You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 432

You Have Been Defended – Episode 433

#433

Fortunately, Dongjin hadn’t gone into surgery yet, and Chief Resident Baek Chan-geun was scheduled to be at the hospital until this evening.

Without hesitation, I grabbed my coat and got into the car.

Soon after arriving at Myungwoon University Hospital, I called Dongjin. After parking and entering the first floor, I saw Dongjin wearing his doctor’s gown, loitering in the hospital lobby.

“Oh, Juhan!”

Dongjin waved, and I walked towards him.

As if he had been waiting for me, he was holding two cups of Americano.

“It’s the chief’s outpatient day, so I’m seeing outpatients now. You’ll have to wait a bit.”

He handed me an Americano and said,

“Shall we take a walk until then?”

“Sure.”

If I recall correctly, Chief Baek Chan-geun is from a local university and managed to secure the position of head of the Neurosurgery Department at Myungwoon University Hospital through his skills alone.

I think he had a triple board [certification in three different medical specialties], but I don’t remember which departments it was in.

“Didn’t you say your chief has a triple board?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he get them all at Paik In-je University Hospital?”

“No. He was originally GS at Paik In-je, but I think he got CS and NS from other universities. I don’t know the details.”

“GS means General Surgery?”

“Yeah.”

Lim Hyeon-il was also a general surgery specialist.

Since organ transplantation is a surgical procedure performed in surgery, he might have only obtained a general surgery specialty, but I think there’s a reason why Wooshin appointed Lim Hyeon-il as the head of the organ transplant center.

Especially since, according to Choi Jong-hyun, the Beomwooshin family has a chronic hereditary heart condition, I think the reason Lim Hyeon-il caught Go Sang-jun’s eye might be because he was a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Of course, given Lim Hyeon-il’s age in his late 40s, the probability of him directly performing heart surgery on the Go Sang-jun family is low, but Wooshin isn’t looking at just the current generation with a narrow perspective.

I even searched to see if Lim Hyeon-il had a GS, CS double board, but there was no information available.

I checked if there was a way to inquire with the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, but that was also difficult.

I have no choice but to find out from Baek Chan-geun.

I don’t know what his personality is like, but I believe he knows what kind of person his fellow alumni are.

I don’t have many people I directly contact and interact with in this field, but I know some general information from the stories I hear.

I have no choice but to expect that from Baek Chan-geun.

“I told the chief about your request, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to get the information you want.”

Dongjin stopped in front of the smoking area and lit a cigarette.

Hmm, is he the type with a tight mouth?

“But the chief didn’t seem to dislike meeting you, so he might tell you what he knows?”

“Still, is it generally possible for doctors from the same school who are somewhat successful to know each other?”

“Yeah, probably? Especially since Paik In-je, where our chief came from, doesn’t have many graduates who go out into society and do well, so it’s possible that he’s unexpectedly close to that doctor you mentioned, Lim Hyeon-il.”

I had been considering that possibility since I contacted Dongjin.

Perhaps Baek Chan-geun is close to Lim Hyeon-il and will contact Lim Hyeon-il to tell him that a lawyer named Cha Juhan came and asked him about you in detail.

But even so, what can he do?

Wooshin, who once tried to kill me but failed, won’t touch me for the time being.

Above all, if it’s true that he killed Kang Kwan-woong through Lim Hyeon-il, he obviously won’t want to escalate things even more.

Wooshin also knows.

That we have quite a bit of information in our hands.

However, since they don’t know the extent of it, they have no choice but to wait quietly for us to present our cards.

In particular, they must be quite curious about why I didn’t inform the outside world when I was kidnapped, so Wooshin won’t be able to move rashly in that situation.

I’m not asking Baek Chan-geun for anything great, and even if Baek Chan-geun tells Lim Hyeon-il, all he can say is, ‘Cha Juhan is looking into you.’

Rather, if Lim Hyeon-il has committed a crime, he will feel pressured.

“Well, but my feeling is that our chief is a bit of an outsider, and he doesn’t seem to do much networking, so I don’t know.”

“You don’t know anything about a doctor named Lim Hyeon-il?”

At my question, Dongjin exhaled cigarette smoke and pondered.

“Um, it sounds like the first time I’ve heard of him. Especially since I have no connection with him. We went to different universities, and we haven’t worked together. I looked him up a bit before you came after hearing what you said, but he doesn’t have any particularly famous papers. It’s a bit strange that he moved to the main branch of Seoul Wooshin Hospital this time.”

