A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 319

Leaving the on-call room, Jun-hoo headed to the nurse’s station.

He entered the supply room behind the station and placed the necessary instruments for a lumbar puncture on a dressing cart.

“You should have told us if you needed a lumbar puncture set. There was no need to go to all that trouble.”

Jun-hoo turned towards the voice.

Nurse Yoo Jung-hwa was watching him. The fatigue common among night shift workers was evident on her face.

“I’d ask for help when it’s busy, but when I have time, I should handle it myself.”

“As expected, Dr. Jun-hoo is a charmer. Not only is he handsome, but he also has a good heart.”

“Isn’t this just the basic thing to do?”

Jun-hoo shrugged and asked.

“That’s because there are many people who don’t even do the basics. For example, Dr. Hyuk-jae… Dr. Hyuk-jae…”

Jung-hwa repeatedly emphasized Hyuk-jae’s name.

After being severely scolded by Jun-hoo, Hyuk-jae had become quite docile, but that seemed to be limited to the doctors in the department.

He was still rude to the nurses.

“I’ll talk to him when I see him later.”

“Do you think that stubborn man will listen just because Dr. Jun-hoo tells him to? Oh, I don’t mean to disregard Dr. Jun-hoo. It’s just that Dr. Hyuk-jae is so stubborn.”

“He’ll only listen if it’s me, you know?”

A smile appeared on Jun-hoo’s lips.

The nurses were still unaware of the completely reversed relationship between Jun-hoo and Hyuk-jae.

“Oh, right. Did you know that Seo-jin came back today? How is she? Is she doing a good job?”

Jun-hoo asked what he was most curious about.

According to Dae-hwi, a first-year resident, Seo-jin was the ace before Jun-hoo came, and he wondered what the nurses thought.

“She used to handle her work neatly. It’s just that her personality is a bit peculiar.”

“Is it because of her mysophobia [fear of germs or contamination]?”

“Yes. Don’t even mention it. Dr. Jun-hoo, do you know why Dr. Seo-jin got on Professor Hong’s bad side?”

Jun-hoo shook his head instead of answering.

He had been curious for a long time, but he had never asked directly or indirectly, because he felt like he would be touching a sore spot.

“One day, the surgical instruments in the operating room were not arranged the way she thought they should be.”

“Yes. And then?”

“She spent time fixing it, so Professor Hong got angry. He said, ‘We need to operate right now, what the hell are you doing?'”

“Wow. That’s crazy.”

After hearing the story, Jun-hoo shook his head.

He had a rough idea from their first meeting, but he didn’t know her mysophobia was this severe.

To boldly delay surgery and organize surgical supplies in front of Professor Hong, who was known for his temper.

“But it’s better to have Seo-jin than not, right?”

“Maybe… I guess?”

Jung-hwa answered ambiguously.

Some of the nurses working at the station burst into laughter, as if they had been eavesdropping on the conversation, because Jung-hwa looked tired.

Jun-hoo suggested a massage, but Jung-hwa adamantly refused.

It wasn’t that she disliked Jun-hoo.

She just didn’t like anyone touching her.

Jun-hoo had no choice but to give up on the Internal Energy Heart Technique [a technique involving the manipulation of internal energy, often for healing or strengthening].

What could be a way to transmit internal energy without physical contact?

A new question popped into Jun-hoo’s head.

People who avoid physical contact, or patients undergoing surgery.

Jun-hoo couldn’t touch either of them.

Since he couldn’t touch them, examination, treatment, or recovery using internal energy was impossible.

Unless he became a master of the Mysterious Realm [a high level of martial arts mastery].

The technique of transmitting internal energy without physical contact was a difficult task to solve immediately.

But if he kept thinking about it, he would find an answer.

There is always an answer to any problem.

The reason you can’t find the answer is because you lack the persistence to find it.

Jun-hoo did not give up on the new task.

He just kept it in his heart as a seed.

If he gave it attention and affection, the seed would sprout someday.

The light was on in room 607, a private room.

