“I won’t do it.”
That was Choi Moo-gyeol’s first response to Park Seok-hun’s job offer.
“Why not? You said there’s no hospital that will even call you anyway.”
“I must have been through too much in the Middle East. These days, resting feels good.”
“Are you going to rest for the rest of your life?”
“Not forever, but.”
“Then you should start while there’s a place calling you. You start from a small general hospital called Daon. And then someday, overwhelm Hankook University Hospital. Take the title of renowned doctor from Yoo Seong-ho too.”
“Your dream is grand.”
“What’s there to say it won’t work?”
‘It does sound interesting, but is it really possible?’
Choi Moo-gyeol’s brain calculated the probability of success, but that probability did not look high.
“The possibility is slim.”
The big fish does not bite easily.
Park Seok-hun smacked his lips and pondered. What kind of bait should he throw to catch him?
“Sigh, fine. Then just look at one video.”
“I won’t.”
“It’s a rare case—an AVM patient.”
“……Really? Then send it over for now.”
In the end, Choi Moo-gyeol turned on his laptop and checked the DSA footage Park Seok-hun sent.
Rumble―.
Choi Moo-gyeol flipped through the screens and asked.
“Spetzler–Martin grade?”
“Grade four.”
“The abnormal area is quite large.”
“A full five centimeters in the left parietal lobe. Two main feeders.”
A feeder refers to a blood vessel that supplies blood to the malformed vessels.
“Did you do embolization?”
“I did, but it didn’t fully catch. Maybe because the hospital machines are poor.”
“Huh?”
Choi Moo-gyeol’s gaze stopped on one screen.
“Embolization won’t work.”
“Why?”
“It’s drainage vein stenosis. In cases like this, you handle the deep posterior feeder first, and,”
“So that was the cause.”
“Right, we need to open the lid. A craniotomy will do it.”
Park Seok-hun let out a small laugh at Choi Moo-gyeol’s words.
“It’s not that I haven’t thought about a craniotomy.”
“Is there a reason it’s difficult?”
“Yes. Of all things, the location of the malformed vessels is right next to Wernicke’s area. Cutting it out isn’t the problem, but removing it without damage to language ability doesn’t look that easy.”
“Wernicke’s area.”
Choi Moo-gyeol’s reaction changed slightly.
“How about it, are you interested now?”
“Hey, seducing me with a patient now. Your flirting has improved a lot.”
“Just try working there for one month while doing surgery. You can think of it as your Korean medical life starting here.”
Choi Moo-gyeol was silent for a moment, then said.
“……I’ll try it for a month, and if I don’t like it, I’ll quit, so don’t say anything then.”
* * *
That night.
Choi Moo-gyeol was browsing Daon General Hospital’s website in the living room.
‘The website quality is seriously bad from the start. Am I really supposed to work here? The Middle East might be better.’
His parents, who spotted him, asked with sleepy expressions.
“What are you searching for at this hour?”
“Ah, you know my medical school classmate Park Seok-hun. He asked how about working at this hospital, so I decided to try it for a month.”
In that moment, his parents’ expressions brightened greatly.
“Really? That’s really great!”
“Our son is becoming a doctor in Korea again?”
His mother’s and father’s faces blooming brightly.
‘Are you that happy?’
Even though Choi Moo-gyeol recognized his parents’ changing expressions, he could not feel the tender emotions like an ordinary person.
It was just that the area around his forehead tingled.
‘Should I try going for longer than a month…….’
Seeing his parents’ smiles, he somehow felt that he should take an interest in hospital work.
Even though he could not feel the relief his parents were feeling now, the thought ‘I want to make them smile more, for longer’ arose—was that his deep unconsciousness?
The next day.
Choi Moo-gyeol woke up early and headed to Daon General Hospital as promised.
“Hey, get in!”
“What? Since when am I a hitchhiker?”
As he left the house, Park Seok-hun came out driving his own car to pick him up.
“I specially came out to escort our VIP doctor.”
Park Seok-hun, holding the steering wheel with a beaming expression.
Riding in his car, they soon arrived at Daon General Hospital.
On the way down from the entrance to the parking lot. Choi Moo-gyeol’s expression hardened as he surveyed the hospital’s scenery.
Getting out of the car, Choi Moo-gyeol said.
“The hospital exterior is quite old? When was the last time it was painted?”
“It has been quite a while. I don’t know well either.”
“Is that so?”
The entrance from the parking lot into the building.
It is a glass automatic door.
“Hm? There’s no response?”
Choi Moo-gyeol waved his hand toward the door sensor, but the door did not open.
Then Park Seok-hun, as if familiar with it, lightly kicked the lower left of the automatic door with his foot.
Whirr―.
Only then did the door open.
“What is this, is this door manual or automatic?”
“The sensor sometimes fails to detect.”
“But why aren’t you fixing it?”
“I’ve suggested it a few times, but they say the budget is insufficient.”
“Amazing. Can they even pay my one month’s salary?”
“That’s a contract, so they have to pay. Don’t worry.”
