A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 270

Chapter 51: Charge (5)

10 AM.

Shiho left the on-call room and walked down the hallway of the neurosurgery ward.

It was quiet in the ward because it was during sleeping hours.

The rooms lined up on both sides were shrouded in darkness, and the lights on the ceiling were as dim as moonlight.

Shiho’s footsteps echoed faintly.

“Senior, where are you going instead of sleeping?”

Min-kyung popped out of the restroom and asked.

“I just want to get some fresh air.”

“At this hour? You must be busy studying for your specialist certification; you should just rest.”

“Getting fresh air is also resting.”

“If you’re going to the rooftop, would you like to come with me?”

“I appreciate the thought, but I want to be alone today.”

Shiho smiled brightly, and Min-kyung, looking disappointed, headed towards the conference room.

After parting ways with the disturber,

Shiho’s steps became lighter.

Now, no one could stop Shiho.

Leaving the ward, he arrived in front of the intensive care unit.

Shiho fiddled with the item he had put in his doctor’s gown pocket.

The key was the syringe filled with fentanyl [a powerful opioid pain reliever].

Today was D-day.

The day to satisfyingly resolve the homicidal urges that had been suppressed because of that damn Junhoo.

Shiho’s body trembled as he faced the momentous event.

It wasn’t a tremble of tension.

It was a tremble of excitement.

The sense of depravity of a doctor killing a patient they should save.

The feeling of deceiving the guardian.

The sense of superiority from killing a patient with his own hands.

The emotions that could be obtained from murder were thrilling and amazing. Once you tasted it, everyone would be addicted.

Stopping in place.

Shiho scanned the guardians sitting in front of the intensive care unit.

The guardians all had dark circles under their eyes. Their skin was rough, and their eyes lacked vitality.

Their shoulders drooped like losers.

They looked no different from the patients.

Among the many guardians, Shiho stared intently at the guardian of Kang Yong-hwi, the patient he was going to murder today.

The guardian was an elderly man in his sixties.

He had his eyes closed and his hands clasped together.

The cross necklace around the guardian’s neck swayed from side to side.

How foolish.

Do you really think God exists?

Look at me. Do I look like the son of God? Hehehe.

Shiho scoffed at Kang Yong-hwi’s guardian.

Shiho entered the intensive care unit.

After exchanging a nod with the station nurse he made eye contact with, he stood in front of Kang Yong-hwi’s bed.

White curtains were drawn around the bed.

The patient was relying on a ventilator to breathe.

His chest rose and fell precariously with each breath.

The patient’s sparse hair gleamed under the intensive care unit’s ceiling lights.

Too easy.

Was I too conscious of Junhoo?

If I had known it would be like this, I would have started working earlier.

Shiho swallowed his regret and took out the syringe from his gown pocket.

The syringe contained a solution of fentanyl.

Life is suffering.

And fentanyl is a painkiller, so.

Shiho thought he was just giving the patient peace.

He also thought that a ‘real’ doctor gives the patient death as a gift.

However, on the opposite bed, the camera that was set up was flashing red.

He didn’t know he was being filmed.

It was something Shiho could never have imagined.

The syringe gradually moved towards the IV line.

The patient’s fleeting life was on the verge of being cut off.

How can I describe this trembling, tension, and excitement?

It was so good, but it was a pity that there was no way to explain it.

See you again, patient.

Because I will soon return as a doctor, not a murderer.

Just then, as the fentanyl syringe was about to touch the IV line connector,

Shalalalak!

The bed curtains were drawn open with a loud noise.

Shiho turned his head in that direction.

Shiho’s face contorted as if he had seen a demon.

Junhoo was hiding behind the curtain.

Why is that guy, who was clearly dispatched this morning, in the intensive care unit ward?

In an instant, his head went blank.

So surprised that his brain cells and neurons declared a strike.

The synapses connecting the neurons felt like they had hardened into stone.

He couldn’t figure out the situation at all.

“Y-you… how… how are you here…”

“Why are you asking the obvious? I came because I knew Senior would be doing something sinister here, right?”

“You figured out my plan? No way. That can’t be! I’ve always been perfect!”

“Then I guess I was more perfect.”

Thud!

Junhoo grabbed Shiho’s wrist with one hand.

With the other hand, he used Geumna’s technique [a swift, precise movement] to snatch the syringe from Shiho’s hand as if he was stealing it.

“Huh? Huh? Huh?”

Shiho could only make a dazed sound.

He could only stare blankly at the syringe that had been taken over.

It was like being robbed in broad daylight.

Junhoo’s skill was like that of a magician.

“Give it back right now. It’s an antibiotic that needs to be administered to the patient.”

“This is an antibiotic?”

Ridicule and contempt settled on Junhoo’s lips.

“Then can I inject it into Senior’s body?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Of course, you can’t because you’re afraid of dying, right? Because what’s in the syringe isn’t an antibiotic, but a lethal dose of fentanyl.”

Junhoo shook the syringe mockingly.

Shiho stared at Junhoo with a complicated expression.

He was shocked that Junhoo knew his murder target and method.

This situation felt unreal, and he felt humiliated by the station nurse’s eyes, which seemed to despise him.

He wanted to run away from this place right now, and he wanted to kill Junhoo instead of the patient.

He was caught in a whirlwind of emotions that he couldn’t pinpoint.

So he didn’t know what to do.

“It’s no use racking your brain. I’ve blocked all the escape routes. Can you wink over there?”

