Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 83

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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 83.
“Yaaaaaawn.”
Yawns erupted from various corners of the break room used by doctors at Eun Sung Hospital. Groans of exhaustion echoed from every direction.
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
It was the tenth day since the secondment to Korea University Hospital.
While each department had its own atmosphere and culture, Thoracic Surgery was particularly grueling. Some had already quit and returned to Eun Sung Hospital.
The first two weeks of the secondment were meant to be observation—shadowing Korea University Hospital’s professors to learn—but keeping up with Im Sung-hyuk’s schedule in Thoracic Surgery had been an ordeal.
Consultations, surgeries, procedures large and small, and then patient rounds,
layered in with departmental meetings, multidisciplinary conferences outside the department, various other conferences, and resident training, filling every hour of the day without a gap.
And Korea University Hospital had mandatory research quotas to meet each year, so they were likely managing that somewhere unseen as well.
‘Surely no one actually lives like this. It’ll let up eventually.’
The doctors from Eun Sung Hospital had initially made a grave misunderstanding—they thought this was just a temporary show put on for the first week or so of the secondment.
But after a few days, then a week had passed, they realized it was real.
‘How can a doctor even exist like this? Take it easy, for crying out loud!’
The residents, fellows, and professors from Eun Sung Hospital, regardless of rank, had dark circles hanging down to their jaws. They maintained a facade with exhausted bodies and minds, sustained only by professional pride.
Even so, the residents held up relatively well. The fellows and professors, in that order, were visibly withering—though it wasn’t just age.
Usually workload decreases at higher ranks, so residents could generally endure Im Sung-hyuk’s brutal schedule.
“Should I run out and grab everyone some coffee?”
The youngest hurried about, trying to lift the mood.
“I’m good. I just want to grab a few minutes of sleep.”
“Oh yeah?”
Several waved their hands dismissively and collapsed into chairs.
Others followed the youngest’s lead and called out their orders.
“Sure, I’ll take notes.”
“Ah, yeah. Venti with three extra shots.”
“Nice, venti with three shots! That’s what I’m getting too.”
And soon everyone had converged on the same order.
“Same for me.”
“I’ll have the same as well.”
Jeong Da-eun watched the others place their orders from the side.
Her subtle double eyelids and small nose were well-balanced, giving her an air of refinement rather than plainness.
Her hair was pulled back with a single band, and the lack of makeup on her face may have contributed to that impression.
‘This secondment group doesn’t seem to voice opinions much. I should just go along with the flow.’
She read the room well, neither pushing forward nor hanging back, blending in naturally with the other doctors.
“Add one for me too.”
Among a hundred doctors on secondment, including ten professors,
she was simply hoping to get through it without incident.
“Come on, it’s only been ten days. We committed to at least three months, so we’re not even twenty percent through yet. Let’s hang in there.”
The oldest professor in the group clapped his hands for emphasis as he spoke. But those who remembered how much of the secondment remained looked only more miserable.
“You’re right. Let’s hang in there, everyone.”
Only Da-eun smiled and answered his encouragement.
“See? That’s the spirit—look at Jeong Da-eun! Think positive about everything.”
The eldest professor rambled on, offering no concrete suggestions for how to actually stay positive.
“You understand how important this secondment is, right? You’re all representing Eun Sung here. You can’t half-ass this. Give it everything you’ve got! You hear me? Really everything!”
Da-eun nodded along beside him, responding to his words right up until he tired and headed to the restroom.
Thanks to her, everyone else in the break room was spared further lectures from the eldest professor.
Once Da-eun was alone, the other professors began to fuss over her.
“Professor Jeong, you’re really something. How do you sit through all that?”
“Right? I don’t know how anyone can be this kind. Doesn’t it exhaust you?”
“No, not really. You just have to listen, right?”
Everyone immediately disagreed, saying that listening was the hardest part of all.
‘Is it? I don’t think I’m that good of a person.’
With that gentle thought, she puffed out her lower lip slightly.
Then the door beside them suddenly swung open.
“Hello. Professor Sung-hyuk’s rounds are coming up soon. Is anyone ready to go?”
The person who entered was Min-ho. He’d come to fetch the Thoracic Surgery doctors from Eun Sung Hospital for rounds.
The Eun Sung doctors were currently shadowing Im Sung-hyuk all day long, learning how treatment was conducted at Korea University Hospital.
“Uh… does anyone want to go to rounds?”
Min-ho asked again, looking at the Eun Sung doctors who seemed glued to their chairs.
“Rounds now? It’s half past ten!”
The eldest professor, who’d been lecturing them about giving their all, had apparently returned from the restroom and spoke up.
It had been a packed day—morning surgery, afternoon clinic, and after dinner, a backlog of procedures and treatments.
