Controlled by an AI chapter 2

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A traffic jam occurred on the surrounding roads due to a malfunctioning traffic light. The 119 ambulance arrived at the scene 8 minutes after the call. The paramedics saw the blood on the scene and moved quickly.

“Hurry up!”

The person who called 119 waved their arms wildly.

“Over here! Someone is hurt here!”

The paramedics rushed to the injured person and checked their condition. They were breathing and had a pulse.

While one paramedic brought the stretcher, the other checked the injured area.

‘Fortunately, the bleeding has stopped, but they’ve lost a lot of blood.’

There was no time to ask questions or assess the situation. The paramedics immediately loaded the patient into the ambulance.

***

A general hospital was not far from the accident scene. The 119 ambulance arrived at the hospital’s emergency room.

The ER staff took over the patient and listened to the situation. However, the paramedics didn’t know the detailed circumstances as they had come in such a hurry.

Emergency room doctor Lee Jung-hyun checked the wound and hesitated.

“What?”

The wound was stitched with thread. The doctor asked the paramedic.

“Was there a doctor at the scene?”

“We didn’t confirm that.”

“What? Are you saying someone stitched up the wound and didn’t explain the patient’s condition?”

“No one identified themselves as a doctor at the scene.”

“Then what is this? Ah. I get it. Maybe a patient from a nearby hospital who had surgery went out and got into an accident….”

Another paramedic who was on a call from the scene raised their voice.

“What? What do you mean that doesn’t make sense?”

The doctor asked.

“What’s the matter?”

The paramedic replied with a startled face.

“A witness said that a metal rod was stuck in the injured person’s abdomen and the doctor on the scene just pulled it out.”

The ER doctor’s face turned pale.

“How long did it take for the ambulance to arrive at the scene?”

“Within 10 minutes.”

There was only one way to explain what happened in such a short time.

“If someone with a penetrating wound to the abdomen was only stitched up on the outside….”

The emergency room went on high alert. They immediately contacted the surgical department and secured an operating room.

***

After the surgery, surgeon Kim Joong-seok went to see ER doctor Lee Jung-hyun. They were classmates from medical school.

ER doctor Lee Jung-hyun asked, “How’s the patient?”

“He’s alive.”

“That’s a relief. Seeing that it ended sooner than expected, the internal injuries must not have been severe?”

Surgeon Kim Joong-seok shook his head.

“When we opened him up, we were shocked. If someone hadn’t stopped the bleeding and sent him over, he would have died before getting off the ambulance. He might have died even before the ambulance reached the scene.”

“Huh? It was that serious?”

“It was terrible.”

Lee Jung-hyun couldn’t understand.

“Wasn’t it just stitched up on the surface?”

“No. The internal damage was severe, and the bleeding must have been immense, but most of it was controlled. There was hardly any bleeding.”

Hearing this, Lee Jung-hyun could only reach one conclusion based on his knowledge.

“The doctor who sutured the wounds first must be highly skilled. Where is he from? He must be fro one of the nearby hospitals.”

“But it’s very strange.”

“What do you mean?”

Surgeon Kim Joong-seok spoke with a confused expression.

“It was just stitched with regular thread.”

“Huh?”

“Both inside and out, it was just stitched with regular thread.”

“Why? Was it stitched poorly?”

“No, it was well-stitched. They managed to control the internal bleeding on-site to buy time. But here’s the thing.”

Kim Joong-seok drew a straight line in the air with his fingertip.

“The spacing and pattern of the stitches were as uniform as if done by a sewing machine. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Could it have been a coincidence?”

“No. Not just on the surface, but the inside was the same. Although the inside was stitched even more densely.”

“That’s really impressive skill. So, what’s the issue?”

“They used thread typically for sewing clothes, just regular thread.”

Lee Jung-hyun was taken aback.

“What kind of absurd nonsense is that?”

“I couldn’t believe it either. But it’s true.”

Lee Jung-hyun was momentarily stunned before asking, “So, did you remove all the threads?”

Kim Joong-seok shook his head.

“No, we left it as it was.”

“Huh? Why?”

Surgeon Kim Joong-seok genuinely admired, “It was clearly just regular thread, but I didn’t dare to remove it and re-suture. I wasn’t confident I could stop the bleeding if I pulled out all that thread. So, we just fixed what was hastily stopped on-site and closed it up again. We’ll discuss the main surgery with other professors once the patient stabilizes.”