“Really? Does it feel like a parachute appointment to anyone?”

“It’s not that either. Just… he has some paper achievements with a certain amount of authority, so he’s just okay? But since his undergraduate degree isn’t very good, I think people might talk behind his back? Our chief also had a lot of gossip.”

“I see. You haven’t seen him at academic conferences either?”

“Lim Hyeon-il? No. Our fields are different.”

“Ah, that’s right. The medical field is so diverse.”

“Well, isn’t it like that? Like how copyright lawyers and divorce lawyers don’t know each other very well among you lawyers?”

“We know everything if we want to know. We all graduate from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, no matter which field we go into.”

“Ah, I see. But you don’t know.”

“It’s because I’m not interested, but I can find out if I want to. There’s Attorney Kang, and Senior Lee Yejin too.”

Even if they are the same ‘sa’ [professional] job that people commonly talk about, they are so different.

“Anyway, I don’t know much about Lim Hyeon-il. I was going to read some papers, but I didn’t have time to read them.”

“No. You don’t have to put in that much effort. We’ll ask your chief, and if that’s not enough, we can find out separately.”

Dongjin nodded and suddenly started staring at a corner a few steps away.

Then he poked me and whispered,

“But that person over there, the one who looks a bit scary.”

“Where?”

“Don’t look directly, look naturally. Two o’clock. That person seems to have been following us for a while. He’s also subtly hiding his body and keeps following us.”

I turned my gaze in the direction Dongjin said.

There was Sang-gil, hiding behind a tree and peeking out.

When he made eye contact with me, he waved awkwardly.

“Oh, what. Is he waving at us? I told you not to look at him directly. But that person keeps following us more. Maybe Wooshin…”

“He’s my bodyguard.”

“…Ah.”

About 30 minutes after spending time with Dongjin, Dongjin’s phone rang.

After taking a short call, he got up from the bench and said,

“Outpatient clinic is over. Let’s go up.”

The place I followed him to was where Baek Chan-geun was seeing outpatients.

Well, it seems less noticeable than the lab.

The outpatient hours were over, so there were fewer patients, and no one was paying attention to us.

If we went to the lab, I would have received strange looks because I had frequented it so often due to Dongjin’s false accusation.

“Chief, I’m going in.”

As soon as Dongjin’s knock ended, the word ‘come in’ was heard from inside.

When I opened the door and went inside, Baek Chan-geun was sitting alone at his desk.

Baek Chan-geun recognized me and got up to shake my hand.

“It’s been a while. I’m Baek Chan-geun.”

I had only seen him once in passing because of Dongjin’s case, but he remembered me.

“Hello. I’m Attorney Cha Juhan.”

I handed him my business card, and Baek Chan-geun took the business card, glanced over it for a moment, and placed it on his desk.

“Sit down.”

Baek Chan-geun offered the chair opposite him.

Sitting there felt like I had really come to see an outpatient.

Dongjin also tried to sit with me in the guardian’s chair, but he looked at Baek Chan-geun and me and whispered to me.

“Should I leave?”

“I’m okay. Are you okay, Chief?”

Baek Chan-geun looked at Dongjin for a moment and then nodded.

“If Doctor Yang doesn’t mind hearing, I’m okay too. Oh, would you like a cup of tea?”

“No. I already had one.”

“I see. Then let’s get down to business. It’s a day when I can go home early, so I don’t want to waste much time.”

“Yes. Well, as you heard from Dongjin, I would like to ask you about a doctor named Lim Hyeon-il, who is your classmate. Do you remember him?”

At my words, Baek Chan-geun looked up diagonally as if recalling his memories.

And soon he nodded and replied.

“I remember him. I spent several years with him from pre-med.”

“Do you still keep in touch?”

“Not really. I only get occasional calls from him when academic conference schedules overlap.”

[Truth]

They don’t seem to be close, and the fact that he calls first means that Baek Chan-geun isn’t particularly interested in Lim Hyeon-il.

On the other hand, Lim Hyeon-il seems to want to maintain contact with Baek Chan-geun.

“He and I are both CS, that is, cardiothoracic surgeons, so we often attend the same academic conferences.”

Indeed, Lim Hyeon-il was also a cardiothoracic surgeon.

“When you meet like that, do you exchange personal stories?”

