Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 126

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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 126.
Silence always has its reasons.
Like the Uigwonhoe, deliberately staying quiet to protect one’s own interests,
or Saint Hospital’s organizational culture of avoiding responsibility,
or the consideration Park In-sook showed for her daughter’s sake.
Each reason has its own logic, but organizations don’t run on logic alone.
Someone has to speak.
Someone has to take responsibility.
Someone has to stop deciding in isolation.
Otherwise, nothing will change.
The world has always been transformed by those who choose to break the silence.
[A Hidden Quest has been generated.]
[Hidden Quest: The First Voice]
The stagnant atmosphere needs fresh wind.
Make a silent figure speak their mind openly.
Reward: One Talent Contract.
A Hidden Quest perfectly suited to the moment had arrived.
In a tense atmosphere like this, when one person breaks the silence, speaking becomes a little easier for the next.
Add a little more, then a little more, and soon the whole mood will shift like dominoes.
‘A Talent Contract? What’s this?’
This quest offered a reward Beom-jun had never seen before.
As Beom-jun stared intently at the Talent Contract, an explanation appeared.
[Name: Talent Contract
Properties: Registers one named individual as a talent.
*Can be used on individuals who harbor hostility toward you.
Remaining uses: 1.]
An item had appeared that Beom-jun could use even on someone who held animosity toward him.
* * *
Two days had passed since Park In-sook was transferred to the general ward.
– Cardiomegaly
– Dilated LV
– EF 35%
The echocardiography results showed that patient Park In-sook’s cardiac output had diminished.
When the heart beats, efficiency matters more than force. No matter how hard it contracts, if it can’t push out enough blood, it’s meaningless.
Right now, patient Park In-sook’s heart held one hundred milliliters of blood but could only expel thirty-five.
To compensate for the insufficient function, muscle had accumulated on the heart until it was simply larger than a normal person’s.
“Improving cardiac function immediately is difficult. We adjusted your medications during your hospital stay, so try the new prescription, and I’ll see you again in two weeks. Take care during your discharge tomorrow.”
Today was Park In-sook’s final rounds before discharge.
With her condition improving, Gu Hui-jeong was not on duty. Instead, she would take the morning off tomorrow and arrive at discharge time to pick up her mother.
Kang Se-ra had reminded her not to forget to come to the hospital. She’d also told her if her mother experienced any shortness of breath, she must go to the Emergency Room.
“I think you’ll be fine for the next two weeks. If the new medication doesn’t suit you, you’ll need to come to the Emergency Room! Oh, and you’d have difficulty coming to the hospital alone, wouldn’t you?”
“My legs make that impossible.”
Park In-sook confirmed that she did. Checking her file from another department, she had a record of orthopedic surgery.
Diagnosis: Primary Osteoarthritis of Knee
*
Surgery: Rt. TKA (Total Knee Arthroplasty)
**
*Degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee
**Right total knee replacement
She had recently undergone artificial joint surgery on her right knee and her mobility seemed limited.
“If you don’t come next time, I’m calling the vice director! You understand?”
Kang Se-ra linked her pinky with Park In-sook’s. She showed no hesitation even when treating the vice director’s mother.
Part of it was that she spoke appropriately to her patients as a physician, but Park In-sook’s receptiveness to her manner surely played a role.
Park In-sook laughed heartily at this young, spirited woman.
“Yes, I’ll be sure to come.”
Park In-sook didn’t explain in detail to Kang Se-ra why she’d missed her appointments. She’d been afraid it might lead to criticism of her daughter.
Yet through this incident, Park In-sook realized that her attempts to protect her daughter had instead inflicted deeper wounds.
‘Why didn’t you tell me, Mom? Next time you have to tell me. Do you understand?’
Her daughter, sleeping uncomfortably on the guardian bed on the first night of admission, had gripped her hand tightly through the night.
To Park In-sook, receiving the love she’d given her daughter her whole life felt unfamiliar, and the warmth lingering in her palm ached a little.
* * *
The next day. Around 11 in the morning.
Beom-jun removed his white coat and draped it over the chair, then left the Director’s Office.
‘She’s probably getting ready to be discharged about now.’
Beom-jun knew patient Park In-sook’s discharge date from the hospital’s computer system, but he’d deliberately not visited beforehand.
He’d wanted to respect her wish to receive treatment quietly in the general ward. He doubted she’d want the director appearing and making a fuss.
Rather than set aside special time, Beom-jun had coordinated with the discharge time. Or more precisely, with the vice director’s movements.
[Searching for talent’s location.]
[Confirmed Gu Hui-jeong’s location: Cardiology Ward Private Room]
When he arrived naturally at the private room, he found patient Park In-sook changed out of her hospital gown into regular clothes, sitting on the bed beside Gu Hui-jeong.
The mother and daughter were waiting for the discharge nurse’s explanation. They needed to receive guidance on when the next appointment would be.
When Beom-jun saw patient Park In-sook and Gu Hui-jeong, he thought to himself:
‘They really do look alike. The power of genetics, I suppose.’
