Chapter 100
Chapter 100
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Assassin (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Rumble, crash! Bang bang!
It was like the sky had a hole punched in it, rain hammering mercilessly against the emergency medical center's glass windows.
The thunder roared as if the building was about to collapse right then and there.
"...Of all times."
I muttered as I shook the rain from my soaked hair the moment I stepped out of the taxi.
After that surreal two days of causing a scene at the conference and even snagging an award, my first shift back was overnight duty in this godawful weather.
How could something this awful happen?
Ziiing—
The automatic doors slid open, hitting me with the familiar smell of disinfectant and that damp, heavy air unique to night shifts.
The station was surprisingly quiet.
The calm before the storm? Or maybe no crazies had braved the wind and rain yet.
I gave a quick greeting to Baek Eun-seo, the first-year resident staring at the monitor with already exhausted eyes in the corner of the station.
She always seemed to show up early.
"...Eun-seo."
"Yes, doctor?"
"Good evening...."
I headed straight to the changing room to swap clothes.
Time to ditch this stuffy shirt and tie and slip into my precious blue scrubs, stained with blood and antiseptic.
I made my way to the corner where my locker was.
My locker...
"Huh."
I stopped in my tracks.
My beat-up, dented gray metal locker.
Slapped roughly in the middle of the door with blue tape was a single A4 sheet, printed in crude, crooked letters.
[C☆o☆n☆g☆r☆a☆t☆s]
[☆☆☆☆☆]
[Emergency Surgery's Han Hyun-jae Spot]
[-Director Park Woong-]
I stared blankly at the scrap of paper.
Why the hell the stars?
Emergency Surgery?
Were these guys messing with me?
"Ha...."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Well, word was my presentation had spread like wildfire through the hospital.
Stuff like, "That crazy second-year ripped into the surgery professors from the conference stage," all exaggerated and mixed up.
Rumor had it Director Park Woong grabbed his neck when he heard, or maybe laughed his ass off?
That's why you can't trust rumors.
Either way, seeing this prank, it was probably the latter.
Emergency Surgery, my ass.
I ripped off the A4 sheet and crumpled it up.
***
Anyway, I changed into my damp scrubs and headed back to the station.
Had to get handover.
Gotta do what needs doing.
My classmate Jo Soo-yeon, burning the last embers of her day shift, was waiting at the station.
Her face looked like half her soul had already checked out, but the moment she saw me, life sparked in those rotten dead-fish eyes.
A creepy kind of life.
"Here, Emergency Surgery's Han Hyun-jae doctor? Let me give you the handover~"
Jo Soo-yeon cackled, flipping through the charts and putting heavy emphasis on "Emergency Surgery."
"Shut it, Jo Soo-yeon."
I snatched the chart board from her hand.
"So cold."
She shrugged her shoulders like it was hilarious and grabbed her bag.
"Typical of surgery docs, that special hysteria. Sharp as a knife."
"Shut up."
"Yes, sir."
Jo Soo-yeon mock-saluted and tapped the EMR monitor.
"Anyway. Nothing major to hand over...."
I scanned the patient list she'd pulled up.
"First, B-5 bed. 45-year-old male."
Jo Soo-yeon pointed at the name on the monitor.
"Drank like a fish at a company dinner last night, puked till morning, then came in on 119 with blood mixed in at the end."
"...Mallory-Weiss, huh."
I stifled a yawn as I replied.
Mallory-Weiss tear is basically when you puke so hard you rip your esophagus.
Out of 100 ER patients in a year, 10 had this.
"No surprise. Called endoscopy, vitals are steady at 110/70 for now. But he's still spitting up coffee-ground stuff bit by bit, so keep him NPO—no food or drink—and maintain it."
Jo Soo-yeon pulled up the lab results.
"Labs are fine, hemoglobin at 13.0. Just keep him NPO till endoscopy gets here, hang some fluids."
"Got it."
"A-3 bed. 82-year-old grandma."
Jo Soo-yeon's voice dropped a tone.
"Came in from a nursing home a few days ago with altered mental status—not eating, just sleeping. Labs showed clear UTI—urinary tract infection. Fever at 38.5, urine's a pus farm. Started ceftriaxone 2g, consulted infectious disease for admission?"
"But why's she still here in A zone? Not admitted yet."
I furrowed my brow.
Elderly UTI is a straight path to sepsis.
Needed to get her upstairs fast.
Jo Soo-yeon let out a deep sigh.
"No beds."
"...Ah, fuck."
