Chapter 10
“Is this guy out of his mind?”
The captain let go of the controls and blocked Kang-hyuk, who was trying to move forward.
Since the co-pilot could take over flying, it wouldn’t have been a big issue.
However, unexpected situations always had a way of occurring.
Thud.
Kang-hyuk effortlessly knocked the captain down and moved forward.
“Huh?”
The captain, now awkwardly sprawled in the backseat, turned to look behind him.
He couldn’t quite grasp what had just happened.
‘Did he just subdue me? Me?’
Just like airplane pilots, helicopter pilots were often trained in military institutions.
In the army, helicopter pilots were well-respected, often achieving the rank of warrant officer in their late twenties or early thirties.
The captain who had just been knocked down was a former warrant officer.
Even if he wasn’t a combat soldier, he was confident in his physical abilities.
Yet, he had been overpowered by a doctor.
“Uh, Captain!”
While the captain was still dazed, the co-pilot was also effortlessly tossed backward.
“W-What just happened…?”
The co-pilot wore the same dumbfounded expression as the captain.
The captain glanced at the co-pilot momentarily before finally letting out a loud scream.
If both of them had been thrown to the back, then who the hell was holding the controls?
“You crazy bastard!”
Of course, it was Kang-hyuk.
“S-Someone stop him!”
At that moment, the other paramedics rushed toward Kang-hyuk.
Or at least, they tried to.
But it was pointless.
Caught by Kang-hyuk’s randomly swinging arm, Anus—I mean, Jaewon—ended up blocking the aisle.
“Doctor! Move aside!”
“Are you in on this too?”
“N-No! It’s a misunderstanding!”
Jaewon flailed helplessly as he was firmly grabbed by the scruff of his neck.
He desperately tried to escape Kang-hyuk’s grasp, but it was futile.
Instead, he only made things worse by further obstructing the others’ path.
Tatata-tata.
Meanwhile, the helicopter roared as it sped toward the accident site.
Dense fog limited visibility, and sudden gusts of wind rocked the aircraft violently.
“Uwaaah!”
As a result, no one dared to charge toward the cockpit anymore.
Just staying upright was already taking every ounce of their strength.
“You crazy bastard!”
Eventually, even the captain couldn’t hold back his curses.
But no one blamed him.
It was exactly what everyone wanted to yell.
They just didn’t have the luxury to do so.
Tatata-tata.
Then, suddenly, the turbulent helicopter began to stabilize.
At the same time, Kang-hyuk, still gripping the controls, turned around.
“We’ve reached 10 meters above the accident site. You can hold this position, right?”
The captain, who had just been cursing moments ago, looked up in disbelief.
He let out a dumbfounded gasp.
“Huh?”
Since he had been bracing for an imminent crash, he hadn’t even dared to look outside.
Actually, not just him—everyone had been expecting disaster.
Everyone except for Kang-hyuk.
“What are you waiting for? You can maintain the hover, right?”
Unlike the others, who were still in shock, Kang-hyuk gestured calmly at the captain.
“O-Oh. Yeah, yeah, I can.”
The captain was a seasoned pilot who had endured the grueling training of the army’s helicopter program and had since continued flying rescue helicopters.
Despite the absurdity of the situation, he quickly assessed it.
There were still many things he didn’t understand.
‘No matter how I look at it… we really are 10 meters above the accident site…’
Which meant that this crazy bastard had somehow managed to navigate through what had seemed like an impossible flight path.
“Alright, I’ll leave this to you.”
Before he even realized it, the captain had taken hold of the controls that Kang-hyuk had been gripping.
The eerie part? The controls weren’t even damp with sweat.
‘Did he really fly us here this easily…?’
It defied common sense.
But what else could they do now?
They had come to save a patient, and if it was possible, they had to act quickly.
“I’ll maintain position! Judging by the wind strength… we have about 30 minutes!”
At the captain’s declaration, the paramedics, who had been glaring daggers at Kang-hyuk, suddenly had a shift in expression.
If they only had 30 minutes, there was no time to waste.
Even securing the patient onto a stretcher and hoisting them up would be cutting it close.
Just as they were about to suit up for the descent, they noticed two people missing.
No, one person was missing.
“Alright, I’m heading down first!”
It was Kang-hyuk.
Along with Jaewon.
“Uwaaah! Save me! This maniac is trying to kill me!”
Unlike Kang-hyuk, who descended smoothly down the rope as if he were on a leisurely stroll, Jaewon clung onto him, his face consumed with terror.
Seeing the two, paramedic team leader Jung-heon shook his head.
“This guy is seriously insane…”
“But his rope work is textbook perfect?”
“That’s what I’m saying. Is he really a doctor?”
Despite carrying a grown man who was practically dead weight, Kang-hyuk descended at an incredible speed.
Not only that, but his stability was remarkable.
He was abseiling from a swaying helicopter at a height of 10 meters, yet his movements were flawless.
“Alright… we’re going down too!”
Jung-heon briefly observed Kang-hyuk before issuing the order.
The paramedics, who had already prepared their gear, followed one by one.
By the time they reached the ground, Kang-hyuk was already there.
“Who… Who are you?”
One of the rescue workers stared at Kang-hyuk in confusion.
They had called for paramedics, but the first person to arrive was an unfamiliar man in a suit.
“The patient?”
“A-Ah, um… who are you exactly…?”
