Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 100.
A week later, Kim Do-yoon was admitted to Ward 77.
His assigned nurse took Do-yoon on a tour of Ward 77.
His nurse pulled the IV pole with the drip attached, but even that alone made Do-yoon fidget with nervous energy.
Receiving such attentive care as he’d never known before left him feeling a bit embarrassed.
“I can do it! Please, let me!”
“It’s all right. You’re on an IV drip, so your arm will be difficult to move. You’re experiencing some vascular pain from the insertion, so best to leave it.”
The nurse pinched her thumb and forefinger together and wrinkled her nose.
In truth, the injection site throbbed and his arm was numb. It was like how he could feel his esophagus and stomach when he swallowed something hot—he could sense exactly which vein the drip was flowing through. He simply couldn’t bring himself to complain.
Do-yoon eventually followed the nurse’s guidance and moved his feet forward.
“I’ll just give you a quick explanation of where everything is.”
In the space where they arrived, a patient was brewing coffee from a machine. Beside it sat an air fryer and microwave lined up one after another.
“Since you’ll be on patient meals, you probably won’t need to use this space much. You don’t have a guardian, correct?”
“…Yes. They probably won’t be coming.”
It seemed to be a space mainly used by patients’ guardians—not those making quick visits, but people staying overnight at the hospital to care for their loved ones.
But Do-yoon had no guardian.
His mother had left home when he was young, and his father had passed away during his high school years. Without the Eunseong Group’s support, he probably wouldn’t have even graduated from high school.
For Do-yoon, Eunseong was more than just a sponsoring foundation. It was a father and mother rolled into one. It wouldn’t be wrong to say he’d grown up there.
“This here is a simple examination room. Depending on circumstances, you might need to go to the main building, but we can go over those details when the time comes!”
Ward 77 had a modest examination room for patients who preferred to avoid public exposure. Simple tests like ultrasounds or EKGs could be performed here, though the trade-off was reduced accuracy.
‘Patient Kim Do-yoon probably won’t need to use this either.’
The assigned nurse knew roughly what Do-yoon was about. He was listed as an Eunseong VIP, but he was completely different from patient Eun Seo-yeong.
He was a young artist sponsored by Eunseong, she’d heard.
He’d probably have no reason to use the examination room. There’d be no inconvenience from being recognized anyway.
“Can I handle this myself now?”
Do-yoon grasped the IV pole that the nurse had been pulling for him.
“Of course! The explanation’s all done. You can go to your room now.”
Do-yoon gripped the pole carefully, checking that the drip line wasn’t being pulled. Even though they’d made the tubing long when connecting it, he still seemed anxious about it.
Truth be told, he looked like someone without an ounce of ease about him.
He startled at the smallest sound, and the way his eyes darted side to side made him look like a man who’d done something terribly wrong.
‘Doesn’t look much like a VIP.’
The nurse thought he seemed somehow ill-suited to Ward 77.
* * *
Beom-jun arrived at the thoracic surgery department seeking Im Sung-hyuk.
[Searching for talent location.]
[Located Im Sung-hyuk: Thoracic Surgery Department.]
Though Im Sung-hyuk was still the only professor, the department buzzed with activity thanks to the Eunseong Hospital doctors.
“You must be the director. Hello.”
“Welcome.”
Eunseong doctors who recognized him gathered around. Ever since he’d treated patient Eun Seo-yeong, interest in him had grown considerably, and what little hostility had remained among a few had vanished completely.
“Yes, yes. Please, get back to work. I won’t stay long.”
Leaving behind the Eunseong doctors eager to make a good impression, Beom-jun spotted Im Sung-hyuk.
“There you are.”
“Director, you’ve arrived.”
Spotting Beom-jun, Im Sung-hyuk pulled back his chair to make room, and Beom-jun tapped him on the shoulder before sitting down.
The other doctors, who had been sitting at attention with hands folded, watched Im Sung-hyuk with envious looks.
“Any transfers coming from Neurosurgery?”
“No, sir. None.”
Im Sung-hyuk answered the director’s abrupt question immediately.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, I’m certain.”
‘Is it not happening yet?’
Beom-jun had expected Do-yoon to be transferred to thoracic surgery, but it was taking longer than anticipated.
They should have found a tumor pressing on the nerve by now while investigating the cause of the Essential Tremor.
‘Why is it delayed?’
Beom-jun accessed the hospital system and reviewed patient Kim Do-yoon’s treatment progress.
He was currently under Professor Shin So-jeong’s care. Neurological tests were underway.
‘MRI, CT—how much is all this going to cost?’
For a moment, Beom-jun was concerned about Do-yoon, whose finances were hardly comfortable, but the treatment fees would be billed to the Eunseong Foundation anyway.
‘In that case, we might as well get maximum value.’
Beom-jun was about to give the medical staff a hint about Do-yoon’s condition but held back. At the beginning of Do-yoon’s admission, the medical world had been in a frenzy, thinking they’d encountered a new rare disease.
Tests almost as extensive as those for Eun Seo-yeong would be performed. And the more thorough the diagnostics, the more money would accumulate at Korea University Hospital.
‘Keke, how much is all this going to be?’
