A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 236

Chapter 45: Miracle in Room 4 (1)

After an hour of training with the Twelve Styles of Soaring Moon, Jun-hoo sat down at his desk.

The Twelve Styles of Soaring Moon.

Practicing one of the top five martial arts techniques in the Murim world [a fictional world of martial arts heroes] could never be a waste.

It had already been two months of consistent practice.

Jun-hoo was already reaping the benefits of the Twelve Styles of Soaring Moon.

His hand movements, compared to before, were dramatically more precise and faster.

A good example was during the surgery on the pregnant patient’s brain aneurysm, where he completed the craniotomy [surgical removal of part of the skull to access the brain] swiftly and without any mistakes.

It’s definitely effective.

Performing various difficult movements has activated muscles and nerves that I don’t normally use.

The blood vessels have widened, allowing more blood flow and internal energy to circulate.

Jun-hoo gazed at his arms with a satisfied expression.

After training with the Twelve Styles of Soaring Moon, his entire arms always felt hot.

It was the aftereffect of maximizing the function of his arms, hands, and fingers.

If he mastered the Twelve Styles of Soaring Moon, Jun-hoo was confident that he would never lose a patient due to clumsy hand movements.

Click!

After lightly stretching his arms, Jun-hoo accessed his NewTube channel.

The number of subscribers, which was 800,000, instantly surpassed 1 million.

It was a truly dramatic increase.

It was due to the incredible promotional effect of the collaboration broadcast with Nice Dancing TV.

[Surgeon vs. Professional Dancer in a Dance Showdown. Surprisingly, the Surgeon Wins?]

The video uploaded by Nice Dancing TV two days ago had sparked an explosive reaction.

It spread to various online communities, and the attention of online users was immediately focused on Jun-hoo.

A surgeon dances better than a professional dancer?

No, he completely outdanced a professional dancer?

It was because Jun-hoo had displayed feats that defied common sense.

Especially the… Zero-gravity dance and sword dance shown during the broadcast were so popular that everyone knew them.

As a result, his existing videos—the coin-bending video, the live video for Jae-eun, the low-calorie jam exposé video, etc.—also gained attention.

In just a few days, Jun-hoo had risen from being a mere surgeon to a prominent personal brand.

I wonder if my main job will change to being a NewTuber [a content creator on NewTube, similar to YouTube].

With a happy groan, Jun-hoo applied for a Gold Channel button on NewTube.

Creak.

The on-call room door opened just in time.

Kyung-soo entered, yawning widely.

“Good morning.”

“Are you feeling okay? We have an important moyamoya disease surgery today.”

“My condition is always at 200 percent.”

“You’re a monster. No matter how I look at it, you should appear on ‘What on Earth’ [a Korean TV show featuring extraordinary people].”

Kyung-soo chuckled and stood behind Jun-hoo. He gently massaged Jun-hoo’s shoulders.

“What’s this? Service from the morning?”

“Don’t you know I can’t stand being in debt?”

Perhaps it was thanks to Jun-hoo frequently giving Kyung-soo acupressure massages that Kyung-soo also gave Jun-hoo a massage.

Jun-hoo subtly turned his head to look at Kyung-soo. The scar on his chin from the emergency room patient’s rampage had completely healed.

But it seemed that it wasn’t just the scar on his chin that had healed.

Kyung-soo’s emotional wounds seemed to have healed as well.

He was opening up and communicating with Jun-hoo like this.

“Hey, Seo Jun-hoo.”

“What?”

“Have you ever had surgery equipment malfunction and freak you out?”

“I haven’t. Have you?” Jun-hoo asked with curiosity.

It was extremely rare for surgical equipment to malfunction. Equipment defects and errors were critical during surgery.

“You got hit hard on your day off.”

“Why are you telling me now?”

“Why else? I was too busy to tell you.”

Kyung-soo continued his explanation.

Kyung-soo said that he had experienced a malfunction of the surgical microscope during a patient’s brain surgery two days ago.

