Chapter 26, Part 1: Racing Against Time (1)

"Brother! Brother! Snap out of it!"

I knelt beside Kim Ji-yong, speaking in an exaggerated voice, and gently pulled down his shirt.

The area between the second rib and the sternum, where the puncture needed to be made, was clearly visible to me.

I had performed countless chest tube insertions and punctures, but this was the first time I was doing it with a pen.

It was also the first time I had to do it secretly.

Even I, a former professor of thoracic surgery, felt tense and nervous in this situation.

Despite the harsh environment that seemed to turn its back on me, I had to succeed, no matter what.

I had not become a doctor to let people leave this world pointlessly, like my father in my previous life.

I could not abandon my duty just because I was a sixth-grader.

I would do it in one go.

With a determined look, I focused my gaze on the puncture site and gathered all my strength in the hand holding the pen.

"Brother, get up quickly. Ji-won is worried. Hurry up!"

Pretending to sob, I leaned over Kim Ji-yong's upper body, creating a kind of smokescreen to prevent others from seeing what I was doing.

I also covered my right hand, which held the pen, with my left hand, ensuring that my actions would not be noticed from above or the side.

Now, the only task left was to puncture accurately.

My target was the second intercostal space along the midclavicular line on Kim Ji-yong's right side.

Since he had clutched his right chest and fainted, it was likely that the pneumothorax had occurred on the right lung.

Puuu!

The sharp tip of the pen pierced the skin, and I felt a distinct sensation as something snapped.

I could not have been mistaken about this clear and refreshing feeling.

The sensation of the pen tip penetrating the pleura and creating a hole.

Without needing to check, the puncture was a success.

'As expected, it went in properly!'

A faint breeze could be felt from my left hand, which had been covering my right hand.

The air trapped in the pleural cavity was being released through the pen barrel.

After a few seconds, the breeze in my hand completely disappeared.

There was a risk of infection from this procedure, but at the moment, preventing the lung from collapsing was the priority.

Once Kim Ji-yong was taken to the hospital by the ambulance, the on-duty doctor would handle the situation.

"Hey? Isn't that the ambulance?"

Having completed the puncture without anyone noticing, I loudly looked towards the window.

This was a strategy to divert the group's attention.

Sure enough, the group looked towards the window as if they had made a pact.

The moment was now!

I quickly put the blood-stained pen in my pocket and tidied up Kim Ji-yong's shirt, which had become disheveled.

This was to hide the small hole and the blood droplets from the puncture site.

With this, a perfect procedure, not a perfect crime, was completed.

The tension that had been taut like a stretched string finally began to ease.

I realized that there were times when I had to perform procedures secretly, like a thief.

"I'm sorry. I must have been mistaken."

I played it off, wiping the cold sweat from my sleeve as I stood up.

Since the procedure was successful, the worst-case scenario had been avoided.

Through the puncture, all the air trapped in the pleural cavity had been released.

As the pressure on the lung decreased, the tension pneumothorax would stabilize.

Now, all that was left was for the ambulance to arrive and take Kim Ji-yong to the hospital.

'As expected, no one noticed.'

I observed the expressions of Kim Ji-won, her mother, Kkaburi, and Kim Yo-han.

They seemed completely unaware of what I had done.

If they had known, they would have already treated me like a madman and caused a commotion.

Despite the twists and turns,

I had once again used my wit to save a life.

It was a moment of pride and satisfaction.

Weee!

Weee!

The siren, which used to make me sigh when I was an intern in emergency medicine, now sounded like an alarm of salvation.

I was the first to open the front door and cross the garden to open the gate of the mansion.

"Sir! This way, quickly!"

* * *

Reul Hospital, a 100-bed facility located in Mok-dong.

Dr. Lim Tae-ho, an emergency medicine physician, was looking down at the patient who had just undergone a chest tube insertion.

Ten minutes earlier, the middle school student, who had been transported by the ambulance, was in a critical condition.

He was unconscious, suffering from severe hypotension and cyanosis due to hypoxia.

His tall and thin appearance, typical of a teenager, pointed to a single diagnosis.

Feeling anxious and restless, he began a precise diagnosis with his stethoscope.

The clear tympanic sound he heard in his ear confirmed his worst fears: it was a tension pneumothorax.

"Dr. Lee, please get the chest tube insertion set and assist me."

"Yes, sir."

Having diagnosed the tension pneumothorax, he proceeded with the chest tube insertion without an X-ray (in emergency cases, chest X-rays can be skipped, as treatment is prioritized over diagnosis).

'But this is...'

While preparing for the chest tube insertion, Dr. Lim Tae-ho was greatly surprised.

He had been wondering why the patient's condition was so stable for a tension pneumothorax.

Then he noticed a hole in the second intercostal space along the midclavicular line on the right side.

Surprisingly, this was the exact spot where a puncture is made to reduce the pressure in the pleural cavity of a tension pneumothorax patient.

This small hole was the reason the middle school student had survived until now.

Thanks to this hole, Dr. Lim Tae-ho could perform the chest tube insertion more calmly.

"Dr. Lee, how is Ji-yong?"

The patient's mother, looking worried, asked.

"The procedure was successful, and he will soon return to normal. Did you know your son had a pneumothorax?"

"Pneumothorax? I've never heard of it."

"I see. Pneumothorax can often go unnoticed until it is discovered later."

Dr. Lim Tae-ho explained pneumothorax to the mother and informed her that consistent management would be necessary even after the patient returned to normal.

"By the way, was there a doctor in the house?"

"Doctor? It was just me and the children."

"Hmm... That's strange. The most important emergency treatment had already been done. Without it, your son would have been in grave danger."

