Chapter 128

‘Tat tat tat.’

The pilot, having heard their conversation, fully grasped the urgency of the situation.

So he pushed the aircraft to the maximum it could handle, managing to arrive slightly earlier than expected.

“That must be it!”

Team Leader Kim Kang-ryul pointed to a factory with a slate roof.

In the unpaved yard were several old trucks scattered haphazardly.

“Clear the area!”

“Yes!”

At Kang-hyuk’s order, Kang-ryul urgently radioed headquarters.

Upon receiving the transmission, the headquarters staff called the factory, and soon workers came rushing out to move the trucks.

Perhaps because the injured child often visited the factory, everyone looked visibly anxious.

“Initiating landing.”

As soon as the pilot judged the space to be sufficiently clear, he began the descent.

‘Tat tat tat tat!’

Dust from the dirt lot swirled in every direction.

But no one nearby complained.

All they wanted was for the helicopter to land—quickly.

“Move! Move out of the way!”

Someone had come dangerously close.

Judging by the blood on his hands and clothes, it was likely the child’s father.

He was dragged out by the others, half in a daze.

“Bring down the stretcher!”

“Yes!”

As soon as the helicopter got low enough, Kang-ryul leapt out.

It was the kind of feat even Kang-hyuk himself found difficult to replicate.

He pulled out the transport stretcher—faster and more stable than a regular gurney.

“Where’s the patient?”

Kang-hyuk shouted as he jumped down.

Because he was dressed in a black suit, not a doctor’s gown, people were momentarily unsure how to respond.

But Kang-hyuk was a bit of a celebrity doctor.

Someone among them shouted,

“That’s Professor Baek Kang-hyuk! Tell him quick!”

With that, the rough-looking factory workers all moved in unison to guide the way.

“Over here!”

“Follow us!”

Kang-hyuk and Jaewon followed them into the factory.

‘Thud thud thud.’

No one was walking—they were all running in panic.

“Hmm.”

With his heightened senses, Kang-hyuk immediately caught the scent of blood.

‘It’s way too strong.’

This meant a large volume of blood had been lost.

And it also meant a fair amount of time had passed.

The smell of blood gets more pungent as it oxidizes.

Naturally, his pace quickened.

“Ah…”

Following behind, Jaewon let out a dry gasp.

The child’s condition was horrifying.

This scene immediately made it clear why Kang-hyuk emphasized knowing the age of the patient and the position of the body at the time of injury.

‘The thigh… all the way to the waist… it’s shredded…’

If it had been an adult, the forklift forks might’ve struck only the shin.

But since it was a child, the forks pierced near the thigh and tore upward toward the waist as the body fell.

People nearby had piled cloths onto the wound and were pressing down, but it wasn’t enough.

A pool of blood had already formed on the floor.

“What are you doing! Get over here!”

Kang-hyuk snapped at Jaewon, whose face had gone pale.

He was already checking the child’s level of consciousness.

“Y-yes!”

“You handle the wound! Start with the thigh! Stop the bleeding as best you can and then get him on the stretcher!”

“Got it!”

Jaewon was now a full-fledged trauma surgeon.

Though momentarily shaken,

He quickly overcame it and got to work.

As Kang-hyuk instructed, he began with the thigh, which was furthest from the heart.

‘Squelch.’

As soon as he removed the hand pressing down on the wound, blood gushed out.

It hadn’t been effectively compressed at all.

But no one could be blamed.

They weren’t doctors.

“Hands here!”

At Jaewon’s call, Kang-ryul and other rescue workers rushed over.

They wordlessly connected IV lines and began staunching the wounds in place of the civilians.

“Yes, like that.”

With their help, Jaewon continued applying pressure to the child’s thigh.

Their technique was naturally much better than the frantic pressing of the factory workers.

“You have Surgicel?”

At Jaewon’s question, Kang-ryul nodded and handed over a packet from a supply box.

It was an expensive product, and its presence on the Gyeonggi Fire Department helicopter wasn’t a coincidence.

Kang-hyuk had packed it in advance.

Of course, the financial burden fell on him and the Severe Trauma Center.

Neither the fire department, the hospital, nor the Ministry of Health acknowledged expenses for emergency-use medical supplies.

“Hmm… This part’s stopped…”

Surgicel wasn’t expensive for no reason.

It was incredibly effective at stopping oozing blood.

But it couldn’t seal torn arteries.

“We need to press here too, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. Everyone take a spot and press hard.”

Following Kang-ryul’s suggestion, Jaewon decided to apply direct pressure to the areas where Surgicel wasn’t enough.

Meanwhile, Kang-hyuk finished checking the child’s consciousness and vitals.

‘No consciousness. No response to pain. [Coma]… At least there’s still pupillary reflex…’

Even that alone was a miracle.

But there was a bigger problem.

‘No detectable blood pressure.’

It wasn’t likely a cardiac issue.

An eight-year-old’s heart doesn’t usually fail without a congenital defect.

This was [hypovolemic shock]—massive blood loss.
(T/N: Hypovolemic shock is a condition where severe blood or fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body.)

