Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 36

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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 36.
“Director, isn’t that rather blunt of you?”
The Fellow from NS bristled as he spoke. He was an older-looking male among the group.
Having heard rumors about the hospital director, he assumed Beom Jun was being his usual unruly self.
Shin So Jeong, a professor, chimed in as well.
“That’s going too far! I’ve never thought of our people as henchmen!!”
They said she had a fiery temper. Matching her heat would only fan the flames. Beom Jun suppressed his emotions and spoke rationally.
“Then everyone should be free to speak. If you’re going to keep quiet, there’s no reason for you to be here.”
At his plain, factual words, Shin So Jeong swallowed her outrage.
“…Understood.”
And the discussion resumed under Beom Jun’s direction.
“So how uncooperative is patient Kim Jun Ho, exactly?”
“Well…!”
Beom Jun cut off Shin So Jeong’s response and pointed instead to the Fellow who had spoken earlier.
“Rather than Professor Shin, I’d like to hear from you on this.”
“Well, the patient is… refusing to communicate, as far as we know.”
The words came out as if he were reading from a script. Beom Jun turned his head. He didn’t need to hear more.
“As far as you know? Then you haven’t seen it yourself. Who’s the attending physician?”
A Resident raised her hand slightly at Beom Jun’s question.
“What’s going on?”
“…The patient simply won’t speak at all. I’m not sure there’s much I can do about it.”
She fumbled over her words. It was plain to see she was a junior Resident, only one or two years in.
‘Assigning a patient this critical to a novice. What the hell have the seniors been doing?’
“Ah, so you performed unauthorized surgery without patient consent? Never thought such a thing could happen at Hanguk University Hospital. It’s shocking, really.”
Beom Jun spoke with exaggeration, and So Jeong lowered her eyes in distress.
“It was an exceptional circumstance. We barely managed to identify him through the Ministry of Defense.”
Beom Jun let out a small sigh. The neurosurgery team had already broken the patient’s trust.
He’d escaped North Korea with such difficulty, only to wake up having been operated on without understanding anything that came after.
The first surgery had only just concluded. If this continued, every time the patient went under anesthesia, he’d have to wonder what the hospital was doing to his body.
“Of course. Since the Ministry of Defense is overseeing this, they’ll be recording how many times medical staff visit, won’t they?”
Shin So Jeong, grasping Beom Jun’s intent, gave the junior Resident a meaningful look. She was telling her to make a case about how many times she’d already tried to convince him.
“Should I go find out?”
“Ah, no—three times? Or was it two? No, wait. Once?”
The Resident stumbled over her words, correcting herself, and Shin So Jeong’s eyes widened. She had thought everyone was doing their best in their own way, like she was.
This was a failure of So Jeong’s to properly oversee her junior staff.
“Professor Shin.”
“I apologize. I’ll correct it.”
Before Beom Jun could raise his voice, she beat him to it. She understood without needing him to say more. Though the other doctors beside Shin So Jeong looked utterly bewildered.
The patient won’t speak. That’s not simply a psychiatric issue. Most importantly, there’s no guardian to care for the patient right now.
Unidentified patients and unrelated patients have separate hospitals that specialize in them. Large hospitals like Hanguk University Hospital prioritize treating critical and acute patients.
When a patient has no Health Insurance, things become tremendously difficult for the hospital.
Treatment does proceed. In emergencies especially, two or more physicians judge and begin treatment immediately, in place of a guardian.
But the problem comes after. There’s nowhere to send the bill.
Fortunately, Hanguk University Hospital has a dedicated Social Welfare Team within the hospital and utilizes Seoul’s social welfare policies. Support only begins when the attending physician explicitly marks the patient as unrelated/having no guardian.
Beom Jun glanced toward the TS side and asked.
“Have you ever seen a patient with no family or relatives in TS?”
*

