A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 520

Chapter 102: New Face (1)

Jun-hoo emerged from the operating room, looking utterly exhausted. The surgical gown he tossed into the waste bin was soaked with blood and sweat.

Even after removing all the surgical attire, Jun-hoo stood there for a long while.

He felt dizzy, his head was spinning, his stomach churned, and a high-pitched ringing filled his ears.

The Celestial Art was a powerful skill that allowed him to manipulate time [allowing him to slow down time for himself], but its side effects were equally potent.

“Chief, are you alright?”

Woo-hyun, who had followed him out, asked.

Instead of answering, Jun-hoo raised his hand to indicate he was fine.

In reality, he was far from okay.

Jun-hoo nonchalantly walked out of the operating room.

He had just successfully completed the emergency surgery on a child who had been rushed in after a traffic accident.

The surgery was difficult.

Brain hemorrhage, cerebral edema, brain herniation.

Overcoming the devilish trio of diagnoses was no easy task. Nevertheless, through a hard fight, he managed to bring the child back.

“Doctor, how is Jin-ah?”

The elderly couple sitting on the bench in the waiting room in front of the operating room jumped up.

They rushed to Jun-hoo.

Their already aged faces looked even older after a few hours of worry.

“The child is safe. She will need to be monitored in the intensive care unit, but there should be no problems with her recovery.”

“Thank you. Doctor.”

“Thank you.”

The elderly couple bowed even lower, their backs already bent. Jun-hoo bowed as deeply as they did.

“Hee-hee-heuk.”

The guardian, who appeared to be the grandmother, suddenly burst into tears, her shoulders trembling weakly. A quiet sorrow spread around them.

“They said Jin-ah is fine. Why are you crying like that?”

Although the grandfather scolded the grandmother, he embraced her and patted her back.

“How can our Jin-ah be so pitiful? Her parents died so senselessly.”

This time, the grandfather couldn’t respond.

He suddenly met Jun-hoo’s eyes.

Jun-hoo couldn’t find the words to say either.

He simply moved his lips in a silent expression of sympathy.

When practicing medicine, such situations often arose.

Situations where even comfort felt like deceiving the other person.

Min Jin-ah.

The chick-like eight-year-old child had lost both parents today.

He couldn’t dare to fathom the emotional and physical wounds the child had to overcome.

Even if she recovered, it would remain a lifelong scar.

Jun-hoo bowed and walked past the elderly couple.

There was nothing more he could do for them.

At best, he could give them some money to help the family when they were discharged.

Outside the hospital, even doctors were powerless.

“It’s so unfortunate. That patient’s family is completely shattered.”

“Have you heard anything about the truck driver?”

“I heard he’s at the police station.”

“I see.”

Jun-hoo smiled bitterly.

He hated the truck driver who had crushed a family’s life, but when he thought about it, he couldn’t simply hate and curse him.

Drunk driving and drowsy driving were slightly different.

Drunk driving was something only an idiot would do.

On the other hand, drowsy driving was often the result of desperation.

Because some people couldn’t make a living unless they reduced their sleep and drove.

Of course, that didn’t mean the drowsy driver wasn’t responsible.

“Still, it’s a relief that you were there, Chief. I heard you were in the middle of brain tumor surgery, but you appeared like Hong Gil-dong [a Korean folk hero known for his speed and ability to be in multiple places at once] and performed the surgery.”

Woo-hyun said, proud of Jun-hoo.

“Woo-hyun.”

“Yes, Chief.”

“I’m not omnipotent. The range I can handle is only up to here. I can’t handle anything more than this.”

“Still, I believe that you can handle any difficult situation, Chief.”

“You rascal. How far are you going to push me?”

Jun-hoo smiled weakly.

He flicked Woo-hyun’s head.

Woo-hyun still grinned, not minding it at all.

Woo-hyun, who had ward duties, left for the ward first.

Jun-hoo went to the doctors’ lounge at the end of the hallway.

Perhaps because it was regular surgery time, the lounge was empty and quiet.

Jun-hoo pulled out a canned coffee, drank it in one gulp, and sank into the leather sofa.

-How about closing the pediatric department altogether at this opportunity?

Choi Jin-goo’s suggestion from the morning suddenly came to mind.

Jun-hoo desperately wanted to do that too.

It would be much easier that way. There was a limit to struggling with the Celestial Art.

Even a neurosurgeon who used martial arts couldn’t save everyone.

That was a futile desire.

But why was it so hard to give up even though he knew it?

Even Jun-hoo couldn’t understand his own heart today.

He succumbed to the eyelids he was barely holding up.

Black darkness came.

The situation of neurosurgeons was still bleak.

The talk of importing surgeons from foreign countries no longer sounded like a joke.

The cries of surgeons were spreading from all directions, but the government and the medical community didn’t listen.

They thought it was someone else’s problem.

Perhaps they wouldn’t come to their senses until their own family or acquaintances suffered the same tragedy.

A world where surgeons could live well seemed like something only found in dreams.

No.

Don’t give up.

Let’s do what I can do as far as I can. If I can change the world even a little, that’s enough.

Jun-hoo calmed his wavering heart and began circulating his energy.

Inhale and exhale.

Between breaths, there was no worry or concern. They were all illusions created by the ego.

The energy circulation ended in 20 minutes.

Jun-hoo got up from the sofa and stretched lightly.

His head felt clear as if he had slept well.

His arms and legs were as light as feathers.

He gritted his teeth and decided to endure.

Someone might laugh at Jun-hoo for this.

They might say he was being subjected to hope torture.

But so what?

If life was going to be tortured anyway, Jun-hoo decided to choose the path of being tortured by hope.

* * *

That evening.

The dining area on the first basement floor was generally quiet as outpatient hours ended.

