A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 217

Chapter 41. Crossroads of Choice (2)

Jun-hoo looked at the chicken wing on the silver platter, tilting his head in confusion.

He’d expected an artificial model for the test, so the sight of a chicken wing made him chuckle. It seemed so out of place – wrong time, wrong location, wrong everything.

“Unexpected, isn’t it?” Chul-woo said, noticing Jun-hoo’s expression.

“You probably don’t know this yet, being a resident. Once you become a fellow, you practice surgery a lot with animals. Chicken wings, of course. Chicken placentas and surgeries on lab rats, too.”

“Sounds… interesting. I’m eager to become a fellow soon.”

“What? Interesting?”

“Practicing only with artificial models is boring. You can’t even tell if you succeeded or failed.”

Chul-woo clicked his tongue at Jun-hoo’s bold reply.

Assistant Professor Min-seok remained silent, arms crossed.

“So, what am I supposed to do?”

“Harvest the brachial artery from the chicken wing. It’s a type of vascular graft procedure.”

Vascular grafting is a procedure used to obtain necessary blood vessels for transplantation from other blood vessels.

It was a fairly difficult procedure.

And illegal for anyone other than a doctor to perform.

“Wait a moment.”

Chul-woo briefly left his seat and reappeared.

Clink- Clink-

A blade, scalpel, needle holder, forceps, and so on.

He placed the tray with surgical tools next to the chicken wing.

They’re really making this test intense.

Is this their way of saying I should get lost if I don’t have the skills?

Jun-hoo glanced at Min-seok and lightly loosened his hands.

A resident would have to be at least in their 3rd or 4th year to perform a vascular graft procedure.

However, Min-seok ordered Jun-hoo, a 1st year, to perform the graft.

A procedure he had never learned or done before.

The underlying meaning was simple.

If you want to assist, prove your skills.

Anyone else would have been nervous in this situation.

With the professor and fellow watching intently.

He had to harvest a blood vessel from a chicken wing.

If he made a mistake, the results would be immediately apparent.

However, Jun-hoo enjoyed this moment rather than being intimidated and nervous.

He was excited at the thought of showing off the skills he had honed.

And Jun-hoo was always strong in times of crisis. He would exhibit explosive concentration.

Today would be no different.

“Jun-hoo, I don’t think you’ll succeed,” Min-seok finally spoke.

“So, what’s important is the process and accuracy. Do as much as you can.”

“Understood.”

Questions and answers were now meaningless.

Jun-hoo chose a number 15 blade from the blades on the tray.

Usually, surgeons favored number 10 for skin and subcutaneous [beneath the skin] incisions, regardless of the area.

Because the length, width, and sharpness of the blade were the most moderate.

However, Jun-hoo’s choice today was number 15.

“Is there a reason for choosing number 15?” Min-seok asked, surprised.

“Number 15 is a blade mainly used in plastic surgery. It is used when the surgical area is narrow or when delicate incisions are needed.”

“…….”

“Number 15 seems to be the best for grafting on a chicken wing.”

“You probably haven’t had many chances to use number 15, will you be okay?” Fellow Chul-woo was concerned, but Jun-hoo replied that there was no problem.

In the Murim [martial arts world], he used swords and sabers without discrimination. (Of course, he was best at handling swords.)

Recently, he also did special training with dalgona [Korean sugar candy].

No matter what blade he used, Jun-hoo had nothing to fear.

You don’t think I’ll succeed?

That what’s important is the process, so do as much as I can?

Don’t be ridiculous.

I will definitely succeed. I don’t want to feel powerless even in front of a chicken wing, let alone a patient.

Click.

Determined, Jun-hoo inserted the blade into the scalpel handle.

The blade reflected the light, emitting a dazzling glow.

Jun-hoo held the scalpel in his right hand and groped the chicken wing with his left hand.

He knew the human anatomy well, but he didn’t know the chicken anatomy (?).