Confirming it was the child’s heart rate, which had surged past 130.

‘We’ve started fluids, but it’s not enough.’

To replace lost blood, what do you need?

Blood, of course.

“What’s the child’s blood type? Does anyone know?!”

Kang-hyuk shouted as he ripped off his blood-soaked suit jacket.

The man who had rushed to the helicopter earlier came running.

“Don’t look! Don’t come closer!”

People tried to stop him, but it was no use.

His child had been injured at the factory where he worked, and he had no wife.

He was drowning in guilt and despair.

“O-positive! He’s O-positive!”

“O-positive, huh.”

Kang-hyuk paused for a moment.

Then he gently patted the child’s shoulder.

“Let’s get him on the helicopter. The longer we wait here, the worse it gets.”

“Yes!”

Jaewon and the team moved quickly to lift the child onto the stretcher.

The child was already tiny, and now—after bleeding so much—he felt weightless.

Jaewon let out a quiet sigh as he felt that in his hands.

He was far too young to die.

“Stay… strong.”

He didn’t know if he was talking to himself or to the child as he sprinted toward the helicopter.

While running, Kang-hyuk drew a small syringe and took a blood sample from the child’s arm.

“W-what are you doing?!”

Kang-ryul, running in from the other direction, widened his eyes.

That Kang-hyuk could draw blood while sprinting was shocking enough.

But he was more curious about ‘why’ he was doing it.

“What do you think? Drawing blood.”

“But… why…?”

“Just get him on the bird first, I’ll explain later.”

“Ah, okay.”

Before they knew it, the stretcher had reached the helicopter.

The nearby factory workers helped push it forward.

“Hey! Wake up, kid!”

Some of them were sobbing.

Watching them, Kang-hyuk couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

Memories of his father’s coworkers helping him as a child came flooding back.

‘They really tried hard to take care of me without a mom…’

Why had he hated it so much back then?

Maybe because every act of kindness reminded him that his mother was gone.

‘Clunk.’

While he was lost in thought, the stretcher had been loaded onto the helicopter.

It was designed to slide in easily.

“Professor! Come on up!”

Jaewon, who had boarded first for once, reached out his hand.

Kang-hyuk finally snapped back to reality.

“Huh? Oh, right.”

“You okay? You’re not sick or anything, are you?”

Jaewon, who always saw Kang-hyuk as some kind of iron man, thought he was acting a little off today.

But that was all.

He was too oblivious to connect it with what he’d heard about Kang-hyuk recently.

“Hey, what’s your blood type?”

Kang-hyuk asked.

It seemed like a random question.

But Jaewon immediately realized why and answered.

“AB.”

“AB? What a useless bastard.”

“Are you seriously judging me over my blood type?”

“You can only donate to other ABs. Totally useless.”

“Wow…”

It was true.

Theoretically, ABs could receive from anyone, but could only give to other ABs.

The most selfish blood type.

“What about the others? Anyone O?”

At that, Kang-ryul and the others finally realized what this was about.

But unfortunately, none of them had O type.

“Just me, huh.”

Only Kang-hyuk did.

He let out a quiet sigh and looked back at the child.

Just by appearance, there was no connection to his own past.

But he still felt something—a strange sense of kinship.

It wasn’t just doctor and patient.

“Hey, draw my blood.”

“Eh? You’re going to transfuse your own blood?”

“Obviously. His blood pressure won’t stabilize otherwise.”

“Then… who’s doing the surgery when we get there?”

“We’ll be there in ten. I won’t lose that much.”

He meant he’d donate the blood ‘and’ perform the surgery.

Kang-ryul was at a loss for words.

‘I always knew he was crazy, but…’

Giving your own blood to save a patient?

It was a blessing for Korea’s healthcare system that someone like Kang-hyuk existed.

But it was also a tragedy—that saving lives required someone like him.

A system that needed Marvel heroes was a broken one.

“Team leader, call the hospital. Tell them to prep O-type blood.”

“Ah, yes.”

While Kang-hyuk gave more instructions, Jaewon quietly drew a small amount of blood from his arm.

Not as smooth as Kang-hyuk—but getting there.

“Compare it with the sample I took earlier.”

“Oh, that’s what this is for… Got it.”

While in transit, Jaewon mixed the blood sample from the child with Kang-hyuk’s.

Even among O-types, incompatibility could occur.

Thankfully, there was no reaction.

“Looks good. Connect it.”

“You sure this is okay…?”

Jaewon hesitated slightly as he picked up the needle.

He knew Kang-hyuk had an obsessive drive to save lives.

But this felt like too much.

“Just do it already!”

But to Kang-hyuk, there was no such thing as ‘too much.’

“Y-yes, understood…”

So Jaewon obediently connected the lines between Kang-hyuk’s and the child’s arms.

Because Kang-hyuk’s blood pressure was so much higher, the blood flowed rapidly into the child.

“But at this rate… we can’t control how much is going in…”

Jaewon watched the blood stream in with concern.

Kang-hyuk simply shook his head.

“It’s fine. I won’t die.”