A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 535

Chapter 105: Conclusion and Connection (1)

A traditional teahouse in Busan.

Park Jae-hyun was having an awkward meeting with the man sitting across from him.

The man’s name was Go Hyun-chul.

A five-term lawmaker, someone even the newly elected Park Jae-hyun had to respect.

‘Is this what they call being on pins and needles?’

Park Jae-hyun smiled wryly to himself.

He was usually eloquent, but he didn’t know what to say to Go Hyun-chul.

Since becoming a member of the National Assembly, he’d learned to avoid being too familiar with senior members of the party.

Because rumors of being presumptuous would quickly spread.

Park Jae-hyun took a sip of tea, trying to ease his discomfort.

The cup was already almost half empty.

“Am I making you that uncomfortable?” Go Hyun-chul asked with a smile, seemingly oblivious to Park Jae-hyun’s unease.

“Not at all. I was just savoring the tea.”

“Well, that’s a relief. It’s been three years since you became a lawmaker. How does it feel?”

“I’m still a bit dazed. It doesn’t feel real, and there’s so much to learn.”

“It’s always like that at first. You think I wasn’t the same?”

Go Hyun-chul was understanding. He was known as a tiger both inside and outside the party, but he was particularly kind to Park Jae-hyun.

Today’s meeting had also been arranged by Go Hyun-chul after the party convention.

“Is being a doctor completely different from being a lawmaker?”

“Yes. If I had to choose, being a lawmaker is more difficult.”

“It’s a place where ambition and desire intertwine, so it can’t be helped… Let me give you a piece of advice.”

Go Hyun-chul paused for a moment.

“You’re still acting like a white heron [symbolizing purity and aloofness]. You need to start turning into a chicken. You need to crow, raise your comb high, and know how to peck at others.”

Go Hyun-chul’s words of wisdom continued for some time.

Park Jae-hyun listened attentively.

As expected of a veteran politician, Go Hyun-chul saw right through him. Park Jae-hyun hadn’t completely shed his identity as a doctor.

“Thank you for your kind words. You’ve pinpointed exactly what I’m struggling with. But…”

“But?”

“Why are you so particularly fond of me?”

Park Jae-hyun finally asked the question he’d been holding back.

“I made a promise to someone. To take care of you.”

“May I ask who that someone is?”

“Professor Seo Jun-hoo.”

“Ah…”

Park Jae-hyun sighed upon hearing his former student’s name.

Something belatedly came to mind.

Years ago, when Go Hyun-chul had attempted suicide due to depression and was near death, Jun-hoo had saved him by performing surgery.

“I said I wanted to repay the favor, and Professor Seo said this: ‘Please take good care of my teacher, who is a freshman lawmaker.'”

“I didn’t know there was such a story. Jun-hoo never mentioned it to me.”

“Professor Seo isn’t the type to mention such things. I thought he was only righteous, but he knows how to look after his own people.”

Go Hyun-chul laughed heartily, as if Jun-hoo was quite something.

Something had seemed strange for a while now.

The fact that Go Hyun-chul, one of the top three most influential people in the party, was looking after him, someone with no connections whatsoever…

Indeed, there was no such thing as a free lunch.

Park Jae-hyun was simply enjoying the benefits that Jun-hoo had paid for in advance.

Park Jae-hyun felt both grateful and sorry towards Jun-hoo.

“By any chance, what will happen to the bill I’m proposing this time?”

“The Mandatory Assignment of Emergency Surgeons Act?”

“Yes.”

Park Jae-hyun had recently introduced an ambitious bill.

Limited to university hospitals.

Departments directly related to life, such as thoracic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, neurosurgery, pediatric surgery, and trauma surgery.

A bill that would require hospitals to maintain a minimum number of surgeons in these departments.

Even when emergency surgery was needed.

There were many emergency patients who couldn’t get surgery because they were pushed back by regular surgery schedules.

There was even an absurd case where a university hospital nurse collapsed from a brain hemorrhage but couldn’t receive brain surgery at the university hospital where she worked.

Park Jae-hyun wanted to prevent such tragedies.

So, separate from the regular schedule.

He created a bill that would require hospitals to secure personnel specifically for operating on emergency patients.

“That will be difficult.”

“Why is that?”

