A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 387

Chapter 75: Ready (2)

That afternoon.

Jun-ho sat on the sofa in the head professor’s office, having been summoned by Austin.

Austin sat across from him.

“Professor, is the surgical method I came up with correct?”

Jun-ho asked abruptly.

Immediately after the twin surgery method presentation, Austin surprisingly sided with Jun-ho.

However, Jun-ho was taken aback even after being chosen.

The self-vascular anastomosis [reconnecting blood vessels] that Jun-ho had thought of was a last resort.

Therefore, he couldn’t be sure, and he didn’t even have a way to verify its accuracy or safety.

“There are many parts that were omitted in the middle, but the main points are not much different from what I had in mind.”

“So, you’re saying you had the same idea as me, Professor?”

Austin nodded instead of answering. A satisfied smile hung on his lips.

Only then did Jun-ho breathe a sigh of relief.

“To be honest, I thought you were taking my side on purpose, Professor.”

“Why did you think that?”

“I felt like you were being harsh to Professor Hector to teach him something.”

“Oh, you saw that far?”

“I’ve had a similar experience before.”

Jun-ho swallowed the words ‘in the Murim’ [a martial arts world] inwardly.

Just as Hector was suffering because of Austin.

Jun-ho had also suffered because of the Murim Alliance Leader.

A good teacher sometimes gave his disciples difficult trials or tormented them.

Some degree of pain was essential for growth.

“It’s been about a year or two.”

Austin looked up at the ceiling and continued.

“Hector, at some point, became complacent with his skills and stopped studying. In a way, you could say he fell into a rut.”

“I didn’t see it that way.”

Jun-ho tilted his head and retorted.

“Jun-ho, you’re saying that because you haven’t seen Hector’s old self. Hector used to push himself so hard that I was worried he would collapse from overwork.”

“…….”

“Of course, I’m not saying he has to live like that all the time, but it’s a problem if his eyes are dead.”

“I also think eyes are important.”

Jun-ho agreed for once.

The eyes were the windows to the soul.

Whether the eyes looked up.

Or looked down.

What the eyes were looking at, and so on.

The eyes showed a lot about a person.

“Anyway, today’s presentation was excellent. I thought you were going to give up.”

“I wanted to give up, but I held on.”

“What was the reason?”

Austin asked, his eyes sparkling.

He leaned his upper body towards Jun-ho.

“I thought I was the surgeon. So, I imagined that neither you nor Professor Hector were by my side.”

Jun-ho explained calmly.

“In short, I imagined that the patient and their guardian were relying solely on me.”

“…….”

“If I gave up the surgery, who would the patient and their guardian rely on?”

“Huh…….”

“Once I changed my mindset, I became more afraid of giving up the surgery. So, I desperately clung on.”

After speaking, Jun-ho shook his head.

The past three days, when he was wandering in search of a surgical method, were hell for Jun-ho.

Although the fruits of his labor were sweet.

Just thinking about it made him feel sick to his stomach.

“I thought I cared about patients quite a bit, but you’re a step above me.”

“…….”

“I think I know now how you’ve grown so remarkably compared to other trainees.”

Austin smiled.

And took a sip of the coffee on the table.

“Then, how will the surgery proceed from now on?”

Jun-ho asked the question he was most curious about.

Jun-ho and Hector’s surgical method presentation was just an appetizer in a full course meal.

The courses that would unfold in the future were the real deal.

What was the separation surgery method that Hector had completed?

How would the staff be organized?

When would the surgery date be set, and so on.

Jun-ho’s mouth had been itching to ask many questions since earlier.

“There’s no need to rush. You’ll know everything tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you being too mysterious?”

“You old man, you have a lot of questions.”

Austin took Jun-ho’s joke as a joke as well.

The two chuckled at the same time.

Jun-ho had felt this before, but he got along well with Austin.

His attitude towards patients.

His attitude towards the staff.

His surgical method of choosing the best option, even if it was somewhat unstable, rather than the safe alternative, and so on.

He hoped that the head of the hand and microsurgery department, who would be training from next year, would be as good as Austin.

“I have a question.”

“Tell me.”

“Then, is Professor Hector being completely excluded from this surgery?”

“No, he’s scheduled to be the second assistant.”

Jun-ho raised his eyebrows at Hector’s decision.

He wondered if this was the right thing to do.

“If I’m the first and Professor Hector is the second, Professor Hector’s pride will be greatly hurt.”

“His pride was hurt enough this morning.”

“Still, isn’t hurting it once different from hurting it twice?”

“Recovering one’s wounded pride is also a virtue needed by a surgeon. If Hector can’t handle being the second assistant.”

“If he can’t?”

“Then that’s all his capacity is. I don’t intend to worry about Hector anymore.”

Austin’s voice was firm.

His attitude was that he wouldn’t take back his words even if a knife was held to his throat.

Indeed, it was a judgment worthy of a tiger teacher [a strict but effective mentor].

If he were to become a teacher and train disciples in the future, how should he educate them?

Jun-ho had a lot to think about.

“Come to think of it, I had something to say too.”

“What is it?”

“The first and second have been decided. All that’s left is the third assistant.”

“Please decide comfortably, Professor.”

“No, that wouldn’t be fun.”

