A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 450

Chapter 88. The Unfinished Cold Wave (1)

Operating Room 3.

Jun-hoo was in the middle of a surgery with his staff.

The light from the surgical lamp was dazzling, almost blinding. An 80-year-old patient was lying on the operating table.

The patient’s face was, of course, not visible because it was covered by surgical drapes.

However, it wasn’t hard to guess the patient’s age from the wrinkled hands and the age spots on the back of the hands.

The air that brushed against the skin and face was cool.

It was always like that in the operating room.

This was to prevent infection and inflammation, and to keep the operating staff from overheating.

Beep. Beep.

The patient monitoring device emitted regular mechanical sounds.

Jun-hoo glanced at the monitor.

Temperature, blood pressure, pulse, respiration.

Everything was still within the normal range.

The electrocardiogram and electroencephalogram rhythms also showed smooth curves.

Jun-hoo looked straight ahead again.

He brought his eyes close to the microsurgical microscope and focused on the cerebral aneurysm located in the temporal lobe.

A cerebral blood vessel bulging like a *kkwari* [a traditional Korean snack shaped like a puffed-up pepper].

Its size was a whopping 40mm.

Cerebral aneurysms are often called ticking time bombs in the head, but this was more like a nuclear warhead.

“Number 4 clip.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

Click!

Jun-hoo used the clip handed to him by the scrub nurse to grasp the cerebral aneurysm. The clip secured the neck of the cerebral aneurysm.

The procedure seemed to be going smoothly, but.

Jun-hoo’s brow furrowed.

Click!

Jun-hoo released and removed the number 4 clip. The scrub nurse tilted her head at this.

“What’s wrong, Doctor? Didn’t it go in properly?”

“There’s a little space. Blood is flowing into the cerebral aneurysm through that space. There’s no point in doing clip ligation if we can’t completely block the blood flow.”

“…….”

“Give me number 2 and number 7 clips.”

“Are you going to use two clips at the same time? Wouldn’t that be more dangerous because they could get tangled?”

“It’s my job to make it work.”

Jun-hoo’s eyes curved into a smile.

Through the hand movements trained with the Howol Twelve Hands, Jun-hoo showed off his skillful technique.

The angles and positions of the two clips.

He tested countless variations to secure the cerebral aneurysm.

Each time, Jun-hoo’s wrists and fingers moved as deftly as a magician’s hands.

The staff couldn’t take their eyes off Jun-hoo’s hands.

His hands seemed to be performing a flamboyant dance.

However, it also looked precarious.

Giving excessive stimulation to the cerebral aneurysm could cause it to burst.

Therefore, Jun-hoo’s hand movements were like a dance right in front of a cliff.

‘It’s okay. I can do it.’

Unlike the staff’s worries, Jun-hoo’s mind was full of confidence.

The numerous surgical experiences he had gone through.

The fully matured martial arts were the source of his confidence.

A person who is thoroughly prepared.

A person with sufficient ability was not afraid of adversity and crisis. Rather, it was an opportunity to show off his skills.

Click!

Click!

Jun-hoo inserted the number 2 clip horizontally from the left and the number 7 clip diagonally from the right.

When the blood flow was tested on the cerebral aneurysm, the blood flow was completely blocked.

The ticking time bomb in his head was removed.

The surgery was a great success.

But that’s when it happened.

The operating room began to shake as if an earthquake had occurred.

The dressing cart shook, and the surgical tools on it began to fall to the floor.

Clang!

The surgical light also flickered ominously.

“Doctor, why is this happening suddenly?”

“It doesn’t make sense. How can the hospital building be shaking?”

The bewildered fellow staff members looked at Jun-hoo as if seeking an answer. Jun-hoo suddenly lowered his surgical mask and muttered.

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard.”

* * *

Jun-hoo opened his eyes.

Jun-hoo, who had been in the operating room, was suddenly sitting on his bed in his room.

Leaning against the headboard of the bed.

“It’s gotten a lot better.”

A smile bloomed on Jun-hoo’s lips.

