Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 95

#95 Reversal of Fortune (4)

July night.

The outside air now carries a distinct scent of summer.

Geun-wook and I left the hospital in casual clothes for the first time in a while.

We arrived at a dried fish and beer place that was open late.

Buzzing—

It was already bustling before we even stepped inside.

Groups of office workers sat at every table, raising their glasses and relieving their stress.

“Ukikikik!”

A bizarre laughter erupted as soon as we opened the door.

What is that sound?

It was definitely Sodam’s voice.

Judging by how unusually excited she was, she must have had a lot to drink.

“Where is that laughter coming from?”

“There she is.”

We soon spotted Sodam and Yeonseo sitting at a table inside.

Sodam’s face was as red as a tomato.

The smell of alcohol seemed to hit us before we even got close.

“You’re here?”

“Seon-han, annyong~!”

The two people sitting at the small tin table raised their hands high.

We pulled up chairs and sat next to them.

Geun-wook chuckled and asked.

“Only Seon-han is welcome, and I’m invisible?”

“Aww, what are you saying? Welcome, Geun-wook *oppa* [older brother or male friend].”

“But why did you guys drink so much?”

“I didn’t drink much; Sodam *unni* [older sister or female friend] drank it all.”

Sodam drank all of this by herself?

I stared at the bottles on the table.

One, two, three…….

It was definitely a lot for one person to drink.

It was even more surprising because Sodam usually doesn’t drink well.

“Did something happen at the hospital?”

I asked worriedly.

Keueu~.

Without a word, Sodam emptied her *soju* [Korean distilled spirit] glass and shouted into the air.

“Hey, am I that easy to mess with!”

Judging by her unpleasant expression, I suddenly had a hunch.

“Did something happen in the Department of Radiology? Is it related to that Dr. Chu Geun-deok?”

It seemed like I guessed correctly.

A fleeting look of depression crossed Sodam’s face.

Then, she chuckled and slurred her words.

“No, well… Aish… There are guys like that in life… I just have to bear it and move on… Kikik!”

What is she saying?

I couldn’t understand a word.

I strained my ears to interpret Sodam’s words, but it was in vain.

“She’s completely gone.”

“What happened to her to make her like this?”

“Well……”

Eventually, Yeonseo, who was sitting next to her, sighed and began to tell the story.

* * *

Last Friday.

There was a department dinner for the Department of Radiology.

Since the department was mostly composed of good-natured people, the atmosphere was peaceful at first.

However, the atmosphere changed when Dr. Chu Geun-deok joined them for the second round of drinks.

That was the beginning.

Dr. Chu, who was drunk, pressured Sodam to drink.

Then, he subtly started making strange remarks.

He asked about her dating experience.

He said things like, “Shall I read your palm?”

When Sodam adamantly refused and backed away, he said with a drunken face.

Then, the people around them noticed and tried to stop him.

Only then did Chu Geun-deok seem to sober up a bit and back down.

“What? That happened?”

“How obnoxious. If it were me, I would have smashed that guy’s head with a beer glass!”

At my and Geun-wook’s words, Sodam shouted.

“Aish… I’m also annoyed. I should have protested with a straight face back then, but the fact that I just stood there is the most infuriating thing!”

That’s understandable.

When you’re actually in that position, it’s difficult to protest right away.

Especially in a hierarchical organizational culture, it’s not easy to speak directly to a superior.

Hospitals, companies, the military, and so on.

It’s probably the same everywhere.

“I heard Chu Geun-deok already has a bad reputation; is he usually like that?”

“Ugh, don’t even mention it. Last month, he did this to another intern……”

Yeonseo continued to speak.

Soon, several of Chu Geun-deok’s remarks were exposed.

This was mild because Sodam was here; the other cases were worse.

He often abused his power over the interns or subtly made unwanted advances.

“Do we have to put up with this?”

“What else can we do?”

“Can’t we report him to the HR department?”

“Everyone probably endured it because they didn’t want to stir up trouble. Our interns have to go for readings in the future, so we have no choice but to keep running into him.”

“I guess……”

Geun-wook and Yeonseo clicked their tongues.

The special nature of the hospital intern system.

First. They have no affiliation.

Second. They work in a new environment every month.

Even if they do well nine times, their reputation can be tarnished if they are disliked even once.

So, even if there are dirty and unfair things, they usually just endure it for a year.

Perhaps the majority of young professionals are in a similar situation.

“Especially interns who want to specialize in radiology have an even harder time saying anything to Chu Geun-deok. They’re afraid of getting on his bad side if they say something wrong……”

I roughly understood the situation.

It felt like something that was bound to explode was finally starting to.

There was even a section in the intern *bamboo forest* [anonymous online forum for sharing workplace grievances].

―Hey guys, what’s the worst thing you’ve heard from Chu so-and-so?

―Ah, that person?

―These days, his basic title for male interns is *gaeXX* [Korean slang, similar to ‘son of a bitch’], right?

―He’s been subtly hitting on the female interns since last month. Seems like he’s living up to his name.

And so on…….

The behind-the-scenes stories are ominous.

Is this what they call ‘digging and digging reveals only horror stories’?

―He was quiet at the beginning of the year; why is he acting like this?

