Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 57

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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 57.
Jae-gyeong burst into the Director’s Office. He’d figured out the Deputy Director’s movements, he said, his excitement practically palpable.
“Director! The Deputy Director met with Min Jung-sik recently—and she talked about the IRB!”
Bum-jun closed his eyes tight, then opened them, and spoke.
“The IRB? Are they trying to use that against me?”
The IRB—the Institutional Review Board—was the body that reviewed all research conducted at the hospital.
Hospital research was directly tied to patients’ lives, so a third party was tasked with oversight to prevent researchers from acting as they pleased.
But the Board of Directors had no authority over the IRB. From their money-minded perspective, research was nothing but wasteful trifling.
“Min Jung-sik sits on the IRB committee, doesn’t he?”
“Yes. He basically oversees the whole thing.”
Bum-jun was beginning to see how the game was being played.
They were trying to block the Jason Therapy from passing through the IRB using Min Jung-sik as their tool.
The Board couldn’t exert direct influence over the IRB otherwise.
The Deputy Director certainly had a talent for this sort of scheming. If only she’d use it for something worthwhile.
Bum-jun now understood why the quest had stressed going through proper legal channels. To introduce a new medical treatment, you couldn’t skirt the IRB under medical law.
‘I was wondering how I’d prove the Jason Therapy works, but this actually works out better.’
Better still—the patient had already been admitted, and that was precisely when he’d planned to demonstrate the Jason Therapy’s safety.
Bum-jun wrapped his arm around Jae-gyeong’s head in a headlock.
“Nice work asking about that. You did good. You’re something else—you bastard!”
“Ow, Director!”
Jae-gyeong thrashed to break free but was grinning. Bum-jun ruffled his hair and didn’t let him go.
For the first time in a while, Bum-jun pulled up Jae-gyeong’s Talent Information.
[Name: Jae-gyeong Kim / Position: Secretary to the Director]
Schedule Management: ■■■□□
Administrative Support: ■■■■□
Internal Communications: ■■■■□
External Relations: ■■□□□
– Growth Potential: Minimal
– Favorability: MAX
‘Not bad at all.’
In Doctor X, Jae-gyeong had followed the director’s shadow like a ghost, but the truth was he’d always been good at reading people. It just wasn’t obvious.
And gossip—real secrets—only get shared with someone you trust to keep them. Since he didn’t blab to just anyone, his information network would’ve flown under most people’s radar.
With Internal Communications at four bars now, there was room for growth. When it went higher, he’d bring back even more discreet and useful intelligence.
A flicker of thought crossed Bum-jun’s mind—’I have to stay alive that long’—but good was good.
“All right. Make discreet contact with Min. Tell him I’d like to see him.”
Bum-jun spoke with his chin resting on his hand. His expression—the sharp line of his nose flowing down to his lips—carried an intensity that cut through the air.
Jae-gyeong, seeing the seriousness on his face, spoke up more loudly.
“Yes, understood!”
* * *
An hour later, Jae-gyeong returned looking sheepish.
“Director, Min said he’s too busy to make time.”
Though Bum-jun hadn’t refused him, Jae-gyeong reported apologetically.
A refusal? Honestly, it caught him off guard. Min hadn’t tried to use Bum-jun the way Professor Han Seung-woo did, but the director had something to offer—yet Min had drawn a clear line.
‘So he’s siding with the Deputy Director.’
Bum-jun felt the wind knocked out of him slightly.
According to Doctor X’s setup, the Deputy Director’s influence reached nearly every corner of Korea University Hospital. The Medical Affairs Department—made up of doctors—was the one area where her reach was weakest.
By comparison, Director Choi Bum-jun’s position? Needless to say. He was treated like the Board Chairman’s lapdog, even excluded from board meetings.
‘I’ll have a word with the director, so don’t worry.’
‘Don’t trouble yourself; I’m not worried at all.’
‘Then I’ll put my trust in the Chairman.’
The Hospital Director had never even attended a Board of Directors meeting in Doctor X.
As Bum-jun steadied his troubled thoughts, Jae-gyeong spoke up hesitantly.
“Oh, and the Deputy Director requested a meeting.”
“What? The Deputy Director wants to see me?”
Bum-jun asked, surprised.
“She said it’s urgent. I’d bet it’s because of Min.”
Loose-lipped bastard.
“Should I tell her you don’t have time? I could say you’re on an outside business trip.”
“No, no. Tell her I’ll see her.”
But when Jae-gyeong, sensing the mood, offered to refuse her, Bum-jun stopped him.
In Doctor X, the Jason Therapy had ultimately never been introduced. It kept getting delayed until Im Sung-hyuk used it recklessly.
If he figured out how the IRB was being blocked, he could find a way through.
“I need to hear what she has to say.”
“Yes, yes! I have some free time this afternoon anyway, so I’ll tell her to come then.”
A few hours later, the Deputy Director arrived.
She hadn’t come unannounced—she’d contacted Jae-gyeong to coordinate the schedule first—but the fact that she’d bothered to do something so ordinary was almost startling.
