Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 130
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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 130.
A few days after the conference ended, Han Myeong-jae had finished preparing for a business trip.
It had been a long time since he’d stepped outside the hospital. He’d spent those days confined to Korea University Hospital due to the Kim Do-yoon patient situation.
He’d decided it was better not to add unnecessary commentary and escalate the matter.
Since Director Choi had blocked Kim Do-yoon’s attempt to claim a medical accident, the situation had been easy enough to manage.
It would have been even better if his plan had succeeded.
‘When exactly did he figure it out?’
Director Choi had played his cards well. Watching even the vice-director waver after Director Min, Han Myeong-jae had approached the patient directly. But even that hadn’t worked.
He’d thought he was almost home free, then connecting Kim Do-yoon with dermatology became the fatal mistake. Without that single misstep, he could have walked away completely. It was genuinely frustrating.
Han Myeong-jae reflected on the past with regret. When he heard that Director Choi had gone to the Emergency Room to meet the patient, he found himself heading there too—as if possessed.
He hated to admit it, but in that moment he’d been genuinely frantic. He couldn’t tell whether Kim Do-yoon’s actions had ruined everything, but hearing that Director Choi had already gone to find him—it was a kind of desperation he hadn’t felt in a long time.
As a result, he’d stepped right into his own trap. The mere fact of Han Myeong-jae appearing in the Emergency Room had essentially punctuated Beom-jun’s claims.
Han Myeong-jae still couldn’t clearly remember what possessed him to go to the Emergency Room.
‘I was out of my mind. What was I thinking back then? This is really becoming a nuisance.’
The thought of having to clean up this mess irritated Han Myeong-jae.
He should have used and discarded Kim Do-yoon cleanly, but the patient had stuck to him like gum on a shoe sole.
Han Myeong-jae found the stain on his reputation unbearably infuriating—as if he didn’t realize he’d brought it all on himself. It felt degrading.
For Han Myeong-jae, the source of all this trouble was Choi Beom-jun. Like an awl in his pocket, the man kept needling him.
How had it come to this? The bastard used to be obedient, a good dog.
Han Myeong-jae slammed his fist on the desk.
Bang!
The desk was fine, but his hand ached. The anger, however, didn’t fade easily.
It had started with his failure to eliminate Director Choi in one blow. Han Myeong-jae clearly remembered how Beom-jun’s eyes had changed after waking up in the ICU.
That’s when it began. When a puppy suddenly got a tiger’s gaze.
Ring, ring.
His phone buzzed.
Seint Hospital Director Kang Yo-han.
Han Myeong-jae, with his extensive network, always saved numbers under title plus name. And next to the saved name was a small dot.
Han Myeong-jae marked members of the Uigwonhoe with a dot next to their names so he could recognize them at a glance.
“Chairman, this is the Korea University Hospital parking lot. I’ll wait here as you instructed.”
“Stay there. I’m just heading down now.”
Han Myeong-jae’s business trip was purely perfunctory—it was simply to arrange a meeting with Kang Yo-han.
Kang Yo-han had contacted him a few days earlier, saying he had something to tell him.
Han Myeong-jae had assumed it was about his absence from the Uigwonhoe executive meeting, but it wasn’t.
‘I ran into Director Choi at the hospital director conference.’
And as always, whenever something unexpected happened to Han Myeong-jae, Beom-jun was somehow involved. The man kept thrashing about, and he was truly becoming an irritant.
Creak. Bang.
Han Myeong-jae closed the door to his office and stepped out. As he removed his hand from the antique handle bearing his fingerprints, the secretary in front stood up suddenly from her desk and asked.
“Chairman, your afternoon business trip—I’ve been ready to go. I’ll have the car prepared right away!”
“No, never mind.”
The secretary, caught off guard by Han Myeong-jae’s terse reply, pressed for clarification. Given his reluctance to drive, the secretary usually handled transportation on business trips, and as always today, Han Myeong-jae hadn’t brought the car.