Austin smiled like a mischievous boy.

Jun-ho had seen that smile only once before. And he had quite a hard time back then.

“You choose the third assistant yourself, Jun-ho. From among the trainees.”

* * *

The day’s schedule for the boost-up program was over.

Jun-ho came out of the main building and walked towards the dormitory.

The doctor’s gown fluttered as if dancing in the cool late autumn breeze.

Trees were planted on both sides of the straight sidewalk. A cleaning worker was sweeping the fallen leaves from the trees with a broom.

The sound of sweeping was cheerful.

It felt like just yesterday that he was working at Mayue, but already nine months had passed.

The training was nearing its end, and hand and microsurgery training was scheduled to begin next year.

At this rate.

The remaining six years he had to spend at Mayue would pass in the blink of an eye.

‘He wants me to choose the assistant myself?’

While walking, Jun-ho was preoccupied with figuring out Austin’s intentions.

In fact, Austin could have just chosen the third assistant himself.

Who would dare to object to Austin’s decision?

But Austin passed on the work that he could easily do, no, the work that he should do, to Jun-ho.

He mentioned fun with a smiling face, but.

Austin probably didn’t give Jun-ho the choice just for fun.

‘Is he testing me like he tested Professor Hector?’

Jun-ho somehow got that impression.

But still.

By giving Jun-ho the choice of assistant.

Jun-ho had no idea what qualities Austin wanted to test in Jun-ho.

From that point of view.

Austin was still a more experienced surgeon several levels above Jun-ho.

Jun-ho couldn’t make a decision until he arrived at the dormitory.

The deadline set by Austin was 9 p.m. tonight.

He had to notify Austin of the third assistant by then.

After entering his dormitory room, Jun-ho filled the ramen pot with water and boiled it.

He unwrapped the Korean cup ramen he had bought from the mart and poured in the soup powder.

He had been busy all day and had a lot on his mind, so he craved spicy food.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Just then, he heard a knock.

Jun-ho, who had been sitting on the bed, went to the front door and opened it.

Oliver and Maxwell were standing outside.

“We bought pizza, let’s eat together.”

“Okay, come in.”

The two entered the room and sat on the floor. When they opened the pizza box, the savory smell of cheese stimulated their noses.

While sharing the pizza.

Maxwell and Oliver raved about Jun-ho’s performance at the morning conference.

They never thought he would overwhelm Professor Hector with theory.

They didn’t know Austin would take Jun-ho’s side.

“Did you see the other trainees’ shocked expressions?”

“Furthermore, he was chosen as the first assistant for the separation surgery, aren’t you nervous,” and so on.

Jun-ho was grateful for his friends’ attention.

What is a colleague?

Isn’t a colleague someone who talks about a colleague’s story as if it were their own?

In that sense, Oliver and Maxwell were Jun-ho’s real colleagues. Thanks to them, his life as a surgeon in a foreign country was less lonely.

“But you’ve had a bad look on your face since earlier? What’s wrong?”

Maxwell looked at Jun-ho and asked.

“It’s not a big deal, but the head professor gave me homework.”

“What homework?”

“He told me to choose the third assistant from among the trainees.”

“What? You were worried about that?”

Maxwell laughed triumphantly and tapped Jun-ho’s shoulder with one hand.

“If it’s that problem, then I’m definitely the main character. You know my surgery skills have improved a lot these days, right? I’ve been improving rapidly with the finger training method you taught me.”

Maxwell’s confidence was well-founded.

As a result of steadily training the Swelling Finger Skill that Jun-ho had taught him for the past nine months.

He showed the steepest growth rate among the trainees.

“Jun-ho. I want to be an assistant too.”

Oliver’s eyes sparkled. Oliver put down the pizza slice he was about to eat and rattled on.

“This is a great opportunity to be recognized by my father again. Even different from last time, I’m doing surgery with my father in the same space, right?”

Oliver’s voice was excited as if he was overwhelmed just imagining it.

If he were to choose the third assistant.

It was certainly reasonable to choose one of the two.

Both were top-notch in skill.

And he got along well with Jun-ho.

Moreover, they were overflowing with the desire to do well in the surgery.

But why?

Why did he have a vague feeling of rejection that he shouldn’t choose both of them?

“Sorry, but I’ll think about it a little more and decide.”

“Okay. There’s still time.”

“No hard feelings, no matter who gets chosen?”

Oliver and Maxwell started drinking the soup before the rice cake was even in it.

After the two left.

Jun-ho stroked his chin and paced around the room.

If choosing the third assistant was Austin’s test, he needed to approach it in a different way than usual.

Let’s think about it.

If I were Professor Austin, why would I give this homework?

Usually, it would be natural to choose a skilled friend nearby without much thought.

After thinking for a long time, Jun-ho barely managed to read Austin’s intentions.

He realized what Austin wanted from him.

‘He’s really an amazing person. He’s completely controlling Hector and me, wow.’

Jun-ho chuckled and left the dormitory room. He crossed the hallway and stopped in front of a door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

When he knocked, a young man peeked his face out.

The young man checked Jun-ho’s face and then frowned.

He didn’t hide the unpleasant look in his eyes that said, ‘Why are you here?’

The young man’s name was Raymond.