Chapter Text
As doctors, it is normal to think that our hands and brains are what's important for us, but the truth is; our legs are.
Yeah, you heard that right. Our legs are the key to operating around the hospital 24/7. Why? Well, it's because we have to run. Running as fast as we can, as if we were running out of time, as if a patient was dying right in front of us. Our speed is what will determine if we can save the patient or not, and prevent death from happening. It's normal to see doctors, nurses, surgeons, attendings, interns, just sprinting through the hospital, chasing the clock, accepting calls of duty; this is their life. They have devoted themselves to saving people's lives.
"Move!"
Hearing the young attending's command, everyone in the corridors immediately moved aside to let him run past them. Some of the doctors and staff noticed who he was and gave out a small grin because they knew very well who just passed them, a few nurses starts to whisper his name and glance at him, and a new group of interns who just finished doing their rounds starts to question about who was that young doctor that ran passed them.
"That's one good runner." one of the interns said, amazed, and the others nodded in agreement.
They're senior resident who were with them, made a small chuckle." And it'll be great if you learnt how to sprint that fast from him."
"Sunbae, do you know him?" asks one of the interns.
"You mean Yang Jaewon?" The senior turns his head to them. "Well, of course I know him. The whole hospital knows him at this point, " he adds.
"Dr. Yang was the fellow who transferred from Colorectal Surgery to Trauma about a year ago, right?" explained another intern, who seemed unfazed by Jaewon's presence.
"Woah~ It looks like you've been lurking around the hospital and gathering precious news, huh~" they're senior teased and slowly nodded, "Yes, that's true. Dr. Yang is now an attending and working at the Trauma Center. He's Professor Baek's precious protege." a small smirk was shown, but the interns couldn't fully understand what that look meant—after all, they are interns who just started working here.
---
"I'm here! What's the situation?" Jaewon called out as he burst through the doors.
"We have a Code Yellow—Mass Casualties—." Jang-Mi walks to him with the notes she gathered from the recent emergency call, "The Air Rescue Unit, Team Leader Ahn, informed me that there was a massive explosion at a research lab facility. Many injured patients, massive burn injuries, and possible radioactive exposure."
Jaewon starts to analyze the notes she wrote as Nurse Agnes gave him a pair of latex gloves. He gave the notes back to Jang Mi and puts on the gloves, "Have you heard from Professor Baek?" he asked and turned to Jang-Mi.
"Wait- I thought you knew?" She was confused to hear how Jaewon was unaware of Kang-hyuk's whereabouts.
Jaewon is now confused, "What are you talking about?"
"Professor Baek went to the site right after I received the call."
Now this explains it all, no wonder he hasn't seen his mentor present at the trauma unit till now. Kang-hyuk was always punctual towards timing; he was never late, and to see him not here, he had guessed that Kang-hyuk may have gone to the site to start triage and deal with the patients beforehand.
"Alright, keep him updated about the situation here, and inform me when he's already back from the site."
Jang-Mi nods to his command and starts to prepare herself for the first ambulance to come in. Suddenly, a loud running thud was heard not far from the trauma unit door, it burst open with a loud bang. Everyone turned their heads to the person who just came in, including Jaewon. He could see how that person was trying to catch his breath, he sighed slowly.
"You're late." Jaewon stated as he glanced at his watch, "7 minutes late, Dong-Ju."
Seo Dong-Ju, the new fellow who just joined the Trauma team recently, was a former ROK Armed Forces Personnel. The two have met each other before, and now, he's Jaewon's underling, Kang-hyuk's No.2—that is the nickname that he gave to Dong-Ju since the first time they met a year ago.
Dong-Ju immediately stands beside Jaewon, "I'm sorry, Sunbae. It won't happen again in the future."
Jaeonwon glances at him, "It's fine. You were lucky enough that it was me who was waiting and not Professor Baek. If it were him, you'd only have a slight chance of surviving the rest of the day." his tone was soft and nurturing. Dong-Ju felt relieved and nodded, "You're not entirely wrong."
