A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 44

Martial Arts Surgeon – Episode 44

Chapter 8: Emergency Medicine (6)

Time was slipping from evening into the early hours of the next day.

Around that time, the number of patients visiting the emergency room had decreased considerably.

At least, the waiting list wasn’t dozens of people long.

Jun-hoo asked the chief to allow him to focus on medical examination and diagnosis.

This was because what Jun-hoo wanted to learn in the emergency department was precisely that: medical examination and diagnosis.

Working in internal medicine or surgical wards didn’t provide many opportunities to examine patients.

Usually, it was the resident who gave the orders.

Most of the time, it involved simple procedures like blood tests, ECGs [electrocardiograms], or dressings.

By examining people of all ages, Jun-hoo developed an eye for patients.

This was a valuable experience that couldn’t be learned from textbooks or materials.

While examining patients, Jun-hoo listened attentively to what they said.

He tried not to miss even the slightest discomfort the patient felt.

He realized that the more care he put into each patient, the more accurate the diagnosis could be.

His keen observation skills learned from the Murim world [a world of martial arts experts], combined with the medical knowledge he had steadily built up during medical school, allowed Jun-hoo to perform excellent examinations.

He was faithful to his role as an intern in the emergency department, distinguishing between emergency and non-emergency patients.

He also connected patients to the departments they needed.

It was only Jun-hoo’s first day working in the emergency department, but he was growing rapidly like a sprout.

“Doctor, what should we do with patient Lee Jae-won in Zone 5?”

Nurse Young-ji approached him while he was organizing charts.

Lee Jae-won was a patient Jun-hoo had examined 30 minutes earlier.

An alcohol patient.

In other words, he was a patient who had been brought in by 119 (emergency services) while drunk, and since there were no particular issues, he was simply put on a glucose drip.

“Why? Is there a problem?”

“He keeps making a fuss about wanting to go home. He even tried to pull out his IV line earlier.”

“…….”

“I was wondering if we should just discharge him.”

“If we discharge him when he can’t even stand properly, won’t he just be brought back again?”

“That’s true, but…….”

“I’ll take care of it, you go ahead with your work.”

Jun-hoo moved to Emergency Room Zone 4, which treated minor patients.

Jae-won was staring at the IV drip with bleary eyes, still drunk.

He seemed frustrated that he couldn’t move his arm comfortably.

“Gimme go hoome. Me, wanna goo.”

Jae-won slurred his words. A foul smell of alcohol wafted into Jun-hoo’s nostrils as he spoke.

“How can you go anywhere when you can’t even walk straight?”

“I’m noot druunk. I caan doo it.”

The typical behavior of an alcohol patient was starting.

The hallmark of an alcohol patient was that they would insist they weren’t drunk, even as they were.

However, Jun-hoo didn’t feel particularly stressed while looking at Jae-won.

He knew how to handle this situation.

After confirming that the patient’s guardian was not around, Jun-hoo approached Jae-won.

“Stop being stubborn and lie down properly.”

Jun-hoo supported Jae-won’s neck with one hand. With the other hand, he pretended to adjust the pillow and lightly struck the back of Jae-won’s neck.

Thwack!

Ghostly Consecutive Hand Strike (鬼連手) [a martial arts technique].

It was one of the martial arts techniques used to subdue an opponent with a hand strike.

Striking the third cervical nerve with Ghostly Consecutive Hand Strike could knock someone unconscious.

Just like in spy movies.

Sleep peacefully until you sober up.

After knocking Jae-won unconscious, Jun-hoo returned to the station.

Since no one was watching and his movements were lightning-fast, there was no room for problems to arise.

“Huh? Doctor, you’ve already seen the patient?”

Nurse Young-ji asked, widening her eyes.

“I thought that patient would throw a fit asking to be discharged.”

“He suddenly seemed sleepy. He fell asleep like he fainted.”

Jun-hoo shrugged his shoulders.

“But, Dr. Seo. Do you know what’s really strange?”

“About me?”

“Yes. It’s strange, but it seems like patients become well-behaved as soon as you touch them.”

