Chapter 169

               

Snip.

Kang-hyuk cut through the vessels one by one with the scissors he was handed. Since he had already tied them off with silk, there was no danger of blood spurting out. The only thing that happened was the elastic band snapping back in. It was bright blue, easy enough to spot and fish out.

Thump.

The severed end on the fibula side flicked up. It looked concerning, but in truth it didn’t matter. With time, it would simply lose function and atrophy. The body wasn’t generous enough to keep feeding useless structures.

“Professor, we’re ready up here.”

By then, Jaewon was at the left forearm, exposing the area where two bones had been fractured. Luckily, the muscles that fixed them in place and allowed some degree of flexibility were intact. If those had been damaged, the surgery would have been far more challenging.

“Did you irrigate?”

“Yes. With saline.”

“Good. Take this.”

Kang-hyuk handed him the harvested [flap]—two fibula segments with their feeding vessels.
(T/N: Flap in this context refers to tissue, including bone and its blood supply, transferred for reconstruction.)

It could easily tear if mishandled.

“Uh, yes.”

Jaewon took it gingerly, like his life depended on it. And it wasn’t just a metaphor—if he dropped it, Kang-hyuk might actually kill him.

“Alright, I’ll come up too. Down here… hm.”

He glanced at the gaping shin wound, then shook his head. There was no one to close it while the upper surgery went on. Even a second-year resident could have handled it, but trauma surgery didn’t have a single resident assigned.

‘Well… Yoo-rim did look ready to cry when I asked.’

He recalled Head Han’s face, not just whining but genuinely about to break down.

‘Short on applicants, huh.’

This was Hanguk University Hospital, and still no one applied to surgery. That said a lot.

‘Maybe the end really is coming.’

For over ten years people had been saying surgery was doomed. The years had only made things worse. Any student declaring interest in surgery would immediately hear: *“Does your family have money?”*

Meaning a surgeon could no longer expect to build wealth. The more directly tied to saving lives, the worse it got. Strange, incomprehensible, but true.

“Professor?”

Jaewon called to him, hands wetting both wound and flap with saline. Kang-hyuk had been staring at the leg for five full seconds, lost in thought.

At first glance, it looked like he was trying to will the leg to heal by staring at it. Crazy as it sounded, anyone who had worked beside him long enough would have nodded. He wasn’t just a surgeon; he was a sorcerer with a scalpel.

“Ah, right. Gangster. Pack some saline-soaked gauze in here. If we leave it dry, we won’t be able to close it.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Only then did he snap out of it. Ideally, it should be closed right away, but reality didn’t allow it.

‘Slave 2 needs to come back soon.’

He thought of Captain Lee Kang-haeng, still stuck on remote Baengnyeong Island with military service. The man probably shivered just then without knowing why.

“First, we connect the vessels. Why?”

Kang-hyuk stood over the forearm, pulling out the gauze inside.

Jaewon had studied, so the answer came quickly.

“Because if the flap is fixed first, it’s harder to connect the vessels.”

“But once vessels are connected, won’t fixation get harder?”

“Well… yes, but—”

He faltered. He hadn’t expected the question flipped back. But before Kang-hyuk could smirk, he added:

“If the vessels aren’t connected, the flap dies anyway. Fixing it would be pointless.”

“Ho. Alright. So, artery or vein first?”

Kang-hyuk pointed to the blanched ends. People thought arteries and veins were distinguished by color, but more often it was shape. In cut sections like this, even more so.

Jaewon grinned and pointed to the round lumen of the artery.

“Of course, the artery.”

“Why?”

“Why? Well…”

“Yeah. Why first?”

Jaewon frowned, brain racing, eyes flicking up to read Kang-hyuk’s expression. He wasn’t joking. Kang-hyuk never joked in the OR. It had to be for a reason.

‘Because it’s easier? No, too shallow…’

Like choosing whether to eat your favorite food first or save it, it couldn’t be that simple.

“Hmm…”

Kang-hyuk’s face was already showing boredom. His patience was nonexistent. And Jaewon knew he had to meet his expectations, or else. Neither of them was normal.

‘What is it? What is it?!’

He pushed his brain so hard he almost got dizzy. Then a thought struck him.

‘Dizziness happens when the brain doesn’t get blood.’

If blood supply was that vital, what about the flap—torn from its original source? Invisible but real, cells were dying by the minute. The faster circulation resumed, the better.

Kang-hyuk’s hands were already moving, aiming at the artery.

“Blood! The flap needs blood.”

“Ho.”

He looked at Jaewon, who panted slightly, eyes shining with hope.

‘Praise me. Praise me!’

He begged silently.

“Hm.”

Kang-hyuk opened his mouth slowly. But instead of praise, another question came.

“That’s it?”

“Huh?”

“That’s the only reason?”

“Uh…”

Jaewon stammered, caught off guard. Kang-hyuk didn’t wait this time—connecting the artery quickly was indeed critical.

“Don’t just stand there. Assist. You’ll figure it out as we go.”

“Y-yes.”

His eyes lit up again. Whatever else, he was now a trauma surgeon at heart. He wouldn’t waste focus at a moment like this.

“Alright, let’s start. Needle.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Jang-mi passed him the prepared micro instruments. The suture was 7-0, so fine the needle was barely visible. But she always set it perfectly so he didn’t need to adjust it.

“Well done, Gangster.”

“Yes, Boss—uh, Professor…”

“So you *are* a gangster.”

He shook his head and drove the needle through the arterial wall, pulling it out cleanly through the forearm vessel. The tension pulled the two ends together with a satisfying snap.

The first stitch was so perfect it looked as though the vessels were already united.

“What are you waiting for? Cut.”

Kang-hyuk tied off the knot and glanced at Jaewon, who scrambled to obey. His cut was clean—long enough not to obstruct, short enough not to unravel.

“Good.”

Kang-hyuk smiled and continued. After a flawless first stitch, the rest flowed smoothly.

“Done.”

Less than five minutes after starting the anastomosis, he declared it finished.

From the back, Chief Yoon Jae-ho and Captain Lee Dong-ju thought he had to be lying.

Creak.

The OR door opened. Something huge rolled in—a surgical microscope. Behind it, Nurse Ji-min beamed.

“I brought this! Now we can—oh.”

Her smile vanished. Before her was not a half-finished vessel, but a fully reconnected artery.

“How… how did you even—?”

“Shh. He’s still suturing. Professor Baek does it with the naked eye.”

“Is… is that even possible?”

“Be quiet.”

“Ah… yes.”

Jang-mi silenced her like a mob lieutenant, and Ji-min had no choice but to wheel the microscope back out.

Neither Yoon nor Lee helped—they couldn’t take their eyes off the miracle.

‘He actually did it?’

‘Insane…’

Creak.

So Ji-min exited alone, as she had entered.

Kang-hyuk, as if unaware anything had happened, spoke calmly:

“Slave. Release the clamp.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Jaewon obeyed, unclamping the artery. Blood surged instantly into the flap, circulated, and drained out through its vein.

Kang-hyuk clamped the vein and pointed.

“Reason number two for doing the artery first—you confirm the flap’s vessels are intact. See that blood? With the tiny clots washed out, you know it’s good.”