After all, she hadn’t been doing even basic courtesy until now.
So this surprised him—that she could actually listen when spoken to.
She let out a small snort.
Stepping into the Director’s Office, she snorted again almost offhandedly, then sat across from Bum-jun.
“I heard about the Jason Therapy. They’re saying Professor Im is going to use it. Really—this is your doing too, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”
The Deputy Director probed him subtly, acting as though she already knew the answer.
But Bum-jun spoke with easy deflection, giving her nothing.
“The Jason Therapy presented at the thoracic surgery conference.”
“That? What is it?”
Bum-jun raised both eyebrows, his eyes narrowing. He played dumb.
“You can’t deny it. You’re trying to use patients at Korea University Hospital as test subjects! Really, just do your job instead of stirring up trouble!”
When the Hospital Director didn’t respond, the Deputy Director let words spill out bit by bit, as though muttering to herself.
“Professor Im Sung-hyuk would never perform a procedure without the patient’s consent.”
“You’ll manipulate them into consenting! How obvious can this be?”
After several rounds of back-and-forth, Bum-jun’s voice had dropped. She wasn’t the type to accept a simple denial and leave gracefully, after all.
As she continued to overstep, Bum-jun spoke coldly and precisely.
“Patients aren’t fools. Doctors present options; the patient makes the choice.”
Patients have four fundamental rights.
The right to receive appropriate medical care for their health and not to be denied it without just cause.
The right to receive full explanation from medical staff, ask questions, and decide whether to undergo treatment.
The right to have their health information and privacy protected and not disclosed without consent.
The right to request counseling and mediation if a medical dispute arises.
What they were discussing now was the second—that patients should receive whatever explanation they desired about treatment but ultimately decide for themselves. It was the Right to Self-Determination.
As Bum-jun explained to the Deputy Director, his eyes sharpened. His voice, suddenly pitched low, chilled the very air around them, and it suited the natural coldness of his gaze perfectly.
The Deputy Director flinched as though experiencing déjà vu, unsettled by Bum-jun’s transformation. She pressed her lips shut, trying to hide her alarm—but that made it all the more obvious.
‘I thought he’d snap at me.’
Bum-jun looked at her with satisfaction.
The Deputy Director had learned to hold her own fairly well by now.
“Regardless, you know this can’t be done with just patient consent, right? Get IRB approval. That’s why I came. You know full well that doing it without approval violates medical law.”
She spoke with mockery, trying to convince herself she wasn’t intimidated by what he’d just shown her.
Her real point was indeed about the IRB. She was warning him not to gloss over it casually—he had to go through proper review.
‘So IRB approval is more beneficial to her?’
Bum-jun narrowed his eyes and nodded as though he understood.
It made sense. Whether the IRB denied or delayed approval, Bum-jun would have to be the one to submit the request first.
The way the Deputy Director spoke with such confidence suggested she had something to lean on.
“Is that all you came to tell me? Hm, sounds like quite the pressing matter.”
Bum-jun spoke as though amused by her.
‘There’s no need for all this. I was going to do it anyway because of the quest.’
“Don’t you dare claim ignorance later!”
The Deputy Director fought not to lose ground, while Bum-jun treated her with cool indifference.
But then something occurred to him. She hadn’t said a word about Min Jung-sik.
“But… is that really all you wanted to say?”
He’d thought she came to confront him about contacting Min Jung-sik. When the conversation didn’t go there, he probed her true intentions.
“What? Are you telling me to get out?”
But the Deputy Director misunderstood and let out a sharp cry. She felt caught—she’d never left his office voluntarily before.
‘She rejected my meeting, but she didn’t report it to the Deputy Director?’
Like all relationships bound by circumstance, Bum-jun realized Min Jung-sik and the Deputy Director weren’t particularly close.
Bum-jun spoke glibly again.
“Oh, I thought maybe you’d treat me to dinner. You saw Min yesterday, after all.”
“That was—no, why would I buy you dinner!”
The Deputy Director switched her honorific mid-sentence and stumbled over her words. Just knowing that Bum-jun was aware of her movements seemed to frighten her.
‘She’s got my entire schedule memorized, and here she is getting spooked over this.’
And then, the status window appeared.
[A Hidden Quest has opened.]
[Hidden Quest: Create a rift in the Cartel.]
There are those who hinder the growth of Korea University Hospital. Register one talented individual to shake the Cartel that operates in the shadows.
Reward: Survival Probability +15%
The quest had appeared right on cue, spelling out exactly what Bum-jun needed to do—about the Cartel operating behind the Deputy Director, and about Min Jung-sik.
Moreover, this reward was different from before.
‘Fifteen percent?’
Even completing a main quest only raised his Survival Probability by 3%, but this was five times that.
It meant his death was deeply connected to this. The difficulty was considerable too.
But Bum-jun smiled brilliantly, his teeth showing.
‘A Cartel? Good. I’ll smash it to pieces right now.’
Looking at Bum-jun grinning meaninglessly, the Deputy Director widened her eyes but said nothing. She just rubbed her arms, which had broken out in goosebumps.

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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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