Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 60

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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 60.
‘Meeting in a place like this?’
That evening.
Beom-jun, who had arranged to meet with Min Jeong-sik, was wandering through an alley with Jae-gyeong.
“Ugh, this place gives me the creeps.”
“Be careful. We might get buried out here today.”
Beom-jun was teasing Jae-gyeong. Despite his size, the man was easily frightened.
“Eek! You should’ve warned me beforehand if it was going to be like this!”
“I’m just messing with you.”
The restaurant Min Jeong-sik had mentioned was tucked into an alley difficult to access by car—nestled between villas not far from Korean University Hospital.
As they ventured deeper into the alley, the foot traffic thinned, and among the empty spaces stood a single traditional Korean house that seemed out of place.
An old Korean restaurant, they’d said. And it certainly looked the part.
Under the yellow streetlamps, the deep blue roof tiles appeared faded, and every detail—the wooden gate, the beams, the pillars—bore the weight of years.
It was strange, though. That he’d want to meet in a place like this.
“I’ll wait in the car, then. Go ahead and take your time.”
Jae-gyeong spoke from in front of the restaurant door. Min Jeong-sik had requested a private meeting, so Beom-jun went in alone.
The moment his feet touched the heated floor, warmth spread through him. On the ondol platform sat relatively new-looking tables and chairs, while the walls were decorated with a tiger painting, a mother-of-pearl cabinet, and calligraphy in an unfamiliar script.
Min Jeong-sik, who had been sitting near the center of the restaurant, stood when he saw Beom-jun.
“This way, Director.”
[Talent confirmed.]
[Name: Min Jeong-sik / Position: Director]
Management Strategy: ■■■■□
Organizational Operations: ■■■□□
Performance Management: ■■■□□
External Relations: ■■■■■
– Favorability: 1
[Cold on the outside, warm within. Though the warmth is reserved for very few.]
Compared to the Chairman and Vice-Director, his abilities were average.
Warm? That was unexpected. But that wasn’t the real problem. Min Jeong-sik’s favorability was at 1. On a first meeting, it would normally be at least 3, which meant his impression of Beom-jun was already poor.
There was one thing that nagged at Beom-jun.
‘There was something called Uigwon-hoe.’
A clue he’d obtained by chance when he eliminated Han Seung-woo. If a member registered as a Talent was part of Uigwon-hoe, their Survival Probability would reset to 0%.
[Name: Affection Potion (Intermediate)
Property: Increases the target’s favorability by 5.]
Remaining Uses: 1]
Beom-jun closed the Status Window.
First, he needed to confirm if Min Jeong-sik was a member of Uigwon-hoe. If he was, then the potion—or anything else—wouldn’t matter; he couldn’t register him as a Talent.
Beom-jun made small talk with Min Jeong-sik about the weather and the restaurant, then ordered food.
Though the conversation was brief, Beom-jun could tell the director was more seasoned than he’d expected.
“I was surprised when you called, Director. What brings this on?”
“Oh, nothing much. Just thought we’d grab a meal together after a while. That sort of thing?”
“Ha, that’s a strange thing to say. We’re hardly the sort who can eat together casually, are we?”
Min Jeong-sik cut straight through Beom-jun’s feint.
Beom-jun responded without hesitation.
“It’s just that I haven’t seen you around the hospital much lately. You seem so different from how you were before. I wanted to check if you were doing well.”
There was bone in Beom-jun’s words, and Min Jeong-sik offered a strained smile. Before the conversation could drift into more pleasantries, Beom-jun changed tack.
“It’s just a courtesy call. You’re the most senior person at Korean University Hospital after the Chairman, after all.”
At Beom-jun’s words, Min Jeong-sik’s expression didn’t shift at all. If he were pleased, he might have at least pretended to be. His composure was impressive.
“Isn’t the director practically a living witness to the history of Korean University Hospital?”
