Chapter 47 – It Was Grandmother (2)

Screech—

The jeep arrived in front of the main gate of the National Medical Center.

At that, Yun-seok, who was waiting in advance, ran to where the jeep stopped in a single breath.

“Yun-seok! Over here!”

Ji-hyuk, who got off the car first, waved to Yun-seok.

“Ah! Ji-hyuk! Honestly, you too! What is it this time?”

Yun-seok, who ran over out of breath, pouted.

“That’s not what’s important, the patient’s condition is serious right now. I performed emergency treatment, but we need to move her to the operating room immediately.”

Clatter—

Ji-hyuk opened the back door of the jeep.

At that very moment.

“How do you meet with accidents wherever you go…”

For a moment, as if watching a frozen screen, Yun-seok didn’t move a muscle.

Yun-seok, who saw actress Hong Mi-ju loaded in the jeep, was frozen and couldn’t speak a word.

“…….”

Hong Mi-ju was in a deep sleep, having received the sedative procured by Professor Lee Gil-sook.

“How did this happen, Kim Ji-hyuk!”

“As you can see, it is Mi-ju.”

Kim Ji-hyuk had never seen Hong Mi-ju of this time period.

But he could fully deduce that the original Kim Ji-hyuk had been acquainted with Hong Mi-ju.

“So I’m asking, h-how did this happen?”

Before he knew it, Kim Yun-seok’s voice was shaking wildly.

“Yun-seok, we don’t have time for a long explanation! First, secure the operating room…”

“Yeah. I’ve secured the operating room! How did it happen? Why is Mi-ju lying here?”

Yun-seok and Hong Mi-ju.

Yun-seok, who met Hong Mi-ju during his school days, fell in love with her at first sight and had had a crush on her ever since.

However, Yun-seok, who had a timid personality, could not approach her, and Mi-ju, who did not know his feelings, suddenly left Yun-seok’s side and became a Gukgeuk actress.

Yun-seok still could not forget Hong Mi-ju.

Facing her in an unexpected place, Yun-seok could not help but be flustered.

“She collapsed suddenly during the performance. It seems her splenic injury is severe! I performed emergency treatment, but we must enter surgery immediately. You can perform it, right?”

“Whew… Mr. Lee Jang-soo in Room 304, his bile duct ruptured, so…”

Yun-seok, who had a troubled expression, could not step forward readily.

It was partly because the condition of his own patient, Lee Jang-soo, was not good, but also because he could not bear to take charge of the surgery of Hong Mi-ju, whose condition was critical.

It was a difficult surgery, and it was obvious that if he failed the surgery, it would be hard to bear.

“I, I don’t think I have the confidence…”

‘I know it’s a difficult surgery! But Grandfather must perform this surgery!’

“Yun-seok! Honestly, I don’t have the confidence for this surgery either. In that case, shall we send Mi-ju to another hospital?”

“……!”

Hong Mi-ju’s condition was critical, and Yun-seok knew all too well that transferring her to another hospital was already impossible.

“What are you going to do! Decide quickly! I can’t do it. I’ve never even performed this surgery!”

“I haven’t performed it either!”

“Dr. Yun-seok! I will help too, so you perform the surgery. If neither Ji-hyuk nor you have experience in splenectomy, it is right for you, who grasps all the techniques perfectly, to perform it!”

‘Ah! That’s not the case… I performed splenectomy surgeries a lot before my transmigration?’

“Right! I’ll somehow treat patient Lee Jang-soo, so…”

“O-Okay! Move her to the operating room right now!”

Finally, Yun-seok resolved to take charge of Hong Mi-ju’s surgery.

“What about the anesthesiologist?”

“I’ve contacted them for now, so we have to wait.”

“Then may I take charge of the anesthesia? Hearing the situation, it seems procuring an anesthesiologist won’t be easy.”

At that, Shin Jung-eun stepped forward immediately.

General surgeons were severely lacking, so naturally, there couldn’t be enough anesthesiologists either.

“Since you are a doctor from another hospital, it might be a bit difficult…”

“The patient is in critical danger, so how do we have time to nitpick over that? Please let it be so! Let’s perform the surgery first and handle the post-processing later! I’ll take care of that.”

