Chapter 243: Brain Death (8)

The scalpel made a cut through the chest, and they inserted a double-lumen endotracheal tube for independent ventilation of both lungs. In a total pneumonectomy, it was important to be mindful of damaging the phrenic nerve and the glossopharyngeal nerve.

Professor Kang Sung-Guk carefully cut the inferior pulmonary ligament. He felt confused in many ways, even while performing the surgery. Kim Hyun-Taek was not just medically and legally deceased; Kang Sung-Guk also thought of him as deceased. It felt like he was practicing on a cadaver with his students rather than opening up a person to treat them.

‘Can he really be revived?’

Kang Sung-Guk performed a total lung resection while maintaining lung ventilation. He took out the artificial lung that A-GenBio made for transplantation. These lungs, which were being stored in dry ice, were fresh, but not anymore. They had to work fast now that it was out of the styrofoam box.

They positioned the artificial lung in the posterior chest cavity and anastomosed the bronchus using the intussusception method.

Now, it was time to transplant the heart.

The aorta, superior vena cava, and inferior vena cava were cannulated and connected to the cardio-pulmonary bypass. The same arteries and veins were blocked to prevent blood supply to the heart. Then, the heart was harvested by cutting the superior vena cava, aorta, pulmonary artery, and then the inferior vena cava.

The left atrium was left intact. This was because the procedure was an orthopedic heart transplantation, where the artificial heart was transplanted while anastomosing the left atrium. A-GenBio’s artificial heart was placed in the cavity and each blood vessel was reopened.

This difficult surgery took eight whole hours. Performing a heart-lung transplant simultaneously was not an easy task, even for experienced doctors.

Even observing the operation for that long was difficult, so the stress and exhaustion of the medical staff performing the operation was unimaginable. Young-Joon could feel that everyone was getting tired toward the end of the surgery. Young-Joon could see these incredible tasks on a much smaller scale.

‘They succeeded.’

—Did they?

Rosaline read his thoughts and sent him a message.

‘They don’t know yet, but they did.’

The sinoatrial node of the transplanted right atrium received a message from the revived brainstem. The epinephrine that had been pumped into the vein the moment the blood vessel was opened had ordered the node to beat.

“We’re done,” Kang Sung-Guk said. “Let’s keep him on intubation and the ventilator. He still has an IABP (intra-aortic balloon pump), which we’ll remove tomorrow.”

His voice was filled with exhaustion.

“Good work,” Young-Joon said to Kang Sung-Guk and the medical staff who were coming out of the operating room.

“Well, thank you,” Kang Sung-Guk said. “But Doctor Ryu, to be honest, I don’t have much hope that he will come back to life.”

“Really?” Young-Joon replied.

“Well, we did our best, but... As a doctor, treating a patient feels different from dissecting a cadaver. And to be honest... this patient feels like the latter,” Kang Sung-Guk said. “Of course, I’m not saying this based on medical evidence; it’s just my personal opinion from experience. Your reputation will take a hit if it fails, so you should brace yourself.”

Young-Joon smiled faintly.

“Thank you for your concern,” he said. “When are you thinking of removing the ventilator?”

“That’s for you to decide, Doctor Ryu. We’ll remove the rest within two days, but the respiratory device is the last thing keeping the brain-dead patient’s body alive.”

“Then let’s remove the respiratory device on the second day as well,” Young-Joon said.

“Alright.”

“You and the medical staff’s hard work today will be rewarded.”

“Rewarded?”

Kang Sung-Guk scratched his head, puzzled.

“Doctor Ryu, I am a doctor at the Next Generation Hospital, and I get paid a salary. You don’t have to compensate me for the clinical trial.”

“Not a monetary reward,” Young-Joon said. “ In six days from now, next Wednesday, that patient will regain consciousness.”

*

Lee In-Ju, the hospital director of the Next Generation Hospital, was having a bit of trouble because of the guest in her office: the child Young-Joon left here.

“She’s my niece, but I don’t have anyone to take care of her right now. Can she stay here until the surgery is over?” Young-Joon asked.

Lee In-Ju wanted to decline because he wasn’t confident in taking care of a kid, but this was Young-Joon, and he was the owner of the Next Generation Hospital.

Young-Joon wasn’t involved in running the hospital, and he didn’t own any shares either. However, the hospital was established with donations from a public welfare foundation, and the owner of that foundation was A-GenBio. And since Young-Joon was the owner of A-GenBio, he was basically the owner of the Next Generation Hospital.

Plus, the Next Generation Hospital was where the incredible new technologies pouring out from A-GenBio were first applied. Amazed by this, talented doctors from all over the world flocked to this hospital to train and share their knowledge.

Eventually, the reputation of this hospital, which was armed with new technology, state-of-the-art equipment, and experienced medical professors, grew rapidly. Now that there was talk of bringing someone back from the dead, Lee In-Ju had too much leaning on Young-Joon as a business partner.

“Yes, of course! My grandchild is about her age. What’s your name?”

“Rosaline,” Rosaline replied.

“You can stay with me until Doctor Ryu is done working, okay?” Lee In-Ju said with a friendly smile on his face.

That was the beginning of unfortunate events. This pretty child broke a flower pot in the first ten minutes, and she was extremely distracted. She wanted to touch almost everything in the room. She even got her hands on Lee In-Ju’s e-cigarette and lighter.

“Can you just sit still for a minute...?” Lee In-Ju pleaded as he took the lighter from Rosaline.

“I only made a mistake with the flower pot earlier because I didn’t comprehend the weight of it. Don’t worry, I won’t vandalize your office anymore.”

“...”

