A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 438

Chapter 85: The Truth (4)

“Thank you, Company Commander. Unity!”

Sung-hyun saluted and left the company commander’s office.

But even after closing the door, he stared blankly at it for a long time.

“What are you doing, Sergeant?” Tae-won, a medical corpsman, asked.

“No, it’s just that something feels strange.”

“What’s so strange about it?”

“Doesn’t the company commander conduct his examinations in a peculiar way?” He felt like he’d been tagged ‘safe’ in freeze tag [a children’s game where being tagged ‘safe’ releases you from being frozen].

Only then did Sung-hyun relax his stiff body and turn to face Tae-won.

“Is it because of the way he uses his hands?”

Tae-won chuckled. Perhaps because he was a medic, he seemed to understand the company commander’s examination methods.

Sung-hyun nodded instead of answering.

He didn’t have any particular complaints about the company commander’s changed examination style.

The customer satisfaction—no, the soldier satisfaction score was 100 out of 100.

First of all, he liked the look in his eyes.

The previous company commander had a subtle, unpleasant emotion in his eyes when conducting examinations:

Annoyance, 50 percent.

A feeling of looking down on him for coming to him with such trivial matters, 30 percent.

Other bad feelings accounted for 20 percent.

But the current company commander’s eyes were warm, like the way his mother looked at him when he received leave and returned home.

He asked meticulously about where it hurt and listened to Sung-hyun’s story with sincerity.

The only puzzling part was that after lifting Sung-hyun’s combat uniform top, he placed his hand on his abdomen.

Even Sung-hyun, who wasn’t a doctor, knew that much: placing a hand on the stomach had nothing to do with the examination. If something were to be placed on the stomach, it should be a stethoscope, not a hand.

“Do you know what our company commander’s nickname is?”

“How would I know that?”

“That’s why I’m going to tell you. Our company commander’s nickname is…”

Tae-won paused dramatically before continuing, “Magic Hands.”

“Like in ‘Mommy’s hands are magic’? That ‘magic hands’?”

“Yes.”

Tae-won said with a smile, then launched into a series of testimonials about the numerous patients the company commander had healed with his ‘magic hands.’ He was almost like a cult follower.

He claimed that back pain and knee pain disappeared completely, and that he was full of energy all day long, and so on. Honestly, it sounded like a lot of exaggeration.

But it was hard to simply dismiss it. There was a junior soldier in Sung-hyun’s squad who had received treatment from the company commander, and that junior soldier praised the company commander to the skies.

“Anyway, what did the company commander say?”

“He said he’d give me a reward vacation, so I should definitely get a check-up at a university hospital.”

“Wow. That’s awesome.”

“It is awesome. In many ways.”

Sung-hyun said, sitting on the sofa in the treatment room.

Sung-hyun was surprised no less than three times by the company commander’s decision.

First, that the medical company commander, who wasn’t even his direct superior, promised to take care of his reward vacation.

Second, that he said he would book a university hospital appointment for him.

And third, the last was… the company commander’s pure judgment itself.

Sung-hyun had already undergone an endoscopy at a Korean chiropractic hospital and was diagnosed with chronic gastritis.

But why?

Why on earth?

Why did the company commander tell him to go to a civilian hospital again, especially since it hadn’t even been two months since he had the endoscopy?

Recently, Sung-hyun had been experiencing severe heartburn, so he searched on his phone, ‘Can gastritis turn into stomach cancer within 2 months?’

Most of the answers said that it doesn’t happen. It was even an answer from a Sunshine God expert on a portal site [a user with a high level of expertise and activity on a particular online platform]. He didn’t know if it was true, but Sunshine God also claimed to be a doctor.

“The company commander must have had a reason for making that decision.”

“I want to believe that too.”

“But why aren’t you going?”

“The company commander told me to wait in the treatment room for a bit.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the company commander’s office door opened.

“I’ll go see the battalion commander for a moment. Stay there.”