Beom-jun laid on the flattery the way he had in his past life, but Min Jeong-sik remained silent.
Like the Chairman, he had graduated from Korean University Medical School and started as an intern at Korean University Hospital. Back then, it was commonplace.
When he was young, it was normal not to rotate through multiple hospitals but to settle at one, treating your first employer as a lifetime post.
Over time, all his classmates and seniors had moved on elsewhere.
“…Those days are long past.”
Min Jeong-sik finally spoke, pouring soju into the glass before him.
“Come now, why are you pouring for yourself?”
Beom-jun intercepted the bottle, and Min Jeong-sik raised his glass to his lips.
Min Jeong-sik had only heard that the Hospital Director had changed, changed, changed. Seeing him in person was a first.
Given how headstrong and arbitrary the Hospital Director had seemed, he’d taken no particular interest in the news. The image of him as “the Chairman’s lapdog” was too firmly cemented.
But seeing the Hospital Director without those prejudices, he seemed somewhat different.
‘Was he just being rough because he was in front of the Chairman?’
Above all, Min Jeong-sik found the Hospital Director rather agreeable in his knowledge of propriety.
[Min Jeong-sik’s favorability has increased by 1.]
‘What? Why did his favorability go up?’
He hadn’t done anything, yet the favorability had risen. He’d needed one more point even after using the Affection Potion, and now he was fortunate.
As his favorability increased, Min Jeong-sik began to overshare under the influence of drink.
“This place was one the Chairman liked. Thirty years ago, this area was bustling.”
“The atmosphere suggests there are secrets worth revealing.”
“Ha, where in this world are there any real secrets?”
Min Jeong-sik poured soju into his own glass as he spoke, and Beom-jun gradually steered toward the main topic.
“Though there are always those who monopolize information.”
“Surely you, Director, hold all the information of Korean University Hospital.”
Beom-jun narrowed his net gradually, probing for what he wanted to know.
“Well, Uigwon-hoe doesn’t go through me, so…”
But Min Jeong-sik merely paused, offering no other response.
“Ha, once it’s known to those who matter, it’s hardly a secret anymore.”
‘So does that mean he is or isn’t part of Uigwon-hoe?!’
Min Jeong-sik glossed over the important part and slipped away. With Uigwon-hoe now on the table, Beom-jun pressed him directly.
“Ah, I only learned of it recently. You seem to know quite well?”
At that, Min Jeong-sik slowly began to speak, a hint of mockery playing at the corners of his mouth.
“When you’ve been in this field long enough, there’s little new to learn. It seems, Director, that you’re not yet part of Uigwon-hoe. As for myself—well, I’m not either, but I’m slated to join next year, so the situation is a bit different.”
Min Jeong-sik smiled with the air of victory and sipped his tea.
‘So he’s not in it now! That’s what matters!’
“A small difference now becomes a great gap in the future…”
Beom-jun wasn’t listening. There was no need. Once he registered Min Jeong-sik as a Talent, he’d use his Control Power to keep him from ever joining Uigwon-hoe.
Beom-jun retrieved the Affection Potion from beneath the table.
At the center of the glass vial was a heart symbol, rendered with whimsical charm.
“By the way, I brought a good drink. Why don’t you try it?”
“Didn’t you arrive empty-handed?”
“That’s impossible. You must have been mistaken.”
Min Jeong-sik found the suddenly appearing Affection Potion suspicious, but there was no way to explain it.
Beom-jun poured whiskey and, tipping the potion’s stopper, filled Min Jeong-sik’s glass to the brim.
“Here’s to our dear Min Jeong-sik!”
Glug, glug—the glass emptied in two gulps, and Min Jeong-sik, his brow furrowed, spoke weakly.
“Phew. The liquor’s not sitting right tonight.”
Then the Status Window appeared, as he’d anticipated.
[Min Jeong-sik’s favorability has increased by 5.]
