<h4>Chapter 52: Guard [2]</h4>


    There was bloody smelling from Yeoni’s person. Yeoni’s blood and that of the Japanese bandit sshed on her were mixed up, creating the pungent smell. He could not look at the wound in this state.


    ‘I need to wipe it off.’


    Ganghyuk opened the bag. Cutting an IV bag and soaking the gauze. There was no other source of water around, and he was afraid of infection.


    “Eu…” The liquid was probably too cold, so Yeoni moved her body while groaning. Whenever she moved, more blood came out of the wound on her thigh.


    “Stay calm. I need to wipe it out.” Ganghyuk cleansed her face with the gauze, removing the blood scabs. When the blood on the face was cleaned, he could see her more closely.


    She had cat eyes, a prominent nose, full red lips, and tanned skin.


    ‘She is pretty indeed.’


    To run away quickly, she had shaken her hair out loose, showing her modern beauty.


    “Ah!” Yeoni recovered consciousness while Ganghyuk was appreciating her beauty. Since he had rubbed her face with a cold liquid, it was natural to be awakened.


    “Sir?”


    “Yes, I was wiping the blood off.” Ganghyuk said while showing the bloody gauze.


    “What happened to the enemy?” Yeoni asked while picking up the sword from the floor. Her face was tensed as she looked around to find the Japanese bandits around there. It seemed that she had lost her consciousness when she climbed on his back.


    “It is alright. We ran away after killing the one with the mask. Some of bandits there pretended to chase us and then went back.”


    It was a long and hard chase though,


    Ganghyuk smiled, causing some blood to leak out of the wounds on his face. Yeoni approached him while opening her eyes wide.


    “Sir, you are injured.”


    “Ah, this? This is nothing. The branches in the forest scratched my face.”


    “But, you are bleeding.”


    “You are bleeding much more than me. Lie down.”


    “Yes… Ouch!”


    Yeoni seemed to be feeling pain in her thigh, so she looked down at her trousers, which were totally soaked by blood.


    Because Ganghyuk ran with her on his back, his robe was stained with her blood as well.


    “Sorry. I made you…”


    “What are you talking about? You saved me.” Ganghyuk told her with sincerity. If it were not for Yeoni, he might have been dead indeed. He might have been killed in the fire, or by the Japanese bandits.


    “I owe my life to you.”


    “What?”


    “The stone…”


    “Ah, that is…”


    He also felt that he owed his life to Master Samyeon.


    ‘What on earth was the stone though?’ Once it lost its mysterious light, it seemed like a normal stone. He could not distinguish it one from the others on the ground, regretting not taking it back.


    In his defense, there was no time to think and get the stone back.


    ‘It is good for us to have survived.’


    It was a miracle for them to survive in that situation. They had literally saved their lives in the middle of a war.


    “When did you learn stone throwing?”


    “No, it was a coincidence…coincidence. Let’s see your wound.”


    “Yes…? Ah, yes.” Yeoni looked at him with her eyes wide open while she was nodding her head. After all, it was the thigh that was wounded, and the prospect of its inspection and treatment made her feel reserved.


    “Don’t worry. I am a doctor.”


    “But this is a little…”


    “If you leave it untreated like now, it will be a serious problem. Do you remember Yeoju?”


    “Yeoju…”


    She had almost died because of a needle, or she might have lost a leg. In Yeoni’s case, as her wound was made by a sword, it could be more severe. She thought of Yeoju for a while, and then nodded.


    “Okay, sir.”


    “Good. I think the other ces are fine.”


    Ganghyuk nodded his head while investigating her face and upper body. Although there were scabs, it was not her blood. He had already wiped out the big scabs, so he was sure that the other body parts were good.


    Therefore, the only part that he had to treat was her thigh.


    “I will remove the bandage now.”


    “Yes.”


    Ganghyuk removed the bandage that covered the wound. Although some time had passed, blood continueding out. The wound seemed to be deeper than he had thought.


    ‘The guy… He had good skills.’


    In Ganghyuk’s eyes, Yeoni’s skills were as good as the bandit’s. She had killed more than 10 ten other bandits after all. Clearly, she was far better than all the soldiers who ran away together.


    Yet, the bandit had almost killed her.


    ‘I should have removed his mask.’ He ran away without thinking of removing the mask. It was mainly because of the other bandits following them, but the bigger reason was that Ganghyuk was truly afraid of doing it.


    It was funny; why did he run away from such small people?


    “How is it?”


    “Ah, I think we need to clean the wound first.”


    “Clean?”


    “Yes, did you see him? He killed many other people before he cut you.”


    The sword reflected the moonlight! The de had blood and oil from the corpses. In other words, her wound was far from clean.


    “While I wipe your wound, take these pills.”


    “Okay.”


    “As this water is salted, the taste might be queer. But, it is fine. I know because I had it before.”


    “Okay…”


    Yeoni swallowed the antibiotics and anti-inmmatory medicine that Ganghyuk gave her, frowning due to the annoying taste.


    Not all doctors had tasted saline. It was not meant for drinking, anyway.


    Ganghyuk only had to drink it to live. It happened when he was an intern; specifically speaking, he was an intern in the Emergency Room.


