The firefighters' headlights shined the area between the totally bent structure and gray cement.
"That way. Can you see?"
When asked by Shim Jae-man, head of the rescue team at Yongsan Fire Department, Dowook focused his sight on the patient.
‘His breathing is irregular. Is there a problem with his lungs?’
A patient who miraculously survived despite being stuck between so many steel frames. Although the distance between them was only 15m away, numerous barriers were blocking the path to his rescue.
"Sir! Can you hear me?"
[T/N: In Korean, the word used instead of sir means "person in need of rescue" and no gender was mentioned. But it didn't seem to make sense in English nor did it make sense to write ‘Sir/Ma’am’ just to be politically correct.]
"Sir!"
Considering that they did not respond to the firefighters' calls, there was a high possibility of a concussion.
Team leader Shim looked at Dowook.
"How does the patient look?"
"I can only presume that the breastbone has been crushed. If there is a possibility of pneumothorax or hemothorax, you should take it out before they stop breathing."
Han Min-gyu, who was looking at the patient on the other side, shook his head at team leader Shim. Even over there, quick rescue work seemed unreasonable.
Team leader Shim pressed the radio's transmission button on his shoulder.
"Situation room! When will the crane arrive? It can't be lifted with bare hands!"
–Bzzzt.
-I'm Lim Moon-bok, the transportation officer from Yongsan Police Station. The traffic in the area is not smooth because all the southern access roads have been blocked due to the accident. It'll take at least 30 minutes because it overlaps with the time to get off work. Turn the crane north and enter.
"Will it be faster to go around? Please open the way quickly."
The accident happened in one of the areas with the busiest traffic, so the police seemed to be having a hard time.
"When the crane arrives, it will take another 15 minutes to clean this up. Do you think he can last 45 minutes?"
Dowook did not speak immediately because he made the diagnosis from a distance and the patient hadn't recovered his consciousness, so the degree of injury could not be accurately determined.
"In this situation, I can't tell for sure…"
While considering his diagnosis, Dowook found a man in his 40s far away from him, dressing a patient's torn eyebrow. It was Professor Min Eung-sik who Seong Chang Soo had been trying to overcome all morning.
Dowook reached out and received his sense in order to check the patient.
He couldn't understand the tingling feeling clearly with his head, but he felt that there was a feeling of diagnosis that a trauma expert could do.
A situation where you would know for sure what measures to take after checking up close but were not able to do so. Even though they had been awkward all day, he needed Professor Min's insight right now.
After making a firm decision, Dowook shouted.
"Professor! Professor Min Eung-sik!"
Min Eung-sik's head turned at Dowook's call.
"Please check this patient! I'm in a hurry!"
Min Eung-sik, carrying an emergency bag on his shoulder, ran to the scene quickly.
"It's him. Team leader, the light."
Team leader Shim's flashlight shone inside. Min Eung-sik, who looked inside the debris, was greatly surprised.
"Oh, my. Are they okay?"
"They're not conscious yet."
Min Eung-sik, who examined a patient who had become insensate, opened his mouth.
"The breastbone is the problem. There. The upper left side. Contradictory chest wall movements are confirmed. At least five parts must have been fractured. There would be an internal hemorrhage."
As a serious trauma expert, the diagnosis arrived immediately. Team leader Shim asked Min Eung-sik the same question.
"Then how long can they last?"
"It's 20 minutes at most."
Team leader Shim, who frowned, shouted.
"Kisoon! Bring all the hydraulic equipment on site! Seokwon, come here!"
Min Eung-sik, who helped with the diagnosis, took a step back. Dowook bowed his head to him.
"Thank you, professor."
"This is nothing. By the way, I don't know if we can rescue them in 20 minutes."
While worrying, Han Min-gyu, who was on the other side, approached.
"How's the patient?"
Dowook quickly delivered Professor Min's diagnosis.
Han Min-gyu shook his head as he looked at the crew cutting the steel frame and pushing the cement lump with hydraulic pressure.
"That won't help us make it in time. Is there any way to stabilize the patient during rescue time?"
"That's…."
Dowook and Min Eung-sik's eyes met. Of course, there were treatments worth trying from a doctor's point of view. Min Eung-sik answered again this time.
"If you take blood out of the lungs, you can buy time. The rest of them are not life-threatening injuries."
"Is it something that a firefighter can do with medical guidance?"
"That would be hard. If you don't diagnose exactly where the blood is, you can't specify the area to be intubated. No, this is not an easy emergency measure even for a doctor."
"The crew on the other side are securing room to crawl inside. We intend to install safety airbags inside, but it's hard to take action unless you're a doctor, so it's useless for me to follow you."
Han Min-gyu's sad face.
Tingle. Tingle.
Dowook felt the impulse caused by the sense of the team 1's leader delivering a tremendously strong stimulus.
‘Hmm…'
He regretted not following Seong ChangSoo for about 0.1 seconds.
He stretched his hands around and stopped at a firefighter working on the demolition, sweating profusely. The other’s sense was transmitted to his hands through his special sense.
On top of the doctor's knowledge, the firefighter’s sense was immediately overlapped.
The confidence that it was a simple rescue work given by Team 1 Leader’s sense blew away the anxiety over the specific actions required.
Dowook looked at Han Min-gyu.
"Then… Should I go in?"
Yoon Jin-hyo continued the phone call with his cell phone on his ear.
"It's true. At least two teams have to cover this. If we do this properly, you can hand over the scoop to major broadcasting stations at a high price. Yes. It's the intersection just above Daeheung Station. If you're late, it'll be taken away by the Dongmyeong Ilbo."