Jaewon grinned, "Thank me later."
"Everyone! Get ready! The first ambulance is coming in!" shouts one of the nurses who was on standby.
Without wasting another second, Jaewon, Dong-Ju, and Jang-Mi sprints to the ambulance entrance. Jaewon could see the ambulance coming in. Once it was parked, the doors opened, his body started to move instinctively, approached the paramedics, "Dong-Ju, you handle the second ambulance. Jang-Mi, you're with me." he commanded. Dong-Ju quickly approached the incoming ambulance and started to check the patient's condition as he listened to the paramedic's report.
Back at Jaewon's side, "Male, mid-thirties. Found at the scene of the research lab facility explosion—he was the closest to the blast. Approximately 40% total body surface area burns—face, chest, and both arms. Partial to full thickness."
After hearing the report, Jaewon, Jang-Mi, and the other nurses starts to push the gurney inside the trauma center, he starts to check for the patient's pupil dilation and airway, "Airway compromised?"
"Singed nasal hairs, hoarse voice, soot in the oropharynx—high risk of inhalation injury. We intubated on-site." continues the paramedics.
"Vitals?"
"BP’s been crashing—last read was 82 over 50, heart rate 132. He was hypotensive on arrival, and we’ve pushed two liters of fluids already. Suspect internal bleeding—his abdomen is distended and firm, especially in the RUQ. No external bleeding." Jaewon started to check the patient's abdomen, and the paramedics were right, it seemed like internal bleeding.
"Mechanism of injury?"
"Debris impact—possibly impaled or blunt force trauma to the torso. No time to scan at the scene, but signs point to liver or spleen involvement." the paramedics gave his last report.
Jaewon nods, "Got it. Let’s get him to trauma bay one. Page the burn team, surgical, and respiratory. This one’s going to the OR fast."
"Yes, Doctor." Jang-Mi instinctively pushes the gurney out of his sight and starts to go through his orders. Another patient comes in, he rushes to the gurney and calls Nurse Agnes to assist. He begins to inspect the patient, "What's the situation?"
"Female, early 30s. Found unconscious at the scene of a research lab explosion—the facility was part of a high-risk experimental program. No known specifics yet, but hazmat's locking the site down."
"What are we dealing with?" asked Jaewon.
"Severe multisystem trauma. Possible skull fracture—blunt force to the back of the head, bleeding from the left ear, GCS 6 on site. Unequal pupils, brief seizure in transit."
Nurse Agnes's expression changes. Those reports are all severe. "Vitals?" she asks.
"BP is tanking—72 over 40, heart rate 152, respirations irregular. We intubated en route. Pelvic instability with deformity, possible bilateral femur fractures. Swelling and bruising across the abdomen—we suspect internal bleeding, maybe splenic or hepatic rupture."
Instinctively, Jaewon starts to put small pressure on the patient's abdomen to see how bad of a rupture he's dealing with, and from the feeling of his fingertips, it's bad. He turns to the paramedic and continues to ask, "Radiation?"
"Unknown exposure. Our Geiger counters spiked briefly when we got close—source could be unstable isotopes or something experimental. We stripped his outer clothing, bagged it, scrubbed with decon spray, but we couldn’t waste time with full isolation. Assume contamination until proven otherwise." That's the only answer that they could give for Jaewon. Another paramedic adds, "Left arm’s got open fractures, possible compartment syndrome developing in the thigh. Also showing patchy skin burns and blistering—could be chemical or radiation burns."
"Alright, move! Trauma 1 now. Full-body CT, stat labs, blood ready. Call ortho, neuro, and radiology—and get the radiation safety officer down here now. Prep OR 2! This is more than trauma—he might be toxic." he barks, and Nurse Agnes instantly follows his commands. "And page Dr. Park from Anasthesiologist for me! Stat!" Jaewon adds before Nurse Agnes was completely out of his sight.