*A patient without guardians such as family or relatives
“Yes, we had one case a few years back.”
Min Ho, standing to Seong Hyuk’s right, answered.
“I remember—didn’t you say a Checklist was created then?”
At Min Ho’s words, Seong Hyuk nodded as if to confirm. They clearly knew which patient he was referring to.
“That’s the thing—I made it just for myself. I only organized what I needed for the Social Welfare Team referral and legal precautions.”
Min Ho spoke with uncertainty, saying he’d made it for personal use, but Beom Jun nodded. It would be a valuable resource built from experience.
“Why don’t you formalize it this time and share it with NS?”
“Oh, really? Of course!!”
Though the question had a predetermined answer, Min Ho responded readily. Shaking off his earlier intimidation, he now showed no hesitation toward Beom Jun’s interest.
“I’m not sure if we should just accept it. Thank you.”
After the meeting, Shin So Jeong’s earlier boldness had visibly deflated. Beom Jun guessed she’d been struggling with the Kim Jun Ho case.
Multiple gunshot wounds alone would have been a critical situation, but treatment wouldn’t have been all of it.
A doctor cannot solve the money problem,
but they walk alongside the patient through every step of solving it.
“If you give us what you have, we’ll add details from the Kim Jun Ho case and send back an updated version.”
So Jeong offered first, as if reluctant to simply receive.
“That works. Then focus on patient Kim Jun Ho for now—there’s no rush.”
Beom Jun protected her pride.
[Shin So Jeong’s Favorability has increased by 1.]
Not that he’d intended it that way. But her Favorability went up regardless.
She, who had been like a great general, softened, and her eyes grew gentler. Beom Jun felt her regarding him with a fixed, lingering gaze.
Her eyes were genuinely large. Unexpectedly so. Against her small face, the distinct double eyelids made them appear all the more striking.
As Beom Jun was momentarily taken aback by her unwavering stare, So Jeong suddenly asked.
“If something difficult comes up again, would it be alright if I told you?”
‘Me?’
Beom Jun was puzzled, but he couldn’t exactly pass it to Seong Hyuk either. That would be troublesome if they got entangled.
“Ah, yes. Please do that.”
Beom Jun spoke reluctantly, but he’d already kindled her curiosity it seemed.
“Understood. I’ll be in touch soon.”
So Jeong smiled at Beom Jun.
* * *
A few days later, inside the Director’s Office.
With Jae Gyung seated before him, Beom Jun sat in his chair, lost in thought.
After the Heart-Brain Team’s Multidisciplinary Conference ended, So Jeong’s updates had completely dried up. What was she doing?
‘Said she’d be in touch soon, but…’
Beom Jun was bothered by the inscrutable So Jeong.
She was someone with whom Seong Hyuk had shared emotional ties—difficult to keep at a distance or draw close.
Beom Jun sent a message to Seong Hyuk through the HIS messenger.
– What happened with the Unknown Patient manual?
– Sent it to NS. No other word from them.
At the straightforward conclusion, Beom Jun deliberately shook off the confusion. Assuming nothing was amiss.
“Um, Director? Should we continue?”
Jae Gyung, who had been briefing him in the office, asked. Beom Jun didn’t respond and merely tapped at the keyboard, making it abundantly clear he wasn’t listening.
“Ah, where were we?”
“We were going over the Official Document that came from the Ministry of Defense.”
Beom Jun stopped his distracting thoughts and looked back at Jae Gyung.
The Ministry of Defense had sent a request for information regarding the tentatively named patient Kim Jun Ho.
It began as a matter of importance regarding his treatment, but the intent was to be notified of any unusual aspects of the patient’s condition.
“So they’re asking us to steal personal information, in other words?”
“Ah, no, Director.”
Jae Gyung brought her index finger to her lips as if worried someone might hear. Though in fact, only she and Beom Jun were in the Director’s Office.
– We respectfully recommend your hospital’s active cooperation for national security.
As Beom Jun examined the final sentence of the Official Document, his brow furrowed.
‘These bastards really handed it off to us.’
“What should we do, Director? They requested a response this morning, apparently.”
Beom Jun lowered his eyes to check the date at the bottom of the document. The Medical Command from the Ministry of Defense had sent it yesterday morning. They’d even followed up within a day.
“Seems urgent, doesn’t it?”
Beom Jun’s lips curved upward. Rather than amusing, his smile was chilling, and Jae Gyung pressed her lips firmly shut. Worried she might have rattled her superior’s mood.
Beom Jun leisurely lifted his coffee cup. As he rotated it slightly, the crema swirled in a whirlwind.
On the large monitor at his desk, the HIS displayed multiple windows—patient Kim Jun Ho’s admission records, current Vital Signs, and upcoming treatment plans.
Among them, Beom Jun scrutinized the admission records for patient Kim Jun Ho—just how dire his condition had been when he arrived with five gunshot wounds.
It was then that Beom Jun noticed something odd.
‘He didn’t come directly to Hanguk University Hospital after arriving in South Korea.’
The wound sites showed severe hematoma. The surrounding tissue had turned pale and bluish-gray—evidence of prolonged bleeding control. Blood had pooled in the tissue like a bruise.
With bleeding that had persisted so long, his blood pressure upon admission was critically low. Had Shin So Jeong not acted swiftly, his survival couldn’t be guaranteed now.
‘There was emergency treatment somewhere else. They couldn’t handle it there, so they sent him to us.’
He could guess what happened. Likely they’d taken the patient to a military hospital. For security reasons, and because there would be information to extract from the patient.
Yet to Hanguk University Hospital, they’d kept their mouths shut and made it seem like they’d brought the patient straight here.
If something had gone wrong with the patient, Hanguk University Hospital would have had to bear the dishonor of failing to treat him.
‘But they not only don’t ask for help—they send a document like this?’
Beom Jun, having read the situation, set down his coffee cup. He gave a small laugh, and Jae Gyung flinched.
Beom Jun had figured out how to clear this quest. Where to extract payment from.
The target was the Ministry of Defense. If the military hospital caused this mess, the military should bear the responsibility.
Beom Jun bared his teeth in a grin.
“Tell them to hold an in-person meeting. From Hanguk University Hospital, attendees will be you, me, Seong Hyuk, and Professor Shin So Jeong.”
Since the hospital director was going, the Ministry of Defense would likely send someone holding a fairly high position involved in this matter.
Beom Jun intended to see the responsible party’s face first. He needed to see who he was dealing with before deciding whether to cooperate.
“Ah, yes! When should we schedule it?”
Jae Gyung, who had been standing uncertainly, straightened her posture and answered briskly. Beom Jun slowly closed his eyes and opened them again as he spoke.
“Timing—whenever they prefer. Location: Hanguk University Hospital.”
Of course, the side that needed something should come calling.

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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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