I took a few steps back at Kevin's shout and faced off against him. Kevin seemed extremely bothered by my approach, or perhaps he didn't like my greeting.
I slung my backpack to the front and slightly unzipped it, reaching inside to pull out a bottle of saline solution, a spray disinfectant, and a few packaged painkillers.
I knelt down on one knee. From a distance, I could hear someone breathing. I started by rolling the bottle of saline solution toward Kevin like a bowling ball. The round bottle rolled and stopped at his ankle. Next, I rolled the spray disinfectant.
Kevin didn't even look at the items I rolled over; he only watched my actions. I threw the painkillers, which Kim Gayoung had brought from Yugeun's lab, the two remaining pills and all. The bottle drew a parabola and landed beside Kevin's foot.
When I observed, Koreans usually don't take pills without water, but foreigners often swallow them dry. I'm not sure why. Maybe I just haven't seen many Koreans do it. The water and medicine... you could scoop up some of the draining water and drink it. I tried it, and it was fine. But I'd rather swallow the saline solution than drink seawater. It's just saltwater, after all.
I said something I would never say to a patient in my clinic.
"Self-treat."
Kevin, without taking his eyes off me, picked up the round saline bottle and lifted it toward me. Keeping both me and the bottle in his sight, he quickly examined the item and placed it on the ground. He was doing the same with the disinfectant and painkillers.
He probably believed that if he took his eyes off me, I would rush to attack or that the people keeping their distance would pounce on him. I don't know why he thought that. I pointed to the pill bottles and asked.
"Clean the wound with saline, disinfect it with the spray, and the painkillers will help with the pain. Or you can choose to stay in pain."
You need to see the wound to know what it looks like. I think I acted in a way that wouldn't get me kicked out by Hippocrates. It's a common surprise, but even dentists take the Hippocratic Oath. If a patient doesn't want treatment, what can a doctor do? I can only say, "Come back when you're ready." Besides, Deep Blue is closed, and I'm on vacation.
"I don't want to treat you if I have to imagine you hitting me with an axe while I do it."
"What do you gain from this?"
I couldn't help but smile at Kevin's question. Then, I wiped the smile off my face, fearing it might be seen as mockery, and replied.
"Nothing."
Kevin's eyebrows furrowed deeply. After a moment, he sighed.
"If you don't attack me first, I won't attack you."
As soon as I heard that, I wanted to expand the scope of this agreement.
"Do the same for the others. If these people don't attack you, you don't attack them."
It's not a bad idea, right? They probably don't want to be scared of you either. You don't want that either. But I can't promise for everyone, so if they attack, you can defend yourself. It's quite fair, isn't it? However, Kevin shook his head.
"Just you. They haven't done anything for me."
I sighed deeply and slowly approached with my hands up. I gently removed the towel wrapped around his calf. The wound was a deep puncture, likely from something sharp, and the towel had been tightly tied around it.
No matter how many times I looked at it, it seemed like it needed at least ten stitches. As I examined his calf and reached into my backpack, Kevin panicked.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to get some tape. I'll stop the bleeding and tape the wound."
I opened my backpack and moved things around to find the tape. Kevin's expression turned strange when he saw the contents. I poured saline over the wound, washed my fingers, and pressed a gauze pad on it. Once the bleeding slowed, I poured more saline to clean it again and disinfected the area around the wound.
"Is this an axe wound?"
It was a wound on the fleshy part of his calf. Kevin didn't answer. I pulled the torn edges of the wound together as much as possible and taped them multiple times. You need a needle and thread to stitch, but this will prevent the wound from opening further. Kevin frowned and asked.
"What's in your backpack?"
"It's not my cat. ...Do you know anything about snakes?"
"No."
"Sharks?"
"......Are you teasing me?"
"No."
What part of that sounds like teasing? After using up the little gauze and bandages I had, I tore my towel into long strips and wrapped his calf. I asked, looking at Kevin's leg.
"Oh, right. What's your religion?"
"Why religion?"
"Pray for your leg to heal quickly."
"......I used to believe, but not anymore."
After finishing the treatment, my hands were a mess. All I wanted was to run to the bathroom and wash my hands five times. Kevin's brown eyes, which were fixed on my face, made me uncomfortable. Doctors are used to patients staring at them because they have nothing else to look at, but this wasn't a clinic, and the wound wasn't in his mouth, so it was twice as uncomfortable.
Feeling my face burning, I looked around and saw that the others were watching me treat Kevin, arms crossed. ...There's not much else to see besides the draining water, so that's understandable. After finishing, I stood up and checked the water level.
Looking down from the second floor railing, the water had drained significantly. Lee Ji-hyun, who had been sitting on a chair, got up and headed toward the stairs. Kevin, holding the axe handle again, slowly stood up, leaning on the axe. People wanted to go down to the first floor, but they were hesitant because of Kevin.
However, Lee Ji-hyun ignored whether Kevin had the axe or not and walked past him down the stairs. Kevin followed slowly, and the others began to descend, keeping a 2-3 meter distance.
The water level on the first floor was between the ankles and calves. After washing my hands in the seawater, I slowly walked to the elevator to avoid falling. When I arrived, people were already boarding the open elevator. The elevator was enormous. As Lee Ji-hyun examined the elevator panel, I stepped inside and checked the capacity.
[Passenger · Freight Elevator]
[3750 kg]
[50 people]
No wonder the elevator was so big; it has an incredible capacity. It was much larger inside than it looked from the outside. The central elevator in the central building was also huge, but this one is no joke. What's the weight limit per person? Yugeun was looking at the capacity and simply told me.
"75 kg per person."
Hearing this, Kim Gayoung smiled slightly and said.
"I'm not 75 kg."
Is the weight limit per person in an elevator usually 75 kg? It's a topic I never thought about before. There are 12 people here; can we all fit?
Just as I recalled my most recent weight from a health checkup when I joined the company, Sam frowned and asked Yugeun.
"How much is that in pounds?"
"......Oh, wait a moment. ......Oh, about......166 pounds?"
Sam was silent. Then, he glared at the capacity, as if the numbers would change.
A woman named Emma was crumpled in the corner of the elevator, sitting on the floor. She didn't seem to care that her legs and buttocks were wet from the water. She looked incredibly exhausted, unlike her seemingly fine appearance on the second floor. I wanted to talk to her, but she was hunched over, her head in her hands, blocking out all external stimuli. I didn't want to bother someone who looked so tired.
As people boarded the elevator one by one, Benjamin anxiously asked Lee Ji-hyun.
"Does it work? Or not?"
"Wait."
"How long do we have to wait? I followed your advice and dived to get the elevator out of the water."
"Wait."
"If it doesn't work! Hey! You'll be responsible for everyone's death here! They could have gone to the Bio Center, but they stayed here because they trusted you!"
Lee Ji-hyun looked up from the elevator panel and at Benjamin. But Canu interrupted Benjamin first.
"If it doesn't work, we die here."
"Sure, you might as well be dead already, so it doesn't matter if you live or die here, but I'm not like that!"
"Whether the elevator works or not, the outcome will be similar, so stop whining."