Jun-hoo was drinking coffee with Choi Jin-goo and Hwang Jung-hoon at a cafe.

Hwang Jung-hoon was the only pediatric neurosurgery specialist in the Busan neurosurgery department.

“I’m coming down after checking on the patient in the intensive care unit. You performed a difficult surgery.”

Hwang Jung-hoon clicked his tongue.

“Just looking at the chart, it wouldn’t have been surprising if a table death [death during surgery] had occurred, but the bleeding and intracranial pressure management were fantastic.”

“And that’s not all? He finished brain tumor surgery as quickly as roasting beans over lightning and urgently took on the surgery.”

Jun-hoo was the one who performed the surgery, but it was Choi Jin-goo who was acting conceited, a strange situation.

Jun-hoo smiled for the first time today.

Choi Jin-goo also had a clownish side.

“The more I see you, Chief, the more you seem like an iron man.”

“In what way?”

“You know. You performed six surgeries today alone. Other professors are busy handling one or two. Aren’t you going to collapse from overwork?”

Hwang Jung-hoon was worried about Jun-hoo.

It wasn’t just empty words, it was genuine.

He was once a neutral professor, but he had been fond of Jun-hoo from early on.

Although Jun-hoo was young, he knew how to care for patients and had the charisma to control the department.

Hwang Jung-hoon had been waiting for a chief like Jun-hoo for a long time.

“Fortunately, I can still handle it. I guess it’s because I’m young.”

“I couldn’t do five or six surgeries even at your age, Chief.”

“Anyway, what’s the matter you wanted to see me about?”

Hwang Jung-hoon asked, avoiding eye contact with Jun-hoo.

He had an idea.

While the epilepsy clinic was strong enough to knock a bird out of the sky [very successful], the pediatric neurosurgery department was poor and shabby.

The profit margin had never been in the black, let alone break even.

Not even once.

Even if Jun-hoo decided to reorganize, there would be no excuse.

“It’s nothing else, I want to recruit one more pediatric neurosurgeon. Do you know anyone good?”

“Yes? Are you serious?”

“Why would I call Professor Hwang here to lie?”

“I thought I was going to get fired.”

“Professor Choi here was the one who said to fire you.”

“Hehe. Snitching here…….”

Choi Jin-goo pouted his lips.

“Why are you trying so hard for the pediatric department?”

“Because the pediatric department environment is more dire. I’m helping you because I want to push Professor Hwang harder.”

Jun-hoo said, mixing in a joke.

Hwang Jung-hoon’s heart warmed because he knew the true meaning.

Originally, Jun-hoo couldn’t stand by and watch the weak.

“It would be best if I could help, but as you know, I’m already swamped with existing scheduled surgeries.”

“…….”

“Today’s Jin-ah’s surgery was also possible because the timing worked out to some extent. If I had received the call in the early stages of the brain tumor resection, I wouldn’t have been able to go in.”

“Of course. It’s not like you have two bodies, Chief.”

“I contacted the main hospital in Seoul, but they only have three pediatric neurosurgeons there. They can’t afford to help us.”

“Bringing in one more person…….”

Hwang Jung-hoon stroked his chin with one hand.

There was one person who immediately came to mind.

‘That person’ who was once called a rising star in the pediatric neurosurgery department.

But would ‘that person’ really allow it?

He had already turned his back on the medical community.

“There is a suitable person, but recruitment will be impossible.”

“How are their skills?”

“Not as good as the chief, but at least twice as good as me.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I assure you with my name on the line. If we can recruit that friend, it would be like having a thousand troops and horses [an idiom for a great asset]. If recruitment is possible…….”

Hwang Jung-hoon emphasized and added a condition.

“I have a knack for persuasion. Just trust me. Where is that person now?”

Jun-hoo asked confidently.

* * *

There were three people climbing the mountain, enjoying the cool early autumn breeze.

Jun-hoo and Choi Jin-goo, and Hwang Jung-hoon.

Jun-hoo was walking at the very front, followed by Hwang Jung-hoon, and Choi Jin-goo was at the very end.

Choi Jin-goo, who was physically weak, had been panting like a dog with his tongue out for a while.

Jun-hoo was enjoying the rare hike.

It had already been several years since he only went back and forth between the hospital and home.

As he walked leisurely, looking at the green foliage, he felt like the dregs that had accumulated in his chest were being discharged from his body.

Even when he was in the Murim [Martial arts world], Jun-hoo liked the mountains.

The cool and ticklish mountain breeze blowing through the trees.

The cheerful chirping of birds.

The hard and sometimes soft dirt floor.

The fresh green smell of grass.

The mountain made Jun-hoo’s five senses happy.

“Can’t we take a break?”

Eventually, Choi Jin-goo suggested a break first.

The group took a breather under the shade of a tree.

“I told you that Professor Choi didn’t have to come.”

“How can the thread not follow the needle [an idiom meaning where the boss goes, the subordinate must follow]? Of course, I have to follow.”

Choi Jin-goo was Choi Jin-goo, not forgetting the sycophantic comments even in the midst of hardship.

Choi Jin-goo stretched his back for the first time in a while and crossed his arms. He glared at Hwang Jung-hoon.

“No, you said you would introduce me to a pediatric neurosurgeon, but why are you making me climb a mountain?”

“Hahaha. This friend is such a unique friend.”

“Did something bad happen at the hospital, so he went into hiding?”

“Yes. I want to tell you the reason, but I think that friend would break up with me if I did.”

“It’s okay. I can hear it directly from him.”

Jun-hoo shrugged as if it was nothing.

“Is that person a natural person [someone who lives in nature, away from society]?”

Hwang Jung-hoon smiled awkwardly at Jun-hoo’s question.