Chapter 18: The Blade [2]
The scalpel sliced a long line down the side of the man’s calf.
Blood trickled out immediately.
“You’re not feeling any pain, are you?”
There shouldn’t have been any pain during the initial incision.
Fortunately, the man’s face remained composed.
“No, I’m fine.”
“If you start to feel any pain, you must let me know.”
A classic line from any doctor: “Tell me if it hurts.” Yet, even if the patient did say it hurt, the most likely response would be to just bear with it.
Of course, the man didn’t know that.
“Understood.”
He answered calmly, his eyes slowly closing, possibly from the effects of the narcotic painkiller. Before long, he drifted into a light sleep with a peaceful expression.
No matter how strong the painkiller, it was an extraordinary feat of willpower. Even more so, Dolseok’s expression darkened, as this was the largest surgery he’d assisted with so far, despite growing accustomed to minor procedures.
“Ugh.”
“Quiet down and just keep wiping the blood with the gauze.”
“Y-yes, young master.”
Dolseok, his face scrunched in displeasure, dutifully wiped the blood away.
“Can you wipe a bit faster?”
“Yes, yes.”
With the infection and swelling, there was a lot of minor bleeding.
Even the yellow fat tissue was oozing red blood, which naturally irritated Kang-hyuk and earned Dolseok some scolding.
“Hey! You’re just smearing the blood around with that gauze! That’s not wiping!”
“S-sorry.”
“How much gauze do you think we have? Don’t waste it.”
“What? Oh, yes.”
Dolseok pouted slightly behind his mask.
Despite Kang-hyuk’s irritation, the surgery was proceeding well.
Soon enough, the skin was fully cut open, and the red muscle underneath became visible.
‘This bleeding is really bothersome.’
In an operating room, cauterizing with an electric tool would have solved this. Here, though, they had no choice but to press gauze or inject vasoconstrictors [1], and they didn’t have much of either.
‘We’ve already gone through a third of the gauze, and we don’t have much vasoconstrictor left.’
But closing the wound now wasn’t an option.
Kang-hyuk had expected the worst before opening the leg, and now that he’d seen it, the condition was worse than he had anticipated.
‘Having thick muscles can be a curse, too.’
Pulling the broken bone too forcefully had only caused further damage.
“Let’s clear out the blood first. Dolseok, hold this open.”
“Hold it open?”
As if things weren’t bad enough already, now he had to pull the wound wider. Dolseok shuddered at the thought and asked in disbelief.
“How else do you expect me to work? Can you see anything?”
“The broken leg?”
“You fool! The patient will hear you!”
“He’s sleeping soundly, though. Even snoring.”
True to Dolseok’s words, the man was snoring softly.
‘Narcotics do have a sedative effect, but this… is something else.’
The man’s composure continued to baffle even a seasoned doctor like Kang-hyuk.
‘Well, it’s better this way.’
It was certainly better than having a patient awake and causing a commotion. Kang-hyuk scolded Dolseok again, despite the patient’s calm.
“Look at him. Even he’s relaxed, so why are you so scared?”
“But, young master, we’re cutting open a man’s leg here…”
“Enough with the grim talk! Just pull it open.”
“Fine, fine. I’m doing it.”
Reluctantly, Dolseok pulled the wound apart.
-Splat.
With more space opened, clotted blood spilled out from within.
“Ugh.”
Dolseok grimaced and turned his head away.
Kang-hyuk, on the other hand, dug deeper into the wound.
Among the old, clotted blood, fresh, bright red blood began to mix in, confirming Kang-hyuk’s suspicion that a blood vessel had been damaged.
Leaving it like this would lead to death by excessive bleeding.
‘Need to hurry.’
If he didn’t locate the source of the bleeding soon, it would be impossible to fix later.
‘Where is it?’
Considering the direction of the broken bone and where it had pierced, there weren’t many blood vessels in the area that could cause this much bleeding.
At most, there could only be two… No, just one.
‘It’s probably the posterior tibial vein.’
If it had been an artery, the patient wouldn’t have survived this long.
‘Not that there was much chance of that anyway.’
Arteries were usually taut and tended to bounce away when poked, unlike veins, which tore easily.
Just like now.
