A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 233

Chapter 44: Backing (3)

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I think my friend can’t handle his liquor tonight,” Donggeon said apologetically.

“It’s alright. People make mistakes,” Junhoo replied.

When Changhwan broke the glass, a restaurant employee quickly came to their table.

*Swish, swish.* They swept up the shards of glass.

The other patrons, who had briefly turned to look, gradually went back to their own meals and conversations.

However, Junhoo’s gaze remained fixed on the other table.

More precisely, he was carefully observing Changhwan, not the table itself.

“Why? Are you bothered by those people?” Ayoung asked, noticing Junhoo’s intense stare.

“Their conversation has been a bit loud since earlier.”

“I think there’s something more than just the conversation. The guy with the glasses… we might need to send him to the ER (emergency room),” Junhoo said, his voice low.

“The hospital?” Ayoung was startled. She quickly glanced at Changhwan, who was indeed wearing glasses.

She hadn’t paid much attention, but Changhwan seemed perfectly fine.

She didn’t see anything that suggested he needed immediate medical attention.

“I’m not sure. What looks wrong with him?”

“He has a problem with his brain. You probably wouldn’t notice anything strange with just a quick glance. It’s subtle.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Besides, you’re like the Conan [Detective Conan, a famous detective manga character] and Kim Jeon-il [a humorous reference to someone who always knows everything] of the medical world, aren’t you?” Ayoung joked.

“It’s about time a patient showed up around here,” Junhoo muttered, half to himself.

“…….”

Junhoo couldn’t really argue with that.

Whether he was on duty or enjoying his days off, patients seemed to find him, as if the god of medicine was playing a prank on him.

“Ayoung, I’m sorry, but I need to go check on a patient. It’ll be 15 minutes at most.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

With Ayoung’s permission, Junhoo got up from his seat and approached the table across from them with a determined look.

* * *

“Excuse me. Can I talk to you for a moment?” Junhoo asked.

“What is it, young man?” Donggeon asked, looking up at the approaching student.

The student was handsome and tall, like a celebrity.

His overall image reminded Donggeon of his favorite trot singer [trot is a genre of Korean pop music].

So, he was favorably inclined towards him.

“I have something important to tell you. It’s about your friend.”

“What, you’re not going to ask me to buy something weird or put a sticker on me, are you?” Donggeon asked suspiciously.

“I’m on a date with my girlfriend across from you. I wouldn’t do that.”

“I’m just kidding. Just kidding. Don’t stand there, sit down,” Donggeon said with a chuckle, his friendly nature kicking in.

They exchanged names. The student’s name was Seo Junhoo.

He looked young, so Donggeon assumed he was a college student, but he was actually a resident at a university hospital in his late twenties.

“I’ll get straight to the point. You need to take your friend to the university hospital emergency room right away.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? He’s just enjoying his drinks,” Donggeon said, wrinkles appearing on his forehead.

His nose crinkled, and his brow furrowed.

“He’s not feeling well today, so he made a mistake, but it’s not like he needs to go to the hospital.”

“Y-Yeah… that’s right,” Changhwan mumbled, his words slightly slurred.

Changhwan seemed to be slurring his words because he was drunk.

“It might seem like your friend is just drunk because you’re at a drinking party, but the situation is more serious than you think,” Junhoo said, his expression grave.

He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

*Is this guy really a doctor? Is he suddenly going to ask me if I know about ‘the Way’ [a reference to cult recruitment]?* Donggeon wondered, starting to doubt Junhoo.

He kept insisting that Changhwan, who looked perfectly healthy, was an emergency patient.

“Look, don’t ruin our appetite and go back to your seat.”

“I can’t. If I go, you two have to go. To the emergency room.”

“Goodness. I’ve never met such a frustrating guy in my life.”

“I’m going to conduct three tests now. If your friend passes, I’ll pay for your drinks and leave without a word.”

“…….”

“But if he doesn’t pass, you have to go to the emergency room right away.”

“Tests? You’re not going to make us do some ridiculous tests, are you?”

“These are tests that even a kindergartener could pass if they’re healthy.”

“Then go ahead,” Donggeon said, nodding at Junhoo’s confident answer.

He still thought Junhoo’s intentions seemed suspicious, and he doubted whether he would really keep his promise, but he agreed to the proposal for now.

“First, say ‘eee’.”

“Geez. I thought it was going to be something when you said ‘test.’ You call this a test? Changhwan, we just saved money on gopchang today,” Donggeon said, relieved.

“Y-Yeah…” Changhwan replied.

At Junhoo’s instruction, Changhwan made an ‘eee’ sound and smiled faintly.

But then, something unbelievable happened.

Changhwan couldn’t smile properly.

The left corner of his mouth went up, while the right corner drooped down.

His awkward smile had a wave shape (∽).

Only then did Donggeon realize that something was wrong.

He also started to think that Junhoo might not be a strange person after all.

“Now, for the second test. Close your eyes and extend both arms forward.”

“Changhwan. Don’t joke around this time and do it properly.”

“O-Okay.”

Changhwan closed his eyes and stretched both arms straight forward.

“Ha… I’m going crazy. Seriously,” Donggeon sighed.

Changhwan failed Junhoo’s test again.

He raised his left arm properly, but his right arm showed no signs of rising at all.

As Junhoo had mentioned earlier, he couldn’t perform even one of the actions that a kindergartener could do.

Considering that Changhwan wasn’t even drunk to the point of being completely intoxicated, this was clearly unusual.