Though rare, there were occasional times when he traveled alone, so the secretary responded helpfully.
“Oh. Then I’ll call a taxi to the lobby entrance right now!”
But Han Myeong-jae, already irritated, found the secretary’s words grating.
Standing before his office door, he called the secretary over with an intimidating air.
“You.”
“Yes, sir! Chairman.”
The secretary scurried over and bowed. Despite having done nothing wrong, she cringed habitually at Han Myeong-jae’s summons.
‘If it offends the chairman’s eyes, then I suppose that’s a fault in itself.’
“Do only what you’re told. Answer only when asked. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. I understand, Chairman.”
Han Myeong-jae waved his hand dismissively, and the secretary retreated backward like a concubine, returning to her desk.
Watching the elevator Han Myeong-jae entered descend directly to the basement, the secretary intuited that someone had come to pick him up.
‘Who could he be meeting…’
The secretary felt a question forming, but she erased the question mark from her mind as if bound by his command—to do only what she was told and answer only what was asked.
To survive long at Korea University Hospital, one had to keep one’s mouth shut.
* * *
Han Myeong-jae recognized Kang Yo-han’s car and got into the back seat diagonally across from the driver’s seat.
Kang Yo-han had unexpectedly become a chauffeur, but if his passenger was none other than the Chairman himself, it seemed only fitting.
“You’ve arrived, Chairman.”
“Yes. You came early.”
Kang Yo-han spoke while watching Han Myeong-jae through the rearview mirror.
He thought Han Myeong-jae looked haggard. But he didn’t voice his concern. He knew the Chairman would dislike it.
The Chairman was a proud man. Not only proud, but of such a forceful nature in general. That’s precisely why he remains the president of the Uigwonhoe.
Everything the Chairman said was correct from the start, but in the face of the charisma that dominated the room, no physician could find their footing.
Yet in the few days since he’d last seen him, the Chairman’s complexion looked poor.
‘He said it was nothing serious, but he must have been under considerable mental strain from the Kim Do-yoon situation. I should do what I can to help.’
Kang Yo-han surmised that Han Myeong-jae had been under great stress from the scandal involving the medical accident claim. Being misunderstood was a painful thing.
As his loyal subordinate, Kang Yo-han genuinely worried for Han Myeong-jae.
Kang Yo-han had first met Han Myeong-jae when he was director of Korea University Hospital. Han Myeong-jae, who had become hospital director at an age as young as the current Choi Beom-jun, had been overflowing with passion.
When Han Myeong-jae had said back then that the medical field needed to be set right, Kang Yo-han had been profoundly shaken. He’d felt ashamed for failing to see the bigger picture and thinking only of himself, and his heart had raced fiercely.
Kang Yo-han never dreamed that the ambition from back then had become the greed of today. It was something he couldn’t even dare to imagine.
“You said you had something to tell me. What is it?”
Han Myeong-jae spoke from the back seat, watching Kang Yo-han through the rearview mirror.
Han Myeong-jae tried to read what little of Kang Yo-han’s psychology he could discern from his eyes alone, worried whether he too had met with Choi Beom-jun and had a change of heart.
“What you said about Director Choi changing—it was true.”
But Kang Yo-han nodded in agreement and began his story.
“At the hospital director conference yesterday for the establishment of the National AI Medical Center, Director Choi Beom-jun took the lead, and Korea University Hospital and Cheonhui University Hospital joined forces. Korea University Hospital will add its support to Cheonhui University Hospital’s infrastructure.”
Han Myeong-jae grasped the nuance in Kang Yo-han’s words. Yo-han was someone whose inner and outer selves were identical. He was no good at lying.
You could tell from his voice alone. Kang Yo-han harbored ill will toward Beom-jun. Han Myeong-jae had wondered why he seemed interested in Choi Beom-jun, but it was merely curiosity, it appeared.
