A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 183

Two days after the awakening surgery.

Jun-hoo was in the on-call room, charting and entering orders.

His fingers were on fire again today.

Tatatat.

Tatatat.

The sound of the keyboard resembled a machine gun burst. But despite the speed, there were no typos.

“It’s amazing every time I see it. You.”

Kyung-soo, his colleague beside him, said, watching Jun-hoo.

“What is?”

“It’s not just that you type fast, but there are no typos at all when you type on the keyboard.”

“You think I’m just typing without thinking? This is my battlefield.”

“Now you don’t have a place to fight, so you’re fighting with the keyboard?”

“Maybe.”

Jun-hoo chuckled.

Kyung-soo wouldn’t understand even if he died and came back to life, but the word ‘battlefield’ was not just a metaphor.

Fast and accurate typing.

What supported this was the various hand techniques (martial arts using hands) and finger techniques (martial arts using fingers) learned in the Murim world [a fictional world often depicted in martial arts stories].

But you know what?

Whenever Jun-hoo used hand techniques and finger techniques, his life was always in danger.

For Jun-hoo, who was a swordsman, using hand techniques and finger techniques meant he had dropped his sword from his hand.

Dropping the sword from his hand meant…

It meant that the opponent was formidable and he was in a crisis.

Perhaps that’s why.

When typing with hand techniques and finger techniques, Jun-hoo felt like he was being chased.

He became desperate for no reason.

This was an occupational hazard acquired in Murim.

Or it could be said to be a sequela [a condition that is the consequence of a previous disease or injury] or trauma acquired in Murim.

After finishing his computer work like a storm, Jun-hoo took out the medicine bottle on the table.

He took vitamin B, vitamin C, and taurine. All were nutritional supplements related to fatigue recovery.

“Don’t you take nutritional supplements?”

Jun-hoo asked Kyung-soo.

“I’m healthy even if I don’t take that kind of stuff. Why would I take nutritional supplements at our age?”

“You have to take care of your health in advance. Then have you never taken nutritional supplements before?”

“I only took them for a while when my parents gave them to me.”

Kyung-soo paused before continuing.

“It didn’t seem to have much effect… I don’t know why people take nutritional supplements so much.”

“If you take this and that, there will be something that works. Just take that.”

“Why bother with such effort?”

“It’ll be worth the effort.”

Jun-hoo was favorable to nutritional supplements.

He could fully absorb the nutrients of the supplements through Qi [vital energy] circulation.

But he didn’t overestimate nutritional supplements either.

Nutritional supplements were not a panacea [a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases].

They only helped with nutritional deficiencies caused by poor diet.

The best thing was a balanced diet, no matter what anyone said.

But the problem was that it was difficult to have a proper meal due to the nature of a surgeon.

“Even if you don’t take anything else, make sure to take probiotics.”

“Why probiotics?”

“You stay in the bathroom for a long time when you go. Aren’t you constipated?”

Kyung-soo avoided his gaze, embarrassed by Jun-hoo’s comment.

“There’s also a saying that the gut is responsible for 70-80 percent of the immune system.”

“…….”

“It’s not for nothing that eating well, sleeping well, and pooping well are important.”

“Yes. Yes. Your poop is thick.”

“Yeah. Please, let your poop get thicker now. I’m going on rounds. Take care of the place.”

Jun-hoo left the on-call room and went to the on-call sleeping quarters.

Since it was a weekday afternoon, the on-call room was empty.

Jun-hoo sat cross-legged in a corner of the on-call room.

He began to circulate his Qi, basking in the warm early autumn sunlight streaming in from the window.

Ssshhh.

As he inhaled, the vitality floating in the air entered his body.

Jun-hoo calmly let that vitality flow through the channels of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians [a concept in traditional Chinese medicine].

In the process, the nutrients from the supplements he had just taken spread evenly throughout his body.

Whoooo.

The pressure created by exhaling pushed the vitality into his lower dantian [energy center in the body].

The lower abdomen became faintly heavy.

Internal energy was accumulated.

After repeating this process for about 15 minutes, his body felt as light as if he could fly.

This was the cheat combination that made Jun-hoo who he is today: Qi circulation and nutritional supplements.

Jun-hoo left the on-call room feeling refreshed.

With his current condition, he could easily last until dawn.

