Chapter 69 – Judgment Day (3)

10 AM.

The emergency center of Myeong Sae Hospital was in a state where patients were rushing in to suit the holiday.

A man who drank all night and broke the glass with his bare hands, a grandfather with a headache, a grandmother with pain everywhere, and a young man who keeps pointing to his stomach, suspected of appendicitis.

These people gathered in a narrow waiting line and were pressuring the nurse to treat them.

Dowook penetrated the gap between the hectic people and turned back.

“Follow me carefully, Mr. Ryu Chul.”

“Whoa. It’s like a market in here.”

“Christmas doesn’t mean that people are less sick.”

Recognizing that there was a problem with the body, people first visited outpatient centers for medical treatment. Then, if they thought it would go wrong if the treatment was late, straight to the emergency center.

That was the situation Tom Brand was in.

Dowook looked around the confusing emergency room, wondering what symptoms might have caused it, and found Seong Chang Soo, who was treating a patient far away.

‘It would be faster to ask Chang Soo than to find him myself.’

After pointing out the general treatment area to Ryu Chul, he saw Seong Chang Soo providing medical treatment.

The patient was holding him by the collar.

-There’s someone who came first, so you have to wait for the ultrasound.

-What do you mean wait? I’m dying! What do you mean wait?

-Let go. Compared to the pain, aren’t you so energetic?

-My side is really sore. If my stomach explodes, will you take responsibility for it!

With patients who walked into the emergency room on their own, there was a high probability it was not in a real emergency.

Since it was chilly since the morning, cough and phlegm in the evening would usually mean a cold, and if they inhaled a lot of chicken, beer, and ramen as a late-night snack the night before, and their stomach hurt, it was just an upset stomach.

That man holding on Chang Soo’s collar was someone who ate a lot.

“D-Dr. Park. Over there….”

Ryu Chul’s eyes widened after seeing the doctor held by the patient.

Dowook shook his head.

“Don’t be surprised. It’s nothing serious.”

“Why’s the patient coming out so rough?”

“Most people visit the emergency room because they are sick and sensitive. My friend has a lot of experience, so he can solve it well…….”

One more situation occurred even before the end of the first one.

-Hey!

Another patient intervened.

-Everyone’s here because we’re sick. Wait your turn for treatment.

The patient holding onto the collar jerked his head up.

-How sick are you?

-A disease that’ll kill me faster than you.

Fists were exchanged between the two patients, and the area around Seong Chang Soo soon became a mess.

-No, sir. Sir!

Seong Chang Soo, who had an expression of putting everything down, reached out both hands to the sky and took the action “God, why me?”

Ryu Chul, who watched all of that, turned to Dowook.

“Isn’t this serious?”

“That guy is usually pretty good. Wait a minute, Mr. Ryu Chul.”

Dowook rushed and stopped one side of the fight. Seong Chang Soo, who was holding the patient on the other side, discovered Dowook was in the emergency center.

“What? I didn’t call neurosurgery”.”

“I’m not here to see you either.”

“Then why… Huh? Uh-huh! Sir! You can’t swing your dislocated arm! Relax!”

The disturbance ended only after he managed to rip the patients apart and calmed them down.

Seong Chang Soo shook his head with an expression showing he was fed up with the pain that came on a day when patients flocked.

“Oh, god. I should quit.”

“Doesn’t your department give any end-of-year benefits to the chief resident? You’re working on a day like this.”

“Right. And you’re here at this hour because you’re not working.”

While talking, Ryu Chul approached the bed. Seong Chang Soo’s jaw dropped at the sculpted handsome appearance of the man, which was rarely seen in real life.

“Ryu Chul…”

“Hello.”

“Ryu Chul, why are you here…….”

Dowook asked immediately after helping close Seong Chang Soo’s chin upward.

“Tom Brand is here. Do you know where?”

“Tom Brand? Jet America?”

“Stop being surprised. I can’t see him in both the severe and general areas. Where is he?”

Seong Chang Soo pointed to the hallway painted green.