The Trauma Center is extremely swamped today, and it seems it won't be ending anytime soon. Jaewon's already packed with 2 surgeries now, thank god he has Dong-Ju to rely on, and the whole Trauma Team. But he's worried about one person who's on the explosion site as we speak, Professor Baek. He wonders if he's okay. Is he overwhelmed out there? He could be struggling. But he can't just leave and go after him to the site, he knows he has to stay, he knows it's Kang-hyuk's order without having to tell him face to face, he knows how much Kang-hyuk trusts him, and he can't let him down. Not today.
---
Research Lab Facility Site
"Ahn! Get him to the hospital stat!"
"Yes, Professor Baek."
The site was in shambles, it was hectic, and swamped. Kang-hyuk wiped away his sweat and continued to collect his thoughts, he could see paramedics running around taking care of patients, a whole SWAT team had just finished inspecting the research lab facility, and news anchors who were now on the scoop. Yeah, this is a lot, but he could surpass it all; for him, it was probably nothing, the years he spent with Black Wings in Syria and Sudan were practically much worse.
To be honest, Kang-hyuk was actually intrigued to know what caused the building to explode. I mean, yes, it could be due to the lab experiments and radiation, with all those scientific gizmos, of course, an explosion would occur at any second. But he senses something off from all of this. He can't quite wrap his head around; there's this gut feeling in him, like his whole stomach and organs were all twisted, signaling him that there's something iffy about this site, about everything.
Kang-hyuk was about to go for another round of triage when he heard Team Leader Ahn calling for him, "Professor Baek!"
He turns his head to him, and he could see Ahn's expression, signaling that he should go back to the hospital now, but of course, Kang-hyuk refuses, "I know what you're gonna say, Ahn, but I'm not going back to the hospital. Not yet."
"But this time you must, Professor." Ahn's words were firm and demanding. He walked closer, "There's a rumor that one of the labs in this facility was for research on nuclear mass. You should head back, it's not safe here."
Kang-hyuk frowned at his words, "What do you mean by a nuclear mass?" Without wasting a second, he immediately searches for the SWAT commander to have a word with him. Ahn followed him to one of the tents where the whole SWAT team and police were gathering. As he went inside, everyone in the tent looked at them. Kang-hyuk briefly introduced himself and Ahn.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I was told that this lab facility seemed to be a research facility for nuclear mass as well." Kang-hyuk stated, his tone was calm, yet deep down, he was worried to know the truth, but he must maintain his cool; he can't let himself get shaken by this situation.
One of the SWAT member took a step forward, from the looks, he's probably the commander in charge of this case, "Professor Baek, you're the head of Trauma Unit at Hankuk National University Hospital, right?" he asks, Kang-hyuk nodded in response, "Well, for now, the site is mostly cleared. Everyone from the building are now safe, but we’ve got major structural instability, whatever blew it, wasn’t small." the SWAT commander starts to inform him the details.
"I can't fully confirm to you that this facility was also for research on nuclear-"
"Commander! You’re gonna want to see this." Suddenly, a tech walks up carrying a charred security hard drive and gives it to the commander, "We pulled partial logs from the sublevel server. This wasn’t just a research facility—this was a classified nuclear prototype lab."
Everyone in the room seemed fazed, the atmosphere turned cold and tense.
"Nuclear? You telling me this was a bomb lab?" asks the commander.
Before the tech could answer, a federal agent walks in, pale, holding a dossier, "Worse. Experimental nuclear compression research—Project Ithaca. Classified. They were working on micro-fission reactions using small-scale enriched mass. The kind that’s traceable, controllable... and extremely volatile." he explains.
Kang-hyuk steps in, "So you're saying that there was a bomb here?"
The agent shakes his head, "Not just a bomb—a test unit. Portable. Capable of going critical if handled wrong. The lab’s failsafe should’ve contained it, but the explosion blew everything apart."
"So where is it now?" Ahn starts to demand answers.
