Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 115

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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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Chapter 115.
Circumstantial evidence alone cannot warrant disciplinary action.
I cannot punish Han Myeong-jae or reduce the authority he currently wields.
But power, by its nature, stands upon trust.
For a representative to exercise authority, there must exist the belief that concentrating individual power in one person’s hands is justified. Conversely, when trust crumbles, it is the public itself that holds the power to topple any leader at will.
“Oh? I heard Chairman Han visited the Emergency Room. He went to see Patient Kim Do-yoon. Word is he flatly denied any connection to the matter.”
Jae-gyeong checked his phone and spoke. Han Myeong-jae, who typically lurked in the shadows, had made a direct appearance at the Emergency Room.
Beom-jun’s eyes narrowed. His brows twitched, dancing with tension.
‘Why did he show up? A mistake?’
It was uncharacteristic of Han Myeong-jae. The heat was on, and the game board had begun to shake.
Word of Han Myeong-jae’s appearance at the Emergency Room would spread quickly. The unshakeable trust would develop cracks. For a man who operated from the shadows, it would prove fatal.
“Good. His appearance at the Emergency Room is enough.”
In any case, it was good news for Beom-jun. Now it was known that Han Myeong-jae had made contact with Kim Do-yoon. He was walking toward his own grave of his own volition.
Learning this about Han Myeong-jae, Beom-jun smiled darkly.
Sensing the lift in Beom-jun’s mood, Jae-gyeong eagerly asked what their next steps should be.
“Where would be best to make this known? The media might be risky, wouldn’t it?”
“No. That would damage Korea University Hospital’s image too. And whistleblowing isn’t well-regarded either.”
Still, Beom-jun spoke firmly in response to Jae-gyeong’s suggestion.
At this juncture, the media was not a sound strategy. If they publicly exposed Han Myeong-jae, Korea University Hospital would lose credibility as well. It would amount to confessing that the hospital had exploited a patient.
It might feed those hungry for scandal, but in the long term it was unwise. Above all, it would reflect poorly on Beom-jun as director—as if he could not resolve this matter internally.
“What about informing the Eunseong Group chairman?”
Beom-jun shook his head at this alternative too.
Telling Eunseong would be equivalent to asking the representative to handle Korea University Hospital’s business for him.
“Let’s wait. Han Myeong-jae will destroy himself.”
Beom-jun spoke unhurriedly to Jae-gyeong.
Fresh hot water steeped the green tea, releasing a delicate aroma. It was the second infusion, deeper and more fragrant.
Jae-gyeong, who had been anxious, swallowed hard watching the composed Beom-jun. His racing heart, pounding with shallow breaths, finally settled.
“What’s your plan? You have to tell me.”
Jae-gyeong’s tone shifted, his words now deliberate and measured. He had grown cautious, more focused.
Beom-jun smiled darkly at his curious aide and provided an answer.
“Do you know about the Uigwonhoe? Look into them for now. Han Myeong-jae’s power comes from there.”
“Ah! I’ve heard of them. It’s an organization that only physicians can join, right?”
At Beom-jun’s words, Jae-gyeong’s eyes widened. As someone well-connected throughout hospital and beyond, he was already familiar with the Uigwonhoe.
It was shrouded in secrecy—membership restricted to physicians, and even among doctors, admission was notoriously difficult. Jae-gyeong was indeed well-networked.
“Right. Only physicians can join. It’s an organization dedicated to protecting physicians’ rights. The logic is: ensure physicians’ rights are safeguarded, and they’ll save more patients. That’s the premise. Han Myeong-jae is using it to manipulate doctors.”
Beom-jun explained to Jae-gyeong. This was information he’d gleaned when he registered Min Jung-sik—who had been awaiting Uigwonhoe membership—as a talent.
“That’s insane. The order is backwards, isn’t it? You grant rights because doctors save lives, not the other way around.”
“If they thought that way, they wouldn’t have created such an organization.”
Having heard about the Uigwonhoe, Jae-gyeong trembled with indignation. His sympathies clearly lay with patients rather than medical professionals. His anger at the Uigwonhoe’s stated purpose was palpable.
They packaged physicians’ interests as something grand to lure members, but to patients, it was plainly absurd.
Jae-gyeong said he would look into it, bowed briefly, and left. With new work ahead, his mind grew restless again.
Alone in the Director’s Office, Beom-jun picked up the receiver on his desk.
There was someone he needed to call. Someone knowledgeable about the Uigwonhoe, someone with the power to shake Chairman Han Myeong-jae.
“Vice Director Gu Hui-jeong.”
Beom-jun spoke aloud the name of whom he would call, searching for the extension number.
She had been Han Myeong-jae’s closest ally. She would know everything.
This Quest that appeared now—to win over an enemy—clearly pointed to the Vice Director.
Yet since her Hostility had vanished, her presence had too.
‘I haven’t seen her in ages.’
Since she’d stopped picking fights, he rarely crossed paths with her at all.
Then a new Quest appeared.
[A Hidden Quest has been created.]
[Hidden Quest: Move the one who has stopped.]
Vice Director Gu Hui-jeong is strategically maintaining silence. Motivate her.