“Yes, Company Commander,” Sung-hyun answered, and Tae-won asked, “Why are you going to the battalion commander’s office?”

Jun-hoo answered casually, as if he had left a reward vacation certificate with the battalion commander.

* * *

‘Meeting me is your lucky day.’

Jun-hoo muttered to himself as he left the treatment room.

Sung-hyun visited the medical unit with symptoms of chronic gastritis and heartburn.

A typical military doctor would have prescribed a stomach acid suppressant to Sung-hyun and ended the examination. And a few months later, he would have faced a major disaster.

To put it bluntly, Sung-hyun was a stage 2-3 stomach cancer patient.

How did he catch stomach cancer that even an endoscopy couldn’t catch?

Jun-hoo had… internal energy examination.

Internal energy examination was not only effective in examining the structures of organs, it also had an excellent effect on cancer diagnosis.

What is a cancer cell? Isn’t it a tissue that enlarges itself by devouring surrounding cells to survive on its own?

Therefore, if internal energy is injected into the area with a tumor, the tumor has a tendency to devour the internal energy, as greedily as if it hadn’t eaten for days.

Jun-hoo injected internal energy into Sung-hyun’s stomach, and he felt an undeniable suction force in the lesser curvature of the gastric body. It was evidence of cancer.

However, internal energy tumor examination was not a panacea [a cure-all]. In the case of early-stage cancer, it could not be filtered out even with internal energy tumor examination. Normal tissues and normal cells also absorbed internal energy. If the suction force was not strong, it was difficult for Jun-hoo to distinguish between normal tissue and cancerous tissue.

On the way to the battalion commander’s office, Jun-hoo called someone on his cell phone.

“Hey. Long time no see. How are you doing?”

“…”

“Okay. I’ll contact you often. Oh, and I’m sorry, but can I ask you for a favor?”

“…”

“Please see a patient directly. He had a stomach endoscopy two months ago, but the symptoms seem serious.”

“…”

“I’m just saying this out of concern, but I think it might be Borrmann type 4 [a type of stomach cancer that spreads along the stomach wall, making it difficult to detect].”

“…”

“You know everything, so I’m asking you for a special favor. Okay. Thanks.”

After hanging up, Jun-hoo let out a sigh of relief. The person he called was a medical school classmate, now an assistant professor of gastroenterological surgery at Shinwon University. He was worried about what to do if they couldn’t communicate, but because they were close, he was able to get approval for the examination and treatment relatively easily.

Borrmann type 4 gastric cancer is a form of stomach cancer that is difficult to detect even with an endoscopy. In particular, if it occurred in the lesser curvature or posterior wall of the gastric body, it was difficult to diagnose because only the stomach wall thickened.

So, it wasn’t that the Korean chiropractic hospital did the endoscopy wrong; it was just that a unique stomach cancer occurred in a special area. It was inevitable that they couldn’t diagnose it.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Jun-hoo, who arrived at the battalion commander’s office, knocked. A voice was heard to come in.

“Unity.”

Jun-hoo greeted the battalion commander with appropriate courtesy. The battalion commander nodded in response and pointed to the leather sofa with one hand.

Jun-hoo sat on the sofa. The battalion commander, who had been sitting at his office desk, sat opposite Jun-hoo.

“Do you know that?”

“What are you talking about?”

“These days, rumors about you are spreading throughout the battalion.”

“…Rumors about me?”

“That you’re good at treating patients. The soldiers are going crazy, and so are the officers?” The battalion commander said with a smile.

Jun-hoo, who had been a little nervous, relaxed his face. *I was wondering what it was.*

“I just did my job.”

“People who do their job are surprisingly rare.”

“Is the trigeminal neuralgia treatment going well?”

“Of course. Thanks to you, the treatment was fast. I had a check-up a while ago, and they said that if I continue with the medication a little longer, I’ll be completely cured.”

“That’s a relief.”