Deg. Nothing. For a few seconds, the agent didn't say a word, Kang-hyuk noticed those trembling hands, clearly panicking beneath the surface. Slowly, he grips the agents arm, eyes locked to his, "Where is it." he asked once more. The Agent looks at him, "We... don’t know..." he felt like he was choked by his own words, "The nuclear mass... is missing."
Everyone in the room goes still, the wind howls through the tent, distant sirens echo.
"You’re saying someone could be walking around with a live nuke right now?" Ahn questions with fear in his eyes, and the agent turned his head to him, a slight nod was shown, "Yes. And if they know how to use it... We’re looking at ground zero before the day’s over."
The SWAT commander urgently walks to the table near him and turns on the radio, "All units, lockdown the perimeter. No one in, no one out. Get the bomb squad, NRC, and every satellite feed you can. We’re officially in red-level crisis." he then turns his head to Kang-hyuk, "Professor, I need you to get back to the hospital with my other SWAT unit, they will be inspecting the whole hospital. If this bomb slipped out from the facility, there's a chance that now it's resting in that hospital, with all of your patient's."
---
Hankuk National University Hospital
It's been 3 hours since the accident happened, everyone at the trauma center is now at their normal pace, no one's running around frantically, nor rushing to save critical patients. Patients are now in a stable state and are being taken care of by doctors and nurses. Dong-Ju just finished his 2-hour surgery on a patient who had a shattered femur and abdominal bleeding. He saw Nurse Agnes at the nurse station, sitting, flipping through patient's file records.
He walks up to her and leans tiredly to the edge of the counter, "Hey... Nurse Agnes."
Nurse Agnes looks up and smiles faintly, "You look like you just went twelve rounds with a bulldozer."
"Two-hour surgery. The femur was shattered beyond recognition. We stabilized, but the abdominal bleed almost took him. It was like stitching together smoke." Dong-Ju half laughs and slumps against the counter. Nurse Agnes sighs softly, "But you saved him?" Dong-Ju nodded quietly, "For now..."
He paused for a moment and glanced at the nearby monitors, he only saw patients resting and nurses checking in on them. Dong-Ju looks back at her, "Where's Dr. Yang? I haven’t seen him since the patient came in." he asks as he continues to glance through the trauma center, still no sight of him.
Dong-Ju could see Nurse Agnes's expression shift slightly, cautious.
"He’s downstairs in Imaging. He’s been pacing like a storm cloud. That guy from the lab… he’s not just another case, is he?" Dong-Ju could see the worry on her face. He slightly rubs his temples, then sighs, "No. There’s something else going on. The contamination warning was triggered in the OR. And I overheard one of the security guys saying a nuclear response team was called in."
Nurse Agnes's brow furrowed, she lowers her voice, "Nuclear? Are you serious?"
"I don’t know how much we’re supposed to know, but Dr. Yang… he saw the patient’s ID tag. Said he recognized the lab name. And now he won’t stop digging."
Dong-Ju lets out a small sigh, Nurse Agnes was quiet but she looks back at him, her eyes were firm, "Then you both better be careful. When government people start showing up in clean suits, it’s not just about saving lives anymore. It’s about silencing witnesses." She was worried, and he noticed it.
Dong-Ju looks at her for a long moment. The usual lightness between them, replaced with a mutual understanding; this is bigger than medicine now.
He nods understandingly, "Let me go find him before he does something reckless." he said softly.
Nurse Agnes nods in agreement, then hands him a fresh pair of gloves and a bottle of water, "Try not to do the same."
A slight chuckle came out from him. He accepted the gloves and water from Nurse Agnes and starts to walk away from the Nurse Station, on his way to find Jaewon.
After seeing him leave, Nurse Agnes continues her work, then Jang-Mi walks in with Gyeongwon and Kang-hyuk. Shocked to see Kang-hyuk, Nurse Agnes stood up from her seat, "Professor Baek?!" Kang-hyuk looks at her and shows a faint smile, "Long day, Nurse Agnes~" Jang-Mi and Gyeongwon made a small laugh after hearing his words. Indeed, it has been a very long and tiring day, no need to say it twice. The whole trauma team is beat.