“Wink?”

“Yes. Wink.”

Following Junhoo’s index finger, Shiho turned his head. A small camera placed on the opposite bed was filming everything.

In an instant, his legs gave way.

* * *

A three-way meeting was taking place in the neurosurgery ward’s conference room.

The main characters were Professor Shin Dong-hoon of the brain tumor department, Shiho, and Junhoo.

The situation was practically coming to an end.

The scene of Shiho trying to administer fentanyl was filmed, and Junhoo secured the fentanyl syringe, the murder weapon.

With this much, attempted murder was certain.

In addition, the notebook proving his past crimes was the most powerful evidence.

The date of the murder.

The method of murder.

The heinous feelings he wrote after the murder had now become thick ropes binding Shiho.

“Huh… I still can’t believe it. That Shiho, you were such a terrible human being.”

Dong-hoon, who had stayed at the hospital until evening at Junhoo’s request, clicked his tongue and stared at Shiho.

Shiho had been hanging his head since earlier.

He remained silent to all questions.

Whether he really had nothing to say,

Or whether he was deliberately suppressing his words, it was impossible to know.

“You’ve been deceiving your colleagues and superiors like a fox all along. Pretending to be the kindest person in the world while secretly murdering patients. Your sins are enough to send you to hell.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Shiho answered in a tiny voice.

On the table were copies of Shiho’s notebook contents, photos of the double drawer in the on-call room.

A cell phone containing the recorded video of the attempted murder scene in the intensive care unit that had just been filmed was placed.

Each one was powerful evidence.

It seemed that all Shiho could do now was be dragged to the police station.

“Junhoo, you’ve worked hard. Thanks to you, we were able to catch a notorious murderer.”

“No. I was just lucky.”

“They say that good luck is a skill. No matter how humble you are, you’re an amazing guy.”

Junhoo didn’t know what to do with Dong-hoon’s praise. He blushed and lowered his head.

“I’ll go contact the police station.”

“Okay. You can take a break and come back.”

As Junhoo left, Dong-hoon was left alone with Shiho.

The shock of the incident was slowly fading. Numerous question marks belatedly followed in his head.

“Why did you do that?”

“……”

“Why did you do that? I can’t understand why you committed such a terrible act when you weren’t lacking anything.”

“There’s a demon living inside me.”

“A demon?”

“Yes. There’s a demon that keeps ordering me to kill people. I don’t want to listen to the demon’s words, but I can’t defeat it.”

Shiho frowned.

He covered his ears with both hands and shook his head violently from side to side.

It was a terrifying sight, like a character in a horror movie who had seen a ghost.

“Professor, you won’t understand my heart… because you’ve never lived with a demon.”

“Since when has it been like that?”

“It must have been since elementary school… when my father beat the dog we raised at home to death. The sound of Happy wailing is still vivid.”

“……”

“Squeak, squeak… I don’t want to be like Happy. I just want to be Happy.”

Dong-hoon bit his lip at Shiho’s confession.

Apart from the fact that Shiho was an evil person who deserved to be punished, Shiho had a painful past.

It seemed that he had developed symptoms of schizophrenia from growing up under a violent father.

Shiho’s realistic expressions and voice were proof of that.

“Then why didn’t you get psychiatric treatment?”

“To be exact, I started and then stopped. When I took the medicine, I felt too lethargic and sleepy. It was impossible to live a normal life.”

Shiho continued to speak with his head bowed.

“I don’t want to play the sympathy card now.”

“Hmm… are you serious?”

“Yes. Even if the demon ordered me to, it was my bloody hands that killed people.”

“……”

“Thank you for saving me from the life of a demon, even now.”

Shiho’s confession was quite solemn.

Was it because of that?

Dong-hoon, who had only hated and despised Shiho, began to feel a faint sense of pity for Shiho.

Shiho recognized his sins.

He also knew how to apologize for them.

He was a really bad guy, but it didn’t seem like he was the worst bad guy.

“Professor. I’m sorry, but can I go to the bathroom?”

“Why?”

“I want to wash my face with cold water.”

“You’re not thinking of running away, are you?”

“I don’t want to live as a fugitive for the rest of my life. I’d rather be locked up in prison.”

Shiho put his cell phone on the table. Reading the meaning, Dong-hoon nodded instead of answering.

Shiho quietly left the conference room.

Easy. Easy.

Anyway, if you just touch their sympathy a little, they become as broad-minded as saints.

Shiho smiled cruelly.

A demon?

A dog killed by his father?

That kind of thing never existed from the beginning. It was a story that Shiho made up on the spot.

Rather, the dog he raised at home was brutally killed by Shiho’s hands.

Tap tap tap.

Shiho’s pace quickened.

He carefully surveyed his surroundings, wary of Junhoo’s appearance.

“Teacher. What’s going on? Earlier, Junhoo Teacher and Professor Seo went to the conference room with heavy faces.”

A nurse asked as he arrived at the station.

“It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“It didn’t seem like a normal thing. Are you really okay?”

“Ah. I said don’t worry about it!”

Shiho was uncharacteristically irritable, and the nurse’s face turned pale.

But Shiho, who was different from usual, went into the supply room, regardless.

He took a scalpel from the surgical tool kit and unwrapped the blade.

Click!

The sound of the blade being inserted into the scalpel was cheerful.

With the scalpel in his gown pocket, Shiho busily moved to the next location.

The destination was the department of thoracic surgery.

The greatest event on earth was waiting for Shiho.