Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 116

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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 116.
An Jun-mo, the lawyer, had come to visit the Deputy Director after a long time.
“Deputy Director, it seems the Chairman has made contact with the patient. An artist sponsored by the Eunseong Foundation was admitted, and….”
He was the head of the legal team at Korea University Hospital and the person responsible for handling medical accidents. When something nearly became a medical accident, An Jun-mo heard about it first.
But the eyes are faster than words. Hee-jung, who had already seen Kim Do-yoon in the Emergency Room, cut off An Jun-mo’s explanation before he could finish.
“I know. I saw him. In the Emergency Room.”
She spoke in short answers without any context or preamble.
“The Emergency Room? Why…?”
“There was something that needed handling.”
Her response to An Jun-mo’s questioning was rather curt.
The perceptive An Jun-mo immediately sensed that Hee-jung’s mood wasn’t good.
“Wow, you saw it firsthand! You’re so lucky. That’s amazing!!”
An Jun-mo raised both thumbs up. He was trying to lift Hee-jung’s spirits, but today it wasn’t working.
‘What’s been going on with her lately.’
An Jun-mo’s concern deepened. Beside him, Ha Rin munched on a biscuit with a vacant expression.
Crunch, crunch, crackle.
Every time Ha Rin’s jaw moved, the sound of the biscuit breaking apart sounded delicious.
‘I wonder if I could snatch that biscuit from her.’
An Jun-mo glanced at her, but to Ha Rin, he was beneath notice.
After a brief look at An Jun-mo, Ha Rin spoke.
“The Chairman went too far this time. What fault does the patient have? I don’t think it was right.”
Still holding the biscuit in her hand, Ha Rin stated the facts plainly.
Ha Rin, who had also taken on the role of secretary, could track Choi Beom-jun’s movements, and she already knew that Kim Do-yoon and Han Myeong-jae had met. An Jun-mo, who had come to deliver news about Kim Do-yoon, turned out to be the last to know. He withdrew awkwardly.
Ha Rin set down the biscuit on the table. Whenever she moved, her long hair swayed back and forth. Her expression was always sullen, but today it seemed more serious.
“You already know, Deputy Director. The Chairman wouldn’t have left that patient alone. He would’ve arranged for that whole show one way or another.”
Ha Rin believed the patient had been used in the Chairman’s scheme to control the director. Of course, committing fraud was Kim Do-yoon’s own choice, but Ha Rin thought the Chairman bore greater fault.
Ha Rin knew the Chairman’s persistence well. She had watched from right beside him as Han Myeong-jae maneuvered the Deputy Director, holding her in the palm of his hand.
“What happened to Kim Do-yoon?”
“He was given a high dose of Botox, so it will take a long time for his hands to move freely. The patient thinks it’ll be six months, but according to the Director, it will be longer. Up to a year at most.”
Of course—the Chairman wouldn’t have told him straight. He’d done the same with Hee-jung. When she’d come back from America having put aside her entire career, the Chairman had never once said she could never become a director.
Hee-jung rested her chin in her hand. Short, plump fingers wrapped around her chin, matching her frame.
Hee-jung saw herself in Kim Do-yoon. The Chairman’s methods were always the same.
At first, he acts as though he’d give you his liver and kidneys, but in the end, he uses you for his own purposes. And your weak points are what get caught in the process.
Hee-jung was troubled by the fact that Kim Do-yoon had been broken beyond any hope of recovery.
Kim Do-yoon had merely failed to protect himself, but it was something that could easily happen to her too.
“The Director seems to have known about it.”
Ha Rin picked up the biscuit again and spoke.
“Director Choi?”
“Yes. Professor Im seems to have known too. It looks like they performed the surgery knowing the circumstances.”
This time An Jun-mo interjected with a question.
“What do you mean? They treated Kim Do-yoon knowing it was a trap?”
“They had a consultation right when Kim Do-yoon came to the Emergency Room. They already knew by then.”
Ha Rin popped the biscuit into her mouth.
At her words, An Jun-mo nodded as if understanding.
The day Kim Do-yoon came to the Emergency Room saying his hands wouldn’t move after the surgery, the Director had appeared immediately and extracted a confession from the patient.
Crackle, crackle.
Ha Rin chewed the biscuit with her front teeth. Her eyes grew distant, absorbed in thought.
She understood the outcome, but the mystery remained unsolved.
It couldn’t have been a coincidence that the Director appeared in the Emergency Room. There was no other reason for him to be there besides Kim Do-yoon.
‘Why not just refuse to perform the surgery?’
Knowing there was a trap, the Director had not avoided it. He would have had many options.
He could have transferred the patient back to Eunseong Hospital, or refused treatment saying he couldn’t handle it.
He could have dragged out the discharge indefinitely.
A doctor-director had considerable authority.
But the Director didn’t avoid the trap—he charged straight through the scheme. He seems slick, but his actions tell a different story.
That was Ha Rin’s observation from watching from the sidelines. The Director never cut corners or strayed from principle.
‘He really does seem like an impressive person.’
Ha Rin swallowed the biscuit she’d been chewing and spoke.
“In the end, he did everything he was supposed to do for the patient. That’s why the conclusion was so clean. It’s entirely the patient’s fault.”
Because he didn’t repay evil with evil.
Choi Beom-jun was able to cut ties with Kim Do-yoon cleanly precisely because he hadn’t become entangled with him.
Hee-jung turned her head at Ha Rin’s words.
“I suppose that could be it.”
Hee-jung couldn’t completely separate herself from the Chairman because there had been too much history between them. She’d been involved in too many unsavory affairs while cleaning up after the Chairman.
