Surviving as a Rogue Hospital Director - Chapter 90

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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 90.
“Mm~.”
Eun Seo-young hummed to herself as she watered the potted plant in the hospital room.
The genetic test results showed that most of her family members suffered from the same condition she did. They’d just been keeping quiet about it all this time—she wasn’t the only one having episodes.
Once Eun Seo-young realized she was on equal footing with the cousins she’d been competing against, she gradually found peace as more relatives cycled through Korean University Hospital for treatment.
She began consulting with Im Sung-hyuk about surgery.
“We’ve managed to suppress the symptoms with medication, but it’s only temporary. As you develop drug tolerance, we’ll need to keep increasing the dosage.”
“I see. So you’re saying I should have the surgery.”
It was quite a shift from before, when she wouldn’t tolerate even a 1 percent possibility of complications.
Beom-jun saw it as a loosening of her perfectionism and her need to control every variable.
Though in Doctor X she’d refused treatment to the bitter end, he hoped she wouldn’t push things to the point where her life hung in the balance this time around.
But contrary to Beom-jun’s hopes, Eun Seo-young still had many doubts about the treatment, bombarding Im Sung-hyuk with questions.
“You’re cutting the nerve? Ablation sounds risky. What other options are there? How do they compare?”
“Another option would be to implant a pacemaker. Nerve ablation is the best approach, but—”
Sung-hyuk made considerable concessions and proposed an alternative procedure, but that wasn’t the end of it for Eun Seo-young.
Each answer to her questions only spawned more doubts.
As this layperson encountered vast amounts of medical knowledge, she found herself drowning in what she didn’t know the more she learned.
“You’re putting a machine inside my body? Isn’t that more dangerous?”
The more explanations Sung-hyuk provided, the more Eun Seo-young floundered in the tide of information.
* * *
A few days later, in the middle of dinner, Sung-hyuk said something to Beom-jun.
“The patient says she doesn’t want it done. I’m wondering if we should push the treatment at all.”
He’d suggested they grab a meal together after a long time, but he seemed preoccupied with the matter of his patient Eun Seo-young.
“Didn’t you say you never give up on any patient?”
“Other patients don’t seem to have a choice. This one’s different.”
“How different? It’s not that she’s choosing to refuse—she can’t choose.”
Im Sung-hyuk was probably meeting a chaebol patient for the first time. In Doctor X, he’d always saved patients in desperate circumstances.
He spoke as though all patients were equal,
but to someone with conviction like Sung-hyuk, Eun Seo-young seemed fundamentally different from ordinary people.
The private room, practically indistinguishable from a luxury hotel except for the hospital gown, was proof enough.
The way the patient selected and rejected options rather than simply accepting the doctor’s recommendation would be unfamiliar to him as well.
Yet still, she remained a patient.
At Beom-jun’s words, Sung-hyuk sighed.
“I wish it were that simple…”
Sung-hyuk drank soju in a way unlike himself.
He normally didn’t drink at all, saying he never knew when an emergency call might come in.
“Hey, don’t drink alone.”
Beom-jun poured some into his own glass and they toasted.
Eun Seo-young must understand in her heart that doing what Sung-hyuk suggested is the right thing to do.
In Jeong Da-eun’s memory, Eun Seo-young would stubbornly resist, but the moment Da-eun showed her real-world cases, she’d pretend to give in and follow along.
‘If I could show her real cases, that might work. But where would I find one?’
The problem was that Long QT Syndrome, the condition Eun Seo-young suffered from, was rare. It might be common among her relatives, but it wasn’t widespread nationwide.
Knowing there were almost no domestic cases, Eun Seo-young was probably anxious precisely because of that.
Beom-jun poured more soju into his glass. The clear liquid filled it with the sharp scent of alcohol.
One bottle, two bottles—as his glass emptied, Beom-jun’s vision grew hazy. His narrow, deep focus widened.
‘Come to think of it, it doesn’t have to be the exact same disease, does it? As long as it’s the same surgery.’
Finding a patient with the same condition as Eun Seo-young would be difficult, but there had to be patients with pacemakers implanted.
Beom-jun let out a small chuckle, rolling the tiny soju glass in his palm.
“When’s Kim Pan-su’s appointment? He must be coming in to have his pacemaker checked.”
“Ah, the Cardiology Department should be monitoring him. Why are you asking about Kim Pan-su?”
Sung-hyuk set down his glass and asked. Beom-jun replied in a drowsy voice.
“Why? He’s perfect for the princess’s companion.”
He’d said they wouldn’t see each other again, but he wondered how the old man was doing.
* * *
The bond between patients runs deeper than most people think.
Common colds—anyone can take medicine and recover alone.
But the rarer or more chronic the illness, the more tightly patients are bound together.
It’s more than just sharing information. They’re sharing a pain that only they experience.
Like meeting a Korean abroad—regardless of how long they’ve known each other, their solidarity is considerable.
The reason Eun Seo-young found peace after the Eun Sung Family’s hereditary disease became known was probably the same.
“Kim Pan-su had a pacemaker implanted, didn’t he? Isn’t Eun Seo-young considering the same surgery?”
