A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 370

Austin crossed his arms and stared at the monitor on the ceiling of the observation room.

Jun-hoo’s team seemed ready for the surgery.

Each member was loosening their body and mind, rotating their wrists and tilting their necks in their respective positions.

Austin’s gaze, which had been fixed on Jun-hoo, soon shifted to Oliver.

“Isn’t this your first time seeing your son’s surgery? What are your thoughts?”

Bruce asked casually.

“I warned you strictly not to use that title, didn’t I?”

“Ah, I apologize.”

Bruce quickly bowed his head and lowered his gaze to the floor at Austin’s harsh tone.

“If you make another mistake, it won’t end with just a warning.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“If I had to say how I feel… I’m just indifferent.”

“I deliberately chose a difficult surgery for your s… I mean, Oliver. Wouldn’t you be worried?”

“Why would that matter to me?”

“What? Of course…”

Bruce was the one who was flustered by Austin’s cold attitude.

Bruce stammered, trailing off.

“Worrying about whether the surgery will fail or go wrong is the responsibility of the surgeon, not the observer.”

“I see.”

“Indeed.”

Austin only nodded instead of answering.

He had no intention of revealing to those around him that Oliver was his son.

He judged that it would cause more harm than good.

The moment the truth was revealed.

Oliver would have no way to escape the frame of being ‘Austin’s son.’

No matter what he did, he would inevitably be compared to Austin.

Austin didn’t want Oliver to be trapped in his shadow.

“By the way, I’m a little surprised.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought Jun-hoo would be the surgeon, but it’s Oliver. You must have chosen a difficult surgery thinking Jun-hoo would be performing it.”

“You saw right through me.”

Bruce chuckled awkwardly and continued.

“Does the head of the department think Oliver can successfully complete the surgery?”

“…Fifty-fifty.”

“What’s the reason?”

“Oliver’s skills aren’t bad, though not as good as Jun-hoo’s. If he doesn’t get nervous, he might struggle, but there won’t be any failures or mistakes.”

The difficulty Austin anticipated in this surgery was Oliver’s mental state.

Oliver tended to break down mentally very easily.

Especially when he was in front of certain people.

Austin unfolded his arms and took out a remote control from his gown.

He pressed the remote control button, and the installed CCTV camera turned.

A view that allowed him to see the staff and the patient at a glance unfolded on the monitor.

When Austin pressed the button again, something amazing happened.

The monitor image zoomed in, capturing the patient’s head in detail.

This was the state-of-the-art observation system that only existed in the Mayu observation room.

“The surgery has started. Shall we enjoy it?”

* * *

Today’s protagonist is Oliver.

I will do my best to help Oliver shine.

With that mindset, Jun-hoo devoted himself to assisting.

The key to assisting was reading the surgeon’s mind.

What the surgeon wanted.

What the surgeon needed, and so on, anticipating and matching the rhythm in advance.

Just as the flow is broken when the rhythm of a song is broken.

If the assistant is not smooth, the flow of the surgery is broken.

If the flow is broken, concentration is scattered.

If concentration is scattered, the surgery is delayed and the quality also decreases.

Until the craniotomy [surgical opening of the skull] was performed.

Jun-hoo tried to grasp Oliver’s surgical style while performing minor procedures.

Unlike his gentle appearance, Oliver’s surgery had bold and tough aspects.

There was no hesitation in his hand movements when cutting the scalp with a scalpel or retracting the surgical site.

He seemed very nervous before the surgery, but once he started, the trembling in his wrist stopped.

‘Okay. This is the style, huh?’

Jun-hoo grasped the gist of assisting.

He advanced the speed of assisting by half a beat before and after Oliver’s procedures.

At the same time, he used the Amber Hands technique to seamlessly assist Oliver with both hands.

It was truly a divine move to have mastered the Amber Hands technique since his internship.

Jun-hoo was able to easily do the work of two people.

Retracting the incision with one hand and suctioning with the other.

Irrigating with one hand while using gauze, and so on.

The right hand was the left hand.

And the left hand was the right hand.

So, there was no decrease in the precision of the procedures.

“Wow. I’ve never received such assistance in my life.”

Immediately after completing the craniotomy.

That is, while taking a break to catch his breath, Oliver said to Jun-hoo in admiration.

“Did you learn telepathy or something? If I think about what I want you to do, you do it right away?”

“I have a habit of imagining from other people’s perspectives.”

“That’s a rare habit, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

Jun-hoo’s eyes smiled in the shape of a crescent moon.

The habit of imagining from other people’s perspectives.

This was naturally learned in the Murim [a martial arts world].

To survive, a warrior needed not only martial arts but also excellent psychological warfare and observation skills.

You had to read the opponent’s mind to read their swordplay, and only then could you defeat them.

Of course, he never dreamed that he would use this habit in modern surgery assisting.

“How’s your condition?”

“It’s still great. No burden on my body, and my concentration is sharp.”

“Maxwell, how about you?”

Jun-hoo’s gaze turned to Maxwell.

Although it wasn’t obvious, Maxwell’s assistance was seamless.

Maxwell handed Oliver the necessary surgical tools in the right place at the right time.

It meant that he was focused on the surgery and perfectly understood the surgical process.

“I’m fine too.”

“Maxwell, how about you perform the next surgery?”

“I’ll do it after you, Jun-hoo.”

“Why? Really?”

Jun-hoo tilted his head and asked.

He vaguely felt that Maxwell was avoiding surgery too much.

“There’s a reason. I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay. Then let’s continue the surgery. Oliver, your hands will get cold.”

“Let’s go to the second round.”

With the change of atmosphere, the second act of the surgery began.

The dura mater [outermost membrane covering the brain and spinal cord], arachnoid membrane [middle membrane], and pia mater [innermost membrane] were sequentially resected.

