Chapter 156: We Remove Brain Tumors Too [1] What Yoshitoshi had said was truly astonishing.
Depending on how one heard it, it could almost be taken as treason.
It might have been empty words, but judging by Sayaga's reaction, it did not seem that way.
There's no benefit in telling me a lie like that.
Unless Yoshitoshi had somehow learned mind-reading and was peering into Kanghyeok's thoughts, it was not very likely.
So Kanghyeok decided to change his own mind as well.
This time, he would do it properly, without playing any tricks.
"Makbong. You're on breathing again this time."
"Yes, sir. Leave it to me."
Makbong looked as if this was nothing new.
In fact, he had already taken a few deep breaths and loosened his grip from the moment surgery first came up.
These days, he was even a little proud of being in charge of breathing.
Dolseok and Yeoni couldn't do this, and neither could Miss Yeoju.
Everyone had their own special role, did they not?
One had martial skill, one had memory, one had drawing.
Only he had been stuck with that odd night-work sort of task.
In the past, he had only been mocked all the time, and they had not even called him in during surgery.
But now he had finally risen proudly into one of the indispensable positions.
With a deeply moved expression, Makbong rubbed the artificial respiration bag made from iron balls.
At first, he had hated the rough texture.
But now, every crease in it seemed dear to him.
"Hey, what are you doing? Get into position."
"Ah, yes."
At Kanghyeok's utterly cold rebuke, Makbong instantly came to his senses.
As Makbong hurried toward the patient's head, Kanghyeok added one more remark at his back.
"What's so great about fondling someone else's balls like that? Is touching your own not enough for you?"
"Huh… no, that's not…"
"Anyway, get to the opposite side of me."
"Yes, yes."
Since they were facing no easy surgery, nothing especially pleasant was coming out of Kanghyeok's mouth.
His next target was Dolseok.
"You need to get into position too."
"Yes. Position…"
Unfortunately, this kind of surgery was a first for him.
If it had been abdominal surgery, he could have simply gone to the opposite side without worry.
But this time, Makbong, who was handling the breathing, was already there.
When Dolseok hesitated, unable to decide what to do, a vertical crease formed between Kanghyeok's brows.
"What are you doing?"
"That spot…"
Dolseok pointed this way and that, squirming his rear in place.
For a big fellow like him to be wiggling around that way made it feel almost like mockery.
Kanghyeok flared up for a moment, then quickly steadied himself.
Could he really afford to waste his energy before something important like this?
In, out. In, out.
After running through the massage-breathing method he had once learned from Heo Jun and the breathing technique he had learned from a friend in obstetrics and gynecology, he felt much better.
"Go… upward."
"Upward?"
"Go above the head. Toward the crown."
"Ah-ha."
"Hurry up. Unless you want to get hit."
"Yes, yes."
Only then did Dolseok find his proper place.
Yeoni, quick to catch on, moved beneath the head.
Yeoju stepped back from assisting and picked up her brush.
It had been quite a long time since she had last recorded an operation scene in earnest, so her face was slightly flushed.
If Young Master is making this much fuss, then this is a difficult surgery.
If it had been an easy operation, he probably would have finished it while traveling down from Hanyang to Busan.
He would not have been reacting with such sharpness like now, either.
So this had to be regarded as a rare and difficult operation.
First, let me look at the position.
Yeoni stood on tiptoe, and when that was not enough, she climbed onto the table.
Looking down from above, Yoshitoshi's head was turned so that his left ear faced upward.
Makbong kept squeezing the artificial respiration bag near Yoshitoshi's nose.
Yoshitoshi frowned, apparently finding it deeply irritating.
"Could you move that thing away? The texture feels strangely unpleasant."
"What? Ah… but this absolutely has to be used."
"I understand, so at least keep it out of my sight."
"Ah, yes."
Kanghyeok, Dolseok, and Yeoni were all seated behind Yoshitoshi's head.
They were not simply sitting there. They were shaving the hair near the surgical site.
It was embarrassing and unpleasant for Yoshitoshi, but there was nothing to be done.
If he did not get it cut, and he died during surgery, what could he say?
