Chapter 17 – What day, what time(10)

“The surgery is finished.”

After Choi Hoo used the suction one last time, the operated area appeared in the microscope’s screen.

-Kyaaa. The sutures are really neat.

-Wasn’t it like seeing Choi Hoo’s surgery when he was young? Is he Choi Hoo’s student?

-He’s my student!

Dowook turned to look at Choi Hoo.

“Professor.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t have any strength left in my hands anymore. Can I ask you to close?”

The faces of everyone in the viewing room changed at the sudden request. How dare he ask a professor, not any professor but Choi Hoo, to finish up a surgery.

“Okay.”

However, the terse response from Choi Hoo sent many of them into a state of panic.

They found out for the first time in the 10 years he’d worked at the hospital that Choi Hoo’s vocabulary contained the word “thoughtfulness.”

Dowook left the operating room without an ounce of energy in his body.

When he was about to step on the button at the bottom of the door to open it, Choi Hoo, who’d looked over the results of the surgery, called out to Dowook.

“Dr. Park.”

“Yes?”

“It was a good surgery.”

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity, professor.”

When Dowook disappeared, there was a great commotion in the viewing room.

The one who made the most noise was the bet winner who won ₩1,200,000, Chief Ha’s shout of joy.

-Yahoo! I don’t have to worry about the staff dinner’s payment! Hahahaha!

Frowning while suturing the incision, Choi Hoo looked at the viewing room through the corner of his eyes. Then he yelled at Nam Hana, who stood beside him with a blank expression on her face.

“Are you here to sight-see? Cut!”

“I-I’m sorry.”

His voice was so fierce that Chief Ha, who’d been dancing in joy, reflexively ducked his head. Holding the mic connected to the operating room, Chief Ha asked.

-Choi Hoo. You’re not telling us that, right?

Choi Hoo didn’t answer and this time turned to the nurses.

“If you want to keep gossiping, get lost to a cafe!”

Two nurses bowed their heads right away.

The viewing room became quiet at the same time. Choi Hoo displayed a comfortable expression and continued to suture.

Dowook came out and looked at his hands which were still intermittently shaking.

‘I succeeded, but why do I feel so hollow?’

He had to pour everything into the surgery – so much so that he didn’t have enough energy to finish up the surgery.

Even using Choi Hoo’s sense, it was a surgery that keenly showed his inadequacies. If he had been a bit more daring, a bit more precise, he could have reduced the surgery time by at least 10 minutes.

That was how much more stable the surgical results could have been.

Because of his frustration, he kept looking back at the direction of the surgery room.

“Dowook!”

Coming out of the rosette and heading towards the locker room, Chief Ha followed with a grin on his face.

“Brat. You scared the life out of me at the end.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“Why do you look like that when you just finished a successful surgery?”

“I can’t help but regret not being able to finish.”

“Eugh, I’m getting goosebumps. This brat keeps saying surgeon-like things.”

The delight shown by Chief Ha helped Dowook regain some energy. Anyway, the surgery ended successfully. Without errors as expected.

Once he arrived at the locker room, Dowook asked about something he’d been curious about since the operating room.

“Why didn’t the vice dean observe the surgery? He seemed to care enough about this case to come at dawn.”

“Dunno. He said he had something important to do so I should just let him know. Anyway.”

Chief Ha placed his hand on Dowook’s shoulder.

“You were really impressive, Park Dowook. If you keep going like this, there shouldn’t be any problems if I send you to work under Choi Hoo.”

“Plan B is no more, right?”

“Of course. But should we still keep it as insurance?”

Dowook looked at his hands. The slight trembling had just stopped.

“No. Let’s just forget it.”

Not having something to fall back on gave him the feeling he would be more invested. Right now it was time for him to train under Choi Hoo who had the most stable surgery skills.

You were just the hospital’s last resort until you were skilled enough to be a specialist.

While changing his clothes in the locker room, Dowook’s eyes turned to the big poster of the hospital’s president and the front of the hospital.

The seemingly dark sign of Myeong Sae Hospital that he couldn’t see yesterday didn’t look so unreachable today.

