A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 432

Chapter 84: Illusion and Delusion (3)

Whirr.

Pushing the bed with the patient on it, Jun-hoo moved towards the operating room.

A sudden pain struck his chest.

Why was that?

As he pondered the reason, he realized he had unconsciously looked at the patient’s face.

The patient’s appearance was youthful.

He looked more like a boy than a young man.

Dressed in a high school uniform, he could easily be mistaken for a high school student.

Indeed, the patient had graduated from a four-year university and immediately commissioned as an officer. He was baby-faced, and he was actually young.

The patient’s head was wrapped in bandages.

The red bloodstains on the bandages were spreading, but Jun-hoo didn’t take any special measures.

Normally, he would have used blood-stopping acupressure.

But today, that wasn’t an option.

Stopping the bleeding with acupressure would risk further increasing the patient’s intracranial pressure [pressure inside the skull].

‘Still, I’ve bought some time.’

Jun-hoo sighed in relief inwardly.

Fifteen minutes ago.

After advising the guardian to use the restroom and asking Min-seok to bring an injection, Jun-hoo bought time and secretly gave the patient emergency treatment.

Through-the-Back Fist.

Using the internal energy technique of striking objects behind other objects, he shattered a part of the patient’s skull.

He had used this method before.

It was a way to temporarily lower the patient’s intracranial pressure in an emergency.

Jun-hoo also used the internal energy IV technique.

He temporarily boosted the patient’s vitality and recovery power by injecting internal energy into the body.

Above all, the most crucial treatment was….

Removing the cerebrospinal fluid [fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord] that had accumulated in the head.

When a brain hemorrhage occurs.

The cerebrospinal fluid doesn’t circulate properly, like a car stuck in a traffic jam.

What happens when water accumulates in the head like that?

Naturally, the pressure increases, pushing the brain into empty spaces and causing nerve damage.

So, Jun-hoo used his internal energy like a sheepdog.

He forcibly dragged the cerebrospinal fluid, which was floundering in the third ventricle [a cavity in the brain], and sent it to the fourth ventricle [another cavity in the brain].

It wasn’t easy at all.

In fact, Jun-hoo spent 10 minutes just on that procedure.

Why?

Because it was a procedure he had never done before.

It was a procedure he had used spontaneously, driven by the crisis of the patient possibly dying.

Did the heavens help him for doing good?

Jun-hoo learned through trial and error.

He mastered the trick of circulating the accumulated cerebrospinal fluid with internal energy.

The trick was….

To pull the cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricular passage with internal energy.

To use a human analogy.

It was the principle of pulling someone’s hand in front of them, rather than pushing them from behind.

Pulling from the front took less effort than pushing from behind.

It was also better for creating a new flow in the cerebrospinal fluid.

In any case, the three treatments were a great success!

If it weren’t for Jun-hoo’s martial arts and internal energy treatment, the patient would likely have died during the surgery.

He was getting closer to the Grim Reaper every minute and every second.

‘But I can’t let my guard down.’

Jun-hoo bit his lip.

Jun-hoo’s treatment was excellent, but it wasn’t a fundamental solution.

It was just bailing out water filling a leaky boat.

It hadn’t plugged the hole.

Rather, the real battle was just beginning.

If he won, he would plug the hole.

If he lost, the hole would widen and sink the boat.

“Dr. Seo.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I was too flustered to ask earlier, but have you ever operated on a gunshot wound patient?”

Min-seok, who was pulling the bed, turned to Jun-hoo and asked.

“I have. Quite a few.”

“How many is quite a few?”

“About 100?”

“Wow! You’ve done a lot.”

“Possession of firearms is legal in the United States, you know. Why? Are you worried because I’m doing the surgery and you’re taking the responsibility, Dr. Min-seok?”

“Hahaha. You caught me.”

Min-seok laughed honestly.

Jun-hoo was the surgeon for this surgery, but he was a shadow surgeon.

