Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 19

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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 19.
Hee Jung had a habit of speaking informally to Beom Jun because he was considerably younger than her, but she instinctively sensed that something had gone wrong.
Where once she had stridden boldly into the Director’s Office, now beads of sweat were trickling down her temples.
‘He thinks he’s found my weak point.’
Whereas on any other day she would have claimed the sofa the moment she entered, now she stood awkwardly in the middle of the office, unsettled by Beom Jun’s commanding presence.
Over fifty thousand people annually wait for organ transplants. Yet actual surgical cases number only four to six hundred. All but one percent either receive organs from family members or die waiting endlessly.
The dark rumors and legends surrounding organ transplants—tales of abductions overseas and harvested organs—took root in this unfortunate reality.
So it made sense for the vice director to question why Jin Ha was receiving a heart transplant.
But this, after all, was the world of “Doctor X.” Not every event unfolds with perfect plausibility. It must be literary license.
“There are no other patients in the country currently waiting for a heart transplant besides our patient Jin Ha.”
Beom Jun had already checked KONIS’s waiting list after Jin Ha’s position came through. Her position was sixth on Status 1—the most critical status category.
And all five patients ahead of her had died days ago. Remarkably, there was no one else waiting ahead of her.
‘What was I supposed to do about this?’
Beom Jun himself had found it odd, but that was all. He’d simply assumed the author had forced in some plausibility.
When Beom Jun shrugged, Hee Jung froze mid-gesture, her finger still pointing accusingly.
“That’s impossible! There are so many patients waiting—there can’t be no one on the list!”
She spoke with the intensity of someone who refused to believe what she was hearing.
She probably couldn’t have examined Jin Ha’s situation in detail anyway.
All the records were written in medical terminology, and as a non-medical staff member, she had no access to HIS and couldn’t review patient information without consent.
But Beom Jun was beginning to find her shrill tone grating.
He thought crushing her spirit once wouldn’t be enough. Yet here she came again, spoiling for another fight? This was exhausting. Every single time, the same pattern.
“Listen to me.”
Beom Jun’s voice cut sharply through the air.
His gaze fixed on the vice director with such intensity that the whites of his dark eyes gleamed with an unsettling brightness. Hee Jung took a half-step backward.
She’d come without her entourage this time, having been thoroughly humiliated before. Now she faced Beom Jun alone.
Seeing that Hee Jung was intimidated, Beom Jun let his anger subside and shifted his tone to something lower, more measured.
“Do I need to prove it to the vice director? Or is it simply yes or no? Must I explain everything?”
But seeing Beom Jun’s sudden change in demeanor, Hee Jung froze entirely. She shifted her weight to her heels without lifting her feet, her body angling away from him.
….
With her finally silent, Beom Jun regarded her with satisfaction and spoke even more softly.
“That’s enough for today. If you come again in the future, inform the secretary’s office first. Better yet, don’t come unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Beom Jun raised his thumb before her and smiled—that eerie smile she’d seen before. It was the kind that made your skin crawl.
Hee Jung instinctively clasped her hands together, bracing for some kind of retaliation, though what emerged was something like a gesture of reverent submission.
Beom Jun then raised his index finger to eye level, mimicking the accusatory gesture she’d made, and pointed toward the door.
“And that’s the way out.”
Hee Jung’s expression hardened, but she turned on her heel, carefully opened the door, and left with quiet footsteps.
‘That should keep her quiet for a while.’
Beom Jun watched her receding figure.
She had an unremarkable face that wouldn’t draw attention anywhere, and her shoulders were rounded and soft, padded with weight. The oversized cardigan she wore draped over her fuller frame.
To Beom Jun, she was a villain from some future scenario who would one day try to kill him.
But the woman before him now seemed far less imposing than he’d imagined.
‘She’s like a rather irritable Maltese, really.’
Annoying, sure, but perhaps manageable with the right handling.
* * *
A few days later, Jin Ha’s surgery date was set.
October 4th, if Beom Jun’s memory served—the day after Chuseok, and sandwiched between Korea University Hospital’s founding anniversary celebrations.
It was also the day when the Organ Transplant Center’s staff member would be taking his second vacation, and Im Sung Hyeok would be operating at full capacity.
Beom Jun checked the approval documents for the leave. No vacation request had been filed for that day yet.
‘What’s going on?’
Beom Jun made his way toward the Organ Transplant Center on the hospital’s outskirts.
He wanted to confirm that nothing else had gone wrong before Jin Ha’s surgery was underway.
Meanwhile, at the center, the Team Leader and his staff were already engaged in a heated argument over the matter.
“Team Leader, it’s my first time visiting my husband’s family since we married. My mother-in-law has been hospitalized—she’s very ill.”
The staff member handling the heart transplant pleaded earnestly to use her accumulated leave, but the Team Leader was equally desperate.
“I’m begging you, Kang. Just one day—surely we can manage?”
When the Team Leader first heard that Professor Im Sung Hyeok had visited the Organ Transplant Center on a day when most staff were away on summer vacation, he’d simply accepted it as one of those things. Occasionally, busy professors would stop by in person.
‘I apologize, but the paperwork might be delayed. Would it be alright if I send it tomorrow?’
‘Ah, yes, our director mentioned it. Please submit it whenever convenient.’