Suddenly!

Out of nowhere!

The magnification adjustment stopped working.

“Wow, that’s crazy. I mean, a malfunctioning surgical microscope during brain surgery, not just back surgery? That’s terrible.”

Jun-hoo shuddered.

To check the cerebral blood vessels and cranial nerves, a field of vision magnified at least 10 times was necessary.

A loupe [magnifying glasses worn by surgeons] had its limits.

The maximum field of view of a loupe was only 3x magnification.

“Tell me about it! The professor’s face turned pale too.”

“Did you call a biomedical engineer to fix it?”

“It takes time for those guys to come. Fortunately, there was an operating room with a surgical microscope, so we moved the patient there.”

“That’s a relief.”

“The professor said it was the first time he’d ever seen a surgical microscope malfunction in his life.”

“That’s something, really. You must have suffered a lot too.”

Kyung-soo’s episode didn’t feel like someone else’s problem to Jun-hoo.

That’s why he was more nervous and anxious.

There was a chance that Jun-hoo would experience a similar case someday.

“I have a question. But you did call a biomedical engineer, right? The broken surgical microscope has to be fixed.”

“They came about an hour or two after it broke down.”

“What was broken?”

“I couldn’t hear it, but the operating room nurse would have heard it. But would that nurse have understood? It’s about machines, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Jun-hoo nodded silently.

“Ugh, my stomach hurts. I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Okay. Have a good one.”

Kyung-soo stopped massaging his shoulders and left for the bathroom. Meanwhile, Jun-hoo raised his right index finger.

He drew internal energy from his dantian [energy center in the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine].

He sent the internal energy, which gushed out like a fountain, to the blood vessels around his heart and rotated it like a whirlwind.

Soon, the internal energy containing the rotational force rushed to his index finger.

Click!

As if lighting a lighter, a red flame rose from Jun-hoo’s index finger.

Samadhi Fire (三昧眞火) [a mystical fire achieved through intense meditation].

This was a technique to change internal energy into fire (火) attribute.

It was also used to refer to the realm above Harmony.

At least I can replace a Bovie [electrocautery device used to stop bleeding during surgery] with martial arts.

Whoo!

Jun-hoo blew out the flickering flame on his finger.

* * *

That morning, in the conference room.

The director was up to his usual mischief.

He was putting a lot of pressure on Min-seok, who was performing the moyamoya disease surgery.

“Professor Kwak.”

“Yes, Director.”

“You’re going to perform a direct bypass on a pediatric moyamoya disease patient today, right?”

“That’s right.”

“This isn’t just any event that can be overlooked, is it? So I invited some guests.”

“Guests, you mean…” Min-seok couldn’t continue, flustered.

“I’ve invited a few members of the Korean Society for Cerebrovascular Surgery. About five people will come to observe the surgery, so keep that in mind.”

At the director’s mention, Jun-hoo frowned.

His intentions were obvious.

-These talented employees are under me. So how much more talented am I? Can you guess?

This was the method the director used most often to raise his reputation.

So much so that, even after pianist Myung-han’s awakening surgery was successfully completed, it was the director, not the surgeon, Professor Dong-hoon, who received the attention.

The director was truly a disgusting human being.

“Director, can you please withdraw the observation? It’s not a completed surgery, but a surgery in progress. It’s not ready to be shown to others yet.”

“Oh, Professor Kwak. Are you telling me to take back the invitations I’ve already sent out?”

“That’s not what I mean…”

“And it’s a surgery that risks a child’s life, so how can you perform it without the confidence to show it to others?”

“…I will follow your instructions, Director.”

“You should have done that from the start. Oh, and Dr. Seo.”

The director suddenly stared at Jun-hoo.

Jun-hoo was on high alert, not wanting to be caught.

“Yes, Director.”

“Okay, everyone, let’s applaud Dr. Seo! Dr. Seo has become a 1 million NewTuber as of today. Let’s congratulate him with a big round of applause.”