In the end, Min-seok would be the surgeon to the outside world.

So….

If the patient died, it would all be Min-seok’s responsibility.

“Don’t think like that.”

“Still, I’m too nervous. This is the first time I’ve seen such a critical patient.”

“Believing that you can succeed in surgery doesn’t guarantee success. Right?”

“Yes, I agree.”

“But how can you succeed in surgery if you don’t believe you can succeed?”

“Uh… um….”

Min-seok stuttered, caught off guard.

“Humans grow as much as they believe in themselves. So please believe in us. Both Dr. Min-seok and me.”

Jun-hoo’s voice was firm.

Jun-hoo in the Murim world [martial arts world] had also suffered from extreme anxiety.

He was trying to avenge his father’s enemy, Jeok Il-do, but people around him dissuaded him.

“Do you know how many Grandmasters of Supreme Realm there are in Murim?

Less than thirty.

But you’re going to reach the Grandmaster of Supreme Realm and kill Jeok Il-do?

Moreover, almost all the people who reached the Grandmaster of Supreme Realm were members of the Nine Great Sects or the Five Great Families.

Wake up from your pipe dream and face reality.”

When Jun-hoo told them his goal, everyone sneered or scoffed.

Some advised him gently.

The common point was that Jun-hoo’s dream was too far-fetched.

But Jun-hoo didn’t agree with people’s opinions.

He believed in his dream.

And he finally achieved it.

The grand dream of defeating Jeok Il-do led Jun-hoo to grand actions.

In that sense, Jun-hoo believed that he could save this patient too.

That’s why….

He came up with the brilliant treatment of removing the cerebrospinal fluid accumulated in the brainstem.

“Dr. Seo, you have a different mindset. I respect you.”

“Oh, no need for respect.”

Jun-hoo chuckled.

While they were chatting, the patient transport elevator stopped.

Jun-hoo pushed the bed into the elevator.

Min-seok stepped aside and pressed the 3rd-floor button where the operating room was located.

There were only three people in the elevator.

A quiet silence flowed.

Having some time to spare, Jun-hoo infused internal energy into his nose.

He amplified his sense of smell up to 70 times.

Various scents that he couldn’t normally smell assaulted his nose.

Min-seok’s sweat smell.

The patient’s sweat and blood smell.

The smell of fabric from the bed that seemed to have been washed recently.
The lingering scent of perfume from some staff who seemed to have ridden the elevator before, and so on.

Among dozens of smells, Jun-hoo focused on the smell of gunpowder.

Because the patient had suffered a gunshot accident.

As time passed, wrinkles formed on Jun-hoo’s forehead. His brow narrowed, and the corners of his mouth drooped.

Surprisingly!

There was a contradiction in the smell of gunpowder emanating from the patient.

The smell of gunpowder was concentrated on the head.

Of course, this was a natural principle.

The bullet had penetrated the temple, grazed part of the parietal lobe [part of the brain located behind the frontal lobe].

However, the problem was the hand.

According to the deputy commander, the squad leader had committed suicide.

He had pulled the trigger of the pistol himself.

If so, the hand should also smell of gunpowder.

But what?

Even though Jun-hoo amplified his sense of smell, he couldn’t smell any gunpowder on the patient’s hand.

Jun-hoo’s eyes were dazed by the shock.

What?

Was it not suicide?

* * *

Operating room.

After completing the scrub (pre-operative disinfection), he put on a surgical gown, surgical cap, and surgical gloves.

Now, all that was left was to enter the battlefield.

“Dr. Seo?”

“….”

“Dr. Seo?”

“Ah, yes.”

Jun-hoo finally came to his senses and answered Min-seok’s call.

“You seem to be out of it since a while ago?”

“Well… I was so busy planning the surgery. I’ll focus from now on.”

“Yes. I trust you, doctor.”

“Let’s go.”

