Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 78

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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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Chapter 78.
Moo-hyung was immersed in preparations for the Medical Rights Association conference. The conference was held twice a year, every six months.
‘Why are they already asking me to prepare for something that won’t happen until next spring?’
Last summer, all Medical Rights Association members had gone to Japan after receiving an invitation from a renowned local hospital.
Moo-hyung had been looking forward to it. It was a valuable opportunity to observe hospitals in Japan, where the elderly population accounted for a significant proportion.
In the meantime, Eunsung Hospital had always struggled whenever introducing the latest IT technology to the facility.
No matter how good the technology was, it meant nothing if patients couldn’t use it.
When Eunsung Hospital first opened, Moo-hyung’s plan had been to install Smart Bed Monitors on every patient bed.
He’d trumpeted it as the hospital’s competitive advantage over others, pursuing a digital hospital model.
“What could we possibly have that surpasses Korean University Hospital, Cheonhui University Hospital, or Hosanna Hospital? Capital and technological prowess!!”
The Smart Bed Monitor came equipped with every conceivable function—past test results, vital signs like blood pressure, rounds schedules, even meal menu selections. Internet access, television broadcast.
The cost of development and installation was on the order of constructing a small general hospital,
but as fate would have it, the Smart Bed Monitor was never used as intended.
For elderly patients who barely managed smartphones, it was nothing more than a difficult-to-operate television.
Patient reviews came in two varieties.
1) It’s nice to have a TV by every bed.
2) The TV is hard to turn on.
He’d designed it so that entering a patient ID would display medical information tailored to them, but apparently that was the drawback.
‘That was the whole point of building the Smart Bed Monitor!!’
Contrary to Moo-hyung’s hopes, the SBM usage rate plummeted over time, and once his carefully laid plan fell apart, he resolved to start from scratch.
The Japan conference had come around just then.
He was determined to see how they handled elderly patients, to study their methods in detail and bring back what he’d learned. With that resolve, Moo-hyung headed to Japan,
only to find that Japan was pursuing analog, not digital solutions.
Seeing a dedicated staff member assigned to each kiosk, the Medical Rights Association members had observed,
“Hmm, it does seem like you need staff. It’s not easy for elderly patients to use self-service systems.”
“Technology advances far faster than our patients age, after all.”
Substantive discussion ensued, but unfortunately that moment was fleeting. Nothing there felt particularly novel to them.
“Japan really hasn’t changed.”
“That’s Japan for you.”
And so the Medical Rights Association members, who’d booked lodging next to a hot spring, spent their days in the sauna. Moo-hyung had to serve them, staying up late drinking and carousing.
Being the youngest at over forty was a lonely business indeed.
‘And now they’re asking where we should go have fun this time!’
Moo-hyung spun around in his desk chair as he worked through conference preparations.
‘Pressure from above, complaints from below, and I’m the one caught in the middle rattling around.’
Corporate life was, upon reflection, a precious thing. Moo-hyung exhaled a heavy sigh.
But still, the Chairman of Korean University Hospital had agreed to send someone on secondment. If this went well, it would be fine.
No, more than fine. This had to be pulled off successfully, no matter what.
Installing that wretched Smart Bed Monitor had resulted in tens of billions in losses, and it would take a good thirty years to recover the investment. They’d have to wait until the current thirty- and forty-somethings became elderly grandmothers and were admitted to the hospital.
‘If I can just make this secondment work, I can cover those losses!!’
Besides, Korean University Hospital would also come to know Eunsung Hospital’s medical equipment, making it mutually beneficial.
‘I’m not just learning from Korean University Hospital doctors. We’re teaching too. Honestly, isn’t that good for both sides?’
Eunsung Hospital’s medical standards lagged far enough behind that it had to request seconded staff from outside hospitals, yet Moo-hyung refused to swallow his pride.
Medicine was ultimately a technology. He believed that with enough time and money, any medical advancement was possible.
* * *
At that very moment, a young girl was admitted to the VIP Room at Eunsung Hospital.
Members of the Eunsung family—people frequently seen in the news—crowded around her bed, and in their midst, the girl was seizing.
At the foot of the bed, a member of the medical staff held up a smartphone, filming the girl’s seizure.
“What exactly are you doing right now?”
An attendant stopped him from the side.
“Oh, this is for therapeutic documentation. I’m recording the seizure pattern to make comparisons. Depending on how her eyes roll or how she moves her arms, we can determine which part of the brain is affected.”
He was just doing his usual job, but the Eunsung family found it difficult to accept that the girl’s seizure was being filmed.
Then a middle-aged woman with neat, voluminous bob-cut hair crossed her arms.
She was the current mistress of the Eunsung household and the owner’s most beloved daughter.
“The question is whether filming actually helps. The seizures have been going on for a month now, and you still say you don’t know the cause.”
“I apologize. We’re still investigating. Please wait just a bit longer.”
……
At that tired refrain of asking for patience, she said nothing.
Exhausted from waiting, she had already written off the Eunsung Hospital doctors in her mind.
‘If scrutiny alone could solve this, it would’ve been solved long ago.’
Soon the girl’s seizure subsided, and she fell asleep with labored breathing.
The girl wore elastic-waist pants so they wouldn’t tighten around her body. She avoided collared shirts so her neck wouldn’t be constricted, and she wasn’t allowed to wear glasses for fear they might scratch her eyes.
All of this for an entire month.
