Sense Novel - Chapter 5

Drrrk.

The door of Rosette, a facility where 8 operating rooms were attached in a circular format, opened.

Dowook saw that the yawning anesthesiologist An Hosan was still washing his hands and ran over to his side.

“You’re still working so hard this late at night, doctor.”

“Huh? Dr. Dowook, you’re also taking part in this operation?”

“Yeah. As the assistant.”

“What about Dr. Jin Gu?”

The assistant for Prof. Choi Hoo’s surgeries was always fixed so the expected question arrived. Dowook answered in a low voice.

“They said he quit.”

“Oh no. It seemed they had a lot of arguments during surgeries, and finally.”

An Hosan clicked his tongue.

“Prof. Choi isn’t here yet, is he?”

“That man will get here at exactly 2:45. Relax.”

After washing his hands, An Hosan kept his hands in the air and stood in front of operating room 1.

“Dr. Dowook, you’ll start your fellowship starting next year, right?”

“Yes.”

“Make sure to survive. In your department, only the persistent ones succeed.”

“If I don’t get kicked out today.”

An Hosan gave him a small smile of encouragement.

There were 10 minutes until the surgery. Dowook also sterilized his hands and went into the operating room.

The place where people wearing blue masks and surgical caps rushed about.

Dowook looked around to find someone to help him put on a surgical gown.

“Over here, Dr. Park.”

The intern from the on-call room who’d been on-duty with Dowook helped him put on a gown instead of a nurse.

“You’re here, too.”

“I helped bring over the patient from the ward. The patient suddenly experienced cardiac arrest and the sirens rang. Hoooo….. If the chief hadn’t come over quickly things would have been really bad.”

“You get to experience what it’s like in an OP as a result. It’s a good thing. I only shaved the patients until my first year as a resident.”

Dowook asked after he had put on latex gloves.

“Seok Gyu, which department are you going to apply for after you’re done with your internship?”

“Otorhinolaryngology.”

[TN: Otorhinolaryngology- Ear, Nose and Throat specialist.]

“Why? You don’t like neurosurgery?”

“Yes. It looks too difficult.”

At the answer, the anesthesiologist, who’d finished putting the patient under general anesthesia, and the nurses started chuckling.

“Hey, you could have at least said you’d choose our department as a courtesy.”

“That’s because Dr. Park’s disappointment is only a moment, but my life is long. I’m sorry.”

Looking at the intern having trouble meeting his gaze, Dowook shook his head.

He should have had the same decision-making skills 4 years ago. Tricked by Chief Ha, he’d thrown himself into the department known for its difficulty.

‘To think the result of holding on for so long is Last Choi’s operating room…..’

Dowook turned his gaze to the monitor showing the patient’s MRI.

The veins in the brain had burst and blood had pooled here and there. If this had happened outside, the patient could have died before reaching the hospital.

“Dr. Park. How long do these surgeries take?”

“About 5 hours?”

“Huuh? We’ll be here until morning?”

“You’ve been an intern for 10 months and you’re still surprised?”

When operating on the brain where the blood vessels were tangled, it might even take 10 hours.

A moment later.

A huge microscope was placed above the patient’s head and the disinfected surgical tools were placed in their proper places.

Looking at the operating room’s clock, it was 2:44.

Dowook took a deep breath and prepared to meet the Grim Reaper called Last Choi.

Counting down to the last second, the moment the clock changed from 59s to 00s, the door to the operating room opened.

‘It’s probably a coincidence that he kept the time down to the last second, right?’

When he turned to An Hosan, he smiled with an expression saying, ‘It’s exactly what I said, right?’

“Gown.”

Prof. Choi slowly looked around the room as he put on the gown and gloves.

A piece of consumable’s wrapper.

A drop of bodily fluid left from a previous surgery.

A strand of hair from the nurse’s bangs as she helped him wear gloves.

“This place is full of contaminated objects. It’s a great place to kill a person.”

The comfortable atmosphere turned frigid due to Prof. Choi’s words.

“Is there someone who’s not yet fully awake? I hope the only life that’s in any danger today is the patient’s.”