“Yes, I told her if she’s worried about nerve ablation, there’s a backup option.”
Im Sung-hyuk spoke with a note of frustration. He’d even presented a second option to make things easier for Eun Seo-young, but it didn’t seem to be working.
Just then, there was a knock on the director’s office door.
Knock-knock-knock.
Ha-rin poked her head in and told Beom-jun that a visitor had arrived.
“Director, Kim Pan-su has arrived at the hospital.”
“Have him wait in the Ward 77 Lounge.”
After Ha-rin left, Beom-jun and Sung-hyuk moved locations as well.
There was a reason they’d chosen Ward 77 Lounge specifically. According to head nurse Young-ran, Eun Seo-young frequently used the lounge. She apparently had a weakness for the massage chair, which was unusual for someone her age.
The lounge had a table and sofa in the center, where patient consultations often took place. If a patient was already there, they’d conduct rounds right there to cut the visit time short.
Beom-jun had called Kim Pan-su in advance, giving him only a hint that there was someone struggling with the same surgery decision.
When Beom-jun and Sung-hyuk arrived at the Ward 77 Lounge, Eun Seo-young was lying in the massage chair with earphones in.
Then, Ha-rin entered with an elderly gentleman wearing a fedora hat.
“It’s been a while. Thank you for remembering this old man.”
Kim Pan-su, looking exactly as he had when discharged, extended his hand to Beom-jun—the one not holding the cane.
“Thank you for coming. It’s fortunate you had an appointment, or I’d be seeing you again in three months.”
After shaking his hand, Beom-jun guided him to the comfortable sofa beside the massage chair where Eun Seo-young lay.
“Ha, if the director asks for you, you make time no matter what.”
Kim Pan-su spoke with his characteristic gentle smile. Sung-hyuk, standing nearby, reviewed his chart.
“I checked your records. Fortunately, you’ve had almost no episodes of bradycardia recently.”
“Yes, the pacemaker has been taking good care of my heart. I’m breathing well and sleeping soundly.”
He’d had a pacemaker implanted due to frequent bradycardia, and had undergone simultaneous surgery for angina that the Cardiology Department hadn’t caught.
“I feel it give a little thump now and then. The pacemaker is doing its job wonderfully.”
A pacemaker sends an electrical impulse to the heart whenever its rhythm becomes irregular or too slow, essentially giving it a wake-up call—and the patient can actually sense this electrical signal.
Some patients feel it like rapid thumping on the chest, others like the heart sinking down with a heavy thud. Sensations vary from person to person, and Kim Pan-su seemed to be in the latter category.
“That’s normal. It happens. Looking at your remaining battery life, you’re using it fairly frequently. You made the right choice having the surgery.”
Im Sung-hyuk examined Kim Pan-su’s account as if taking a history.
Beep-beep-beep.
While they were talking, an alarm sounded as the massage chair, set for thirty minutes, reached the end of its cycle.
Beom-jun and Sung-hyuk checked on Eun Seo-young, but she remained still and didn’t get up.
Noticing that Beom-jun was aware of her, Kim Pan-su raised his voice a bit louder, as if on cue.
“Ha, we simply did what Professor Im told us to do. It turned out wonderfully. At this age, it feels like I’m living a new life.”
Every time Kim Pan-su smiled, the wrinkles at his eyes deepened, giving him a cheerful air even at rest.
He gestured toward Sung-hyuk with his palm facing upward.
“It’s not my doing. It’s good to see you in such good health.”
“Yes, I’ve improved so much. I thought I’d never see you again, and yet here we are. It’s wonderful.”
He remembered Beom-jun’s joke about never seeing each other again because he’d be healthy.
“I’m glad it worked out so well.”
In between their conversation, Eun Seo-young on the massage chair shifted her posture slightly. The earphones she’d had in were nowhere to be seen in her profile now.
Beep, beeping.
“I’m afraid I have an emergency call from the ER. Please excuse me.”
Just then, Im Sung-hyuk received an emergency page and rushed out. Beom-jun also stood up.
“I have something urgent to attend to as well. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Of course.”
Once the lounge grew quiet, Eun Seo-young slipped out of the massage chair.
“…I wasn’t trying to listen in, but it sounds like you had the surgery with Professor Im as well. I might have that same surgery.”
“Is that so?”
“How did you decide to have it done? How has it been since the surgery? Is your daily life very different?”
She bombarded Kim Pan-su with questions the way she had with Im Sung-hyuk.
“It’s very different. It feels like being born anew. I don’t know much because I just did what the professor recommended. I only know that they did two surgeries at once.”
“Really?”
Kim Pan-su began telling his story at his own unhurried pace.
“They discovered a disease during testing that we never knew about, so they did both surgeries simultaneously. It’s apparently quite rare, the doctor said.”
“Me too! They told me my disease is so rare it’s practically unheard of.”
Two people separated by nearly fifty years in age, yet bonded by a single, powerful common denominator: disease.
All the more so because it was a serious condition directly threatening their lives.
When Beom-jun returned to the lounge, he found Eun Seo-young out of the massage chair, sitting with Kim Pan-su.
He didn’t go further inside, giving them ample time together.

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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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