* * *

Jun-hoo was examining a patient in the emergency room.

The patient’s name was Kang Jung-nam.

A 70-year-old man who was brought in by ambulance after fainting in the bathroom.

Vitals were normal.

Blood and urine tests showed signs of high blood pressure and diabetes.

There were no abnormalities on the head X-ray.

“Doctor, why did my father collapse? He’s healthy except for his underlying high blood pressure and diabetes.”

A guardian who appeared to be his daughter asked Jun-hoo.

The patient, who had just regained consciousness.

He had a blank expression.

His eyes, with blurred focus, were only looking up at the ceiling.

“Could there be a tumor in his head or a problem with his blood vessels?”

“As I see it, fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. He didn’t have any head trauma from falling either.”

“He fainted and was brought here.”

The guardian glanced at the patient with worried eyes.

On the other hand, Jun-hoo’s attitude was consistently calm.

The moment he heard the circumstances of the patient being brought to the emergency room, something immediately came to mind.

“Doctor, while we’re here, please let him get a CT scan.”

“I fully understand that you’re worried about your father, but there’s no need to worry too much. There’s no need to waste money.”

“But how can I not worry? We need to know the cause of his collapse.”

“I know the cause.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll tell you now. Patient?”

Jun-hoo’s soft gaze turned to the patient.

“Yes.”

“When you were in the bathroom, did you strain too hard when you were doing your business?”

“How did you know that?”

“It’s a doctor’s intuition.”

“Actually, I… I haven’t been able to do my business for three days. So I forced myself to strain.”

The patient replied, embarrassed.

“Guardian, this is the reason why the patient fainted.”

“What? I still don’t understand?”

Jun-hoo gave an additional explanation for the bewildered guardian.

He explained that straining too hard to pass stool can cause vasovagal syncope [fainting due to a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure] due to hypotension [low blood pressure] and decreased cerebral blood flow.

“It’s a common phenomenon in elderly patients. You were very surprised, but there are many similar cases.”

“…….”

“Patients who faint while urinating or defecating in the bathroom.”

“So it’s not because of a special disease?”

“That’s right. In the future, don’t try too hard in the bathroom and rather take a laxative.”

“Yes. I understand. I’ve troubled many people with something that’s not a big deal.”

The patient scratched his graying hair, embarrassed.

“Trouble? If you fainted, you should definitely come to the hospital.”

Without any special prescription, Jun-hoo sent the patient and guardian back.

Watching the father and daughter walking away, Jun-hoo was lost in thought.

Living is birth, aging, sickness, and death.

In other words, it could be summarized as the process of getting old, getting sick, and dying.

And Jun-hoo, who works at the hospital, felt birth, aging, sickness, and death every day.

He himself would one day get old, get sick, and die.

However, the important thing was what meaning he placed on the process and what he achieved.

My goal is to save as many lives as possible.

By becoming the best neurosurgeon.

Conquering the brain, spine, and stereotactic neurosurgery parts, and further mastering hand surgery and trauma surgery, which perform limb replantation surgery.

Someday, I have to cure brain death and vegetative state.

Jun-hoo looked down at the health bracelet he was wearing on his right wrist and renewed his determination.

Until he kept his promise with Sung-ho.

Jun-hoo could not stop growing.

While leaving the emergency room to return to the neurosurgery ward.

Jun-hoo spotted a familiar figure walking ahead.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

That the world’s population is 8 billion, but to be able to accurately identify who the other person is just by looking at their back.

“Excuse me. Do you have some time?”

Jun-hoo lightly placed his hand on the shoulder of the person walking ahead.

The other person turned around to check Jun-hoo and was startled.

“What? You surprised me!”

“Of course, I should surprise you. That was the purpose.”

“I was worried that a strange person was hitting on me.”

The person who let out a sigh of relief was none other than Ah-young.

From a friendship that had lasted for about 7 years, she was now Jun-hoo’s one and only lover.

Although she confessed directly.

Jun-hoo sometimes couldn’t believe that he was dating Ah-young.

“Ah-young, did you see an emergency room patient too?”

“Yeah. It was a chest pain patient. I was nervous because I thought it might be a pneumothorax [collapsed lung], but it turned out to be a reflux esophagitis [inflammation of the esophagus] patient. What kind of patient did you see, Jun-hoo?”