“In order for such a celebrity to be treated quietly, there is only the quarantine area. Negative pressure beds are rarely used. Oh, when did he get here? I can get an autograph If only I’m not working.”

-Dr. Chang Soo! New patient!

Seong Chang Soo sighed at the nurse’s cry that rang from the market.

“Dowook, if you’re done with the treatment, lie and say there are new symptoms. I’m leaving after seeing that patient.”

“Is that something an emergency doctor should say?”

“What? He’s not just an actor. It’s Tom’s Brand!”

Seong Chang Soo, who was shouting out, made eye contact with Ryu Chul and coughed awkwardly.

Ryu Chul grinned.

“Tom Brand is understandable. During the first shoot, I also asked to take a selfie.”

“Ahaha. I, Mr. Ryu Chul. If you don’t mind, can I have a picture?….”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t have pride. Let’s go, Dr. Park.”

Dowook clicked his tongue at Seong Chang Soo, who was standing hopelessly, and then moved to the quarantine area.

Entering the green hallway, the light in the treatment room with negative pressure beds was bright. It was clear that someone was being treated.

“Stop.”

The approaching Dowook was immediately blocked by the hospital’s security staff.

“Doctor. No one can come in here. They’re doing VIP emergency treatment.”

“Oh, I’m going to be outside, and Ryu Chul is here to meet Tom Brand. The two know each other well.”

“Let me check”.

The security guard talked to the bodyguard standing in front of the treatment room and returned.

“They’re in the middle of treatment, so you have to wait.”

When Ryu Chul heard this, he asked the security guard.

“Did you say I’m here? Actor Ryu Chul. Promoting the movie together. Best friend!”

“Yes. I said Ryu Chul’s name exactly.”

Ryu Chul, who was stopped from entering, looked embarrassed and looked at the treatment room.

“You’re going to cut me at the entrance?”

Ryu Chul picked up his cell phone and started talking to Manager Shim on the phone.

Dowook waited for the results and saw a white bearded man walking from the far side of the hallway holding a chart.

‘Isn’t that person the one from this morning?’

The old man immediately opened the door of the emergency center’s drug warehouse and entered. That was an important area where only the head nurse could enter and exit, and even doctors could not enter and bring out anything as they liked.

Slide.

Again, the old man’s senses dug into his fingertips.

When his special sense was forced into action in an unintended situation, it was usually accompanied by intense impulses, but this was different.

Dowook wondered why that was and thought maybe this was because of his personality.

Relaxed mindset.

Longing for a violent impulse was not everything after all.

The head of the nursing headquarters went into the drug warehouse and greeted the elderly. The smiling old man was so warm that Dowook even thought he might be a Santa fairy who appeared only on Christmas.

“The visit to the pediatric ward has been canceled, and everything’s messed up? Then what should I do? Today’s goal was to come early, learn the know-how, and show it naturally in front of Tom Brand.”

Ryu Chul, who unconsciously mentioned the behind-the-scenes story of volunteer work filming, lowered his cell phone. And he shook his head.

“I guess it’s not a cold. Tom Brand’s agent has apologized to KG Entertainment for unauthorized changes in promotional schedules.Yes.”

“Shall we go up to the ward?”

“How can I just go when I know he’s sick? I’ll wait, and after the treatment, I’ll just see his face and go.”

He didn’t know if Tom Brand would have any affection for this program, but because Ryu Chul sat in a chair in the hallway, Dowook sat next to him.

Dowook wondered if he should bring a donut cushion to Ryu Chul’s uncomfortable posture of leaning to one side.

Ryu Chul, who was wriggling around, smiled as he made eye contact with Dowook.

“The chair is hard.”

Maybe a few minutes passed that way.

The door of the treatment room opened and a stretcher was pushed out.

Ryu Chul jumped to his feet after seeing Tom Brand lying with a respirator attached to him.

“Tom! I’m Chul! Remember Iron Ryu? Are you okay?”

[T/N: It’s mentioned that Ryu Chul has a really bad accent when speaking in English. The words in bold were supposed to be him saying them really badly in English.]