Kang-hyuk found the torn and frayed edges of the vein.
As soon as he located it, the blood flow that had been pouring out stopped.
“Dolseok, give me the needle and thread. Use one hand to hold the leg open.”
“Yes, yes.”
As they say, people are adaptable creatures.
Dolseok, now somewhat accustomed to the bloody scene, was doing much better than before.
Kang-hyuk felt a sense of pride for identifying the damaged blood vessel so quickly.
“Good. You’re getting the hang of this.”
“Thank you, young master.”
“Yes, keep holding it like that.”
“Yes, yes.”
While Dolseok held the wound open with one hand, Kang-hyuk began stitching the vein.
Thankfully, the vein wasn’t too small, so the task wasn’t too difficult.
Even though the lighting was poor and the angle awkward, it wasn’t a significant issue for Kang-hyuk.
After all, he was one of Korea’s top surgeons. Overcoming such challenges was par for the course.
“Alright. The bleeding’s under control. Now it’s time to set the bone.”
“Can we really do it?”
Even to Dolseok’s eyes, the bone looked badly misaligned.
The only thing keeping the situation from being worse was the fact that there were two bones in the calf. If there had only been one, the condition would’ve been much worse.
“You’ll need to use some strength.”
“Me?”
“Well, you’re stronger than I am, aren’t you?”
“Er…”
Dolseok instinctively glanced up and down at Kang-hyuk.
With his shirt off for the surgery, Kang-hyuk’s muscles were more pronounced than usual—broad shoulders, thick biceps and triceps, a bulging chest, and even the large back muscles visible from the front.
The only thing Dolseok had more of than Kang-hyuk was belly fat.
Dolseok pointed back and forth between himself and Kang-hyuk.
“Young master, there’s no way this is fair…”
“My muscles are for show. I can’t use much strength unless it’s in a specific position.”
“Show muscles?”
“They’re balloon muscles. Yours are practical.”
“Balloon what? Young master, you’re just making excuses because you don’t want to do it.”
“Hey! Who’s the master here?”
“Ugh…”
Though he grumbled, Dolseok adjusted his stance.
He’d helped set a broken arm for one of the servants with Kang-hyuk before, so he had a rough idea of what to do.
Back then, the injury hadn’t been as severe, and the patient’s muscles weren’t as massive as they were now.
“Good thing the painkillers are working well. If he were in pain, his muscles would tense up.”
“Then let’s hurry before he wakes up.”
“Alright. I’ll hold it here. You pull on the foot.”
“Yes.”
Dolseok grunted as he pulled on the man’s foot.
The sudden movement caused the man’s face to twitch in pain.
“Mmm.”
He even let out a short groan.
With the tension in his body, Dolseok could barely budge the leg.
It seemed impossible to set the bone this way.
‘I should’ve told Makbong to stay behind.’
But it was too late for regrets. Kang-hyuk urgently called out to the man.
“You need to bear with the pain and relax your muscles.”
Even as he said it, Kang-hyuk wasn’t sure it was a reasonable request.
Not only was he asking the man to endure the pain, but to relax his entire body?
If someone had told Kang-hyuk to do that, he would’ve punched them in the face.
“Understood.”
But the man was different.
He closed his eyes and began murmuring something.
Upon listening closely, it sounded like a passage from a military text.
“Oh, it’s working! Keep it up. Dolseok, what are you waiting for? Pull!”
“Yes, yes!”
Kang-hyuk and Dolseok used all their strength to pull the leg, while the man concentrated on overcoming the pain.
“Alright, a little to the right! That’s it, perfect.”
“No, you idiot, to the left! Yes, there!”
“Right! Don’t you even know your right from left?”
Dolseok felt his blood boiling, but despite the bickering, he could see the bone aligning properly.
-Crack.
“It’s done! Now we just need to secure it.”
Kang-hyuk grabbed the metal plate he had prepared earlier.
As a sudden thought crossed his mind, he hesitated.
‘Why do I have something like this in my medical bag?’
***
Footnotes:
[1] A vasoconstrictor is a medication or agent that narrows blood vessels, reducing blood flow. It is commonly used to control bleeding during surgeries, raise low blood pressure, or reduce swelling by limiting blood flow to a specific area.