Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 13

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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 13.
The day after meeting with KONIS.
That afternoon, after lunch ended, Beom Jun made his way to the ICU.
“Oh, Director! What brings you here? Professor Lee is in a surgical meeting.”
“Should I call the attending nurse? Is there anything you need?”
The nurses stationed in the ICU greeted him. The problem with being a hospital director was that he couldn’t move anywhere quietly.
“No, don’t worry about it.”
Even at Beom Jun’s words, the nurses hovered around him with expressions of unmistakable concern.
Beom Jun had come to the ICU because of patient Seo Jin Ha. He wanted to tell her the good things about Sung Hyuk, just as he had with the Lee couple.
The chemistry between Sung Hyuk and her would have a considerable effect on her recovery.
“Hello, you must be patient Seo Jin Ha.”
Because many patients in the ICU were unconscious, she sat alone and awake. With her clear, delicate bearing, she looked fragile enough to stir protective instincts in anyone.
“…? Hello. Director… is it?”
Jin Ha read the name tag on Beom Jun’s chest, then looked at the unfamiliar face above it. This was probably the first time she’d ever seen Beom Jun.
Normally, there would be no reason for her to meet the hospital director at Doctor X. Like any ordinary patient.
“It’s nice to meet you. How are you feeling? You’re preparing for the transplant, correct?”
“Just… the same. I’m not getting better, but I’m not getting worse either.”
Jin Ha looked over Beom Jun, who wore a white jacket instead of a gown.
“… Do I really have to stay here the whole time?”
She glanced around at both sides as she spoke. The ICU frightened her.
Being among people who breathed through machines and couldn’t eat or excrete on their own was no easy thing. It was incomparably harder than sitting sober at a drinking party.
“Professor Lee brought you to the ICU specially for intensive observation. If you’d prefer, we can transfer you to a regular ward.”
Beom Jun laid out an alternative for her. The ward medical staff would have their hands full, but it wasn’t impossible.
In fact, her being in the ICU now was probably Sung Hyuk’s consideration. It was to handle any emergencies immediately.
But absorbed as he was in treatment, he hadn’t noticed the discomfort she was experiencing.
“Oh, no. It’s fine. I’ll just stay.”
Jin Ha hesitated, then ultimately declined, and Beom Jun didn’t press the choice on her.
“Do whatever feels comfortable. Before surgery, patient Seo Jin Ha’s condition is what matters most.”
At his words, she sat on the bed and gazed at Beom Jun standing at her feet. Her clear, rabbit-like eyes seemed to ask if he really meant it.
“I’ll let staff know, so if you change your mind later, just tell any employee.”
Beom Jun treated Jin Ha as carefully as he would a small animal, avoiding anything that might startle her.
“Really? That’s strange. In the hospital, there’s usually nothing I can do.”
“Anything affecting treatment would be difficult, but otherwise it’s fine. Is there anything you need?”
As Beom Jun gently encouraged her, Jin Ha pouted her lips.
She hesitated, then gradually began to express what she wanted—
small, personal things compared to the greater cause of treating a patient.
“Um… it’s nothing big, but I want to eat tteokbokki. I can’t, right? The professor said I can’t either, but… whenever I mention anything, he just says no to everything.”
Beom Jun touched his lip to stifle the laugh threatening to burst out. He shouldn’t laugh. For a hospitalized patient, food was actually a profoundly important matter.
Since patients are passive in treatment and follow medical staff’s instructions, they tend to be more sensitive and sharp in their reactions within the range of choices they can make themselves.
Beom Jun guessed what Sung Hyuk might have said to Jin Ha.
‘He probably asked if she wanted to eat garbage like that now.’
From what Beom Jun had observed through Doctor X, Sung Hyuk cared only about the patient’s health. With Jin Ha’s condition fluctuating, there was no need to handle the variable of a Gastrointestinal Disorder.
But that didn’t mean the patient should just grit her teeth and endure. Every time he saw Sung Hyuk, he’d think of the things he had forbidden.
“If that’s the case, there’s a way. If you eat tteokbokki, you’ll receive the surgery well, yes?”
“Really!!”
At Beom Jun’s words, Jin Ha’s spirits lifted and she laughed with pure childlike joy. Beom Jun made the promise with her and left the ICU.
A patient doesn’t need outside food to eat. Beom Jun knew a healthy method that even Sung Hyuk couldn’t object to.
He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. The person who answered said it was possible, if hesitantly.
“Yes, Director! We’re still deciding next month’s menu. It should be possible.”
The nutritionist added tteokbokki to next week’s meal menu.
* * *
Meanwhile, Sung Hyuk was logging into the HIS every hour, right-clicking his mouse.
‘Still haven’t checked it?’
What he was looking at was the Request Form he’d submitted to the Organ Transplant Center. He’d submitted the request three times, and there was still no reply. Not even confirmation.
Impatient, Sung Hyuk was already conducting Transplant Compatibility Verification on Jin Ha. It was checking whether her body was in condition to receive a Heart Transplant.
He alone was conducting multi-faceted evaluations to see if there were any issues with her other organs, signs of infection, or tumors. Jin Ha, whose cardiac function was already compromised, grew gradually worn out as additional tests proceeded.
Sung Hyuk eventually went to the Organ Transplant Center within the hospital. He needed to find out why they hadn’t confirmed anything.
But for some reason, the center’s office was empty, and only a junior staff member sat at the front desk.
“Excuse me. I’d like to inquire about the Heart Transplant. Who is the person in charge?”
But when Sung Hyuk asked for the person in charge, an absurd answer came back.
“Oh, their vacation overlaps. They’re coming back next week. Was it Wednesday? Oh, no, Thursday!”