Though it was hot-off-the-press news from just yesterday, Han Myeong-jae clicked his tongue upon hearing the details.
Director Choi couldn’t have been ignorant of the relationship between Korea University Hospital and Cheonhui University Hospital, yet he spoke of cooperation in such an official, government-attended setting.
“He’s finished. The fool.”
“If Eunseong Hospital isn’t going to work out, it would be better for Korea University Hospital to do it instead. I really don’t understand what his real intentions are.”
Kang Yo-han criticized Choi Beom-jun harshly. He must have been quite worked up. He would have put considerable effort into preparing for the conference, only to come back empty-handed and worse.
Han Myeong-jae didn’t reproach Kang Yo-han for his dissatisfaction with the outcome.
Director Choi’s unpredictability was absolutely not Kang Yo-han’s failing.
Han Myeong-jae looked forward rather than dwelling on the past. To what needed to be done now.
“The AI Medical Center will likely be designated to Cheonhui University Hospital.”
“Yes, I expect that will be the case. We had planned to use next year’s Uigwonhoe budget for that project, but things have fallen through.”
Kang Yo-han was concerned about the Uigwonhoe’s finances. Han Myeong-jae had wondered why he’d taken an interest in technological ventures, and now he understood—it was for the Uigwonhoe.
He was truly a loyal and dedicated man. Placing him in the Uigwonhoe had been a good call. The effort invested in making him director of Seint Hospital had been well worth it.
Han Myeong-jae told Kang Yo-han there was no need to worry.
“Don’t be concerned. There are plenty of places money can come from.”
Funding was no trouble at all—you could squeeze it from a pharmaceutical company if needed. It would be tedious having to promote new drugs through the Uigwonhoe, but.
For Yo-han’s sake, that much was hardly difficult. If worse came to worst, there were other methods as well.
“Yes, sir. And Chairman, about that Director Choi Beom-jun—”
But at the mention of Choi Beom-jun’s name once more, Han Myeong-jae’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Han Myeong-jae, who had meant to close the chapter on Director Choi, found it grating that the conversation had circled back.
Unfortunately, as Kang Yo-han was driving, he couldn’t observe every nuance of Han Myeong-jae’s expression.
Han Myeong-jae, uncharacteristically, allowed himself patience. Since losing the vice-director, he’d become somewhat more magnanimous.
But what Kang Yo-han proposed was unexpected.
“What if we brought him into the Uigwonhoe?”
After the hospital director conference, Kang Yo-han had looked into Choi Beom-jun’s movements, and it seemed it wouldn’t be bad if he joined the Uigwonhoe. Of course, he would need the Chairman’s permission.
Meanwhile, Han Myeong-jae mulled over Kang Yo-han’s words.
‘Bring Director Choi into the Uigwonhoe?’
He’d never considered it before, but it seemed it might not be a bad idea if it were possible.
“I doubt it. Choi Beom-jun probably wouldn’t want to join.”
“I think it would be worth attempting.”
His words were right. It wasn’t particularly promising, but if it succeeded, that would be good, and if it failed, there’d be no harm in trying.
Given that the Uigwonhoe’s profile had already risen, Beom-jun surely knew something about it.
If he couldn’t be fully controlled, it was better to have him join the ranks. Perhaps that’s what Director Choi wanted.
Surely he wasn’t really making all this fuss for the patient’s sake. If they gave him a prominent position, he might settle down.
“If that’s the case, then… try it.”
Han Myeong-jae consented, as if yielding reluctantly.
Kang Yo-han knew this was as good as Han Myeong-jae’s wholehearted approval.
“Yes, sir. He’s young now, but eventually he’ll understand that protecting physicians’ rights is what matters. After all, we’ve all gone through the same process, haven’t we?”
And Kang Yo-han genuinely believed that Choi Beom-jun would fit well in the Uigwonhoe.
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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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