“I’m just naturally gifted with healing hands.”

Jun-hoo raised his hand and joked.

He always felt this way when using martial arts.

He was extremely fortunate to have experienced the Murim world.

No, it was a blessing from the heavens.

The social skills he learned in the Murim world, the martial arts he learned, and so on, were leading Jun-hoo’s life in a completely different direction.

If he hadn’t experienced the Murim world through the Butterfly Dream [a possible reference to a philosophical concept], Jun-hoo’s life, which had been twisted since high school, would still be struggling.

“Doctor, I’m going to the restroom for a moment.”

After finishing organizing the charts, Jun-hoo swallowed a nutritional supplement and went to the restroom.

Sitting on the toilet, he briefly performed meditative breathing exercises.

The fatigue-recovering nutrients spread throughout his body, washing away the accumulated fatigue.

His whole body felt refreshed, just like when he came to work.

The combination of meditative breathing and nutritional supplements was truly a cheat.

Returning to the emergency room, Jun-hoo began seeing patients again.

The eventful first day of his emergency medicine internship was passing by.

* * *

Cracking.

Cracking.

Clear bone sounds echoed in the emergency room. However, these sounds were not coming from patients.

They were coming from the staff members’ bodies.

As dawn approached, Jun-hoo was performing acupressure and massages for the tired staff.

“Wow, that’s refreshing. Look at how my neck is turning.”

Chief Jae-wook, who had just received a massage from Jun-hoo, couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

His stiff neck was moving freely.

Not only that.

The waist that had been massaged was also incredibly refreshed.

He had heard so many compliments about Jun-hoo’s massage from those around him that he decided to try it, and the effect was astonishing.

“Jun-hoo, shouldn’t you quit being a doctor and open a massage shop or something?”

“I sometimes think about that.”

“I’ll have to schedule my work hours to match yours from now on. By the way, have you finished writing the meeting minutes?”

“I have a printed copy here, I’ll show you.”

Jun-hoo handed over the meeting minutes as if he had been waiting for the question.

These were the minutes needed for the morning conference that would be held shortly.

Jae-wook reviewed the meeting minutes written by Jun-hoo and nodded.

Like the duty log he had seen during the handover, the meeting minutes were neat. The readability was good, and only the important content was noted.

It was on a completely different level compared to the meeting minutes written by Sung-min, a first-year resident.

He’s really amazing.

Jae-wook took his eyes off the meeting minutes and looked at Jun-hoo.

To be honest, his first impression of Jun-hoo wasn’t good.

Firstly, his handsome appearance, like a drama actor playing a doctor rather than an actual doctor, bothered him.

Secondly, it was somewhat related to the first point.

He had a prejudice and preconceived notion that someone with such an appearance, who had never experienced hardship, wouldn’t be able to do the job well.

However, after working together, Jae-wook’s colored glasses were shattered.

Jun-hoo did his job so well that it was hard to believe it was his first day as an intern.

Whether it was medical examination.

Whether it was contacting other departments.

Whether it was writing documents.

He even showed the spirit to deal with the gangsters who had stormed into the emergency room last night.

Jae-wook had never seen a monster like Jun-hoo while working.

Perhaps that’s why.

Jae-wook’s affection, which had been directed towards Sung-min, a first-year resident, was gradually shifting towards Jun-hoo.

“I like the meeting minutes. You wrote the situation when the gangsters broke in with great detail.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Keep doing this. Don’t lose your initial enthusiasm.”

“Of course, I will. What I like next to curiosity is initial enthusiasm.”

“You rascal, you’re good at joking too. And we’ll probably start case studies from today. Pay attention to it.”

“Case studies?”

“Yeah. Our department tends to do intern case studies rigorously. The intern evaluation is also heavily influenced by the case studies. Prepare diligently in advance.”

Jae-wook leaked top-secret information to Jun-hoo.

Case studies.

Literally, it was the work of doctors studying patients’ clinical cases and presenting them in front of professors and residents.

For example, let’s say a neurosurgery patient hypothetically visits the emergency room.