Jun-hoo had performed the surgery, but at the same time, he hadn’t performed the surgery. It might sound like sophistry, but it was true.

Because…….

He had performed the surgery in his head.

Until just now, Jun-hoo had been stimulating the occipital lobe, which controls vision, with acupressure to perform imaginary surgery.

The imaginary surgery was becoming more and more sophisticated.

In the past, only surgeries that he had assisted in or performed himself could be reproduced.

But these days, he could create the surgeries he wanted himself.

The surgery he had just finished was the same.

He had never performed a cerebral aneurysm surgery on a patient over 80 years old, so he created the case himself.

It felt quite real.

From the middle of the surgery, he couldn’t tell whether it was imagination or reality.

It seemed to be because he could even control the reactions of the staff.

‘Imaginary surgery has reached a fraudulent level.’

Jun-hoo smiled contentedly.

The fact that imaginary surgery had reached a level where it was indistinguishable from reality.

What does that mean?

It meant that imaginary surgery could have the same training effect as performing real surgery.

Now, Jun-hoo had not wings but a rocket attached to him, and it was no different from flying in the sky.

First, through imaginary surgery, he could directly create various and rare cases and accumulate experience in the corresponding surgery.

Let’s take the surgery of Siamese twins as an example.

Jun-hoo could repeat the separation surgery, which a surgeon might ‘do or not do’ once in a lifetime, dozens of times.

Without the risk of the patient dying during surgery.

Not only that.

Imaginary surgery consumed less time than real surgery.

He could drastically reduce training time.

If he created an operating room, the surgery would begin immediately. He could also skip the time-consuming and difficult craniotomy [surgical opening of the skull].

In fact, imaginary surgery ended almost twice as fast as real surgery.

Imaginary surgery had only advantages and no disadvantages.

‘But I still feel empty.’

Jun-hoo quietly looked down at his hands.

Imaginary surgery had no disadvantages, but there were things he missed.

It was because he didn’t feel like he had saved a patient.

Wasn’t seeing the smiling faces of the recovered patient and their guardian the driving force behind Jun-hoo?

In that sense, imaginary surgery was like *danpat bread* [sweet red bean bread] without red beans.

Jun-hoo, who was organizing his thoughts, got out of bed. He left the house in comfortable clothes.

Today was the weekend.

His parents had a promise with acquaintances and went out early in the morning.

He was supposed to meet Ah-young in the evening, but until then, it was free time.

Jun-hoo’s steps, which had left the apartment complex, headed to a mountain 20 minutes away from his house.

The mountain was surprisingly not low, and it was connected to an Olle trail [a long-distance walking path on Jeju Island], so it was fun to walk around.

Was it because the weather was chilly?

It was hard to find people climbing the mountain.

‘Time flies so fast.’

While walking along the mountain path, Jun-hoo recalled the winter training that had ended a few days ago.

The 3-night, 4-day training schedule ended peacefully.

There was sad news that a soldier from another unit had died of hypothermia, but Jun-hoo’s unit had no deaths or injuries.

Even in Jun-hoo’s unit.

There were about three patients with hypothermia, but Jun-hoo quickly raised the patients’ body temperatures with the ‘Warm Thermal Internal Energy Method.’

The hypothermia patients quickly warmed up.

Winter training was not a training that used the body intensely like guerilla training.

So, there were no serious trauma patients.

Most of them were at a level that Jun-hoo could handle without being sent to the military hospital.

Throughout the training period.

Jun-hoo followed the soldiers’ schedules.

And when he found a soldier who looked tired or exhausted, he used the ‘Internal Energy IV Drip’ on them.

The soldiers who received the internal energy IV drip felt invigorated.

“Company Commander, I suddenly have a lot of strength!”

“I feel like my fatigue is strangely gone. Thank you!”

“Can’t you encourage me too?”

Later, the soldiers clamored to receive the internal energy IV drip.

‘Did I use the internal energy IV drip too publicly?

I’m a little worried that it might raise suspicion if it spreads further?’

……Jun-hoo worried for a moment.

