Chapter 16

Chapter 3 of Episode 16: I Am a Elementary School Student (4)

'What the heck, I'm really getting annoyed!'

Click!

While pressing hard to draw with a pencil, the lead broke.

At that moment, Kim Yo-han was more worried than angry about Lee Mi-ran, who had prevented him from opening the window.

This week, he had to make do with the pencil he was holding.

Of course, Kim Yo-han's family wasn't so poor that he couldn't buy a pencil.

But Kim Yo-han knew well how hard his mother worked at the market.

He understood her hardships, facing customers who bargained over vegetable prices while enduring the cold winds of a late spring chill.

That's why he didn't use pencils carelessly.

Everything Kim Yo-han ate, slept, and used was infused with his mother's tears.

After his father passed away, his mother had shed many tears, and Kim Yo-han wanted to ease her burden even a little.

'Why is she acting like this?'

Kim Yo-han wanted to look at Lee Mi-ran, who was sitting behind him, but he didn't.

If their eyes met, he felt he would have to say something.

For the past two weeks, Lee Mi-ran had been unusually friendly to him.

She would loiter around him during breaks.

She would persistently ask him to draw pictures.

She would forcibly drag him to play with her.

Kim Yo-han didn't find Lee Mi-ran's behavior very pleasant.

Her good looks and bright smile.

Always ranking first in the class and excelling in sports and social relationships—why would she want to be friends with him?

There must be some hidden agenda that he didn't know about.

He couldn't think of any other reason.

'No choice. I'll have to use this pencil carefully until next week.'

Kim Yo-han took a new pencil from his bag and sharpened it with a knife.

The sound of the pencil being sharpened made him feel more at ease.

But right at that moment, a sharp pain shot through his left chest, as if lightning had struck his heart.

"Ugh!"

His lips parted involuntarily, and a groan escaped.

He had never felt such pain in his life. His mind went blank, and he felt his strength draining from his limbs.

Caught off guard by the sudden pain, Kim Yo-han was at a loss.

He didn't know what to do.

"Yo-han, are you okay?"

Lee Mi-ran hurried to his side.

Her eyes were filled with deep concern as she looked down at him.

But no matter how much pain he was in, Kim Yo-han didn't want to owe Lee Mi-ran anything.

"It's... fine. I'll go to the nurse by myself."

"What are you talking about? You can't even walk properly. I'll help you."

"No... I don't want you to!"

Thud!

While struggling with Lee Mi-ran, Kim Yo-han stumbled and fell to the classroom floor.

* * *

'What is this?'

I barely caught Kim Yo-han as he fell and laid him flat on the floor.

I was completely flustered.

Everything was going against my expectations.

The most likely reason for Kim Yo-han to collapse was anaphylactic shock, right?

But all the windows in the classroom were closed, and there were no bees or insects flying around.

Yet, Kim Yo-han suddenly became painful and collapsed.

Although the unexpected turn of events was perplexing, I maintained my composure.

The first virtue of a surgeon is to remain calm, even if the sky is falling.

If a doctor is anxious and at a loss, who can patients and their guardians trust?

"Kim Yo-han, are you okay?"

I knelt down and shook Kim Yo-han's shoulder vigorously.

Like a TV being turned off, Kim Yo-han's consciousness had already faded. Observing his chest and placing my face near his nose, I found that he wasn't breathing.

I couldn't feel a pulse in his carotid artery with my fingers.

It was a typical case of cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest in an elementary school student?

The unusual case confused me, but my body moved before my mind.

The task was clear and simple, something I had experienced hundreds of times in my previous life.

Rattle!

I ran to the next classroom and pushed the door open roughly.

"Teacher! Yo-han has collapsed. Please call 119."

"What?"

"Yo-han has collapsed. Please call 119. Hurry!"

The Korean teacher looked at me with wide, startled eyes.

The students in the next class also looked at me as if I was saying something out of the blue.

Ignoring their reactions, I returned to the classroom and began CPR on Kim Yo-han.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

My cupped hands pressed firmly on the center of Kim Yo-han's chest.

Each time, his frail body jolted like a fish out of water.

But I didn't reduce the pressure I was applying with my hands.

The heart had stopped.

And the stopped heart was filled with blood.

Chest compressions use the pressure from the hands to push the blood in the heart to the rest of the body.

Pressing the heart with an uncertain force wouldn't help much.

'Is it because he's too young?'

Even after just one cycle of chest compressions, fatigue set in.

My breathing became rough, and my arms trembled.

But I couldn't give up.

I struck Kim Yo-han's chest with my fist 3 to 4 times.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Precordial thump.

A secret technique of CPR that only a thoracic surgeon skilled in practical and anatomical knowledge can perform.

Precordial thump is a method of treatment that mimics the role of a defibrillator by delivering an electrical stimulus with a fist.

It can generate 2 to 5 joules of electricity.

Repeating this can help the heart recover its normal rhythm.

Next, I tilted Kim Yo-han's head back to open the airway, covered his nose with my hand, and performed artificial respiration.

Chest compressions, precordial thump, and artificial respiration.

While repeating these three cycles, the Korean teacher from the next class approached me.

"Mi-ran, what happened?"

