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# Prologue
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One late weekend night, in one corner of the Emergency Medicine Center at Korea University Hospital.
A five-year-old boy had been playing in the living room at home when he fell and slightly tore the area beside his eye
on the sharp corner of a piece of furniture.
The torn area exposed a little of the flesh underneath, and there was quite a bit of bleeding, so his startled parents
had brought him to the emergency room and were waiting.
It wasn't particularly hectic, and there didn't seem to be any patients whose lives were in immediate danger.
While waiting for her son's turn to be treated, the mother held her exhausted, sleeping child in her arms and gently
patted his back.
Her husband, who had stepped away for a moment to register them, returned.
“Did you get us registered?”
“Yeah.”
“How long did they say we'd have to wait?”
“About thirty minutes.”
“Oh, right. Did you ask about that?”
“About what?”
“Plastic surgery. We need to have our son stitched up properly so he doesn't end up with a scar here. Can they just give
him emergency treatment here and then do the stitching at a separate plastic surgery department?”
“No. I asked at the registration desk, and they said there's someone famous here. Apparently, he's better at stitching
wounds than most plastic surgeons.”
“Really? That's a relief. I was worried about our son having a scar around his eye.”
“By the way, what's with this emergency room at a general hospital?”
“Huh? What's wrong with it?”
“In movies and dramas, emergency rooms are always chaotic and noisy. But this place is quiet and practically empty.
There aren't even any emergency patients.”
Hearing that, his wife smacked her husband on the shoulder as he came over and sat beside her.
“Why?”
“Are you crazy?”
“What?”
“You don't know you're never supposed to say things like that in an emergency room?”
“Why not?”
“Seriously, did you watch movies and dramas without paying attention to the dialogue or subtitles? Whenever someone says
something like that, emergency patients suddenly come pouring into the hospital.”
“Hahahaha, what kind of nonsense is that? What kind of world do we live in these days...?”
The husband suddenly felt a strange chill.
While talking to his wife, he raised his eyes and looked at the people behind her, unable to finish what he was saying.
Three men and women in white coats were standing there, their faces tightly scrunched up as though they had seen
something terrible and were deeply alarmed by it.
The three doctors exchanged bitter looks, glancing at one another in turn. Then one of the men spoke with a dazed
expression.
“Ah~! I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Yeah. Somehow, I feel like we're about to get a Code Black.”
The moment their conversation ended, the sound of ambulance sirens began to grow louder, coming from somewhere far away
from the hospital.
Then, several telephones in the Emergency Medicine Center began ringing simultaneously.
The three doctors hurriedly ran toward the ER station.
A moment later, with a loud smack, the wife delivered a powerful blow to her husband's back.
“Ow~!”
“Oh, you idiot~! I'm telling you, watch what you say, seriously!”
As the couple continued talking, the sirens of multiple ambulances arriving at the hospital simultaneously grew louder
and louder, almost like a round.
Then the PA system immediately came on.
[“Code Black! Code Black! This is a Code Black situation. A mass-casualty incident has occurred due to a
multiple-vehicle collision, and numerous patients are currently being transported to this hospital. All emergency
response teams, please proceed immediately to your designated emergency response areas. I repeat. This is a Code Black
situation. All emergency response teams, please proceed rapidly to your designated locations.”]
An English PA announcement for the foreign medical staff followed.
[“Attention, all staff. This is a Code Black alert. A mass casualty incident has occurred. Please proceed to your
designated emergency response areas immediately. Repeat, this is a Code Black alert. All emergency response teams,
report to your assigned stations now.”]
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