Chapter 56, Part 2: The Crossroads of Choice (1)

Shin Cheol-woo was pressing hard on the stab wound on the patient's right side with both hands.

The gauze between his hands and the wound was already soaked with blood.

He could feel the wetness of the blood on his palms.

The pungent smell of blood stung his nose.

This was the first time Shin Cheol-woo had witnessed someone dying right before his eyes.

How could he describe this chilling sensation?

The fear that the person might die?

The helplessness of not being able to save them?

The emotions deep in his heart seemed to be pulling him into an abyss.

Since he started helping Yi Min-jeom, Shin Cheol-woo had not once looked at the patient's face.

No, it would be more accurate to say he could not look at it.

"Shin Cheol-woo, what are you doing? The gauze is already soaked. You need to put a new one and press again!"

"Huh? Oh. Sorry."

Shin Cheol-woo snapped back to reality at Yi Min-jeom's reprimand.

He grabbed a handful of gauze that Yi Min-jeom had bought from the pharmacy.

He placed the soaked gauze on top of the already wet one and pressed it with both palms.

Only then did Yi Min-jeom's stone-like expression begin to soften.

'What are you...?'

While pressing the wound, Shin Cheol-woo looked at Yi Min-jeom, who was holding a bandage.

Yi Min-jeom was a truly remarkable friend.

He did not blink even when he saw a person riddled with stab wounds or when he confirmed the horrific bleeding.

At that moment, he seemed like a cold-blooded person without any emotions.

It was not just that.

The swift actions and surprising treatment he showed after discovering the patient were beyond description.

After all, Yi Min-jeom was a medical student, not a doctor.

His claim to be a genius and the fact that he had already been recognized for his skills by Professor Yang Sun-jae seemed to be true.

'I can't even hold my ground in front of this guy.'

Shin Cheol-woo fully accepted Yi Min-jeom's talent, which he had previously doubted.

Now, he realized that treating the traffic accident victim during orientation was not a coincidence or luck.

Once is a coincidence, twice is skill, and three times is destiny.

"Can this person be saved?"

Shin Cheol-woo asked Yi Min-jeom with a worried voice, looking at him.

He was curious about Yi Min-jeom's opinion, who was leading the treatment.

"A person dies when they lose 1.5 liters of blood. It sounds like a lot, right?"

"..."

"But how long do you think it would take to pour a 1.5-liter carton of milk on the floor? It would be in an instant."

"..."

"Fortunately, the treatment was quick. You guys also helped me well. If we can transfer him to a university hospital in time, we might avoid the worst."

Yi Min-jeom's voice was as calm as it could be.

Despite being a medical student, not a doctor, Shin Cheol-woo strangely trusted Yi Min-jeom's words.

"Can everyone take your hands off one by one?"

Yi Min-jeom started wrapping the patient's abdomen with the bandage in his hand.

His movements were quick and efficient.

The bandage, starting from the patient's lower abdomen, quickly covered the entire wound.

The words on the bandage packaging, "pressure bandage," were apt.

The bandage firmly pressed and tightened the patient's wound.

Wheee, wheee, wheee.

The ambulance siren sounded like a timely rescue.

The 119 rescue team pushed aside the students nearby and rushed into the restroom.

Shin Cheol-woo finally shook off the burden that had been weighing on his heart.

"What happened?"

"The patient has multiple stab wounds on his abdomen. The knife in his chest was not removed. The initial emergency treatment was done by me and my friends."

"How could you do such treatment...?"

The tall rescue team member looked at the patient with wide eyes.

He could not believe how ordinary people could perform such treatment.

When he arrived at the scene, the treatment that he, as a rescue team member, should have done was already completed.

It was an unbelievable sight, even though he saw it with his own eyes.

If it were an ordinary person, they would not have even managed to apply pressure or stop the bleeding, let alone report it in time.

'This patient... might be saved.'

The rescue team member gained courage after confirming that the patient was still conscious.

From the time of the call to the arrival, it took only 10 minutes.

Ten minutes was a short time, but it was also enough time to lose one's life after being stabbed.

But thanks to the students who performed the emergency treatment, the bleeding was not as severe as it could have been.

Not removing the knife embedded in the patient's chest was also a wise decision.

If the knife had been removed, uncontrollable bleeding would have certainly occurred.

"Younghwan, let's load the patient onto the stretcher."

"Okay."

The rescue team members loaded the patient onto the stretcher and moved him to the back of the ambulance.

Since the initial treatment was already completed, their job now was to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.

The students, who were soaked in blood and had performed the treatment, continued to help the rescue team.

They helped load the patient onto the stretcher and pushed the stretcher to the ambulance.

They were students with a strong sense of justice and a lot of goodwill.

"Thank you. You must have been busy being shocked, but you did a great job with the treatment."

"No, it's nothing. It's just a little thing..."

Yi Min-jeom said shyly.

"I have one more thing to say. This patient should not be transferred to a general hospital."

"There is a general hospital with an emergency room just 5 minutes away..."

"It's not enough to have just an emergency room. He needs to be transferred to a university hospital with a thoracic surgery department."

"..."

"The important thing is that the patient's final destination must be a university hospital."

"...I understand."

The rescue team member nodded after hearing Yi Min-jeom's explanation.

Why did the student in front of him, who was just a medical student, feel like an experienced doctor?

Why did he feel that he should not go against the student's words?

The rescue team member, who had been in a daze like being hypnotized, finally spoke.

"Younghwan, how long will it take to get to the nearest university hospital?"

* * *

"Phew, is it all over now?"