The teacher, who looked scared, asked me.

"I... don't know..."

I answered in a voice that sounded like I was about to suffocate.

CPR is extremely physically demanding.

After just a few cycles, my undershirt was drenched in sweat, and my breath was short.

"The teacher has called 119. The paramedics will arrive soon."

"...Okay."

I took charge of the CPR alone.

It was the right thing to do and the most effective.

As a former thoracic surgeon, I could be more helpful in this situation than a flustered adult.

However, since there were people watching, I excluded the precordial thump from the treatment.

'Damn it!'

The problem was that despite my professional and systematic CPR, Kim Yo-han's consciousness didn't return.

His closed eyelids didn't open, and his heart showed no signs of beating again.

At least I was left because of the physical education class.

In my previous life, if such a situation had occurred, Kim Yo-han's death would have been almost inevitable.

'But as long as I'm here, I won't let him die easily.'

My body screamed in pain, but I persevered with the determination to save Kim Yo-han.

A doctor is not only someone who heals but also someone who fights against death.

Whine!

How much time had passed?

The sharp sound of the siren grew closer.

Two paramedics rushed to the classroom with a stretcher.

"Haa... Haa..."

"Haa... Haa..."

"Haa... Haa..."

"Haa... Haa..."

The rapid breathing of the four people created a strange rhythm.

The breathing of Kim Yo-han, who had just regained consciousness thanks to my all-out CPR.

My rough breathing from the CPR.

The breathing of the paramedics who had rushed to the scene finally began to harmonize.

As the saying goes, "If the mind is strong, it can move the heavens." When the paramedics arrived, Kim Yo-han had regained consciousness.

If I had the strength left, I would have raised my arms to the ceiling and shouted in joy.

As the saying goes, "If the mind is strong, it can move the heavens."

Thanks to my persistent observation and attention, I successfully saved Kim Yo-han.

My efforts were not in vain.

"What happened here?"

The paramedic looked around the classroom and asked urgently.

"I... I know."

I caught my breath and continued.

"My friend clutched his chest and collapsed. I shook his shoulders, but he was unconscious. So, I pressed his chest as I saw on TV. That's when my friend came back to life."

I answered innocently.

Manipulating adults with children is simple.

...by saying it.

Then adults can never doubt a child. It was a skill I had learned from my experience as a former thoracic surgeon, living again from the age of one.

"Kid, are you okay?"

"My chest... hurts a lot."

Kim Yo-han answered in a voice as small as a mosquito's.

"It's because your friend pressed your chest. He didn't do anything wrong; he did a good job. Is there any other place that hurts?"

"Only my chest aches."

Kim Yo-han's eyes were filled with fear after narrowly escaping death.

How terrifying it must have been for an elementary school student to collapse from cardiac arrest and just regain consciousness.

I sat next to Kim Yo-han and patted his shoulder.

"Uaaaaaah."

Kim Yo-han finally burst into tears. I deliberately held him in my arms to let him cry more.

Expressing emotions as they are.

These were healthy tears.

"You saved your friend. That's really impressive. I didn't expect an elementary school student to know CPR."

"I just wanted to save my friend, so I did what I saw on TV."

"You did well. Your courage saved your friend. By the way, your name is Lee Mi-ran, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"You and I have a connection. When you were in kindergarten, your friend almost choked on jelly. I was the one who responded to the call."

The paramedic smiled and patted my head.

"Hello, sir."

"What a good kid."

With Kim Yo-han regaining consciousness, the situation was temporarily resolved.

Originally, Kim Yo-han should have been taken to a nearby hospital by his homeroom teacher and the ambulance.

But I declared that I would accompany Kim Yo-han.

-If I'm not there, my friend will be anxious.

This convincing statement convinced not only the homeroom teacher but also the paramedics.

In reality, after regaining consciousness, Kim Yo-han clung to me like a chick to its mother hen.

Wheee!

The ambulance, making a loud noise, left the school playground.

The homeroom teacher, who had joined after hearing the news, sat in the front passenger seat, and a paramedic sat in the back seat, ready for any emergency.

"I'm scared."

"Don't worry. I'm here, and the 119 sir is here too."

I stroked Kim Yo-han's head to reassure him.

Unlike in my previous life, Kim Yo-han had survived the encounter with death.

It was a story only I knew, but it didn't matter.

Life is originally a collection of stories known only to oneself.

However, despite the pride I felt for reviving Kim Yo-han, I couldn't completely dispel the dark cloud that had settled in my chest.

'Something is definitely wrong.'

Cardiac arrest in an elementary school student, who is neither middle-aged nor a young adult, is a special case.

Cardiac arrest typically occurs in adults with narrowed coronary arteries.

Perhaps Kim Yo-han had a congenital heart disease that even he and his mother didn't know about.

Currently, this seemed the most plausible explanation.

If we could get a detailed examination at the hospital, we could find out the real reason why Kim Yo-han collapsed.

While comforting Kim Yo-han, I looked out the window.

The street trees, shops, and cars were quickly passing by.

The loud siren, which hadn't stopped, pierced my eardrums, maintaining a tense atmosphere.

The cause of Kim Yo-han's cardiac arrest.

Until this was clearly identified, nothing was over.