If he continued in this way, his hope of becoming a fellow, clinical professor, and full professor step by step could be achieved.

* * *

A few days later.

Moving around the hospital ward without even eating breakfast, Dowook stopped in front of the medical staff’s calendar.

‘Today was Thursday?’

Half a week disappeared in an instant due to the sudden preparations to become a fellow from a chief resident.

“Senior, you’re eating, right?”

Turning his head, he saw Nam Hana’s face.

Wearing thick glasses and looking up at him with a face that seemed to say she would work really hard, this junior was going to be the chief of staff responsible for the neurosurgery department’s medical staff in the coming year. Unfortunately.

“Let’s go. We need to eat if we want to keep living.”

Dowook put the documents in his hands down on the desk. He had almost forgotten to eat lunch while continuing with work.

While walking towards the cafeteria, Nam Hana spoke with a sad face.

“It must be hard to prepare for the specialist test right now to be Dr. Hong’s substitute.”

“Have we ever not been able to study because we didn’t have enough time? Whether it’s me or you.”

“Eugh.”

Being busy was okay since they were used to it. He just regretted not having the time to slowly test and answer the many questions he had about his special sense.

Dowook got off the 3rd floor of the main building’s elevator and lined up at the food court’s cash register.

“Oh, my friend~ huh? Dowook. What are you doing?”

Having been absorbed in his thoughts, he turned his head and saw Seong Chang Soo.

“Did you get scolded a lot today? You’re not quite yourself today.”

“Whatever.”

Seong Chang Soo looked behind at the juniors who’d followed him and came closer to Dowook.

“I still haven’t received my bonus. Save me just this once.”

“Why don’t you just yell it out?”

Sighing, Dowook paid for 2 meals at the register.

The neurosurgery department’s chief of staff, Dowook, and the emergency department’s chief of staff Seong Chang Soo sat face to face with the juniors sitting around them.

Eating the food with gusto, Seong Chang Soo talked to Nam Hana who sat beside him.

“Dr. Nam. The VIP our Dowook operated on. Is she really as pretty as the rumors say?”

“Yes, she’s really beautiful.”

“As I thought.”

Nodding his head, Seong Chang Soo finally looked at Dowook.

“That’s why he became crazy. Even if he’s a bit of a workaholic, he isn’t this bad. But these past few days, he’s been a bit weird.”

There had been a few times he stood blankly recently. They were usually the times his special sense was working so there wasn’t a way for him to explain the situation. He was also too lazy to do so.

‘He’s pretty sharp.’

Seong Chang Soo himself seemed to not think much of it as he suddenly changed the subject.

“By the way. Dr. Nam, you’re going to be the next chief of staff, right?”

“Yes.”

“You’re stepping on a road of misery. Dowook kept moaning that he wanted to quit many times throughout the year. You don’t know how hard it was for me to convince him otherwise…..”

“Pot, kettle.”

Seong Chang Soo tapped on Noh Myeong Deok’s shoulder, who was sitting beside him.

“Myeong Deok. Did I say I wanted to quit?”

“No.”

“See. see.”

“It wasn’t moaning, but whining.”

Nam Hana chuckled in laughter.

“Are you thinking about who you would spend most of your time with before you speak?”

Dowook let Seong Chang Soo’s motormouth noise enter one ear and out the other as he focused on his food.

Seong Chand Soo, who’d been eating quickly for a while, suddenly turned his head.

“Right. Is there anyone who hasn’t received their bonus in the neurosurgery department?”

A few residents raised their hands.

“The accounting manager is not doing things well. How can something like this happen in a big hospital like Myeong Sae? Are they looking down on us because we’re just residents?”

Seong Chang Soo, who’d been moaning about the situation, turned to look at the TV mounted on the cafeteria wall. Then, thinking he’d seen wrong, he blinked several times.

“Do-Dowook.”

“Can you talk after we finish eating? This is my first meal today.”

“Look at that.”

“Ah, what?”

Turning his head, [Myeong Sae Hospital Dean, Who Was Pressured to Resign due to Operating a Record Deficit, Fled Overseas After Raising a Slush Fund] was the title of the news that he saw.