Not just their faces, but their round shoulders and slightly fuller builds were identical.
When Beom-jun first saw patient Park In-sook, she looked to him like the vice director might in another twenty years.
“Oh? Director?”
Hui-jeong noticed him striding into the room.
Beom-jun gave a polite nod to Hui-jeong before addressing Park In-sook first.
“You must be patient Park In-sook? I’m Choi Beom-jun, the director. Congratulations on your discharge. We’re glad you’re getting out so quickly this time.”
With a brief introduction, he spoke with Park In-sook’s earlier stay in the Intensive Care Unit in mind.
Though Park In-sook was meeting him for the first time, she spoke to him without hesitation.
“Professor Kang took such good care of me. I was worried since my attending physician was changing, but I see there’s no need to be.”
When patients meet a hospital director for the first time, they usually appear modest, but Park In-sook showed none of that.
If anything, she treated him like someone she’d known for years, which caught Beom-jun off guard.
“Ah, yes. I see.”
To him, Park In-sook offered praise for Kang Se-ra while displaying the humility of redirecting credit.
Beom-jun quickly recognized she was no ordinary person. She deliberately presented herself humbly, yet she stood nowhere near that low ground.
“I see why Professor Im Sung-hyuk would recommend her.”
Hui-jeong’s mouth had fallen slightly open. Her praise of Kang Se-ra didn’t sound casual. The vice director seemed to have heard considerable praise of Kang Se-ra from her mother already.
“Yes. Then, take care of yourself.”
Having confirmed Park In-sook’s presence, Beom-jun kept his parting greeting brief. He’d only come to pay his respects since she was the vice director’s mother. There wasn’t much to say to a patient on discharge day anyway.
But then, Park In-sook suddenly grabbed Beom-jun’s hand.
“Hui-jeong will take care of things on her own, but still, please look after her. Director.”
She spoke to him as if she were sending her daughter away somewhere far. The vice director’s expression suggested exasperation, but she didn’t protest.
Beom-jun’s hand grew warm. Taking advantage of having his hand held, he shook Park In-sook’s hand properly.
“Not at all. I should be the one asking for your favor. Having the vice director at Korea University Hospital has been an enormous help to us.”
Beom-jun responded fluidly even to Park In-sook’s sudden gesture, then offered a respectful bow before leaving the room. He didn’t forget to exchange a brief nod with Gu Hui-jeong.
Once he’d completely disappeared, Park In-sook spoke to her daughter.
“For someone so young to be a hospital director, he’s remarkably humble. That’s not easy. He’s not arrogant about his position. His character is solid. If he’s cultivated well, he’ll go far.”
Park In-sook had formed her assessment of Beom-jun in mere minutes. A passing grade.
She was known for her keen eye for people, so Hui-jeong didn’t dismiss her mother’s words lightly.
She’d been inwardly siding with the director-general, but now she’d turned toward Beom-jun. This had been nagging at her, but her mother’s words gave her confidence.
“Go far, you say?”
Park In-sook spoke once more to her silent daughter, gesturing with her eyes.
“Me? How am I supposed to cultivate the director? You’re something else, Mom.”
“The position doesn’t matter. The person does.”
At her mother’s reproachful words, Gu Hui-jeong shook her head in surrender.
“And you need to step aside for the younger generation now.”
At Park In-sook’s next words, Gu Hui-jeong found herself speechless. It was exactly what she’d been pondering lately.
Should she really give up her position now and become an advisor, allowing the next generation to flourish?
Gu Hui-jeong’s heart rebelled against handing over what she’d built to someone else. The feeling of stepping back bothered her too.
If an inferior man destroyed Korea University Hospital that Hui-jeong had built all this time, nothing could be more futile than that.
“That director will be fine.”
As if understanding her daughter’s heart, Park In-sook spoke. She seemed to read every thought from Hui-jeong’s face alone.
Hui-jeong let out a sigh. Her ribcage rose and fell with her breath before settling back into place.
It wasn’t surrender.
It wasn’t about letting go of work she still needed to do.
What Hui-jeong was trying to do was pass the baton to the next runner.
She knew well enough that if that runner was Beom-jun, it wouldn’t be so bad. He would build Korea University Hospital just as well as she had.
“I know.”
In front of her aging mother, Hui-jeong grumbled, but in truth, she was already the head of the household.
“Mom, why don’t you step aside for me? Talk to me and leave it to me. I was the one who discovered you couldn’t sleep because you were short of breath. Same with the medication.”
Park In-sook felt the sting of her daughter’s words.
She too was unfamiliar with being cared for and couldn’t even communicate properly with Hui-jeong about it.
“All right, all right.”
Fearing her daughter’s nagging might continue, Park In-sook answered dismissively.
Mother and daughter shared the same stubbornness right down to the bone.
But watching her mother,
Gu Hui-jeong found the different, new role her mother had spoken of didn’t feel unfamiliar at all.
‘That director will be fine.’
The fact that Beom-jun had passed her mother’s eye gave Hui-jeong a measure of confidence.
Director Choi Beom-jun just might be fine after all.

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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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