Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: VEXAS Syndrome
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An awkward silence settled over the emergency room after Professor Choi Young-jun left.
The nurses who had been sneaking glances at me just moments ago with excited looks that said, "That guy's about to get ripped apart like a dog," were now eyeing me with a mix of awe and astonishment.
What are you all staring at?
I'd seen them betting on how badly I'd get chewed out. I'm a human being with at least a shred of social awareness!
I could hear the whispers from the nurses and a few medical technicians drifting over.
"Is he insane? How's a first-year EM resident—not even internal medicine—supposed to know about some rare rheumatic disease?"
"He's not even on night duty as an internal med resident, but he paged the professor directly and instead of getting reamed, he got praised?"
"Dr. Han Hyun-jae, we knew he was something special from his good intern evals, but this level?"
Shut up, everyone.
I can hear you all, and I'm mortified enough already, so please just be quiet.
I stared blankly down the hallway.
My body felt heavy as lead now that the adrenaline had crashed, but my mind was sharper than ever.
A hot something rising from the pit of my stomach seemed to be warming my blood all over.
Burning bright.
Was this passion?
"Well done."
Just those two words.
During my shitty residency days, all I'd ever heard was stuff like:
"You don't even know this?"
"Get your head out of your ass?"
"If you're gonna do it like that, just quit."
That was it.
Sure, there was occasional praise, but for a clueless first-year resident, it was obvious which words I'd hear more of.
But today, I'd gotten genuine praise straight from a professor's mouth.
Along with the heavy sense of accomplishment from possibly saving one patient's life.
And it all started with...
This crazy delusion popping into my head.
[Dead Doctors Gallery]
I slunk back to the corner of the on-call room to avoid the stares.
The moment I flopped onto the bed, I closed my eyes and summoned that damn gallery again.
"Gallery."
With a ping, the familiar yet dingy blue interface spread across my vision.
First things first, I needed to focus on this gallery thing.
What the hell was it?
I stared holes through the screen.
Hmm, what kind of users hang out here?
And what was this interface?
It had a crude design straight out of the early 2000s, but it looked eerily similar to that one site I knew.
The interface was super intuitive. At the top were rows of gallery lists.
[Dead Doctors Gallery]
[Dead Internists Gallery]
[Dead Surgeons Gallery]
[Dead Pediatricians Gallery]
[Dead Psychiatrists Gallery]
Neatly divided by specialty.
I was currently in the [Dead Doctors Gallery], which seemed like some kind of main board.
"Ha...."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Was this really just a brain fart delusion?
An elaborate hallucination cooked up by my subconscious after stress hit critical mass?
Lately, I'd barely slept, and my meals were all over the place. Could be a psychotic symptom of burnout syndrome.
"Should I go see psych?"
It was ridiculous even diagnosing myself like that.
What would I even say? "Doctor, I see a community site full of dead doctors in my vision." Yeah, I'd get sedated and shipped straight to the psych ward.
But... if this was really a delusion, how do I explain VEXAS syndrome?
No corner of my knowledge, not even the foggy edges of my forgetting curve, had ever held the name VEXAS syndrome.
I'd only learned it was a rare disease defined just a few years ago after searching UpToDate. The odds I'd pulled it out of thin air? Zero.
So was this... a real gallery?
Did it actually exist?
Clutching my confused head, I started lurking the other posts. I scrolled through the latest threads.
Title: What do you kids use for neuroblastoma these days besides N-myc?
Author: Pediatric Ghost 77
Back in my day, we just hammered in chemo and prayed. No ALK gene mutations or other targets? Anything past Phase 3 trials?
Comments
Anon (1.234): Latte is right lol. Must be over 20 years gone. Nowadays we use Lorlatinib targeting ALK. But resistance builds fast, real headache.
Anon (211.36): CAR-T is the answer. Money's the issue. GD2-targeted CAR-T trials looking good, but not in Korea yet?
Re: Pediatric Ghost 77: What's CAR-T, fuck...? Shitloads of new stuff since I died. Drop some paper coords.
Title: Who the fuck prescribed fentanyl to my patient?
Author: Anesthesiology Pain Medicine
Didn't you see it's end-stage renal failure? Norfentanyl metabolites build up causing respiratory depression—med students know this. Should've used hydromorphone, you quack fuck. Patient went to ICU because of you.
Comments
Anon (101.11): Worked under an asshole like that, got why you're dead. They just don't think.
Anon (58.235): Why get mad when you're already dead? Just stretch out in the afterlife comfortably.
Re: Anesthesiology Pain Medicine: You think this doesn't piss me off? Fucker. That patient I slaved years to keep alive.
...What the fuck.
I stared at the screen, speechless.
The tone was pure cheap community shit—curses and swears flying everywhere—but the conversations inside rivaled a professors' conference.
Cutting-edge insights and deep medical debates everywhere.
Hmm....
I rested my chin, deep in thought.
First off, was I the only living person here?
The nuance in the posts and comments: everyone using phrases like "back when I was alive," "when I died."
...Seemed like it from the posts.
Wait, if that's true?
My heart dropped like a stone.
With trembling thoughts—not hands—I scrolled back to my post. Checked the comments.
Under the last one I'd seen, "Dumbass? Looks like VEXAS, send off tests," new replies had piled up.
Anon (182.21): But this guy's post weird, right? "Patient, go easy"—sounds like he's watching now.
Anon (39.7): Yeah. "Patient's still febrile and wasting away, no clue"—present tense.
OR Ghost 3: What? Watching that patient? You're a living doc?
Hippocrates' Heir: ?? How you seeing patients? How you ordering tests? Not possession lol
Bone Fanatic 88: You seeing patients? Patients in the afterlife? ER down there too?
Ah, fuck.
I'm screwed.
My blood ran cold.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine. I'd written from a living person's POV without thinking.
In this community of the dead, I'd slipped and used present tense.
Busted. Identity exposed.
A living human in this crazy dead folks' community, totally outed.
What now? Kicked out? Delusion vanishes?
As panicked thoughts raced, the comments started shifting weirdly.
Anon (118.235): ...Wait. This guy's actually alive?
Heo Jun's Oriental Med Thinking: Whoa.
Anon (210.94): Holy shit. For real? "Hell Joseon Slave 1" is a living doc?
Anesthesiology Pain Medicine: ?? Holy fuck, real-time patient views? Been 3 years since I died.
Pediatric Ghost 77: Crazy shit, you really alive? ALIVE? Answer before I beat you, is it true??
Bone Fanatic 88: Hey, so you can live-stream that VEXAS patient? Bone marrow biopsy? Show slides? I read marrow like a pro, gimme one, fr, I'll nail the read.
Hippocrates' Heir: Whoa, so no more sucking new med knowledge from fresh deads in our god-tier gallery?? Ask a live doc direct?? Insane;;
OR Ghost 3: Jackpot fuck yeah, this living doc medicine? OP who wrote, quick spill your hospital's lap scope model. Da Vinci latest? Share surgery view, yeah.
"...."
I couldn't believe the scene unfolding.
Suspicion flipped to manic excitement and cheers in seconds.
Like desert wanderers finding an oasis, these dead doctors were going wild over a living one.
They weren't rejecting me.
They craved me.
Alone in the empty on-call room, staring into space, I muttered.
"This is honey?"