Golden Time

At Suhyuk’s voice, the senior smiled and opened his mouth.

“I will no more take any questions.”

Then he turned on the beam projector. The white screen was full of the skull and its corresponding denominations.

“What’s all that?”

The faces of the students began to stain with despair.

At a glance, the number of the medical terms were over a hundred.

They look like alien and Arabic words. Even more shocking was the senior’s instruction: “I’ll give you two minutes, and you’ll take the test in two minutes, and today it’s about the skull. If you cannot memorize them, you won’t have any sleep tonight.”

“Oh, the study time is too short! Please give us more, please?”

At their urging, the senior added, “Okay, let me give you two and a half minutes.”

Ticking.

The moment the second hand of the clock pointed to 12 o’clock, the senior opened his mouth again, “Start!”

The students started to concentrate intensely.

Some of them were muttering, and others memorizing from their notes. The senior folded his arms, looking at the juniors’ studying for the test with a satisfactory expression. An old memory passed through his mind. He went through the same gruelling period when he had to memorize all that stuff.

At that moment Suhyuk raised his hand, asking the senior, “Sir”

“Did I give them too much time? There is no time to ask…”

With a slight smile, the senior said, “Okay, what is it?”

Suhyuk replied cautiously, “I already memorized them in high school…”

In fact, he had not memorized them, but known them for a long time.

The senior’s eyes became wider, but soon went back to normal.

At the end of the day, this was the kid who got the media limelight since his high school days and was admitted to this medical college with full scholarship.

The senior felt it was possible Suhyuk had known the names, because the test is just about skull.

As if he appreciated Suhyuk’s words, the senior came to him and presented a piece of A4 paper.

“You memorize this…”

Suhyuk confirmed what it was. A human body was drawn on it with countless names. Actually the number of bones in an adult man is 206. Moreover, the names of the neural system, muscles and blood vessels were also written down. How many names were on the paper in total? Well over one thousand.

When Suhyuk was looking over the A4 paper sheet, the senior student walked back.

“Sir.”

Suhyuk’s voice caught his footstep, and he turned to Suhyuk again.

“I know them already, too…”

He narrowed his eyes. With the paper upside down, he was scratching his head.

He knew everything on it. When his expectancy disappeared in a flash, Suhyuk found emptiness coming up in his heart. There was nothing new on the test.

“Really?”

The senior then gave Suhyuk a pen.

“Let me give you 5 minutes for this test.”

With a perplexed look, he said cautiously, because it was not something he could write down in five minutes.

“Sir, is it okay for me to answer verbally instead of writing down the names?”

With his arms folded, the senior nodded his head.

It was right to do an oral test for this kind of thing. Can he pour out many terms at once?

“Okay, let’s start from the skull to the toe…”

“Fibula, frontal bone, stellate orbital surface, orbital surface, bony, frontal projection, orbital orbital surface, temporal projection…”

Wearing a hollow face, he looked at Suhyuk reciting the names, and shook his head as if he were sick and tired of him. Names that he already forgot or did not think about were coming out of his lips. There were about 20 seconds left.

“Tarsals, Metatarsals, Phalanges…”

The classroom was quiet. Everyone’s eyes were focused on Suhyuk, their mouth wide open, and then the senior burst into a laughter, “Hahaha!”

His laughter quickly stopped.

“What are you doing? Just go home now before you can’t take the bus.”

“Only me?”

He gently smiled and nodded his head.

“Yeah, you know it all. You do not have to stay here.”

Suhyuk, rising from the seat, made an uneasy face because he had to leave alone.

When he was hesitating, the senior opened his mouth again,

“What are you doing? I can tell them know-how when even one student is done and goes home like you.”

That made sense.

When he tried to get out of the classroom, someone suddenly grabbed his hand.

It was Choi Suryon.

She pointed at herself with her fingers and kept muttering to him to save her.

“Choi Suryun,” she was surprised at the senior’s calling her.

“Yes, yes.”

“Did you memorize everything?”

“Well… Time is too short…”

“Two minutes and thirty seconds passed.”

The beam projector was turned off and the senior handed down pieces of A4 paper to the juniors.

“Test time is 3 minutes. I will give 10 minutes rest for those who get perfect scores. 2 minutes 30 seconds for the others. Start!”

