No, no. I can't stop. Chest compressions were more important than rescue breaths.
I started pressing down on Jin's chest again. One, two, three, four... What if his airway is blocked? Nine, ten, eleven, twelve...
There was only one answer. Tracheotomy. Cut the throat and insert a tube into the airway...
No, I don't know how to do that... And even if I did, there were no tubes in this world to insert. How could I intubate without a tube?
'You can't die like this, Jin.'
Was it now, this moment? In the original story, Jin died after three months. And it had been nearly three months since I'd arrived here.
But Jin had been getting better little by little... Why on earth?
Performing CPR was physically demanding, and I quickly started running out of breath. If only someone could take over...
If I'd known this would happen, I should've trained everyone in CPR. Holding back tears, I kept pressing hard on Jin's chest when a *cough* sound came out.
With it, a clot of blood spurted from Jin's mouth. Blood splattered across my face, but I didn't care. Jin's breathing had returned. It seemed the blood clot had been blocking his airway.
"Jin, Jin!"
Rishar reached out as if to shake him. I blocked his arm and shook my head.
"You can't shake the patient."
Did I do the emergency treatment right? I vaguely recalled that for foreign body airway obstruction, the Heimlich maneuver is used, but for unconscious patients, CPR is required.
So what now? With trembling hands, I pulled the penlight from my outer pocket. The day had finally come to use it.
I flipped back Jin's eyelids and shone the light into his deep ocean-blue eyes. Thankfully, both pupils reacted.
Then I placed the stethoscope on his chest. *Thump, thump, thump.* Jin's heart beating regularly felt incredibly grateful.
Soon, Jin coughed and opened his eyes. When our gazes met, his eyes widened. Mental status—check mental status.
"Jin, are you conscious? Do you know who I am?"
"As... trid."
Jin called my name in a dazed voice. For a moment, it felt like time had stopped with a *thump*. Did he just say my name?
"Ober Teacher."
Ah, of course. The guy who'd been calling me 'Doctor' or 'Teacher' every day wouldn't suddenly call me Astrid just because he'd come back from the dead...
'But he's clearly saying my name fine, so his mental status seems okay.'
For some reason, all the energy drained from my body in an instant. Ah, must be from the exhausting chest compressions.
"Jin!"
Rishar roared his name. I'd aged ten years, but Rishar looked gaunt after that short time, as if he'd been the one to die and come back.
"...Don't fuss."
Jin scolded Rishar in a hoarse voice.
His fuss? What fuss? Does this look like fussing over nothing to you, Jin? You just... really, truly died and came back.
"Jin, you...!"
Rishar shouted his name as if about to yell at him. No, even so, yelling at a patient who'd just had cardiac arrest...
Then, thick tears like chicken droppings started falling from Rishar's sky-blue eyes.
Wha, he's crying? Right now? Rishar...? The 'Gray Lion' Rishar?
The third-most-wanted criminal in the empire, after Liberators' Leader Jin and Black Spider's Leader Arachne?
"Thank you, Teacher. Truly, thank you..."
Rishar suddenly grabbed my hand, spouting thanks and bursting into tears. No, really... what do I do in a situation like this?
I looked around for someone to help, but everyone was shedding tears and thanking me.
It seemed only Jin and I were bewildered by the situation. I desperately sent Jin a pleading look for help, but he just watched annoyingly.
They say people get kinder after dying and coming back, but not Jin, apparently.
"Rishar."
Only after a long while consoling Rishar, who clung to me sobbing, did Jin finally speak.
"The doctor's face is still covered in my blood... hasn't wiped it off yet."
If you're going to help, help from the start. I glared at Jin. He averted his eyes from my gaze.
"Ah, y-yes. Sorry, Teacher. Go wash up."
Come to think of it, Jin had vomited blood straight onto my face earlier. I was worried about what I looked like, but...
"I'm a bit anxious leaving Jin's side. If you bring water, I'll wipe it here."
I was too scared to leave Jin alone. What if something happened while I was washing up?
At my words, Rishar nodded in agreement and had a nearby boy fetch warm water in a washbasin.
My reflection at the bottom of the basin was a sight. Jin's blood was splattered thickly on my hair and one side of my face. I sighed and wiped it off.