And now rounds?
“It’s Professor’s unshakeable rule to do rounds at least once a day. If we wait any longer, the hospital will be turning off the lights, so we need to go now.”
“Ugh, this is insane.”
At Min-ho’s words, the Eun Sung doctors groaned and dragged themselves up.
“Where should we go? Where is Professor Im right now?”
But Da-eun was already prepared to leave. She’d put on her white coat and had a medical chart tucked under her arm.
“Oh! He said he’d be coming this way. If you wait just a moment, he should be here soon!”
Min-ho spoke respectfully to Da-eun. He remembered her clearly because he’d almost made the mistake of assuming she was a peer on their first meeting.
Even Beom-jun and Sung-hyuk looked young, but there was no comparison with Da-eun. Honestly, you could probably convince someone she was even younger than Min-ho.
Her petite frame and small build added to the effect. Watching her, Min-ho often thought of a celebrity who’d transitioned from singer to actress.
‘What was that actress’s name… Jang Na-rin? She really does look like her.’
But even after Da-eun finished her preparations, the eldest professor continued grumbling.
“Sigh, this hospital doesn’t even give you time to drink coffee.”
He hadn’t even gone to get the coffee yet, and now he had to go work. His irritation flared first.
He hadn’t even eaten dinner properly, having rushed to the Angiography Room right after afternoon clinic.
‘This is supposed to be about making a living, so what the hell is this?’
Eun Sung Hospital would never pull something this absurd!
But this was Korea University Hospital, and he was on secondment. He tried to suppress his rising frustration.
Da-eun noticed the eldest professor’s mood had soured. When the usually talkative man fell silent, something was usually wrong.
His expression looked grim. No wonder he was annoyed—he couldn’t even eat, and now more work was piling on.
Actually, rounds weren’t mandatory. If the situation was really dire, they could be postponed until the next day. Even another doctor would understand the circumstances right now.
The patients might be desperate to see a doctor, but since rounds didn’t have a fixed time anyway, and if you explained it wasn’t set in stone beforehand, there’d be no real problem.
Da-eun had made use of such gray areas herself.
She’d always found ways to compromise—things that didn’t show on the surface, known only to her and the patient.
‘Honestly, who gives a hundred percent of themselves every single day?’
She’d thought consistency alone was enough.
‘But… maybe that’s not right after all?’
Yet watching Im Sung-hyuk these past ten days, her thinking had begun to shift.
In just that short time, Professor Im had shown her that he gave his absolute best to patients in every moment.
Treating patients all day long to a degree that made you wonder if it was even humanly possible, yet maintaining an unshakeable rule of seeing them at least once a day.
And actually, genuinely adhering to it.
‘He’s remarkable. It’s not something you can just do by deciding to.’
The doctors at Korea University Hospital truly seemed different in every way.
* * *
Eun Seo-yeong’s Holter Monitoring had been completed.
Even before the device attached near her heart was fully removed, she asked the nurse.
“When will the results come back?”
“Well, there’s quite a lot of data recorded over twenty-four hours. Normally it takes a while, but in your case, it should be ready in a day or two.”
The nurse spoke warmly, scrunching her nose in a friendly manner, but Seo-yeong was cold.
“Just let me know when it’s ready.”
“Oh, yes. Once we have the results, I’ll contact you right away, so please wait.”
At her curt response, the nurse also withdrew her friendliness.
Eun Seo-yeong felt a strange discomfort.
‘When have we even met before, thinking we’re close like this?’
It was subtly different from the service she’d received as a customer at Eun Sung Hospital.
In fact, Korea University Hospital didn’t particularly emphasize courtesy.
Words matter less than action. Action matters less than results. That was Korea University Hospital’s way.
Korea University Hospital focused on the quality of medical care rather than kindness,
and as a result, it had a reputation for treating illness effectively while preventing side effects and complications.
But Eun Seo-yeong had probably been receiving a higher level of service at Eun Sung Hospital.
The Hospital Director in his office thought of Eun Seo-yeong from Doctor X.
‘Eun Seo-yeong was frustrated a lot right after arriving at Korea University Hospital. Well, she switched hospitals overnight—the comparison was inevitable.’
‘I don’t know, this place is beneath my standards,’
In Doctor X, whenever Eun Seo-yeong’s mother came to visit, she would complain at length about Korea University Hospital.
Her main complaint was about the medical staff. Her mother usually told her to endure it since the treatment was going well.
She should essentially be Seo-yeong’s benefactor, so it would be better to eliminate these minor irritations.
So Beom-jun called the head nurse of Ward 77 aside separately.
“Hello, Director. This is our first time meeting separately, I think.”

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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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