The patient was awake, and the guardian was also awake.

Seo-jin was standing stiffly next to the bed like a telephone pole.

The awkwardness vibrating between the three made Jun-hoo feel suffocated.

‘This guy… he has mysophobia and also lacks sociability.’

Jun-hoo was slightly regretting whether he had brought Seo-jin back for nothing.

“I knew it. How can you be so lacking in aesthetic sense?”

Seo-jin rebuked Jun-hoo, who was approaching the bed with the dressing cart.

She adjusted the items on the cart to be perfectly aligned.

Jun-hoo thought it would take quite a long time to adjust to the new face, Seo-jin.

Maybe even longer than Hyuk-jae.

“You’re making me do a lumbar puncture because you doubt my skills, right?”

Seo-jin’s provocative gaze turned to Jun-hoo.

Her perception was surprisingly sharp.

Jun-hoo nodded because he had no intention of denying it.

“Lumbar puncture? I can do that with my toes.”

“Doctor. Can’t you just do it, doctor?”

The guardian, who had been silent, asked with a worried voice.

She seemed to have sensed a strong scent of bluffing from Seo-jin’s words.

“Don’t worry. She’s a capable colleague. She’s a second-year resident like me.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.”

“She’s been taking a break for a while due to personal circumstances. Her skills haven’t gone anywhere.”

As Jun-hoo reassured her, the guardian smiled awkwardly.

It meant that she was dissatisfied but would entrust it to him for now.

“Patient, curl up your body like a shrimp. Put your chin to your chest and your knees to your stomach. A little more. A little more.”

Seo-jin demanded the necessary posture from the patient.

Her directions were unusually picky.

It was like a movie or drama director.

When the desired posture was achieved, a satisfied smile appeared on Seo-jin’s lips.

Soon, the curtain rose on the full-scale lumbar puncture.

The patient’s top was rolled up.

Seo-jin, wearing surgical gloves, rubbed the patient’s lower back with a disinfectant swab.

Swoosh.

Swoosh.

The red disinfectant formed a spiral like a whirlpool.

Even though she had been resting for several months, Seo-jin’s hand movements were quite skillful.

Even just disinfecting, Jun-hoo sensed Seo-jin’s skill to some extent.

“Drape.”

“Yes. Coming right up.”

Seo-jin covered the patient’s waist with the drape that Jun-hoo handed her.

Soon, a 20G needle was in Seo-jin’s hand.

Stab.

With a nonchalant, perhaps even perfunctory, hand movement, the needle penetrated the patient’s waist.

The puncture site was exactly between the 4th and 5th lumbar vertebrae.

The length of the needle was approximately 8cm.

He thought Seo-jin would do well, but he didn’t know it would be this good.

So Jun-hoo’s eyes widened.

At least when it came to lumbar punctures, her skill was not much different from Jun-hoo’s.

The mysophobia that pursued order had rather acted as an advantage in treatment.

As the lumbar puncture succeeded, cerebrospinal fluid dripped from the flask connected to the needle, like collecting sap from a maple tree.

Shuffle.

Shuffle.

After the procedure was finished, the two came out of the hospital room side by side.

As they headed to the station to clean up the supplies, Seo-jin’s steps were strange.

Upon closer inspection, Seo-jin was struggling not to step on the floor tile lines.

Oh my god.

Should I kill this woman? Or save her?

* * *

That morning, conference room.

Before the full-scale conference began, the residents gathered in one place for the first time in a while.

The chief and Dae-hwi congratulated Seo-jin on her return with bright smiles.

Seo-jin, however, was looking at a printout summarizing the condition of the hospitalized patients without any particular reaction.

“Hey. I was really sorry before. I shouldn’t have treated you carelessly. I really don’t know why I did that back then.”

Hyuk-jae, a third-year resident, cautiously apologized to Seo-jin.

“Apologizing is your freedom, senior. I won’t accept your apology even if a knife is held to my throat.”