“Oh… Was the initial treatment that good?”

Kim Joong-seok nodded.

“Whatever you imagine, it’s beyond that. If I had done that hemostatic surgery, I’d have written a paper and made a breakthrough.”

This time, Kim Joong-seok asked, “Who on earth did it, and where is he from?”

He had come to the ER right after the surgery to ask this question.

“I don’t know either.”

“They said it was done near the accident site.”

“Was there a mobile hospital vehicle capable of emergency surgery at the scene? We just need to find out where that vehicle came from. I don’t know why they used regular thread instead of surgical sutures.”

“No, this isn’t a surgery that can be done in a hospital vehicle….”

“Then, was it done after moving to a nearby hospital?”

Detective Park Ki-jung approached the confused doctors. After checking the accident scene, he had come to the hospital to inquire about the injured person’s condition.

Surgeon Kim Joong-seok, verifying the detective’s identity, asked, “You came at the right time. Which mobile hospital vehicle does it belong to? Or what’s the name of the hospital in front of it?”

Detective Park Ki-jung asked back, “What are you talking about?”

“Shouldn’t there be a place where the patient was operated on?”

“I heard it was done on the… roadside?”

The two doctors’ eyes widened.

“What?”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

The two doctors exclaimed with amazement on his face.

“Isn’t it astonishing? I was surprised too. Surely, they must be either a former military officer deployed overseas or someone who has been active in foreign conflict zone medical volunteer teams, right?”

Surgeon Kim Joong-seok scrutinized the injured person’s body, trying to discern what method of hemostasis had been used inside. Consequently, he became even more flustered.

“No, it’s not the kind of surgery you can perform on the street just because you have such experience. What I witnessed today wasn’t just first aid, it was a genuinely sophisticated surgery…”

“Really?”

“So, are you saying that surgery was performed on the street? No, how could that be?”

“I’m not even a doctor, why are you asking me what to say?”

Detective Park Ki-jung interjected with a probing question.

“Is it difficult?”

“There wouldn’t have been surgical knives on the street…”

“But they said the surgery was done with a cutter knife, right?”

“What? What kind of knife?”

“A cutter knife, like the ones used to cut paper.”

Upon hearing that the wound had been sutured on the street, Kim Joong-seok thought there couldn’t be anything more surprising. However, his eyes widened even more upon hearing the details.

“What? No, how could they use a cutter knife? Do you think human flesh gets neatly sliced just by using any knife like that? Are they some sort of sword master?”

“Since all the witnesses said so, what choice do we have but to believe?”

“What about the needles then? We know what thread was used, but what about the needles?”

“They said they bent needles from safety pins to use.”

“Wow. Unbelievable. What about disinfection?”

“There were many people on-site with hand sanitizing alcohol…”

“Really?”

“Oh. They also used bottled water.”

Kim Joong-seok became perplexed.

“This is just absurd… How did they ensure visibility of the surgical site then?”

Emergency room doctor Lee Jung-hyun interjected.

“Did he disinfect the patient’s abdomen when it was opened?”

Surgeon Kim Joong-seok responded with a pale face.

“Um… yes. And antibiotics were used. But now I’m not sure if they used enough…”

Kim Jung-seok interrogated Detective Park Ki-jung as if pressing charges.

“Are you saying that the rescue team members just watched while such a major surgery was performed on the street?”

It wasn’t an accusation, but rather a question borne out of incomprehension.

“The one who did the surgery left the scene before the ambulance arrived, having completed the surgery in just a few minuted. How is that possible?”

“Well? How long does it take for an ambulance to arrive at the scene…”

Emergency room doctor Lee Jung-hyun replied instead.

“I heard earlier that it took less than 10 minutes.”

Kim Joong-seok recalled what he had seen in the operating room today.

“And that was done in just 10 minutes?”

Though it was hard to believe, he couldn’t outright dismiss it either. Then, a thought suddenly struck him.

“I need to contact our department head.”

Lee Jung-hyun asked.

“Now? But he’s on vacation in the United States and it’s early morning there.”

“I know. He shouldn’t have gone to the US for no reason. Once he hears this news, he’ll come back immediately.”

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