Before the rescue worker could respond, Jaewon answered in his place.
Not that his words carried much meaning.
“Uwaaah!”
“Sigh, you idiot. Anus! Follow me! We need to check the patient!”
“Huh… we’re on the ground.”
“Yeah, we’re on the ground. Now hurry up and follow me!”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Dragging Jaewon along, Kang-hyuk rushed toward the patient.
The field agent couldn’t just hand over the patient to some random person he didn’t recognize, so he asked again.
“Who are you?”
“Quiet. It’s already loud enough—I need to use the stethoscope.”
Instead of answering, Kang-hyuk put on his stethoscope.
As he said, the helicopter hovering directly above them made the noise overwhelming.
One might even wonder if using a stethoscope in this situation had any meaning at all.
“Hey, Anus.”
“Yes?”
It was as if Kang-hyuk had read Jaewon’s mind.
Jaewon instinctively flinched, like a guilty thief caught in the act.
However, Kang-hyuk’s next words were completely unexpected.
“I don’t hear breath sounds in the upper right lung. What does that mean?”
“No breath sounds…?”
Jaewon had just survived a near-death experience himself, but he forced his brain into overdrive.
After all, the real person fighting for their life right now was the patient, not him.
“Tick-tock, tick-tock.”
Kang-hyuk even mimicked the sound of a clock ticking with his mouth.
As if Jaewon wasn’t already panicked enough, that noise made him want to strangle the man.
But when he saw the thick tattoos carved into Kang-hyuk’s muscular forearm, he suddenly found it easy to control his anger.
‘Right, let’s just endure. You don’t avoid stepping in shit because you’re scared of it—you avoid it because it’s filthy…’
Even though Jaewon knew very well that this particular “shit” was unavoidable and terrifying, he convinced himself otherwise.
He quickly spoke before it was too late.
“Pneumothorax. It’s pneumothorax.”
“There are no breath sounds at all.”
“[Tension pneumothorax!]” (T/N: A life-threatening condition where air gets trapped in the [pleural cavity] (the space between the lung and chest wall), causing pressure to build up. This pressure prevents the affected lung from expanding and can compress the [heart] and major [blood vessels], leading to a drop in [blood pressure] and potential organ failure. Immediate treatment, such as needle decompression, is required to release the trapped air and stabilize the patient.)
“Good. So what do we do?”
“Needle decompression…”
“That’s right, needle decompression.”
As Kang-hyuk said that, he clicked open the bag he had handed Jaewon earlier.
Due to all the shaking and impacts, the contents had spilled all over.
Some of it even rolled off the rocky ground and disappeared into the ravine.
But fortunately, plenty of needles remained.
“Who… Who are you people?!”
The paramedic urgently asked again, now seeing Kang-hyuk holding a syringe.
Based on their conversation, he seemed like a doctor, but looking at him, it was hard to believe.
‘What kind of doctor does a helicopter rappel and has tattoos all over his arms?!’
Luckily, unlike Kang-hyuk, Jaewon was a sensible and polite person.
“A-Ah, we’re surgeons from Hanguk University Hospital.”
“You’re really… doctors?”
“Yes. Professor Baek Kang-hyuk is a trauma surgeon, and—uwaaah!”
Jaewon tried to continue explaining but ended up screaming instead.
Kang-hyuk had grabbed his ear and twisted it.
It didn’t even seem like he used much strength, yet it hurt like hell.
“You idiot. A patient is dying right in front of you—why are you wasting time?”
“B-But you should answer when someone asks you a question…”
“A doctor answers with their skills.”
“What the—”
“Just hold the patient still. If I miss and stab the lung, it’ll be a disaster.”
“Ah, y-yes!”
Jaewon still had complaints, but he obediently followed Kang-hyuk’s instructions.
As Kang-hyuk said, if the needle slipped, the patient was as good as dead.
The moment Jaewon firmly held the patient’s chest in place, Kang-hyuk drove the needle between the ribs.
‘Squelch.’
A slightly chilling sound was followed by a hiss from the syringe tip.
‘Psssshhhhhh.’
The trapped air from the collapsed lung escaped, making a loud whistling noise.
If the patient had lost consciousness due to the built-up pressure, they should have started coughing and asking where they were by now.
But the patient remained unresponsive.
Which meant there was another issue.
“How is the patient doing?!”
Just then, Jung-heon and the paramedics arrived at the scene.
Kang-hyuk, still holding the needle in place, shook his head.
“Not good! We need to hoist them up and assess their condition properly!”
“Understood! We’ll secure them for transport! What about this needle—should we keep it in?”
“If you take it out, they’ll die.”
“Got it!”
The paramedics immediately stabilized the patient’s neck and spine.
Any unnecessary movement could cause secondary injuries.
Before proper protocols were established, there had been countless cases where patients were saved, only to end up paralyzed from the waist down.
Thankfully, the rescue team was highly trained, so they secured the patient and strapped them onto the airlift stretcher.
‘Clank.’
They hooked the stretcher’s ropes to the designated clips and signaled upward.
With a loud mechanical whir, the helicopter’s crane began hoisting the stretcher.
“Alright, up we go.”
Kang-hyuk grabbed Jaewon and climbed onto the stretcher.
Jaewon, of course, screamed in terror, while Kang-hyuk waved casually.
“Waaah!”
“We’re heading up first! Need to check on the patient’s condition!”