Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 44

#44 The Marine Corps in the ICU (4)

Private Kim?

I was taken aback.

I was just playing along, but I didn’t expect it to actually work…

“Are you really Private Kim?”

The look on the old man’s face as he said that…

It was like Jang Dong-gun looking at Won Bin in the movie —a look of pity.

What should I do?

I hesitated for a moment before nodding solemnly.

“Yes, sir! Private Kim, reporting for duty!”

“Private Kim, you’re alive? I thought you were dead…”

“I ran back through the enemy’s bullets!”

“You… you did?”

“Am I right, Sergeant Byun?!”

I looked at Mr. Byun and asked.

Mr. Byun, who was still groaning from having his groin kicked, looked at me in disbelief.

Please, just cooperate!

I’m so embarrassed!

As if reading my desperate eyes, Mr. Byun suddenly spoke in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.

“Kuh-erk, an enemy bullet grazed my… nether regions…”

“Pfft.”

Cha Yuri burst out laughing.

The nurses around us turned away, desperately trying to hold back their laughter.

Don’t laugh!

I’m dying of embarrassment!

Anyway, it seemed our acting had some effect, as the old man looked somewhat appeased.

“So, you’re alive…”

“Yes, the medics are on their way. You need to treat the wound from the bullet, sir.”

“…Huh? Was I shot?”

“Don’t you have pain in your left chest? There’s still a bullet lodged there. Don’t touch it!”

I pointed to the old man’s chest tube.

The old man looked bewildered for a moment.

But Mr. Byun and I soothed and coaxed the old man with our desperate acting skills.

At this rate, we deserve a Best Actor award at the Blue Dragon Film Awards [a prestigious South Korean film award ceremony], if not an Oscar.

Soon, the platoon leader… no, Grandpa Attack-joong slowly took his hand off the chest tube and lay quietly on the bed.

“Whew.”

I sighed in relief.

When I came to my senses, all the nurses were looking at me and laughing.

Cha Yuri’s expression was especially priceless.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to hold back her laughter, then she gave me a thumbs up.

Ugh, now that I’ve done it, I’m so embarrassed…

I wish there was a hole I could crawl into!

Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

“What’s all the commotion? He seems more stable than yesterday.”

Thud, thud—

It sounded like a gangster had entered the ICU.

If he wasn’t wearing a doctor’s gown, I might have really thought so.

Thoracic surgeon Ma Dong-seop.

His menacing appearance is something I can never get used to.

“The patient’s condition is better than I thought. I expected a RASS score of 4, but it’s probably less than 3.”

The RASS score [Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale] is an index that numerically represents the level of anxiety and agitation in ICU patients.

A score of 4 indicates a combative and violent state, while a score of 3 indicates a state where the patient is trying to pull out IV lines or chest tubes.

“Oh, you have no idea. It was a complete mess just a moment ago.”

The nurse in charge said, appalled.

Ma Dong-seop smiled and examined the patient’s condition.

“Let’s see… at this point, he’ll probably sleep well with just dexmedetomidine [a sedative]. Yesterday, he barely slept with haloperidol [an antipsychotic], 5mg once and 10mg once.”

Several terms came out of his mouth.

They were the names of drugs used to sedate patients in the ICU.

Among them, dexmedetomidine is a drug that induces sleep.

Although hypotension [low blood pressure] sometimes occurs, it is known to have relatively few side effects compared to other drugs.

“Okay, the patient will be sleeping now~ Please give him an eye mask and earplugs here.”

Soon, according to Ma Dong-seop’s prescription, the drug was administered, and an eye mask and earplugs were put on.

Soon, the old man mumbled a few times and fell asleep quietly after a while.

I was glad that I could put the patient to sleep relatively quietly today.

“Thank you for your hard work, nurses.”

“Oh, you have no idea. He was completely RASS 4. Our on-call interns took turns getting hit in the face by the patient.”

“Did he use his fists again today? Haha. But how did you calm him down? When I answered the phone earlier, I could hear the old man shouting in the background…”

Ma Dong-seop asked, looking curious.

Then the nurse chuckled and replied.

“Our intern did a great job.”

“The intern?”

“He was a very realistic actor. I thought he was an actor.”

As she said that, the nurses looked at me and giggled.

Ma Dong-seop looked puzzled, as if he didn’t understand what they were talking about.

“Acting?”

Of course, he wouldn’t understand.

What intern would spontaneously perform a war situation in the ICU?

Only crazy people would do that.

‘And that crazy person is me.’

I looked embarrassedly at the distant mountains.

I already felt depressed thinking about being teased by the nurses for a while.

Another dark history is being created in the hospital like this.

“I don’t know what it is, but like in the emergency room last month… he seems to have excellent crisis management skills.”

Ma Dong-seop said, looking at me.

I felt a subtle sense of favor in his eyes for some reason.

“Shin Sun-han, was it? We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Yes. I saw you in the emergency room.”

“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing each other often in the future. Shall we get along?”

He said that, revealing his white teeth and smiling.

