Chapter 147

[Soaking] (T/N: The act of packing gauze soaked in antiseptic solution into a wound).

It was a method no longer used for most infections.

Even doctors working in university hospitals might have never seen it once.

Only surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, or infectious disease specialists dealing with severe infections might have had experience with it.

Perhaps that’s why even Jaewon didn’t look very familiar with it.

“Ugh…”

He groaned as he pulled out the gauze from Captain Lee Hyun-jong’s wound.

It had been fully soaked with brown Betadine solution when it went in.

Now it was yellow.

Because of the pus seeping from the tissue.

“Will this… really work?”

Jaewon glanced worriedly at Jang-mi.

Her face was stiff as she pulled gauze from the leg wound.

It was the same there.

Yellow.

“This won’t work, will it?”

“At least… his vitals have improved.”

Jaewon looked at the monitor among the many machines connected to Captain Lee Hyun-jong.

Compared to when he first came, it was a huge improvement.

His temperature had dropped from 39°C to about 37.2°C.

His heart rate had gone down from over 100 beats per minute to around 90.

“Well, we did remove the bullets… and we’re disinfecting like this every day.”

Even with a mask on, Jang-mi shook her head against the stench as she pulled out gauze.

Both the arm and leg wounds where bullets had been removed were like this.

This was the lucky part.

Because the abdomen still had bullets inside.

“We’ll… have to do something about this.”

Jaewon muttered as he gently inserted and withdrew Betadine swabs into the three abdominal wounds.

Each swab came out yellow.

In this situation, what did such dressing even mean?

But what could he do.

Professor Kang-hyuk had ordered them to do it properly.

All they could do was disinfect as if their lives depended on it.

‘Besides, professor is suffering through this too…’

This dressing had to be done every three hours.

Eight times a day.

It was impossible for one person alone.

So Jaewon, who could assess the patient alone, and Jang-mi, who could even give advice beyond assisting, worked as one team.

The other team was, of course, Kang-hyuk and Gyeongwon.

The two teams took turns disinfecting.

‘But sure enough… whenever professor does it, the condition gets better.’

Jaewon thought as he peered into the wound space where gauze had just been removed.

It was the same Betadine-soaked gauze being stuffed in.

So why was it different when Baek Kang-hyuk did it?

It was strange.

“Hey, how’s it looking?”

A cracked voice came from behind.

He didn’t need to turn.

It was Baek Kang-hyuk.

“Ah, professor.”

“I didn’t say look at me, I asked how the wound looks. Don’t you understand words?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jaewon frowned slightly in discontent.

Shouldn’t people greet each other first?

And Kang-hyuk was his superior.

Anyone else would have scolded him for not even turning his head.

“Uh… well, the areas where bullets were removed have gotten much better.”

“Better? They’ve gotten better?”

Standing behind him, Kang-hyuk asked again.

Jaewon grew uneasy.

Something about his answer wasn’t what Kang-hyuk wanted.

“Uh… yes. Better… haven’t they?”

He answered, but his tone was uncertain.

No, it was more like a question than an answer.

“You’ve been disinfecting all this time, right? Then why are you asking me how it looks?”

“Well… since you said it like that, I started doubting myself.”

This wasn’t the first time.

Jaewon’s skills had grown a lot working under Kang-hyuk.

But his sense for reading situations had grown even more.

He stared at Kang-hyuk with eyes saying, ‘I won’t be tricked.’

Kang-hyuk sighed and shook his head.

“Not knowing is your privilege, huh? What a noble privilege.”

Then he kicked Jaewon aside.

It didn’t hurt, but it carried an odd sense of humiliation.

“You could’ve just told me to move…”

“What was that?”

“No, nothing.”

Jaewon knew well that if he mouthed off here, he’d get hurt and humiliated at once.

So he backed down.

Kang-hyuk wasn’t here to bully him anyway. He turned his eyes to the wound.

At some point, he was already wearing sterile gloves.

As always, he was quick and elusive.

“Give me scissors.”

“Huh? Scissors? Where did that come from—”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

Kang-hyuk shot Jaewon a glare, then looked at Jang-mi.

She had already set out a basic surgical instrument set.

Recently, Kang-hyuk often asked for the [I & D set] (T/N: Incision and Drainage set, used for draining pus during infections).

“Wow… so fast.”