―Apparently, he’s always been like that. He used to hit on female colleagues whenever he had the chance at his previous hospital.

―Isn’t he married?

―Yeah lol

―It’s not funny ㅠㅠ I was going to specialize in radiology, but the thought of facing that kind of person every day makes me feel hopeless!

The evaluation among the interns was, in a word, the worst.

But these kinds of people also do well with their superiors.

Moreover, they write a lot of papers and are recognized within the organization.

“*Unni*, let’s just tell your dad. If the vice president knew, would he just stand by? Let’s give him some real education!”

Sodam shook her head at Yeonseo’s words.

“No, I don’t want to summon Dad for something like this. I’ll have to handle it myself in the future……”

Sodam has bad memories.

Memories of being subtly ostracized as a ‘royal’ [someone with family connections] during her college days.

So, it’s understandable that she doesn’t want to use her dad’s connections.

Thinking about it, the fact that she used her dad to help me last time was a very exceptional situation.

“Hey, hey, she’s falling.”

“What do we do!”

“Catch her!”

Thud.

Sodam valiantly falls in battle.

She had been teetering since earlier and finally slammed her head on the table.

Should we be thankful that she didn’t throw up everything?

“What should we do?”

“Let’s move her to the dorm first.”

“Will it be okay?”

“Of course. This is the *latissimus dorsi* [broadest muscle of the back] I’ve been cultivating for days like this.”

“Oh, you’re the best, Geun-wookmon.”

“Okay, get on my back!”

Heave-ho!

Geun-wook carried Sodam on his back.

The time was already midnight.

We took Sodam outside.

“Should we take a taxi?”

“No way. We won’t be able to catch one around here anyway.”

“Tell me if you’re tired; I’ll take over.”

The alley was still noisy.

It was full of office workers drinking and complaining about their hardships for their own reasons.

We carried Sodam on our backs and headed out of the narrow alley toward the crosswalk.

Vroom—

The cars on the road indifferently passed us by.

There are times like that.

Moments when we interns realize that we are very small beings in the society called the hospital.

Today is one of those days.

‘Is adapting to social life about becoming increasingly desensitized and accustomed to these things and accepting them?’

Soon, I shook my head at my own thoughts.

No.

It’s clearly different.

Adapting to social life means adapting to the inevitable friction that comes with human relationships.

But this isn’t something that inevitably comes with it.

Someone is clearly behaving wrongly, and it’s something that needs to be corrected.

‘Chu Geun-deok, huh.’

At this point, I’m curious.

It’s always best to avoid inherently bad people, but…….

I want to see what kind of person he is and take a look at his face.

* * *

And that day came to me before long.

This refers to taking care of the reading results of the tests that are absolutely necessary for surgery.

All patients must undergo certain tests before surgery.

Chest X-ray and electrocardiogram.

Also, these tests must have reading results.

What if there are no results?

Then the anesthesiology department will not cooperate with the surgery.

Among hospital staff, this is expressed as ‘the anesthesiology department will not open the operating room.’

10 p.m.

Today, the neurosurgery department has an emergency surgery open.

One surgery is coming to an end, and the next surgery needs to be performed in succession.

However, Dr. Heo Gi-jin was in a panic.

“Ugh…… The reading still hasn’t come. If we don’t have this reading, the anesthesiology department won’t open the operating room; this is a big problem……”

He paced back and forth anxiously.

It’s already been three hours.

He sent a request for a video reading, but he had not received any response from the Department of Radiology.

In this case, they can’t even start the surgery.

“Intern…… Has the reading not come yet?”

He asked me.

I was already getting anxious.

“I changed it from to , but it still hasn’t come.”

“Did you text the on-call doctor?”

“Yes.”

“What about calling?”

“I tried twice, but it was constantly busy.”

Dr. Heo Gi-jin checked the on-call schedule on the PC inside the operating room with a troubled expression and said.

“Ah, Dr. Chu Geun-deok is on call today. I heard this person is a bit strange? They say it’s hard to get readings from him……”

In a small hospital society, rumors spread quickly.

It seems that Chu Geun-deok’s infamy is already well-known in the neurosurgery department.

“What should we do?”

“I’ll call the Department of Radiology first……”

Dr. Heo Gi-jin picked up the call phone.

Beep beep beep.

Beep beep beep.

However, only an empty ringing tone was repeated from beyond the phone.

“Oh, he’s really not answering the phone. Is he busy……”

Dr. Heo Gi-jin’s face became even paler.

He was already thin, and now that the color had drained from his face, it looked like he was about to collapse.

This won’t do.

In this case, there’s no choice but to resort to analog methods.

“I’ll go there myself.”

“Will you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I’ll do this patient’s car-out…… You run quickly!”

I nodded.

Then, I printed out the reading request form from the operating room and ran straight to the Department of Radiology.

Because it’s also the intern’s job to make things work by rubbing shoulders with other departments like this.

* * *

Knock knock—

I knocked and slightly opened the door to the Department of Radiology.

The Department of Radiology was generally dim because it was a room for reading X-rays and CT scans on a black background.

As if only a night light was on, only orange halogen lamps were weakly flickering from the ceiling.

‘Is no one here?’

At that time, something caught my eye.