Chapter 14

“W-What is this?”

Nurse Cheon Jang-mi asked as they transferred the patient from the air transport stretcher to a hospital transfer bed.

She had only five years of experience, but all five had been spent in emergency medicine.

In other words, she had seen it all.

But this—this was a first.

A patient with an open head wound, a hole in the skull, and surgical instruments still inserted inside?

“What do you think it is? It’s a patient. Gangster, get the operating room ready.”

“G-Gangster? P-Professor…”

“Who was the one who called me that first? Anyway, hurry up and call the OR. You saw the condition—if we don’t move fast, this patient is screwed.”

Kang-hyuk gestured at the exposed skull as he spoke.

If leaving it closed meant certain death, then opening it was the only option.

Otherwise, performing brain surgery in an unsterile environment was practically murder.

“A-Ah, right.”

Regardless of the chaotic situation, Jang-mi was a capable nurse, if not yet fully seasoned.

She immediately understood Kang-hyuk’s urgency and grabbed the phone.

“Yes, this is Cheon Jang-mi speaking.”

Her name was so unusual that the person on the other end recognized her immediately—even without an introduction.

“Yes, yes. We need to open an emergency operating room immediately. Are preparations complete?”

While Kang-hyuk and Jaewon were performing procedures, the rescue team had already notified the hospital’s emergency staff.

Because of that, the OR, ICU, and radiology teams were already on standby.

Of course, there was one problem.

“What? The anesthesiologist… hasn’t responded? Who is it? Ah… Hwang Sun-woo.”

Jang-mi’s expression twisted at the name.

Hwang Sun-woo, the on-call trauma anesthesiologist, was notorious for his short temper.

Even just this morning, he had thrown a fit while setting up a ventilator for a post-op patient.

If it weren’t for the saintly Dr. Yang Jae-won, there would have been a full-blown argument.

Now, a second emergency surgery had just been added to his already busy schedule.

There was no way he would take it gracefully.

“What’s wrong?”

Kang-hyuk asked as they pushed the transfer bed through the ER doors and into the hospital lobby.

“Wow, what happened to that guy?”

“Look at his head!”

“Oh my god…”

“Who’s that man with him? A guardian?”

The waiting area erupted in murmurs.

It was impossible not to stare—a hospital bed surrounded by multiple doctors and paramedics, carrying a patient with an open skull.

Some shameless individuals even pulled out their phones to record the scene.

Meanwhile, Jang-mi, now visibly irritated, answered Kang-hyuk’s question.

“Uh… the anesthesiologist is still not responding.”

“What? Isn’t he on call?”

“Technically… yes.”

Jang-mi glanced at the wall clock.

It was 11:30 AM.

Unlike other departments, anesthesiology shifts ended at noon.

In other words, Hwang Sun-woo only had to stall for 30 more minutes to avoid this surgery altogether.

“He’s ignoring the call? That crazy bastard?”

Hearing this, Kang-hyuk exploded in rage.

He was already attracting attention just by walking around in a suit instead of a lab coat.

Now, with his rolled-up sleeves revealing tattooed arms stained with blood, and his furious shouting, he looked less like a doctor and more like a gangster.

Naturally, every head in the ER turned toward him.

“What’s going on?”

“Is he a gangster?”

“He must be a mobster.”

Feeling the judgmental stares, Jang-mi sighed and shook her head.

“Professor, this is the ER waiting room. Could you not yell here?”

“How can I not yell? What’s that bastard’s name?”

“It’s Hwang Sun-woo, but why—”

“What do you think? Doctors who ignore calls to dodge patients deserve to get wrecked.”

“Can you not say that here? There are patients and their families watching.”

“Ugh.”

Jang-mi quickly grabbed Kang-hyuk’s arm, dragging him toward the corridor leading to the emergency surgery wing.

Even though they had only moved past a single automatic door, the area was shockingly quiet compared to the chaotic ER.

Clatter.

The only sound was the soft rumbling of the stretcher wheels carrying the unconscious patient with an open skull.

“Damn… that bastard…”

Even as Kang-hyuk fumed, he quickly regained his composure.

The closer they got to the operating room, the more useless his anger became.

After all, getting mad wouldn’t magically summon an anesthesiologist.

‘Operating without anesthesia… that’s impossible.’

If they were in Syria or Afghanistan, it might have been different.

But this was South Korea.

Performing brain surgery without anesthesia here was out of the question.

In fact, there might already be legal issues brewing just from the emergency cranial decompression he performed in the helicopter.

‘For now, we need to get him here somehow.’

Of course, if no one else could, Kang-hyuk could administer the anesthesia himself.

He was more than capable.

But even then, there were legal risks.

“What about Dr. Park Gyeong-won?”

Just as Kang-hyuk stood at the OR entrance, lost in thought, Jaewon hesitantly spoke up.

He had been biting his tongue for a while, afraid of getting yelled at.

And, as expected—

“You just focus on pressing the gauze. If you let go, can you catch the bleeding again?”

