Aftermath (1)
His blood pressure was up. The horrific numbers that had been hovering on the threshold of death had finally stepped back into the realm of survival. That tiny shift completely transformed the atmosphere of the Resuscitation Room.
"He's alive..." someone muttered under their breath.
A brief flash of relief crossed Associate Professor Jeon Tae-jeong's face. The trauma surgery fellow standing beside him asked urgently, "Professor, should we get a CT scan to locate the exact bleeding point before sending him up to the OR?"
"Take him straight up," Jeon Tae-jeong's response was resolute.
The host of my body nodded in agreement with that decision. Every single second the REBOA balloon occluded the aorta, the patient's lower body was deprived of blood flow, slowly dying.
And so, the final decision was made.
"Prepare for transport!"
The trauma surgery team sprang back into frantic motion. A portable ventilator was hooked up to the patient, and an IV pole draped with dozens of lines was secured to the side of the bed.
"Moving out! Clear the way!" At Jeon Tae-jeong's shout, the massive bed began to roll. Surrounding the gurney, the trauma team and nurses carefully yet swiftly guided it out of the Resuscitation Room. Only after they vanished beyond the automatic doors...
"Phew..." Mes-ui Sin let out a deep sigh.
Only our Emergency Medicine team and the gruesome remnants of the battle remained in the Resuscitation Room. Mes-ui Sin's gaze drifted to the clock on the wall. The hands pointed to 9:34 AM. Roughly twelve minutes had passed since the REBOA procedure began.
How much time is left on the Possession? I began to calculate. It was a thirty-minute limit... we used twelve minutes... so eighteen minutes left.
Eighteen minutes. For that duration, I was not the master of my own body. It meant this ghost would control my flesh for another eighteen minutes.
Wait, how do I end this Possession anyway?
A horrifying realization struck me. The skill description only explained how to activate it, not how to terminate it. Was I really stuck like this until the remaining eighteen minutes ran out? Or was there some kind of exit command? Could I just scream *Log out* in my mind? Did I have to shout *Possession Cancel!* like some chuunibyou kid? Or maybe *Get lost, ghost*? Was I doomed to remain a passenger in my own body? Should I try pressing Alt+F4?
While I was drowning in an internal panic, the temporary master of my body was interested in something else entirely. Mes-ui Sin didn't spare a single glance for my colleagues, who were sighing in relief. Instead, he began to slowly scan the Resuscitation Room. His eyes swept over the emergency cart's medication inventory hanging on the wall. He noted the types of pads on the defibrillator sitting on the shelf. Then, he checked the model name of the C-arm we had just used.
Then, Mes-ui Sin began to move in earnest. His gaze locked onto a massive equipment cabinet on the wall. Without hesitation, he walked over and slid open the glass door labeled [Airway Management]. Inside, laryngoscope blades organized by size, endotracheal tubes, and state-of-the-art equipment like video laryngoscopes were neatly arranged.
"Okay, checked..." He moved to the next section: [Chest Trauma]. Mes-ui Sin opened the drawers, pulling out chest tubes, drainage bottles, and clamps one by one, feeling the cold touch of the stainless steel instruments against his fingertips.
"Hmm..." Mes-ui Sin continued to open every single equipment cabinet and shelf in the Resuscitation Room, inspecting their contents and muttering to himself.
Please, I prayed desperately. Please just look and don't touch anything. Please, I beg you.
Just then, a barely audible voice crept up from behind. "Hyeon-jae?"
It was Lee Min-jae. He approached me with extreme caution.
"Yeah. No, wait—yes?" Still bound by the ghost's habits, an incredibly awkward polite register slipped from my mouth.
"No, I mean..." Lee Min-jae paused to gather his words. He wiped his face with a dry hand before throwing out the most critical question. "How... how... where on earth did you learn this?"
Inside, I screamed. I don't know! I have no idea either! This crazy ghost bastard must have learned it somehow!
But the temporary master of my body spun a perfectly plausible, flawless lie. "Well, you see..." He looked up briefly. "Last year, when I went to a workshop at a hospital in Chungnam... I learned it there. I had a few opportunities to practice on simulators."
I was utterly appalled. Chungnam? I had barely ever set foot outside Seoul and the Gyeongsang region in my entire life.
Lee Min-jae's eyes went wide. "REBOA? In Chungnam? As part of a workshop program?"
