A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 199

“So, you’ve decided to stop playing dumb?”

“There’s no point if you already know everything. That’s why I asked what your intentions are.”

Jun-hoo readily admitted to performing the surgery.

Lying to Shi-ho would only provoke him further.

It was better to be upfront.

Being led around submissively wasn’t Jun-hoo’s style.

Strictly speaking, Jun-hoo hadn’t failed the surgery and was intentionally covering it up.

There was a problem with the surgical procedure.

He was only hiding the controversial parts.

The chances of suffering a major blow from the truth being revealed were low.

“Hmm, what could my intentions be? It wouldn’t be fun if I told you so easily.”

“If you’re planning to use this incident for blackmail, give up. It won’t work on me.”

“Even if I tell the professor or the head of the department?”

“Yes.”

“Our Jun-hoo, you’ve got some guts. I guess you had to have guts to perform an SDH [Subdural Hematoma] surgery in your first year of residency.”

Shi-ho burst into laughter with an expression of disbelief.

It was a chilling laugh.

There was no context for laughter at all.

Step. Step.

Shi-ho, who had been a few steps away from Jun-hoo, approached him. He casually placed his hand on Jun-hoo’s shoulder.

What on earth did Shi-ho want to say?

“Jun-hoo.”

“Yes, senior.”

“Relax. Tattling isn’t my thing. Getting pleasure from tattling is for lowlifes. There are many nobler and more powerful pleasures in the world. I pursue those pleasures.”

“What exactly are these noble and powerful pleasures?”

“The pleasure you feel. And the pleasure I feel.”

“I’m surprised there’s a common ground between you and me.”

“I told you before. You and I are each other’s shadows.”

Shi-ho’s words clung to Jun-hoo like glue.

Jun-hoo found it hard to shake off the unpleasantness.

If possible, he even wanted to enter Shi-ho’s mind and read his thoughts and feelings.

Come to think of it, Jeong-an [mental stability technique] didn’t work last time either, did it?

Shi-ho is definitely not normal. He rejected and hated the right thoughts.

“So, your goal was to tease me?”

“That was a pretty good approach.”

“I also have something I’m curious about regarding you, senior.”

“Ask me anything.”

“I heard from Hee-joon today that you struggled after failing a ventriculostomy [surgical procedure to drain fluid from the brain’s ventricles] in your second year.”

“That Hee-joon, talking nonsense…”

“That patient had a beautiful smile, but her smile became unnatural due to facial paralysis from the accident.”

“……”

“Did you perhaps cause the accident on purpose?”

Jun-hoo sharpened his words and stabbed at Shi-ho.

Jun-hoo wasn’t going to just take it.

Jun-hoo wasn’t going to just be a puppet in Shi-ho’s hands.

Whether it was martial arts, medicine, or rhetoric, Jun-hoo was always proactive and aggressive.

After asking the question, Jun-hoo carefully observed Shi-ho’s expression.

To see if there was any emotional disturbance.

But Shi-ho didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.

“Our Jun-hoo, you’ve been reading too many novels. That’s a ridiculous story.”

“What are you two whispering about?”

Min-kyung, who happened to be coming out of the on-call room, discovered them and joined the conversation.

“It’s nothing. Today’s conversation was enjoyable. Let’s have these kinds of serious talks often in the future.”

The conversation ended as Shi-ho headed towards Min-kyung.

Jun-hoo couldn’t take his eyes off Shi-ho’s receding figure.

If you were to put a name to the word ‘ominous,’ it would probably be Shi-ho.

* * *

That evening, in the on-call room.

Jun-hoo was reading brain vascular disease materials containing his master Jae-hyun’s medical knowledge, know-how, and essence.

Brain vascular diseases had more emergency surgeries compared to brain tumor diseases.

Vascular bleeding and rupture due to trauma or chronic conditions rapidly worsened the patient’s condition.

