A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 474

Chapter 92: A Divine Move (5)

Neurosurgery resident room.

Woo-hyun stood by the window, gazing out. The night was deep, and the sky was black. The hospital lights fought against the darkness.

Today was a lucky day.

Despite being on call, there hadn’t been a single emergency call after midnight.

“Still, this is good enough…”

Woo-hyun moved his body around and nodded.

It had already been three days since he collapsed with a traumatic pneumothorax [a collapsed lung caused by injury].

The treatment was complete after draining all the effusion [excess fluid] from the pleural cavity [the space around the lungs] and suturing the incision.

He had only been lying down and sleeping, so his condition had actually improved.

He had just come back from the bathroom, and his skin looked amazing. It was glowing.

Just then.

Creak.

The resident room door opened cautiously.

He turned his head.

First-year resident Yoon-chan was coming in.

“What are you doing up?”

“I was worried about you, senior. It’s only been a few days since you collapsed, and you’re already doing on-call duty.”

Yoon-chan stood next to Woo-hyun and said with a worried voice.

“I can’t help it. We’re short on staff.”

“I can cover another day.”

“Then you’ll be the one collapsing.”

“Come on~ I used to do 100 days of on-call duty. I can manage somehow.”

“A person should live like a person. What’s the point of just enduring? Anyway, thanks for worrying about me.”

Woo-hyun patted Yoon-chan’s shoulder.

His heart warmed at his junior’s kind heart.

The Neurosurgery Department at Busan Shinwon University was short two residents from its quota. So even the chief was taking turns doing on-call duty.

The problem was that even this was something to be grateful for, as the situation was a mess.

There was a clear aversion to surgery.

Would they even get new residents next year?

Woo-hyun couldn’t nod.

“By the way, I’m worried.”

Yoon-chan started with a gloomy voice.

“Why are you always so worried?”

“But it’s true. The world is full of worries.”

“What are you worried about this time?”

“Today is the chief’s first day.”

“Shouldn’t we welcome the chief with open arms?”

Yoon-chan and Woo-hyun’s reactions were contrasting. Woo-hyun was genuinely happy about Jun-hoo’s inauguration.

Jun-hoo had fame, skill, and character.

He was a renowned doctor who had it all.

He had even personally treated his traumatic pneumothorax a few days ago.

“I know he’s a good person. But I think the department will become noisy.”

“Because of the other professors?”

“Yes. The chief is young after all…”

Yoon-chan’s point was valid.

A much younger person suddenly becoming the chief?

There was no way the old guard professors would like that.

They would be trying to harass, undermine, or bring Jun-hoo down. The neurosurgery department would be a battlefield for a while.

“I heard the chief isn’t an easy person either. He’ll be able to handle the other professors’ bullying.”

“I hope so.”

The two people’s conversation ended like that.

Yoon-chan prepared the conference presentation materials, and Woo-hyun tried to sleep in the on-call room instead of the resident room.

He seemed reluctant to leave Yoon-chan alone.

How much time had passed?

The darkness receded, and the bluish east turned orange.

A new morning was dawning.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sound of knocking came just in time.

“Come in.”

Woo-hyun said indifferently and turned his head, startled.

A person he didn’t expect even in his dreams.

Chief Jun-hoo had appeared.

No, he’s coming to work at this hour?

“Hey, wake up quickly. The chief is here.”

Woo-hyun shook Yoon-chan’s shoulder to wake him up. Yoon-chan wiped the drool from his mouth with the back of his hand and opened his eyes.

“The chief? Why at this hour? Senior, are you the boy who cried wolf?”

Yoon-chan’s eyes, which had been half-closed, soon became as big as saucers.

“Holy crap! You scared me!”

* * *

Jun-hoo chuckled at the residents’ intense reaction.

In fact, he had been debating whether to visit the on-call room.

He was no longer just a professor, but now the chief. He knew that his appearance would make the staff tense.

But he had to do what he had to do.

“Chief, what brings you here at this hour…?”

“I always come to work at this hour. That’s why Woo-hyun gave you emergency treatment.”

“Ah… I forgot about that.”

After a short exchange, a long and awkward silence followed. Woo-hyun and Yoon-chan were clearly uncomfortable with Jun-hoo.

“Chief, thank you so much for what happened a few days ago. I didn’t get a chance to properly thank you then.”

“No need to thank me. How’s your body?”

“It’s much better. That’s why I’m doing on-call duty.”

“First, Woo-hyun, come over here. I’ll loosen up your body a bit.”

Jun-hoo gestured to Woo-hyun.

Woo-hyun readily approached Jun-hoo.

Jun-hoo performed a martial arts-style massage, pressing on acupoints [specific points on the body believed to have therapeutic effects].

He twisted and turned Woo-hyun’s neck, shoulders, and waist in a dazzling manner.

Left, right. Up, down, left, right.

Jun-hoo’s movements were relentless.

Crack. Crack.

The sound of joints cracking echoed loudly in the on-call room.

Yoon-chan watched the scene in horror.

Because he would be the next victim of that tragedy.

“All done!”

Whack!

Jun-hoo lightly struck Woo-hyun’s back with his palm.

He finished the acupressure massage.

Of course, tapping the back at the end was also a form of treatment.

He had performed an internal energy infusion technique [a technique to enhance healing by channeling internal energy].

Internal energy infusion is a technique that sends internal energy to the heart, rapidly increasing the healing power of the internal energy.

“How do you feel now?”

“……”

“Woo-hyun?”

“Ah. Yes. I feel like my body is better in a way that’s hard to describe. It’s like I woke up after sleeping for ten hours. My whole body is full of energy.”

Woo-hyun answered with a vibrant voice, as if testifying to a miracle.

