Feeling great, I was jotting down Jin's changes in the chart when Rishar and several executives entered the Greenhouse wearing masks. It must be time for their meeting.
"Ober Teacher, you're here."
Rishar greeted me. The other executives bowed their heads politely too.
With Jin's condition improving day by day, and me going around telling everyone to wash their hands, minor illnesses in the Underground City had decreased, so all the executives treated me like a renowned physician.
Me? I'm just a quack though... Ugh. Honestly, I wanted to shout that the reduction in colds and stomachaches was thanks to Rick's various cleaning agents, not me.
I gathered my stethoscope and chart, preparing to leave the Greenhouse. The executive meetings used to be in Jin's bedroom, but now that he spent his days here, they'd moved to the Greenhouse.
Rebel executives meeting in a bright, green-filled space felt so out of place. Weird, doesn't fit! Doesn't fit at all!
But actually, the scene that seemed mismatched was a little cute. They all huddled together on chairs made from tree trunks, like something out of a fairy tale.
Sleeping Forest's dwarves... no, maybe the prince and fairies. I stifled a laugh and stepped out of the Greenhouse. I planned to stop by the clinic briefly before heading to see Lui.
Lately, Lui and I had embarked on a major project.
Until now, we'd sterilized medical tools by boiling them in water, but boiling alone didn't achieve perfect sterilization, so we'd decided to introduce a modern method.
And that was the autoclave
(autoclave)
device, which sterilizes using high-pressure steam.
Thank goodness I'd seen sterilization processes at the food company. Of course, all I knew was that it needed to be made of sturdy material to withstand high-pressure steam, so Lui was racking her brains over it.
"Teacher!"
As I gathered autoclave materials in the clinic, platinum blond hair popped up from under the desk. It was Rodent.
"Rodent, you're here?"
Nearly three months had passed, and Rodent had grown so much he was unrecognizable.
Due to his poor nutrition from street life, his growth had been stunted. But after coming to the Underground City and eating Betty's delicious meals three times a day, he'd caught up to his peers' height.
"Going to see Lui sis?"
Seeing me gather papers, Rodent's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"Yeah. Want to come along, Rodent?"
He nodded eagerly at my question.
...Even though I'd switched my fave character to Jin, Rodent was still an adorably cute creature. As I stood holding the papers in one hand, he tightly grabbed my other.
"Teacher, you're here? Rodent too."
Lui and Rick welcomed us warmly as we entered the lab.
Lui immediately spread out her experimental blueprint for the autoclave and launched into a lengthy explanation.
But...
I don't understand a thing, Lui teacher. I'm a liberal arts major. Sob.
"...You don't get it?"
"Yeah, sorry."
I come up with the ideas, yet can't understand Lui's explanations at all. What a pathetic situation.
It was embarrassing for both of us. I asked her to make it, so why can't I understand her, stupid me! Lui must be frustrated too.
"Anyway, to sum up... it might take some time, but I think I can make the device you described, Teacher."
Lui scratched her cheek awkwardly.
Finally, something I could understand. It can be done!
"Lui, you're a genius!"
I grabbed her hand and grinned. She blushed slightly and smiled back with a hee-hee.
Then Rick's voice came from behind.
"Rodent, do you want to become an alchemist when you grow up?"
Rodent kept asking about alchemy, so Rick must have gotten curious.
"Hm, no."
Rodent tilted his head thoughtfully.
"Then an engineer like me?"
Lui asked brightly. Everyone wants disciples. I watched warmly.
"Hm, not that either."
Rodent shook his head.
Well, of course. Our Rodent's destined to be the great man who liberates this empire from evil's grasp, kids.
"I... want to be a cool doctor like Ober Teacher!"
Rodent said, eyes sparkling.
Aaah, Rodent... Of course he wasn't fated to be a doctor, but his answer moved me to tears.
So cute, so lovable! I wanted to hug him and roll around on the floor.
Wait, but if Jin keeps living, Rodent won't need to succeed him anyway, right? Lately, with Jin's improving condition, hope had been budding.
But... that hope shattered in an instant.
"O-Ober Teacher!"
The lab door burst open as pale-faced Finn rushed in. He was trembling so much it scared me. His bloodless face filled me with worry.
"What's wrong, Finn? What happened?"
His quivering voice made mine shake too. My mind went blank. Did something happen to Jin?
"The Leader... the L-Leader..."
Reading the worst from Finn's anxious face, I jumped up without hesitation.
"Is Jin coughing badly?"
I hurried toward the Greenhouse, asking Finn, but he didn't answer.
"Vomiting a lot of blood?"
No response again. What on earth? I couldn't bear the anxiety.
"The Leader... can't breathe."
Finn finally choked out, voice breaking.
Can't... breathe? Why? Suddenly why? I just saw him breathing fine moments ago. Trembling, I flung open the Greenhouse door in disbelief.
"Jin! Jin!"
Rishar's shout rang out. I staggered to the bed on shaking legs. Rishar desperately called Jin's name.
Jin... couldn't breathe. For real. Just as Finn said. He clawed at his chest, gasping desperately for air. Thrashing in agony.
His bloodshot eyes met mine for a moment. And then...
Jin lost consciousness.
"No, no! Jin――!"
Rishar wailed.
I clenched my fists, trying to ignore the sensation of my breath stopping.
Stay calm, check breathing and pulse...
CPR protocol flashed in my paralyzed mind. First, finger under nose.
No... breathing.
Still, I checked his carotid. The faint pulse was gone.
Next, call to check consciousness...
"Jin, can you hear me? Jin... please..."
Pointless. No response to my desperate pleas. Holding back tears, I began chest compressions.
"Chest compressions, 30 times... two rescue breaths... One, two, three..."
It was a cardiac
(arrest)
situation, just like I'd seen countless times on TV. The scene that thrilled me most. So urgent, so intense.
But...
With a real heart-stopped patient before me, no thoughts came. Why had I ever found this entertaining? Why, why... I felt pathetic for my past self.
At least the annual company CPR training helped. Next, ask someone for an AED, an automated external defibrillator...
'...As if this world has that. Snap out of it!'
Moves I'd done endlessly on the training dummy Annie, but first time on a real person.
"Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine... thirty."
Then two rescue breaths. I tilted Jin's head back to open the airway.
Took a deep breath, pinched his nose, blew into his mouth. Confirm chest rise. Protocol surfaced in my rigid mind.
But... Jin's chest didn't rise. Somehow, my breath felt blocked by something, not entering.
Airway obstructed? The world seemed to end.