So, he tried to understand the structure of the chicken wing through palpation [examining by touch].

“I will begin.”

Jun-hoo made his first incision on the chicken wing, which was placed vertically and was the length of a finger joint.

Swoosh-

The skin of a chicken is much thinner and more delicate than human skin.

Therefore, he melted the mysteries of Pungcheon Touch Hwa, which is excellent in delicate power control, into the incision.

With Jun-hoo’s meticulous hand movements, a 2-centimeter-long incision was created.

It was a very neat incision, as if drawn with a ruler.

The location of the incision was from the upper left of the chicken wing to the lower part of the chicken wing.

‘Oh, this guy?’

Min-seok checked Jun-hoo’s incision and raised his eyes.

The length of the incision matched the length of the brachial artery to be harvested.

It was too perfect to be a coincidence.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t control his strength.

The blade accurately separated only the skin layer and fascia [connective tissue] of the chicken.

The pink flesh of the chicken was clearly visible through the incision.

Turning his gaze to Chul-woo.

Chul-woo also looked quite surprised.

Perhaps Chul-woo also felt it.

That Jun-hoo was no ordinary first-year resident.

You might think that it’s too much fuss over a single skin incision, but that’s not the case at all.

Surgeons knew ten things from seeing one.

The use of the wrist, power control, hand movements, etc., shown when using the scalpel.

These basics would be applied to other assistants as well.

Min-seok had already unfolded his arms.

He leaned his body towards Jun-hoo without realizing it.

The test was becoming more and more interesting.

Jun-hoo, having finished the incision, immediately grabbed forceps in both hands. He began to look for the brachial artery while widening the incision.

Of course, the artery was not visible.

Because it was buried in the flesh and muscle layers.

In fact, the real game was just beginning.

“Doctor. Could you retract the incision? I can’t do it alone.”

“Alright.”

Chul-woo held Cushing retractors in both hands.

The surgical field became much wider as the incision was widened to the left and right.

Jun-hoo tapped the inside of the incision with forceps and nodded as if he had caught a sense.

He picked up the scalpel again.

Swoosh-

The whitish muscle layer and pink flesh of the chicken wing were split once again.

The second incision was made just 3mm away from the brachial artery.

“The artery is here.”

Jun-hoo lifted the flesh of the incision with the forceps in his left hand.

Finally, the brachial artery, buried in the flesh, revealed its appearance.

The chicken’s brachial artery was blue. Although it was called an artery, it had been dead for a long time.

Also, the chicken’s brachial artery had lost its elasticity and was limply drooping.

He’s a much more amazing guy than I thought.

I thought he would burst the artery while looking for it.

Min-seok admired inwardly.

Even Chul-woo, who was helping Jun-hoo, had struggled quite a bit to get this far.

It’s not that he lacked skills.

It was because he didn’t know the structure of the chicken wing well at first.

However, Jun-hoo skillfully found the location of the artery despite it being his first time.

Moreover, he did not make any mistakes in the process.

It was truly an amazing skill.

Was that why?

The expectation that he might succeed in the graft began to rise.

The process that took Chul-woo a month.

Professor Shin, that sly old fox.

That’s why he used Jun-hoo as an assistant.

He may lack medical knowledge, but Jun-hoo’s physical abilities are almost at the fellow level.

Operating with a fellow-level assistant, the surgical results are bound to be good…

Tearing his hair out at the cunning of his rival Professor Shin, Min-seok refocused on Jun-hoo.

It was time to see the end of this novel with his own eyes.

* * *

They both look surprised.

Well, I guess they didn’t expect a first-year resident to be able to do this much. Especially a procedure they’re doing for the first time.

Jun-hoo smiled inwardly after checking Min-seok and Chul-woo’s reactions.

On the one hand, he could fully understand the two people’s reactions.

Because the two didn’t know that Jun-hoo was armed with martial arts and internal energy.

