Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 132

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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 132.
Beom-jun, holding the receiver, asked the man on the other end—the Department Chief—what had happened. In his urgency, he spoke informally.
“Tell me what the situation was. Who found her?”
– S-sir! I found her, Director! It’s just that….
The Department Chief began his account in a rambling rush, but with detail.
He said that before working late, he’d grabbed a quick meal and returned to the office, where he found Park Ha-rin with her head buried in her desk. He tried shaking her awake, but got no response, so he called a Code Blue immediately.
– But then, a little while later, the team leader woke up. We’d cancelled the broadcast, but, um, the Rapid Response Team—they’d already arrived, so they said to check on the team leader and then head to the Emergency Room!
He felt awkward about cancelling the broadcast, but it had been the right call. Absolutely no overreaction.
Not being medical staff, he wouldn’t have been able to determine whether Park Ha-rin’s heart had stopped. Even doctors have only a fifty-fifty chance of properly feeling a pulse in an emergency.
In that sense, the Department Chief had followed protocol perfectly. Whatever doctor had reached the administrative building in that short window deserved a commendation.
Park Ha-rin’s voice coming through the receiver was stronger than he’d expected.
– Team leader, don’t do that—stay lying down!
– I’m fine. Really. Is this the director? Put me on.
She didn’t sound like someone who’d just regained consciousness after fainting. And she was strangely indifferent to what had just happened to her. She seemed certain she was in no danger.
– W-wait, Director! The team leader wants to speak with you!
“All right. Put her on.”
There was a brief silence after Beom-jun’s reply, and then Ha-rin came on the line.
– Director, this is Park Ha-rin. I’m fine. I have Vasovagal Syncope, so—the new Department Chief probably didn’t know. We just happened to both be working late today.
Beom-jun felt relief wash over him.
He’d wondered why she was being so calm about it all, but she knew her condition precisely.
Just as Ha-rin said not to worry, Vasovagal Syncope was a frightening event to witness, but it posed no serious threat to life.
Being found slumped over her desk was likely because Ha-rin had assumed a safe position before losing consciousness.
But her words made Beom-jun recall a scene from Doctor X.
‘Found slumped over a desk? It’s similar to how Choi Beom-jun died.’
In Doctor X, Hospital Director Choi Beom-jun had died after epinephrine was injected into his vein. Sudden cardiac death from a fatal arrhythmia. An ambiguous death that even the autopsy revealed nothing concrete about.
He’d been found dead in his office.
Slumped over his desk. Suffocation was initially suspected—he remembered that clearly.
Yet Park Ha-rin had been found in exactly the same way.
Heat flooded through Beom-jun’s body. Sweat traced down the length of his spine. He couldn’t shake the thought that death had come knocking at Ha-rin’s door in his stead.
The original story was changing. As his own death drew closer, it had to.
Facing the unpredictable, Beom-jun felt fear for the first time. Not as a Hospital Director, not as a doctor—but as a human being, equal to all others before the threshold of death.
– Anyway, so you don’t need to worry. There’s nothing wrong.
“Being fine now is just the outcome. Your body sent out a warning signal regardless. Don’t push yourself—stop by the Emergency Room and make sure there’s nothing else going on.”
Beom-jun spoke while exhaling heavily.
Park Ha-rin caught his sigh through the messy static on the phone.
– Looks like you were worried. You called so quickly.
She who had set his heart ablaze now seemed pleased rather than apologetic.
Beom-jun let out an involuntary groan.
“Sounds like you didn’t hit your head, at least.”
It was sarcasm, but Ha-rin took it as praise for her quick thinking.
– Please! I started to get up, then sat back down and leaned over instead.
So this wasn’t her first time fainting.
Beom-jun checked who was on duty in the Emergency Room today. It was Professor Kang Se-ra from Cardiology.
Vasovagal Syncope was a type of arrhythmia, so it was a perfect fit.
“Stop making excuses and get to the Emergency Room. You don’t know how long you were unconscious. Professor Se-ra should be there.”
– Ah, I have so much to do…. But okay.
Ha-rin protested even as she agreed. It was a mix of her superior’s concern, his orders, and his medical judgment—she couldn’t simply refuse.
* * *
Illness comes to everyone in the same way.
Having money doesn’t mean you hurt less, and having power doesn’t mean you suffer any less.
There’s nothing more fair than how indiscriminate it is.
Whether the person is a Hospital Director, a doctor, or a skilled accountant—once they’re lying in a hospital bed, they’re all equally patients.
In the Emergency Room, Ha-rin changed into a patient gown. The stiff linen fabric didn’t fit her properly.
With her lean frame, the gown hung loose—she looked like she’d been wrapped in an inverted rice sack.
‘Even saying I’m fine, he still… Ugh, I have so much to do and he won’t even give me a break!’
Though she’d been forced to come to the Emergency Room, Ha-rin grumbled to herself. Work was piling up, and even if she took today off, tomorrow’s tasks would still fall to her.
At the beginning of the year, the accounting team settled the previous year’s expenditures. They were creating the final financial statement for Korea University Hospital. It wasn’t simply adding and subtracting numbers—the flow of money had to be correct, backed by proper documentation.
Every figure had to have a basis.
