A Life Everyone Gave Up On
The pinnacle of South Korean medicine.
Daehan Central University Hospital.
It wasn't just a hospital known for its massive scale.
It was the nation’s top-tier medical institution, equipped with everything from general outpatient and emergency centers to a cancer center, cardiovascular center, organ transplant center, and a regional trauma center.
However, there was another reason why Daehan Central University Hospital was considered one of the best in the country.
The Hunter Trauma Center.
This hospital housed a specialized medical team dedicated to treating Hunters brought in from dungeons.
Hunter injuries were different from ordinary trauma.
They weren't just simple cases of being cut by a knife, hit by a car, or falling from a height.
Most arrived torn by monster claws, burned by magical energy, melted by toxins, or suffering from wounds that defied the laws of this world.
Furthermore, the bodies of the Hunters themselves were a problem.
Their skin, muscles, and bones were far tougher than those of ordinary people.
As their rank increased, this difference became even more pronounced; standard scalpels would slide right off their skin, and ordinary hypodermic needles couldn't even pierce their fascia.
To cut through bone, one needed a Hunter-specific bone saw, and even a single stitch to tie off a blood vessel required reinforced sutures.
They survived because they were strong.
But in the hospital, that very strength was an irony that hindered treatment.
It wasn't that there was no way to save them.
It was just that many died because they couldn't open the body in time to perform the surgery.
And the place that specialized in dealing with such Hunter trauma was the Hunter Trauma Center.
Na Hayoung, a trauma surgeon at the Daehan Central University Hospital Hunter Trauma Center, received the report as she headed down to the emergency center.
The resident following her flipped through a tablet and spoke quickly.
"Yes. According to the field rescue team, there is one B-rank Hunter, two D-ranks, and four E-ranks. The B-rank patient is currently suspected of having abdominal injuries and shock."
"Abdominal injury?"
"The abdominal armor was shattered, and bleeding has been confirmed on the flank and abdomen. The 1st-floor emergency team is currently preparing for a FAST exam."
FAST.
An ultrasound exam to quickly check for blood pooling in the abdominal cavity of a trauma patient.
The report itself wasn't unusual.
Blood on the abdomen, a Hunter brought in from a dungeon in a state of shock.
If that were the case, the first thing to suspect would be intra-abdominal bleeding.
Na Hayoung’s orders were swift and decisive.
"Contact the operating room. Tell them to clear Hunter Trauma Room 2."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Check the charge on the Magic Incision tool, and prepare reinforced sutures and Hunter-grade vascular clamps. Tell the anesthesiology department to stand by with the Hunter anesthesia protocol. If they're B-rank, their reaction to standard anesthetics might be delayed."
"Understood."
Hunter surgeries were different from general surgeries.
You have to open them up.
But you mustn't break them.
If the incision is too shallow, you can't pierce the reinforced skin and fascia; if it's too deep, you further tear the already damaged organs and blood vessels.
Therefore, a Hunter trauma surgeon was less like a doctor wielding a knife and more like a technician cracking a safe.
They had to extract the patient dying inside that hardened body as quickly and accurately as possible.
And Na Hayoung was one of the most renowned doctors in that field.
The beast ears protruding from her brilliant blonde hair twitched slightly.
Na Hayoung was an Awakener of the beast-kin lineage.
With hearing more sensitive than a human's, she could catch irregular breathing first, and with her sense of smell, she could distinguish monster body fluids and toxic substances mixed in with the scent of blood.
She had the talent to have made a name for herself as a combat-type Hunter.
But she chose medicine over combat.
A Hunter doctor who understood the Hunter’s body.
That was why, in the field, they called Na Hayoung this:
The Golden Scalpel of the Hunter Trauma Center.
The moment she entered the 1st-floor lobby while putting on her gloves, it happened.
"No, you can't do that...!"
Amidst the smell of blood and the commotion, a strange shout cut through the air sharply.
Na Hayoung’s ears twitched reflexively.
It was a man.
And it was a booming, masculine shout that felt out of place in the middle of this chaos.
"Jihu! Why are you suddenly doing this?!"
"Student Jihu, step back! The patient's condition is very critical right now!"
"That’s not it! I’m saying that if you perform that procedure now, something terrible will happen!"
Na Hayoung narrowed her eyes.
Seo Jihu.
Now that she thought about it, he was there.
The precious, rare male medical student who had been observing at the hospital for a month under the guise of a clinical adaptability assessment.
But that student was currently blocking the medical staff in the middle of the emergency center.
"What on earth is the situation here?"
"D-Dr. Na Hayoung!"
"I was reported that the B-rank patient brought in is suspected of having intra-abdominal bleeding, and if their consciousness is fading, every second counts!"
Na Hayoung’s eyes scanned the medical staff sharply.
"Then why haven't you moved them to the emergency treatment area yet? You should be preparing the operating room simultaneously."
"W-well, that is..."
The nurses and residents only looked at each other.
That was when he spoke.
"I blocked them."
All eyes turned to one spot.
A student wearing a white coat.
Jihu was the only one not bowing his head in the middle of this chaos.
At that sight, Na Hayoung’s eyes narrowed.
No matter how precious a man might be and how much he needed to be protected, this was a hospital.
A place where, for some, it was the last chance to grab onto life.
Blocking a patient’s treatment in such a place was something that couldn't be tolerated, regardless of gender.
"You're the student named Jihu, right?"
Her voice sank coldly.
"Do you know what you’ve blocked right now?"
"I am aware."
"The B-rank Hunter is in shock. Abdominal injury is suspected, and it's a situation where we need to connect directly to the operating room. And you blocked that?"