Trigeminal neuralgia was not a life-threatening disease, but it was not a disease to be ignored because of the unique pain. The pain was like cutting the face with a cold knife, making it difficult to go about daily life.

“You seem to have come with something to discuss… or am I wrong?”

“You’re as sharp as ever. Actually, I came to ask for a reward vacation certificate.”

“Reward vacation certificate? Didn’t you get one recently for combat fitness?” The battalion commander asked, tilting his head.

“I gave the ones I received to the medical corpsmen. I just saw a patient, and I thought it would be better for him to see a civilian hospital.”

Jun-hoo briefly notified him about Sung-hyun, leaving out the part about the internal energy tumor examination.

The battalion commander got up from his seat without a word, returned to his desk, took something, and returned to the sofa.

“Here. Take it.”

“Is it okay to give me this much?” Jun-hoo’s eyes widened as he looked down at the vacation certificate the battalion commander handed him. There were three reward vacation certificates.

“Actually, I have a favor to ask you too.”

The battalion commander cleared his throat and continued. According to the battalion commander, the unit would be conducting winter training soon.

Winter training is training conducted in cold winter weather; if there is guerilla training in the summer, there is winter training in the winter. The difficulty of the training was said to be the highest.

“I have a promotion review this year.”

The battalion commander continued with a serious expression. “Of course, even if there is no promotion review, it is something that should never happen.”

“…”

“I hope that no soldiers are seriously injured or lose their lives during this winter training. You’ll be able to manage the patients well, right?”

*I was wondering why he was giving me so many reward vacation certificates, but the battalion commander had his own agenda.*

Jun-hoo did not answer immediately and exchanged glances with the battalion commander.

The reward vacation certificate could easily become a poisoned chalice. It may be an overinterpretation, but in a way, wasn’t it the price of a favor(?)

If the favor was not successful, Jun-hoo would have to bear the consequences. Jun-hoo’s military life could become tiring in the future. Even if the officers didn’t treat the military doctor as a soldier, there were many ways to harass him once they became enemies.

“Patient management is my duty and responsibility. I will gratefully accept the reward vacation certificate.”

Jun-hoo readily took the vacation certificate. Regardless of whether it was a favor or not, at least while he was working, Jun-hoo sincerely hoped that no soldiers or officers would be injured or sick in the unit he was working in.

“I feel reassured after hearing your answer.”

“Just trust me.”

“Of course. I trust you. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

The conversation with the battalion commander ended like that.

Jun-hoo returned to the medical unit and handed the vacation certificate to Sung-hyun.

* * *

That evening, in the intensive care unit of the neurosurgery department at Korean Chiropractic Hospital, Min-seok was standing next to Lieutenant Yoo Kyung-wook’s bed.

It had already been three weeks since the emergency surgery that had threatened his life. Lieutenant Yoo Kyung-wook was still unconscious.

His vitals were stable. The electrocardiogram rhythm was even and regular. He was able to breathe on his own, so he was not wearing an oxygen mask. However, because he was unconscious and unable to eat on his own, he was being fed through a nasogastric tube [a tube inserted through the nose into the stomach]. Urine was being removed through a urinary catheter [a tube inserted into the bladder to drain urine], and feces were being removed through a fecal management system.

“I couldn’t believe it, but it’s true.”

Min-seok exclaimed, looking at Jun-hoo, who was standing next to him. Amidst the constant and strong pressure to declare the lieutenant a vegetative state, there was news like rain during a drought.

It was the patient’s electroencephalogram (EEG) test results. The brainwave rhythm was gradually becoming more active.

Just a week ago, the EEG rhythm was as quiet as a mouse. The waveform and reactivity were low, the amplitude was small, and the occurrence time was irregular. But for some reason, the patient’s EEG rhythm began to come alive a week ago.

If it continues to improve like this, it was not impossible for him to regain consciousness within a few days. If the patient regains consciousness, we will also be able to hear about the truth of the gunshot wound.

“Doctor, what kind of magic did you use this time?”

Min-seok couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.