Ha Rin was not unaware that Hee-jung had done dirty work. But at the time, she’d thought it was the best option. Now she realized it wasn’t.
She hadn’t known you could do things the way the Director did.
“Deputy Director, don’t you see the Chairman much these days?”
“Oh, right. Deputy Director, is there something between you and the Chairman lately?”
Ha Rin asked, gauging the distance between the two. An Jun-mo added his own question.
The recent estrangement between Hee-jung and Han Myeong-jae was common knowledge among those in the know at Korea University Hospital. But opinions varied on the reason.
“There’s nothing going on. If there’s something he needs, he’ll call.”
Hee-jung initially denied it, but her expression told Ha Rin she’d picked up the gist of things.
‘So she really hasn’t been seeing the Chairman much lately. And the Deputy Director doesn’t seem particularly bothered by it.’
Ha Rin honestly didn’t care for Chairman Han Myeong-jae. Even though she tried to view him favorably because Hee-jung followed him, it was difficult.
At the very least, whenever an opportunity arose, he’d replace the director. The Deputy Director could have mediated between the director and himself, but the Chairman always escalated things to get directors fired.
The Chairman made examples to keep the staff in line, and dumped all the blame on Hee-jung.
In comparison, Director Choi really cared for Professor Im Sung-hyuk. When there were difficulties, he helped. He took responsibility to the end.
‘I didn’t know he’d be this kind to a patient. As a director, honestly, he didn’t have to go this far.’
Even after becoming an administrator, he adhered to principles like a doctor still in the field. Honestly, he’s an impressive man. In certain ways, Director Choi Beom-jun was different from the other directors before him.
Meanwhile, the expression on Hee-jung’s face, which had turned away, was not good.
Ha Rin guessed that Hee-jung was thinking something similar to her. That Choi Beom-jun was a hundred times better than Han Myeong-jae.
“I wonder how the Director found out and managed to resolve the whole Kim Do-yoon situation.”
Ha Rin broached the topic and praised Choi Beom-jun. Hee-jung’s expression remained sour.
But in the midst of it all, she spoke about Kim Do-yoon.
“Connect that patient with the Medical Social Welfare Program. There should be leftover budget from the beginning of the year.”
“Ah, so we should enable him to receive treatment at another hospital? Understood. I’ll look into it carefully.”
Ha Rin affirmed Hee-jung’s decision with enthusiasm.
They couldn’t use their influence at Korea University Hospital anymore, but they might be able to link him with government-funded social welfare initiatives.
Among the numerous public institutions, Ha Rin wasn’t sure which one, but she was sharp about budgets and would definitely uncover some hidden funds somewhere.
“Keep what happened at our hospital quiet officially. It’s asking for trouble. It’s not good for us either.”
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Hee-jung spoke as though she was thinking of Korea University Hospital’s interests, but if that were truly the case, she could have just pretended not to know about Kim Do-yoon from the start.
The Deputy Director was worried the patient might suffer, so she just pretended to be tough.
That was what the Deputy Director looked like in Ha Rin’s eyes.
‘In any case, she’s really an affectionate person.’
Ha Rin picked up the empty biscuit container. She shook it to see if anything remained.
“You finished it all? Good appetite. You must really like biscuits.”
“Since you introduced them to me, I’ve been trying different kinds.”
“Eat more. It suits you.”
Hee-jung’s face, which had been rigid, had relaxed somewhat. The Deputy Director wasn’t originally someone whose mood showed on her face. She was different from the authoritarian, hierarchical Chairman.
‘If I had to say, she’d probably get along well with Director Choi. Is it too late now, I wonder.’
“…? Do you have something to say?”
Ha Rin had been staring at the Deputy Director, and at the question whether she had something to say, she lowered her head deeply.
Meanwhile, Hee-jung’s chest felt heavy even after arranging for Kim Do-yoon’s welfare. Her heart felt blocked, her stomach uncomfortable.
She recalled when she’d come back to Korea from America, having put aside her entire career.
Hee-jung was convinced that Kim Do-yoon hadn’t known anything either. He must have thought the Chairman would take care of everything. At least, he wouldn’t have thought he’d be abandoned.
Most people around the Chairman were like that. Before Choi Beom-jun became director, there had been a whole batch of directors who were driven out just the same.
‘Perhaps it’s fortunate that it ended this way. Better than my fate.’
Being cut off now might be better for Kim Do-yoon. At least better than being in Han Myeong-jae’s grip. He could have been dragged around for half his life like a lifer under contract.
“Sigh.”
Hee-jung let out a long, heavy sigh as though the earth itself would cave in.
Even knowing this wasn’t right, she couldn’t stop Han Myeong-jae. She couldn’t stop him—far from it, she was always anxious, worrying that the fallout might land on her.
Then the Deputy Director’s phone rang.
Ring, ring-ring.
At the vibration sound, she pulled her phone from her pocket.
She glanced at the screen for a moment, then closed the phone.
“Is it an important call? Should we step out?”
“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”
An Jun-mo said so readily, but Hee-jung told him not to bother and to stay put. Ha Rin rolled her eyes, alternating her gaze between the two.
From her diagonal position, Ha Rin could see the name on the screen.
Chairman Han Myeong-jae.
It was definitely the Chairman’s call.
Hee-jung forced a smile with only her mouth.
“Really, it’s nothing. Don’t mind it.”
Whenever a call came in, she usually rushed to the Chairman’s office right away. But the Deputy Director did not answer the Chairman’s call.

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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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