Lee Gil-sook stepped forward and settled the situation.

With that, Shin Jung-eun and Kim Yun-seok loaded Hong Mi-ju onto a stretcher and moved to the operating room.

* * *

Eight hours later, dressing room.

Opening the abdomen, actress Hong Mi-ju’s condition was much worse than expected. The external trauma was severe, raising high concerns of infection, and the rupture of the spleen was large, causing very serious bleeding.

If it were modern medicine, they could have incised about 1.5 cm to a maximum of 3 cm to perform robotic surgery, but now, a traditional open surgery was the only answer.

In that sense, a splenectomy was not a very difficult surgery by modern standards, but by 1953 standards, it was a highly dangerous surgery that could lead to death in the worst case due to bleeding, infection, and loss of immunity.

However, Kim Yun-seok overcame these adversities and completed the surgery successfully.

After the surgery, Hong Mi-ju was moved to the recovery room, and Yun-seok walked to the dressing room to change his clothes.

“You did a great job, Yun-seok!”

Ji-hyuk, who was waiting for Yun-seok, welcomed him warmly.

“…….”

Yun-seok, who had operated with all his might. Even though he had successfully finished the surgery, he was in a state of exhaustion.

“Looking at the surgery record, it seems isolating the blood vessels connected to the spleen wouldn’t have been easy, but you did it very precisely!”

Ji-hyuk praised Yun-seok repeatedly as he looked at the surgery record. Of course, it was not empty praise. Because even if Ji-hyuk had operated, there was no 100% guarantee of success, so difficult was this surgery.

“…….”

Yun-seok changed into his clothes without a word.

“The ligaments connected to the spleen were also cut very cleanly…”

“An accessory spleen was found, so I resected it along with the spleen. I’ve placed a drain to monitor for surgical complications and sutured it, so check it later. I’m going to rest. I’m tired.”

For a surgeon who had succeeded in a major operation, his facial expression looked dark.

“O-Okay. Go rest then.”

Having successfully completed the surgery, Yun-seok went up to the duty room.

‘Grandfather… What on earth happened between Grandfather and Grandmother? Sigh, I can’t ask him directly, it’s driving me crazy! It’s so frustrating!’

Ji-hyuk could only stare blankly at Yun-seok’s back.

A moment later.

A bench in the hospital’s back yard.

“Would you like some coffee?”

“Why coffee all of a sudden?”

In 1953, coffee was not a very common beverage.

“I brought it from Busan, it’s instant coffee! Will it be okay? In America, they call this vegetable powder, right? Coffee tastes good only when it’s brewed properly.”

“Of course it’s okay! I would drink it if I could get it.”

Kim Ji-hyuk accepted the cup Shin Jung-eun offered. The two sat on the bench and began to talk.

“I was surprised to see Dr. Kim Yun-seok operating today.”

Shin Jung-eun took a sip of her coffee.

“Yes. I also checked the surgery record. It was a very difficult surgery, but I think Yun-seok did well. Looking at her current state, she should be able to be discharged after just a few days of hospitalization.”

Kim Ji-hyuk let out a sigh of relief.

“Yes. I watched from the operating room, and he operated very calmly. I completely saw Dr. Yun-seok in a new light.”

Shin Jung-eun nodded as if she agreed.

“It’s not just seeing him in a new light! In terms of surgical accuracy and understanding, Yun-seok is much better than me.”

“Hahaha, there’s no need to be so humble. In my eyes, you are also a very capable surgeon, Ji-hyuk.”

Shin Jung-eun shook her head slowly.

“Hehe, it’s an honor that you think so, Senior.”

“It’s not empty talk!”

“Okay, okay. Thank you!”

“By the way, I have one thing I’m curious about.”

Turning her head, Jung-eun looked at Ji-hyuk.

‘What? What’s with that sorrowful gaze?’

Kim Ji-hyuk was slightly tensed by Shin Jung-eun’s sad expression.

“Wh-what is it?”

Without realizing it, Ji-hyuk stammered.

