I took a few steps back at Kevins shouting, and faced off against him in that position. Kevin seed extrely bothered by approaching him, or maybe he didnt like my greeting.
I brought my backpack to the front, unzipped it slightly, and reached inside. Fumbling around, I took out a bottle of saline solution, a spray disinfectant, and a few packaged painkillers.
I knelt on one knee and heard soone inhaling sharply in the distance. I began rolling the saline bottle like a bowling ball towards Kevin. The cylindrical bottle tumbled and stopped at Kevins ankle. Next, I rolled the spray disinfectant.
Even as I rolled the items to him, Kevin didnt look at what they were. He only watched my actions. The painkillers were what Kim Ga-young had brought from Yoo Geum-yi s lab, and I tossed the remaining two pills in their container. The painkiller bottle flew in an arc and landed lightly next to Kevins instep.
From my observations, most Koreans dont take pills without water, but foreigners just swallow them dry. Im not sure why. Maybe I just havent seen Koreans swallowing pills without water. As for water to take with the dicine they could scoop up the draining seawater with their hands. I tried it and it was fine. But rather than drinking that seawater, Id prefer swallowing the saline solution. Its salty water either way.
I said sothing I would never tell a patient at my clinic.
Treat yourself.
Without taking his eyes off , Kevin felt around his ankle and picked up the round saline bottle, holding it up towards . Keeping both the bottle and in his field of vision, he quickly glanced at the item in his hand and set it on the floor. He was checking the disinfectant and painkillers in the sa way.
It seed he believed that the mont he took his eyes off , I would rush in to close the distance and attack, or the people keeping their distance would run over and jump him. Im not sure why he thought that. Pointing at the bottles, I said,
Wash the wound area thoroughly with saline, then disinfect with the spray. The painkillers will make it hurt less if you take them, or you can keep hurting without them.
You need to see the wound to know what it looks like. I think I acted in a way that wouldnt get kicked out if I stood before Hippocrates. It may surprise most people, but dentists also take the Hippocratic Oath. Kevin frowned, gripping the axe handle, and asked,
Whats your na?
Zipping up my backpack, I returned the question in an equally dry voice.
Whats your na then?
I heard a sharp inhalation behind . What if Yoo Geum-yi was mistaken or youre a twin and a different person? Kevin gave a displeased look and spat out his na.
Kevin Roy.
Park Moo-hyun.
Mister Park. Theres no guarantee you wont attack if I let go of this axe.
Keep thinking that then.
Kevin looked taken aback. Even if I said Im harmless, have no intention of harming you, wont attack you needlessly, and will treat you if you allow , could he really believe it?
We were strangers, and we t under circumstances too perilous to instantly trust each other. And while Ive countless tis soothed frightened children to treat them at the dental clinic, what power does a doctor have if an adult refuses treatnt? Id just say sothing like Co back when you feel like getting treated. Besides, Deep Blue is closed and Im on vacation.
I dont want to imagine you chopping with that axe while Im treating you either.
What do you gain from this?
Kevins words made smile wryly. Realizing my laughter might seem like mockery to him, I erased the smile tugging at my lips and retorted,
Would I gain anything?
Deep creases ford between Kevins brows. After a while, he sighed.
If you dont attack first, I wont attack you either.
As soon as I heard that, I wanted to expand the scope of this promise a bit.
Do that for the others too. If the people here dont attack you, you dont attack them either.
Not a bad idea, right? Those people probably dont want to be needlessly terrified when they see you either. Sa for you. But I cant make promises for everyone, so if you get attacked, fight back. Quite fair, no? However, Kevin shook his head.
Just you. They havent done anything for .
I let out a deep sigh and approached slowly with both hands raised. I carefully unwrapped the towel around his calf. The calf had rely been tightly tied with a towel after sothing sharp had deeply punctured and exited.
No matter how many tis I looked at it, this wound seed to need at least ten stitches. As I looked at the calf and reached for my backpack, Kevin panicked.
What are you trying to do?
Im getting tape from the backpack. To stop the bleeding and stick the tape on the wound.
