A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 434

Chapter 84: Illusion and Delusion (5)

“What do you do at the Capital Hospital, Company Commander?”

Private Jeong-min of the medical supply unit asked.

It was a question tossed out after the outpatients scattered upon arriving at the Korean Capital Hospital.

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“Whenever we come for outpatient visits, you stay at the rehabilitation hospital all day, so I was wondering. You don’t really have anything to do at the hospital… Wouldn’t it be better to go to a PC bang [internet cafe] with us?”

“Ah, is that what you meant?”

Jun-hoo chuckled.

“I can always find something to do. Don’t worry about me and have fun.”

“Understood, Company Commander! Solidarity!”

“Solidarity!”

Jeong-min and the driver saluted and left.

Left alone, Jun-hoo walked through the first-floor lobby.

The lobby of the Korean Rehabilitation Hospital was bustling with soldiers and visitors today, as crowded as a university hospital.

If you looked away for even a moment, you would bump into someone, and loud voices echoed from all directions.

It was the same when he worked at the university hospital, and Jun-hoo felt a strange contradiction in this situation.

In a place that heals illnesses.

In a place where life and death intersect.

It was strange that the most intense vitality was felt.

But unlike usual.

After thinking about it a little more deeply, the answer quickly came.

The people who came to the hospital were either those who wanted to receive treatment or those who desperately hoped someone would be healed.

In other words, the hospital was a space where the will to live surged most passionately.

Interpreted this way.

It made perfect sense that the hospital was vibrant.

Thinking about this and that, he arrived at the surgical intensive care unit on the second floor.

Creak.

Jun-hoo was able to enter the intensive care unit without being stopped by the guard or nurse.

It was thanks to the hospital director who had taken care of it in advance.

As soon as he entered the intensive care unit.

His nose tingled.

A strange stench, a mix of feces, urine, disinfectant, and rotting flesh, assaulted his sense of smell.

Jun-hoo still didn’t know how to describe this foul smell.

The nurses’ station was right next to the entrance of the intensive care unit.

The intensive care unit was rectangular in shape.

There was a central aisle, and beds where patients lay were arranged side by side on the left and right.

The beds were separated by partitions.

Most of the patients were unconscious.

Hanging from them were wires from patient monitoring devices, nasogastric tubes, various intravenous fluids, and so on.

Jun-hoo’s steps, which had been crossing the central aisle, stopped in front of a bed.

The patient chart in front of the bed read ‘Yoo Kyung-wook’.

A patient who had suffered a gunshot wound to the head.

It was the patient Jun-hoo had personally operated on with shadow surgery [surgery performed by a less experienced surgeon under the guidance of a more experienced one].

It had already been a week since Jun-hoo operated on Kyung-wook.

The surgery was successfully completed, but the patient’s consciousness had not yet recovered.

The patient’s state before surgery.

The speed of the patient’s recovery of consciousness varied greatly depending on the difficulty of the surgery, etc.

Still, they usually regained consciousness within three or four days.

So.

Even considering that the gunshot wound was severe, and considering that Kyung-wook was young in his 20s, his recovery of consciousness was slow.

Was that why?

He was worried that the patient might deteriorate into a vegetative state or brain death.

“Doctor. Do you have a moment?”

Jun-hoo called a nurse who was passing by.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Can you give me a report on Yoo Kyung-wook’s condition?”

“Yoo Kyung-wook? There are no special issues. His vitals are stable, and his I&O (Intake Output) is normal.”

“…….”

“There were no problems with the blood test or ABGA (Arterial Blood Gas Analysis) either.”

The nurse’s report was quick and accurate.

Perhaps because the patient had suffered a gunshot wound, the nursing records were better remembered.

“What about pneumonia?”

“We took a Chest PA (Chest X-ray) yesterday, and there were no abnormalities.”

“Can I check the CT and MRI images taken after the surgery?”

“Yes.”

Jun-hoo moved to the station with the nurse.

The nurse sat at the desk and displayed the patient’s CT and MRI images in order.

“You’ll only be satisfied if you see it yourself, right? I’ll get out of your way.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Call me if you need anything else. I’ll be doing other work.”

Jun-hoo sat down in the nurse’s place.

Click! Click!

Jun-hoo zoomed in on various parts of the image and examined them. After struggling for nearly 10 minutes, he leaned back in his chair and let out a groan.

The surgery was a great success, and the brain MRI confirmed that the postoperative progress was excellent.

No signs of bleeding, edema, or inflammation could be found.

Then why is the patient still in a coma?

Was there anything he missed slightly during the surgery?

But even after searching and searching through his brain cells and synapses, no suitable answer came out.

The most plausible answer was…….

Only the fundamental answer that the brain was so severely damaged, and that he even had a lobectomy [surgical removal of a lobe from an organ], so the recovery speed was slow.

If you can’t answer ‘why’.

You have no choice but to move on to ‘how’.

Jun-hoo took a chair and went back to the patient’s bedside.

He placed the chair next to the bed.

He sat in the chair.

Jun-hoo’s hand wrapped around the patient’s limp hand.

The internal energy drawn from the dantian [a center of energy in the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine] was transferred from Jun-hoo’s hand to the patient’s hand. The internal energy began to flow from the patient’s hand to the patient’s entire body again.

If recovery is slow, then make recovery faster.

How?

By using internal energy!

Internal energy is a type of natural energy.

It contained the energy to help the healing and activity of living things.

In the world of martial arts.

The more skilled you were, the more internal energy you possessed, and thanks to possessing more internal energy, you could recover quickly even after suffering great injuries.

