Chapter 130

‘Squelch, squelch.’

Kang-hyuk’s voice rang out as loud and clear as always.

Thanks to that, Jaewon and the rest of the medical team were noticeably relieved.

‘I thought… he must be completely drained from the blood donation.’

With that thought, Jaewon quickly began disinfecting the child’s wounds with povidone-iodine solution.

They had already cleaned them in the helicopter,

But between the continuous bleeding and the dust kicked up during landing, contamination was unavoidable.

At moments like this, Kang-hyuk’s words always came to mind.

‘Instead of outfitting the hospital with fancy equipment using government funding, they should’ve fixed the transport system first. What kind of trauma center doesn’t even have a helipad?’

When he first heard it, it sounded absurd.

After all, every trauma patient they’d seen had come in by ambulance.

But looking back, most of the severe cases brought in like that were either already dead—or died after arrival.

The golden hour was 60 minutes, and most transports took well over 3 hours. It was inevitable.

‘Bastards.’

Jaewon, seemingly infected by Kang-hyuk’s cynicism, muttered insults to himself as he scrubbed the child’s body with focused aggression.

Fortunately, thanks to Jang-mi cutting the child’s clothes during the transfer, disinfection was relatively easy.

“Phew.”

As soon as Kang-hyuk stepped out of the room, he let out a sigh.

Then he looked down at his own hand, which was trembling ever so slightly.

A clear sign of [sympathetic overdrive].
(T/N: Sympathetic overdrive refers to an overstimulated sympathetic nervous system, often caused by stress or physiological strain.)

And there was only one likely cause.

‘My blood pressure looks okay, so not much must’ve drained…’

The problem was the rate—he had squeezed it out too quickly.

And Kang-hyuk already had naturally high blood pressure.

The act of clenching and releasing his arm while donating accelerated the flow far beyond what was manageable.

Certainly not at a pace his body could handle.

‘Pulse at 120 bpm, huh.’

He pressed his radial artery and muttered.

Normally, due to his athleticism and good health, his resting heart rate was under 60.

Now it had doubled.

And without any physical exertion—just sitting still.

Which meant the blood loss had been rapid.

‘Still, thanks to that, the kid made it here alive… Now I just need to get him out of here alive too.’

With that thought, Kang-hyuk took his hand off his wrist and tore off his half-loosened dress shirt completely.

There wasn’t time to go to the changing room for new scrubs.

To be more honest, he didn’t have the stamina to spare.

Even the act of moving was something he wanted to minimize.

‘Shhhhhh.’

He pressed the knee-operated faucet, and cold water flowed out as always.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem.

But with his condition as it was, washing his arms with cold water was pure agony.

‘Goddamn bastards.’

With an unclear target for his anger, Kang-hyuk washed his hands and returned to the room, water still dripping from his arms.

Naturally, chaos erupted.

“P-Professor… What the hell are you doing?”

“Clothes are… I mean, they exist for a reason…”

Jaewon looked mostly confused, but Jang-mi and Gyeongwon were visibly flustered.

It was the first time they’d seen someone enter the OR shirtless.

And Kang-hyuk’s physique was… something else.

“No time to go all the way to the locker room for scrubs. Just help me put this on.”

“Ah… r-right. Understood.”

Jang-mi, ever the professional, quickly composed herself and helped Kang-hyuk into his surgical gown.

Up close, his muscles looked even more defined—it was baffling.

‘When does he even work out?’

She knew Kang-hyuk and Jaewon’s schedule inside and out.

They barely had time to sleep, let alone exercise.

How was this possible?

“Gloves.”

“Ah, yes.”

Soon, Kang-hyuk was fully suited for battle against a critical injury.

He approached the child and motioned for Jaewon to step out.

“You better not think about changing. Just get back in here.”

“You mean I should come in shirtless too… right?”

Jaewon glanced down at his blood- and dust-covered shirt.

Kang-hyuk gave him a look that said, ‘Are you seriously asking me that?’

“You were gonna come in like that?”

“N-no, of course not…”

Sure, shirtless was weird too.

But if his mentor was leading by example, what choice did he have?

Jaewon started unbuttoning as he walked out.

He spotted Kang-hyuk’s ripped shirt next to the sink.

Pure alpha male—or just a madman.

‘He’s got so much energy… I shouldn’t have been worrying about him.’

Jaewon looked down at his own body, embarrassed.

When he first joined trauma surgery, he wasn’t in bad shape.

But after months of grinding here, his belly was sticking out.

‘Once we get a junior, I’ll start working out again…’

He gave himself a moment of self-reflection and scrubbed up.

Then, just like Kang-hyuk, he walked back into the OR.

“Whoa…”

“Jaewon-sunbae…”

But this time, the reactions were completely different.

It wasn’t just that they’d seen his body before—

There was genuine pity in their eyes.

Especially from Jang-mi, whose expression was tinged with concern.