Ha-rin had set aside her work and was anxious. While her insides churned, the IV Drip hanging beside her head remained transparent.
Four drops per second. The IV drip fell slowly, entering Ha-rin’s body.
Professor Kang Se-ra, the Cardiologist on duty in the Emergency Room today, didn’t question whether Ha-rin’s collapse was truly Vasovagal Syncope.
The approach was to treat according to her current condition.
First priority was stabilizing Ha-rin’s circulation. That meant increasing her body’s fluid volume, raising her blood volume from the start.
Just from receiving the IV Drip, Ha-rin’s heart rate dropped by about twenty beats and returned to normal.
Se-ra came to find Ha-rin lying in the bed.
Through the hospital’s computer system, Kang Se-ra confirmed that next to Park Ha-rin’s name it was marked “Hospital Employee,” and that she was both the accounting team leader and secretary to the director.
“It may have been Vasovagal Syncope before, but we can’t simply assume this episode has the same cause. You said you were diagnosed at seventeen, right? That’s more than fifteen years ago.”
Se-ra, speaking with more warmth than usual, addressed Ha-rin.
Vasovagal Syncope typically affects women in their twenties. Ha-rin, at thirty-three, was on the younger side, but she wasn’t in the typical age range for the condition.
And there was something that bothered Se-ra.
When the director had diagnosed Eun Seo-yeong at Eunseong Hospital with her genetic disorder,
Eun Seo-yeong had been mistaken about why she’d collapsed as a child. She thought it was Vasovagal Syncope.
‘This patient has had her diagnosis for a long time too. It’d be good to verify.’
Recalling Eun Seo-yeong’s case, Kang Se-ra decided to run detailed tests.
In dramas, if a female lead faints, nine times out of ten it’s because of this condition. It’s surprisingly common in lean women. And usually improves with age.
The sensitive autonomous nervous system dulls, becoming normal, and gaining weight actually helps significantly. No matter the reason, having enough blood circulating through the body makes a difference.
“I won’t be discharged today, then? I’d like to get whatever tests I need done quickly.”
“Well. We’ll schedule as soon as we can, but you’re not planning to go straight back to work, are you?”
Se-ra asked as if hoping that wasn’t the case, but Ha-rin didn’t answer right away. It felt wrong to lie.
“…I have quite a bit to do.”
“Take at least a day off. If it’s because of the Settlement report, I’ll push back the deadline.”
Beom-jun appeared from somewhere, instantly removing any reason Ha-rin had for discharge.
“Just one day?”
But sensing an opportunity, Ha-rin smiled strategically and held up her index finger to make the number one. A patient bracelet was fastened around her wrist.
At the Hospital Director’s arrival, Se-ra glanced around awkwardly, then quietly withdrew to another area.
To Ha-rin, who was putting on a show of suffering, Beom-jun spoke as though he had no choice but to give in.
“A week should do it?”
“Yes. Absolutely. Phew. Thank goodness.”
With Beom-jun’s permission, Ha-rin’s tense body went slack. She melted into the bed like a puddle of ice cream.
Beom-jun had just reviewed Ha-rin’s chart. Professor Se-ra had written it out so thoroughly that there was nothing else to ask about.
Just as Se-ra had said, they’d run a test where she’d take medication to induce Vasovagal Syncope to confirm the diagnosis, and simultaneously conduct an Orthostatic Hypotension Test to check if her blood pressure changed with position.
“Drink more water normally. Eat a bit saltier.”
“Isn’t eating salty supposed to be bad?”
“For Team Leader Park, seasoning things a bit more is better.”
Beom-jun treated Ha-rin as though she were his assigned patient.
Clearly she lacked muscle mass. Taking in salt to help her body retain water would do her good.
Meanwhile, Ha-rin sensed that his lecture was about to get longer, but she had nowhere to escape.
“Yes, yes. I will.”
Ha-rin drew out her words as she answered. Beom-jun could tell she was half-listening.
‘She never listens properly. What if it were Jae-kyeong or Im Sung-hyuk? Geez.’
Even after fainting and coming to the Emergency Room, she remained heedless. What if she’d hit her head when she lost consciousness? Or what if she’d collapsed in the middle of a street?
“Really, I’m fine….”
She was overconfident in her health, as young people often are. If she felt the threat of death, she’d manage her health properly even if she didn’t want to.
Beom-jun shook his head at her. There was no point lecturing further—it only wore him out.
But then, an unexpected person appeared in the Emergency Room.
“Vice Director?”
“I told you not to come.”
It was Vice Director Gu Hui-jeong. Park Ha-rin seemed to have already known she would come.
“How could I not? Ha-rin collapsed.”
Unlike what Beom-jun had done, at Hui-jeong’s words, Ha-rin’s eyes widened and she listened intently.
“Following what the director said, maybe I should eat a bit more salt from now on, right?”
But then Gu Hui-jeong, mid-sentence to Ha-rin, turned and asked Beom-jun.
“Sodium intake would be beneficial.”
Beom-jun nodded and supplemented Hui-jeong’s comment.
Ha-rin’s eyes shifted back and forth between Beom-jun and Gu Hui-jeong as they spoke comfortably together.
‘What’s with this two-shot?’
Her eyes grew even wider than before.

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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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