stone, began to loosen softly.
Sag.
The patient went completely limp.
That was proof that breathing and blood circulation had been restored to some extent.
Joy?
Not yet.
Taesu’s hands did not stop.
“Mr. Hyeokgwon, a needle holder and a Mixter, please.”
“……”
“Hurry!”
“O-okay.”
Rustle.
Kim Hyeokgwon quickly prepared what was needed from the bag and held it out.
“Here.”
“Just thirty seconds.”
“As long as you need. I won’t let even a single ant get near you.”
Kim Hyeokgwon showed grim determination.
Taesu gave a faint smile.
That was all.
If he had started it, he had to finish it cleanly.
With that thought, Taesu began securing the syringe needle in the chest with suture thread.
Whisk, whisk-whisk!
After the needle holder and Mixter crossed several times—
“Cut here.”
Tap.
“Cut. But what, is it all over?”
“Yes. For now, we’ve caught our breath. Hoo!”
Thump.
Only then did Taesu release his tension and let out a long breath.
Kim Hyeokgwon, on the other hand, looked bewildered.
“This is, well, I can’t even say it was anticlimactic……”
Muttering, he habitually began organizing the surgical instruments that had been used.
Meanwhile, Taesu was busy catching the breath he had been holding back in proportion to how tense he had been.
“Hoo, hoo.”
“Hey, Choi Taesu.”
Jeong Minsu’s heavy call reached him.
Taesu, who could guess why, spoke quietly.
“Let me catch my breath, you bastard.”
“……”
Jeong Minsu bit his lip tightly and fell silent.
Even so, this time he did not let go of the Ambu bag until the end.
At that moment, Taesu felt focused gazes on him.
When he looked around, the volunteers were still holding the patient’s two hands tightly.
Taesu gave them a bright smile and said,
“You can let go of his hands now. You worked hard.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It ended a bit anticlimactically, didn’t it?”
“That’s…… no.”
The volunteer answered with difficulty.
Taesu was the one who became flustered.
“Pardon?”
“Th-that.”
“This is…… huh? Oh, dear.”
Sssrk.
Taesu ran his hand along where her gaze pointed and gave an awkward smile.
Cold sweat had beaded here and there.
The emergency treatment had taken only about a minute.
The fact that he had sweated in that short span of time allowed the volunteers to understand how much effort Taesu had put in.
But in truth, Taesu was the one who ought to be thanking them.
Taesu bowed deeply in greeting.
“Thank you. Because the two of you held on until the end, we were able to finish this well.”
“We didn’t really…… I’m glad it ended well.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Taesu smiled gently and expressed his gratitude once more.
And had he let out one more breath?
Rattle.
Suddenly, the classroom door was flung open.
Several doctors and nurses entered.
They seemed to be medical personnel who had come running after hearing there was an emergency patient.
They looked as if they had run terribly hard to get there.
But the situation was already over.
“Um……”
Just as Taesu was about to explain—
The medical staff saw the limp patient and were horrified.
“Oh, shit.”
“Are we late? We’re too late?”
“Damn!”
Whoosh.
There was even a staff member who cut through the air with a fist in frustration.
Taesu was honestly dumbfounded.
‘What is this?’
He couldn’t understand why they were killing off a perfectly fine patient on their own.
Taesu was still on the mild side.
There was someone who became more furious than anyone in a situation like this.
Naturally, it was Kim Hyeokgwon.
At the negative reactions of the medical staff, Kim Hyeokgwon’s expression gradually turned crooked.
The way he spoke, coming from that crooked mood, could not possibly be pleasant.
“What the hell kind of people are these?”
“We’re sorry we were late. Even with mouths, we have nothing to say.”
The medical staff were treating the patient’s death as a foregone conclusion.
At that sight, Kim Hyeokgwon showed irritation so strong it seemed wrinkles would form on his forehead.
With his crooked personality added in, what stood out was not anger but sarcasm.
“Oh my. You have mouths, but you can’t speak? Well, since you have eyes and can’t even see properly, I suppose that figures.”
“Hoo. We’re sorry.”