The types of brain vascular surgery included:

Cerebral aneurysm coiling embolization using coils.

Catheter surgery to open narrow or blocked blood vessels.

Vascular malformation surgery to normalize twisted blood vessels, etc.

But Jun-hoo couldn’t concentrate on studying today. The conversation he had with Shi-ho earlier kept coming to mind, distracting him.

“You’re not on duty, so why don’t you go in and rest? Aren’t you tired?”

Kyung-soo said, looking at Jun-hoo.

Kyung-soo was on duty today.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing. It’s not like it’s a one or two-day thing.”

Jun-hoo shrugged as if it were nothing.

Whether he was on duty or not, Jun-hoo always lit up the on-call room like a lighthouse.

He burned the stamina and concentration he gained from the combination of Qi cultivation [energy cultivation] and nutritional supplements to build up his medical knowledge.

That’s how he mastered his master’s brain tumor secrets in just a few months.

Diligence was another of Jun-hoo’s virtues.

“Why don’t you rest? There was that incident during the day. I’ll take the duty today.”

“I’m okay now.”

“You’re not just pretending to be okay, are you?”

“What benefit would I get from pretending to be okay?”

Kyung-soo used his unique, practicality-seeking way of speaking.

He felt relieved by his usual appearance.

Jun-hoo briefly left the on-call room.

He grabbed a dressing cart from the station and returned to the on-call room.

“Let’s disinfect your wound.”

“Sure.”

Jun-hoo removed the gauze attached below Kyung-soo’s chin and disinfected the area around the stitches.

The sutures were excellent, as Jun-hoo had put a lot of effort into them.

The tension pulling the open wound together was strong, and the knots were tight, showing no signs of loosening.

After adding gauze to the disinfected area, Jun-hoo asked.

“Can I continue the story from earlier?”

“What story were we talking about?”

“The story about your personality.”

Jun-hoo sat down in the chair opposite Kyung-soo and brought up the topic.

-It might be a bit of a deep story. Why can’t you trust other people so much?

-…….

-It’s not like you’re only cold to me. You’re like that to the seniors and juniors too. Is there a reason?

-Well, since the game is already set, I guess I have no choice? Actually, I…….

Jun-hoo remembered the conversation he had with Kyung-soo clearly.

Even the fact that the conversation was interrupted when an SDH [Subdural Hematoma] patient came to the emergency room.

“Is it really necessary to hear the rest of the story to feel relieved?”

Kyung-soo asked, as if he were annoyed.

Jun-hoo nodded instead of answering.

Of course, he was curious.

Because after hearing the deep story, he would get one step closer to Kyung-soo.

Kyung-soo was Jun-hoo’s only classmate, no matter what anyone said.

He was a colleague he would have to see for the rest of his life unless something special happened.

Jun-hoo had experienced firsthand in the Murim [martial arts world] how reliable a colleague who opened up his heart could be, both professionally and privately.

“Since the savior of my life is asking, I can’t refuse. Sigh.”

Kyung-soo sighed and continued.

“There’s definitely a reason why my personality is cold.”

“……”

“Well… I don’t necessarily think it’s right to define my personality by that past.”

“You’re good at talking. I’m already getting curious.”

“Screw you.”

Kyung-soo chuckled and continued.

“It’s a common story. My father was violent and often beat me and my mother. When I think of my childhood, all I can remember is my father’s punches, kicks, and the smell of alcohol.”

“……”

“But I endured it all. I endured it well……”

Kyung-soo bit his lip and looked up at the ceiling.

The wound he thought had healed was reopening.

-Mom, where are you going?

-I’m just going out for a bit. Our Kyung-soo, take good care of the house.

-I don’t want to be alone with Dad. I’m scared.

-It’s okay. Mom will be back soon. I promise, cross my heart.

The terrible memories of that day were coming back to Kyung-soo.

“One day, my mother abandoned me and left home. She said she would be back soon, but it was a lie.”