Those looking at Suhyuk enviously quickly held pens to write down the names.

“Goodbye… to a warm place…” said Choi.

Parting with her, Suhyuk, went out of the classroom bitterly.

The senior whispered to himself, looking at his back, “He’s just great…”

He’s never seen a student who mastered osteology while taking preparatory courses. Not only he but also his professors.

The word ‘osteology’ was so infamous that it made the students rage with anger.

“What kind of doctor will he become?” he muttered.

There was nothing like jealousy in his murmuring as he looked at the door through which he left. He just had some sort of respect for him as a fellow traveller walking the same path.

Turning his head back to his juniors, he laughed gently, saying, “One minute left.”

—–

The season changed the clothes of the world a few times.

It was the same for Suhyuk.

He became a first-year student in regular courses, and was walking in the hallway.

Then, Choi Suryun, running from behind, ran toward him as if she wanted to take his arms.

“Hah, hah.”

Suhyuk shook his head at the sound of her wild panting.

“Oops, looks like you’re breathing your last. Walk slowly.”

“Oh, huh, you know that? We are supposed to practice on a cadaver a week later.”

When Suhyuk nodded indifferently, she made an expression as if to cry.

“What should I do? I can not … I can not!”

She was already familiar with the picture of cadaver practice because she heard about it from the seniors.

A cadaver without a leg, or with its neck twisted back. There was also a cadaver, with muscles and tendons revealed here and there after it was dissected. They were not different from us during their lifetime. Now comes the dissecting practice. Just a simple imagination of it made her tremble.

“I really cannot do that.”

Suhyuk answered briefly, “You have to.”

“Don’t you feel scared at all?”

Suhyuk walked with a smile at her words.

Of course he did not feel indifferent to it. He was a little nervous. In his dreams he did it countless times. But it is the first time he has to do it after he woke up.

It was a lie if he did not get nervous. Suhyuk blew away his tension with a short breath.

He determined though, that he would get everything he could learn during cadaver practice to meet the wishes of the deceased who made a difficult decision in life.

First-year students attending regular medical courses moved to the outskirts of the school.

The memorial place was located outside the practice building, with a monument. The monument was offered by the bereaved to honor the deceased who donated their bodies. The monument did not contain a single name. Instead, seven portraits were hung on it.

Suhyuk looked at the faces in the photo one by one. And he muttered in his heart.

‘Thank you, thank you.’

“Silence.”

The politely dressed students closed their eyes and bowed their heads at the teaching assistant’s word.

They could not be more quieter and holier. Some female students were seen shedding tears.

What kind of words were they conveying to the deceased? After that ceremony that did not last long, the students moved back to hear the lecture.

***

The students who turned pale barely moved to the practice place.

Among the crowd was Suhyuk wearing a white gown.

“What are you doing? Come in!”

The teaching assistant pressed them.

The students who lingered in front of the door started to go inside.

Seven wooden lids placed on the practice bench.

“This is unit 1, that is unit 2…”

According to the assistant’s instruction, the students who have formed their own units moved to their designated practice bench.

“It is the place where the deceased is located. Lay down the lid cautiously. Do it.”

The practice room was quiet. They got so anxious. The wooden lid was lowered. The cadaver was illuminated over vinyl covering it. Have they ever seen a body like this before?

There were yellow subcutaneous fats on the skin that popped all over the place.

“…”

The practitioners who closed their mouth trembled with panic and fear.

The girls had already started shedding tears, and the boys became hardened like stone statues.

“Wheck!”

It was not uncommon for them to retch. They stepped back before they knew it.

“Get close!”

At the cold voice of the assistant, the students, with closed eyes, approached the practice bench.

“Why are you crying in front of the noble resolve of the deceased?”

He again pressed them.

“The crying guys will get expelled from the room.”

The atmosphere of the room was heavy.

So much so that they could not hear even ants moving.

The fragrance of formaldehyde from the cadaver made them sick and it pierced their eyes.

“Cut the vinyl with the scissors next to it.”

Everyone hesitated. But before long, some courageous students began to cut the vinyl.

Then, the smell of formalin, which drifted silently, became clear.

Good luck? They finished the cutting of the vinyl of the cadaver. With everybody shivering, Suhyuk stepped up and removed the vinyl calmly.