‘Don’t be impatient. Let’s have a relaxed mind.’

Jun-hoo cast a spell on himself. Even if internal energy had a healing effect, he shouldn’t recklessly pour it into the patient.

Isn’t it said that too much is as bad as too little?

Even good things can become poison if they are excessive.

If you inject internal energy that the patient cannot accept into the body, the internal energy will spill out as if pouring water into a cup.

The internal energies that have lost their way could rather have a negative impact on the patient.

Your family, relatives, and acquaintances.

Unit members.

And many people, including the hospital staff and me, are hoping for your safe return.

Please get better.

Jun-hoo began internal energy treatment with earnest wishes.

Thanks to falling into a state of ecstasy.

He didn’t even know how much time was passing.

“Dr. Seo.”

“…….”

“Dr. Seo? What are you doing now?”

Jun-hoo turned his head at the familiar voice.

* * *

Jun-hoo and Min-seok stood facing each other in the storage room attached to the station.

“The nurse said you were sitting next to the patient for nearly two hours, holding the patient’s hand. Why were you doing that?”

Min-seok asked, tilting his head.

“Hmm…… I wonder?”

“Is this the astral projection technique that’s popular these days?”

Min-seok chuckled.

Jun-hoo couldn’t say that he was trying to treat him with internal energy, so he made up an excuse on the spot.

“I have a religion. I was praying to God to heal the patient.”

“Wow! That’s so devoted.”

“I’m desperate to grasp at straws.”

“Actually…… I’m just as desperate to grasp at straws.”

“Why, Doctor?”

Jun-hoo asked, tilting his head.

“You know that this incident…… has become a huge issue, right?”

“Of course.”

A gun accident broke out in the military, and the patient fell into critical condition.

It was good news for the media to bite and tear at.

There was already talk of a hearing in the political world.

“My acquaintances and other hospital neurosurgeons keep calling me, asking how I operated on that patient.”

“…….”

“I feel like my nose is going to grow 100 meters long because I keep lying.”

A bitter smile hung on Min-seok’s lips.

The gunshot wound surgery was clearly Jun-hoo’s work.

But Jun-hoo now was a shadow surgeon.

Only a very small number of people, including the hospital director, knew his identity, less than five people.

So, from the outside, they were mistaken that Min-seok had done this surgery.

At first, he didn’t feel bad, but Min-seok became more and more afraid of the attention.

-If a gunshot wound patient occurs in the future, can we transfer them to the Korean Rehabilitation Hospital?

He even received inquiries like this.

For now, it’s okay because Jun-hoo is here, but the moment Jun-hoo is discharged, Min-seok’s skills will inevitably be exposed.

Min-seok had no confidence in handling the aftermath.

“That’s good.”

“Yes? What’s good? I’m going to be lying for the rest of my life.”

“You can improve your skills at the same time.”

Jun-hoo smiled brightly and continued.

“In the future, when you come in as my surgical assistant, change your mindset. Don’t just admire the way I operate, but try to remember the surgical method and follow it.”

“…….”

“If you do that, won’t your skills improve?”

“That’s a good point…… but I don’t know if I can dare to catch up with you, Doctor.”

“Don’t feel pressured. Just do what you can.”

Jun-hoo lightly patted Min-seok’s shoulder with one hand.

It was a sign of encouragement.

“By the way, how is the investigation of the incident going?”

Jun-hoo changed the subject.

This was the story Jun-hoo had been most curious about all week.

He had been watching the news carefully.

The military authorities only announced that they were investigating the incident.

They did not present any specific results.

Surely not?

They wouldn’t come to the absurd conclusion that the patient committed suicide, would they?

Just by examining that there were no gunpowder stains on his hand, you could quickly tell that it wasn’t suicide.

But Jun-hoo was uneasy.

Perhaps it was because of prejudice, but the military gave the impression that they were trying to cover up the incident whenever an incident broke out.

At the same time, a question arose.

If the patient didn’t commit suicide, then who pulled the trigger on the patient?

“Investigation? Anyway, people from the fact-finding committee came a while ago and investigated the patient and the guardian.”

“Did you hear anything?”

“No. They just whispered among themselves and left.”

Min-seok shrugged his shoulders.

Anyway, even if Min-seok had asked, there was no way the committee would have given a proper answer.

They would have closed their mouths heavily, saying it was confidential.

“How is the guardian?”

“At first, she was very distressed, but she’s been getting much better these days. She’s eating little by little.”

“That’s a relief.”

Jun-hoo let out a sigh of relief.

“While we’re on the subject, would you like to see the guardian for a moment?”

“I saw the waiting area earlier, but she wasn’t there.”

“She must have left her seat for a while. When I came into the intensive care unit, she was in the waiting room.”

“Okay.”

Jun-hoo came out of the intensive care unit with Min-seok.

Guardians were sitting on the benches lined up on both sides of the intensive care unit hallway with tired faces.

Jun-hoo knew that frustrating feeling well.

He had been sitting like that when his mother had brain hemorrhage surgery.

“That’s her. But those people are…….”

Min-seok pointed to Lieutenant Yoo Kyung-wook’s guardian and tilted his head. People in military uniforms were talking to the guardian.

“What? You’re saying my son committed suicide?”

Thanks to his keen hearing, Jun-hoo heard the guardian’s voice from afar.

He could even see the guardian’s dumbfounded expression.

Ha…….

Why is the premonition of sadness never wrong?

Jun-hoo’s pace quickened.