When the hell was this hospital system gonna improve?
"VRE screening sent off—vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus—results pending. Grandma keeps mumbling about her son and trying to get up, so told the first-years and interns to watch her close."
"Got it. This grandma needs to go to EICU at least for now."
"Rest are minor colds, sprained ankles, cut fingers. First-years'll handle 'em. I'm out."
"Yeah. Get lost. Good work."
Jo Soo-yeon slung her bag over her shoulder and flashed me one last grin.
"Alright~ Our Emergency Surgery Han doc, you too~ If you gotta crack open a belly tomorrow, call me. I wanna watch. Heh heh."
"Hey, you!"
Jo Soo-yeon ignored my scolding and sauntered out through the automatic doors.
I sighed and sank deep into the chair.
I opened EMR and started hammering F5 to check for new results.
***
I plopped down in my seat.
The rain all day had left the ER stuffy, filled with a weird heavy air.
The station's fluorescent lights felt especially cold.
"Haa...."
I clutched my instant coffee paper cup, just praying these 12 hours passed safely.
But my wishes always got ignored, it seemed.
The new first-year Baek Eun-seo next to me was starting to look at me with sparkling eyes.
That wasn't a good sign on my data.
'What the hell is with this enthusiasm.'
That gaze was seriously burdensome.
Those clear, innocent eyes staring at me like I was her role model or something.
I hated those eyes.
Not hate, exactly, but they were so alien to my rotten second-year soul, it creeped me out.
Things had eased up a bit since fourth-year Lee Min-jae became a fellow.
That guy didn't hassle a second-year slacker like me much anymore.
Except for the occasional "Hyun-jae! Good morning!" soul-snatching greetings.
But Baek Eun-seo, fresh from intern to first-year, wouldn't leave my schedule no matter what.
Lee Min-jae typhoon passes, and Baek Eun-seo storm rolls in.
Why was my life like this?
'Who schedules us residents?'
I stared blankly into space.
'Chief Choi Soo-min did it?'
Yeah, fourth-year Choi Soo-min was chief now.
She made this schedule.
This was deliberate.
Last year's 'crazy guy' Han Hyun-jae who caused all the major incidents, and the 'even crazier newbie' Baek Eun-seo who applied to emergency medicine after watching him.
Mentor-mentee program? Or just punishment.
Alright, let's hypothesize.
ER angel Choi Soo-min saw me as a troublemaker she had to look after every time I pulled crazy shit like laparotomies or REBOA and agro'd the whole hospital.
So with some educational excuse, she chained the most passionate first-year, Baek Eun-seo, to me like a ball and chain.
Thinking, 'If Han Hyun-jae mentors her, she'll grow fine.'
That the most reasonable theory?
'Ah, whatever. Head hurts....'
I pressed my temples.
"Doctor."
Then Baek Eun-seo spoke up.
"I heard it again!"
'...Heard what?'
I pretended total disinterest, staring only at the EMR chart.
"They say you drew a line in resident history!"
"...What the hell does that mean."
I stopped typing.
Drew a line?
Besides the disciplinary committee referral line?
"Your spring conference presentation debating emergency medicine's future and role expansion!"
Baek Eun-seo's voice held awe.
I sighed.
'Ah, that public execution.'
All I got after was this weird Emergency Surgery Han Hyun-jae nickname.
"...Not that big a deal."
"Oh, really?"
Baek Eun-seo looked a bit disappointed.
"Then you discussed the future a little..?"
'...Ha, let her figure it out.'
I didn't even feel like responding and turned back to the monitor.
Talking to this weirdo tired me out.
Even if I said, "Actually, the ghost inside me made me do it," she'd reply, "Wow! Doctor, you have spiritual powers too! Role model!"
I turned back to the monitor.
'Just work. Better if a patient comes. Than chatting with her.'
Ding.
Right then, a new alert popped on the triage monitor.
My savior appeared.
"Ah, doctor. Triage note's up!"
Baek Eun-seo reacted before me.
"Yeah. Let's see."
A bold red [STAT] sticker glaring next to it.
"Why the STAT?"
I refreshed EMR.
And checked the few lines on screen.
...
For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating from no sleep last night.
"Han doctor."
Baek Eun-seo's voice came from beside me.
Sleep vanished.
"Yeah."
"PE—pulmonary embolism, right?"
"PE it is."
I shoved back from the chair and stood.
One sentence formed in my head.
We're. Fucked.
"Run!"
We bolted like mad toward the triage area.