A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 211

Chapter 40: Suspicion (1)

“Sigh. You found out. I was hoping you’d find out later.”

Kyung-soo avoided Jun-hoo’s gaze as he continued.

A complicated and bitter smile appeared on Kyung-soo’s face.

“I knew how precious that patient was to you, so I couldn’t tell you. I knew the sense of loss would be great.”

“……”

“There’s no chance of that happening… I even thought it would be best if you never found out.”

“So, what happened? Stop being frustrating and tell me.”

“Okay.”

Kyung-soo’s calm explanation followed.

Around 1 a.m. this morning.

A nurse on her rounds discovered the vegetative state patient had suffered sudden cardiac arrest and acute respiratory failure.

Emergency CPR was performed, but the patient could not be revived.

This was a case that could be encountered commonly in the hospital.

It had happened many times in the past.

And it would happen many times in the future.

But Jun-hoo was the patient’s attending physician.

He couldn’t dismiss the patient’s death as trivial and commonplace.

Patient Min Tae-woong was Jun-hoo’s only patient, one that had never existed before and would never exist again.

Because he hadn’t prepared for the farewell, Jun-hoo felt like a hole had been punched in his heart.

The emptiness and sense of loss pierced his bones.

Jun-hoo suddenly recalled the patient sitting by the window, basking in the sunlight.

Jun-hoo thought of the patient as a flower that would bloom someday.

The patient withered before he could bloom again.

It was a heartbreaking and tragic event.

He didn’t want to experience such a helpless farewell again after Sung-ho, a medical school classmate one year his senior, passed away due to brain death.

But the world did not grant Jun-hoo’s wish.

“I hope you don’t think I’m being too cold, and just listen.”

Kyung-soo said, looking at the grief-stricken Jun-hoo.

“Sudden death is common among vegetative state patients. Vegetative state patients can breathe on their own, right?”

“……”

“So, we don’t usually attach patient monitoring devices. That’s why CPR was delayed. So, this incident was a tragedy that no one could help, no one could prevent.”

Kyung-soo’s words were cold, but they were clearly comforting.

Jun-hoo knew that Kyung-soo was taking care of him, unlike before.

“That’s not all.”

“You have more to say? Did you prepare thoroughly?”

“Yes, I prepared thoroughly. In some ways, you’re stronger than anyone, but in other ways, you’re weaker than anyone.”

Kyung-soo continued.

“Don’t feel guilty that the patient died on your day off. Nothing would have changed even if you were on duty.”

“……”

“And you know the patient had a do-not-resuscitate order [DNR], right? He was a patient who was difficult to recover from the start.”

“Thank you. That’s quite comforting. I mean it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Who was on duty yesterday? The on-duty staff must have been quite shocked too.”

“Senior Shi-ho.”

The moment he heard Shi-ho’s name,

A fierce wave surged again in Jun-hoo’s mind, which had been quietly sinking.

The on-duty staff was Shi-ho?

He couldn’t shake off the ominous and uneasy feeling.

If the patient died during Shi-ho’s shift, could it be seen as a coincidence?

Jun-hoo knew, even if no one else did, that Shi-ho had psychopathic tendencies.

When he thought about it carefully, the fact that the patient died on his day off also felt strange.

Perhaps Shi-ho had been eagerly waiting for yesterday, when Jun-hoo was absent, to orchestrate a seemingly accidental, intentional murder.

As his thoughts spread,

Goosebumps rose on his arms.

“Where is Senior Shi-ho?”

“He has surgeries from morning to afternoon. You’ll have to see him later. Why suddenly him?”

“No, I just thought Senior Shi-ho might need comfort too.”

“Even Senior Shi-ho was distressed because the patient died during his shift.”

Jun-hoo didn’t believe Kyung-soo’s words.

He could see it clearly without looking.

Shi-ho’s tears would have been crocodile tears [insincere display of sorrow].

“It must have been chaos this morning?”

“Of course. The patient and the guardian woke up, and we woke up to help with CPR. It’s a shame the result wasn’t good, but…”

After finishing the conversation with Kyung-soo,

Jun-hoo reviewed the nursing records of patient Min Tae-woong.

[C.A (sudden cardiac arrest) occurred during rounds at 1 a.m. The on-duty staff and nurses performed emergency CPR.]

[A.E.D (automated external defibrillator) used after 3 cycles of CPR. Epinephrine 1 amp IV per 3 minutes Inj.]

[CPR was performed for 30 minutes without improvement, and the on-duty physician declared expire (death). CPR terminated.]

The urgent situation that occurred in the early morning was written dryly in the notes. But Jun-hoo could feel the vividness with all five senses.

The staff rushing in.

Alternating CPR.

Intravenous fluids and injected drugs.

The guardian with a panicked and fearful expression.

The patient’s body heaving with each chest compression, and so on.

Reading the nursing records and experiencing the events of the early morning firsthand, Jun-hoo reviewed the patient’s discharge records.

The notification that a death certificate was needed was still flashing.

The moment he issued the death certificate,

The patient would leave Jun-hoo’s side forever.

Jun-hoo briefly placed his hand on the keyboard, then removed it again.

He couldn’t send the patient away yet.

There were a few things he wanted to check, no, he had to check.

“Kyung-soo, I’m really sorry, but can you watch the on-call room for just 40 minutes? There’s somewhere I need to go.”

