Chapter 149: The Japanese Commander Will Only Be Half Saved [3] Kanghyeok took the metal suction tube in hand.
Hmm.
Now that he was actually holding it, he found himself hesitating. When he first made it, he had believed using a tube like this would be easy enough.
Hmmm.
But as he stared at the half-naked man lying before him, he felt deeply disgusted. Especially by the bulging part around the groin. There was no knowing where or how that thing had been put to use. He had probably caught gonorrhea or syphilis at the very least.
Ughhhh.
It was reassuring that AIDS would not arise until much later in history.
No, that was not something to feel reassured about.
This man's blood was practically a grand collection of venereal disease. And now he had to suck it out by mouth.
"Young master?"
Yeoni, who had no idea what was going on in his head, looked at Kanghyeok with innocent eyes.
For a moment, the urge surged within him to hand the tube over to her. If the person standing there had been Dongpa or Dorikkae instead, he would not have hesitated for even an instant. Even if it had been Dolseok or Makbong.
"Ah."
But no matter how many times he looked, the one in front of him was still Yeoni. Look closely, and hers was plainly the youthful face of a teenage girl. Maybe it was because she had been wielding a sword earlier. Today, with that faint flush in her cheeks, she looked especially cute.
He could not very well order a girl like this to suck the blood out of some filthy man.
She was still looking quietly at him with that same innocent face.
"Prepare some gargle."
"Gargle... yes."
Yeoni handed Kanghyeok the gargle they had made according to a secret prescription learned from Heo Jun. But Kanghyeok shook his head harshly.
That gargle... is for healing.
It was not quite suited for disinfecting something filthy.
"Not that. Give me Betadine."
"You're going to put... that in your mouth?"
Yeoni pointed at the Betadine solution with eyes full of disbelief. The dark brown liquid looked toxic just from appearance alone. She had handled it countless times already, but never once had she thought of putting it into her mouth.
But Kanghyeok knew. Among the antiseptics currently in existence, Betadine caused the least damage to mucous membranes. Rather, the ones that looked pale and pretty were often more toxic.
There are at least one or two people who go blind every year because of Hibitane.
In fact, there were not a few ENT doctors who used Betadine as a gargle. It tasted awful, but the effect was excellent. No matter what germs there were, it would probably kill them all.
"Yes, make it with that."
"Mm... yes, alright."
Yeoni still looked uneasy, but she moved as instructed. After all, it was not going into her mouth.
Even while watching the gargle being prepared, Kanghyeok still could not bring himself to put the tube to his lips.
I don't have any cuts in my mouth right now, do I?
For some reason, the inside of his mouth, which had been perfectly fine just moments ago, now felt prickly. It was as if wounds that did not exist were suddenly hurting.
"Yeoni."
"Yes?"
"There isn't any injury inside my mouth, right?"
Despite how abrupt the request was, Yeoni checked for him diligently, though her annoyance was fairly obvious.
"Mm... I don't think there is."
"Don't just glance."
"No, really. There isn't."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, well. Almost?"
"Almost..."
It was not an answer he liked very much, but there was no helping it. Kanghyeok could hardly inspect the inside of his own mouth with his own eyes.
"Hmm."
He looked back inside the patient's head. In the short time that had passed, the amount of blood had increased ever so slightly. Still, that was unlikely to affect the prognosis much. The lid had already been opened, after all. And because of that, the raised intracranial pressure had already dropped long ago.
As expected, when a problem comes up, opening it is best.
Any internist hearing that would probably faint, but Kanghyeok was a born surgeon. To him, holding a blade and still doing nothing but thinking felt idiotic.
Then shall I start sucking...
Pushing aside his disgust, Kanghyeok inserted the tube into Yoshitaka's head. Then he carefully began drawing out the blood. If he accidentally gulped, it would be disastrous. So he worked very slowly.
"Ugh."
Makbong and Sayaga, who had just finished laying Moritaka down, shook their heads in revulsion. No matter that it was part of the treatment, sucking out blood like that—
Slurp, slurp.
Ignoring their silent disgust, Kanghyeok sucked out the blood with rather indecent little noises.
"Ptui."
Then, whenever a suitable amount collected, he spat it onto gauze. After repeating that several times, the blood pooled inside the head had been emptied.
"Whew. Give me the gargle."
"Yes."
In case any blood had gone down his throat, Kanghyeok rinsed out his mouth with the gargle. It still felt disgusting afterward, of course. But he figured it was better than doing nothing.
Still, doing it by mouth works better than I expected.
Strangely enough, it felt even better than using a suction device. Because he could control the force freely, there was not even the slightest damage to the brain tissue. And at the same time, he was able to remove the blood completely.
"Ah, young master. There's bleeding here..."
"Mm. There is. This is a fairly old hemorrhage."
"A cerebral hemorrhage?"
Yeoni tilted her head. Had not Kanghyeok said that once a cerebral hemorrhage occurred, it had to be treated immediately? And that otherwise, the patient would definitely die? So what did he mean by an old cerebral hemorrhage? It did not quite fit together.
"There are several kinds. Cerebral hemorrhage too."
"Ah, I see. Medicine truly is difficult."
"It isn't easy."
Kanghyeok nodded and slipped a hand into the skull. Somehow he was already holding forceps, but even Yeoni, a highly skilled observer herself, had failed to notice when he had picked them up. Kanghyeok's hands were truly faster than the eye.
"Still."