The tall patient with blue eyes and short brown hair did not respond as he was slumped and grabbing his side.

The medical staff next to the bed was spectacular. It was a medical team that included the head of the international medical department, the head of the integrated internal medicine department, and the professor of internal medicine dedicated to VIP.

Dowook, who was looking at the patient passing by at first glance, paused when he saw that the light he witnessed in the morning glistened from his side and disappeared.

Because he was accepting the senses of the elderly man, detailed observation was activated.

Traces around the mouth that seemed to show vomiting, a pale redness of the face that appeared when sweating and fever that came at the same time, shortness of breath, and pain in the side.

He thought it might be a typical example of chest musculoskeletal pain.

The stretcher from the treatment room headed right next to it, to a video room with CT equipment for emergency centers.

‘Wait. CT? If you have confirmed musculoskeletal pain, there is no reason to take CT, though?’

When new information was injected into the head, a bluish light glistened on the patient’s chest this time and disappeared.

It was a really kind guideline for diagnosis, different from Professor Choi’s or Commander G’s.

‘It’s hard to confirm with ultrasound and electrocardiogram alone. Intra-chest pain…… Pericarditis? Yes. The diagnosis team suspects that.’

Dowook understood the diagnosis process that took place inside and at a glance turned his head toward Ryu Chul, who was in tears.

“I guess he’s in trouble. He couldn’t even respond to me at all.”

He had a feeling that he might have just been ignored, but Dowook silently sent him a look of consolation.

“If the symptoms are pericarditis, it won’t be very serious.”

“Pericarditis?”

“Heart inflammation. There are many different causes, so you have to test this and that.”

While talking about pericarditis, a voice suddenly intervened from the side.

“Who is this? I thought I saw it wrong. Dr. Park?”

Won Dong-Gil, the chief of the integrated internal medicine department, saw Dowook and approached.

Chief Won spoke with a voice mixed with ridicule to Dowook, who bowed his head and greeted him.

“I’ve just heard rumors that you followed the dean’s line with Chief Ha these days. You’re not even going to respond to other managers’ calls because you have backing?”

[T/N: Line, in this case, would refer to one’s connections in the hospital. Dean’s line because he’s the most powerful person that everyone follows. It’s just how cliques at work are referred I guess.]

Ryu Chul, who was standing next to Dowook at Chief Won’s bitter question, looked shocked.

“Chief Ha is like that, too. No, Lim So Yool. That girl. Why are you trying so hard to follow the words of the person who’s just going to dip her feet in and leave? In other words, when the board of directors opens a meeting, everything will be organized. At a time when it is publicly known that the school foundation is also on the side of the board of directors.”

Sharp words with criticism poured out. However, Dowook did not feel any anger for some reason. It must be because of the Santa fairy’s sense.

Chief Won’s last warning continued as Dowook only listened silently.

“Until when do you think the excuse of being busy with surgery will work? It’s up to you. Who will be the final winner?”

Chief Won turned his back and disappeared toward the video room again. Ryu Chul, who had been stepping back from a distance, rushed to Dowook’s side.

“Whoa. That’s harsh, very harsh. Pressuring people below with power actually happens. I thought this hospital was a meritocracy, but it was like White Tower.” [Probably a drama reference]

“What?”

If he heard Choi Hoo when he got angry, he may be disappointed.

“Why is he saying something like that to Dr. Park?”

“I don’t know.”

Dowook didn’t know exactly why, but he thought it may be related to director Lim So Yool’s visit for accounting adjustment. Since they could not mention these internal circumstances, Dowook changed the subject.

“Since we saw Tom’s face, shall we go up now? We still have a lot of the volunteer program left.”

“I can’t help it. I’ll have to come back down when I’m done with the volunteer later.”

It was time to turn back and return to the pediatric ward.

The door of the video room suddenly opened and Chief Won looked at Dowook. With a dark complexion, he shouted.

“Dr. Park! Pay attention! Hurry up! Come in and look at the patient!”

An emergency call came from a selfish number.