After attracting the Eunseong Hospital VIP, money had been steadily accumulating at Korea University Hospital.
Honestly, it wasn’t an enormous sum compared to the hospital’s entire budget. Against medical ventures like military-contracted hospitals, it was pittance.
Still, watching money-making patients walk around was a different matter. Especially when it felt this good. Hehe.
Beom-jun, who’d been stressed as the Kim Do-yoon episode unfolded differently than expected, found himself humming at the sound of money coming in.
But he still hadn’t grasped exactly what was happening. Whether things had truly diverged from the original story.
‘Maybe some content was added. Surely it wasn’t completely overturned.’
Nothing was certain yet.
But Beom-jun didn’t wait around theorizing. He decided to head to Ward 77 first.
‘Still, it’s better to see his face beforehand. I’ll make it look like I was just passing by.’
There would be plenty to see once the quest unfolded. When the director appeared later, it wouldn’t look strange then.
Beom-jun was preparing to leave when Im Sung-hyuk, sitting beside him, asked a question.
“Is there a patient transferring from Neurosurgery?”
Im Sung-hyuk seemed to have caught on, having heard hints about a patient from Beom-jun before.
Before answering, Beom-jun noticed that none of the other doctors were saying anything.
It might have been because of the director’s presence, but there was also a sense that they were carefully listening to the conversation between Beom-jun and Im Sung-hyuk.
Rising from his seat, Beom-jun gestured at the door with a glance. Im Sung-hyuk grabbed his white coat from the wall rack and followed.
“Hold on—what’s this about? Where are you going?”
“Didn’t patient Eun Seo-yeong also transfer from Neurosurgery?”
“Wow, are you really asking the director about a VIP patient?”
The moment Beom-jun and Im Sung-hyuk left the department, the Eunseong doctors spoke at once.
There was much talk about the information coming from the director, but beneath it lay pure envy.
“Professor Im Sung-hyuk, I heard the director and you didn’t get along before. Do you know what happened?”
Professor Jeong Da-eun, mixed in with the group, asked Min-ho.
“I’m not entirely sure myself, but according to Professor Im Sung-hyuk…”
The doctors focused on every word coming from Min-ho’s mouth.
“The director said, ‘I need more doctors like you in this hospital.'”
Jeong Da-eun nodded knowingly at Min-ho’s words, but the other doctors seemed lost.
“What’s so special about Professor Im Sung-hyuk?”
“Maybe he just works incredibly hard?”
“Wow, that’s—not easy to do.”
“I couldn’t do it.”
They made no effort to become doctors like Im Sung-hyuk. They were quick to pout and say they couldn’t manage it.
From such doctors, Jeong Da-eun held herself slightly apart.
* * *
Meanwhile, when Beom-jun entered Kim Do-yoon’s hospital room, something felt off.
‘It’s different somehow.’
It was because of Kim Do-yoon’s appearance, which differed from how he’d been described in Doctor X.
– He was a bright and innocent young man. It seemed as though a pure soul manifested itself as artwork in his hands. Every time his paintings accumulated, Paris was captivated by the arrival of the young artist.
‘Is that bright and innocent?’
Kim Do-yoon was trembling in his right hand while chewing his lips. He could barely stay still. His eyes darted left and right, surveying his surroundings.
“Y-you’re Professor Im Sung-hyuk?”
In particular, he stared at Im Sung-hyuk’s face as if he’d seen a ghost.
It might have simply been anxiety before surgery. If Beom-jun hadn’t remembered the contents of Doctor X.
‘I believe in God’s will. Even if I can’t use my right hand, I have my left hand. Isn’t it a blessing that my left hand is fine?’
He had suffered from Essential Tremor affecting only his right hand, yet he’d spoken positively about it. He’d even been practicing drawing with his left hand.
But the Kim Do-yoon before Beom-jun now seemed extremely anxious. He seemed unable to accept what was happening to him.
Most patients are like that, after all. It’s not easy to immediately acknowledge and cope with a serious illness that strikes suddenly. The current Do-yoon differed from the one Beom-jun had seen in Doctor X precisely for that reason.
Meanwhile, Im Sung-hyuk addressed Do-yoon, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from him.
“Do you know me?”
“No?! How would I know a professor!”
Kim Do-yoon reacted with excessive enthusiasm to Im Sung-hyuk’s question. His tremoring right hand shook noticeably harder.
Seeing this, Beom-jun lowered his posture and spoke to Do-yoon.
“You seem quite startled by our sudden visit. Since you’re from Eunseong, I stopped by to say hello. But I have work to attend to, so I won’t stay long.”
“Yes. Yes! It’s nice to meet you.”
Do-yoon grasped Beom-jun’s hand with both of his.
Not just his right hand, which suffered from Essential Tremor, but his left hand trembled as well.
“Well then, rest up.”
Beom-jun offered a warm smile and left the room.
‘There’s something more to this.’
Beom-jun was certain, seeing Kim Do-yoon’s reaction differing from the original.
If the character’s personality had changed, then the contents of Doctor X must have been substantially altered. He was the protagonist of this episode, after all.
Beom-jun felt that this episode wasn’t simply slightly expanded or modified.
Like standing before a broken puzzle. He needed to figure out what he was missing. The quest would come after that.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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