As the tension eased, the strength in his legs drained away.

Shin Cheol-woo barely managed to keep himself from sitting on the ground.

Looking down at his own clothes, he saw that his pants and shirt were completely soaked in blood.

The pungent smell of blood, which he had momentarily forgotten, suddenly hit his nose.

"Of all things, my pants are green and my shirt is white. This is completely ruined, isn't it?"

Shin Cheol-woo's joke made Yi Min-jeom, Nam Chorong, and Kwon Arom burst into laughter simultaneously.

"Thanks, everyone. If you hadn't helped, the patient would have died."

Yi Min-jeom looked each of his friends in the eye and expressed his gratitude.

While he had led the treatment, he did not save the patient alone.

Human life is precious and difficult to handle.

It cannot be protected by one person's strength alone.

When faced with a person who had been brutally stabbed, they could have frozen in fear.

But his friends overcame that fear and helped him.

Thus, their contributions were no less significant than Yi Min-jeom's.

After all, Yi Min-jeom could remain calm because he was a thoracic surgeon who had returned.

Yi Min-jeom envisioned forming a great team with Shin Cheol-woo, Nam Chorong, and Kwon Arom in the future.

A dream team for surgery that he had never dared to form in his previous life.

"Anyway, I guess we should give up drinking for now."

"I'm not in the mood to drink, and I don't think it would taste good either."

Kwon Arom nodded in agreement with Shin Cheol-woo.

"Let's go wash up and change clothes first. There's a clothing store in that alley."

"Wait, I think I hear a police car."

Yi Min-jeom confirmed the faint siren and turned his head in that direction.

Sure enough, a police car was heading towards the bar.

"Yi Min-jeom, are you some kind of doctor?"

Yi Min-jeom only smiled in response.

After working as a doctor, he could identify the type of vehicle just by the siren.

Wheee, wheee, wheee.

The short intervals of the siren indicated a police car.

When a patient with a serious crime-related injury arrives at the emergency room, a police car often accompanies them.

Beeep, boop, beeep, boop.

The siren with wider intervals was an ambulance.

The sound of the ambulance siren was the most common sound he heard while working in the emergency room.

"Are you the first witnesses?"

A police officer approached the group immediately after getting out of the police car.

It was not hard to identify the group, who were covered in blood.

The officer's expression was solemn and heavy, knowing that a terrible stabbing had occurred.

"To be precise, I was the only first witness."

Yi Min-jeom stood facing the officer and spoke.

"Can you describe the situation you just experienced in detail?"

"I was about to enter the restroom when a classmate was coming out."

"..."

"So, I went into the restroom after my classmate and found a person who had been stabbed in the abdomen. The knife was embedded in his chest."

Yi Min-jeom described what he saw, heard, and experienced in as much detail as possible.

The second most important thing after saving the patient was to identify the perpetrator of this terrible crime.

Who was the perpetrator, and what could have motivated them to commit such a heinous act?

'Could it be Imho?'

Yi Min-jeom thought of Imho and shook his head.

It would be a lie to say that Imho had no suspicion.

He was the last person to see the fallen patient.

He did not report the incident even after discovering the patient, which was highly suspicious.

However, it was also a fact that Imho had no apparent motive to commit such a brutal stabbing.

"Who was the classmate you met in the restroom?"

"He is Imho, a first-year medical student at Shinwon University."

"Imho... I see. What is your name, sir, who is giving the statement?"

"I am also a first-year medical student at the same university, and my name is Yi Min-jeom."

"Was it you who immediately treated the patient after seeing him?"

"Yes, that's correct."

The officer's questions were meticulous and sharp, as if Yi Min-jeom were a murder suspect.

A witness is the most important key to solving a case and simultaneously the most likely suspect.

Knowing this, Yi Min-jeom did not feel offended by the officer's questions.

There was no connection between him and the victim.

The CCTV footage from the restaurant and the statements of his classmates and people around him would prove his innocence.

Finally, if he were the perpetrator, there would have been no need to stab the victim and then treat him enthusiastically.

Evidence of Yi Min-jeom's innocence was scattered everywhere.

The police would soon realize this.

"That's enough. Be aware that you might be summoned as a witness later."

"Sure."

After the Q&A, the officer also conducted an investigation with the surrounding people, friends, and the restaurant staff.

Soon, a police line was set up in the restroom, and the forensic team arrived to examine the scene.

This was the moment when the atmosphere of the incident shifted from a medical drama to a criminal one.

"Let's go back."

"Okay."

Following Shin Cheol-woo's suggestion, the group headed to a different building, not the bar. They asked for permission from the owner and cleaned the blood from their clothes and skin in the restroom.

They also bought cheap coats from a nearby clothing store.

However, the pungent smell of blood did not easily disappear...

Yi Min-jeom, who had parted ways with his friends and arrived at an apartment complex near his home, walked while lost in thought.

The bar stabbing incident he experienced today was an event that did not exist in his previous life.

At that time, he had no friends and did not go out to enjoy with them.

He only focused on tutoring to pay for his tuition.

'This won't be easy in the future.'

Yi Min-jeom intuitively felt that there would be a tremendous number of events that had already occurred in the past but were unknown to him.

And solving those events would not be easy.

However, he was confident that he could endure and overcome all the trials.

After all, the him of the previous life and the him of the current life were, strictly speaking, completely different people.

'But is Imho really the perpetrator?'

Yi Min-jeom suddenly recalled a few dozen minutes ago.

He tried to remember the appearance of Imho, who had just come out of the restroom.

He felt that something vague might come to mind.