“You’ve done well so far, but dissecting blood vessels won’t be easy. You have to control your strength, and above all, you have to use both hands,” Chul-woo said, as if warning him.

“That’s my specialty.”

“Specialty?”

“I’m an expert at using both hands. I’ll show you.”

Crack- Crack-

Jun-hoo lightly tilted his head and grabbed forceps in both hands.

The forceps in his right hand had teeth (protrusions like saw teeth to easily grab tissue).

The forceps in his left hand had no teeth.

‘Shall we start finishing up?’

Jun-hoo carefully removed the flesh attached to the brachial artery with the forceps in his right hand.

He held the blood vessel with the forceps in his left hand.

The work of separating and detaching blood vessels from other human tissues.

This work is called detachment, and detachment can be seen as the flower of the graft procedure.

“Hey, your hands have changed. You have to grab the blood vessel with the forceps that have teeth. If the forceps don’t have teeth, the blood vessel will slip,” Chul-woo pointed out Jun-hoo’s use of forceps.

“If you grab the blood vessel with the forceps that have teeth, the blood vessel might burst.”

“It’s okay because this is practice.”

“I want to do it like it’s the real thing.”

Jun-hoo did not give in.

You have to practice like it’s the real thing so that you can do the real thing like it’s practice.

That was Jun-hoo’s iron rule.

In fact, Jun-hoo was performing a vascular graft on a chicken wing, but he was performing a graft on a person.

He had hypnotized himself.

“That stubbornness. I don’t know, do as you please.”

“Yes. Doctor.”

He rushed in with enthusiasm, but detachment was not as easy as he thought.

The fragile and inelastic blood vessel seemed like it would burst at any moment.

Jun-hoo’s work speed gradually slowed down.

This won’t do.

I have no choice but to use my own, the only weapon I have…

Jun-hoo, having changed his mind, first applied the technique of Geumna-su (擒拿手) [Seizing Hand technique] to his left hand holding the blood vessel.

He carefully adjusted the pressure so that the blood vessel would not burst and would not slip from the forceps.

At the same time as tearing off the chicken flesh attached to the blood vessel with his right hand.

He bent his arm, which had been straight, into an L shape.

“What are you doing now? Why are you bending your arm when you have to dissect?” Chul-woo questioned Jun-hoo’s bizarre behavior.

Almost all surgical operations are performed with the arm straight.

If you bend your elbow, the distance between the surgical area and the arm narrows, making the procedure more uncomfortable.

Writing is a good example.

It’s a matter of thinking about which is more comfortable, writing with your arm straight or writing with your elbow bent into an L shape.

“I don’t want to waste time. I’ll finish the blood vessel dissection in one go.”

“In that posture?”

“Yes. In this posture.”

Jun-hoo answered calmly and swung the left forceps holding the blood vessel to the left without hesitation.

It wasn’t just moving, it was swinging, because Jun-hoo put the logic of Noe Ryuk Pung Bi [Storm Wind Willow Technique] into the detachment.

Noe Ryuk Pung Bi was the only drawing sword technique that existed among the sword techniques of the Seo family.

So, Jun-hoo was applying the drawing sword technique to dissecting blood vessels.

Since he had sufficiently fixed the blood vessel with the Geumna-su technique, there was no need to waste time tearing off the blood vessel.

If what he needed now was speed.

If what he needed now was a single trajectory.

There was no sword technique like the drawing sword technique.

After unfolding Noe Ryuk Pung Bi, Jun-hoo was already holding the chicken’s blue artery in the forceps in his left hand.

As planned, he cleanly dissected the artery in one go.

Perhaps because it seemed like a streak of trajectory was visible in the air.

Chul-woo was so amazed by Jun-hoo’s flash that he opened his mouth like a fool. He belatedly gathered his surprised emotions and said a word.

“You crazy bastard. Are you tearing off blood vessels like you’re tearing off tape?”