Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 42

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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 42.
“Drain. Peri—first.”
After finishing the pericardium, Beom Jun extended his hand toward the scrub nurse.
As a precaution, he was connecting a tube inside the pericardium before the final stitch to perform drainage. With a Pericardial Drain and two chest tubes.
The drain allows blood, tissue fluid, inflammatory liquid, and other substances to naturally exit the body after surgery. The purpose was to remove waste and ultimately keep the surgical site clean.
Moreover, through the amount and color of the drained material, one could infer changes occurring internally, making it function as a sort of window into the body.
“Okay, good work.”
With Beom Jun’s judgment combined with Shin So Jung’s skill, the surgery on the patient proceeded without a hitch.
The torn pericardium was sutured with identical precision, as if stamped out by a machine.
‘That’s not just hands that haven’t gotten stiff.’
There’s a saying: when something looks easy, it’s because that person is doing it exceptionally well.
Shin So Jung focused on the fact that it had been over a year since Beom Jun had set down surgery.
Unlike herself, who labored to build and maintain her surgical instincts through effort, he seemed to exist in an entirely different realm.
As if he needed no effort whatsoever, Beom Jun had effortlessly accomplished the extraordinary—in just a single day.
‘This doesn’t make sense. It shouldn’t be possible.’
While Shin So Jung questioned herself, Beom Jun finished the thoracic portion of the surgery.
“You’ll close it up, Professor Shin?”
“Yes, I’ll check the spinal side and then close.”
Collecting herself, Shin So Jung examined the dura mater, the outermost membrane enveloping the spinal cord. She also checked for any cerebrospinal fluid leakage.
The dura mater often develops wounds so tiny they’re invisible to the eye. Even after suturing, microscopic leaks are common. If there was any factor that might compress the nerve, it all had to be removed.
But unlike usual, Shin So Jung’s hands slowed. More than slowed—they stopped.
‘I shouldn’t have watched. Why did I have to be curious!’
Overwhelmed with admiration for Beom Jun, she had lost her composure in the operating room, where emotional disturbance had no place.
“What are you doing? Shin So Jung!”
Alarmed, Beom Jun called out her name.
“Ah, my apologies.”
Shin So Jung quickly pulled herself together.
Despite her exceptional skill, after witnessing Beom Jun’s unreachable level, Shin So Jung was left in shock.
‘There’s a doctor like this in Korea? No wonder the hospital director isn’t just anyone.’
She felt unsettled. The pride that had sustained her through the trials of training at Chun Hee University Hospital and becoming a professor at Korea University Hospital was the conviction that she was the best in her field.
She knew well that the gossip and ostracism behind her back stemmed from the fact that she truly was exceptionally talented.
‘I’ve only lived in my own world. I was the fool.’
But now she saw the world was vast, and geniuses were plentiful. Among them, she might have been merely a quasi-genius at best.
Had she not found herself in such extraordinary circumstances, she would likely have spent her entire life believing she was the most capable.
Watching Beom Jun, Shin So Jung became profoundly humble.
“Did your nerves get rattled? What’s wrong—need help?”
Sensing the change in Shin So Jung, Beom Jun spoke. She couldn’t bring herself to admit it was because of the director.
He seemed to sense her anxiety, and though his portion was finished, he remained in the operating room, standing behind her.
“No, I can manage.”
Shin So Jung steadied her mind and turned her focus back to the patient’s surgical site.
She wanted to look capable in front of Beom Jun, who stood watching. Not merely as a woman, but as a doctor—she wanted to earn his approval.
* * *
[Hidden Quest completed.]
[Hidden Quest: Eliminate the Heroine]
[You have obtained ‘Superior Lens’ as a reward.]
After the surgery ended, Beom Jun cleared the Hidden Quest.
‘Why did Shin So Jung withdraw her interest in Lim Sung Hyuk?’
The reason was unclear. Did she give up after seeing Lim Sung Hyuk collapse from overwork?
Hmm, Beom Jun mused while checking the status window. Professor Shin So Jung was completely different from Lim Sung Hyuk, whose thoughts were transparent as glass.
But it didn’t matter. The surgery on the patient had gone well, and he’d obtained an item as a reward.
[Name: Superior Lens
Property: Allows you to see the characteristics of all individuals within a 1-meter radius.
Remaining Uses: 1]
Good. He’d keep the Superior Lens and use it when the moment came. Probably when he met with external personnel.
Now then, should I go see the culprit behind all this chaos?
‘Is that bastard still in the Emergency Room?’
Beom Jun used the status window to locate Sung Hyuk.
[Searching for Lim Sung Hyuk’s location.]
[Lim Sung Hyuk’s location confirmed: Emergency Room]
Unlike patients who observed progress in the Emergency Room before being transferred to a ward, he was still there.
He’d probably requested to stay. No matter which ward he went to, he’d face exposure and embarrassment. Beom Jun himself would have been discharged from the Emergency Room after resting a bit.
After pulling an all-nighter receiving Min Ho’s notifications and performing surgery on the patient today, Beom Jun was prepared to make Sung Hyuk indebted to him.
This time, beef offal soup wouldn’t cut it. Absolutely not. He should probably get him to buy beef three times over.
But Beom Jun’s irritation was short-lived; the next status window made him go quiet.