As I opened the backpack, pushing the cat aside to find what I needed, Kevins expression turned bizarre upon seeing the contents. I poured saline over the wound, washed my fingers, and pressed gauze on it. After the bleeding subsided a bit, I rinsed the wound again with saline and disinfected around it.
Was this wound from the axe by any chance?
The gash was on the fleshy part of the calf. Kevin didnt answer. I manually pulled the torn wound closed as much as possible to make the flesh adhere and stuck multiple layers of tape over it. Id need a needle and thread to suture it. Lets minimize the wound gaping for now. Kevin furrowed his brown brows and asked,
Whats with the cat inside?
Its not one I raised, so I dont know. Do you happen to know a lot about snakes?
No.
What about sharks then?
Are you ssing with ?
No.
Which part sounds like Im joking? Having used up the scant gauze and bandages, I tore the towel I was using into long strips and wrapped his calf. Looking at Kevins leg, I asked,
Ah, right. Whats your religion?
Why are you asking about religion?
Pray for your leg to get better soon.
I believed until yesterday but not starting today.
My hands were a complete ss when the treatnt was done. All I could think about was running to the bathroom to wash my hands about five tis. I felt burdened by the other persons brown eyes boring into . Doctors are very used to patients staring at their face when they have nowhere else to look, but it was doubly burdenso for since this wasnt a clinic and the treated area wasnt inside a mouth.
Feeling my face burn, I looked around and saw the others also watching with folded arms as I provided treatnt. Well, theres nothing much to see besides the water draining. When the treatnt finished, I stood up to check the water level.
Looking down at the first floor from the second floor railing, a trendous amount of water had drained. Lee Jihyun, who had been slumped in a chair, was now getting up and heading towards the stairs. Kevin, gripping the axe handle again, slowly stood up leaning on the axe. People seed to want to go to the stairs leading to the first floor, but they were wary due to Kevins presence.
However, Lee Jihyun passed right in front of Kevin and descended the stairs, not caring whether he was holding the axe or not. As Kevin slowly went down the stairs after her, the others followed, keeping a distance of 2-3 ters.
On the first floor, the water level was between the ankles and calves. Washing my hands once in the seawater to avoid falling, I slowly walked to the elevator. People who had already arrived were boarding the open elevator. The elevator interior was huge. Lee Jihyun had removed the control panel cover and was examining the inside. I entered the elevator and checked the maximum occupancy.
[Passenger Freight]
[3750 kg]
[50 persons]
No wonder the elevator was so big the capacity was imnse. It was much larger inside than it appeared from the outside. The central elevator in the main building was also huge, but this was no joke either. Whats the per-person weight limit? Yoo Geum-yi was also looking at the maximum occupancy and simply told ,
75kg per person.
Hearing that, Kim Ga-young smiled slightly and said,
Well, Im definitely not 75kg.
Is 75kg the standard weight per person in elevators? I had never thought about this topic before. There are 12 people here, so cant we all fit?
As I was trying to recall my most recent weight from the company health checkup, Sam frowned at the kilograms and asked Yoo Geum-yi ,
How much is that in pounds?
Oh. One mont. Uh, about 166 pounds?
Sam fell silent. Then he stared at the maximum occupancy sign as if glaring would change the numbers.
The woman nad Emma was sitting crumpled in the corner of the elevator floor. She seed utterly indifferent to her legs and bottom getting wet. Unlike when she appeared fine on the second floor, she now looked extrely exhausted. I wanted to talk to her, but she was hunched over with her head in her hands, shutting out all external stimuli. I didnt want to bother soone who seed worn out by the very idea of conversation.
As people boarded the elevator one by one, Benjamin asked Lee Jihyun impatiently,
Will it work? Or not?
Wait.
How long do we have to wait? I went diving and pulled this elevator out of the water because of what you said.
I said wait.
If this doesnt work! Hey! Youll have killed everyone here! Killed them all! The people here couldve all gone to the bio center but stayed here trusting you!
Lee Jihyun raised her head from the elevator panel and looked at Benjamin. But Kanu cut Benjamin off first.
If it doesnt work, we die here then.
Maybe you have no problem living or dying here since your days are already numbered, but not !
Its about the sa whether we get out by elevator or not, so quit whining.
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