“If you had tried, Ji-hyuk, you could have operated, couldn’t you? But why did you leave the surgery to Dr. Yun-seok?”

“Oh, you overevaluate me. Honestly, I didn’t have the confidence to succeed in the surgery! You saw the surgery record, didn’t you? This was absolutely not an easy surgery.”

He was serious. It was that difficult of a surgery.

“Was that really all?”

“Yes.”

“Then can I ask one more thing?”

“Hahaha, there’s no reason not to, but it makes me tensed for some reason. Can you ask gently?”

Kim Ji-hyuk joked, feeling embarrassed.

“When you were treating actress Hong Mi-ju, you looked more serious than when you examined any other patient.”

“That’s because she was an emergency patient…”

“No. It was clearly more than that! A woman’s intuition is not wrong. Today was not the first time you saw actress Hong Mi-ju, right? Did you know her from before?”

‘What? Sharp, aren’t we? What should I do? She seems to have misunderstood something major. But I can’t say that actress Hong Mi-ju is my grandmother, can I?’

“Hmm… Yes. I knew actress Hong Mi-ju from before.”

“Ah! By any chance, you two…”

“No! We are absolutely not in the kind of relationship you are thinking, Senior!”

“Then?”

‘What? Why is she asking so persistently?’

“Yun-seok! She is the woman Yun-seok likes, actress Hong Mi-ju!”

“Yes? Really?”

“Yes. You saw Yun-seok’s expression earlier, didn’t you? His expression changed the moment he saw actress Hong Mi-ju.”

“Ah… Come to think of it, right! I think I also heard about it vaguely from Dr. Yun-seok in Busan!”

“From Yun-seok?”

“Yes, yes. Was it in Gwangalli? Anyway, he said there was a woman he liked immensely at one time, but he couldn’t confess even once!”

‘What? Grandfather? Then he didn’t date Grandmother, but had a crush on her?’

“Really? I didn’t know about that. How could he share his inner thoughts only with you, Senior, without saying a single word to his best friend?”

“Originally, in matters of men and women, the closer the relationship, the harder it is to share. Actually, Dr. Yun-seok was very drunk that day too. The next day, when I asked him casually, he didn’t remember anything.”

As if she finally understood, Shin Jung-eun’s facial expression seemed to brighten.

“I see!”

“What a coincidence this is. How could actress Hong Mi-ju be the object of Dr. Yun-seok’s crush?”

“Indeed! Since it turned out like this, how about we combine our strength to connect the two?”

“Great! Now that I think about it, the two suit each other very well. Furthermore, to think Dr. Yun-seok operated on actress Hong Mi-ju! Isn’t this a connection made by heaven?”

Hehehe, Shin Jung-eun’s expression, which had been solemn without a single smile just a moment ago, flipped 180 degrees.

“Right! The two must be united! Let’s push them all the way to marriage this time!”

“Whew, I didn’t know that and needlessly misunderstood you, Ji-hyuk.”

Shin Jung-eun brushed her chest in relief.

‘What is this situation? Don’t tell me Senior Shin Jung-eun likes me?’

“Why? What misunderstanding?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Well, there is such a thing. It’s fine since it’s not!”

Sip—

Shin Jung-eun sipped the cooled coffee with a flushed face.

‘What is this atmosphere?’

Kim Ji-hyuk tilted his head in wonder.

* * *

That dawn, Hong Mi-ju’s ward.

After the surgery, Hong Mi-ju was in a deep sleep.

Kim Ji-hyuk, who was on duty, visited the ward to check her condition.

‘Grandmother! What a cruel fate this is. How could such a thing happen? What if I hadn’t been there? Yes?’

Ji-hyuk looked down at Hong Mi-ju sorrowfully.

“…….”

Hong Mi-ju was still in a deep sleep.

Rustle—

Kim Ji-hyuk pulled the blanket up to cover Hong Mi-ju.

And then he examined the IV bottle.

Since there was no problem, Kim Ji-hyuk stepped cautiously toward the door.

It was at that very moment.

“Ji-hyuk…”

Actress Hong Mi-ju, whom he thought was asleep, slowly raised her body.