Reward: Favorability Potion (Superior)
Truthfully, Beom-jun had been glad not to see the Vice Director lately. She was exhausting to deal with.
But according to the Quest, she was deliberately lying low.
* * *
After confirming the Quest, Beom-jun picked up the receiver. His grip tightened.
He was calling the Vice Director’s Office. Of course, it would be an unexpected call.
People reveal the most when unprepared. Even better if he could glimpse her true heart.
– The phone rang and rang.
Yet even as the ringing stretched on, Hui-jeong did not answer.
‘Is she deliberately not picking up?’
Their relationship now was neither good nor bad. He’d used Reset Tissue to barely eliminate her Hostility, but had scarcely raised her Favorability at all.
[Name: Gu Hui-jeong / Title: Vice Director]
Management Strategy: ■■■■■
Organizational Operations: ■■■□□
Performance Management: ■■■■■
External Relations: ■■■■□
– Favorability: 1
– Hostility: Strong
[Dominance-driven leader. Strong desire to be number one. An exceptional talent without peer in her work.]
Her Favorability was only 1? Even newly hired talent started at 3; she was below that.
And her Favorability refused to rise, strangely so. Park Ha-rin, whom he kept at his side as Secretary-General, saw her Favorability climbing steadily.
– Click.
Then the long ringing finally ceased.
“Hello. This is Gu Hui-jeong.”
She surely knew the call was from the Director’s Office, yet Hui-jeong answered casually, as if taking a personal call. Her voice was hoarse, tinged with a metallic rasp—perhaps she was coming down with something.
“Vice Director, it’s been a while. I hope your mother recovered well from her discharge.”
Beom-jun asked after her first.
“Regardless of your position, don’t touch family. My mother is my concern.”
Gu Hui-jeong’s sharp words pierced Beom-jun’s ear through the receiver. She had taken his courteous inquiry as a threat.
Everyone has their weak point, and even Gu Hui-jeong—a woman who seemed incapable of shedding a single drop of blood—clearly had hers in her family.
‘Her silence makes sense after all.’
Beom-jun understood, but he approached carefully.
Honestly, if she disliked having her family mentioned, she should have gone elsewhere instead of Korea University Hospital. But well, the Vice Director was his Quest target, so he needed to handle this well.
“I’m not plotting anything—I’m genuinely asking if you’re alright.”
“You called just to ask that?”
Beom-jun spoke casually. Hui-jeong asked back with suspicion.
For a moment, Beom-jun considered offering a VIP room, but he sensed she wouldn’t want to fall under his influence.
‘Her desire to be number one.’ She was the type who wanted to steer the ship herself.
‘She’s wary. This time, I should just watch her reaction.’
She was indeed as exacting as she was capable.
“I… I don’t know what you thought, but this time I really was just asking if you’re doing well.”
Beom-jun replied smoothly. It was a lie, of course, but after years of office politics in his past life, his tongue was well-practiced.
At Beom-jun’s words, Hui-jeong seemed to soften slightly.
“My mother’s fine. She didn’t need hospitalization—she was discharged directly from the Emergency Room.”
Yet even so, Hui-jeong offered no details, relating only what Beom-jun had witnessed in the Emergency Room—nothing more.
Beom-jun asked her nothing further. He did not inquire about her mother’s test results or anything of the sort. He did not even look her up in the hospital system as a patient.
After becoming a doctor, he’d received countless requests from acquaintances asking favors. But Hui-jeong seemed intent on avoiding his intervention.
It’s plausible, though. Given her mother’s apparent age, most ailments would stem from aging. And externally, there were no striking symptoms.
Likely she needed ongoing observation rather than aggressive treatment.
‘She probably managed things at home until things worsened, then came to the Emergency Room.’
Beom-jun had a sense of it, but he didn’t voice it to Hui-jeong.
Even though it had been some time since her Hostility disappeared, he now understood why her Favorability remained at 1.
‘It wasn’t that she had no chance for Favorability to rise. She’s been avoiding me.’
Until now, Favorability rose when he did what the other person wanted, or when they felt favorable toward him personally.
Vice Director Gu Hui-jeong satisfied neither condition.
She, possessed of wealth, renown, and talent alike, wanted nothing. And she was wary of him.
This time called for strategic retreat. Beom-jun hung up.
“Ah yes, I understand. Good to know. Well then, I’ll let you go. Perhaps we’ll meet again for better reasons.”
“…Yes, please do.”
But the moment Beom-jun set down the receiver, an unexpected Status Window appeared.
[Gu Hui-jeong’s Favorability has increased by 1.]
Her Favorability, which rarely rose, had climbed—through a meaningless, idle conversation.
What she wanted might not have been transactional exchange but genuine intimacy. Beom-jun suspected that had he tried to give her something ostentatiously, she would have resented him for it.
“Ah, so that’s the angle? She’s certainly difficult.”
Beom-jun shook his head and opened the Status Window.
[Name: Gu Hui-jeong / Title: Vice Director]
– Favorability: 2
Low as it still was, her Favorability had risen by one.
This would not be easy.
But if he could win over Gu Hui-jeong, she would be invaluable in pressuring Han Myeong-jae and ensuring his own survival.

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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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