"Ober Teacher. You really are an angel. How did you bring our Leader back from the dead?"
Finn said to me, his brown eyes sparkling with deep admiration.
No, angel...? I felt my face heat up. If I put an egg on my face now, it'd probably fry.
"That's right, Teacher! You're truly a god-sent physician!"
The other executives all looked at me with eyes of awe. God-sent physician, angel! No, I'm just someone who picked up a bit of modern medicine...
'Huh? But even in my old world, saving a dying person with CPR would've been a big deal, right? News, model citizen award—that kind of achievement.'
The thought suddenly hit me. I'd seen such heartwarming stories on the news and thought, 'Wow, amazing!' So in this world's people's eyes, how must I look...
How? Like an angel or divine healer... Aaaah, steam's coming out of my ears.
"No, everyone. It's not that I'm amazing... It's a skill anyone can easily learn, and if you do, you can save someone on the brink of life and death."
In the end, I could only give a pretentious laugh. It wasn't wrong, after all.
I hadn't meant to be humble, but in an instant, I became the angel modestly smiling after reviving the dead.
"Really... if Teacher hadn't been here... Just thinking about it scares me."
Rishar said to me with a face about to burst into tears again.
Rishar, you really treasure Jin. For some reason, my neck felt hot.
* * *
In truth, Jin wasn't particularly afraid of dying. He'd long accepted that his death was near.
He'd been sickly since childhood. He got ill more often than others and took longer to recover.
So he'd thought he'd die young, but human life was more tenacious than expected. He reached adulthood, then one year, two years more. Yeah, he'd lived long enough.
And this time, he thought his time had finally come. He just hoped Rishar would continue fighting underground without him.
But Rishar, his one and only trusted friend, couldn't accept that Jin's death was imminent as he grew weaker by the day and kept avoiding it.
In the end, Rishar brought every renowned physician he could find, but they all fled, saying they couldn't cure him. Treatments only made him weaker; no signs of recovery.
A year like that. Jin didn't refuse treatment. He figured after trying everything, even Rishar would give up on him.
But... the new Astrid Ober was a bit different.
The only female among his attending physicians. Women couldn't be doctors in the first place. It was Regnumia Empire law. Naturally, she was unlicensed.
Yet the only one who'd made him recover even a little was Astrid Ober.
She was truly amusing. All the doctors said he'd die soon. So they fled. Probably scared of reprisals after his death from treating him.
But Astrid knew he'd die soon and didn't run. Every time their eyes met, she'd be disappointed in his condition, then sparkle with faint hope.
He'd started being drawn to such an Astrid. He didn't even know why himself. But whenever he came to, he always had her in his sight.
Yes, that's how it was... until.
"Jin! Jin!"
His breath was blocked. His body craved air, but no matter how he inhaled, it didn't reach his lungs. His vision blurred, tears welled from pain.
Rishar's shouts, everyone's pale faces grew distant.
Then Astrid appeared before him. This was the limit. In his fading consciousness, Jin thought it for the first time in his life.
'—I don't want to die.'
He wanted to live. Desperately. He didn't know exactly what this feeling was, but in this world with Astrid, with her... he wanted to remain.
He didn't want to leave behind the unsolved puzzle, the lingering attachment named Astrid.
And as if a god granted that wish. When he opened his eyes again, Astrid was there. Looking down at him with teary eyes, covered in blood.
No, the one who granted his wish wasn't a god Jin had never truly believed in his whole life. It was Astrid.
"Jin, are you conscious? Do you know who I am?"
She asked. Who she was? Of course he knew. He knew well the woman before his eyes.
"As... trid."
Astrid. The one existence making him want to live even a little longer.
His dazed mind cleared. And in that moment, he realized why she'd lingered in his heart.
He coveted her.
When Astrid's name—never before uttered from his lips—came out, her eyes wavered.
Ah, right. He was a man who kept death always close like a friend. He... shouldn't covet her.
A woman as radiant as Astrid was too much for a man with death at his doorstep to covet. He had neither the right to keep her by his side nor the strength to pursue her.
"Ober Teacher."
He added belatedly. Astrid, Ober, Teacher. Only then did Astrid look puzzled.
Jin gave a hollow smile. Yes. This was right. He had to keep pushing her away like this.
