A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 136

The Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts – Chapter 136

Chapter 25: Eureka (1)

Step. Step.

Jun-hoo walked down the hospital hallway, reading the printed list of brain tumor patients.

Currently, there were 15 brain tumor patients hospitalized.

Five were recovering after surgery.

The remaining 10 were awaiting surgery.

The first patient to check on was Jeong Mi-rye.

A 50-year-old woman.

She was suffering from a meningioma, a benign brain tumor.

Meningiomas generally have a relatively good prognosis among brain tumors.

The 5-year survival rate was as high as 95 percent.

Looking at the patient list, Jun-hoo suddenly stopped walking as he was planning his route.

He hadn’t visually confirmed it, but he sensed someone blocking his path.

“Dr. So-hyun, are you playing a prank again? It doesn’t work on me, you know.”

“Wow, how is the result the same every time? How did you know I was in front of you while looking at the printout?” So-hyun exclaimed in amazement.

Jun-hoo often walked down the hallway looking at textbooks.

Surprisingly, he miraculously avoided staff, patients, and guardians coming from the opposite direction.

So-hyun was so amazed by this that she often played pranks by blocking Jun-hoo’s path.

“You have the shortest and fastest stride among the nurses, and I haven’t heard your footsteps for a few seconds.”

Jun-hoo chuckled and looked at So-hyun.

“Is that even possible while looking at a book?”

“It becomes possible once you get used to keeping your senses open. But do you find these pranks fun?”

“I find them fun. But you don’t even know why I’m playing these pranks, do you?”

“I just said it’s because it’s fun.”

“You only know one thing and not the other. You’re going to make a lot of women cry.”

So-hyun left after making a meaningful remark.

Jun-hoo shrugged his shoulders and moved to a nearby patient room.

A seat by the window with good sunlight.

The guardian was temporarily away.

The patient was fast asleep.

It was the perfect situation for research activities.

Jun-hoo carefully placed his hand on the patient’s head.

He channeled the inner energy [qi or vital energy] pulled up from his dantian [energy center in the body] into the patient’s head.

The destination was the prefrontal lobe where the meningioma was located.

Whoosh.

The inner energy passed through the patient’s scalp.

It permeated the inside of the hard skull and began to spread to the prefrontal lobe like a sprayed mist.

Would the inner energy be toxic to the brain tumor, or would it be medicine?

The results of the historic experiment were just around the corner.

Jun-hoo barely suppressed his excited and nervous feelings.

If thoughts and emotions were turbulent when using inner energy, there was a risk of the inner energy backflowing.

There was a risk of internal injury, preventing him from using inner energy for a while.

‘It’s a different reaction than I expected. Is it because it’s a benign tumor, or is it a characteristic unique to meningiomas?’

When the inner energy approached the tumor located in the prefrontal lobe, Jun-hoo felt a strong suction force.

The meningioma was trying to absorb Jun-hoo’s inner energy, like a vacuum cleaner.

Surprised, Jun-hoo removed his hand from the patient’s head.

He couldn’t let the meningioma steal his inner energy.

After finishing the experiment, Jun-hoo stroked his chin.

One of the characteristics of cancer cells is unlimited proliferation.

It destroys surrounding normal cells and uses them as its prey.

Surprisingly, cancer cells even recognized the energy contained in the inner energy and tried to absorb it.

‘What a terrifying fellow. I didn’t expect it to rush at me like this.’

Jun-hoo shook his head.

At the same time, he had this thought: among human cells, there are righteous and evil factions.

Among them, cancer cells are the evil faction, because they don’t care about their surroundings and use any means to satisfy their greed.

‘It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it also felt like cancer cells symbolized some of the evil tendencies of humans: destroying the surroundings and eventually destroying themselves.’

After finishing the first experiment, Jun-hoo immediately visited the next patient room.

This patient had a bed next to the entrance.

The patient’s name was Oh Joo-hyun, a 60-year-old man with an anaplastic ependymoma, one of the malignant tumors, located in the temporal lobe.

After chatting with the patient and guardian, Jun-hoo offered to give him a massage, using the acupressure technique.

After pressing on the patient’s head, he placed his hand on the patient’s head as if he had been waiting for this moment.

The method of infiltrating inner energy into the tumor was no different from before.

‘Malignant tumors are nothing compared to benign ones. If I’m careless, I’ll lose all my energy.’

Jun-hoo was horrified by the gluttonous suction of the anaplastic ependymoma.

In the past, he had fought with the Blood Cult in the Murim world [martial arts world].

At that time, Jun-hoo was in great danger because of the Blood Cult’s Star Sucking Great Art.

Of course, it wasn’t as dangerous as that time, but the power of the cancer cells to absorb was as strong as he remembered.

Jun-hoo used the counter-spell to push back the cancer cells’ monstrous power.

He couldn’t be caught twice after being caught once.

While advancing the inner energy, Jun-hoo finally succeeded in scanning the entire temporal lobe area of the patient with inner energy.

“Doctor, are you okay? You’re sweating a lot?” the guardian asked worriedly after seeing Jun-hoo’s complexion change.

“I’m fine. I guess it’s because I didn’t sleep well yesterday. Then, both of you, please rest comfortably.”

Jun-hoo smiled awkwardly and left the patient room.

He had only seen two patients, but his body was exhausted.

Brain tumors were not an easy opponent.

It was a small black hole located inside the human body.

* * *

That evening, Jun-hoo washed his hands in the sink and came out of the bathroom.

Meditation and breathing exercises, nutritional supplements, and red ginseng—he mobilized all available weapons to achieve today’s goal.

He had explored all the brain tumors of the brain tumor patients in the ward with inner energy, except for one.

