NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56: Scholar [3]
Dududu!
The governor and Shin Rip left the village while leaving a trail of dust behind them. There were tens of soldiers left to protect the village, injured people, village residents, and Gagnhyuk’s group.
“There are fewer injured people that I thought.” Ganghyuk murmured while going through the houses which were being used for injured people. To this remark, Dolseok responded, “They were dead or had fled away.”
“Yes, I see.”
He remembered the time when they had started to run. There were many others who were doing the same, quite a number of whom were soldiers. But, most of them fell under one of the three cases that Dolseok had mentioned.
“Is this the place where the heavy wounded are?”
“Yes! Yeoni and I have treated the lightly wounded ones.
“Good!”
“Hehe…” Dolseok was happy to hear the praise. Although he did not have good skills like Yeoni, he had a good memory. Once he learned something, he would rarely have any doubts. He could treat simple tears of scratches without any difficulties.
“Where is Yeoni?
“She must be with Miss Yeoju. May I call her?”
“No, no. There must be something that they can talk as women.”
Ganghyuk shook his head. He had experience in losing his father as well. It was not cruel and sudden like in Yeoju’s case, but he was clear that she might feel a bit of comfort if somebody were to be with her at this time.
‘I need her assistance, though.’
But, he could not leave her with Makbong, who might ‘console’ her in a strange way.
“Where is Makbong?”
“He might be in the place where the villagers are gathered.”
“Why is he going there?”
“In the war, many people were killed. Especially men…”
That meant that there were more new widows. Ganghyuk did not want to hear anything more beyond that.
“He is crazy.”
“But, he saved my life, sir! He had good skills.”
“Did he? I would have been killed myself if it were not for Yeoni.”
Of course, without Ganghyuk, Yeoni would have been killed too. It was a strange karma.
‘It is really strange.;
He saved Pyeonsu by chance, and they came here together. Ganghyuk opened the gate while wondering about their connections.
There was a bad smell all over the place, reflecting the fact that heavily wounded people were residing there.
“Eum…”
“These ones are fairly good, as the really bad ones died on the way. Most of the heavily wounded are the villagers”
“How much medicine have you used?”
“I used half of the antibiotics and half of the anti-inflammatory ones. I did not touch the others at all.”
Dolseok cited the dose of the medicine to show off his memory. He was better than Yeoni in terms of memory for sure.
“Bandage?”
“I used half of that as well.”
“Ok, let’s see the patients.”
“Yes, sir. There are not many, though.”
Dolseok passed Ganghyuk and opened the door, causing a gush of bad odor mixed with a bloody smell to slam into their faces. A man was lying there with a wound on his chest.
“He was the one fighting with us.” Ganghyuk recognized him at a glance. He had thought that all of them were dead. However, this one here was apparently not killed.
He was the one who fought to the end beside Changgweon.
“Dolseok, did you boil the water?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then, bring some hot water. I need to cleanse the wound.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dolseok went out after hearing the command of Ganghyuk. While he brought water, the latter investigated the wound carefully: how much bleeding had occurred, what the depth of the wound was, and if any bones were broken.
‘Ah, the sword was broken at that time.’
Owing to the broken sword, his wound was not fatal; his ribs were all intact. Naturally, the organs inside the ribcage were all intact as well.
If he had damaged his lung, he might have had been dead already.
‘His pectoralis major muscle is broken, but he might live.’
Rattle!
At that moment, Dolseok came back with a container, making a splashing sound. “Sir, here is the water.”
“Ok! Wear the gloves and come here.”
“Yes, sir!”
Ganghyuk went on to cleanse the wound with gauze using boiled water. As the scabs were removed, red blood started flowing out.
“Sir, shall I press it?” Dolseok asked on his own volition, clearly quite experienced up till this point.
“Yes, press it.”
“Okay, sir.”
Dolseok knew the process as they wiped and then pressed repeatedly to remove all the scabs.
“It might not be too deep.”
“Yes! The sword was obstructed because of the bone.”
“He is lucky to meet you after being wounded.”
“Is he?”
Ganghyuk tilted his head and wondered. ‘If he were lucky, he should not have been cut by the sword.’
…like himself.
Even Yeoni, who was an expert in martial arts, was slashed by the sword. However, he was totally fine, save for some scratches because of the branches of the trees in the forest.
“Now, I need to stitch it up.”
“May I hold it?”
Doseok brought the skin together to let him suture easily. He was very sensible; if they were an ordinary assistant and a professor rather than Dolseok and Ganghyuk, he would have been praised by the professor.
“Yes, but you should not do it like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“His left and right nipples are not in the same line. If it is not done correctly, it will make it strange to look later on.”
“Heo… You are right.”
Ganghyuk had seen a patient with unbalanced nipples. He was stitched well, but the location of the nipples was wrong. He could not forget the face of the resident who had done that.
‘I had unstitched it all and then sutured again.’
It was a really annoying work. However, as he was the one to suture today, there would not be such an incident.
“Let’s give the anesthetic.”
“But, he is not conscious.”
“He will wake up when it is too painful.”
“Yes.”