“An elderly patient who fainted in the bathroom. He collapsed while straining.”

“It was surprisingly mild? I thought you always saw emergency patients, Jun-hoo.”

“There have to be days like this so I can take a breather, right?”

While chatting with Ah-young, Jun-hoo went to the staff lounge on the 3rd floor.

Thanks to the emergency room treatment ending sooner than expected, he was able to spare about 10 to 20 minutes.

The staff lounge on the 3rd floor was empty and had a desolate atmosphere.

Old and scratched sofas were placed in a ‘ㄷ’ shape, and a vending machine was placed near the entrance.

The two of them took out canned coffee and sat side by side on the sofa.

“Did I do something unnecessary?”

“Huh? Why suddenly?”

“I put up a picture we took together on my messenger profile and showed off that we were dating. Aren’t people around you bothering you?”

“The senior doctors in the department are bothering me with questions.”

“Is it still like that?”

“Yeah. But I think it’ll stop after about a week? Isn’t it the same for you, Jun-hoo?”

It wasn’t that he didn’t expect the heated reaction from those around him.

But Jun-hoo didn’t know it would be this much.

People who were close to Jun-hoo would bring up Ah-young’s story whenever they ran into Jun-hoo.

“But I thought it was right to do this. If we make our relationship public, I’ll feel more responsible and no one will hit on you, Ah-young.”

“…….”

“Even if I could turn back time, I would have made the same decision.”

“It’s okay. You did well. My baby.”

Ah-young said teasingly and patted Jun-hoo on the back.

“Actually, I felt relieved too?”

“Really? You’re not just saying that because of me, are you?”

“Of course, it’s real. You don’t know how much I’ve dreamed of this day.”

After speaking, Ah-young leaned her head on Jun-hoo’s shoulder.

Jun-hoo felt a sense of stability in the fact that there was someone leaning on him.

Perhaps Jun-hoo had been mistaken all along.

It wasn’t that he was neglecting his medical skills because of love.

He didn’t know that he could devote himself more to his medical skills with the strong support of love.

“Ah-young, you’re on duty today, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m off, you know? Can I come to your on-call room around dawn?”

“Aren’t you busy studying?”

“We have to date like this from time to time. It’s hard to even see your face.”

Jun-hoo made a fairly unconventional proposal, but Ah-young’s reaction was surprisingly not good.

Ah-young narrowed her eyes and stared at Jun-hoo.

“Jun-hoo. Don’t tell me…….”

“Don’t tell you what?”

“You’re already trying to do something perverted? Because it’s a night when there are no people…….”

“Excuse me. I’m not that kind of person. You’ve got the wrong number? Everyone in the world is a wolf except for me?”

“No? Now you’re the biggest wolf?”

The two of them giggled and exchanged jokes.

“Oh, right. I saw your senior the other day, Jun-hoo?”

“Who?”

“I don’t remember the name, but it was a small person with fair skin.”

Listening to Ah-young’s story, Jun-hoo immediately thought of Si-ho.

He frowned.

He didn’t like Si-ho and Ah-young’s contact.

What should I say?

He had an ominous feeling that Si-ho would reach out to Ah-young.

He wouldn’t do it to anyone else, but Si-ho would do it.

“Don’t act like you know that person.”

“Why? She seemed like a good person? Her tone was also kind and cheerful, and her smile was nice to see.”

“It’s hard to explain everything… You must not associate with that person.”

“What? Are you already jealous?”

“That’s right, I’m jealous. So keep my words in mind.”

Jun-hoo urged Ah-young once more. Not to get close to Si-ho.

Beeep.

The pager in his gown rang.

Checking the number, it was ominously the intensive care unit.

Even if it was a ward call, there were no easy calls from the intensive care unit.

-Doctor. Where are you?

“I’m in the lounge, but I was just about to go back.”

-Can you come to the intensive care unit now? The pianist patient who had awakening surgery is…….”

“I’ll go right away. I’ll hang up.”

Jun-hoo ended the call without even listening to the notification.

If it was related to Myung-han, Jun-hoo had to manage it himself anyway.

“Is it an emergency call?”

“Yeah. Ah-young, you can rest a little more. See you at dawn.”

Leaving Ah-young in the lounge, Jun-hoo hurriedly went to the neurosurgery intensive care unit.