Jun-hoo was bewildered by the sudden congratulatory offer.

No, what’s going on?

Clap! Clap! Clap!

After the applause subsided, the director smiled contentedly.

“One million in less than two years since starting NewTube. Dr. Seo’s skills are truly amazing.”

“You flatter me.”

“How much has been raised in donations for the moyamoya disease patient?”

“Approximately 35 million won [approximately $30,000 USD].”

“Wow! Excellent, excellent. This is completely newsworthy. Hahaha.”

The director continued.

“What was it, when you did the live broadcast, I saw it too. You should have mentioned me a little longer. I was almost disappointed because it was too short.”

“It was my first live broadcast, so I must have been nervous.”

“Yeah. Well, that could be the case. Maybe next time, you know?”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jun-hoo barely managed to hold back his vomit. Depending on how you interpret it, the director felt more vicious than Si-ho.

The impact of one dictator can be greater than that of one murderer.

After the conference and rounds, Jun-hoo went straight to the pediatric ward. The first surgery in the morning was Jae-eun’s surgery.

Jae-eun was lying weakly on the bed.

Her side hair had been cut off like a rat had gnawed on it (shaved to prevent contamination before surgery) last night.

To endure high-level brain surgery, Jae-eun looked too fragile.

She looked as pitiful as a child soldier going to the battlefield.

Endure it, Jae-eun, even if it’s hard.

I’ll do my best to help you regain your health and daily life.

“Hello. Guardian. Jae-eun, hello?”

“Hello. Doctor.”

“You’re here?”

The married couple greeted Jun-hoo first.

Jae-eun belatedly discovered Jun-hoo and waved her hand weakly.

“Jae-eun, how are you feeling?”

“I don’t know. I have no strength.”

“That’s probably because you haven’t eaten. If you get healthy after the surgery, I’ll buy you chicken again.”

“Really? Promise.”

“Of course, I promise.”

Jun-hoo hooked his finger on Jae-eun’s tiny pinky finger.

“What are you holding in your left hand?”

“It’s the magic coin the doctor gave me. It makes me feel good when I hold it.”

“Our Jae-eun will get better like magic too. I believe so.”

“Yes.”

A bright smile appeared on Jae-eun’s face.

“Could you two see me for a moment?”

Jun-hoo took the couple outside the hospital room.

Standing in the hallway, he brought up the donation story. He informed them that 35 million won had been raised.

“That… that much?”

“Wow! Doctor. Thank you! Thank you!”

Jun-hoo felt proud of the two people’s shocked reaction.

He was glad he could help.

The saddest thing in the world wasn’t being sick.

It was being sick and lacking the money for treatment and living expenses.

“I’ll add 5 million won more, so it’ll be about 40 million won [approximately $34,000 USD].”

“No. You don’t have to use your own money. You’re already providing an unbelievable amount of support.”

“There are rarely cases where having too much money is a problem. Don’t feel burdened and accept it.”

“…”

“However, there are conditions for paying the donation.”

Jun-hoo continued his explanation.

The condition was that the donation would be paid in 10 installments of 4 million won per month.

“Husband.”

“Yes. Doctor.”

“I heard that you work hard at the construction site for your family, but I made this decision because I’m worried that you might squander the donation.”

“Yes. I understand. I almost got scammed by that quack shaman…”

The husband scratched his cheek as if he was embarrassed.

With that, he finished the story about the donation.

Jun-hoo pulled the bed where Jae-eun was lying and moved to the operating room.

The consent form had been received last night and the explanation had been sufficient, so there were no major problems.

“Doctor, please take good care of Jae-eun.”

“Please take care of her.”

“Yes. Trust me.”

After parting with the guardians in front of the operating room, Jun-hoo entered the operating room.

The nurses who were waiting pulled the bed into the operating room instead of Jun-hoo.

Coincidentally, the operating room was room number 4.

But Jun-hoo didn’t believe in superstitions.