A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 192

Chapter 36: I Can Do It (2)

Shinhwa University Hospital Emergency Room.

Officer Seo Chang-geun, dispatched after receiving a report from the hospital, breathed a sigh of relief.

He was getting the details from a nurse, and thankfully, the hostage situation had ended without any major issues.

“Where is the suspect?”

“Over there.”

The nurse pointed to a bed. The suspect, a man in his early 30s, had both arms tied to the bed.

He looked as docile as a lamb, likely due to the sedative.

“Young-hoon, handcuff him and take him to the police car. Keep a close watch on him.”

“Yes, sir.”

Following Chang-geun’s instructions, Young-hoon moved toward the patient.

He released the restraints, handcuffed the suspect, and left the emergency room.

“I have one question.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“Did the suspect willingly release the hostage on his own? That’s unusual.”

“That’s… I was also a bit taken aback.”

“In what way?”

“The patient suddenly screamed and dropped the scissors he was holding as a weapon.”

“Suddenly?”

“Yes. It’s strange, right? Thinking about it now, it seems like he had a cramp in his hand. Otherwise, there’s no reason for him to drop the scissors out of the blue, right?”

Chang-geun nodded at the nurse’s explanation.

It was an absurd, ridiculous, and anticlimactic conclusion, but it was the only explanation for this strange event.

It was clear that today was a lucky day.

The hostage situation, which could have ended in tragedy, ended safely as soon as they arrived at the hospital.

“What happened after the suspect dropped the scissors?”

“Our hospital doctor ran towards the hostage-taker and subdued him. That’s him, that doctor over there.”

The nurse pointed to a handsome doctor.

The handsome doctor was treating another doctor.

The doctor being treated appeared to be the doctor who had been taken hostage. He had a wound below his chin.

“He’s brave. To think he would run towards the suspect in that situation.”

“He’s quite famous, actually. Do you remember the incident where some crazy guy was wielding a knife on the subway?”

“Of course, I remember.”

“That doctor was the one who subdued that crazy guy and treated the patients too.”

“Thank you for the explanation. I’ll have to talk to him as well.”

Chang-geun headed towards the doctor, feeling relieved.

Meanwhile, in the police car.

Young-hoon was watching the suspect from the back seat.

The suspect was docile, but even though he was handcuffed, being alone with him made Young-hoon nervous and uneasy. It had been less than a month since he was assigned to the station, and today was the first time he had been dispatched to a violent crime like a hostage situation.

“I knew it.”

“What did you know?”

“A secret group researching superpowers was watching me.”

Young-hoon was dumbfounded by the suspect’s words.

The suspect’s words were something that a normal person wouldn’t say.

“One of the researchers subdued me with superpowers. Look, there’s evidence here.”

The suspect gestured to his wrist with his eyes.

Even though he thought it was nonsense, Young-hoon examined the suspect’s wrist.

The suspect’s wrist was bruised.

Maybe he was being violent, or it was an injury he had before.

Creating a bruise with superpowers…? Isn’t that something that’s only possible in movies or novels?

“Hey, get a grip. You’re a criminal. You took someone hostage and almost killed them. What nonsense are you spouting so shamelessly?”

Young-hoon sternly scolded the suspect.

* * *

“Were you very surprised?”

Jun-hoo looked at Kyung-soo, who was sitting on the emergency room bed, with a worried expression.

He had been taken hostage by a patient and had a laceration on his chin, although it wasn’t a major injury.

The psychological shock Kyung-soo was experiencing would be hard to put into words.

“…….”

Kyung-soo only nodded instead of answering.

He still had a blank look on his face.

It was an expression that Jun-hoo had never seen on Kyung-soo, who was usually confident and haughty, so Jun-hoo was anxious.

“Let’s treat the wound first.”

Jun-hoo used the dressing cart that was placed next to the bed.

He used forceps to pick up a cotton ball soaked in povidone-iodine solution [an antiseptic solution] and rubbed it on Kyung-soo’s wound.

He also injected lidocaine [a local anesthetic] with a syringe.

“I think I’ll have to stitch it up with four or five stitches. Nurse, please get nylon 3-0 and a suture set.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

The nurse next to Jun-hoo received the instructions, went to the supply room, and returned.