“Hmm, well. I think we mainly talk about medical things, but we talk about simple updates. After entering this society, we are from local universities… Do young people these days often call them ‘jijapdae’?”

“Chief, jijapdae? What’s so important about undergraduate degrees?”

When the word jijapdae came out of Baek Chan-geun’s mouth, Dongjin didn’t know what to do and threw out a few words, but I didn’t take it seriously.

I’m not the one to say it, as I’m a ‘high-spec’ person that society commonly talks about, but I’m not very interested in education.

I don’t think social success is determined by education.

Besides, even if Paik In-je University is not well-regarded as a university, isn’t the medical school a place where you can only enter with high grades?

“There aren’t many jijapdae [graduates from less prestigious universities] graduates like us in this field. So Hyeon-il seems to want to stick together a bit, but I’m busy with work, so I often can’t have long conversations.”

“I see. Then you don’t know where or how the doctor named Lim Hyeon-il obtained his specialty.”

“Um, no. I know that much. He obtained a general surgery specialty from Paik In-je University Hospital, and then he did a cardiothoracic surgery residency in Japan. I think he came to Korea after that.”

In Japan?

I know that Japan is a medically advanced country, but in this situation, the fact that he did his residency in Japan is bothering me.

Perhaps it is related to the organ trafficking in Japan that Wooshin is carrying out.

“His family must be wealthy. He even went to study in Japan.”

“I don’t know about that, but he said he was selected as a Wooshin scholarship student and went.”

Wooshin scholarship student!

This is good information that keeps coming in.

“Can you also know why he went to Japan without doing his residency at Wooshin Hospital even though he was a Wooshin scholarship student?”

“Well. I don’t know that much.”

“Then there’s a chance he wrote papers in Japan.”

“That’s right. But since most papers are submitted to international conferences, you can also search for them under the name Lim Hyeon-il if you want to find them.”

“I’ve searched, but there wasn’t much information to be gained.”

“I see. Anyway, that’s all I know.”

Since he was a Wooshin scholarship student, Wooshin Hospital gave him a position, and it’s safe to assume that he secured a professorship at Wooshin’s main hospital after performing Kang Kwan-woong’s surgery.

“Lastly, do you remember what his personality was like?”

“Hmm, well. He wasn’t a noticeable personality. I remember he had a severe academic background complex, but all the students at Paik In-je Medical School were like that.”

“Was he noticeably career-oriented, or anything like that?”

“Isn’t that the case for everyone? I don’t think he was the only one.”

I heard a lot of information with this much.

All truth judgments came out of his mouth.

Baek Chan-geun also drew a line, saying that’s all he knows, so I’ll have to find more information using what I heard from him as keywords.

“Thank you.”

“I don’t know if it was helpful.”

“It was very helpful.”

“I’m glad.”

“Then I’ll be on my way. Thank you for your words.”

When I got up from my seat, Baek Chan-geun stood up with me.

“Ah, it’s very late… but I didn’t say this.”

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“I didn’t get to thank you for helping our Doctor Yang Dongjin. I also wanted to thank you for making it possible for Myungwoon University Hospital to make a fresh start.”

It’s late if it’s about that time, but I didn’t think it was something to be thanked for.

I was actually a little excited because I thought more stories about Lim Hyeon-il would come out.

“No. Then I’ll be on my way.”

“Be careful going in.”

I left the room with Dongjin and walked to the parking lot together.

Sang-gil, who had been following secretly, was now walking closer, and Dongjin glanced back at him, conscious of his presence.

“Where did you park the car?”

“We’re almost there. I have to go in now, you too.”

“Okay. I’m glad I could be of help to you.”

“You’re always helpful.”

“It’ll take a long time to repay your kindness, you.”

Dongjin said with a smile.

What kindness…

“Ah, your chief.”

“Huh?”

“He seems to cherish you.”

“…Really?”

Dongjin scratched his cheek.

He didn’t seem to dislike it.

“Anyway, I’m leaving. Thank you for today.”

“Okay. Go carefully. And, uh, please take good care of Juhan, bodyguard.”

When Dongjin spoke to Sang-gil, Sang-gil chuckled and said,

“Even if the doctor doesn’t ask, I’m responsible for the lawyer’s life.”

As if he thought his answer was quite cool, Sang-gil flared his nostrils and looked at me with eyes expecting praise.

Why is he being like this?

I pushed him towards the driver’s seat and said,

“Stop talking nonsense and drive.”