“The Korean Medical Association won’t be interested, and the hospital association will strongly oppose it.”

“But it’s a necessary bill.”

“But it’s also a bill that lawmakers aren’t interested in, because it doesn’t directly affect their own interests.”

Park Jae-hyun bit his lip at Go Hyun-chul’s point.

He was right.

He had met with his fellow lawmakers to persuade them, but they all had sullen expressions and lukewarm reactions.

The Mandatory Assignment of Emergency Surgeons Act was a bill that was only urgent and essential to Park Jae-hyun, who was a doctor.

“Unless a related scandal breaks out, it’s likely to be buried as it is now.”

“Does a law only come into being when a big problem occurs? Many patients have already lost their lives because they couldn’t receive emergency surgery.”

“Unfortunately, those deaths weren’t publicized.”

Go Hyun-chul said coldly.

A surge of anger rose from his stomach, but Park Jae-hyun barely suppressed it.

You have to become insensitive to these emotions to become a seasoned politician.

He had an animalistic premonition of this.

“Don’t be too impatient and look for an opportunity.”

“I understand.”

The conversation with Go Hyun-chul ended after an hour.

Park Jae-hyun took a car with his secretary and headed to the outskirts of Haeundae-gu [district of Busan].

Today was the day he was supposed to meet Jun-hoo after a long time. The meeting place was a local restaurant that Jun-hoo knew.

After having his secretary wait in the car, Park Jae-hyun strolled through the quiet residential area.

The twilight was slowly setting.

The red sunset light painted the clouds.

The spring breeze playfully teased Park Jae-hyun’s hair and then moved on.

While walking leisurely.

Park Jae-hyun spotted a young man approaching from the opposite direction.

The young man was wearing a baseball cap and holding an aluminum bat in one hand.

But when their eyes met, Park Jae-hyun caught a glimpse of madness in the young man’s eyes.

The ominous premonition soon became reality.

Whoosh!

The young man swung the bat at Park Jae-hyun without hesitation.

* * *

After the day he rested at the villa with Ah-young.

Jun-hoo had been experiencing confusion about his identity for a while.

It was because he was convinced that the Murim [martial arts world] self he thought was dead was still alive.

Looking back on his memories, the voice he heard in his dream still sounded vivid.

A person who was a descendant of Pyeonjak [legendary Chinese physician] tried to save him.

Someone who appeared to be a warrior from the Murim Alliance was also trying to save him.

Would he return to Murim if he dreamed again?

Jun-hoo deliberately tried to enter the dream he had forgotten for a long time.

But he couldn’t hear the voice.

Returning to Murim didn’t happen either.

Then what was that dream that felt so real?

He pondered the question for a long time, but he couldn’t find a suitable answer. Everything was shrouded in mystery.

Around that time, Jun-hoo began to let go of his lingering feelings for Murim.

The place where Jun-hoo lived and breathed was the modern world, so he needed to focus on the present.

If he were to return to Murim…

Then he would just have to do his best in Murim again. Trying to control what you can’t control was just foolish.

Jun-hoo’s days were busy, but not as overwhelmingly difficult as they used to be.

In the past, he tried to take on all the surgeries, but now he only focused on surgeries that his fellow professors or residents couldn’t handle.

Still, the department was running smoothly.

The reputation and popularity of the epilepsy clinic remained explosive.

Patients who couldn’t see Jun-hoo trusted him and consulted with other professors.

It was a positive trickle-down effect.

As a result, the neurosurgery department’s profitability soared to a level comparable to that of the internal medicine department.

In his spare time, Jun-hoo wrote neurosurgery textbooks and spent time at home with Ah-young.

They also researched treatments for vegetative and brain-dead patients together.

Like hitting a rock with an egg.

It was a reckless and seemingly futile study, but he didn’t give up.

The more valuable the work, the greater the adversity and hardship.

The weekend arrived quickly.

Jun-hoo drove to the outskirts of Haeundae for the first time in a while.

He had promised his mentor, who had come down to Busan to attend the party convention, that they would have dinner.

After parking in a nearby public parking lot.

Jun-hoo walked towards the local restaurant that Choi Jin-gu had recommended.

In one hand, he held a box of high-quality red ginseng.

It was a gift for his teacher.

Although he didn’t show it, Jun-hoo knew that his teacher was having a hard time.