"Yes. I got lucky."
"...Really?" Lee Min-jae still looked highly skeptical, but he couldn't press any further. Faced with such a specific lie, continuing to doubt would only make him look like the crazy one.
With the conversation over, Mes-ui Sin resumed pacing around the Resuscitation Room. I was forced to watch helplessly as my body moved entirely against my will, opening drawers of the emergency cart and fiddling with the defibrillator settings.
You already did the procedure. Stop messing around and get out of my body.
Right then, a flash of inspiration struck me. Ah, wait.Possession: Mes-ui Sin. I had activated the skill by chanting those words in my mind. Then, to turn it off...?
I saw a glimmer of hope. Since I had thought *Possession: Mes-ui Sin* to turn it on, would the reverse work to turn it off? Yes, that had to be it. Please, let this work. Cancel Possession: Mes-ui Sin.
The moment those words crossed my mind—
...the world snapped back.
Inhale, exhale. Yes, this was it. The cold, alien sensation that had taken over my body melted away. Oh, musty air of the Resuscitation Room, how I missed you! It had only been about ten minutes, but still, what a beautiful sight!
Full control of my body had returned. I closed my eyes for a brief moment to savor the sweet liberation. When I opened them again, Lee Min-jae was standing right in front of me with a deeply worried expression. Whoa, you scared me.
"Hey, Hyeon-jae? What's wrong? Did you have a brain aneurysm or something?"
How could he throw out such a casual personal attack? That actually hurt a little.
"No, sir. I'm just... a bit tired..." Once the Possession deactivated, my body swayed weakly. I barely managed to grab the nearby emergency cart to steady myself, panting heavily. The exhaustion was brutal.
The Resuscitation Room was an absolute disaster zone. Pools of blood stained the floor, and countless pieces of medical waste lay scattered everywhere. The staff began to clean up the wreckage in mechanical silence. Picking up blood-soaked gauze, disinfecting the floor, organizing the used instruments—the entire process was carried out with quiet, military precision. Indeed, a clean environment didn't just happen overnight.
I stared blankly at the scene. To be precise, I still felt completely detached from reality. Beside me, Baek Eunseo and Park Seongjeong stood with utterly dazed expressions. The eyes of the two first-years were fixed on a single point in space. Well, if I were a first-year, I probably would have reacted the exact same way.
What kind of second-year resident bypasses a fourth-year and a fellow to perform a procedure, all while lecturing a professor from another department—and not just any professor, but a top-tier expert in that very field? For those two, tonight's experience would likely remain a lifelong shock.
On the other hand, fourth-year resident Han Jae-eon had already returned to the station, pulling up the next patient's chart as if this entire commotion was ancient history. Damn, as expected. Han Jae-eon truly had the strongest mental fortitude in the ER.
"Ah, wait..." A low groan escaped my lips. The muscles in my right shoulder began to twitch in a highly unpleasant way.
What is this? I rotated my shoulder a few times. Was it just fatigue? Maybe my muscles had tensed up from the extreme stress. I tried to brush it off. But at that moment, a memory I had desperately tried to forget flashed through my mind like lightning.
I think I had muscle pain at this exact point last year, too.
Right. The day I, a mere first-year, had performed a laparotomy in the ER. The day I was possessed by Mes-ui Sin for the very first time. The moment everything ended and the Possession deactivated, that hellish pain had suddenly assaulted me.
...Ah. Along with that realization, the pain struck.
Ah. Hold on. If there is a God, please listen to me for just a second. This hurts way too much. It hurts.
It felt as if someone had grabbed every single muscle fiber in my body like a rope and was twisting them in opposite directions with savage force. Ah, I never wanted to experience this pain again. The spasm that started in my shoulder rapidly spread to my back, waist, arms, and legs. Urgh...
"Hey, Hyeon-jae?" Lee Min-jae, who was helping clean up beside me, noticed my strange behavior. "What's wrong? Are you sick? Your face is completely pale."
"Ah, I..." That was all I could manage to say.
My vision began to tunnel. The fluorescent lights of the Resuscitation Room fractured into dozens of afterimages, dancing before my eyes. Lee Min-jae's face, the nurse's face—everything blurred together. The strength drained from my legs. My hand slipped from the cart I was gripping.
Yeah, let's just pass out. It'll be better when I wake up...
And with that, my consciousness snapped.