Woo-hyun may have been surprised.

But it was a natural reaction for Jun-hoo.

“Next is Yoon-chan.”

“Can’t I skip it?”

“Don’t talk back and come here.”

“Heeheehee.”

Suddenly, Yoon-chan approached Jun-hoo, acting cute in a way that wasn’t cute at all.

Jun-hoo repeated the acupressure and internal energy infusion he had done for Woo-hyun on Yoon-chan.

Yoon-chan’s face, which had been full of fear, bloomed.

“Wow! It’s amazing. It’s like I received a healing spell.”

Yoon-chan’s excitement was even more over the top than Woo-hyun’s.

Yoon-chan jumped up and down in place.

“Chief. Can I ask what kind of magic you’re using?”

“I’ve always had healing hands. Just know that.”

Jun-hoo smiled brightly.

Jun-hoo was also happy to see the residents happy.

How could Jun-hoo not know?

How grueling and overwhelming the life of a neurosurgery resident was.

Managing the ward and assisting in surgery a few times would leave a resident completely exhausted.

Of course, Jun-hoo maintained a consistently energetic state with a combination of energy cultivation and nutritional supplements, but other residents were exhausted.

“I’ll do it every morning from now on, so if you want to receive it, stay in the on-call room after rounds. The same goes for the other residents.”

“Yes, Chief!”

“Yes, Chief!”

The two answered with voices full of military discipline.

“Is there anything else that’s uncomfortable?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Actually…”

While Woo-hyun said no.

Yoon-chan carefully opened his mouth.

Then Woo-hyun nudged Yoon-chan’s side with his elbow.

“Don’t give him a look and let him talk comfortably.”

“……Yes.”

“Yoon-chan. If there’s anything you want to say, say it.”

“Chief. Actually, we’re short two residents, so the workload is too heavy.”

“You’re saying you’re short on staff?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s see.”

Jun-hoo stroked his chin quietly.

It wasn’t an unexpected problem.

The shortage of residents in surgery wasn’t a new issue.

Probably, except for Seoul Shinwon University.

Almost all Shinwon University’s neurosurgery departments were suffering from a shortage of manpower.

‘It’s a problem that needs to be fixed anyway.’

Residents were the bridge connecting patients and professors.

In the ward.

And in the operating room, residents played the role of the bridge perfectly.

If that bridge collapsed, the ward would also collapse.

That meant a quick solution was needed.

Another chief might think this way.

We used to do 100 days of on-call duty and live more tired lives.

You have to endure if it’s hard.

…and would have forced the residents to sacrifice.

But Jun-hoo had no intention of doing that. Forcing sacrifice was not sustainable.

It might be okay for now.

But later, it would become a bigger bomb and explode.

Was there a good way?

Meanwhile, Yoon-chan scratched the back of his head, looking at Jun-hoo, who was deep in thought.

‘I guess it won’t work?’

Filling the resident quota was not easy.

He heard that the previous chief had tried and given up.

Finding neurosurgery residents was not just a little difficult.

It was very difficult.

How many people in the world would want to suffer more while receiving similar pay to others?

“It’s hard to give you an answer right away.”

Jun-hoo hesitated before continuing.

“If possible, I’ll solve it within this week.”

“This week, you say?”

“Why? Is it too long?”

Yoon-chan, with his eyebrows raised, shook his head.

“No. It’s too fast.”

* * *

Clunk.

Jun-hoo entered the chief’s office at the end of the ward hallway. He made a cup of instant coffee and sat on the sofa.

He didn’t know if it would work as he wanted.

But there was definitely a way to solve the resident shortage in Busan Neurosurgery.

Jun-hoo fiddled with the cell phone he had put in his doctor’s gown pocket, then let go.

He wanted to call the other party right away.

But it was still too early.

Leaning back on the sofa, Jun-hoo sipped his instant coffee.

He picked up and read the printout on the table in front of the sofa.

The printout contained information that Jun-hoo had gathered over the past few days.

What was that information?

It was an evaluation of the surgical skills of the Busan Neurosurgery professors.

The grades ranged from A to C.

Some were trustworthy.

Some were just okay.

Some he wanted to kick out.

In the past, Jun-hoo had to accommodate [Korean idiom: 맞춰줘야] the other party because he was low in rank, but now the situation was different.

Jun-hoo had obtained the sword of power as the chief of neurosurgery.

If there was a valid reason, he could bring up good professors and bring down bad professors.

So what kind of goal should he set?

And who and how should he wield the sword for that goal?

This would be the watershed moment in his life as chief.

Of course, there was also the dangerous situation where his sword threatened him, but Jun-hoo wasn’t worried.

Jun-hoo knew how to wield the sword of politics as skillfully as the sword as a weapon.

The Murim Alliance [fictional martial arts world], which was crazy about justification battles, had raised Jun-hoo that way.

1) First, improve the resident environment, which is the foundation of the department.

2) Defeat the professors who have animosity towards him one by one.

3) Increase influence by running the department in a spectacular [Korean idiom: 기깔나게] way.

Jun-hoo set three main goals.

As he was thinking about this and that, the conference time quickly arrived.

Jun-hoo left his office and headed to the conference room.

He hadn’t been able to attend the conference for the past few days because he had been busy.

So today’s conference was the first conference Jun-hoo was attending as chief.

Jun-hoo arrived at the conference room, his doctor’s gown fluttering.

Creak.

Jun-hoo appeared last, like the main character. Dozens of eyes were on Jun-hoo.

Curiosity, tension, anxiety, expectation, etc.

The emotions in their eyes were all different.

“Nice to meet you all.”

Jun-hoo smiled leisurely.

Today was his debut as the chief of neurosurgery.