Jun-hoo took the lead into the operating room, followed by Min-seok. Jun-hoo’s back, walking ahead, was reliable.

Jun-hoo had a mysterious charm.

What was that charm….

It was a charm that gave the belief that Jun-hoo could save any critical patient.

After receiving a call about the gunshot wound patient and seeing the patient with his own eyes in the emergency room.

Min-seok trembled with fear.

He thought that today was the day he had to declare the patient’s death.

But after Jun-hoo arrived, he somehow felt relieved.

The fluctuating waves of his heart calmed down.

Even after getting in the elevator.

Although he occasionally showed a screw-loose appearance.

Still, Min-seok trusted Jun-hoo.

Jun-hoo believed that he could definitely recover the patient, and Min-seok believed in such Jun-hoo.

The chain of trust was strong.

When he arrived at the operating room, the surgery preparation was all done.

The resident and scrub nurse, who had arrived in the operating room first, had set up all the necessary tools.

Various surgical tools were piled up like mountains on two dressing carts.

Seeing that the patient was wearing a ventilator, it seemed that general anesthesia had already been performed.

‘What is it?’

Min-seok squinted at the patient monitoring device.

He blinked a few times at the unexpected numbers and stared at the patient monitoring device again.

“The vitals have improved quite a bit?”

Min-seok asked the resident.

“Yes. I was surprised too. The patient’s condition was so bad that I was prepared for CPR. But it has improved slightly.”

“It’s a strange thing. It seems like the heavens are helping this surgery. Don’t you think so? Dr. Seo?”

Jun-hoo only nodded in response to Min-seok’s gaze.

The reason why the patient’s vitals improved.

It was thanks to Jun-hoo performing the three sets of martial arts and internal energy treatments without the other staff knowing.

Of course, no one knew that fact.

And they never will.

“First, we will treat the subarachnoid hemorrhage [bleeding in the space surrounding the brain] and intracerebral hemorrhage [bleeding within the brain tissue] that occurred in the temporal lobe [part of the brain located behind the temples].”

Jun-hoo said, standing in the surgeon’s seat.

“What about the parietal lobe that the bullet grazed?”

Min-seok asked what he was most curious about.

He had seen a lot of brain hemorrhage treatments.

He had also treated it himself.

Of course, not a patient with such a fatal gunshot wound like this patient.

But what kind of surgical treatment would he do when a bullet grazed the brain?

Min-seok had been most curious about that part since he heard the news about the patient.

“I’ll explain after the emergency treatment is over.”

Jun-hoo kept his words short.

Was it because he was afraid that the surgery would be delayed by explaining?

Or was there a shocking surgical method that was better left unknown?

Min-seok couldn’t figure it out at all.

“Hun-sik.”

“Yes, Professor.”

At Min-seok’s instruction, the resident moved. He picked up scissors and cut the bandage wrapped around the patient’s head.

Thud!

The bandage fell powerlessly.

When the bandage was removed, the temple where the bullet had passed was revealed.

The place where the bullet had passed was literally like a small, black black hole.

It was amazing and terrible at the same time that such a hole could be created in the human body.

“We’ll have to do a debridement (surgery to remove necrotic tissue) after we stop the brain hemorrhage.”

“No. We’ll do the debridement first.”

“Isn’t controlling the bleeding the top priority?”

Min-seok asked with wide eyes.

Jun-hoo’s judgment was unexpected.

He felt like something was out of order.

The patient wasn’t critical because of skin necrosis [tissue death].

He was critical because of brain hemorrhage and intracranial pressure.

“Didn’t you say you were going to treat the bleeding first?”

“Debridement is also one of the processes. If you don’t remove the contaminated tissue in advance, it can cause contamination of the skull or meninges [membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord].”

“It will take at least 30 minutes to do a debridement?”

Jun-hoo smiled with his eyes at Min-seok’s question. He uttered a statement that was hard to believe.

“I can do it in 3 minutes.”