On the way up from the first basement floor to the lobby floor.
The CT room had its lights on, but the MRI room’s lights were off.
“Hey, is there no MRI here?”
“How could there not be? Of course there is. It’s a general hospital, after all.”
“Then why are the lights off?”
“It only operates during the day. The lights will turn on around nine.”
“…….”
“…….”
“If an emergency patient at night needs an MRI?”
“We urgently call the technician and somehow resolve it.”
Choi Moo-gyeol quietly asked.
“Hey…… is this hospital really okay?”
“It’s, it’s better than it looks.”
“Better than it looks?”
Park Seok-hun made a slightly stung expression.
Choi Moo-gyeol suddenly turned his steps toward the controlled area.
“Moo-gyeol, where are you going?”
“I’m going to take a look at the operating room.”
“Shouldn’t we stop by the director’s office first?”
“I’m more curious about the operating room. Which room does neurosurgery mainly use?”
“Number three.”
“Come here.”
“Whoa.”
Choi Moo-gyeol suddenly grabbed the card hanging around Park Seok-hun’s neck and swiped it on the security machine.
Whirr―.
The door opened with a heavy sound.
“Hey, why is the surgical microscope so old? What generation is this?”
“Let’s buy one later with the money we earn.”
“You introduce a classmate to a hospital like this? Do you have some grudge against me?”
“……What grudge.”
“I should just work for a month and quit.”
“……Don’t decide right away.”
“Should I go back to the Middle East? The facilities there are much better.”
“Hey, aren’t you going to see the AVM patient?”
“Fine.”
Choi Moo-gyeol tried to erase the image of this hospital’s flaws from his brain, reminding himself of the purpose of the one-month hire.
“Let’s go to the director’s office and greet him first.”
Park Seok-hun grabbed Choi Moo-gyeol, who was in shock after seeing the hospital’s condition, and got on the elevator.
“Wow.”
Staff members they met here and there greeted Park Seok-hun, then were surprised to see the person next to him.
A nurse who rode the elevator with them too.
“Hello, Doctor. Oh my!”
“Hello. Why are you surprised?”
“Is the handsome person next to you a friend of yours?”
“Ah, he’s a doctor who will work at our hospital starting today.”
“I’m Choi Moo-gyeol. Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, hello. Which department are you coming to, by any chance?”
“Neurosurgery.”
“He’s extremely skilled.”
Park Seok-hun added.
“Well, please take good care of him!”
The nurse, looking somehow shy, got off first.
After experiencing this situation a few more times, the two arrived at the director’s office.
Director Kim Jin did not bother to ask Choi Moo-gyeol about the past upon first meeting.
“Dr. Choi Moo-gyeol, seeing you in person, you really are handsome. I’ve heard a lot about you. Please take good care of things for the next month.”
“I should be the one asking for your good care. The hospital is truly…… the best environment.”
‘He didn’t just say that sarcastically, did he?’
Park Seok-hun broke into a slight sweat inwardly.
Even when Director Kim Jin extended his hand for a handshake, Choi Moo-gyeol stood stiffly.
“Hm?”
Park Seok-hun quickly explained.
“Ah, Dr. Choi Moo-gyeol has germaphobia. He doesn’t like handshakes much.”
Kim Jin awkwardly withdrew his hand.
“Germaphobia…… So there are people in Korea with germ phobia too. It must be hard to socialize.”
“Yes, it’s hard.”
“…….”
Kim Jin thought that conversation with Choi Moo-gyeol was somehow a bit difficult.
“The secretary will give you the contract, so review the contents and sign well. It’s not a long period, but please take good care of patients during it.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Then Dr. Park, please introduce him well to the department heads.”
“Yes.”
The director quickly handed Choi Moo-gyeol over to Park Seok-hun.
After the two left.
‘Was accepting Dr. Park Seok-hun’s proposal really a good idea……?’
Kim Jin agonized.
Seminar room.
Choi Moo-gyeol greeted people at a gathering of department heads and key staff.
The department heads’ gazes toward him were half and half.
Half wariness and half concern.
Though for Choi Moo-gyeol, their reactions did not particularly matter.
When he appeared in the neurosurgery department office, there was a brief stir among the nurses.
“Wow, he’s here!”
“When Nurse Jung said in the morning that he looked like a celebrity, I didn’t believe it, but it was true.”
Yeom Dong-gu, who looked like a bandit, approached briskly.
“I’m Yeom Dong-gu, a staff doctor. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
When he extended his hand for a handshake along with his greeting, Choi Moo-gyeol said.
“Nice to meet you. But I don’t like shaking hands.”
“…….”
Yeom Dong-gu awkwardly withdrew his extended hand.
Park Seok-hun patted Yeom Dong-gu’s back.
“Dr. Moo-gyeol has germaphobia, so don’t take it personally.”
“Ah.”
“Because all you get from a handshake is bacteria.”
“I-is that so?”
‘Working together is going to be really tough.’
Yeom Dong-gu thought that.