[Register Min Jeong-sik as Talent? Yes/No]
After drinking the Affection Potion, Min Jeong-sik picked at his food while staring at Beom-jun with unfocused eyes, as if he’d fallen in love at first sight.
‘Disgusting.’
Beom-jun averted his gaze and, rolling his eyes, clicked ‘Yes.’
[Registering Min Jeong-sik as Talent.]
[Knowledge absorption in progress from registered Talent.]
Excluding Jae-gyeong, Min Jeong-sik was the first executive to be registered as a Talent.
‘I wonder if it’ll be as severe as when I registered professors like Im Sung-hyuk, Shin So-jeong, and Jason Lee.’
In truth, Min Jeong-sik had far too much seniority to be called casually one of Beom-jun’s subordinates. Far, far too much.
Beom-jun braced his head against the incoming headache. He hadn’t taken any pain relievers because he was drinking.
“Ugh.”
But Beom-jun didn’t experience the excruciating headache of before. Rather than a sharp stabbing at one point, it was a general weight pressing down on his skull—as if a stone had been placed atop his head.
Beom-jun clenched his teeth and tensed his neck, his trapezius rising, his neck shortened.
Then, the methods of operating Korean University Hospital—how to make everyone move in unison—solidified in his mind.
Administration, patient services, facilities, IT, infection control, pharmacy, and every other department composing the hospital were linked like a single body. If the doctors were the brain, then the hospital’s infrastructure was the skeleton, and administration the nervous system.
‘This is… fucking complicated.’
Beom-jun finished absorbing the knowledge and pressed his temples, his thoughts clouded. It felt entirely different from when he’d registered a medical professional as a Talent.
Until now, knowledge from other medical specialties hadn’t felt particularly foreign to him.
Of course, the details had their unique characteristics, but broadly speaking, it all concerned the human body.
Between medical school and his internship, he’d logged seven years. With a solid foundation, Beom-jun could handle different medical knowledge relatively flexibly.
But the work Min Jeong-sik did as director of Korean University Hospital was entirely new to him.
“Director, you’ve… endured a lot all this time.”
Beom-jun, cradling his throbbing head, spoke to Min Jeong-sik.
How narrow a world had he been trapped in?
Boasting that they occupied the very peak of the pyramid, drawing lines within it to divide into factions, separating above from below—all of it seemed so petty to him now.
“Not at all. The weight the Hospital Director carries is far greater.”
Min Jeong-sik, his expression softened, spoke to Beom-jun. His eyes had been twinkling since earlier, which was rather off-putting.
“Sigh. This is giving me a headache.”
Now that Beom-jun had acquired Min Jeong-sik, a sigh escaped first.
The more you know, the harder it becomes. Nothing is simple.
‘No, if I hadn’t known, I’d have died according to the original Beom-jun’s fate.’
Just then, the intoxicated Min Jeong-sik raised his glass in a toast. Beom-jun mirrored him.
“I wish we’d done this sooner, had a drink together like this. Ha ha. I’m seeing a very different side of you today, Director.”
“I’d like that. Let’s meet often. I think there’s a great deal we should discuss, Director Min.”
“Oh? Was it Jason Lee? You’re talking about the IRB.”
As Beom-jun spoke with a distant look, Min Jeong-sik turned the conversation to the matter at hand.
“Yes. I understand the review has commenced.”
The syllable “cheers” from his lips and the crisp clink of their glasses sounded simultaneously, and discussion of the Jason Lee therapy proceeded smoothly.
Without pressure from the board, they would deliberate solely for the patient’s sake.
“The Vice-Director did ask me to keep it blocked. But don’t worry—I’ll take very good care of it! No need to be concerned.”
[Hidden Quest completed.]
[Reward: Survival Probability +15%.]
[Beom-jun’s Survival Probability has increased by 15%.]
[Current Survival Probability: 46%.]
The Status Window appeared before Beom-jun’s eyes, displaying the noticeably increased Survival Probability.

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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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