After speaking enthusiastically to the head of the newspaper, he turned to the subject of the coverage.
Volunteers were treating the victims from the accident, who were seated down everywhere.
Click. Click.
The small digital camera he brought with the idea that it would be roughly loaded on the social page took in the accident site.
Then, he moved the lens in search of Park Dowook, a person of interest.
"Where are you, doctor?"
The searching lens caught sight of Dowook’s back.
He could only let out a disbelieving laugh at what he showed at the free clinic was a false laugh.
He couldn't believe that Dr. Park took over the event prepared by Hansung Hospital as if it was all made ready for himself. Among them, the expression of the emergency surgeon who lost was beautiful.
"Senior Sung. I like all the planning and coverage, but I'm the expert when it comes to Park Dowook."
Click!
Yoon Jin-hyo continued to take pictures of Park Dowook, a tall doctor in his early thirties armed with confidence, although he looked indifferent to everything.
"Huh?"
But–
He couldn't decide which direction to set the article at.
Crawling directly into the collapse site with a rope wrapped around his waist and a bag on his shoulder.
It was a completely different behavior from the medical staff who were treating patients with relative comfort nearby.
"Why there? What is he doing?”
Dowook was crawling in a low position between cement structures full of dust.
"Please follow me carefully, doctor."
Dowook nodded at the voice of the firefighter who entered before him.
Bzzzt.
-Medical staff entry. All members working on the collapse site stop."
When the work stopped at once to prevent possible structural shaking, it suddenly became quiet everywhere.
While avoiding the protruding steel frame and pushing his body between the narrow gaps, pain emerged from all body parts touching the floor.
Thanks to the small stones, he felt like he was being subjected to full body acupressure.
About 3m away from the patient, steel fragments blocked the way.
"The space inside is small. You need to proceed alone from here.”
Dowook nodded, passed by the firefighter, and entered the gap.
The dark passage full of debris was dug by relying on a single headlight.
Finally, as Dowook approached the patient, his instinct as a doctor immediately popped out.
"Patient, can you hear me?”
The man, who looked about fifty years old, remained silent even if Dowook shook his body slightly. The patient seemed to be in a semicoma.
The cement mass weighing on the waist and sides was too huge to do anything with just human power.
He took out a stethoscope and put it on the patient's chest. As expected, the sound of the rupture was loud.
Bzzzt.
-Dr. Park. How's the patient?
Professor Min Eung-sik's voice was heard from the walkie-talkie suspended from his shoulder. Dowook immediately pressed the send button.
"It’s hemopneumothorax."
-Listen carefully. There is a high possibility that the blood is pooled in the bubbling side.
Since CT could not be used to determine the location of blood collection, the location had to be determined in a very old-fashioned way.
"Professor, can you see me?"
-I'm watching.
While the light was shining, he accepted Professor Min’s sense in his hand.
Dowook took out scissors, cut off some of the patient's clothes, and revealed his chest.
After wearing sterile gloves, disinfectant was sprayed on the patient's chest. It was a weak measure in front of the risk of infection, but he had no choice but to push ahead within rescue time.
He took out the longest needle from the emergency box. There were no elaborate chest intubation instruments, no assistants, or common ultrasound photos.
This was the end of the preparation.
There was a different tension than when he touched a sensitive bundle of nerves.
"Patient. It's going to sting."
After taking a deep breath, he boldly inserted a needle.
Splurt.
Following the sound of air leakage, blood flowed out through the syringe connected to the needle. The patient's body wriggled.
"Gasp….”
The patient, who coughed again and again, regained consciousness.
"Ugh".
"Patient, are you awake?"
"This is…"
"This is the construction site. As the building collapsed, the patient was buried.”
The eye of the patient gradually returned to focus, as he saw Dowook wearing a fire hat.
"Sir… my chest…….”
"Take your time and breathe. You must be very uncomfortable because you're taking out the blood that's pooled in your lungs.”
Dowook measured the patient's pulse, listened to the sound of the lungs, and informed the waiting crew 3 meters away.
"The patient's vital strength is stabilizing. The patient should be able to last an hour like this."
"Thank you for your hard work, doctor.”
The firefighters immediately delivered the news to the site manager.
"Captain, The patient is in good condition now".
Bzzzt.
– Okay. Everyone, resume! Kisoon, you keep moving in and out of there and install airbags inside.
Dowook’s walkie-talkie rang as he looked at the patient.
-Dr. Park is very fascinating.
It was Professor Min's voice.
"Me?"
-During dispatch in the morning, you were an elite paramedic, at the free clinic, you were totally sly. And here… I really don't know.
"Well, it's all about helping people. What’s so complicated about it?”
-Ha. I'm learning a lot today, Dr. Park.
The firefighter, who had been outside for a while, dragged a square box and returned.
The phrase "high-intensity safety airbag" was attached to the surface.
The hands of the firefighter, who was sweating in the cramped area and continuing the installation work, slipped and the T-shaped connector bounced forward.
"Oh…"
Dowook reflexively reached out and grabbed it.
"I got it."
"Phew. Thank you, doctor."
"May I help you? This side is a bit spacious, so I can move a little."
“The thing is, sir. You have to connect the air hose to the Kevlar line accurately…….”
Dowook slotted the T-shaped pipe between the pressure reducer and the hose.
"Like this?"
"That's right. Like that. Have you done this before?”
Dowook pretended to be innocent and nodded.
"Yes."
A veteran firefighter working on dismantling the structure up there had done this before. That was enough.