‘This won’t do anymore. I need to find another way.’
Every accomplished doctor at Eunsung Hospital had cycled through treating the girl.
If Eunsung Hospital couldn’t handle it, she’d have to find a doctor from another hospital.
* * *
Beom-jun pulled out the business card the Chairman had given him.
– Eunsung Hospital Management Planning Division Director Kim Moo-hyung.
Looking into his background, he was a doctor deeply involved in hospital management, particularly in medical technology matters.
Coconut Healthcare, which he’d headed, had brought significant advances to Korea’s Electronic Medical Records System, so a simple internet search yielded considerable information.
There were all sorts of doctors. Come to think of it, Doctor X itself had featured a doctor who was also a lawyer in its later seasons.
Beom-jun entered the number at the bottom of the business card into his phone.
[Main Quest: Prevent Human Capital Outflow]
Prevent Korean University Hospital doctors from being dispatched to external institutions and prepare for personnel shortages.
Quests this specific were rare. Most were vague with loopholes to slip through, but this one demanded a head-on confrontation.
– Ring-ring-ring
The line connected immediately after a brief signal, and Beom-jun introduced himself first.
“Hello. The Chairman mentioned I’d be the point person for this secondment. Beom-jun Choi, Director of Korean University Hospital.”
– “Yes, hello! Director! I’m Kim Moo-hyung, the Management Planning Division Director who organized this secondment. I heard you were selecting personnel. When might we be able to receive them?”
‘Ah, they said he was the point person, but he was the one who planned the secondment?’
Beom-jun had wondered where the idea of bringing in an instructor came from when education could be handled in-house. Now he knew—it was Moo-hyung’s initiative.
To be frank, this secondment was structured to place heavy burden on the sending hospital. Hospitals always faced personnel shortages, yet they were supposed to lend people out—was that not professionally unethical?
– “I hope this becomes a good connection between our hospitals. You’ll have a chance to experience Eunsung Hospital’s technology as well.”
But Moo-hyung, for his part, spoke with a certain swagger. The more lacking one is, the more one tends to show off. An empty cart rattles the loudest.
Though to be fair, Eunsung’s cart was staggeringly expensive; empty was empty nonetheless.
“I’ve heard Eunsung acquired state-of-the-art equipment, but in the end, it depends on which doctor uses it, doesn’t it?”
– “The Chairman mentioned it in passing. Practically speaking, we can’t exactly transport the equipment, so I hope you’ll be understanding.”
“If the doctors build their capabilities at Korean University Hospital first, then go, they’ll perform at the level their skills allow. They might broaden their horizons in the process.”
At Beom-jun’s implicit suggestion that they should come themselves, Moo-hyung fell silent for a moment.
– “Ah, well… I’m not sure that would work. Eunsung doesn’t ask much of our doctors. Our physicians just need to manage the medical equipment and do exactly that.”
Eunsung Hospital was treating doctors like tools—cogs in a massive factory machinery.
The question was how long they could endure. That’s probably why they’d been churning out ten-year binding contracts for doctors.
Beom-jun could clearly picture Eunsung’s mechanical approach to patient treatment all these years.
“Korean University Hospital doctors don’t work alone. We operate on a multidisciplinary model where we care for patients together. Even if we lend out a few capable physicians, it’ll be difficult for them to achieve the same capacity they had here.”
– “In that case, maybe the entire team should come. We’d prefer to have more staff.”
“A single doctor belongs to multiple teams. If they all went as a unit, you’d need every Korean University Hospital doctor to move.”
Medicine was not mere manual labor. It operated as a multilayered structure where individual physicians made judgments while decision-making was shared. A system that guaranteed individual autonomy while distributing responsibility.
The safety and continuity of treatment depended on how well this human infrastructure functioned.
– “Ah, I was hoping to hear how the doctors being seconded to us were organized. I understand your position, Director.”
Moo-hyung seemed flustered by Beom-jun’s refusal to back down easily.
It wouldn’t be easy to keep pressing the director of another hospital for secondment. But Beom-jun had nowhere to retreat either.
If personnel drained away from Korean University Hospital, the quest would fail.
Moo-hyung began subtly hedging his position.
– “Let me think over what you’ve said. I think we’ll need to review it internally.”
Predictable. He’d give a different story to the Chairman afterward.
Beom-jun, having wielded the stick, now produced the carrot. He reframed the secondment subtly as education.
“There’s no specific compensation, but during the educational period, we’d take care of Eunsung’s VIP patient.”
By now, the Eunsung family’s youngest daughter’s seizures would still be ongoing. Referring treatment to another hospital would be an embarrassment for them publicly.
– “VIP? Why would you suddenly bring up VIP…?”
Moo-hyung was startled. He grew wary, wondering if Beom-jun knew something.
‘The patient’s case would naturally be confidential from a public standpoint.’
Beom-jun spoke with the ease of water flowing naturally.
“If a considerable number of doctors transfer to us from Korean University Hospital, it would naturally be burdensome for you, and the only medical service we can provide in return is our expertise.”
They’d likely be struggling with the youngest Eunsung family member right now, so the offer would suit them perfectly.
– “Hmm? That… actually sounds workable. Let me confirm it. Thank you for the generous proposal.”
As expected, the wordflow from the quick-thinking Moo-hyung grew smoother. But he made certain that Beom-jun was the one who’d initiated the proposal.
Unaware that he’d just taken the bait Beom-jun had dangled.

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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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