“Dr. Yang…”

“Why are you handing me the surgical gown with that sad look?”

“You’ll know when you look in the mirror.”

“Hmm.”

That stung.

But there was no time to sulk.

While he was washing up, Kang-hyuk had already finished [draping] the patient.
(T/N: Draping refers to covering the non-operative areas of a patient with sterile sheets.)

It might sound strange to use this term in surgery—

But he was ‘insanely’ fast.

“Hurry up. This is urgent.”

As expected, Kang-hyuk snapped the moment Jaewon showed the slightest delay.

So Jaewon quickly finished suiting up and took his place opposite Kang-hyuk.

“Looking at it like this… it’s even worse than I thought.”

He muttered while examining the disinfected, blood-free wound.

Without the red blood covering it, the injury looked even more severe.

Kang-hyuk gave Jaewon a slightly surprised look.

‘He really has improved.’

Inexperienced doctors often got distracted by other stimuli in trauma cases—

Blood, screams, chaos.

But experienced trauma surgeons looked ‘only’ at the wound.

“Right? Especially this part—it’s bad.”

Kang-hyuk pointed to the child’s mid-abdomen.

Despite packing it with gauze, blood continued to seep out.

“Looks like the forklift fork didn’t go all the way down.”

Jaewon said, and Kang-hyuk nodded.

“Yeah.”

Jaewon probably only saw the blood.

But Kang-hyuk saw more.

There was a strange fluid mixed in with the blood.

‘Likely urine… probably bladder damage. And also…’

There was a faint brown tinge too.

‘Rectum, possibly…’

He had no choice but to move quickly.

“Clamp all the bleeding you can see. Everything.”

“Yes, professor.”

“You take the leg—I’ll handle the abdomen.”

“Understood.”

No surgeon ever declined being allowed to operate.

Especially not when the surgery was within their scope—and entrusted by their mentor.

So Jaewon, now motivated, took the bipolar cautery from Jang-mi and began hemostasis.

“Hand me mine, too.”

“Yes, professor.”

Kang-hyuk also began cauterizing with practiced ease.

His movements were fluid and precise.

So no one noticed why he’d handed off the leg work to Jaewon.

‘Can’t believe I’m having to pace myself during surgery.’

He would’ve preferred to control both leg and abdomen—

But if he tried that now, he’d be out of breath by the time he got to the important part.

Luckily, Jaewon had become decent enough.

If he hadn’t, Kang-hyuk would’ve pushed through solo.

“Coagulation.”

“Yes.”

At Jaewon’s call, Jang-mi stepped on the foot pedal at his station.

‘Fssshhh.’

A sizzling sound followed, and white smoke rose where the bipolar touched tissue.

Kang-hyuk briefly paused to observe Jaewon’s technique.

From where he placed the tool to how long he held it—

Nearly perfect.

‘He’s not getting every single red cell, but at least he’s not frying unnecessary tissue.’

A common rookie mistake was to just burn everything.

That stopped bleeding, sure—

But healing slowed, and it caused heat damage and infections.

From that standpoint, Jaewon was doing well.

“Coagulation.”

“Yes.”

And Kang-hyuk’s own cauterizing?

Flawless.

Soon, the bleeding in the leg was under control.

Muscle and skin repairs would take longer—

But Kang-hyuk chose to stop there and move on to the abdomen.

‘He can handle the leg. Worst case, I’ll have Director Han send a resident.’

But the abdomen?

Only Kang-hyuk could deal with it.

“Alright, moving up.”

“Yes.”

Unaware of Kang-hyuk’s condition, Jaewon followed his instructions.

“Slowly—very slowly remove the gauze.”

“Yes, professor.”

Jaewon gently pulled the soaked gauze from the child’s abdomen.

“Ugh.”

Immediately, a foul stench filled the OR.

They didn’t need to see what was inside.

Brown fluid on the gauze—

It was feces.

“Just as I thought.”

Everyone except Kang-hyuk, who had anticipated it, recoiled in shock.

The presence of stool meant the bowel had ruptured.

Which meant the abdominal cavity was likely a mess.

“Don’t just yank it—remove the gauze completely. Gangster, warm up some saline, 10% disinfectant diluted. We’ll wash and operate at the same time.”

“Yes!”

“Yes, professor!”

The two answered in unison and got to work.

‘Flick.’

As Jaewon removed another piece of gauze, a sharp ammonia odor hit.

“Urine… shit…”

He nearly cursed, forgetting he was in the OR.

Bladder damage, too.

Which meant the child was not only in critical condition—

But even if he survived, there was a high risk of serious complications.

Kang-hyuk shook his head at Jaewon,

Trying to ignore the cold sweat trickling down his back.

“Focus. Open the wound wider. Gangster, give me the disinfectant. Surgery’s just getting started.”

(T/N: I’m so proud of our Slave. He really has grown and I’m glad it did not take another 100 chapters for this. Gyeongwon is a genius though. I really like his novel version.)