I guess it’s his way of expressing friendliness…

Honestly, he’s a bit scary because of his appearance.

Even if he said lines like, “If you took out a loan, you have to pay it back?” or “Do you want your spine folded?” with the same expression, it wouldn’t feel out of place at all.

“Ahem, ahem.”

At that time, Mr. Byun cleared his throat and cautiously poked his head out.

“Ahem, if the delirium is this severe, the surrounding patients won’t be able to sleep well…”

Mr. Byun muttered in the air, barely audible.

He seemed too intimidated by Ma Dong-seop’s size and appearance to say it outright.

Then he approached and spoke to him.

“Oh, doctor, you’re working so hard. But isn’t this patient supposed to be in the thoracic surgery ICU?”

“Ah, that’s right. But our ICU doesn’t have any beds. I’d like to ask for your understanding from the surgery department.”

Ma Dong-seop replied.

Even though he was just speaking normally, his voice was so deep that it felt intimidating.

Was it a subtle war of nerves between the surgery department and the thoracic surgery department?

But Mr. Byun didn’t back down easily either.

“Being in the ICU might actually make the delirium worse, right?”

“If the patient’s delirium gets too severe, we’re thinking of sending him up to the ward.”

“That would be good, right? If he gets frequent visitors in the ward, his delirium might improve…”

“However, this patient still has oxygen dependency. I’d like to keep him in the ICU for another day or two for now.”

Ma Dong-seop said firmly.

Then Mr. Byun retreated appropriately.

“Well, go ahead. If anything happens, I’ll contact you.”

The way Mr. Byun said that…

It was as if he was sure that something would happen.

* * *

Two days later.

The feared event became a reality.

Delirium is not an infectious disease, but it had spread to other patients.

It was as if when one wolf starts howling, other wolves resonate and start howling as well…

Several patients started shouting at the same time.

“Watch out for landmines!”

“I told you to close the refrigerator door!”

“My mother said she didn’t like jajangmyeon [black bean noodles]!!”

The different shouts continued as if they were having a conversation.

Of course, the contents have nothing to do with each other!

That’s why it’s even more bizarre.

The sight of them being possessed by ghosts all at once made me sweat.

You could believe it was a scene from a horror movie, but it’s all real.

One delirious patient had started to affect the condition of other patients.

“Oh my, why are they all doing this suddenly!”

“Young-eun, put restraints on the patient in bed 4!”

The nurses moved busily.

The ICU immediately turned into a marketplace.

I didn’t even know which patient to see first.

‘I’m going crazy. Three delirious patients in one night…!’

In the end, Mr. Byun’s prediction came true.

At this point, he’s almost Byunstradamus [a play on Nostradamus, implying Mr. Byun is a prophet]?

Moreover, it’s not just the delirious patients that are the problem.

Even the relatively stable ICU patients started complaining.

“Ah, please quiet those crazy people! Let’s get some sleep!”

“I’m so scared!”

The ICU was in chaos.

Of course, I understand the other patients’ positions as well.

Most of them have just had major surgery, so they must be very nervous.

In the midst of that, hearing voices from the next bed as if they were possessed by ghosts caused their complaints to explode.

“I told you? That patient is a bomb.”

At that time, Mr. Byun appeared, dragging his Crocs.

He triumphantly raised his call phone and said in a groaning voice.

“Yes. Are you the on-call doctor for thoracic surgery? Oh, please come and see him quickly. We’re dying too.”

The Attack-joong patient, who suffered from delirium every night, was not welcomed anywhere.

Eventually, the Attack-joong patient was moved to a general ward the next day.

* * *

“Keu, I feel refreshed now.”

Sip.

Mr. Byun drinks iced tea at the cafe.

He looks relieved to have gotten rid of the troublesome patient before his eyes.

But I didn’t feel comfortable at all.

“His delirium was severe, so won’t there be problems in the ward too?”

“Maybe yes, maybe no.”

“He still seems to need oxygen therapy.”

“That’s their problem. Do I have to worry about thoracic surgery patients too?”

“…”

I closed my mouth.

It’s definitely not wrong.

But I feel a sense of rejection towards Mr. Byun.

“Hey, kid. It’s already hard enough to manage your own patients. Don’t worry about patients who have left your hands~”

Mr. Byun said, yawning.

Looking at him sometimes makes me feel confused.

The image of a doctor that I had ideally drawn in my head was one who worked day and night to save patients.

But Mr. Byun was different.

What he showed me was the extremely realistic image of a doctor.

And it was also the most ordinary, petty-bourgeois doctor.

A person who wants to avoid difficult tasks and live comfortably…

Maybe that’s the most average version of us.

‘But why did Doctor Byun Gyu-nam choose surgery?’ It’s strange when I think about it.

If he had that kind of personality, wouldn’t there be a department that suits him better?

There seems to be no reason to choose surgery, which is physically demanding.

“Why did you become a surgeon, senior?”

I asked without realizing it.

Then, a completely unexpected answer came back from Mr. Byun.