A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 266

Chapter 51: Let’s Fight (1)

Toc. Toc. Toc.

Standing in front of the on-call room, Jun-hoo knocked.

“Come in.”

The chief’s voice sounded more sinister than usual today.

Jun-hoo entered the chief’s office.

The chief was in his usual arrogant posture, leaning back on the sofa.

His face was full of smiles, as if something good had happened.

The unease amplified.

What was good for the chief was usually not good for the department or the staff.

“I heard you were looking for me.”

Jun-hoo sat down across from the chief.

“Yes. I suddenly wanted to see you today, Jun-hoo.”

“Ah… I see.”

“I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve been watching you for a long time. During the awake surgery and the pediatric moyamoya disease [a rare progressive cerebrovascular disorder] vascular surgery, you played a huge role.”

The chief crossed his legs and continued.

“Even today, I heard you did a great job in the finger replantation surgery?”

“Professor Seong just looked favorably on me. I’m still ten years short of catching up to the chief and other professors.”

“You’re too modest.”

*What is he trying to say, laying the groundwork like this?*

He only gave external praise when I became a million-subscriber YouTuber.

Jun-hoo jumped straight to the point.

“Is there a reason why you called me in?”

“Don’t you want to talk to me?”

“That’s not true at all. I have to go to the ICU for rounds.”

“You can have the other guys do that. There’s even a first-year junior.”

The chief took a sip of tea.

The steam rising from the teacup wavered precariously in the chief’s breath.

Clang!

The sound of the teacup hitting the floor was loud.

“I wanted to say it carefully, but I don’t think I need to.”

“…….”

“The water has already been spilled anyway. In a good way. I’m sure you’ll be happy to hear it.”

The chief’s eyes targeted Jun-hoo like a bullseye.

Jun-hoo swallowed hard.

The vague anxiety was about to reveal its true form.

Was he nervous because he had a prejudice against the chief?

Or…

Was his intuition predicting what was about to happen? Only time would tell.

“Jun-hoo.”

“Yes, Chief.”

“Work until the end of this week and then go down to Daejeon.”

The chief’s unilateral order struck Jun-hoo like a bolt of lightning.

* * *

Thud.

The door closed.

Jun-hoo left the chief’s office.

He resisted quite stubbornly, but in the end, Jun-hoo had no choice but to follow his orders.

That was the difference in rank.

For a mere soldier to disobey the commander’s orders…

That was absurd.

Toc. Toc. Toc.

No sooner had Jun-hoo left than there was a knock.

When he said to come in, Associate Professor Ma Seok-min entered.

He sat across from the chief.

“You seem to be in a good mood?”

Seok-min asked, studying the chief’s expression.

“Of course, I’m in a good mood. You know Director Lee Si-deok of the Daejeon branch, right?”

“Who doesn’t? Isn’t he the friend who recently became the director? I’m not close, but he’s also my classmate.”

“That friend of mine…”

The chief whistled a cheerful tune and continued his explanation.

Si-deok had offered him the position of academic director of the Korean Neurosurgical Association, and he had readily accepted it.

“Si-deok is definitely capable. He manages people well and is quick-witted.”

“…….”

“But did that friend offer you the directorship for free? He’s not the type to offer such a position for nothing.”

Seok-min raised a question.

The chief had the same thought as Seok-min when he received Si-deok’s offer.

*Why suddenly?*

*Why me?*

*Why would he make such a radical offer to give me the directorship?*

The chief also had a knack for using his head.

“He said the department’s situation wasn’t good, so he wanted to take Jun-hoo for a while.”

“Ah… Jun-hoo was a hostage? No wonder he didn’t look good when I ran into him on the way here.”

“What’s he going to do if he doesn’t look good?”

The chief laughed heartily.

A chess piece just had to move well as the person playing the game told it to.

The chief had no interest in the feelings of the chess piece.

“Chief.”

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just keep Jun-hoo here?”

Seok-min made an unexpected suggestion.

The chief’s eyebrows twitched uncomfortably.

“Why?”

“Jun-hoo is like lubricant for the department. He’s a sharp assistant in the operating room, and he excels in patient management and staff management in the ward.”

“…….”

“Without Jun-hoo, the department might creak.”

“Huh… You’ve become a big fan of Seo Jun-hoo. To say the department won’t function without him… That’s nonsense.”

As if it wasn’t worth listening to anymore.

The chief waved his hand.

The department he was in charge of had been running smoothly for five years without Jun-hoo.

Seok-min’s concerns were more exaggerated than popcorn.

“You know that according to hospital rules, residents must be dispatched to another hospital in our system, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Then think about it. Jun-hoo would have had to be dispatched someday, even if it wasn’t today, right?”

“The chief is right, but…”

“But what?”

“How should I put it… The timing doesn’t seem very good.”

“Timing? Are you talking about the election of the deputy director of medical affairs?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m preparing everything myself. I’ll get extra points if I become the director of the association’s academic journal this time.”

In the second half of this year, the Seoul headquarters will elect a new deputy director of medical affairs.

The chief becomes the deputy director of medical affairs.

Seok-min takes over the chief’s vacancy.

This was the secret agreement between the two.

“But what does the election of the deputy director of medical affairs have to do with Jun-hoo?”

