Chapter 132: Abnormality (2)

“Hey, Suhyuk.”

“Yes?”

However, it took until after they finished the main dish of grilled beef tenderloin for Suhyuk to stop focusing on his food. Each dish was exceptional, making it hard for him to resist. Neither Lee Hyunjong nor Shin Hyun-tae found this strange as they considered the quality of the restaurant’s cuisine appropriate for its high prices.

“The dessert is also delicious, right?”

“Yes. Wow, this place…”

“It isn’t easy to get reservations here despite the hefty price tag.”

Lee Hyunjong nodded, thinking about the approximately 500,000 won bill that would soon arrive. Honestly, it was quite excessive for a lunch, but every bite served as motivation, reminding him, “I need to work harder if I want to enjoy meals like this again.” Even having dined here multiple times, Lee Hyunjong remained impressed, and needless to say, it was Suhyuk’s first experience at such a level.

Lee Hyunjong waited until Suhyuk had eaten half of his dessert before showing him something on his phone.

“There are patients heading to our hospital’s emergency room now. Please take a look.”

“Huh? Oh, yes, Dr. Lee. Hmm.” Despite having dessert still in his mouth, Suhyuk quickly nodded and focused his attention on Lee Hyunjong’s phone screen.

Two chest X-rays were displayed; based on their differing skeletal structures, they appeared to be from two separate individuals.

“Can’t this wait? I haven’t finished eating yet.” Uncharacteristically, Baruda grumbled instead of immediately providing a diagnosis.

Suhyuk empathized with Baruda’s frustration, so he didn’t blame him for complaining.

‘He bought these for me.’

As always, mentioning that he paid had considerable force.

[Indeed, you’re right. If I see them well, will you buy more?]

‘That’s correct. So let’s take a look.’

[Hmm.]

Due to this, Baruda and Suhyuk started scrutinizing the X-rays carefully. Contrary to common belief, they weren’t just looking at the lungs. Chest X-rays contained much more information than one might think.

‘Their body types seem average… Not fat or thin. They appear quite young.’

[Yes. Early twenties at most? And they are males.]

They could estimate their build based on the skeleton and amount of fat. Additionally, by observing the degree of bone growth, it was possible to determine their age. The shape of the cartilage around the ribs revealed their gender.

‘It seems neither has undergone surgery before…’

“[However, his lungs have completely turned white.]”

‘Indeed. His lungs look so damaged despite him showing no signs of pain.’

“[He is young… What could it be?”]

In the image, the lungs had indeed turned white as per their conversation. The fact that they should originally be black but were now white indicated severe pneumonia. It was extremely rare for this to occur, especially not in a young person without any underlying health conditions.

“Isn’t it strange?” Lee Hyunjong asked Suhyuk, who nodded thoughtfully in agreement with his observation.

“Yes. Do we know anything about the patient’s background? They seem too young for such advanced lung damage…”

“Well, based on what I can see from the X-ray…”

Another resident might hesitate to make assumptions solely from an X-ray, but given the recipient was Lee Suhyuk, Lee Hyunjong felt confident sharing his preliminary assessment.

Lee Hyunjong already acknowledged Lee Suhyuk as more talented than himself. He firmly believed that Suhyuk had seen everything he observed. And Suhyuk never betrayed his trust.

“The one on the right is 22 years old, and the one on the left is 20.”

“Hmm…”

“They are soldiers, trainees from the same batch.”

“Ah. Then…”

Even if they were young and healthy, soldiers could still fall ill beyond normal levels due to their communal living conditions, inadequate facilities, and rigorous training.

“But despite that… isn’t this diagnosis quite extreme?”

“Yes, it is. I’ve encountered military trainees with adenoviral pneumonia before, but not to this extent.”

Suhyuk’s words prompted Shin Hyun-tae to interject. As it was related to infection, Shin Hyun-tae had more to say than Lee Hyunjong. Although pneumonia is primarily handled by respiratory specialists, there were instances where infectious disease doctors took the lead.

“Adeno… Ah, that incident?”

“Yes. Many died at that time.”

In reality, adenovirus mainly caused problems for patients with immune deficiencies. Naturally, individuals with normal immunity weren’t typically concerned about it. However, the harsh conditions of the training camps exceeded the imaginations of many medical professionals.

‘After that, we barely managed to introduce vaccines against adenovirus.’

This wasn’t just a one-time occurrence; it happened multiple times.

Hearing about someone dying from pneumonia at the training center didn’t sound unusual. It could be easily dismissed as due to rigorous training and weak bodies.

‘Even now…I think I was brilliant back then.’

It was Shin Hyun-tae who realized it might be adenovirus. At that time, he had completed his fellowship in infectious diseases and served as a military doctor at the training center. He found it suspicious how quickly the pneumonia progressed in young adults, which shouldn’t have occurred under normal circumstances.

If it had been just one case, he might have overlooked it. However, there were six patients with pneumonia at that time.

Thus, he conducted adenovirus tests that no one had thought to perform until then and managed to save three out of six patients. Moreover, through retrospective epidemiological investigations, it was revealed that a significant number of trainees who died during that period succumbed to adenoviral pneumonia.

“However, this doesn’t match adenovirus patterns. Hyunjong hyung, when were these images taken?”

“The day after symptoms appeared.”

“That’s too fast…”

“Yes, it’s way too rapid. If this is due to adenovirus…these soldiers shouldn’t have been enlisted.”

