A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 443

Chapter 86: Bitter Cold (4)

Finally, the winter training began.

The first event was a march that felt like a journey to hell.

We had to walk for half a day with 20 kilograms [44 pounds] of gear, from morning till night.

It would have been a relief if the road had been flat, but…

Of course, it wasn’t.

There were some flat sections at the beginning, but as we approached the foothills, we had to go up and down countless hills.

The boots weren’t comfortable either.

Combat boots might protect our feet, but they didn’t make them comfortable.

There was no room for our feet to breathe.

After walking for a short while, our feet would sweat and become slippery.

Friction generated heat, causing blisters.

The blisters grew larger and larger, creating a stinging pain.

The gear on our shoulders became heavier, and our legs became heavier.

Heavy breaths escaped from our foolishly opened mouths.

The only good thing was…

That we could forget the bitter cold while marching.

Thud. Thud.

The soldiers’ footsteps created a rhythm.

Dust rose from the dry ground.

If you could look down on the soldiers from the sky, the marching formation would look like a line of ants.

From soldiers to officers.

Everyone was marching with a grimace.

Except for one person who seemed to be in a different world.

It was Junhoo.

Junhoo frequently moved back and forth between the beginning and end of the marching formation at a fast pace.

“Medical Company Commander. Is he even human? How many times has he gone back and forth already?”

“I think he’s made about four round trips.”

“Right… I’m not seeing things, am I?”

Sergeant Sejun from the Signal Company clicked his tongue. His eyes followed Junhoo, who was becoming a small dot in the distance.

“Maybe his hobby is marathon running.”

“Maybe that’s really it. I thought doctors would have terrible physiques, but he’s completely different.”

The Medical Company Commander had an image as handsome as an actor.

In reality, he was slender.

So when the Medical Company Commander insisted on marching at first, Sejun laughed at him inwardly.

He thought he was just cosplaying as a doctor [dressing up as a doctor for show].

That he would only walk for a little while and then quit.

But he was wrong.

The Medical Company Commander’s activity level was the highest in the regiment.

Just because he wasn’t carrying gear didn’t mean his stamina wasn’t impressive.

‘If it were me…’

‘Even without carrying gear, could I repeatedly go back and forth between the front and back of the formation like that?’

Sejun wasn’t sure.

“But I don’t know why the Medical Company Commander is so frantically going back and forth.”

A junior soldier tilted his head and changed the subject.

“Isn’t he supposed to just ride in the ambulance? There’s no benefit to him marching with us, is there?”

“That’s right. Why is he doing that?”

Sejun nodded in agreement.

He couldn’t figure out the reason himself.

He thought he should ask the Medical Company Commander directly when he passed by later.

“Still, it’s cool. It seems like there’s never been and never will be a Medical Company Commander who marches.”

“Probably not even in a parallel universe.”

“A parallel universe, huh?”

Sejun chuckled at his junior’s exaggerated expression.

Most of the soldiers and officers didn’t know why Junhoo was bothering to march.

At the same time, they felt goodwill towards Junhoo.

In almost every unit, the Medical Company Commander’s reputation was at rock bottom.

The Medical Company Commander was considered a quack and a lazy bum.

Surprisingly, this perception wasn’t a misunderstanding but largely the truth.

Most Medical Company Commanders thought of themselves as doctors, not soldiers.

They had the mindset that the military was just a place to take a break.

That kind of thinking was inevitably revealed when managing the medical unit and treating soldiers.

But as Junhoo marched with them.

That negative image began to break down.

The soldiers and officers began to recognize Junhoo as a comrade who suffered with them.

It was an image improvement that could never have been achieved if he had been comfortably riding in the ambulance.

‘Good. It’s going according to plan.’

Junhoo, who was in the middle of the marching formation, grinned.

As a result of amplifying his hearing with internal energy.

Praise for him was pouring in from all directions.

There was no distinction between soldiers and officers.

There were two reasons why Junhoo bothered to participate in the march.

One was image improvement.

Junhoo wanted to shatter the stereotype of ‘Medical Officer = Quack’.

What are the virtues that a true doctor should have?

If the first is skill, the second is trust.

Only by giving patients trust will they come to receive treatment.

In the case of the military, trust was especially important.

If you live in society, you can find and choose your own hospital and doctor.

But the military was different.

The only doctor who could provide treatment was the medical officer in his unit.

If that medical officer wasn’t trustworthy, the soldier wouldn’t come to see him.

If they put off treatment like that, there was a risk that the illness could worsen.

Junhoo wanted to prevent such a terrible tragedy.

At least in the unit he was serving in.

The second reason for participating directly in the march.

This was actually the key.

Junhoo was busily moving back and forth between the front and back of the formation in order to detect any emergency situations that might occur during the march in advance and treat them like lightning.

Was it because it was the beginning of the march?

Fortunately, so far, no disturbing signs had been revealed.

Whoosh!

Junhoo mixed the Qingfeng Steps [a martial arts movement technique] into his walk.

He moved to the head of the formation.

Just in time, he heard this joke from behind.

“Medical Company Commander. He’s using Instant Transmission [a teleportation technique].”

* * *

It had already been five hours since the march began.

Even though they had eaten lunch.

The soldiers were visibly exhausted.

Their pace was gradually slowing down.

Sighs were coming from here and there.

When the 10-minute break came after 50 minutes of marching.

Junhoo shouted loudly.

“Anyone who doesn’t feel well, raise your hand.”

Perhaps because he mixed in internal energy, everyone marching heard his voice.

Junhoo looked to the left and right.

About three soldiers in the rear of the formation raised their hands.

Even though they were quite far away.

Junhoo’s eyes, which had mastered the Eye Attack [a martial arts skill], could clearly see their hands.