More than half the staff had gone on summer vacation.
‘Are you serious right now?’
Watching Jin Ha in her anxious state, Sung Hyuk felt as if steam were rising from his head.
“Then shouldn’t you have backup personnel?”
Yes, staff were people too and could take vacations. Though Sung Hyuk had never taken time off since becoming a professor. He hadn’t taken a vacation — he just didn’t go. Because there was no one at the hospital he could trust patients with.
“I’m the backup personnel, so what’s the problem?”
The youthful-faced staff member answered Sung Hyuk. Above him hung a nameplate reading Transplant Coordinator.
Sung Hyuk had fundamental doubts about whether this kid could do the work properly, but he carved the character for patience on his heart. He also steadied the breath that had surged up.
There was no choice — this kid was all he had right now.
“The organ transplant Request Form isn’t being processed. What’s happening?”
At his words, the staff member visibly startled.
“Eh? A Request Form? Is that… a new one?”
It seemed this hadn’t come up during the handover. Sung Hyuk repeated the same words to the incompetent employee.
“That’s correct.”
Organ transplants were complicated enough — there was no way this kid could handle it. But at the very least, they had to register with KONIS. If they just did that, the rest could be managed despite the delays.
“Just upload the list to KONIS. Everything else can wait until next week. Whether that’s Wednesday or Thursday.”
As Sung Hyuk spoke, he organized his treatment plan going forward. Since he’d put in a psychiatric consultation request, she could receive psychological counseling sometime early next week.
‘A day’s leeway should do.’
Whether an organ donor became available was the critical point, but that was a problem for later. Taking things step by step, handling what was visible first, Sung Hyuk moved methodically through the process to save Jin Ha.
Just then, the staff member made an error sound.
“I can’t do that.”
Heat surged back into Sung Hyuk’s heart, which had been cooling in calculated thought. The breath he’d calmed rushed up to his jaw.
“What did you just say you can’t do?”
Clenching his teeth, he bit out the words. The staff member, fortunately reading the situation quickly, gave the same answer anyway.
“I really can’t. What should I do? Can’t we wait until next week?”
Time was critical, and they were doing this.
“Well, they’re on vacation, and contacting them about work isn’t exactly… proper manners, is it?”
He said it was awkward to call his boss.
Sung Hyuk didn’t bother explaining further — that the patient would die, or about why the Transplant Center existed.
That this organ transplant coordinator didn’t know this wasn’t a matter of intelligence. He simply didn’t want to know. There was no point talking to someone like this.
“What is this bastard? Are you talking or just wasting my time?”
Instead of words, Sung Hyuk reached out. He grabbed the staff member by the collar.
— Beep beep beep beep, beep beep beep beep
Just then, Sung Hyuk’s cell phone rang. The staff member, whose shoulders had clenched at the shouting, clutched his chest.
“You. Stay right there.”
Sung Hyuk checked the caller ID and spoke to the employee, who swallowed hard and nodded.
If it had been a patient call, he would’ve answered immediately. It wasn’t. Sung Hyuk cleared his throat a couple of times, composing himself, and answered.
“Ahem, yes, Director.”
What could it be. The director calling — Sung Hyuk had no idea what this was about.
“So, Professor. How’s the Heart Transplant coming along for patient Seo Jin Ha?”
The director got straight to the point. As if he knew Sung Hyuk was at the Organ Transplant Center.
“…The Request Form processing isn’t going through. I’m checking on it now.”
Sung Hyuk didn’t mention that he’d been about to rough up the coordinator. The staff member, overhearing bits of the conversation, swallowed hard again at the word “director.”
“Ah, I already mentioned it to KONIS, and they said an organ donor should come up in the week after next.”
At the director’s words, Sung Hyuk felt as if he’d been struck on the head.
“Pardon?”
It was surprising enough that the director had mentioned the patient to KONIS, but there was a donor?
“How— no, wait. When exactly did you register her?”
The Request Form processing still wasn’t complete, so information about the transplant patient hadn’t even been shared outside the hospital. Sung Hyuk couldn’t make sense of this situation at all.
“Couldn’t formally register yet, but I had business with the director of KONIS so I mentioned it verbally.”
The director answered that while not through official procedures, he’d mentioned it in conversation. Speaking of such a momentous thing as casually as if he’d bought coffee on his way.
“They’re already preparing on their end anyway. You can prepare the paperwork slowly. Coordinate the surgery schedule well with KONIS. You know the convention is that the recipient adjusts to their schedule?”
He even took care of telling Sung Hyuk what he needed to do going forward.
Organs had to be transplanted as quickly as possible after extraction from the donor, so both donor and recipient had to be in surgery around the same time.
And it was conventionally the recipient’s side that adjusted the timing.
It was a reminder not to make mistakes when Sung Hyuk coordinated the surgery schedule.
Sung Hyuk, who had been momentarily frozen, suddenly exhaled sharply. On the verge of hitting his breaking point, his face went slack, his mouth unable to close.
“Wow… Thank you. Director.”
The moment Korean University Hospital’s director’s influence was properly wielded. Sung Hyuk couldn’t help but marvel at the director’s ability.
Even after hanging up, Sung Hyuk remained stunned for a long time, as if struck from behind.
‘Is the director really that kind of person? To find a heart so quickly?’
He was grateful just to have been told, but now a transplant was confirmed. Sung Hyuk replayed the conversation. It felt like a dream.
The dream was interrupted by that staff member from earlier.
“Um, can I go to the bathroom real quick?”
The staff member asked carefully, gauging Sung Hyuk’s mood.
“Sigh.”
Sung Hyuk looked at him, sighed, and left the center. But his face was completely different from when he’d entered — calm and at ease.

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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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