Saturday 6:30 AM.
The area around Seodaemun Fire Station was very crowded with rows of vehicles and people getting off them.
Looking out from inside the minibus with the sign of "Myeong Sae Hospital Medical Team," Dowook stared at the poster at the entrance.
[Citizen's consideration for the populace! Volunteer fire brigade. Anyone can apply]
"All these people voluntarily gathered after giving up on their day off, huh? Was Seodaemun-gu's citizenship this good?”
"I'm not voluntary".
The grumbling next to him caused Dowook to turn his head.
His colleague, Seong Chang Soo, with his eyes closed with his face crumpled, sighed deeply. At his miserable appearance, Dowook asked.
"I guess the emergency department didn't get a call exemption?”
"No. I'm just forced to come. I only received a special order to make it work with the fire department. Isn't that right, Myeong-deok?"
Noh Myeong-deok, who was dozing off in the back seat, raised his head.
"Did you call me?"
"No, no. Sleep more. Sorry."
Dowook looked at Sung Chang-soo with curious eyes.
"Special order?"
"I think this is going to be added to the score for selection as a regional trauma center or something? If that happens, it will really be great for emergency surgery. Our treatment will improve, and our salary will rise slightly."
He did wonder why the notice popped out of nowhere.
"I'm from a different department, so I don't have to pay attention to that, right?"
"What! If you're a member of the hospital, you have to work hard together. AN Hospital was also designated as the Eastern Regional Trauma Center and its level changed. And, you have to work harder than our emergency department.”
"Me? Why?"
Seong Chang Soo had a smile on his face.
"This plan was suggested by your destined person. Are you going to wait and see if it fails?”
"Director Lim? Did she visit the emergency center?”
Seong Chang Soo made an expression as if he was drunk.
"She was really pretty. As expected, she's like a flower. You're the best."
"Why is the direction suddenly going toward appearance? What did she do there? Did you get scolded for being in the deficit?”
"Dowook, you must have enjoyed being her attending physician. How was it? Is there any progress in your fateful relationship?”
"Never mind. Let's not talk."
Looking at Seong Chang Soo's reaction, there seemed to be no accidents between visits.
-Pssh.
The front door of the bus opened and a man in his 40s with a strict impression walked in.
-Welcome, Myeong Sae Hospital doctors. I'm Han Min-gyu, the first team leader of Seodaemun Fire Station.
As soon as he heard the introduction, Seong Chang Soo paused.
"He's in charge of this?”
"Do you know him?"
"I often run into him when I'm in the emergency room. How should I say this? He feels similar to Chief Ji. There's no room for errors.”
"Oh!"
"It's nothing to be amazed about. It means that it'll be really hard to get those points."
Han Min-gyu looked at all the doctors on the bus once.
– If there is anyone who came thinking they would take it easy at today's event, you should correct your judgment now. You have superior medical knowledge and treatment skills than our paramedics, so we will spend 24 hours in a practical dispatch rotation.
A loud and powerful voice rang in the bus.
"You heard that, right? The way he talks is just like Commander G.”
"He seems like a person with a sense of duty."
Han Min-gyu, who took a look outside, pointed toward the garage of the fire station.
-When you get off, please gather at the place where the ambulance is.
Volunteer paramedics moved in a line under the dark sky of the early winter morning.
Yawning as he entered the garage, Seong Chang Soo’s sight was drawn to a man.
"Huh?"
In his early 40s and with sleek eyes, he was someone familiar to Seong Chang Soo.
"Professor Min?"
"Dr. Seong? Wow, how long has it been?"
Seong Chang Soo bowed at the waist. The other was Prof. Min Eung-sik, one of the few serious trauma experts in Korea.
"Why are you here?… Gachan University Hospital is not in this area."
"I guess you didn't hear the news. I moved hospitals. To Hansung Hospital."
"What?"
Min Eung-sik continued to explain to Sung Chang-soo, whose eyes widened in surprise.
