A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 267

The night deepened.

A full moon hung generously in the inky sky, its soft light filtering through the window and flooding the on-call room.

*Whoosh.*

The cold, early winter night wind shook the curtains.

The curtains danced wildly, tangled in the wind.

The on-call room was silent, almost desolate.

Jun-hoo was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to deal with Shi-ho.

The modern world had its merits, but it was an inconvenient place to punish evildoers.

Modern law protected the good, but it also protected the wicked.

If Jun-hoo had met Shi-ho in the Murim world [a martial arts fantasy setting], he would have beheaded him without hesitation.

To take the lives of others…

Especially a vicious man who intentionally took the lives of many, not just one, there was no need for mercy.

*Creak.*

Suddenly, the door opened, and Min-kyung entered the on-call room.

“Ugh. It’s cold! Jun-hoo, did you leave the window open? In this winter weather?”

Min-kyung frowned and hugged her arms.

“I just wanted to clear my head. It’s already midnight; aren’t you asleep yet?”

“I’m not just not asleep; I couldn’t sleep. Our case presentation is tomorrow.”

“Ah. I forgot about that.”

“What were you doing? You looked like you were carrying all the worries in the world.”

Min-kyung asked as she filled the kettle with water.

She seemed to have come to the on-call room because she was craving a late-night snack while studying.

“It’s just a night with a lot of thoughts. I guess it’s because of the Daejeon dispatch.”

“That’s understandable. I heard the chief physician specifically picked you.”

“Yes. Honestly, he’s not doing me any favors. The chief physician is…”

Min-kyung burst out laughing at Jun-hoo’s lament. She said it was the first time she had heard Jun-hoo speak ill of someone else.

Jun-hoo quietly watched Min-kyung take out a cup ramen and tear open the packaging.

Suddenly, his heart ached.

If Jun-hoo’s plan succeeded, Shi-ho would end up in prison, not the hospital.

This would inevitably be a huge shock to Min-kyung, who had a crush on Shi-ho.

How would she feel knowing that the person she had been crushing on for years was a psychopath killer?

Jun-hoo couldn’t dare to fathom the emotional storm that Min-kyung would experience.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“I was just wondering if you were tired today, sunbae [senior colleague]. I noticed you have double eyelids that you don’t usually have.”

“As expected of Seo Jun-hoo, I have to acknowledge your observational skills.”

Min-kyung smiled brightly.

She poured the boiling water from the kettle into the cup ramen container. After covering the cup ramen lid, she covered it again with her diary.

“What’s with the diary? I don’t think I’ve seen that before?”

“I received it by *택배* [delivery service] today. I was thinking of writing in it from time to time. Don’t stubbornly stay up all night on duty; get some sleep when you can.”

“Yes, *sunbae*.”

Jun-hoo waved his hand and sent Min-kyung away.

But it was right then.

Something he had completely forgotten until now.

Something he had been foolishly missing.

A powerful piece of evidence flashed through his mind.

[January 30th: Conclusion]

[April 10th: Conclusion]

[July 3rd: Conclusion]

Even considering it was a memo, the content was too concise. All that was written was the date and the Chinese character for ‘결(結)’ [gyeol, meaning conclusion or end].

The day he first met Shi-ho.

Jun-hoo had accidentally glimpsed Shi-ho’s notebook.

Now that he thought about it, wasn’t the ‘결(結)’ written in the notebook probably meant to signify the completion of a murder?

Looking at it that way, all the circumstances fit perfectly.

What would happen if he found that notebook?

Wouldn’t he be able to find out who Shi-ho had killed, how he killed them, and who the next target was?

As his imagination soared, Jun-hoo felt a shiver.

Goosebumps rose on his skin, and his hair stood on end.

Let’s proceed with the plan as planned.

But we must also find the notebook.

If I find the notebook, I won’t be able to fail the plan even if I want to.

Jun-hoo, having steeled his resolve, stood up. He began to search the on-call room thoroughly.

* * *

Past midnight.

Shi-ho was in the conference room, writing something in his notebook.

Hungry. Hungry. Hungry.

How long do I have to feel this hunger and thirst? At this rate, I’ll die first. But you know my personality, right? I’m never going to die alone. I’m going to kill you too.

*Snap!*

Perhaps because he was putting too much force into his hand.

The lead of the pencil broke.

The broken lead flew off the desk.

A black dot appeared at the end of the unfinished word.

Looking at the smudged dot, it felt like he was staring down into a black well.

Turning the handle of the pencil sharpener that he had placed on the table in advance, Shi-ho sharpened the pencil.

Shi-ho liked pencils.

He liked that the end was sharp.

He felt good when he wrote on paper with a sharp pencil, as if he were tattooing someone’s skin.

In the same vein…

Shi-ho hated blunt pencils.

He hated the roundness and smoothness that couldn’t hurt anything.

Shi-ho’s hollow and gaunt eyes, having finished sharpening the pencil, turned to the ceiling.

He hadn’t been looking good lately.

It had been almost six months since he had tasted the true pleasure of murder because of that Jun-hoo.

It was the longest time ever.

As a result, the second personality that incited murder was on the verge of exploding.

Even if he tried his best.

The time he could endure was limited to ten days.

The moment ten days passed.

Shi-ho felt like he would grab anyone passing by in the hospital ward and slash them with a scalpel.

Like the low-class pleasure killers that Shi-ho despised.

But it’s okay.

Let’s just endure a little longer.

That Jun-hoo, he’s going to be dispatched to Daejeon after this week. Without him, I can cook up patients and guardians as much as I want.