"You shouldn't only look at the abdominal bleeding."
"What did you say?"
But Jihu calmly looked down at the Hunter on the stretcher.
"This isn't just simple abdominal bleeding."
And he said it briefly.
"It’s a Tension Pneumothorax."
For a moment, some of the surrounding medical staff froze.
"Tension... pneumothorax?"
"Simply put, it’s a state where air leaked from a torn lung is trapped inside the chest."
Whether they were listening or not, Jihu pointed toward the patient's chest.
"If that air can't escape and keeps filling up, the lung gets compressed. The heart gets pushed, and blood can't return to the heart. That’s why they go into shock even without losing a lot of blood."
Na Hayoung’s expression changed slightly.
"What is your basis?"
"Look here. The left chest is barely rising. Even though they are breathing, the movement of the ribcage on one side is dead."
His fingertips moved toward the patient's lips.
"The lips are blue, too. This isn't just a level of holding back breath due to simple abdominal pain. Oxygen isn't getting in properly."
This time, it was the neck.
"The neck veins are distended. And the pulse is fast but weak. This is hard to explain just by saying there's bleeding in the abdomen."
Na Hayoung’s ears moved slightly.
She heard it too.
The patient's breathing was strange.
Fast.
Shallow.
And one side was empty.
Jihu continued.
"Since the abdominal armor is broken and there is blood, it’s natural to suspect intra-abdominal bleeding. But what is killing this person first right now isn't the belly, it’s the chest."
"..."
"If you fix the ribs first in this state, or waste time only looking at the abdominal bleeding, it will be too late. You have to relieve the thoracic pressure first."
The lobby went quiet.
Na Hayoung looked at Jihu for a moment.
Those weren't the eyes of a student seeing blood for the first time.
He wasn't scared.
He wasn't excited.
He was simply matching the patient's symptoms and signs one by one.
As if he were someone who had seen countless trauma patients.
'Who on earth is this kid?'
It was the moment that question crossed her mind.
"If that’s the case..."
One of the residents standing nearby swallowed hard.
"Then we have to give up on this patient."
"...Excuse me?"
Jihu turned his head.
Because it was the exact opposite answer from what he had expected.
"You know the condition now. If it’s a tension pneumothorax, can’t you just remove the air from inside the chest?!"
"If it were a normal patient, that would be the case."
Na Hayoung spoke up instead.
Her face was also stiff, just like the doctors around her.
"If it were a normal patient, we would immediately perform thoracic decompression to remove the air from the chest with a needle or chest tube, restore their breathing, and then check for other injuries."
"Then you can just do that."
"The problem is that the opponent is a B-rank Hunter."
A B-rank Hunter.
A high-level combat asset who fights monsters head-on.
That body was 'out of spec,' having strayed far too much from the body of a normal human.
"The ribcage of a B-rank or higher Hunter cannot be easily opened even with Hunter-specific medical instruments. Magical energy is concentrated in the skin and muscle layers, so most incision tools just bounce off the surface."
"Even so, if you use all the equipment in the hospital—"
"It would be too late."
The answer was short.
"You have to make incisions as if peeling away layers of magical energy. If you rush, the incision tool bounces off, and if you apply force, you tear the lung inside even more."
Na Hayoung’s gaze turned to the patient's shallow breathing.
"There is no time to endure that process."
The resident next to her added.
"Furthermore, the patient is currently showing magical rigidity in the chest area. The body has automatically stiffened to try and endure it. If this happens, the intercostal space narrows, making it even harder for equipment to enter."
Magical rigidity.
It was a defensive reaction that often appeared when Hunters suffered fatal wounds.
A phenomenon where the magical energy inside the body hardens as if to protect the damaged area.
The problem was that it often didn't help with treatment, but rather blocked the hands of the medical staff.
Especially if it were the chest, it was the worst-case scenario.
They had to remove the air from inside the chest, but they couldn't open the chest itself.
"...Contact the guardian. Explain the current status and prognosis."
Hunter medicine had advanced.
Magic incision tools, reinforced sutures, Hunter-grade vascular clamps, high-output bone saws, and so on.
Humans had created all sorts of equipment to treat monster-like bodies.
But there were limits.
The fact that most of that equipment was made based on low-to-mid-rank Hunters.
"So..."
That was when Jihu’s voice was heard.
"Are you saying you’re going to give up on the patient?"
"I know it can sound like the word 'give up'."
Na Hayoung looked straight at Jihu.
"But a doctor must not say they can perform a procedure they cannot. If you force your hands into a situation with no possibility, that isn't treatment—it's 'confirming the kill'."
"..."
"Hunters know this limit too. The higher-rank the Hunter, the better they know. How strong their bodies are, and how fatal that strength becomes as a wall in the hospital."
The medical staff dropped their heads one by one.
No one had given up lightly.
They knew.
Because they had seen patients like this several times.
High-rank Hunters who looked like they could be saved but died because the equipment couldn't reach them.
Patients whose hearts were beating, but whose chests couldn't be opened, watching their oxygen saturation drop right in front of their eyes.
Moments when the body that survived because it was strong, was too strong and rejected treatment.
However.
"Then..."
Jihu simply answered calmly, as if it didn't matter.
"If it’s a life that’s already been given up on anyway, I’m allowed to try, right?"
"...What did you say?"
Na Hayoung’s eyes widened.
Once again, everyone’s gaze was fixed on him.
He was slowly straightening the front of his doctor’s gown.
As if he were used to it.
As if he had been doing it for a very long time.
"If it’s a life everyone has already given up on, I’ll take that life."