"The dean personally asked me to participate in a regional trauma center campaign by participating in a local event. Trauma surgery was newly established because of me, so how can I refuse? That's why we're here."
"W-we?”
"Oh. Say hi. This is Lim Jaebaek, a thoracic trauma specialist. This is Choi Young-je, who specializes in abdominal trauma.”
The two doctors completed their greetings one after the other. All of them were talented people who had built up a long career in the field of severe trauma. Seong Chang Soo had to swallow the groan that was threatening to come out.
"How many people came Myeong Sae Hospital?"”
"There are four from the emergency center and about ten from other departments.”
"A lot of people came. Let's have a meaningful event. Good luck, Dr. Seong."
"Yes…"
As soon as Seong Chang Soo finished his greeting, he stepped back and stuck close to Dowook.
"Do-Dowook."
"Huh?"
"There’s a huge problem. The dean of Hansung Hospital dispatched professor-level doctors here. Experienced ones at that. Do you see those three?”
"Those wearing white padded jackets?"
"Yeah. Professor Min Eung-sik in the front is a person who even gives lectures at the association."
Dowook stretched out his hand when he heard that the other was a great doctor. Perhaps because it was cold, but his hands only felt chilly in the cold wind.
"I’m not so sure.”
"What aren’t you sure about? I told you about Chief Ji's mission, right? This means that Hansung Hospital will openly go against us.”
Dowook also had no choice but to carefully examine the doctors from Hansung Hospital. Seong Chang Soo lamented.
"I got hit hard on the head. Showing off emergency skills in front of paramedics is not difficult, but it will be a childish joke in front of the final bosses. This event won’t mean anything if we don’t stand out."
"Will the call exemption disappear? I hope not.”
"Is that important right now! Myeong-deok! Cheolsoon! Sangmoon! Gather around."
Seong Chang Soo urgently called his three juniors from the emergency department who had come like him.
"Now that it's like this, let’s use our youth to our advantage. Work hard no matter what. Break the dream team of Hansung Hospital with positive energy."
In the meantime, Han Min-gyu entered the garage.
"We will provide everyone with a volunteer uniform. If a few people could help me hand it out.….”
"I'll do it!"
Seong Chang Soo raised his hand. Seong Chang Soo, who stood in front of Han Min-gyu with his three juniors, looked at Dowook. When he silently shouted "Special Order!" and pressured him, Dowook couldn't help but stand next to him.
"I'm Seong Chang Soo from Myeong Sae Hospital! We'll help you!"
"Yes, Dr. Chang Soo. Thank you for your support. You sound very strong."
Han Min-gyu pointed to a box with clothes.
"Top, pants, jacket, hat. You can distribute what's in that box according to size. Everyone, stand in a line, and change in the waiting room inside when you get your clothes!"
In a little bit.
Dowook changed into a navy-colored volunteer fire suit and entered a garage lined with fire trucks.
In addition to the fire department's symbolic pump car, there were a series of unknown red trucks. For some reason, it seemed that just looking at them gave him a feeling of stability because they were the first vehicles one would see in the event of an accident.
-I'm in Group D. I'll go after lunch.
-I'm in Group B.
On one side of the garage, there was an A4 sheet of paper with a timetable listing the groups that would work today. Dowook also pushed his head through the people checking.
[Emergency Team 1 Group A – Park Dowook]
"First order? Ugh."
Whatever it was, the first always ran into trouble.
He thought he was unlucky, but an announcement came from a speaker on the first floor of the fire station called the command amplifier.
-I'd like to inform all volunteer firefighters in the building. Prior to the official shift at 9 o'clock, there will be group training in the parking lot behind the garage, so please gather without exception. The shift order is posted on the garage bulletin board, so please check it.
Volunteer firefighters wandering around the fire station began to move.
Dowook found Seong Chang Soo as he entered the employee parking lot. Seong Chang Soo, who was closely examining the movements of Hansung Hospital, told Noh Myeong-deok.