Kang-hyuk snapped immediately.

“I won’t let go, professor! The bleeding already stopped!”

“Hmph.”

As Jaewon pointed out, they had been standing at the OR entrance for about a full minute.

Inside, the surgical nurses had already set up the room.

Everything was ready—

Except for one missing person.

The anesthesiologist.

“Anus, what did you just say earlier?”

Now that Kang-hyuk was finally ready to listen, he turned to Jaewon.

Jaewon swallowed dryly before answering.

“Park Gyeong-won.”

“Park Gyeong-won… Oh, that anesthesiologist who swapped in earlier.”

“Yes, that’s him.”

Jaewon nodded immediately, suppressing his frustration.

Of all things, Kang-hyuk could remember an anesthesiologist’s name but not even the name of the surgeon assisting him?

He wanted to feel betrayed, but there wasn’t time for that now.

“Call him. But why is he free?”

“He’s a fourth-year resident. He’s not on duty right now since he’s studying for his board exams.”

“Ah.”

That made sense.

November.

With the specialist certification exam coming up in early January, most fourth-year residents were technically exempt from duty, though they still came to the hospital.

In short, calling Park Gyeong-won in now would be a huge inconvenience for him.

So, even after taking out his phone, Jaewon hesitated.

Naturally, Kang-hyuk found this irritating.

“What are you doing? Just hold the gauze. I’ll make the call.”

“Huh? No, Professor, if you call…”

Kang-hyuk was an incredible surgeon, but when it came to dealing with people?

Absolute garbage.

If Kang-hyuk spoke to Park Gyeong-won, the guy might never show up.

“Oh.”

But before Jaewon could protest further, Kang-hyuk had already snatched his phone away.

“W-Wait—!”

And in an instant, he unlocked it.

“Wait… how?!”

Kang-hyuk clicked his tongue at Jaewon, shaking his head.

“If you’re gonna use a swipe pattern, at least clean your damn screen. It was visible the whole time.”

“Wait, no, I wash my hands properly—”

Ignoring Jaewon’s excuses, Kang-hyuk put the phone to his ear.

He never bothered explaining his heightened color perception disorder, which made it trivial to spot grease smudges and fingerprint trails.

“Yes, this is Park Gyeong-won, fourth-year anesthesiology resident.”

The voice that came through was dry and monotone—a man clearly deep in study mode.

Judging by the quiet surroundings, he was probably in the hospital’s study room.

“This is the ER. We’ve got a surgery case, but the on-call anesthesiologist isn’t responding. You need to come down.”

“…What?”

“There’s a patient. Get down here now.”

Kang-hyuk’s tone was as if he were stating the obvious.

The moment the others overheard the conversation, a collective sigh escaped the room.

“Sigh…”

“Alright, give me the phone.”

Unable to watch any longer, Jang-mi swiftly snatched the phone from Kang-hyuk’s hand.

Kang-hyuk could have easily prevented it but let it go.

He wasn’t sure why, but ever since he was a student, people often misunderstood his words.

Only recently had he started realizing that maybe the problem was him.

So, he let Jang-mi handle it.

Immediately, she softened her tone and spoke urgently.

“Dr. Park, this is Nurse Cheon Jang-mi from the ER.”

“Wow, did she just… change her voice?”

Kang-hyuk recoiled, disgusted at her sudden vocal shift.

Jang-mi, however, shot him a sharp glare before continuing.

“Today’s on-call anesthesiologist was supposed to be Dr. Hwang Sun-woo, but we can’t reach him.”

“Oh… I was just covering for him earlier.”

“Yes, I know, and I’m so sorry to bother you. But the anesthesia department is telling us to wait another hour, and… the patient can’t wait that long.”

That wasn’t a lie.

In hospitals, emergency surgeries were delayed almost exclusively due to a missing anesthesiologist.

It was an unfortunate reality—with hospitals already short-staffed, every unexpected emergency patient was just another delay.

“Hmm.”

“Please, Dr. Park… just this once.”

When Jang-mi trailed off, Park Gyeong-won let out a deep sigh.

He instantly regretted answering the call.

If he had just ignored it, he wouldn’t know about the patient.

But now that he knew, he couldn’t just turn a blind eye—most doctors couldn’t.

“…Alright. I’m coming. Emergency OR, right?”

“Yes, Dr. Park! Thank you so much!”

Jang-mi bowed to no one in particular as she hung up the call.

Then, with a smug expression, she turned back to Kang-hyuk.

“Professor, this is how you ask for favors. You don’t… scare people into submission.”

Kang-hyuk wasn’t the type to enjoy criticism or praise others.

So, without acknowledging her, he turned away and addressed Jaewon instead.

“Well, anyway, anesthesia’s handled. Let’s move the patient in.”

“Understood!”

“As soon as the anesthesia kicks in, we’ll seal the blood vessels and clean up the brain.”

(T/N: Damn. Even the small details are well added here. I’m really liking this vs the kdrama one. But Gangster is still <3)