* * *

Leaving the on-call room, Jun-hoo went straight to the 3rd basement floor of the main building.

Unlike the other floors, the hallway on the 3rd basement floor was completely empty.

Not even the shadows of patients, guardians, or staff could be seen. This was because the only department on the 3rd floor was the CCTV room [closed-circuit television surveillance room].

The CCTV room door was tightly closed, and the information window was open.

Jun-hoo stood in front of the window.

“What brings you here?”

A male guard, who looked to be in his late 20s, leaned his face out of the window.

He asked Jun-hoo what his business was.

“I came to check the CCTV footage. Is it possible to view it?”

“You came yourself, Doctor. Did a theft occur in the ward?”

“Something like that.”

“Come in.”

The door opened, and Jun-hoo entered the CCTV room. The CCTV room was filled with monitors filming closed-circuit footage, as the name suggested.

The inside and outside of the hospital were being thoroughly monitored.

There were as many as three staff members on duty.

“Where would you like to check?”

“The neurosurgery ward. From 10 p.m. last night to 2 a.m. this morning.”

“Just a moment.”

The guard who had guided Jun-hoo sat down and began to manipulate the computer.

While waiting for the footage,

Jun-hoo fueled his suspicion towards Shi-ho.

The fact that Shi-ho was on duty yesterday and that Jun-hoo happened to be off that day, lingered in his mind.

So, it was hard to shake off the anxiety that a planned murder had taken place.

Of course, this could be Jun-hoo’s excessive speculation.

The possibility that the patient had died of natural causes could not be ruled out.

Patient Min Tae-woong even had a do-not-resuscitate order. It wouldn’t be strange if his condition deteriorated rapidly and he died.

He would know once he checked which of the two was the truth.

After an anxious and long wait, the guard said he would show the footage.

“There are a total of four CCTV cameras, right? One near the ward station, one in front of the on-call room, one at the beginning of the hallway, and one at the end of the hallway.”

“……”

“Which one should I show you first?”

“Show me the one at the beginning of the hallway first.”

“You see the bar at the bottom of the video here? This part is where there was movement, so I’ll just show you this part.”

“Yes, please do.”

The guard played the first video.

The video contained the scenery from the beginning of the ward hallway to the one-third point.

Jun-hoo focused on the video with inner energy in his eyes. If there was a clue in the video, he wouldn’t miss even a speck of dust.

But, contrary to expectations, the first video was not very informative.

Only the nurses making rounds of the rooms every hour were recorded.

Next was the CCTV footage in front of the on-call room.

In this video, a slightly helpful clue was captured.

It was around 12:40 a.m.

Shi-ho suddenly appeared in the video.

He was filmed entering the staff restroom located in front of the on-call room.

Wasn’t the time when the patient experienced cardiac arrest and respiratory distress 1 a.m.?

The time he left the on-call room was very coincidental.

It was only 20 minutes before the incident.

Could Shi-ho have been preparing something in the restroom?

Such a chilling premonition suddenly flashed through his mind.

After that, Shi-ho left the restroom around 12:43 a.m. and disappeared again.

Whether he returned to the on-call room or secretly entered the room where Min Tae-woong was, no one knew.

It took Jun-hoo about 10 minutes to review all the videos.

Unfortunately, only the second video was meaningful because it filmed Shi-ho alone.

The remaining videos only captured the nurses and staff in the on-call room rushing down the ward hallway.

“Oh my, there was a big incident in the early morning. What happened to this patient?”

The guard, who was watching the video with him, asked Jun-hoo.

“He passed away.”

“Oh… I asked something unnecessary. I’m sorry.”

“Doctor, is this all the CCTV footage there is?”

“Yes. Is there a problem…?”

“This is troublesome.”

Jun-hoo stroked his chin with a dissatisfied expression.

The CCTV was missing the most critical section, which was the center of the ward hallway.

Patient Min Tae-woong’s room was in the center of the ward hallway, but there was no way to check that part.

If there was a CCTV camera that showed the center of the hallway, it would have been easy to figure out who had entered the room.

Evidence that Shi-ho had entered the room would have meant the case would have been half solved.

“The most important part is a blind spot.”

“There’s also the issue of infringing on patients’ privacy, and each CCTV camera costs money, from purchase to maintenance and repair.”

“……”

“So, from the hospital’s point of view, they have no choice but to install CCTV cameras sparsely.”

“I understand. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thank you for your hard work too, Doctor. Take care.”

Jun-hoo left the CCTV room with only a very faint clue in his hand.

It wasn’t a completely satisfying result, but it wasn’t a complete loss either because he found out that Shi-ho had suspicious behavior.

While heading to his next destination, Jun-hoo was deep in thought.

If Shi-ho was the culprit in this incident and committed planned murder, what would be the motive for the murder? And what would be the method of murder?

There were still many unanswered questions.

So, the truth seemed to be hidden tightly beyond the thick fog.

*It won’t be easy, but I have to do what I can. There’s no other way now. I have no choice but to make the most of the given environment….*

Pa-ba-ba-bat [onomatopoeia for quick footsteps].

Jun-hoo stepped on the footwork and came out to the 1st floor of the annex building.

He ran busily towards his last destination.

The place he arrived at, basking in the warm early autumn sunshine, was the funeral hall.