Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Poster Presentation (4)
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Professor Cheon Eun-jeong stared at me blankly for a moment before snapping back to attention and hurriedly turning on her tablet PC.
"Did you just send the email now?"
"Yes, I sent it off just a moment ago."
Professor Cheon deftly opened her inbox.
The email at the very top had the subject line:
[Emergency Medicine R1 Han Hyun-jae] Autumn Conference Abstract Draft Submission.
Ah, I forgot to change the attachment file name.
'HanHyunjaeFinalFinalREALFinalTrueFinal.docs'. What a mess.
Brushing off the file name I'd poured my heart into, Professor Cheon alternated between staring at the email subject and my face, as if she couldn't believe I'd managed to create and submit an abstract in such a short time.
"Come here."
Professor Cheon led me to a relatively quiet corner of the station.
But there's no such thing as a quiet spot in the emergency room.
That's a universal truth.
It was only relatively quiet—still right in the middle of a busy passage where doctors, nurses, patients, and guardians were constantly coming and going.
The station was smack in the center of the ER layout by design, so "quiet" was a stretch at best....
Just like that, I became a spectacle for the entire emergency room.
Haha, everyone, take a good look at me. Standing awkwardly in the middle of the ER in a hoodie on my day off!
Professor Cheon pulled up the attached Word file on her tablet screen.
And so began the longest, most suffocating paper review of my medical career.
Damn it.
It's suffocating.
Ugh, save me.
Please, do something about this awkward air.
I stood next to Professor Cheon like some guilty criminal, in the most ambiguous position imaginable.
I had no idea what to do.
I couldn't sit, nor could I stand too far away.
In the end, I settled for the most awkward, demure posture in the world.
Call it the Confucian boy way.
Standing quietly next to the professor in just a hoodie, hands clasped behind my back....
No, not behind— in front?
Anyway, standing there with my hands politely clasped in front—how embarrassing was that.
I tried my best to turn invisible.
But a first-year resident frozen stiff next to an Emergency Medicine professor, showing up in a hoodie on his day off? That was aggro on a massive scale all by itself.
Even the guardians and passing patients were sneaking glances at me.
Their stares stabbed into my cheeks like daggers.
Their eyes clearly said:
'That young doctor's probably screwed up big time.'
'Getting ripped apart by the professor like a dog. Tsk tsk.'
Something like that.
'Not a medical malpractice perpetrator or anything. Not getting chewed out. Just having homework checked....'
Unfortunately, my inner screams didn't reach a soul.
Professor Cheon ignored my inner turmoil and focused on the screen.
Her brows furrowed ever so slightly.
Her scrolling finger paused.
"Huh?"
A low sigh escaped Professor Cheon's lips.
I flinched.
Had she already spotted a typo?
Or was the content such a disaster it left her speechless?
Professor Cheon rested her chin on her hand and scanned the screen again.
From top to bottom, then bottom to top.
"Hmm..."
She muttered while tapping one sentence on the screen with her finger.
Time dragged on. One minute, two, five.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
When would this hellish moment end?
Finally, she lifted her head from the tablet.
And looked at me.
"Hyun-jae."
"Yes, Professor."
"Um..."
Professor Cheon chose her words carefully.
"The truth is, I figured you wouldn't write it properly, so I was planning to look it over during lunch and fix it for you?"
"Yes?"
"I mean... juniors need conference experience at some point, right? Even just a poster presentation looks good on a resume. So usually, when I give out assignments like this, it's like throwing them in to fend for themselves. They'll come back with a total mess, of course. Then I tear it apart and rework it, saying, 'See, this is how you write a paper.' You know, that whole educational setup."
"Yes, Professor."
"There's this thing, though...."
"Yes."
Professor Cheon began with a deep sigh.
"Honestly? The English phrasing? Nothing to fix."
"Yes?"
"Nothing. At all. No grammatical errors, word choices better than mine, sentence structure... native-level."
Professor Cheon looked at me with genuine bewilderment.
"Did you study abroad? Or live overseas as a kid?"
