Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 99

99. A Stroke of Luck at the Summer Sea (2)

“The hospital where I did my internship was about an hour away from school. The facilities were so outdated that half of it was under construction.”

I thought back to the hospital where I had interned.

400 beds.

But in reality, only about 50 of them were ever occupied.

You had to be really lucky to even see a patient.

And if you weren’t so lucky?

You’d end up spending the entire internship just staring at data all day.

“Come on, you still got to do the basic stuff, right? There are patients everywhere you go in the country.”

I shook my head at Geun-wook’s words.

He doesn’t know anything.

I wondered what kind of example I should use to make him understand, and then I opened my mouth.

“Like, even when I was doing my OB/GYN [Obstetrics and Gynecology] rotation, there wasn’t a single pregnant woman among the patients.”

“Ah….”

The three of them sighed.

That makes sense.

Especially in OB/GYN, without the patient’s consent, it’s impossible to observe childbirth or perform internal examinations, so it’s not easy to get internship experience.

In hospitals with few patients, like Ilwoon University Hospital, it was even more difficult to get practical experience.

“Well, it was still a meaningful internship. The professors tried hard to guide me, too.”

I said with a smile.

I can talk about it casually now, but it was tough back then.

For medical students, internship experience is a golden opportunity, but I was in an environment where I couldn’t do it properly.

‘If I can’t get experience like this, will I ever become a proper doctor?’

I remember spending my days with that anxiety.

“Anyway, the hospital we’re going to isn’t going to be that bad. Gokdam is a big city, after all.”

I said, trying to change the subject.

Just then, Yeon-seo pointed out the window.

“Oh, look over there!”

We turned our heads.

Beautiful scenery was unfolding outside the window.

We were already out of the metropolitan area, and fields and rice paddies were spreading out, and the morning sunlight was hitting the straight waterways and shining.

“Wow, the weather’s nice, and the scenery is pretty.”

“Right? How long has it been since I’ve been this relaxed since starting my internship!”

So we excitedly shared all sorts of stories we hadn’t been able to share until now.

An hour later.

After chatting non-stop, everyone seemed tired and closed their eyes.

Sodam was nodding off.

Geun-wook even fell asleep snoring.

Looking at them, I felt sleepy too.

Thin rays of sunlight were coming in through the gaps in the curtains.

And that sunlight fell from Yeon-seo’s shoulder on the opposite side towards my toes.

Following the path of the sunlight with my eyes, I fell asleep before I knew it.

Thump, thump―

How much time had passed?

I woke up groggily, feeling like someone was looking at me.

What is it?

I opened my eyes slightly.

And I met Yeon-seo’s eyes, who was looking at me with a subtle gaze.

“Is there something on my face?”

“I was just looking.”

“At what?”

“I was thinking that Seon-han oppa [term used by younger women to address older brothers or male friends] looks like a baby when he sleeps.”

Yeon-seo said with a smile.

I awkwardly wiped my mouth.

Yeon-seo sometimes caught me off guard by saying unexpected things like this.

Next to me, Geun-wook and Sodam were still fast asleep, oblivious to the world.

“Come to think of it, do you remember when we first met in March?”

“When I was rotating in internal medicine?”

My first internship.

Everything was new to me.

I remember Yeon-seo helping me a lot to adjust to Yonkuk University Hospital back then.

“You didn’t think we’d become this close, did you?”

“I didn’t. I didn’t even think our schedules would overlap like this again by chance.”

It’s not easy for schedules to overlap more than once among more than 100 interns.

“That’s right. Human relationships are so mysterious.”

Yeon-seo said with a faint smile, turning her gaze out the window.

“It’s going to be fun. Gokdam.”

“Yeah.”

The conversation ended there.

Yeon-seo put on her earphones and only looked out the window.

But, was it just my imagination?

For a while, there was an atmosphere as if she was saying more with her lips still fluttering.

* * *

Just as my back was starting to ache from the narrow seat, we arrived at Gokdam Station.

“Ughyagyagyak.”

Geun-wook stretched out with a loud noise and loosened his body.

We gathered our luggage and went outside the station.

Soon, a sign welcoming travelers came into view.

The sign was old and faded.

And someone had mischievously erased the ㄱ 받침 [Korean consonant] from the character ‘곡’.

Below that, various graffiti were wildly drawn along the outer wall where the sign was placed.

‘There was a city like this in Korea…….’

It was like looking at the streets of New York, famous for its graffiti streets.

As befits Gokdam’s title as a city of art and passion, the first impression of this city was quite rough.

“So this is Gokdam.”

Turning my eyes away from the outer wall and looking around, the first thing I saw was the open scenery.

There aren’t many tall buildings except for apartment complexes.

It wasn’t quite a horizon, but it was a foreign landscape that was hard to see in Seoul.

“They say the graffiti under the Gokdam Station sign is the city’s representative hot spot. Let’s take a picture and go!”

Yeon-seo was already holding a selfie stick and excitedly speaking.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s take a picture as a souvenir since we came!”

Geun-wook pulled my arm with one hand and pulled his carrier with the other, joining in.