It was a figure of an old man who seemed to be kind.

Without any clue how he died, his face was a little distorted.

By the time everyone was arranging the vinyl on one side, the professor came in.

Looking at the students, he opened his mouth,

“In front of the cadaver, doing your best is a courtesy and a sign of respect.”

Everyone nodded. They looked like they were pulling themselves.

“The practice that we are doing now is the basis of the basics, and the blood and flesh from this cadaver will be the blood and flesh for you to be a doctor.”

Suhyuk belonged to unit 7, and even though they firmly refreshed their determination, no one came up to grab the scalpel. The unit members all looked at Suhyuk. With a bitter laugh, Suhyuk took the scalpel and closed his eyes briefly.

“Grandpa. thank you for giving us the chance to learn.”

Opening his eyes, he moved the scalpel up to the forearms of the cadaver.

As soon as the scalpel was applied to the skin, it was opened up slightly. It passed through the dermis and cut off the subcutaneous fat. The yellow fat clenched the muscles messily.

Then he removed the delts calmly. Then he handed the scalpel to the other student next to him.

He was handed the scalpel with a trembling hand.

“You can do it, you have to.”

At Suhyuk’s encouragement, he nodded, swallowing dried saliva on his mouth.

Unexpectedly, the practice was going well.

Not only the boys who hesitated, but also the girls who were tearful regained their composure and cut the skin.

Suhyuk, watching his unit members, unconsciously examined the whole body of the cadaver.

Then one area attracted his attention. A string mark on the neck was clear. “Suicide?”

“Though he ended his life regrettably, his bereaved family donated his body according to his will,” said the assistant, passing by.

Suhyuk nodded his head.

“We’ll resume after 10 minutes’ break,” said the professor.

The students flocked to the bathroom as soon as he said that, and so did Suhyuk.

At that moment, he made a frown when he was getting out of the door.

He smelt alcohol from someone out there.

The guy who was freaking out that he could not practice in a sober condition finally had a drink.

He wondered how he got in here without being caught by the assistant.

The break time passed quickly. Originally, it took one or two weeks to dissect, but because of the internal situation of the school, they had to finish all the dissection practice in eight hours.

So they have to come back again in less than a month. Shaking their heads, they went back to the cadaver.

This time, Suhyuk was the first to take a scalpel. At his unhindered movement, his unit members were just astonished. Given the dissecting speed, it looked like they were able to see everything from the origin of muscles to the insertion. He clearly showed not only the blood vessels but also the tendons to the unit members, which he cut off clearly. The boys muttered with a blank expression,

“He’s different …”

He looked like he was born to be a doctor.

The girls listened to Suhyuk’s explanation while taking a glance at the cadaver.

The assistant walking around was astonished at him, who had been demonstrating on his own why he was famous.

“Damn it! You guys are chopping the muscles…” shouted the assistant, rushing toward the Unit 2 members.

The time was already approaching 6 PM.

Now the weary students looked at the cadavers with indifferent eyes.

What remained for them was to look into the organs.

The professor said, “The organs can be extracted but should be kept as original as possible.”

Suhyuk naturally raised his hand on cadaver’s belly, and when he stopped his hand, he moved the scalpel without hesitation.

A thin peritoneal membrane encircling the organs was revealed.

A very delicate technique.

Other boys would have split it with the skin, however, there was no way they could know about it.

“This is the peritoneum,” said Suhyuk.

Did they listen to him? They were anxious, swallowing dry saliva, looking at the organs behind it.

Suhyuk was forced to move the scalpel again. The internal organs were evident when the peritoneum was dissected.

“I think that swelling will happen …”

The thorax was swollen as a whole.

Then Suhyuk lifted the ribs. The organs seemed to stick together with a sticky mucus.

The unit members barely pulled themselves through, though they felt like passing out.

Unlike them, Suhyuk was casting his gaze at the cadaver here and there.

The organs looked different from normal ones.

“What the heck is this …”

The swollen lung covered almost all the chest as if it was full of water.

Besides, it covered even the stomach and duodenum.

Suhyuk lifted up his head. His gaze was fixed at the neck of the cadaver with a clear line mark.

Suhyuk’s eyes fell down coldly.