Junhoo stepped on the footwork and arrived at the scene in an instant.

“Where do you feel unwell?”

“I’ve been dizzy and nauseous since a while ago,” said a soldier with a sharp chin, frowning as he sat on the ground.

“Since a while ago, exactly when?”

“A little over an hour ago.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. You should have said something right away when you felt sick.”

“I’m sorry. It suddenly got worse…”

The soldier trailed off.

“Do you have any underlying illnesses?”

“No, I don’t.”

“You don’t have to worry too much. What could possibly be wrong with you at your age?”

Junhoo turned his head at the unfamiliar voice. A non-commissioned officer who looked to be in his late 20s joined the conversation.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the platoon sergeant of the headquarters company.”

“The thing about medical examinations is that you have to find one seriously ill patient out of 10 patients with mild symptoms. If you let your guard down, you might miss a really important patient.”

“Ah… I’m sorry. I was just meddling.”

The non-commissioned officer scratched his cheek with an awkward expression at Junhoo’s rebuttal.

The soldiers around the patient looked at Junhoo with admiration, exclaiming “Ooh.”

Junhoo had a more in-depth conversation with the soldier complaining of headache and nausea.

He asked about the family’s medical history.

He asked about any unusual symptoms or events that had occurred yesterday and today.

The patient said no.

He didn’t seem to have any major illnesses, but he couldn’t let his guard down.

Junhoo had experienced countless times when ‘maybe’ became ‘as expected’.

“The headache is the most frustrating, right?”

“Yes, Company Commander.”

“Hmm… why does your head hurt?”

Junhoo nonchalantly placed his hand on the patient’s head.

He channeled the internal energy drawn from his dantian [energy center] into the patient’s head.

Woo-oong. Woo-oong.

Thanks to the use of the Internal Energy Skill, the internal energy passed through the scalp and skull and spread to the brain.

It began to scan the cerebral blood vessels and nerves.

The worst possible diseases he could imagine were…

Stroke or cerebral hemorrhage.

Blood vessels narrowed due to the cold weather, causing them to become blocked or burst.

The ‘Internal Energy Cerebral Angiography’ ended in the blink of an eye.

It didn’t even take 10 seconds.

Since it would look suspicious to anyone if he kept his hand on the patient’s head for a long time, he had been steadily increasing the speed of the ‘Internal Energy Cerebral Angiography’ since before.

Junhoo took his hand off the soldier’s head.

He looked at the soldier with a benevolent smile.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anything to worry about. But did you perhaps overeat at lunch?”

“How… how did you know that?”

The surprised patient’s eyebrows were about to reach the water purifier.

“Headaches that occur when there are no symptoms or medical history are usually caused by indigestion.”

“I didn’t even know that… I thought there was something wrong with my head.”

“There are a lot of stories about soldiers collapsing during training, so that’s understandable.”

Junhoo nodded as if he understood.

It was natural and healthy to worry about one’s body.

It shouldn’t be excessive and become hypochondria.

Junhoo took out a digestive medicine from the first aid kit he was holding in one hand and handed it to the patient.

The patient put the digestive medicine in his mouth.

He took a sip of water from his canteen.

“Tell me again if you feel too uncomfortable. I can give you an injection too.”

“It’s okay. I think it hurts less because I know why it hurts.”

A bright smile appeared on the soldier’s face.

“You said something good, kid.”

“Was what I said good?”

“Of course. Sometimes it’s more painful not knowing where and why it hurts than the symptom itself.”

Junhoo lightly patted the patient’s shoulder.

It wasn’t a great treatment.

But he could feel the soldiers around him looking up to him.

They were impressed by the meticulousness and professionalism of the examination.

And the warm attitude towards the patient.

The break time wasn’t long.

Junhoo quickly checked the other patients.

The remaining patients didn’t have any major problems either.

Headaches, weakness, fever, etc.

There was no consistency in the symptoms.

Junhoo easily realized the reason.

To put it simply.

The march was too difficult.

Just as the soldiers’ appearances were all different, the soldiers’ physical strength would all be different.

But what could he do for the soldiers who were having a particularly hard time marching?

If he took the struggling soldiers out of the formation, wouldn’t the other soldiers lose their strength [morale]?

If it were another medical officer.

He would have definitely fallen into a dilemma where he couldn’t do this or that.

After thinking for a moment.

He would have told them to endure the hardship and march.

That they weren’t the only ones having a hard time.

And the soldier would have been hurt.

But Junhoo wasn’t an ordinary medical officer.

Bang! Bang!

“Cheer up. We’re already halfway there. You can overcome it.”

Junhoo patted the backs of the struggling soldiers.

At first glance, it seemed like there was no difference between him and other medical officers, but the results were worlds apart.

Junhoo’s touch wasn’t an ordinary touch.

While patting the soldiers’ backs.

Junhoo infused the soldiers with internal energy. He sent the internal energy to the heart in an instant.

The internal energy that arrived at the heart traveled through the blood vessels and spread throughout the soldiers’ bodies in an instant.

“Huh? I suddenly feel energized. Why is this?”

“I feel full of energy too!”

The faces of the soldiers who received the ‘Internal Energy IV Drip’ brightened.

The wrinkles on their foreheads and between their eyebrows also smoothed out.

It was as Junhoo intended.

The march resumed after the break.

Junhoo still moved busily back and forth between the head and tail of the formation.

But then.

The cell phone he had put in his field jacket vibrated.

‘Who’s calling at this hour?’

‘Is it Ah Young?’

‘Is it the Korean Manual Therapy Hospital?’

He took out his cell phone and checked the number, and it was a call from his resident colleague, Kyungsoo.

‘Did he perhaps find the contact information for the psychopath Siho?’