"That hurt just now."
"Ah, yes. Sorry."
All he could do was grumble a little.
Once Dolseok's rough haircut was finished, Kanghyeok stepped forward next.
Quite unusually, he was holding a brush.
"This may feel a little cold."
"What are you trying to do…? Didn't you say you would put me to sleep before using the knife?"
No matter how strong-nerved Yoshitoshi was, the thought of being cut open alive still worried him.
Holding Yoshitoshi's face down as he tried to turn around, Kanghyeok answered, "I'm just drawing, so there's nothing to worry about."
"With what are you dra— Ah."
"With a brush. What else would I draw with?"
"Mm."
The sensation moving behind his ear was unmistakably that of a brush.
Just as Kanghyeok said, aside from the coldness, it was not especially uncomfortable.
But the line was rather long.
Very long.
"May I ask why you are drawing that?"
"You already asked. Why are you asking permission after the fact?"
"I mean, why are you drawing it?"
"Because I'm going to cut along it with the knife."
"This much?"
"It's not much. A little over twenty centimeters."
"Cent… what is that?"
Yoshitoshi kept lifting his head as if he wanted to see behind him.
But it was useless.
His eyes were in the front, and on top of that, Kanghyeok was pressing him down, so there was no way he could see behind himself.
"Mmph."
"Please stay still. If the line gets crooked, it'll be troublesome later."
"Ah, all right. Then stop pressing me."
"If I let go, you'll just move again."
Though Yoshitoshi was quite large, Kanghyeok pressed him down easily with one hand.
With the other, he kept extending the incision line.
"Oh dear."
Yeoni, who had been disinfecting the area in between, clicked her tongue.
The antiseptic had blurred the line Kanghyeok had drawn a little.
But Kanghyeok did not seem especially bothered.
"It's fine. I can still make it out this much. Keep going."
"Yes."
After some more time passed, both the incision line and the disinfection were complete.
"Okay. That should do it. Yeoju, give him the medicine."
"Yes, Young Master."
Yeoju paused her drawing for a moment and handed over the medicine they had prepared in advance.
It was an anesthetic refined through all their previous research.
One dose of this and in less than seven seconds the patient would fall asleep and also be unable to breathe.
If the court ever chose this medicine instead of poison as execution by royal command, it would probably boast a one-hundred-percent death rate.
"Please take this."
As Yeoju held out the medicine, Yoshitoshi glanced at Kanghyeok.
"This may be needless worrying, but…"
"Yes."
"What I said earlier about the Kanpaku was not easy for me to say."
"I know."
"So do your utmost…"
"I said I understand. First, drink it. That's how I can do my utmost."
Pressed on by Kanghyeok's grumbling, Yoshitoshi swallowed the medicine down.
He said several more things afterward, but unfortunately none of it reached Kanghyeok.
"Th…"
He left behind only a single cry whose meaning could not be understood.
Kanghyeok looked down at him indifferently.
"He's more timid than I expected."
"Seems so."
"Give me the metal airway tube."
"Yes, Young Master."
Makbong handed over the tube he had been carefully holding.
He had held it so long that his body heat remained in it.
It was mildly unpleasant.
"Now then…"
Kanghyeok easily forced Yoshitoshi's mouth open and shoved the tube straight in.
Then he passed it over to Makbong as naturally as if he did this every day.
"Be careful not to let this slip out… and adjust the breathing yourself."
"Yes, Young Master. Don't worry."
"Well, you of all people…"
After being scolded and taught so much, Makbong had learned with remarkable speed.
By now, he could squeeze the artificial respiration bag while also checking pulse and blood pressure without difficulty.
Turning his gaze away from Makbong, Kanghyeok looked back at Yeoni and Dolseok.
They both looked quite tense.
That was only natural, since even Kanghyeok, the lead surgeon, felt this operation was difficult.
"We're cutting now. This really is quite a hard surgery… so let's do this properly."
"Yes, Young Master."
No sooner had he heard their reply than Kanghyeok picked up the scalpel.
"All right, let's begin."
"Yes."
Kanghyeok's hand began to move slowly.