“Okay. Last test. ‘I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.’ Repeat after me.”

“Hey. Let’s do well this time. You even prepared for the announcer exam when you were younger. This should be a piece of cake, right?”

“I… I scream, I scream. Uh… I scream, I scream. I scream…”

It was understandable that he stumbled a few times because it was a difficult sentence to pronounce, but Changhwan’s pronunciation was worse than expected.

He couldn’t even complete the sentence.

Listening to Changhwan’s pronunciation, Donggeon’s chest felt tight, as if he had a sweet potato stuck in his throat.

“Your friend failed all the tests. Keep your promise. Stop drinking and go to the hospital,” Junhoo said firmly, as if he had anticipated this outcome.

“But why did you do those weird tests just now?”

“You may have taken it lightly, but it’s the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) test. In simple terms…”

Junhoo paused before continuing. “It’s a test to identify stroke patients.”

“Then, could it be that Changhwan is…”

“Yes. It’s a stroke. A taxi will be faster than an ambulance, so take a taxi to the nearby Samjeong Seoul Hospital.”

* * *

*Broom~ Broom~* Junhoo stared blankly at the receding taxi.

Then, he shifted his gaze to the business card in his hand.

[Seo Changhwan, CEO of Seongshin Building.]

The moment he saw the business card, a burst of laughter escaped him.

How simple and modest the business card was!

Changhwan, the emergency stroke patient, was a building owner.

“Th-Thank you… Pleathe… pleathe contact… me. I will… repay you,” Changhwan had stammered just before getting into the taxi, handing Junhoo his business card.

Still, it was a relief that it was discovered early. Since it was caught in time, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

With a sigh of relief, Junhoo returned to the gopchang restaurant.

In fact, Junhoo had suspected Changhwan’s stroke even before conducting the stroke test.

For reference, stroke is a diagnostic term that refers to all cerebrovascular diseases caused by cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage.

The subtle distortion of Changhwan’s mouth, dropping the soju glass, and so on…

As a result of careful observation, Junhoo had found several reasons to suspect a stroke.

The reason he conducted the test was to convince the patient and his friend that it was a stroke and to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.

“Sorry. Did I make you wait long?” Junhoo asked, sitting across from Ayoung.

“No. It really only took about 15 minutes, didn’t it?”

“In 15 minutes, you can devour 4 servings of gopchang,” Junhoo joked, checking the empty grill.

Ayoung was a gopchang killer, no, a gopchang assassin. She had a knack for dealing with gopchang.

It seemed that no gopchang could survive in front of Ayoung.

“Should we order more?”

“Yeah. Let’s order one more serving and then have fried rice.”

Junhoo pressed the bell and placed an additional order.

“How did that person turn out?”

“I did a stroke test, and he failed all of them. So, I sent him to a nearby university hospital.”

“Wow! Was it a stroke?”

“That’s right.”

“If you hadn’t met Junhoo, that person would have been in big trouble. They would have thought he was just drunk and couldn’t speak properly and was shaking his hands, not that he had a stroke,” Ayoung said, her observation sharp.

If stroke symptoms had appeared in a normal situation, the patient would have suspected something was wrong. He would have wondered, ‘Why am I suddenly like this?’

But the patient happened to have a stroke while at a drinking party, making it easy to mistake stroke symptoms for drinking symptoms.

“Our Junhoo has amazing observation skills. I’m so proud of you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But Junhoo,” Ayoung continued with a serious expression.

Junhoo was slightly nervous at the sudden change in atmosphere.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Why don’t we go on a date at a scenic pension [a Korean-style cabin or resort] next time?”

“You wanted to go to a pension.”

“No, it’s for another reason. I’ve been feeling this for a while… You’re always so tense when we’re on a date.”

“…….”

“You’re constantly looking around and observing people. That kind of look makes me feel uneasy, like you’re having a hard time.”

“…….”

“You were like that just now too. Of course, you did a good thing, but you caught someone who could have just passed by.”

Ayoung’s observation was accurate. It penetrated Junhoo’s usual behavior.

*Could it be because he was from the Murim world [a world of martial arts and warriors]?* Junhoo never let go of his tension, even in his daily life.

Because he never knew when and where an ambush would unfold. He never knew when and where hidden weapons would fly.

In other words, Junhoo’s excellent observation skills stemmed from a deep-rooted anxiety.

Of course, he knew that there were no assassins or killers in modern times, but old habits die hard.

*Ah… come to think of it, I’m looking at other people, but Ayoung has been looking only at me, from the past until now.*

Junhoo was grateful and sorry for Ayoung’s love.

He wanted to treat Ayoung better in the future.

“I think you’d be less tense if we were in a place with fewer people. What do you think?”

“You’re right about everything, Ayoung. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”

“Tch. You always say the right things,” A faint smile appeared on Ayoung’s lips.

After demolishing the additional serving of gopchang and fried rice, Junhoo left the gopchang restaurant with Ayoung.

*Chik! Chik! Chik!* They sprayed air freshener on their clothes to get rid of the gopchang smell as much as possible.

While walking along the crowded streets of Gangnam Station for about 15 minutes, the two stopped in front of a building.

The building was located slightly away from the downtown area, but it was a stylishly decorated 10-story building.

This was the location of today’s second battlefield: the studio of Nice Dancing TV, where they would film a real-time collaboration video.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Junhoo entered the lobby on the first floor of the building with Ayoung. The preparations to completely turn the studio upside down were already complete.