Click―

Against the backdrop of the graffiti under the Godam, no, Gokdam City sign, the four of us smiled and took a picture.

“Let’s see, let’s see. Did it come out well?!”

Geun-wook and Yeon-seo put their heads together and checked the picture that was taken.

Sodam also peeked out her head, one head below Geun-wook, and checked the picture.

Yeon-seo and Geun-wook were busy laughing while looking at the picture, wondering what was so good.

But then Sodam gasped and opened her mouth.

“Hey, look at the letters right behind us…… It’s CPR.”

“Huh, what did you say?”

“It’s true.”

As Sodam said.

In the picture, three letters were clearly visible between the faces of the four of us.

C/P/R.

A word that everyone in the hospital fears.

Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation.

“What is this, making me uneasy…… Is CPR going to explode in the emergency room this month?”

We turned our heads and looked at the wall with graffiti again.

Peace Rabbit?

An artist with that nickname had painted his name.

It was cleverly hidden by our heads, so only the letters CPR were visible.

It was too amazing to be called a coincidence.

“Guys, what do they call this kind of thing? I think I learned it in high school literature class.”

“Foreshadowing?”

“Yeah, could it be foreshadowing?”

“Don’t say ominous things.”

“I’d rather have a ghost in a spirit photo, this is scarier than a ghost, man.”

Yeon-seo shouted as if it was nothing as Geun-wook and Sodam exchanged words.

“Hey. Why are you guys so uneasy about something like this? Peace Rabbit is cute. Now let’s go to the hospital~!”

We brushed off the ominous feeling and moved outside the station.

In the meantime, Geun-wook said as if the lingering feeling remained.

“By the way, a rabbit doesn’t really suit Gokdam. Originally, Gokdam is the city of dragons and tigers.”

“Dragons and tigers?”

“The Azure Dragon Clan and the White Tiger Clan.”

“What’s that?”

“You guys didn’t know either. I heard it from Joong-won hyung [older brother or male friend] before I came, but there’s a famous legend in Gokdam City.”

Geun-wook’s explanation continued.

Decades ago.

Gokdam City was divided and controlled by the and the .

The ruthless Azure Dragon Clan.

The violent White Tiger Clan.

Gokdam, a city where bloody battles took place in the middle of the market almost every day!

Of course, that’s an old story, and now that times have changed, peace has come to Gokdam.

However, the remnants of that fierce battle still remain throughout Gokdam City.

“Hey. It’s not like a gangster movie. Is that a lie?”

“No, it’s real! I heard that people who were active in the past are still hiding like martial arts masters!”

I chuckled at Geun-wook’s words.

Gokdam, the city of art and passion.

And our dispatch to Gokdam City, which begins against the backdrop of the letters CPR.

For some reason, I have a strong feeling that something unusual is going to happen already.

“But how should we get around?”

“It’s better to take a taxi because we have a lot of luggage.”

“Shall we? I’m going to take a Gokdam taxi that I’ve only heard rumors about!”

Even Gokdam’s taxis are famous.

Why are they famous?

Because they’re too fast!

As an exaggerated joke, you can enjoy thrills comparable to those of the Wolmido Viking [a popular amusement park ride in South Korea].

It wasn’t difficult to catch a taxi.

Several cars were already lined up at the taxi stand in front of the station, and some drivers were gathered and smoking.

At that time, a taxi driver makes sharp eye contact with us.

“Hey!”

He has an impression like a Shirasoni [a legendary Korean street fighter].

He has a neat mustache, slicked back gray hair, and is wearing a brightly colored shirt.

He found us, immediately put out his cigarette, and ran over.

“Are you people from Seoul!”

“Yes.”

“I can tell just by looking at your faces. Hehe. Get in this way.”

He’s boisterous and energetic for his age.

Before we even said we’d get in, the taxi driver started loading our luggage into the trunk.

“What’s there to see in this neighborhood that you came all the way here? Shit, it’s a X-like rural town.”

His tone is rough.

He looks like he used to be someone back in the day.

But in the meantime, a tattoo is slightly visible between the sleeves of his pink shirt.

‘That’s…… a tiger’s tail?’

We widened our eyes.

A tiger tattoo on his arm.

Maybe the urban legend Geun-wook was talking about is true.

“Where are you going?”

“Gokdam Hospital.”

“Hospital? Ah, did you come to visit someone?”

“Yes, well…….”

We didn’t say anything more.

Did I choose the wrong taxi?

I thought about it, but it was already too late.

Soon, our luggage barely fit into the trunk.

“We’re leaving. Hold on tight~”

Vroom!

The driver stepped on the accelerator.

And we realized that the rumors about Gokdam’s driving culture were by no means an exaggeration.

Just sitting in the back seat of the taxi feels like riding a roller coaster.

Sodam, who already has motion sickness, is almost in a state of fainting.

“The navigation says it’ll take 25 minutes, but I’ll cut it down to 15 minutes. Hahaha!”

Don’t do that!

Don’t compete with the navigation!

We all thought the same thing, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to say it out loud.

The taxi driver even turns on music and sings along without concentrating on driving.

“Awesome!”

Vroom!

Thus began our eventful first day of internship in Gokdam.