Of course, some cases of viral pneumonia could progress rapidly under certain conditions: if the host lacked immunity against the virus.

“That’s right. Hmm… What symptoms do they have?” Lee Hyunjong put away his phone again at Shin Hyun-tae’s words and started flipping through the documents sent by Colonel Park Ki-tae.

“Firstly, both have fever, coughing, phlegm production…and fatigue. The symptoms appeared almost simultaneously.”

“How many kids share their room?”

“I wonder if that information was included? Ah, here it is. Sixteen members.”

“Sixteen? In North Korea? Why so many?”

“Why are you angry with me?”

“No, I’m not angry. It just seems absurd.”

It was surprising to hear sixteen people still slept together in one room. Shin Hyun-tae unconsciously recalled Nonsan, where he had been trained. Even twenty years ago, sixteen soldiers shared the same room back then.

‘Shit.’

Even Shin Hyun-tae, who had a strong personality, couldn’t help swearing at this terrible memory. He shuddered momentarily before Lee Hyunjong continued speaking.

“Among them, there is no one with similar symptoms.”

“No? When did this happen?”

“Just two days ago. But why such pictures?”

“Huh…shit, where are you now?”

“If only you called me earlier…”

The Military Capital Hospital was located in Bundang, and Gangnam could be reached very quickly from there.

“They should be almost here? Should we go too? The residents can’t handle it.”

“Yes…I guess so?” Lee Hyunjong looked slightly disappointed to the side.

Through the small window, I could see a small waterfall outside. It seemed that considerable care had been taken with the landscaping due to the expensive house.

“What are you doing? Still not getting up. Suhyuk has already left.”

I wanted to enjoy the view and savor the emotion lingering in my mouth for a bit longer. However, those insensitive guys had already departed.

‘These bastards have no romance.’

Nevertheless, Lee Hyunjong was also a doctor. Shivering slightly from disappointment, he headed outside. Then naturally, he sat down next to Shin Hyun-tae in the front passenger seat.

“Your car? You didn’t bring it again?”

“You know I hate driving.”

“Then why did you buy a Mercedes?”

“Everyone else is driving. It would be sad if only I didn’t.”

“Oh man… Suhyuk, did you put on your seatbelt?”

Lee Hyunjong’s eccentric behavior wasn’t new to Shin Hyun-tae. For a moment, he shook his head before promptly turning his attention to Suhyuk. He believed it was more meaningful to focus on their talented Suhyuk rather than argue with Lee Hyunjong again.

“Yes, Professor. I have my seatbelt on.”

“Good. You don’t have anything urgent to do inside, right?”

“Huh? No, not really. Nothing immediate.”

“Then let’s go together and take a look. What on earth could this be?”

“Yes, Professor.”

Suhyuk would’ve gone regardless, even without being prompted.

It isn’t in the data?

[I have never seen this type of pneumonia before.]

It had been a long time since Baru encountered an unknown disease. It felt uncomfortable to think about it while treating a patient, but regardless, his competitive spirit was ignited.

Vroooom.

While Suhyuk was momentarily lost in thought, Shin Hyun-tae drove out of the alleyway. The hospital wasn’t far away, and there wasn’t much traffic. Additionally, Shin Hyun-tae was driving quite fast.

“Uh-uh. Crazy bastard! Slow down. I want to live longer.”

Lee Hyunjong seemed displeased and yelled loudly. Of course, Shin Hyun-tae didn’t listen to him.

“We need to reach the patient quickly.”

“No way, damn it. At this rate, we’ll end up as patients ourselves.”

“Even if you slam on this car’s brakes hard, he won’t die.”

“You crazy bastard?”

Wasn’t Shin Hyun-tae known for being passionate about patient care? Among them, his eyes would light up at the mention of soldiers. It was even more so with trainees. If the patient had pneumonia, Hyun-tae would almost go insane. And right now, he was half-insane.

“Yes, please. Hyun-tae.”

“Be quiet. The patient is waiting.”

“Why don’t you age when it comes to these matters?”

“You’re strange, hyung. How can a doctor…”

“I’ve saved many lives compared to you?”

“Pfft!”

“I’m sorry! Stop stepping on me!”

Lee Hyunjong kept talking nonsense as they raced towards the hospital. For some reason, perhaps thanks to their speed, they arrived simultaneously with a military ambulance carrying patients.

“No, no, you cannot park here… Huh? Dr. Choi?” Naturally, one agent rushed out to stop them, but…

Inside the ambulance were doctors, and one of them quickly jumped out while pointing at the patient from the ambulance:

“We came for that patient! Could you park our car?”

The agent unexpectedly found himself parking their vehicle.

“I’m sorry. I also need to see the patients.”

Suhyuk was limping but still running towards the emergency room entrance. The agent couldn’t find any words to refuse him further.

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry about the car; please go!”

“Thank you.” Lee Hyunjong initially debated whether he should park or not before heading straight to the emergency room. Come to think of it, Lee Hyunjong wasn’t known as someone who drove his own car. Yet here he was operating someone else’s vehicle - truly inconceivable.

“He… He is losing consciousness!” Shin Hyun-tae exclaimed as he rushed to attend to the patient alongside Suhyuk.

“The oxygen saturation level is dropping too!” Suhyuk cried out simultaneously.

Both patients’ conditions were rapidly deteriorating.