Step. Step.

Crossing the hospital hallway, Jun-hoo summarized today’s insights.

Both benign and malignant brain tumors had the suction power to absorb inner energy.

The worse the prognosis of the brain tumor, the stronger the suction power.

But the important thing was from now on: what to do with this realization in the future.

It was about exploring the direction to move forward with this insight.

Firstly, it was about treatment.

In fact, Jun-hoo had been hoping that he could cure cancer with the healing power of inner energy, but his expectations were shattered from the start.

Injecting inner energy into a cancerous tumor was like pouring fuel into the enemy’s tank.

If he were to cure cancer with inner energy, it would definitely be a surgical style, sharpening the inner energy like a sword to cut off the cancerous tumor.

‘Brain tumors in areas where surgery is impossible (brainstem, etc.), or brain tumors that cannot be completely removed with a gamma knife—it would be about removing these.’

‘It seems too much. That’s the realm of the Mind Sword. You have to shape the intangible inner energy like a sword. Can I dare to do it now?’

This time, even Jun-hoo had to question his abilities.

It was also a problem to make inner energy like a sword, and it was also a problem to wield it properly.

In the latter case, in particular, if he failed to control it, he could cause a major disaster by carving out the patient’s brain himself.

Second, what inner energy can do for brain tumors was cancer diagnosis.

CT, MRI, MRA, PET, etc.—there were many tests to diagnose brain tumors, but those tests were not perfect.

Usually, they could not detect invasive cancers smaller than 3-5mm.

In comparison, Jun-hoo’s inner energy tumor examination was much more accurate, because Jun-hoo can feel the unique suction power of brain tumors with inner energy.

Click.

Jun-hoo entered the on-call room and sat down.

Kyung-soo, who didn’t have on-call duty, had already left.

Instead, intern Eun-ha was working on entering orders.

“Senior, you’re especially busy today?”

“I had something to do. I’m okay now.”

“It’s good to see patients, but you should take it easy. I’ll massage your shoulders.”

“It’s okay. You’re busy, so take care of your work.”

Even though Jun-hoo refused, Eun-ha approached Jun-hoo from behind.

She massaged Jun-hoo’s shoulders with her small hands.

Of course, it wasn’t refreshing at all.

Eun-ha’s grip was too weak to relieve Jun-hoo’s shoulders.

However, the concern and consideration that touched Eun-ha’s touch were fully conveyed, so his shoulders felt lighter.

“Senior, I uploaded a Mak-Jam Challenge video earlier. I experimented and the blood sugar really spiked?”

“Right? Those companies are bad guys. They’re beasts in human skin. No, in some ways, they may be worse than beasts.”

Jun-hoo frowned as he thought of Sweetie Healthy.

‘Was it because he had been studying brain tumors today? Their existence itself felt like a tumor—those who don’t know how to harmonize with their surroundings, those who only greedily pursue their own interests.’

‘Why don’t they know the truth that such actions eventually lead to their own destruction?’

“I’m glad you’re here, Senior. The lie was quickly exposed.”

Eun-ha sat down in the chair opposite Jun-hoo and continued, “Have you checked NewTube [parody of YouTube]?”

“I was too busy today to see it.”

“There are more than 30 Mak-Jam Challenge videos now. The exposure video you uploaded has hit 1 million views.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard today.”

“Right?”

“Eun-ha, how about you? Is the work manageable?”

Jun-hoo turned the topic to Eun-ha.

The first rotation (internship in the first department) is difficult for everyone, buried under a mountain of work, being mindful of the patients, guardians, nurses, and residents.

Their self-esteem was bound to hit rock bottom from being scolded by them.

“It’s hard, but it’s manageable. There’s someone who’s a light in my intern life.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s a secret.”

A bright smile appeared on Eun-ha’s face.

Eun-ha’s smile itself felt like light.

Jun-hoo couldn’t remember when he had last seen such a bright smile.

“Eun-ha, if that person is a light to you, they must be a good person.”

“Of course, but that person doesn’t seem to notice it.”

Eun-ha got up from her seat.

She rummaged through her gown pocket and handed something to Jun-hoo.

It was a round chocolate.

“I’ve been enjoying these lately. Would you like one, Senior? You like sweets.”

“Thank you.”

“I have a call, so I’ll have to leave. Good luck, Senior.”

“You too, Eun-ha.”

The on-call room that Eun-ha left felt particularly empty. The void of a human vitamin was that big.

“Wow.”

Jun-hoo ate the chocolate Eun-ha gave him and exclaimed.

It was too sweet—so sweet that it would wake you up even if you were dozing off.

‘Come to think of it, the brain uses glucose as fuel. I should eat chocolate from time to time.’

With the chocolate boost, Jun-hoo quickly processed the backlog of orders.

Tap tap.

The sound of typing on the keyboard was like the sound of a machine gun firing in bursts.

There were no typos in the chart entries.

There was not a single reversal.

The typing speed of nearly 2,000 words per minute was also consistently maintained.

Fast chart entry was another one of Jun-hoo’s most useful skills.

It drastically reduced his working hours, creating extra time for him to study.

“Look at those hands. If it weren’t for the gown, I’d think he was a genius hacker in a movie,” Hee-joon, a third-year resident, entered the on-call room and joked to Jun-hoo.

“Senior, you’re here? Did the surgery go well?”

“Fortunately, there were no problems.”

Hee-joon sat down in the chair opposite Jun-hoo and continued, “But Jun-hoo…”

“Yes, Senior.”

“Would you like to assist me with a brain tumor surgery tomorrow?” Hee-joon made an unexpected offer.