If the patient had systematic anesthetic, it would help him a lot.
Ganghyuk thought of the prescription that Heo Jun gave him, picking up the local anesthetic from the bag. ‘He had told me about Seomsu and Chooh.’
After the war, he would tell the governor to find those ingredients.
Chooh was a kind of herb, so he could find it somewhere; but, finding Seomsu would be difficult.
How could he catch toads? Maybe he could get them quickly through soldiers.
“Hold him tight, as he may move.”
“Yes.”
At that moment, Ganghyuk injected the anesthetic. He observed the cut section while injecting and found that the section was cut very cleanly.
‘He was fortunate that the masked man was an expert in sword.’
Yoeni and this scholar had clean cuts, so it was easier for him to treat. If the section were dull, it would have been harder.
‘It looks like a cut for an operation.’
Anyway, it was much better for the surgeon.
“Take the scissors.”
“Okay, sir.”
“How can I suture this kind of a deep cut?”
“Eum…” Dolseok observed the section carefully, which had the bone showing up. The skin, subcutaneous fat, and muscles were all cut clearly.
“First suture these muscles…”
“And then?”
“Connective…tissues.”
“Next?”
“Then skin.”
He clearly did not forget what he heard once. He could not remember some English words properly, but he had a really good memory overall.
“Good! You do well because you have a good teacher.”
“Hugh…” Dolseok was surprised for a moment, sighing when he met the fierce gaze of Ganghyuk.
“No, no… You are right, sir.”
“Yes, hold it here,”
“Okay, sir!”
Ganghyuk instructed him to hold the places and then started stitching. He sutured delicately along the direction of the muscle, so that it would not burst even when the patient moved.
“Wow!” Dolseok exclaimed unknowingly, seeing that the open wound had become tightly closed, which always made him exclaim. “You are really great.”
“This… This is nothing.”
It was really nothing comparing to the operations that he had done in that world. He had even removed somebody’s liver and transplanted it to another one’s body.
‘He is really surprised and moved.’ Ganghyuk laughed while watching Dolseok opening his eyes wide. If he could, he would like to take him to the operation room in that world and show him difficult operations.
He would like to let the latter know what he could truly do.
‘He would be surprised to death.’
The muscles were soon stitched up, and the big opening became closed.
It was a fact that the blood would stop if the bleeding area pressed and constricted. Hence, it was a very effective and powerful method to tightly press the cut section through suturing.
Having finished with that, the blood had mostly stopped. The remaining blood was flowing from the subcutaneous fat and skin.
“He might wake up soon.”
“Shall we give him a painkiller?”
Dolseok thought of the narcotic analgesic as a sleeping pill. It was Ganghyuk’s fault, because he used it for that purpose.
“No, no. If he is wide awake, hold him. I will let him know of the situation and persuade him.”
“Okay, sir.”
As the scholar had a small frame, Dolseok could handle him easily. He was a big man after all, even though he had lost some weight during the war.
“Now, the connective tissue…”
“Yes, sir!”
“Here, we should be careful so as to not make it too tight.”
“Yes! If we do, it will be harder to stitch up the skin.”
“Good! Stitch a little loosely… like this.”
Ganghyuk stitched the subcutaneous fat and connective tissue together.
If one tried too hard here to connect tightly and approach the skin too closely, it might distort the natural shape. In worst cases, the tissue under the knot could necrotize.
It would be better to do it insufficiently. The skin was an organ that could heal very well after all.
‘Additionally, this place is very good because of good blood circulation.’
The wound was very near to the heart, which meant that the blood circulation would be very good.
“Eu…”
When Ganghyuk finished suturing the connective tissues and went onto the skin, the scholar opened his eyes. It seemed that he could not remember what had happened after the battle.
“Please don’t move. You are under operation.!”
While Dolseok pressed him tightly using his force, Ganghyuk started to talk to him.
“Do you remember me?”
“Eu… Doctor Baik!” The scholar recognized him.
“Yes… You were injured by the masked man, and I am treating you now.”
“Ah!”
The scholar frowned at the remark of Ganghyuk.
“What happened to him?”
“The masked man was killed.”
Ganghyuk answered while stitching the skin. Skin sutures were very easy, because he had done a good job with the muscles and connective tissues.
He thought that he could let Dolseok do it.
“Good… good.” The scholar opened his mouth again while wondering something.
“Who killed the man? Did the warrior with you kill him?” He was referring to Yeoni.
Ganghyuk nodded his head in response, “Yes.”
“Ah! Then what happened to my teacher? The professor, I mean.”
Ganghyuk did not answer the question, finishing with the skin suture instead. He did not say anything for a while before responding, “Sir Changgweon passed away in the fight with the masked man.”
“Ah, Professor!”
“Thanks to him, we could kill the masked man and survive.”
“Ah!” The scholar could not continue talking due to the grief. Ganghyuk covered his wound with a bandage without saying anything.
“I will leave you for a while like this. I have some other patients to attend to.”
“Ah… What happened to his body?”
“The governor ordered to recover the body. I think his body must have arrived at the government office now. It is said that the governor will hold the funeral. Don’t worry!”