“Ah……”

“I waited eagerly for my mother to come back. But it was a futile wait. As my mother ran away, my father became more violent, and I got beaten up more.”

“……”

“My mother abandoned me. Well, honestly, I couldn’t blame her. I desperately wanted to escape from my father too.”

“……”

“But my mother should have taken me with her. At least she shouldn’t have lied.”

Kyung-soo’s gaze, which had been directed at the ceiling, returned to Jun-hoo.

Whether he was sensitive or not.

Jun-hoo was making a sad expression.

Normally, he would have snapped at him not to pity him, but today Kyung-soo was grateful for Jun-hoo’s appearance.

Because it felt like Jun-hoo understood his feelings as they were.

Kyung-soo briefly summarized and told the rest of the story.

He had never seen his mother’s face since then.

His father passed away from liver cancer around the time Kyung-soo was accepted into medical school.

“In short, I hate trusting people and I hate being abandoned by people. That’s why I kept my distance from everyone. Is that an answer to your question from earlier?”

“Sorry. I stirred up painful wounds for no reason.”

“You don’t have to feel guilty. It was a story I didn’t have to tell in the first place if I didn’t want to.”

“……”

“It’s the first time I’ve told someone else about my family. It’s surprisingly refreshing.”

“Thank you for being brave.”

“The real courage wasn’t me, it was you. You ran at the hostage-taker to save me.”

Kyung-soo paused and changed the subject.

“Why are you so desperate to save people? When problems arise around you, you act like it’s all your business.”

“I have my reasons too.”

Jun-hoo calmly continued his answer.

He couldn’t tell the story of his experiences in the Murim [martial arts world] as they were, so he completely fabricated the story.

In his childhood.

He had experienced a multiple-collision traffic accident.

At that time, he witnessed people in pain and dying before his eyes.

It was a fabricated story, but its essence was no different from the truth.

The emotion that constantly whipped Jun-hoo was helplessness.

The feeling of helplessness that he could do nothing even when he saw people in pain and dying around him.

“You had trauma too. I just thought you had a strong sense of justice.”

“I don’t know about anything grand like justice. I just hate being a bystander when problems arise.”

After sharing his inner thoughts, Jun-hoo felt closer to Kyung-soo.

Kyung-soo must have felt the same way.

“But can I ask you for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“If it’s okay, can you give me a massage?”

Jun-hoo chuckled at the unexpected request.

“What’s with you all of a sudden?”

“I’ve heard a lot of people say that your massage is refreshing. I was wondering if I should try it once.”

“It’s not like my hands will wear out, so there’s no reason not to.”

Jun-hoo got up from his seat and positioned himself behind Kyung-soo.

Jun-hoo attached deep meaning to the fact that Kyung-soo was asking him for something.

It was proof that Kyung-soo had opened his heart.

“Relax your body and stay still.”

“Okay.”

Crack.

Crack.

An unusual sound echoed in the on-call room.

Jun-hoo first loosened Kyung-soo’s stiff neck joints.

Then, he rubbed the main nerves, muscles, and acupoints [pressure points] located on the neck with his thumb containing internal energy.

With the knuckle bone in the middle of his finger.

He also struck those spots.

It was a combination of massage and pressure point techniques.

Starting with the neck, Jun-hoo also performed pressure point massages on Kyung-soo’s shoulders and scalp.

After the massage was over.

When he sat facing Kyung-soo, Kyung-soo’s expression was quite a sight.

He had an expression as if he had experienced something ecstatic.

His eyes were glazed over and his mouth was open.

Of course, it couldn’t be helped…….

Jun-hoo’s pressure point massage was more effective and faster than rehabilitation therapy.

It was normal to be blown away the first time.

“How do you feel?”

Kyung-soo, who had come to his senses at Jun-hoo’s question, barely answered.

“Crazy, why did I only get this now? I’ve wasted eight months of residency.”