Since I’ve suffered so much in the meantime.

Was it Ah-young?

It might be okay to mess with Jun-hoo’s girlfriend.

Coincidentally, there’s a colleague in the thoracic surgery department too.

Shi-ho decided to relieve the stress he had received from Jun-hoo on Ah-young.

He didn’t doubt that Ah-young’s pain would soon become Jun-hoo’s pain.

Shi-ho knew very well the weaknesses of Jun-hoo’s type.

He could endure his own suffering like a superhuman, but he couldn’t tolerate even a fingernail’s worth of pain in someone he cherished.

Hehehe. How should I torment Ah-young?

If I shed tears.

Seo Jun-hoo, you deserve to shed tears of blood.

Just imagining the dozen or so ways to torment Ah-young made Shi-ho feel relieved.

The smile on his lips didn’t disappear.

Shi-ho started writing again with the newly sharpened pencil.

It was about the murder he would commit as soon as Jun-hoo left for dispatch.

The victim’s name was Kang Yong-hui, 67 years old. He was a patient languishing in the intensive care unit.

Since it was a rare murder.

He intended to use fentanyl neatly.

Since a critically ill patient died in the intensive care unit, no one would suspect anything.

They would just think that the person who was going to die eventually died.

Then there would be no autopsy, and Shi-ho could naturally conclude the crime as a perfect crime.

A patient gasping for breath to live.

The staff struggling to save such a patient.

And himself, the murderer, participating in CPR as if he were a savior, and so on.

Imagining the near future.

Shi-ho felt ecstasy.

His lower body was full and stiff.

After writing the murder diary, Shi-ho got up from his seat.

He moved to the on-call room.

The on-call room was dark. The sleep light on the ceiling emitted a hazy light like fog.

In the silence, only the snoring of In-cheol, a first-year resident, was loud.

Shi-ho opened the first drawer of the wooden dresser located by the window.

The drawer was full of writing instruments.

But what Shi-ho was paying attention to was something else…

It was a secret space.

Shi-ho laid the plywood located on the outside of the drawer backward.

*Click!*

The sound of the hinge was refreshing.

With that state, when he pulled the dresser one more time, another dresser appeared from inside the drawer.

The secret dresser contained a vial of fentanyl.

A vial of propofol.

Syringes and alcohol pads were inside.

Shi-ho hid the notebook tightly in the secret drawer.

Then, he extracted an appropriate amount of propofol with a syringe and injected it directly into his vein.

After disposing of the medical waste in the waste container, he lay down on the bed and tried to sleep.

Today was a guaranteed good night’s sleep.

* * *

The next day, after the conference and rounds, Jun-hoo went straight to the station [nurses’ station].

“Teacher Yoon. You were on morning duty yesterday, right?”

“Yes. But why?”

“I was looking through the charts yesterday and found something strange. It’s about patient Ha Young-sil in room 604.”

“Tell me.”

“Fentanyl was prescribed for her trigeminal neuralgia [a chronic pain condition]. I know the chief prescribed the fentanyl, but did you administer it yourself, Teacher Yoon?”

“No. I didn’t do it.”

Yoon Tae-jin shook her head. Her bobbed hair fluttered.

“Shi-ho said he would administer it himself, so I thanked him. Anyway, Shi-ho is such a kind and considerate person even after becoming the chief resident.”

“I think so too… He’s a really amazing senior. Thank you for telling me.”

Turning his back on the station, Jun-hoo forced a smile.

Shi-ho’s image-making was utterly disgusting.

Shi-ho was just a fentanyl thief.

He didn’t take the fentanyl vial to help the nurse.

Jun-hoo felt lonely and desolate that he was the only one who saw through that hypocrisy and wickedness.

He took the fentanyl, so he must be planning to commit murder as soon as I leave for dispatch.

That’s a relief, at least.

Because he’s playing in the palm of my hand.

While heading to the on-call room, Jun-hoo ran into Shi-ho. The moment they recognized each other, the surrounding air contracted sharply.

The first one to say a word was Jun-hoo.

“Chief, you look especially bright today?”

“I slept well yesterday.”

“It’s not because I’m going on dispatch and you feel relieved, is it?”

“Don’t say such hurtful things. You’re the one who looks bright, Jun-hoo?”

“I have something good going on too.”

“What good thing?”

“There’s something that’s been giving me a headache for a while, and I think I’ll be able to resolve it soon.”

“That’s a relief. That you can resolve it before the dispatch.”

“I guess so.”

The conversation ended quickly.

The two walked past each other.

Their complex intentions were also crossing.

‘Shall we start slowly?’

Jun-hoo, having arrived at the empty on-call room, rubbed his hands together.

Last night, he searched the on-call room and the conference room thoroughly to find Shi-ho’s notebook.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the notebook.

But Jun-hoo didn’t give up.

The notebook didn’t not exist.

He was just convinced that he hadn’t found the notebook.

There was no way that the cunning Shi-ho would have left the notebook lying around.

So, with a 99 percent probability.

The notebook must be hidden in the on-call room.

Because the only three places to hide the notebook in the hospital ward were the on-call room, the conference room, and the *숙직실* [on-call room].

*Woo Woong.*

Jun-hoo pulled up his dantian [energy center in the body] and wrapped it around his entire body. A colorless, odorless, and shapeless energy rippled around Jun-hoo’s body.

With his five senses amplified fivefold.

Jun-hoo began to examine every speck of dust in the on-call room.

Shi-ho certainly couldn’t imagine.

That it was only a matter of time before his notebook was discovered.