Chapter 146

“At the same time?”

Jaewon asked again, sounding a little uncertain.

He had grown to the point where his skills were nothing to be ashamed of anywhere.

But compared to Kang-hyuk, he was still far behind.

To be compared with a doctor who aimed not just for completion but for miracles was a cruel thing.

“Hey, why do you think I’d even ask you that? Stop dragging your feet and hurry up. Right now, we need every hand we can get.”

“Ah… the way you say that makes me feel oddly offended.”

That was just how people’s hearts worked.

Words, too.

The difference between ‘ah’ and ‘uh’ mattered.

A moment ago, Jaewon had looked uncertain. Now he was pouting.

“You gonna keep making that melodrama face? Wanna die?”

But Kang-hyuk was a man completely lacking in sentimentality.

His fans firmly believed it was childhood trauma from losing his parents that made him that way.

But in truth, that wasn’t it.

That was just who he was.

“No. Yes. I’ll do it.”

So Jaewon quickly nodded with a resigned expression.

Kang-hyuk turned away from him and looked at the civil servant.

The man, who had unwillingly become a blood bag, looked pale.

Kang-hyuk stared at him directly and spoke.

“Look at him. If we waste time, both Captain Lee Hyun-jong and that man will die.”

The civil servant practically jumped in alarm.

He couldn’t actually leap since a needle was still in his arm, but his expression alone proved why the phrase ‘jumped out of his skin’ existed.

“Die? You mean die?”

“Why are you freaking out? I said if we waste time, he’ll die. Did I say he’s dropping dead this instant?”

Kang-hyuk’s reply carried the urgency of: ‘Hey, your ice cream is melting, put it in the freezer.’

To the listener, it sounded maddeningly casual.

Especially to someone who had just been told they might die, it was almost insane.

“You crazy bastard…”

Of course, curses spilled out.

But Kang-hyuk tuned him out and gripped the scalpel.

As if the civil servant wasn’t even in the room.

“Alright, focus. Focus.”

“Y-yes.”

Jaewon, unlike Kang-hyuk, wasn’t yet at the level where he could ignore everything around him during surgery.

Anyone would struggle to concentrate if someone was cursing right beside them.

But thanks to Kang-hyuk’s relentless training, Jaewon had become someone who prioritized Kang-hyuk’s words above all else.

So focusing wasn’t too difficult.

Ssshhhk.

Once Kang-hyuk saw Jaewon’s gaze settle, he cut into the thigh with the scalpel.

The thigh, swollen and dark red like a brick, oozed blood of a similar color.

The amount was exactly as Kang-hyuk had warned.

Not small.

“Cauterize! When I cut, you cauterize!”

“Yes, yes!”

“You’re too slow right now!”

“I—… Yes!”

Pinpointing the exact bleeding point and cauterizing it while blood poured out was far more difficult than it seemed.

The bleeding itself burdened the surgeon.

But the way it obscured the field of view was an even greater obstacle.

‘How the hell am I supposed to do this.’

Wherever the scalpel went, blood followed.

Normally Kang-hyuk’s incisions bled hardly at all.

But now, it was like the clumsy cutting of a first-year resident, blood gushing everywhere.

Inflammation had caused all the nearby vessels to dilate.

“Hm.”

But Kang-hyuk showed no sign of giving up.

Even as the surgical field turned crimson, he kept cutting.

And at the end of that incision…

There lay the bullet that had been causing all the trouble.

‘Right… I can do this too.’

There were people doing far harder things.

Jaewon was also a specialist. He had to do something.

So he did his best to cauterize.

“You idiot! You just burned nothing but flesh!”

“Yes, yes.”

Of course, it didn’t go smoothly at first.

Unlike Kang-hyuk, he couldn’t magically distinguish the bleeding points at a glance.

But with practice, technique came.

“Yeah. Now you’re burning flesh and hitting the bleed, too.”

“Yes, yes.”

Gravity was a law no object on Earth could escape.

Even blood droplets followed it.

The bleeding always flowed downward.

Everyone knew it, but applying it in surgery required time and experience.

“Oh, you just cauterized a bleeding point alone for the first time.”

“Yes.”

And Jaewon was picking up the trick quickly.

It sounded impressive.

But compared to Kang-hyuk…

‘Damn… he’s watching every spot I cauterize, and still doing everything else on top of that…’

He was doing practically nothing.

Kang-hyuk was already extracting the deeply lodged bullet and clearing out pus around it.

“Ugh.”

This time, the stench was overwhelming, spreading instantly through the OR.