She spread out the items she had brought on the dressing cart.

Jun-hoo put on surgical gloves and held the needle holder and forceps in both hands. The skin suturing was completed in the blink of an eye.

The laceration wasn’t deep, and it also didn’t occur in a dangerous area.

There weren’t many areas to stitch.

This level of suturing was no match for Jun-hoo, who was armed with various martial arts, including the Yangsu Pumpkin Technique [a fictional martial arts technique].

Click!

The sound of the scissors cutting the last suture thread resounded cheerfully.

When the suturing was finished, the laceration on Kyung-soo’s chin was neatly closed.

The intervals between the knots were consistent.

It maintained a vertical line as if it had been measured with a ruler.

After finishing the suturing, Jun-hoo covered it with gauze.

“Wow. You’re doing sutures like you’re eating!”

The nurse, who had been watching Jun-hoo’s treatment, exclaimed in admiration.

“This is an easy one.”

“But isn’t the thread too long? I think you should cut it shorter.”

The nurse pointed out the thread that remained after making the surgical knot.

“Usually, you leave about 0.5mm above the knot.”

“Yes. That’s why I’m asking.”

“But nylon sutures require the thread to be left long. It has the disadvantage of the knot easily unraveling.”

“Ah… I didn’t know that. You’re really something, Doctor Jun-hoo.”

“Well, it’s nothing much.”

Jun-hoo smiled shyly.

Jun-hoo had already been familiar with the uses, advantages, and disadvantages of various surgical tools since his internship.

Was it because he came from the Murim [a world of martial arts]?

He was very interested in surgical tools because he thought of them as the weapons of a surgeon.

“Doctor. Can I have a word with you for a moment?”

Jun-hoo turned his head at the unfamiliar voice and saw a police officer standing there.

It seemed like he wanted to hear the details of the situation.

“Then let’s go to the station. Kyung-soo, rest here for a moment. Let’s go up to the ward together later.”

It didn’t seem like a good idea to talk about the incident in front of Kyung-soo.

So, Jun-hoo moved to the station with the police officer.

In his conversation with the police officer, Jun-hoo only answered the questions the police officer asked in a general way.

There wasn’t much to say.

There were also things he shouldn’t say.

In particular, the latter was related to martial arts.

The situation right before the agitated patient harmed Kyung-soo.

Jun-hoo put his hand in his gown pocket and grabbed a pen.

-Stay still. Don’t move.

Jun-hoo first sent a telepathic message to Kyung-soo.

He was worried that Kyung-soo might resist and get caught up in the martial arts.

At the same time as taking his hand out of his pocket, Jun-hoo threw the pen at the patient’s wrist.

It was the only throwing knife technique passed down through the Seo Clan.

He used the Byeokryeokbi (霹靂匕) [a fictional throwing knife technique].

Since Jun-hoo’s hand movements were so fast, the speed of the flying pen was too fast for the average person to see with their eyes.

No one at the scene noticed Jun-hoo’s throwing knife technique.

Swoosh!

Thwack!

“Aaaaargh!”

The pen containing the principles of Byeokryeokbi accurately struck the patient’s wrist.

Clang!

After the patient dropped the scissors, everything went smoothly.

Jun-hoo stepped on the floor and shot out like a bullet towards the patient. He kicked the scissors that had fallen on the floor and twisted the patient’s arm behind his back to subdue him.

The situation ended safely as the guards, who were standing there not knowing what was going on, joined in.

Jun-hoo still felt dizzy whenever he thought about that time.

What if he hadn’t been there?

In the sluggish standoff, wouldn’t the patient have ended up harming Kyung-soo?

Murtial arts and internal energy were not only useful for treating patients.

They also boasted excellent performance in protecting colleagues exposed to dangerous situations.

“Hey, what are you thinking so deeply about?”

The police officer stared at Jun-hoo and asked.

He must have been thinking too deeply.

“I’m sorry. I was just worried about my injured friend.”

“Well, your friend must have been very surprised too. He’ll need some rest for a while.”

“I guess so.”

“Anyway, running towards the suspect was reckless. It can be seen as brave, but you could have been injured.”

“…….”

“Take care of yourself in the future.”