"Look at him. He's already yawning. We won. Myeong-deok, let's cheerfully high-five here."
Dowook approached and scoffed at his ridiculousness.
"Is this a fight to see who is the most childish?"
"First of all, it's a good thing to win anything. Dowook, you high five, too!”
Seong Chang Soo's hand turned his hand at Dowook as well.
Han Min-gyu, holding a loudspeaker in his hand, walked out the back door of the station. Looking at the dozens of people, he placed the loudspeaker to his mouth.
– From now on, we will provide basic equipment training. Please stand freely around the members preparing inside. The team members who have been called for practice, please come out right away.
While firefighters explained how to use fire extinguishers and basic suppression equipment, Seong Chang Soo's checks continued.
"Look at Hansung. He’s touching his cell phone without focusing on the training."
"It's how to use a fire extinguisher. We won’t be using it even when we mobilize. "
Seong Chang Soo smiled when the explanation about the different types of gas masks that were lined up in front of them started.
"I carried the same model as that when I was a military doctor. You can turn it upside down in 5 seconds. Pfft.”
"We won't go rescue anyone wearing that."
They kept chatting throughout the training.
Dowook sent an eye gesture to the nearby Noh Myeong-deok asking if he could do anything about Seong Chang Soo’s mouth, but Noh Myeong-deok firmly returned that he could not.
Following a 30-minute basic fire fighting equipment training, two paramedics came inside with emergency bags and medical equipment on a stretcher for patient transportation.
– Medical paramedics, Group A, please come out first.
Dowook sighed and stepped forward while thinking that it was expected of being first. Then he saw a middle-aged man with sharp eyes approaching from the other side.
"Uh…"
A professor, who Seong Chang Soo said was competition earlier, was walking out. And with his colleagues at that. He couldn't believe he was in the same group as Hansung Hospital.
Professor Min Eung-sik reached out to Dowook.
"Nice to meet you, we're in the same group. I'm Min Eung-sik."
"I'm Park Dowook."
"Let's do well today."
Group A's education began after greeting the other two.
Seong Chang Soo ran over quickly when Dowook stepped back after completely familiarizing himself with the medical tools in the emergency bag following the procedure of assembling and transferring the stretcher.
"Dowook, you're the only one. Should I suggest changing the group?”
"I think I'll get attention if I make a fuss."
Seong Chang Soo looked at Dowook with a bitter look.
"Okay, then. There is no neurosurgery over there, so if the patient has neurological symptoms, shout out loud. I'll be active in Group B. With the spirit of youth. Aja aja."
-Group B, please come out.
"Here we go!"
When the paramedics called over Group B, Seong Chang Soo spiritedly went forward.
Dowook looked at the trauma experts dispatched by Hansung Hospital. It was true that he came to suffer for 24 hours, but somehow he didn't think things would go smoothly.
‘Protecting the call exemption. That's all I need to think about.’
Even if it was selfish of him, he couldn't help it. The word regional trauma center was too far away from Dowook.
It was 8:45 p.m. when the training was over.
-There will be a shift right away, so please don't go anywhere and wait here.
Firefighters who finished working all night appeared in the parking lot.
"Is it these people? Wow, a lot of people applied."
"Today, even if you don't go to the emergency room, the doctor will visit you at home. The residents must be very comfortable."
"Thanks to that, we can rest for a while."
Dozens of paramedics and twenty firefighters stood in a line in front of the volunteers. Han Min-gyu put his mouth to the loudspeaker.
-There's nothing else to say. Say hello to the doctors who will be responsible for the next 24 hours.
All the members bowed their heads.
"Please take good care of the citizens of Seodaemun-gu."
After greeting each other and shaking hands, the shift ended.
– The crew on duty will go to the waiting room. Those on the next shift can go to the lounge on the second floor.
Dowook approached the ambulance Group A would board.
He’d always greeted the patient through the back door, but it was the first time he went to greet the patient.
