Two hours into the meat grinder. My scrubs and gown were soaked through with sweat. My hands cramped so intensely I had to pry my own fingers open against the edge of a table just to drop a used syringe into the sharps container. The massive influx of patients finally began to slow to a trickle. The frantic screaming faded into low, exhausted moans echoing down the halls. I leaned heavily against the central charting desk, downing a tiny paper cup of lukewarm tap water. My hands shook so hard the water spilled down my chin and neck. Then, the automatic doors slid open one last time. Two paramedics rushed in, pushing a stretcher at a dead sprint. On it was a woman, heavily pregnant, her hands clawing desperately at the white hospital sheets. Her face was chalk-white. The sheets between her legs were soaked in a terrifying, expanding pool of bright, fresh arterial blood. "Thirty-two weeks pregnant! Unrestrained passenger in the rear of the pileup!" the paramedic shouted, completely

The thick red blood vanished down the clear plastic tubing. The rapid infuser whined loudly.  Slowly, agonizingly, the numbers on the screen began to shift.  BP: 65/42.BP: 72/48. The deathly pale hue of Pyeong Yon’s face didn't completely fade, but the blue tint left her lips. Her eyelids fluttered open, glassy and unfocused, but she was conscious. The left lateral tilt and the massive influx of volume were working. We had restored the mechanical plumbing of her circulatory system.  But it was only a temporary fix. She was still bleeding internally.  "Her pressure is holding at eighty-five over fifty," Jo called out, wiping a streak of sweat from her forehead with the back of her wrist. "Heart rate is dropping to one-twenty. She's compensating." "We need to get that baby out right now, or the placenta will c

"Stop right there," the taller guard ordered, his hand resting heavily on the radio clipped to his belt. "This floor is restricted. You need to turn around." I didn't stop. I lowered my shoulder and shoved my weight directly into the center of the heavy double doors, forcing my way past the guards.  The heavy doors banged loudly against the wooden stops, echoing like a gunshot in the massive room.  The Boardroom was intimidating. A long, polished mahogany table dominated the space, surrounded by plush leather chairs. Large, floor-to-ceiling windows offered a sprawling, beautiful view of the Seoul skyline as the morning sun began to rise.  Sitting at the head of the table was Hospital Director Seo Baek-Ho. He was an older, sharp-featured man in a tailored charcoal suit, his gray hair perfectly styled. Sitting to his right was Dr. Seo Ji-Hoon, looking nervous but incredibly smug. To his

"Get your hands off me and step back!" Kang roared, slapping her hand away without looking up.  [Scan Complete.][Cause: Acute Synthetic Heavy Metal Poisoning. Thallium-Based Isotope.][Administration Method: Continuous Intravenous Drip.] My eyes snapped away from the dying old man and looked up.  Hanging from the stainless steel IV pole next to the bed was a standard one-liter bag of clear saline fluid. It was connected to a plastic tube that ran directly into a port in the Chairman's left arm. To the naked eye, it looked completely normal.  But through the cracked, red lens of the System, the clear fluid glowed with a sickly, toxic yellow aura.  [Source Identified.] "It's the IV," I gasped, pushing myself away from the footboard.  

"Kang! Keep your fingers on his neck!" I ordered, locking my elbows.  Kang looked at me like I was insane, but the sheer, desperate authority in my voice made him obey. He pressed his sterile, gloved fingers back against the pale, bruised skin of the neck.  I leaned forward, putting my entire remaining body weight onto my hands, pressing down violently into the Chairman’s liver.  Hepatojugular reflux. It was an old, brutal diagnostic maneuver. By compressing the liver, I was forcing whatever venous blood was pooled in his abdominal organs upward, straight into his heart, and backing it up into the jugular vein.  "Do you feel it?!" I roared, my fractured ribs screaming in agony as I pressed harder.  Kang’s eyes went wide. "It's engorging. The vein just popped up against my fingers." "Hit it now!"