"You should be resting, Professor." Nurse Agnes added as she gave a bottle of water to the three of them, Kang-hyuk accepted the water and shook his head, "There's no time for resting. I'm pretty sure you've heard of the nuclear mass report?"
Nurse Agnes nods, "Yes. Dong-Ju told me just a while ago."
"Where is he now?" Kang-hyuk asks.
"He went to the imaging room to find Dr. Yang. Dong-Ju told me that Dr. Yang noticed the lab name on a patient's ID card when they came in, and it seems now, he's gone full-on detective mode." she explains carefully.
Jang-Mi's brow furrowed and turns to Kang-hyuk, "I don't like this... I have a bad feeling about all of this..." She was getting worried about this whole situation. Kang-hyuk understands her very well, he let out a soft sigh, "Hey Gangster~" his tone was soft; he was trying to calm her down. "You focus on the patient's, I'll deal with this mess, alright~" He tilted his head and gripped her arm, giving soft caresses and a small smile—which seemingly looks like a grin to her.
"Imaging room, right?" he asked again to Nurse Agnes. She then nods as an answer.
Kang-hyuk made up his mind and decided to go after them. His No. 1 and No. 2, who are now in the middle of putting their nose to something they're not supposed to ever lurk for. Well, what can he say? They are both indeed his students. He has taught them well to the point that they're too good to ever handle alone.
---
Imaging Room
The hallway is quiet, the fluorescent lights buzzing faintly. Dong-Ju walks down the corridor, still in his post-op scrubs. He spots Jaewon standing stiffly outside the CT control room, arms crossed, staring at the screen through the glass.
He sighs in relief to find him there, "There you are."
"You finished the surgery?" asks Jaewon without glancing a look to him.
Dong-Ju hummed, "Yeah. He’s stable. Barely. We had to pack the liver and clamp the pelvic bleeds. I’ve never seen that much internal damage from a blast survivor."
"Because it wasn’t just a blast. Look at this." Jaewon said suddenly. He steps aside. Dong-Ju walks up to the glass and peers in. On the screen is the patient’s full-body CT scan—and something unusual. A cluster of foreign metallic fragments glowing faintly in the abdominal cavity.
"What the hell...?" Dong-Ju immediately looks at Jaewon, demanding an explanation from him about all of this.
Jaewon starts to explain slowly, "I asked radiology to run a deeper scan. That mass near his kidney? It’s not shrapnel. It’s shielded. And it’s emitting low gamma levels."
"You think he swallowed something radioactive?" Dong-Ju was confused.
"Or someone hid it inside him before the explosion." Their eyes lock. A silence stretches between them. "Sunbae, this isn’t just trauma. This is something else. Something we’re not supposed to find."
Suddenly, the lights in the hallway flicker. A sharp knock echoes from behind. They both turn to see two unfamiliar men in dark suits and ID badges approaching—no hospital insignia. One holds a black case. The other speaks, "Doctors. We need you to step away from the monitors. That scan is now classified."
Jaewon frowns and takes a step forward, "He’s our patient." he stated.
"Not anymore. He’s under federal protection and control. You’ll be briefed officially." said the man in dark suit.
Jaewon wasn't going to give up that easily. "If there’s radiation inside his body, he’s still at risk. You can’t just take—"
"This isn’t a request. This is a directive." The man cuts in and starts to walk closer as a warning. The other man with a black case walks closer to the computer, slides a USB from the console, and shuts down the imaging system. The room goes dark. The two men started to walk away from the room and leaving the two speechless.
"We need to copy those files next time. Whatever that thing is… we just became part of something way bigger than medicine." said Dong-Ju quietly after the two men they encountered left.
Jaewon was still staring at the blank screen, "We were trained to save lives, not keep secrets."
Dong-Ju was half-smiling, yet exhausted, but sharp, "Guess we’re learning on the job."