“Thank you for the advice. If you’re done, can I go?”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”

After finishing the conversation with the police officer, Jun-hoo moved to the bed where Kyung-soo was sitting.

But what?!

Kyung-soo had disappeared without a trace.

When he asked the surrounding staff, they said he had left the emergency room alone.

He was already in a situation where he needed rest.

Where on earth did he go?

Jun-hoo was worried about Kyung-soo first.

He called Kyung-soo’s cell phone, but Kyung-soo’s cell phone remained silent. So, he decided to return to the on-call room for now.

But as Jun-hoo was heading towards the emergency room entrance, a doctor was running from afar, with his gown fluttering.

[Department of Psychiatry, Bang Hyung-don]

Jun-hoo read the name tag worn by the doctor with his unique Murim eyesight [referring to his enhanced vision due to martial arts training].

It seemed like he had heard the news of the hostage situation and belatedly came to the emergency room.

“Haa… haa…”

“Doctor, the situation is over.”

“Yes? It’s over?”

Hyung-don stopped in front of Jun-hoo and gasped for breath. Hyung-don’s face was glistening with sweat.

Jun-hoo explained the situation to Hyung-don: the process of ending the hostage situation, the appearance of the police and the escort of the patient, etc.

Hyung-don listened to the story and lowered his head as if he was disappointed.

“Were you the patient’s primary doctor?”

“Yes. I was uneasy since he didn’t come to the outpatient clinic, but it ended up like this.”

“How long has it been since he last came for treatment?”

“It’s been about six months. If he’s been off his medication for almost half a year… the situation would have deteriorated as much as possible.”

A bitter smile appeared on Hyung-don’s lips.

Was it because the patient’s primary doctor was in front of him?

Jun-hoo became particularly interested in patients and schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia was also a brain-related disease, and there was no guarantee that today’s incident wouldn’t happen again.

No, it was an incident that was bound to happen again somewhere, sometime.

If he had some knowledge, Jun-hoo might be able to treat schizophrenia directly using his internal energy and martial arts.

“The patient gets better when he takes the medicine. But why doesn’t the patient want to take the medicine?”

“There are various side effects, but it’s probably because of the strong sedative effect. It makes you feel drowsy and sleepy when you take the medicine.”

“…….”

“It’s hard to have a job and concentrate on it in that state.”

“It’s not as easy as I thought. It’s hard to work when you take the medicine, and the symptoms get worse when you don’t.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Long-acting injectable drugs have come out instead of oral medications, but the treatment costs are high, the insurance standards are strict, and the side effects haven’t been completely eliminated. We’re still heavily dependent on medication.”

Hyung-don said as if he was complaining.

Jun-hoo felt a sense of kinship with Hyung-don, who was agonizing and suffering in a different direction than himself, a surgeon.

No matter what major you choose, it was hard to treat people.

“I understand the situation in general… but shouldn’t that patient have been forcibly hospitalized?”

Jun-hoo asked as politely as possible.

He had no intention of criticizing Hyung-don at all.

He was just curious about forced hospitalization.

“I tried it, but… it didn’t work out.”

“Why…….”

“Two guardians have to agree, but his mother was against it. I think she was watching her son’s mood.”

Hyung-don’s explanation continued.

There are cases where the patient threatens the guardian to prevent forced hospitalization, or there are cases where the guardian thinks that forced hospitalization is too harsh and is reluctant to do so.

In the case of the patient who caused the hostage situation, he said it was like the former.

“The treatment effect is reduced if you force hospitalization like that. The patient resents the medical staff and guardians.”

“You can’t do this or that, so it must be difficult.”

“Yes. The best thing is voluntary hospitalization… Did you see the patient earlier?”

“…….”

“Schizophrenic patients can’t accept that there’s something wrong with them. They don’t realize they’re patients, so they can’t be treated.”

After listening to Hyung-don’s story, Jun-hoo thought that the treatment of schizophrenic patients was much more difficult and complicated than he had thought.

Depending on the point of view, surgery seemed much simpler than treating schizophrenia.

“Why are you making so many excuses? A person almost died. Those kinds of guys should be locked up in closed wards by law.”

A strange but angry voice cut into the conversation.

Jun-hoo and Hyung-don turned their heads towards the voice.