In this case, the emergency physician would study and present how to examine the patient, what tests to perform, and so on.

In the case of the emergency department, this case study occupied an important part of the intern evaluation.

“Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about, though.”

“…….”

“It would be unfair if you saw patients well and treated them well, but your evaluation was low because you messed up the case study, right?”

“Thank you for the advice, I should prepare in advance.”

“Okay. In that sense, will you give me another massage?”

Jae-wook asked, watching Jun-hoo’s expression.

The cool, blissful sensation that spread as his joints and muscles loosened.

Jae-wook wanted to feel it one more time.

* * *

The emergency department’s morning conference was longer than usual.

There was a lot of talk about the incident where gangsters had broken in the evening before.

The professors and residents were greatly surprised by the news that Jun-hoo had single-handedly confronted and calmed down the gangsters.

While some people highly valued Jun-hoo’s spirit,

Others scolded him, saying that his actions were too dangerous.

But perhaps because the result was so good,

The public opinion was mostly favorable to Jun-hoo.

He also heard the news that the digestive surgery department had successfully completed the spleen surgery on the gang boss.

After a while, the morning meeting was followed by the morning rounds, which also ended safely.

Then, the intern supervisor called Jun-hoo and Myung-hoon separately.

“Interns, prepare your case studies by this weekend. Jun-hoo, a pneumothorax patient [collapsed lung], and Myung-hoon, a T.A (Traffic accident) patient.”

“Yes. Professor.”

“Yes. Professor.”

It was the same information he had heard from Jae-wook.

It was only the first day of work.

The intern supervisor assigned the case study as homework.

After finishing the long-awaited first day of his internship, Jun-hoo looked out the window.

Morning sunlight with a comb-like pattern was pouring through the window.

Was the sunlight always this dazzling?

Jun-hoo felt particularly emotional.

Perhaps it was because he had met so many people and experienced so many things.

It felt like a week had passed, not just a day.

“Chief, you’re going to play games, right?”

Jun-hoo asked Jae-wook, who was preparing to leave work.

“Of course. Do you want to join me?”

“I’d like to, but I think I need to prepare for the case study.”

“It’s good to work hard, but it’s okay to rest on your first day.”

“I get restless when I rest.”

After Jae-wook left work, Jun-hoo had a conversation with Myung-hoon.

He told him about the importance of the case study.

If Myung-hoon’s personality was terrible, he wouldn’t have shared the information, but Myung-hoon was a friend with a good personality.

“Thanks, Jun-hoo. To be honest, I was thinking of doing the case study half-heartedly.”

“…….”

“There’s a tendency to be lenient with interns who don’t do well on case studies. But I really want to rest today. I’m thinking of going to a nearby sauna, are you in?”

“I’m going to be in the on-call room. I have to study more.”

“Aren’t you tired after staying up all day?”

Myung-hoon asked, clicking his tongue.

Unlike Jun-hoo, Myung-hoon looked very tired.

His dark circles had come down to his nose in just one day.

However, Myung-hoon’s condition was normal, and Jun-hoo’s condition was rather abnormal.

“Then I’ll see you later tonight.”

“Okay. See you later.”

Jun-hoo remained alone in the on-call room, preparing for the case study.

Due to the nature of the emergency department, everyone left work after their shift, so the on-call room was entirely Jun-hoo’s.

Jun-hoo spent four hours collecting and organizing information about pneumothorax.

Only then did fatigue wash over him, but after performing meditative breathing exercises for an hour, his body felt light and his mind was clear.

Jun-hoo immediately went down to the second basement floor.

Among the many stores, he went into a store that sold red ginseng and bought 120 packets of red ginseng.

As soon as he came out of the store, Jun-hoo sucked down 3 packets of red ginseng.

He had been consuming a lot of internal energy since he started his internship.

Whether red ginseng really works or not.

Opinions were divided on this, but at least Jun-hoo responded well to red ginseng.

After about 30 minutes, his lower abdomen became warm.

Returning to the on-call room, Jun-hoo leaned against the bed’s backrest and stared at the wall.

A golden free time, given for the first time in a while.

What should I do now?