According to a search on the way over, a member was dispatched at least a dozen times a day. He also watched a video of an unlucky member running out as soon as the water was poured into a cup noodle.
When he put his hand on the doorknob to see the complicated-looking communication equipment attached to the passenger seat.
The speakers on the ceiling rang loudly.
-Emergency dispatch. Patient with spinal cord injury. Unit 307, Bldg. 107 of Samjeong Apartment in Yeonhui-dong.
The dispatch order had been issued.
Tingle.
And at that moment, Dowook felt someone else's sense digging into his fingertips.
‘Who is it?’
Han Min-gyu, the first team leader who had entered the waiting room, ran like lightning and opened the driver's door.
"Two people in Group A will wait at the headquarters. Two of you get on board!”
When Han Min-gyu's order was issued, Dowook instinctively opened the door and sat in the passenger seat.
While Lee Ji-seok added a stretcher to protect the spine in the back of the car, Hansung Hospital's dream team also rushed up.
"I'll go. Mr. Lim, Mr. Choi, wait."
"Yes, sir."
Min Eung-sik boarded the back and closed the door.
Vroom~ Wee woo wee woo!
An ambulance with a roaring siren left the fire station.
Han Min-gyu, who drove the ambulance to the left lane, skillfully utilized the right to travel and quickly crossed the road to work and left the intersection.
Dowook was surprised by the team leader's quick and smooth driving skills, but his eyes remained on the radio equipment he saw for the first time in front of him.
‘Huh?’
His hand moved without him realizing it. The connecting switch he didn’t know the use of was raised, the channel frequency wheel was rolled to set the setting, and the walkie-talkie was put to the mouth.
-Beep.
Dowook flinched. Han Min-gyu spoke after glancing at Dowook who was making an expression saying, ‘What am I doing?’
"If you're already connected, ask the command center for details of the dispatch order."
"Dispatch order? All right."
The sense in his hand was the sense of Han Min-kyu, the team leader of the first emergency team. The current impulse was deeper than in the garage.
"HQ. Tell us the details."
-Beep.
-The spouse, grandmother, reported it, and the patient is presumed to be unconscious after falling in the grandfather's bathroom. Currently in consultation with an emergency situation manager, but it is not well communicated to the elderly.
"If you're done, send me a reply saying you've received it."
-Beep.
"Got it."
Han Min-gyu asked Dowook who hung the walkie-talkie in front of him.
"Have you ever used that walkie-talkie? You seem familiar with it."
Dowook had no way to explain, so he just smiled silently.
In front of the crossing where one could see Seodaemun Fire Station at a glance.
News Seoul reporter Yoon Jin-hyo, who was waiting for the light to change, put his phone on his ear.
-Did you arrive?
The person who called was Kim Chun-man, Dean of Hansung Hospital.
"I’m in front."
– I won't argue about the coverage process. Instead, make sure you put it in as it is. How much citizens appreciate it. How much the firefighters like it.
"Just as it is? Are you serious?"
-Of course. The doctors from our side who were sent there are on a different level. They are professors who will become key management when they enter the regional trauma center.
Yoon Jin-hyo clicked his tongue at the director's already set plan.
"To sum up, I only have to report truthfully on today's case, and you're not going to stop the advertising, right?”
-Yeah. Oh, you're welcome to put down Myeong Sae Hospital a little bit. Especially emergency surgery assistants. I can't believe Chief Ji isn't coming. He made a mistake.”
"Objective or subjective coverage. Okay…"
During the call, an ambulance appeared at the entrance of the fire station.
Yoon Jin-hyo, who unconsciously looked at the passenger seat with a reporter's habit, paused. Because of an impression of a person that he had seen in the passenger seat somewhere.
-What's wrong?
"No, we'll proceed as requested by the dean."
Yoon Jin-hyo, who got off his cell phone, flinched while walking along the crosswalk and turned to an ambulance that disappeared with a siren in the distance.
"… Park Dowook?"