A nurse taking part in Prof. Choi’s surgery for the first time flinched back. A senior nurse who saw it shook her head seemingly saying, ‘don’t do that, that’s also dangerous,’ so Dowook also quickly straightened his posture.

‘The pressure is entirely different from when I observed from above.’

Although you could only see his eyes, his 185cm robust physique and sharp gaze emitted an overwhelming pressure like the rumors stated.

Dowook could say with confidence that staying in the same room as Last Choi would allow one to be fully clear-headed for a week.

Prof. Choi approached the operating table. He fixed his gaze on Dowook’s bowed head.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

Dowook swallowed in nervousness.

“Yes. My name is Park Dowook.”

“Seeing as you haven’t even started the simple act of scalp incision, you’re not part of the staff.”

Dowook felt crestfallen over the cold criticism from the very start. However, it was something he’d expected to a certain degree. As soon as Prof. Choi reached his position, he cleared his throat and shouted.

“We will now start the patient Kim Hyeong Jin’s aneurysm clipping procedure.”

With a glance at Dowook, Prof. Choi stretched his hand at the scrub nurse.

“No. 20.”

The scalpel held lightly between the thumb and pointer finger moved.

Blood gushed out from the patient’s clean head wrapped in antiseptic cloth and Dowook’s hand which was holding the suction machine became busy.

“Clip.”

A clip securing the cut scalp was placed between the skin.

“Clip.”

Click

“Clip.”

‘Fast……’

When the nurse responsible for passing the clips couldn’t keep up with the speed and moved clumsily, Prof. Choi sighed once without saying a word.

It was a silence that seemed to state the 1st warning.

“Drill.”

Whiiiing.

Following the sound of the cranial drill, the bleeding section’s skull opened easily. As the bone was being removed, ‘Plop!’ blood spurted out and hit Prof. Choi directly on the face.

Prof. Choi didn’t even turn his head and asked An Hosan.

“How are the vitals?”

“Pulse frequency is severe, it’s at a minimum of 60 and in a state of cardiac agitation. The patient will soon experience cardiac arrest.”

It indicated that the blood pooled in the patient’s brain was inflicting great pressure on his body.

“Lower the microscope. Catheter.”

Prof. Choi looked through the microscope and pushed a long and thin tube into the patient’s brain.

Dowook looked through the microscope’s supplementary station and watched the catheter go in.

The tube went in without a single error to the spot the monitor’s navigation pointed. When the end of the catheter was suctioned with a syringe, the pooled blood started to flow into the tube.

“Vital?”

“It became stable.”

After taking care of the bleeding in one try, the actual surgery to repair the blood vessel started.

The area around the ruptured aneurysm was clipped in place, the suture thinner than hair and forceps as thin as needles started to dance together.

Looking through the microscope, Dowook was fascinated by Prof. Choi’s skills and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Even the slightest movement of the hand looked awkward in the microscope. However, Prof. Choi didn’t make the slightest movement.

‘How can a person be that precise?’

Other than acting scary at the beginning, Prof. Choi who only concentrated on the surgery did not show a hysterical side like the rumors said.

While it was a bit frightening how robot-like he acted when faced with a patient in a dangerous state, standing as an assistant for such a person seemed fine.

Although he had to be extra careful when spraying water to keep the blood vessels from drying out so that he didn’t accidentally hit Prof. Choi’s hands.

An hour into the surgery as the operation was about to wrap up.

The moment the clip holding the blood vessels temporarily closed was removed, they let out a ‘whoosh’ sound along with a good feeling.

“Haah. Thank you for the …..”

Dowook, who’d displayed his appreciation for Prof. Choi’s work without realizing what he was doing, suddenly felt as if his fingertips received an electric shock and tried to stop himself from yelling.

‘Eugh’

“I’m sorry, Professor.”

He apologized right away.

However, Prof. Choi, as if he didn’t hear anything, didn’t look away from the patient even though the ligation was finished.

Then, he touched a blood vessel and closed his eyes.

Soon afterward

Tap

At the tiny tremor, Prof. Choi reacted.