Of course, it was only for a moment.

Jun-hoo did not spare the internal energy IV drip.

He unfolded it without reservation.

Because no one would understand how the internal energy IV drip worked.

Because the soldiers were full of energy with the internal energy IV drip, they were not easily injured.

That was also an important reason why there were few patients in the winter training.

The return march following the training was also uneventful.

“Our Company Commander is a very lucky charm.”

The day after the training, the regiment commander called Jun-hoo separately and showered Jun-hoo with special praise.

He also gave him three vacation reward certificates.

Sung-tae, who had been diagnosed with Fabry disease, also returned to his daily life.

His condition improved noticeably with medication.

The angiokeratomas [small, dark red spots] around his belly button also slowly disappeared.

It was thanks to the early diagnosis of the disease.

Thanks to the successful completion of the training, Jun-hoo hardly worried about the military unit these days.

If there was a problem these days…….

It was definitely ‘Si-ho’!

A psychopath killer who was watching him and the people he loved from somewhere.

He was planning to deal with something related to Si-ho this evening, even if it was trivial.

It was questionable whether it would go as planned.

“Aaaaaaack!”

Jun-hoo’s eyes widened at the sudden, loud scream. The source of the scream was far away on the mountainside.

Whirr!

Jun-hoo stepped on the Blue Wind Steps and ran out.

Whether he happened to be where the patient was.

Or whether he was creating the patient.

He was now sincerely confused.

* * *

“Ch…… Chil-sam!”

Kang Myung-gu’s startled voice cracked.

The pupils of his eyes, which had been shaken by an earthquake, were fixed on his friend who had collapsed and ‘it’ wriggling threateningly in front of his friend.

30 minutes ago.

Kang Myung-gu went hiking with his close friend, Seo Chil-sam.

Stories about their children, stories about politics, lamentations about the years that had heartlessly passed, and so on.

They were having a great conversation when.

Something approached them from the bushes next to the road. Then it suddenly bit Chil-sam’s ankle.

Thud!

Chil-sam, surprised, fell on his butt.

Nevertheless, Myung-gu couldn’t rashly approach Chil-sam.

A venomous snake that had attacked Chil-sam was glaring at them with its back straight.

The way it flicked its tongue was so cunning.

‘I can’t let this happen.’

Myung-gu forcibly moved his frozen body. He grabbed a dry twig that had fallen on the ground.

He had to chase that guy away first.

That way, he could treat him.

Or call 119 [South Korean emergency services number].

“Elder, don’t provoke the snake.”

Myung-gu raised his head at the voice he heard from behind.

A handsome young man in a training suit had approached nearby at some point.

“It’s a venomous snake. If you’re not careful, you could get bitten too.”

“Th…… That guy is a venomous snake?”

Myung-gu’s questioning voice trembled faintly.

If that snake was a venomous snake, then Chil-sam had been bitten by a venomous snake.

Suddenly, his vision became dizzy.

It went dark.

“But if I don’t chase that guy away, my friend might get bitten again.”

“I’ll do that.”

“I’m in danger, but do you think you won’t be in danger?”

“I’m okay.”

The young man passed Myung-gu and moved in a semicircle toward the venomous snake.

The body of the venomous snake, which had been standing upright, also turned toward the young man.

The young man’s appearance of approaching the snake with his bare body looked precarious and reckless.

What was the young man thinking?

How did he know the snake was venomous?

However, Myung-gu’s worries and *japnyum* [idle thoughts] didn’t last long.

Sssseeee!

The snake approached the young man and bared its fangs.

The sharp fangs were threatening.

But what?

The young man dodged the snake’s bite with a nimble foot movement, then grabbed the snake’s neck with one hand.

The snake caught in the young man’s grip couldn’t move.

It writhed as if in pain.

After a while.

Thud!

The young man casually threw the snake on the ground.

The snake didn’t move.

Unbelievably, the young man had easily killed the snake with his bare hands.

With just the strength of his grip…….

What?

There was a snake hunter in our neighborhood?