His eyes were fixed on the line he had drawn just before.
Sliiick.
As though drawing a line with a ruler, the scalpel began to travel along the mark.
Bright red blood began to flow from the wound, but Kanghyeok was completely unaffected.
As expected. I didn't draw that with a brush for no reason.
It had not simply been an act of marking where to cut.
That itself had been practice, and a preliminary incision.
Kanghyeok drew the scalpel exactly along the line he had drawn and refined.
Sliiick.
Accordingly, a long incision, beginning behind the ear, more precisely above it, and ending only near the Adam's apple, was completed in a single cut.
It was so smooth that even Dolseok and Yeoni, assisting at his side, failed to bring the gauze in at the right time.
Naturally, Kanghyeok's shout followed.
"What are you doing!"
"Ah—sorry!"
Only then did Dolseok and Yeoni hurriedly press gauze to the wound.
Since the incision itself had been made in a direction that bled less, hemostasis was quickly achieved.
Wow.
It was not only the assistants who were astonished.
Sayaga, who was watching from behind, also could not help but marvel.
So this is what it means to sweep a brush in a single stroke.
Joseon truly was a great country.
It even had physicians who had transcended the human realm like this.
Admirable, truly admirable.
While Sayaga was secretly experiencing a wave of admiration for Joseon, the surgery continued without pause.
"Dolseok, grab the ear and pull it forward."
"Yes."
"Yeoni, pull the back side of this incision."
"Yes, Young Master."
With a series of crisp tearing sounds, the connective tissue binding tissue to tissue split apart.
Kanghyeok chose only the weaker portions and cut them with the scalpel.
No, rather than cut, it would have been more accurate to say he scraped them apart.
Tok.
Tok.
The tissue that had seemed firmly joined just moments before separated as if it had all been a lie.
Because the blade targeted only the connective tissue with absolute precision, there was hardly any bleeding.
Kanghyeok nodded in satisfaction and kept moving the scalpel.
As expected, I'm a genius.
It had truly been a long time since he had operated in this area, but even by his own reckoning, he was proceeding without hesitation.
The incision continued until the bone behind the ear was exposed.
Kanghyeok felt the smooth bone with his fingers, then pointed downward.
"Let's leave this for a moment… and deepen the incision in the neck too."
"Ah, yes."
"Dolseok, pull from the upper side. Yeoni, from the lower side, left and right."
"Yes, Young Master."
The incision that began again was just as smooth as before.
Tuduk.
The blade slipped in and out so smoothly that sometimes not even a drop of blood clung to it.
Because of that, Yeoni, who was assisting, nearly sucked in a startled breath.
"Hah. Ah, sorry."
Ordinarily, Kanghyeok hated useless noises during surgery.
Knowing that well, she lowered her head, but Kanghyeok's reaction was unexpected.
"No, no. It's fine. Just keep pulling like that."
He merely laughed lightly, as if he were a different person.
Even by his own judgment, the surgery was going too well.
At a moment like this, only a true lunatic would lose his temper.
Seeing that, a sliver of peace came over Dolseok as well.
At this rate… today's operation might actually be easy.
Even while he was indulging in that pointless thought, the incision was completed without issue.
As a result, the carotid artery and jugular vein within the neck, as well as the accessory nerve and various other nerves, were all visible at a glance.
"Good. Good. Shall we go back to the bone now?"
Kanghyeok was still in an excellent mood.
Because of that, Yeoni and Dolseok both felt relieved too.
"Now we just need to break this a little and go in."
By then, Kanghyeok was already holding a chisel and hammer, indicating the bone behind the ear.
Watching that, Dolseok began to feel the comfort he had enjoyed up until now becoming somewhat less comfortable.
No, it's fine. Today's going well. It'll probably stay easy.
Dolseok lied to himself like that and held Yoshitoshi's head.
They needed to immobilize it if they were going to strike the chisel and hammer.
Yeoni helped as well.
If the fixation loosened even slightly, the chisel might break something else.
Watching the two of them hold him firmly, Kanghyeok muttered, "Good. Now I'm opening the bone. Hold him tight. There are a lot of very, very important things in here."
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