"...Ugh."
whith a piercing ringing in his ears, Kang Jin-woo opened his eyes.
The first thing he sensed wasn't the smell of SEoul's smog-filled rainwater.It was the cool, refreshing scent of earth and a peculiar floral fragrance he had never smelled before, seeping deep into his lungs.
"Where... am I?"
Insteadof hard pavement, the sensation of damp grass touched his plams. Jin-woo furrowed his brows and pushed him self up. What greeted his eyes wasn't a forest of gray buildings, but massive ancient trees towering toward the sky
It was too vivid be a dream. The spot where he had fallen felt sore, and his medical bag and blood-stained gown from Korea were lying right beside him.
Just then, a sharp scream broke the silence of the forest.
"No! Please, wake up, Lulu!"
Emergency Situation
Jin-woo instinctively ran toward the sound. His bewilderment lasted only a split second. The veterinarian's intuition, etched into every cell through tens of thousands of emergency cases, outpaced his conscious thought.
In a small clearing in the woods, a girl who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen was crying while hugging a blood-covered breast. The creature's appearance was overwhelming-a massive wolf twice the size of a normal one, with steel-gray fur that looked as tough as iron.
[Status Window activated.][Subject: Direwolf (Juvenile)][Condition: Penetrating wound to the 5th left intercostal space, Open Pneumothorax][Survival Probability: Less than 5%]
A translucent blue information window appeared before Jin-woo's eyes.There was no time to be bewildered. the creature was on the verge of its last breath.
"Move! Get your hands off him right now!"
Jin-woo shouted, pushing the girl aside. The startled girl cried out something, but it didn't reach Jin-woo's ears. He opened his medical bag with practiced movements.
"Tourniquet, gauze! Damn it, there's no time for anesthesia."
Jin-woo pulled out pressure bandages and hemostatic agents.There was a deep laceration on the wolf's left chest, as if it had been pierced by something sharp, and with every breath, foamy blood and air were bubbling out of the hole. It was a classic Open Pneumothorax, also known as a Sucking Chest Wound.
"Hey, you! Don't just stand there, press down hard on this leg! Stop the bleeding!"
Overwhelmed by Jin-woo's fierce intensity, the terrified girl grabbed the wolf's hind leg. Jin-woo was the concerned about the unsterilized environment, but survival was the priority right now. He pulled out a thick needle and boldly plunged it into the wolf's 5th intercostal space. It was a 'Thoracocentesis' to drain the trapped air from the pleural cavity.
Pshhh-!
The sound of trapped air escaping was heard. Simultaneously, the wolf's gasping chest heaved greatly as it began to breathe steadily.
"Okay.The crisis is over."
with trembling hands, Jin-woo sutured the wound. The special sutures he brought from Korea wove through the coarse gray fur. About 30 minutes later, the chaotic surgery was finished.
The wolf—no, the Direwolf called 'Lulu'—soon found stability and fell into a deep sleep.
"...Is he alive?"
The girl stared at Jin-woo blankly, as if she couldn't believe it. In this world, a fatal wound to a magical beast was a domain that couldn't be healed without a high priest's 'High Heal.' Yet, this man in strange clothing who appeared in the middle of the forest had saved the dying Lulu with only his hand movements, without using a single shred of magic.
"Whew, I managed to save him for now... but since this isn't a veterinary hospital, you have to be careful about infection."
As Jin-woo wiped his sweat and stood up, the girl suddenly grabbed the hem of his gown.
"Are you... a Saint? Or a Sage from the legends?"
"No, I'm just someone who fixes dogs and cats."
A look of firm determination appeared in the girl's eyes.
"I'm Elina. I'm an aspiring Magic Beast Tamer from the nearby 'Silvermist Village.' I will never, ever forget this debt!"
"I'll take the 'thank you' later. First, could you explain where I am?"
"I'll help you! You seem to know nothing about this world, so I'll be your guide. I can't leave the person who saved Lulu alone!"
Jin-woo felt at a loss, but he had nowhere else to go in this unfamiliar forest. He draped his blood-stained stethoscope around his neck and let out a soft sigh.
[First Patient treatment complete.][Experience points and a portion of the 'Otherworldly Ecology Encyclopedia' are unlocked.]
The mysterious message appeared before Jin-woo's eyes again. He had a hunch that in this crazy world, there might be quite a lot for him to do as a veterinarian.