Almost everyone groaned.

Especially the civil servant.

Already queasy from watching his blood drain, now the stench made him feel like he was in hell.

“Suction.”

But Kang-hyuk, Jaewon, and Jang-mi didn’t so much as flinch.

They pressed in closer, as if to bury their faces in the wound.

Every drop of pus had to be removed.

It would greatly affect the prognosis.

“Here.”

Kang-hyuk took the suction and kept drawing out pus.

“Slave, you irrigate.”

“Yes.”

Though their eyes didn’t meet, Jaewon immediately answered.

The surgery was so urgent that there was no time for even the slightest delay.

“Gangster, keep pulling.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe it’s your strength, but this is really good right now. Keep pulling just like that.”

“Ah, yes.”

Jang-mi nodded with a face unsure if being praised for strength was a compliment.

Still, her hands pulled on the incision with all their might.

Her gloves hid it, but the veins in her arms were bulging.

Ssshhhk.

Jaewon too did his best, flushing the wound.

Each time he sprayed brown Betadine solution from a large syringe, yellow pus washed out.

And Kang-hyuk suctioned it all away.

“Keep going, keep going.”

Pressing on different spots, Kang-hyuk forced more pus-filled blood out.

The grotesquely swollen thigh slowly subsided.

But Jaewon remained uneasy about the fracture.

The femur, one of the body’s most vital bones, was broken.

“What about the femur…?”

“Don’t worry about that now. We can’t fix that here anyway.”

“Then he’ll be transferred?”

“Of course.”

“Ah… I see.”

Only then did Jaewon realize Kang-hyuk already intended to return to Korea for definitive surgery.

That meant the patient’s chance of dying here had dropped significantly.

Kang-hyuk’s judgments, especially medical ones, were never wrong.

“Good, good. Nice work.”

“Thank you.”

“Not you, Gangster. What’s so hard about spraying solution.”

“Wow…”

Jaewon looked at Kang-hyuk with a betrayed expression.

He’d clearly seen Kang-hyuk’s eyes on the syringe tip, yet the man denied it.

“What are you waiting for, brat? Hurry it up.”

“Wow…”

“What the hell is with all the ‘wow’s.”

“Ah, but…”

As he kept spraying, Jaewon tilted his head.

It felt like a dumb question, but he wouldn’t get another chance.

“You’re not closing the wound… right?”

“You’re not seriously asking that? You’re a specialist, aren’t you?”

Of course, the mocking answer came instantly.

Jaewon swallowed his pride and continued.

“I was just making sure…”

“You close it and it’s game over. Smell that? What do you think will grow?”

The exact bacteria and their antibiotic sensitivities would only be known after culture.

That would take days, sometimes weeks.

By then, the patient might already be discharged or dead.

“Anaerobes…”

But experienced doctors could identify a lot just from smell and pus.

The bacteria growing in Captain Lee Hyun-jong’s body were anaerobes.

Bacteria that hated air.

Leaving the wound open and disinfecting aggressively each day was far better.

“Yeah, but you wanna close it? Help the bacteria out? Whose side are you on?”

“No, of course I’m on the patient’s…”

“Sometimes I wonder.”

“You’re being too harsh…”

“Anyway, that’s enough. Anymore and he’ll die.”

“What? The patient’s condition…”

Jaewon glanced at the anesthesia monitor.

Thanks to Kang-hyuk’s careful work and Gyeongwon’s expert control, the patient’s vitals were barely stable.

“Not him. Him.”

Kang-hyuk jerked his chin at the civil servant.

His blood pressure was still normal, but his pulse was climbing.

His body was reaching its limit.

If he’d volunteered like Kang-hyuk, that’d be different.

But being forced to donate was another matter.

Despite his harsh mouth, Baek Kang-hyuk’s heart was warm.

“Ah, I see.”

“Betadine soaking, then we’re done.”

He looked at Jang-mi.

She was already handing him gauze soaked in Betadine.

“Oh.”

Kang-hyuk showed genuine appreciation.

Having an assistant nurse who read the surgery and responded swiftly was a blessing.

And one willing to accompany him abroad even more so.

“Did well, huh?”

“Yes. I did well.”

That meant Jang-mi and Gyeongwon got praised.

The one who wanted it most, Jaewon, didn’t.

So he muttered bitterly.

“Don’t I get praise?”

“You? What did you even do?”

“W-what did I do? Wow…”

“I remember whining a lot.”

“Wow…”

“Quit whining, Slave. Do the soaking. We’re leaving.”

“Yes, professor. Here it is.”

“Good.”