    He did not know that they did not give water, not to mention food. He drank saline while cleaning the wounds of a patient, losing his reason.


    ‘Son of a b*tch.’


    The seniors exploited their juniors in the hospital, which was a deep-rooted evil that had to be removed.


    “Now, is it cold?”


    “Yes.”


    “Let’s see.”


    Ganghyuk wiped her legs with the saline. It was natural to feel pain because the saline would go into the wound.


    “Ouch!” Yeoni cried lightly in pain, curling up her toes.


    To minimize exposure, Ganghyuk tried to clean it quickly.


    “I need to know how deep the wound is.”


    “I am fine, sir.”


    “It seems it did not hurt the muscles or blood vessels. Can you move your knee?”


    “Yes! It hurts, but I can do it.”


    “Ok. Then he cut the skin only.”


    He might have identally cut a vessel in the fat, which caused the serious bleeding. That vessel could be tied up; it was not an important blood vessel anyway.


    “I will inject an anesthetic.”


    “Okay, sir.”


    Ganghyuk then followed by injecting the anesthetic around the wound. With that, the bleeding started again, but he did not care; he knew that it would stop soon.


    “If you feel too much pain, tell me immediately.”


    “Okay, sir.”


    Ganghyuk was not a kind doctor at all. He did not want to be a kind doctor from the beginning. He believed that a good doctor was not the one who made the patient smile in the examination room, but the one to made the patient smile after leaving the examination room.


    ‘It is strange.’


    He treated Yeoni and Yeoju differently. He tried to treat them in a way to make them less pained and more assured. He was changing unknowingly.


    ‘I am not the person who would discriminate people by gender.’


    He was notorious for his equal treatment.


    He gave ‘D’ to the experiment group which wasposed of only girls. It was then that the students gave him the nickname ‘Cool Professor’.


    In other departments, they were treated as queens, but Ganghyuk gave them just above the failure threshold. So, they were at a loss.


    “Sir…”


    “Yes?”


    “It’s a little painful.”


    “Really? I will fix it.”


    Ganghyuk felt as if he himself had felt pain. He injected more anesthetics and asked. “How about now?”


    “It is better now.”


    “Good! You must tell me if you feel pain, ok?”


    “Yes, sir.”


    “Now, I will stop the bleeding first.”


    Having said that, Ganghyuk tried to find the origin of the bleeding. As it was a nameless vessel, it was very small and fragile. But, Ganghyuk identified it very quickly.


    ‘If we could use electrocautery…’


    He missed the tool very much in Joseon. But what could he do?


    There was a saying, “Without teeth, gums will do.” So, Ganghyuk tied the vessel with a ck thread for now. It was normally done by two hands, but he could do it with a single hand as he was very confident in this process.


    “Good! Now, the blood will not leak out anymore. Do you feel any pain?”


    “No, sir.”


    “Now, I will stitch it up. You have seen this many times, right?”


    “Yes, I even did it.”


    “Yes, you did very well.”


    “Did I?” Yeoni asked with a smile.


    Ganghyuk nodded his head in response. “Yes! You are the best one that I have ever taught.”


    “Oh, I had not thought of it.”


    What she usually did was all rted to the body. She did not do women’s work such as sewing. Nobody expected her to do that, either.


    Yet, she showed her talent in stitching wounds.


    “Thank you.”


    “Not at all. I praised you because you are good. I do not tell lies as you know.”


    “Yes, sir.”


    Ganghyuk was very straightforward; he had a simple personality.


    “Now, it is nearly done.”


    Ganghyuk did not stop suturing even during the conversation. He had almost finished it up, and was trying to make thest tie.


    Yeoni said with wonder. “How can you do it so fast?”


    She had done it before; therefore, she knew it was not an easy job.


    “I have done it more than a thousand times before.”


    “Thousand times? You are really great.”


    “I think you are greater than me.”


    “Pardon?”


    “How many did you kill yesterday?”


    “Ah…”


    She could remember the day before. Her eyes were directed to the ce beyond the forest, to the ce where the smoke was rising from.


    “Are the others fine?” With her remark, he also looked at the smoke. He did not know if Dolseok, Makbong, or Yeoju were alive. The governor and Shin Rip might have died too.


    The situation was very urgent the day before.


    “I don’t know either.” Right now, Ganghyuk was more worried about their safety. His voice contained sorrow, so much so that even he was startled at the voice, despite being the person who had produced it.


    “As Makbong was with them, they might be fine.”


    “His skills are also good, right?”


    “Yes… He is not better than me, but his martial arts are good too.”


    It meant that if it were not for the one with the mask, he could have protected them from the Japanese bandits.


    “Can we go back?”


    “No, that is too dangerous.”


    “Then, where should we go?”


    They could not stay there any longer after all; there was no food and no water, only a little bit of saline. But that was not really meant for drinking.


    Yeoni jumped on the rock while frowning her face. She moved very lightly even though she had gotten stitches just now. She could do that because her muscles were not injured.


    “Take care of yourself. The stitches could burst open.”


    “Okay, sir.”


    “What do you see?”


    “I have been here before. We can reach a vige if we go in this direction. Shall we go there?”


    “There?” He looked in the direction being pointed at and asked.


    “Yes.”