He had heard it from Go Hyun-chul.

However, even if he hadn’t heard it from Go Hyun-chul, Jun-hoo knew that surviving in the political arena was not easy.

Because he had indirectly experienced it to a sickening degree in the Murim Alliance.

The heretics of the Demonic Sect were easy to deal with because they committed evil deeds, so he could openly punish them, but the hypocrites of the Orthodox Sect protected themselves with plausible reasons.

So he couldn’t easily touch them.

“What is it?”

Jun-hoo tilted his head as he approached the meeting place.

He had called his teacher, but his teacher didn’t answer.

His teacher usually arrived 30 minutes early for their appointments.

Tadatdadak!

A young man was running towards him from afar.

He was holding a baseball bat in his hand.

When their eyes met, the young man smiled eerily. The young man rushed at Jun-hoo without hesitation and swung the bat violently.

Whooooosh.

Whooooosh.

The bat only sliced through the air. It might have been a threatening attack to the average person, but not to Jun-hoo.

It looked like a baby was playing.

Jun-hoo had even dodged a shotgun fired by Si-ho at close range.

Compared to that, a baseball bat was nothing.

Jun-hoo, who had been leisurely dodging, bent down and avoided the bat once again.

He kicked the young man’s ankle.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

The young man groaned as he fell backward.

If it were Murim, he would have killed him in an instant, but he couldn’t do that in the modern world. Coincidentally, a patrol car was approaching from behind.

“What’s going on?”

The police officer who got out of the patrol car looked at Jun-hoo and the young man alternately and widened his eyes.

“Are you perhaps Professor Seo Jun-hoo?”

The police officer seemed surprised not by the situation but by Jun-hoo.

“Yes, that’s right. This guy suddenly attacked me with a baseball bat.”

“Did you see this, what a terrible person! Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, fortunately, I’m not.”

Jun-hoo smiled and crushed the young man’s wrist with his instep. It was because he was trying to grab the baseball bat again in the short time he had.

“Aaaagh!”

“I’ll handcuff him and take him to the station together. I’ll check the situation with CCTV first and contact you separately if I need to.”

The police officer pointed to the CCTV camera above.

Jun-hoo gave the police officer his contact information and continued on his way.

But suddenly, the back of his neck felt cold. The direction the young man was coming from was the place where he was supposed to meet his teacher.

Fabababak!

Jun-hoo hurriedly ran, using his qinggong [light-body skill, allowing for swift and agile movement].

Why is it that ominous premonitions never fail?

His teacher was lying in an alley in the residential area.

In an instant, goosebumps appeared on his arms and his hair stood on end.

“Teacher!”

Jun-hoo approached his teacher and knelt on one knee.

The side of his head, which had been hit by the bat, was flattened. His head was bruised blue and blood was flowing from the torn scalp.

Fortunately, he was breathing.

His heart was also beating.

Jun-hoo tore his clothes and used them as a bandage. He wrapped the teacher’s bleeding head with the cloth.

Damn it!

Damn it!

Damn it!

After using Internal Energy Cerebral Angiography [a technique to visualize the brain’s blood vessels] on his teacher, he realized the extent of the damage.

The crazy bastard he had encountered earlier had turned his teacher’s head into a rag.

Skull depression and comminuted fracture.

Brain hemorrhage, cerebral edema, brain herniation, etc.

It was difficult to count all the fatal injuries. In the meantime, even clear cerebrospinal fluid was flowing from his teacher’s ear.

Jun-hoo lost his composure due to anger towards the young man and worry that his teacher might die.

It was a whirlwind of emotions like a typhoon that he had felt for the first time since he lost his colleague, Seong-ho.

No, get a grip.

I’m the only one my teacher can rely on.

I have to stand up straight.

Pat! Pat! Pat!

Jun-hoo regained his collapsing mentality and first stopped the bleeding with acupressure.

Now there was only one task left.

To transport his teacher as quickly as possible and perform emergency surgery.

But just as he was about to lift his teacher up.

His teacher muttered in a faint voice.

“Don’t treat me. Let me die like this.”

Jun-hoo was dumbfounded.

He was so dumbfounded that he doubted his ears. So he had no choice but to ask back with profanity.

“What the hell are you talking about?”