Tension pneumothorax is a life-threatening emergency that requires immediate action.

It's so urgent that even a necessary chest X-ray can be skipped.

"Honestly, I don't know what happened. After my son collapsed, I don't remember anything..."

The mother seemed genuinely unaware, which made Dr. Lim Tae-ho even more puzzled.

An emergency treatment that only a doctor could perform had been done before the patient was transported to the hospital.

But there was no one who had performed it.

His gaze shifted to the children standing next to the mother.

There was one boy and one girl, both of whom looked like sixth-graders. It was impossible for them to have performed such a medical procedure.

Then, who had done it?

Dr. Lim Tae-ho called the ambulance crew, who had not yet returned.

"Did you make a hole in the patient's chest?"

"What? No way. That's a procedure we're not supposed to do."

"Then who did it?"

"We don't know. It's like a ghost did it."

The ambulance crew looked bewildered.

Dr. Lim Tae-ho imagined he had the same expression.

He called the patient's mother again to ask for the details, but he only heard the same story.

The only adult in the house was the patient's mother, who was not a medical professional.

"It couldn't have been me... Surely, the sixth-graders couldn't have performed such an impossible procedure."

The mother's confident words made Dr. Lim Tae-ho even more perplexed.

A procedure had been performed, but there was no one who had done it...

It was like a ghost had done it.

This incident would likely remain a mystery in his medical career.

* * *

Fifteen minutes after the chest tube insertion, Kim Ji-yong regained consciousness.

Kim Ji-yong was bewildered to find himself in the hospital, and Kim Ji-won and her mother burst into tears at the sight of him.

'Phew, we've made it through this crisis.'

Watching the three families regain their peace, I finally felt relieved.

I had faced numerous crises up to the age of 12, but none had been as precarious as today.

Even when I treated Kim Yo-han, the only procedure I had performed was CPR.

But today's procedure was on a different level.

I had performed a procedure that only real doctors could do, albeit clumsily.

And I did it secretly, without arousing suspicion from those around me.

Although I had successfully saved Kim Ji-yong, I did not think of myself as extraordinary.

Instead, I was grateful for the good fortune that had followed me.

If the pen had been inserted even a little deeper or if its direction had been slightly off, I might have become Kim Ji-yong's grim reaper.

'I wish time would pass quickly...'

For the first time, I felt frustrated at being a sixth-grader.

The limitations of treating patients outside the hospital as a sixth-grader were clear.

Today, I had felt so frustrated without a stethoscope and a chest tube insertion set.

The place where I belonged was undoubtedly the hospital.

I shone the brightest when working in the hospital.

"I feel bad for causing trouble to Belief, who came to play. I'm sorry. Next time, I'll buy you lots of treats."

Kim Ji-won's mother looked at me with an apologetic expression.

Kkaburi and Kim Yo-han had been sent home after the ambulance arrived, and I was the only one who had followed to the emergency room.

"No, it's okay. I'm glad your brother is safe."

"Our Belief is so well-spoken. The doctor said he needs to be observed for a day... Belief, are you tired? Should you go home first?"

"Our dad is near the hospital. I can go home in his car."

"Yes, then I'll see you next time. I hope your brother stays healthy."

"Thanks, Belief."

After the emergency situation had passed, I left the hospital with Kim Ji-won.

"Huh... huh..."

Once outside the hospital, Kim Ji-won suddenly began to sniffle.

She had been hiding her emotions and pretending to be fine.

It seemed she had been deeply troubled since Kim Ji-yong collapsed.

"Ji-won, are you okay?"

I comforted Kim Ji-won, who was sobbing.

I had seen it all as a thoracic surgeon, but Kim Ji-won was just a sixth-grader.

She must have been severely shocked by this incident.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I suddenly felt scared and relieved at the same time."

"Anyone would feel that way if a family member suddenly collapsed. Even I would. So it's not strange to cry."

"Thanks. But you, Belief, are really good with words."

"Is that what you just realized?"

My joke made Kim Ji-won's expression lighten a bit.

Making people laugh and making people cry, in the end, it all comes down to people.

In my previous life, I had lost many people due to my foolishness.

In this life, I would catch the people I had lost with my own hands.

"Ji-yong will get better soon. I believe that."

"I believe it too. There's our dad's car. Dad!"

Kim Ji-won waved at the car that had just entered the parking lot.

I looked at the car as well.

The spectacular day of performing a thoracostomy as a sixth-grader was coming to an end.

* * *

It had been four days since Kim Ji-yong collapsed with a tension pneumothorax.

According to what I heard from Kim Ji-won, Kim Ji-yong was now healthy.

However, since he learned about his pneumothorax, he had been more careful than usual.

At that point, I thought:

The reason Kim Ji-won suddenly transferred schools might have been because Kim Ji-yong had died from a tension pneumothorax.

Moreover, there was a high probability that Kim Ji-yong's death was related to Kim Ji-won's acting career.

Until now, Kim Ji-won had taken on various roles as a child actor.

But in my previous life, she had stopped appearing on TV at some point.

Perhaps due to the depression from suddenly losing a family member.

Since giving up on one's dreams is a common occurrence, this was a plausible explanation.

In any case, it was clear that by saving Kim Ji-yong, the lives of Kim Ji-yong, Kim Ji-won, and her parents had taken a different path from my previous life.

Although it was a story only I knew, I did not mind.

Life is made up of stories that only we know.

Since I knew, I could prepare and change the fates.

Fates that I could change with quick thinking, even if I did not know them.

Fates that would change as I took action.

Although countless fates awaited me in the future,

I was ready to face them head-on.

Having started a new life from the age of one, after living through more than forty years of twists and turns, I was a prelude to thoracic surgery.