But after speaking with KONIS, the Team Leader discovered that the hospital director himself was personally overseeing this heart transplant case.
“You just took a long leave not that long ago for your honeymoon. And now this heart transplant happens to be scheduled for that same day?”
“My mother-in-law is having surgery that day too. I’ll make sure the handover is thorough. You know that on the day itself, all we really do is transport the organ.”
Handover. Behind Kang, a newly hired staff member blinked repeatedly, looking back and forth between them.
‘That’s on me for leaving you alone too long.’
The Team Leader sighed internally.
Kang, who wanted to take leave, was the ace of the Organ Transplant Center, handling the majority of their work.
But when he’d assigned her to mentor the new hire, the teaching clearly hadn’t gone smoothly.
‘A proper handover is impossible! Transporting organs isn’t exactly rocket science, but what if something goes wrong? What then?’
If something happened to the organ and the surgery went badly, that could be the least of his problems—he might end up walking away voluntarily.
Having heard the rumors about their ruthless hospital director, he shuddered at the thought.
“…No, absolutely not! I could compromise on any other day, but that day—definitely not that day!”
The Team Leader repeated his refusal, and at his obstinate insistence, Kang’s expression faltered.
There was no alternative. The Team Leader had no choice but to pull rank.
“Just understand that it’s not happening that day, alright?”
Kang clamped her lips shut. Her red lips disappeared inward, completely hidden.
The Team Leader’s heart ached watching her.
‘Please don’t resign over this.’
If his ace quit, it would be devastating for the Organ Transplant Center’s very survival. Ever since assigning her to mentor the new hire, he’d been anxious about it. But though he fretted internally, he wouldn’t back down. This time, there simply was no other way.
—Knock, knock, knock.
Just then, a knocking sound came from the entrance of the Organ Transplant Center.
“I happened to overhear some of that.”
Standing in the doorway was Beom Jun.
Only the Team Leader, who recognized the director’s face, startled visibly and bowed deeply.
The director’s cold expression seemed to chill the very air around him, just as the rumors had suggested.
The Team Leader’s mind raced. He retraced everything he’d just said, worrying he might have misspoken about the director.
‘What exactly did I say?’
Following the Team Leader’s lead, both the ace staff member and the new hire awkwardly bowed. As Beom Jun looked down at their bowed heads, he slowly spoke.
“So the issue is there’s no one to cover the work. Kang must have worked very hard all this time.”
“No, sir! It’s not just me—everyone here works diligently.”
Even Kang, who’d been irritable about the director’s sudden appearance, became subdued.
Beom Jun lifted his hand to his chin, seeming to think for a moment, then offered a solution.
“Alright, here’s what we’ll do. Have your mother-in-law transferred to Korea University Hospital.”
“Pardon?”
At his words, the Team Leader made a stammering, confused sound. What surprised him more than the fact that the director had overheard him was what came out of the director’s mouth.
Of course, no one would refuse to take in any patient at Korea University Hospital, but could he really just decide something like that on the spot? He’d heard the director hadn’t been a professor for long before becoming hospital director—truly, he was as reckless as rumored.
“Of course, only this time. If this becomes a recurring issue, we’ll need to fix it. Team Leader, prepare a plan for future staffing coverage and report it to me.”
The Team Leader’s eyes widened, and his face fell at Beom Jun’s next words.
“You should come in on the same day as Kang and report on it. You weren’t planning to take leave while abandoning your staff, were you?”
“Of course not, sir.”
The Team Leader had been about to take a vacation, but he didn’t make a sound. Then Beom Jun spoke to Kang gently.
“Just ask the hospital where she’s currently admitted for a Transfer Document. She can be admitted to Ward 77.”
Ward 77 overlooked Gyeongbokgung Palace directly—a breathtaking palace view. Though not officially publicized, it was known among staff as the VIP ward.
Presidents, members of conglomerate families, and celebrities who avoided public exposure gathered there, creating an exclusive atmosphere.
And the principle of Ward 77 was to keep at least 20% of beds empty to accommodate VIP patients who might arrive unexpectedly. If that ratio needed to be exceeded, it required the hospital director’s approval.
“If anyone asks, just say I authorized the admission.”
At Beom Jun’s matter-of-fact words, the Team Leader hesitated on how to respond, while the other staff members let out gasps of amazement.
“Wow…!”
“Incredible…!”
Kang held back from speaking loudly out of deference to her superior, but a smile leaked involuntarily across her lips.
“You can visit your mother-in-law during your break. Your team leader can spare that much time, right? Isn’t that right?”
Beom Jun made eye contact with the Team Leader as he spoke, and Kang bounced on the balls of her feet, trying to contain her excitement.
“Yes, absolutely!”
“Okay then. Work hard.”
After hearing the Team Leader’s affirmation, Beom Jun casually left the center.
“Please go ahead, Director.”
The director, who was due formal protocol if anything, received not even a proper greeting before he came and went from the Organ Transplant Center alone.
‘…That’s completely different from what I heard?’
The Team Leader bowed toward the director’s retreating back, puzzling over this.
He’d never met the director in person before, but the reputation he’d heard was entirely at odds with what he’d just witnessed.
‘People said he was reckless and tyrannical, but maybe he’s actually quite decent?’
No, more than decent—he actually made his staff want to come to work. That was remarkable.

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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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