It was a rapid sprint.

Even though it was the first time working together, the three moved almost as one.

Oliver, who unexpectedly performed aggressive surgery.

Maxwell, who was meticulous and careful.

Finally, Jun-hoo was balancing speed and accuracy between the two.

The smooth voyage hit a reef in 30 minutes.

The feared situation had occurred.

It was when performing vascular anastomosis [surgically connecting two blood vessels] on the blocked M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery.

Before the suture.

Oliver took a deep breath.

Then, he looked up at the CCTV camera illuminating the operating table once and also looked up at the observation room once.

In Jun-hoo’s view, that action became poison.

It seemed that Oliver, who had been concentrating well on the surgery, began to be conscious of Austin from that moment on.

“Oliver? What are you doing?”

Jun-hoo asked reproachfully.

Jun-hoo was holding the blood vessel harvested from the patient’s radial artery against the M1 segment of the middle cerebral artery.

It was Oliver’s job to anastomose the two blood vessels.

Anastomosing the two blood vessels was the highlight of today’s surgery.

Once the direct surgery was finished.

The following indirect surgery could be dealt with in an instant.

But Oliver kept hesitating and couldn’t suture.

“Sorry. My hands suddenly started shaking.”

“Just do what you’ve been doing. You can do it.”

“Really?”

“If you really can’t trust yourself, trust me. You can do it.”

Jun-hoo wasn’t giving fake comfort.

He sincerely felt that way.

Thanks to the patient being 12 years old, the patient’s cerebral blood vessels were quite strong and thick.

It was at a level that Oliver’s skills could handle sufficiently.

“Okay. I’ll take a deep breath and try again.”

Oliver, with a determined expression, grabbed the 7-0 suture [very fine suture] with the needle holder.

Jun-hoo inserted the suture needle into the graft he was holding.

Perhaps worried that the needle would go in too deep.

The suture needle only scratched the surface of the blood vessel as if slicing raw fish. Faint drops of blood formed on the scratches on the blood vessel.

“Try again. A little deeper.”

Oliver nodded.

The second attempt was successful.

The suture needle penetrated the blood vessel to an appropriate depth.

But it was like climbing over one mountain after another.

The problem was the suture from then on.

The tension that the suture gave to the blood vessel was inconsistent.

Some knots were loose.

Some knots were too tight.

There were also frequent cases where the thread had to be cut in the middle because it was tangled messily.

“Hey. I’d put up with it if I could, but I can’t use this at all.”

Maxwell said a word, unable to watch any longer.

The anastomosis of the graft and the M1 blood vessel of the middle cerebral artery was a mess.

To put it in perspective, it was at the level of a child sewing with a playhouse.

The intervals between the knots were not uniform, and the lengths of the knots were all different.

“Jun-hoo, what are you going to do now?”

Maxwell looked at Jun-hoo and asked for his opinion.

Maxwell seemed to be hoping that Jun-hoo would perform the surgery himself.

“Oliver is the surgeon. I’m not operating today.”

Jun-hoo said firmly.

“Of course, I want to trust Oliver, but the situation isn’t like that, is it?”

“…….”

“You know you wasted 20 minutes doing a sloppy anastomosis, right? Don’t forget that the department head and professors are watching in the observation room, right?”

“…….”

“If it’s a team, shouldn’t you be complementing each other’s shortcomings?”

Oliver was silently listening to Maxwell’s sharp words like a scalpel.

He seemed unable to refute because he had committed a sin.

Jun-hoo picked up a scalpel instead of speaking.

He cut off the poorly anastomosed blood vessel in one go.

Blood gurgled from the severed blood vessel.

Cheee.

After sucking up the blood with a suction device, Jun-hoo harvested a new graft from the patient’s left radial artery.

As expected of a swordsman from Murim.

Jun-hoo’s scalpel was flawless.

It was accurate, fast, elegant, and full of discipline.

He quickly finished the vascular graft, which would have taken at least 20 minutes for others, in 5 minutes.

It was truly a ghostly skill.

The cut ends of the graft placed on the medical tray were as clean as if they had been cut with a ruler.

The length also matched perfectly with the blood vessel to be grafted.

“Okay, I’ve made up for all the time I lost in the first anastomosis with this. How is it? No problem, right?”

Jun-hoo looked at Maxwell.

Maxwell shook his head as if he was fed up.

“Jun-hoo.”

“Why?”

“I think it’s right to give up.”

Oliver’s voice was dejected.

The fighting spirit he had shown before the anastomosis had already evaporated.

“If we ruin this radial artery, there won’t be any suitable blood vessels to harvest. I shouldn’t cause any more trouble.”

“…….”

“It’s right for you to operate.”

“Trouble, huh…”

Jun-hoo smiled bitterly and continued.

“Oliver, do you know what real trouble is?”

“Real trouble? Is there such a thing?”

“Of course, there is.”

Jun-hoo nodded.

“The real trouble is that you don’t trust yourself. If you’re ashamed of yourself, the whole world will be ashamed of you.”

“…….”

“Mistakes? You can make them. Instead, just do a little better next time. Let’s make up our minds like that.”

Jun-hoo coaxed Oliver in a soft voice.

Who wouldn’t have it?

A time when unbearable trials come and you feel pathetic and feel so helpless that you can’t do anything.

Jun-hoo also experienced such despair in front of Sung-ho, who became a star in the sky due to brain death.

And Ah-young embraced such Jun-hoo, and Jun-hoo was able to regain strength.

Others are despair but also hope at the same time.

“Do it again. Do it until it works.”

“But if the patient’s condition worsens…”

“Still do it.”

Jun-hoo said in a sharp voice.

“I’ll protect the patient and you.”