“You’re just slow.”

He took the scissors from her with a rebuke.

“Hm.”

There were many kinds of scissors, but he seemed satisfied with what she gave.

They were very small scissors used in microsurgery or nasal surgery.

He worked them a few times, then slipped them into the wound.

“Watch closely. Don’t sulk and hide.”

“I’m already behind you.”

“Back off a little. Your breath on my neck feels gross.”

“I can’t see if I don’t.”

“You always have to argue, don’t you.”

“Isn’t that my charm, hehe.”

Kang-hyuk started cutting instead of answering.

The areas Jaewon had just declared clean were being snipped away without hesitation.

Strangely enough…

No blood flowed from the cut tissue.

“Why do you think that is?”

It was a blunt, incomplete question.

But Jaewon, now seasoned, understood.

“Necrosis…?”

“Yeah. So how can you look at this and say it’s fine?”

“But… you can’t see that. Not with the naked eye.”

Even as he said it, Jaewon found it strange.

Sometimes Kang-hyuk performed techniques that seemed impossible with just knowledge and experience.

Like now.

Even knowing it was necrosis, Jaewon still couldn’t visually distinguish it.

‘What the hell? What’s the secret?’

He looked between Kang-hyuk and the wound, baffled.

Kang-hyuk sighed softly.

Not because his student was pathetic.

Even world-class trauma surgeons couldn’t do this.

‘As I thought… I can’t make him see what isn’t visible.’

He had known this painfully well for a long time.

So he decided to change how he taught.

“Look carefully. Watch.”

Seeing what others couldn’t gave tremendous advantages.

Even noticing what others saw but didn’t realize.

“Ah… oh… this way, you can tell, more or less.”

Jaewon murmured as he watched Kang-hyuk rub the wound surface roughly with wet gauze.

Gauze wasn’t soft like tissue, so rubbing caused minor abrasions.

Not enough to be serious, but just enough.

And that alone let him distinguish necrotic areas from healthy ones.

“Right. And what happens when you remove the dead tissue?”

“The areas without blood flow decrease.”

“And then?”

“Then the immune cells in the blood…”

Jaewon trailed off as he looked at Captain Lee Hyun-jong.

Though he looked better than before, he was still horrific.

It didn’t seem possible he had the strength left to fight such fierce bacteria.

“And the antibiotics we’re pumping in will reach it.”

“Exactly. That’s how the wound improves.”

“But… can we keep holding out here like this?”

Jaewon repeated the question he had asked Jang-mi earlier.

But this time, he wanted an answer, not sympathy.

Kang-hyuk was team leader, teacher, and their commander.

Perhaps eccentric, but the best.

“No. We have to transfer him. To Korea.”

From the standpoint of running a Severe Trauma Center, Korea was poor.

But in terms of overall medical care?

Korea’s university hospitals rivaled the best in the world.

How could one nation’s medical system vary so extremely by field?

It showed how much priorities of policymakers mattered.

And it was a bitter truth.

“Then… when can we transfer him? The longer we wait, the worse it’ll get.”

“Of course. That goes without saying. We need to get him somewhere blood transfusion is possible, start with the abdomen. Arms and legs will need a couple more surgeries too.”

The weight of these words…

Those who didn’t know Kang-hyuk could never understand.

But Jaewon could.

‘The patient’s condition… it’s worse than I thought.’

Baek Kang-hyuk was a man who could perform miracles, saving even those at death’s door in one surgery.

Yet now he was talking about multiple surgeries?

This wasn’t ordinary.

“Then… when can we go?”

Jaewon knew Kang-hyuk was in constant contact with foreign ministry staff as well as tending to the patient.

Handling just Captain Lee Hyun-jong was already too much.

How could he manage more?

But Kang-hyuk could.

So he asked.

“I don’t know. Still not yet.”

The reply was cold.

A completely different expression than when he looked at a patient with concern.

Almost like a different person.

“Still… not yet?”

“Yeah. They say it’s under discussion. I don’t know the details.”

“Hm… then what will you do?”

Jaewon asked, watching Kang-hyuk finish the dressing and stand.

His face was that of a soldier heading into battle, not a doctor.

Jaewon’s voice trembled.

And Kang-hyuk’s reply carried no hesitation.

“They’re having a video conference.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going there.”

“Oh… for long?”

“No.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m just going in.”