The medical staff only repeated their apologies.
The more they did, the deeper Kim Hyeokgwon’s sarcasm grew.
“It’s fine if you only see what you want to see, but how about at least looking properly at the patient?”
“Yes?”
“Is that doctor over there squeezing an Ambu bag just shoveling at thin air? Or is someone here shedding even a single tear?”
Whip, whip.
Kim Hyeokgwon gestured here and there and roared.
Following his hand, the medical staff finally sensed that something was strange.
“Something……”
“Look over there.”
At someone’s cry, everyone’s gaze turned that way.
“That…… isn’t that a syringe needle?”
“Huh, really?”
“And the Ambu bag too. Then he’s alive?”
Everyone was bewildered.
But only for a moment.
“Each of you, confirm it.”
“Yes.”
Swish.
At someone’s shout, the medical staff quickly approached the patient.
That movement, at least, was instantaneous.
The medical staff began checking him at once.
The calm atmosphere lasted only briefly, and soon intense exclamations rang out.
“Gasp, isn’t this pericardiocentesis?”
“What are you talking about…… huh? The syringe needle, and that position…… really?”
“Pericardial fluid is flowing out here.”
“How……”
They all looked at Taesu with expressions of disbelief.
And Taesu?
Shrug.
He simply gave a light shrug.
A short while later.
“Let’s go.”
Step, step.
The stretcher carrying the patient and the NGO medical staff left the classroom first.
The volunteers followed after them, and lastly, Kim Hyeokgwon left the classroom while saying,
“Rest for a bit. I’ll go find the guardian.”
Click.
With those words, almost like a notice, the classroom door closed.
Now only Taesu and Jeong Minsu were left in the classroom.
Perhaps because he had been so tense and then relaxed, Taesu lay down on the wooden floor with an exhausted face.
“Aghhh. Let me catch my breath for a moment.”
“Hey, Choi Taesu.”
Jeong Minsu’s call was a little blunt.
Lying stretched out, Taesu lightly waved a hand as if pushing him away.
“Even if you beat me to death, I can’t go back to the tent right now. I’m seriously exhausted.”
“Who said to go back?”
“Then what?”
Sssrk.
Taesu turned only his head to look at him.
Jeong Minsu was looking back with a sharp yet complicated gaze.
He did not hide his emotions, revealing them as they were.
“Don’t even think about brushing this off again by saying it was another case you experienced at Dongseong Medical Center.”
“Hmm. You’re asking how I knew it was cardiac tamponade?”
“Yeah.”
Jeong Minsu’s voice rose in an instant.
But Taesu’s expression instead turned incredulous.
“Isn’t that question itself stranger?”
“Why is it strange? How is it strange?”
“Excuse me, Dr. Jeong Minsu. It’s troublesome if your front and back don’t match.”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
Jeong Minsu reacted with a surge of emotion.
Then Taesu pointed out the crux with a sullen face.
“Who was it that recognized the pericardial tamponade procedure?”
“Th-that’s……”
“Did you forget your specialty while wandering through all those different subjects today?”
Taesu asked mercilessly and crookedly.
The more he did, the more Jeong Minsu’s confusion deepened.
“I’m clearly thoracic surgery…… ahem. But that’s……”
“Of course cardiology deals with it a lot, but isn’t it a symptom thoracic surgery learns too?”
“Th-that’s true.”
“You recognized it, but you’re asking how I could do it?”
“……”
“Anything more to say?”
As if he had gained the upper hand in just a few words, Taesu’s question became relaxed.
In contrast, Jeong Minsu’s eyes lost their way.
“No, but cardiac tamponade is definitely……”
“Can a person live forgetting their roots?”
“……”
Jeong Minsu had nothing to say and kept his mouth firmly shut.
Taesu did not provoke him any further for no reason.
But inwardly, he let out a sigh.
‘Hoo, I got past it.’
He had muddled his way through.
In truth, it was only natural for Jeong Minsu to find this emergency situation strange.
Just as he was about to mull over that—
Rattle.
The classroom door opened, and Kim Hyeokgwon came in.
But he was alone.