“Hyuk-jae, why are you being so awkward? Hyuk-jae has come to his senses now. He’s become a human even without eating mugwort and garlic [a Korean folk story reference about becoming human].”

The chief intervened with a joke when the atmosphere suddenly turned grim.

“Chief, you have to say it right. He hasn’t become fully human because he hasn’t eaten mugwort and garlic.”

“You little…”

Hyuk-jae contorted his face fiercely, then looked at Jun-hoo and relaxed his face again.

Jun-hoo was Hyuk-jae’s suppressor.

“Chief, did you see Hyuk-jae senior getting angry just now? Am I wrong? You can’t fix a person and use them.”

“It’s because he’s going through a turbulent period. He’s getting better little by little. Am I wrong? Hyuk-jae?”

“Y… Yes. I’m getting better and better.”

As the small talk ended, even the professors finished seating.

The following conference went smoothly.

To be precise, the work progressed smoothly according to the decisions of Chief Si-deok.

Hoon-sik, who was an associate professor but acted like the chief, had his medical license revoked and was imprisoned in a detention center due to Jun-hoo.

He had become a paper tiger [someone who appears powerful but is actually weak].

Now, Hoon-sik could not influence the department in any way.

So, the professors who followed Hoon-sik also hurriedly began to cozy up to Si-deok.

The centralization of power had been achieved.

When Si-deok spoke, the professors listened attentively.

They were busy agreeing that Si-deok’s decision was always right.

Like baby birds looking at their mother giving them food, they struggled to make eye contact even once more.

To Jun-hoo, all of that was unsightly and funny.

He felt like he had seen the bottom of the human inner self.

But Jun-hoo would also have to compete in that gap someday.

As his thoughts reached that point, he felt a little sad.

Shuffle.

Shuffle.

Heli sounds cutting through the sky were heard during the meeting. It seemed that a doctor helicopter had to be dispatched.

Jun-hoo, distracted by the helicopter sound, stared at the window across from him.

The helicopter passing through the clouds looked like a giant dragonfly.

Every time he heard the helicopter sound, Jun-hoo was realizing that Daejeon was a regional trauma center.

“Excuse me for interrupting the conference, but I have something urgent to tell you.”

Suddenly, the conference room door opened, and a nurse poked her head through the doorway.

“The trauma center is asking for a doctor to be sent urgently. A hiker was injured and is suspected of having a brain hemorrhage.”

The conference room became silent for a moment at the nurse’s notification.

The residents only looked at each other and could not easily step forward to treat the patient.

It was also hard to board the helicopter, and if something unfortunate happened to the patient, they could be held fully responsible.

But right then, Jun-hoo raised his hand.

“I’ll go.”

“Jun-hoo, you? You have a cervical spine surgery scheduled for the morning?”

Si-deok asked, tilting his head.

“I think Seo-jin can take over that surgery. Seo-jin isn’t scheduled for today.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Are you really okay?”

Si-deok asked with a worried voice. His tone suggested that he thought Jun-hoo was making unnecessary efforts.

“I’m perfectly fine.”

Jun-hoo’s answer was clear.

In fact, Jun-hoo wanted to ride the doctor helicopter and treat trauma surgery patients.

A neurosurgeon can later become a trauma surgeon.

Trauma surgery was one of the departments that Jun-hoo wanted to conquer.

Cerebrovascular part.

Brain tumor part.

Stereotactic nerve part.

Cervical and lumbar spine part.

Pediatric neurosurgery part.

Trauma surgery part.

Hand surgery part.

Mastering a total of 7 subspecialties related to neurosurgery.

Becoming the only Hepta Surgeon in Korea was Jun-hoo’s grand ambition.

“Professor, I’m sorry, but they asked for someone who is at least a third-year resident in trauma surgery.”

The nurse replied with a troubled expression.

Just as Jun-hoo’s support was about to become a bubble, Chief Si-deok supported Jun-hoo to the end.

“Then tell them that a second-year resident who is like a third or fourth-year resident is going. Jun-hoo, you go to the emergency room quickly.”