[Lim Sung Hyuk’s emotions are being shared.]
A pain seized his chest in an instant, and he briefly furrowed his brow. This was old, suppressed emotion.
‘You… were this much?’
Lim Sung Hyuk didn’t deserve criticism from Beom Jun.
He was blaming himself far too much already.
* * *
Working at a hospital, one hears frequently the saying that doctors trade their own health for their patients. Many leave the hospital afterward, their health completely spent.
Though it’s a place for treating the sick, medical staff aren’t allowed to be sick—an irony that exhausted Beom Jun as well.
In his first year as a Resident, he especially suffered waves of existential despair at dawn. Around midnight, when he’d receive notifications about a patient’s Input/Output
*
for the day.
*input, intake amount/output, excretion amount
Having eaten nothing all day except scraps of bread from the nursing staff and drunk nothing else, he’d excreted nothing either.
But looking at what patients had consumed all day, despair was inevitable.
Of course, such worries rarely lasted long. There was always more work waiting than what he’d accomplished that day.
In a hospital that runs 24 hours, there is no concept of conclusion. As one patient is discharged, another is admitted, the cycle continuing daily, and doctors must give their all to every patient.
In any case, after three years spent like that, Residency ends. Honestly, he’d go back to the military again before repeating Residency.
But Lim Sung Hyuk had effectively extended that period indefinitely.
Beom Jun tousled his hair in distress, strands around his part becoming disheveled. With his shirt buttons undone, he stretched his neck.
‘Right, a Fellow quit not long ago. I’d forgotten for a moment.’
This was the period in Doctor X when Fellow Kim Hee Sung had quit and Lim Sung Hyuk began burning out. A time when frustration with the hospital’s systems exploded uncontrollably.
At least Beom Jun had taken charge of Patient Seo Jin-ha, but these days Sung Hyuk was preoccupied with Professor Shin So Jung over the patient situation.
Meanwhile, Sung Hyuk must have been completely neglected. Min Ho was there, but his experience was still insufficient.
Given his taciturn nature that never showed strain, Sung Hyuk would surely have tried to handle all the excessive work himself. Quietly and stubbornly.
“Sigh, I should have paid more attention.”
Sung Hyuk’s self-blame infected Beom Jun as well.
Beom Jun strode toward the Emergency Room.
“Damn it!!”
He kicked through the Emergency Room doors, but no one said anything to him. To the Emergency Room staff, he was simply the troublemaking hospital director, appearing after a long absence.
“Where is Lim Sung Hyuk’s bed?”
The nurses exchanged glances with each other.
They might have wondered why the director had come all the way here, but his polite tone of voice was sufficient.
“This way. Let me guide you.”
“Never mind. Get back to work. Just tell me where.”
Beom Jun rejected the Emergency Room nurse’s offer to accompany him. It was clearly well-intentioned, yet somehow carried a scolding tone.
And his sensitivity erupted when he saw Sung Hyuk lying in the bed.
Sung Hyuk hadn’t even had time to change into a hospital gown; he lay there in his regular clothes with just a gown draped beside the bed, his arm rolled up to receive an IV. Seeing him like that, Beom Jun’s insides twisted.
“Lim Sung Hyuk, you. Damn it.”
“My apologies, Director.”
Sung Hyuk immediately offered an apology. Beom Jun knew he was simply voicing the self-recrimination already churning in his mind. Beneath it lay even deeper guilt.
‘This stubborn fool.’
Beom Jun swallowed the reprimand he’d been about to give. Sung Hyuk already blamed himself far more harshly for the patient than Beom Jun ever could.
“Min Ho told me you went into surgery in my place. Is the patient doing okay?”
“Worry about yourself, you idiot.”
Beom Jun spoke bluntly and sat beside the bed. From the IV going in, there was nothing serious. He’d already reviewed the chart anyway.
“So what did the Emergency Medicine team say? You must have a diagnosis.”
“They said it seems to be exhaustion.”
Sung Hyuk rubbed the back of his head, speaking awkwardly.
“I’m fine. Since the hydration, my blood pressure has been normal or above. I’m just getting IV fluid occasionally.”
The fact that his blood pressure normalized after just one IV meant he’d been severely dehydrated. He hadn’t even been drinking water while working.
Well, a tumbler was a luxury for a professor. Doctors tell patients endlessly to drink water, exercise, eat well, and sleep well—yet few doctors actually live that way themselves.
Beom Jun looked at Sung Hyuk with compassion and spoke.
“We need to hire more staff. Wait and see. What about Min Ho—think he’ll do a Fellowship next year?”
“We need to hold on to him any way we can.”
Sung Hyuk laughed weakly. Given his nature, not to make excuses, even suggesting a Fellowship would be difficult for him.
“Don’t be stubborn about it alone. If it seems impossible, tell me beforehand. I’ll talk to him.”
Looking at Sung Hyuk lying there, Beom Jun’s words came out harshly. It was all the more grating because Beom Jun himself had placed Min Ho at his side, yet Sung Hyuk couldn’t even bring himself to speak openly to the director about it.
But unlike Beom Jun’s frustration, Sung Hyuk remained composed.
“Yes, thank you, senior.”
And this obtuse man only changed the title he used for Beom Jun.

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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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