The chief asked, tilting his head.

After thinking hard, he couldn’t see any connection between the two.

“Wouldn’t the department have to be free of problems for the chief to be promoted smoothly?”

“Of course.”

“But Jun-hoo has prevented several major incidents in the department, right? He played a role during the awake surgery and the pediatric moyamoya disease surgery.”

“…….”

“I strangely feel like Jun-hoo is a talisman that wards off bad luck.”

“For the next chief to be so weak-willed.”

The chief shook his head.

Good personality, good surgical skills.

He was good in every way, but Seok-min had one fatal flaw.

He was a chicken.

How could he be so nervous and anxious just because of Jun-hoo’s absence?

Perhaps that’s why the future of the neurosurgery department that Seok-min would lead seemed precarious.

“Stop whining like a child. The deal with Director Si-deok is already done.”

The chief’s voice was as firm and sharp as a knife.

* * *

“Ha… Fucking hell.”

A stream of curses flowed from Jun-hoo’s lips.

Harsh words that he had never uttered, even when faced with countless hardships and adversities.

Jun-hoo wanted to avoid the Daejeon dispatch at all costs.

Because if Jun-hoo was absent from the department now, he didn’t know what the psychopath Si-ho would do in the ward.

But Jun-hoo’s power alone was not enough to overturn the chief’s decision.

For a resident to dare to stand up to the chief?

This was a major crime that no hospital could tolerate.

The moment he argued with the chief, Jun-hoo was as good as making all the university hospital neurosurgery departments across the country his enemies.

There was no place as small and rumor-filled as the medical community.

With the Daejeon dispatch decided, a huge, irremovable stone was placed on Jun-hoo’s chest.

That’s why his chest felt heavy and stuffy.

“What did the chief say?”

Kyung-soo asked as Jun-hoo returned to the on-call room.

“Daejeon dispatch, he wants me to go.”

Jun-hoo sat down next to Kyung-soo and sighed deeply.

“He wants me gone as soon as possible, preferably within this week.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“Why did it turn out that way? I told the chief yesterday that I would go to Daejeon. The decision suddenly flipped like a pancake?”

Kyung-soo said with an incomprehensible expression.

A few days ago, Jun-hoo had asked Kyung-soo to go on the dispatch instead of him, and Kyung-soo had readily agreed.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan, but… it ended in disaster at the crucial moment.

“I don’t know either. That’s why I’m more frustrated.”

“Then should I talk to him again?”

“It won’t work. Who can stop the chief from sending me?”

“Hmm… This is troublesome.”

Kyung-soo stroked his chin.

As a heavy silence flowed, the door to the on-call room opened.

Si-ho, who had just finished two surgeries in a row, appeared.

“What’s wrong? Why is the atmosphere so bad? What’s going on?”

“I’ve decided to go on the Daejeon dispatch after all.”

“You, Jun-hoo?”

Si-ho’s head tilted to the side as if he hadn’t expected it at all. Then, very faintly, the corners of Si-ho’s lips turned up.

Seeing this, Jun-hoo knew.

At least Si-ho wasn’t involved in this incident, but Si-ho was rejoicing at the news of his dispatch.

Jun-hoo’s heart ached at the thought of Si-ho running rampant in the department without him.

“That’s strange? I clearly told the chief that Kyung-soo would go on the Daejeon dispatch.”

“Senior… must be happy? That he doesn’t have to see my face for a few months.”

Jun-hoo deliberately changed the subject.

“Don’t say such hurtful things. You know how much I like you, Jun-hoo.”

“That’s the problem, I know too well.”

“What can we do, the water has already been spilled. Go and come back safely, and don’t worry because I’ll take good care of the department while you’re gone.”

Jun-hoo could only smile bitterly at the cat’s promise to take good care of the fish store.

That night at 11 p.m.

The on-call room was quiet.

Jun-hoo, who was on night duty, was working as a watchman guarding the night.

No calls from the ward.

No calls from the emergency room.

The backlog of chart work had just been completed.

The time ahead was entirely free time.

The Daejeon dispatch is irreversible.

Then there’s only one way left.

Take down Si-ho within a week.

A determined energy flickered in Jun-hoo’s eyes as he set his goal.

Tatatatak.

Jun-hoo tapped on the keyboard.

He pulled out all the data of the currently hospitalized patients and printed it out.

Si-ho must be feeling a strong thirst for murder right now.

Then there was a high probability that he would commit murder as soon as Jun-hoo left on the dispatch.

Kang Yong-hwi, 67 years old.

Jun-hoo’s eyes were fixed on one patient as he scanned the printouts.

Kang Yong-hwi was hospitalized due to a traffic accident and had undergone surgery for a brain hemorrhage and had been wandering on the brink of death in the intensive care unit for a week.

He was the perfect prey for Si-ho.

And if Si-ho was going to commit murder for the first time in a long time, there was a high probability that he would commit fentanyl murder, which was the safest for him.

He could sneak into the intensive care unit, inject fentanyl [a powerful synthetic opioid], and kill the patient in the blink of an eye.

*How can I set a trap that will be talked about?*

*What kind of trap can even the cunning Si-ho fall for?*

Jun-hoo crossed his arms and began to devise a plan.

There must be a way.