With the forceps, Kanghyeok grasped a short blood vessel sticking out. The vessel had not come from inside the brain, but had been dragged along from the skull side. Its sidewall had ruptured, and he judged that to be the source of the bleeding.
"But it isn't."
Even as he continued speaking, his hands never stopped. Soon he clamped the side of the vessel with another pair of forceps as well, and the faint trickle of blood coming out stopped completely.
"That difficult."
"How did you find that vessel?"
"If you ask how..."
Kanghyeok recalled the sequence of processes that had happened almost unconsciously. He had done it so naturally that he actually had to think through it step by step afterward.
"For one thing, this kind of hemorrhage isn't an arterial bleed inside the brain."
If it had been a cerebral arterial bleed, the patient would almost certainly already be dead, or else suffering irreversible brain damage. And the blood clot would have been located deep in the center of the brain. Meaning it would not have been easy to find just by drilling a hole.
"For one thing, the clot was near the outside, right?"
"Yes."
"Then you can assume the bleeding happened near the outside too."
"Ahh..."
"And there wasn't all that much blood. Yet judging by the bright red color, there was clearly still active bleeding."
"Then... it must have been a vein."
Yeoni, being someone who had received training, was following the medical reasoning quite well. Yeoju and Makbong, assisting beside them, also looked like they understood.
Good.
With a satisfied smile, Kanghyeok nodded.
"That's right. A vein."
"Then the vessel was..."
"My hand went to the most commonly injured vein in that area. That part is experience..."
Kanghyeok had no better way to explain it, because the truth was that his hand had really gone there based on experience.
"That's a level no one can imitate."
"That's true, I suppose. Would it make sense for you to be able to imitate me already? It's like the difference between my swordsmanship and yours."
"Is the gap really that big?"
"That somehow annoys me, but let's move on."
Had he not only just pinched one blood vessel? Of course, simply tying it off as it was would also work, but he did not want to treat him that well.
Planting a little time bomb in there isn't such a bad idea.
Judging by things, this Yoshitaka was one of Hideyoshi's trusted men. Moreover, he was called the strongest naval commander of the Warring States period, so he was certain to be given some major role. The thought occurred to Kanghyeok that even crippling just this one man would be quite useful.
"Give me the suturing instrument."
"You're not going to tie it off?"
"No. Since I'm doing this anyway... I should do it properly."
"Yes."
Yeoni and Yeoju simply nodded. In medicine, Kanghyeok was the best, though they had no idea what exactly he was trying to do.
Ssk.
Kanghyeok moved the suturing instrument with the same fluid hand as always. Outwardly, it looked the same as usual, but in truth it was not. Yeoni, assisting him, could tell.
"Young master...?"
She looked at Kanghyeok with concern. There was something a little different from his usual suturing, and it was the wrong kind of different.
"Shh."
"What?"
"Quiet. That bastard is starting to wake up."
Kanghyeok pointed at Moritaka with his chin. No matter how skilled Makbong was, Moritaka was still a strong grown man. Naturally, one blow had not truly done him in.
"Ugh."
Groaning, he was slowly beginning to sit up. He had already been disarmed of his sword and any other weapons, so he was not much of a threat. But if he shouted and alerted the people outside, that would be a disaster. So Sayaga clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Mmph."
"The treatment is still underway, so please stay quiet a little longer."
"You... mmph."
Judging from his eyes, he looked ready to cut down anything in sight, but that was all. What could he do? He had only one body, while there were two enemies. Soon he was pinned in place by Sayaga and Makbong and could only stare helplessly at his father's opened head.
"Alright, I'm continuing the suturing."
"Yes..."
Though Yeoni tilted her head, she still followed Kanghyeok's lead. No matter how one looked at it, there were knots tied so they would intentionally come loose, and even missing stitches altogether. But since Kanghyeok had forcefully ordered her to stay quiet, she had no choice.
This... is set so that it will rupture again if there's an impact.
Kanghyeok thought of the Korea Strait. It was a brutally rough sea. Of course, Yoshitaka was unlikely to smash his head directly against the ship. But being violently shaken was commonplace there. If that happened, Japan would lose one capable commander, and Joseon would surely gain that much advantage.
This... isn't murder. It's patriotism.
The Hippocratic Oath he had memorized in childhood kept tickling a corner of his conscience, but he deliberately ignored it. After all, was this not a man who would have died right now if not for him? At the very least, he was giving him a few more years, so there was no reason to feel guilty.
"Good. Suturing complete. Now let's close the lid. Where's that thing from earlier?"
By that, he meant the piece of skull. Yeoni handed Kanghyeok the patient's skull bone, which had been kept in saline.
Pop.
In an instant, Kanghyeok closed the lid and finished joining the scalp as well. Moritaka could not close his mouth at the magical scene unfolding before his eyes. Just moments ago, Yoshitaka's head had been wide open, and now it had been reduced to no more than a single line.
"Alright. Treatment's finished."
Kanghyeok quietly nodded as he examined the patient's eyes. The wildly elevated intracranial pressure had subsided, and the pupillary reflex had returned as well.
"He'll be waking up soon."
As though Kanghyeok's words were some kind of spell, Yoshitaka's hands and feet began to twitch. At that, Moritaka began struggling madly as well, and Sayaga lost hold of one of his arms.
"Oh."
"It's fine. Let him go. He's the son, after all. He should see his father waking up."
Kanghyeok deliberately spoke in Japanese, and Moritaka's eyes went wide.
"He's waking up?"
"Yes. Just as promised, I saved him. Wait a little longer."
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