The words Rosaline used weren’t normal for a nine-year-old, and she didn’t sound like one either. She didn’t shoot out scientific knowledge like a machine gun as Young-Joon had warned her beforehand, but that was the limit. It was difficult for Rosaline to portray the immaturity of a nine-year-old.

‘I know Doctor Ryu said she was his niece, but where did he get this weirdo from?’

Lee In-Ju sighed inside. But even in this distracting environment, he had to continue working.

Knock knock!

Someone came into his office with a knock.

“Hello, Doctor.”

An exotic-looking man with a beard walked in.

“Hello, it’s been a long time, Yassir.”

Lee In-Ju greeted him like he was happy to see him.

“Even though our company has gotten much bigger, I’m here again because there aren’t many good English speakers,” said the man, stroking his beard.

His name was Yassir, and he was a salesperson and scientist at Philistines, a pharmaceutical company in Egypt. He often came to the Next Generation Hospital to make some supply agreements for a few pharmaceuticals. He couldn’t speak Korean, but it didn’t matter as Lee In-Ju was fluent in English.

“It’s been a while, like six months? But I see you have a guest,” Yassir said, glancing at Rosaline. “She’s very cute. Is she your granddaughter?”

“No, she’s a relative of Doctor Ryu. He asked me to babysit her for a little.”

“A relative?”

Yassir tilted his head in puzzlement. He stared at her quietly.

“You’re here to make a supply agreement, right?” asked Lee In-Ju.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Yassir walked over to the sofa and sat down.

“It’s time we renew the agreement for Medivoto, the botulinum toxin type A that we sell.”

Yassir took out the documents from his bag.

“It must have been tiring to come all this way. How long did it take you to get here from Egypt?” Lee In-Ju asked as he read the documents.

“It took about eighteen hours to get here from Cairo, with a layover in Abu Dhabi,” Yassir replied.

“Thank you for coming here. I wish A-GenBio could produce Medivoto as well,” Lee In-Ju said as he read the paperwork.

“Haha, don’t say that. Then what’s a small pharmaceutical company like us to do?”

“Such humble words,” Lee In-Ju said, chuckling. “It was only four years ago that Allergon, the U.S. pharmaceutical company, controlled ninety percent of the botulinum toxin market. But now it’s down to less than half, thanks to Medivoto being produced in Egypt. You took their market shares.”

“We got lucky,” Yassir said, chuckling along.

“There aren’t many companies that have the technology to mass produce botulinum toxins type A and B at this level of purity. You’ve only been in business for a short time, and you already have this much output, which means you have pretty impressive technology. Even if you do other things, your company... Um...”

“Philistine.”

“Yes, that’s right, haha. I’m getting forgetful these days because I’m old. I’m sure Philistine will succeed in whatever they do now, like the next A-GenBio.”

“Thank you.”

Yassir grinned widely.

Lee In-Ju put his glasses up on his head and began to read the contract carefully. In the meantime, Yassir glanced at Rosaline.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“...”

“Oh, do you not speak English?” Yassir said, a little embarrassed, when Rosaline didn’t respond.

Lee In-Ju intervened while reading the document.

“Maybe. She’s very fluent in Korean, and I haven’t seen her speak English. I thought she would be good at English since she’s from the United States.”

“She’s from the United States?” Yassir asked.

“Yes, that’s what Doctor Ryu said. Her hair is red, too. And she also has an English name. Rosaline, was it?”

“Rosaline?”

Yassir was frightened.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Oh... Haha, it’s nothing...”

“It’s a common name.”

“Yes... It is.”

“Well, she could’ve just learnt nothing but Korean there, so maybe she can’t speak English. My nephew went to the United States to learn English when he was in university, but he didn’t learn any English because he lived in Koreatown. He just wasted a bunch of money. I helped pay for it, too,” Lee In-Ju said. “I’m almost done with the paperwork, so it won’t be too long.”

“...”

Yassir silently stared at Rosaline.

Then, he asked, “If she’s a relative of Doctor Ryu, is she also smart like him?”

“She’s a bit odd. She might have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. She was the one who broke the flower pot, haha.”

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on Lee In-Ju’s door.

“Come in,” he said.

“I’m back from the operation. Thank you for taking care of her,” Young-Joon said as he walked in. “I see you have a visitor.”

“He’s from a pharmaceutical company in Egypt called Philistine.”

Lee In-Ju introduced Yassir to Young-Joon.

“Hello, Doctor Ryu. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Yassir jumped up to his feet and held out his hand in the most respectful way possible. Young-Joon shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ryu Young-Joon.”

“I heard you’re reviving brain-dead patients now.”

“We’re still conducting the study. Has the word gotten out as far as Egypt?” Young-Joon replied with a chuckle.

“Everyone in the industry is watching with interest, and... I’m a fan of yours, Doctor Ryu,” Yassir said. “I’m a member of your fan club. Things about your personal life come up once in a while, but I’ve never heard of a relative of yours living in the United States.”

“...”

Young-Joon grinned.

“She’s a distant relative. I haven’t spoken to her in a long time as well. She’s heading back soon,” he said. “Anyway, you’re the company that supplies Medivoto.”

Young-Joon glanced at the papers on the table. Lee In-Ju was keeping them as a record.

“That’s right. It’s our flagship product.”

“It’s a drug made by processing botulinum toxin, right?”

“Yes. It’s type A,” Yassir replied.

“Botulinum toxin type H is the most deadly toxin known to man. Just two billionth of a gram is enough to kill an adult man,” Young-Joon said. “Type A and B are less toxic and are used as a drug for neuroparalysis, but you should still be careful when handling them.”

“...”

Yassir smiled faintly.

“Of course. We have it fully under control, so don’t worry.”

“Would it be possible to look at one of your products right now?” Young-Joon asked.