"No, pure domestic product. Full-blooded Korean. Kimchi juice instead of blood."
"Hmm..."
Professor Cheon glanced back and forth between the tablet screen and my face once more.
I just stood there with an awkward smile.
'Phew, ghost for the win.'
"Anyway."
Professor Cheon swept back her hair with a deep sigh.
"The first-year and second-years should use this as their standard for case reports or papers."
...Pardon? Standard?
"You know Ji-hoon, your classmate? Kim Ji-hoon."
"Yes, I know him."
"What he wrote last time... ugh, don't get me started. He spent over a month on it, and that writing level... is that what a first-year should produce? Sigh...."
Professor Cheon trailed off, clicking her tongue.
"No, actually, Ji-hoon is the normal one.... He's average, a perfectly standard first-year output, and yet...."
Her gaze shifted back to me.
"Pardon?"
"No, no. Not saying you're abnormal. It means you're outstanding."
Professor Cheon tried to smooth things over and pivot from the awkwardness.
"Anyway... Ah! Got a great idea. From now on, when the others write English manuscripts, I'll show them yours as a sample! 'Look, your classmate Resident Han Hyun-jae wrote it like this!'"
What?? Mine??
I was floored.
I was already pulling every kind of aggro in the department as 'the psycho prepping for double boards,' 'the guy slicing bellies open,' 'the tooth-puller.'
And now adding 'the insufferable classmate who writes papers well' to the list?
Was she trying to make me public enemy number one?
"Haha, just kidding."
Seeing my face drain of color, Professor Cheon laughed cheerfully.
"But seriously, you wrote it great... Hmm...."
I asked cautiously.
"So, what happens to me now?"
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Um... this. The abstract."
"Oh, the abstract?"
Professor Cheon replied with a very bright expression.
"Oh, that? IRB exemption application got processed through the system this morning...."
What? That fast?
My pupils quaked once more.
IRB.
That notorious bureaucratic mountain that bounces you back for weeks over one wrong form—and it got cleared with a few taps from the professor?
"Yeah. Why?"
Of course.
Professors are the best.
'No, she's the one who assigned this in the first place. What 'best'? Giving the poison and then the antidote.'
What was this? Victim turning into the criminal... Stockholm syndrome or something?
I tried to suppress my confused emotions.
"Anyway, we submit it like this?"
"Yes?"
"Submitting as is. Hitting send."
"Pardon?"
I echoed like an idiot.
"Won't you... revise it or something?"
"What's to revise?"
She looked genuinely like there was nothing at all.
"If I touch it more, it'll just be superfluous. It's perfect as is. Head home now. Sorry for holding you on your day off."
"Ah... yes."
"It'll definitely pass. They might send an official email from the conference later, so check your spam folder too."
"Yes, Professor. Thank you."
"Alright~ See you next time~"
Professor Cheon waved lightly, practically humming as she walked away.
I stared blankly down the hallway where she'd vanished.
It was over.
At least the whole abstract submission process was done.
In one day.
Insane, right?
I muttered with hollow eyes.
'I didn't even clock in. Go home...?'
With a hollow laugh, I opened the gallery.
The abstract—finished in less than 30 minutes with data collected in just one day—got professor approval on the first try.
Even if it was just a poster presentation!
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Title: Gallery peeps, professor said submit it as is, no revisions needed right away
Writer: Hell Joseon Slave 1
ㅇㅇ Just said go ahead and submit
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Latte is, you see: Isn't that obvious?
Cardiology Ghost: Why make a fuss over something like that? We all reviewed it together— it'd be weirder if it wasn't that quality.
God's Scalpel: Who dares red-pen the sentences I reviewed?
This God's Scalpel asshole is always so annoying every time.
Heir of Hippocrates: Do not rejoice or lament over the perfectly expected, O living one. The path of the scholar is long and arduous.
Ugh, all of them suck.
These damn ghosts.
But still, it's done.
I stepped out through the hospital's automatic doors and took a deep breath of fresh air.
Ahh, so this is fresh air.
Felt like early dismissal back in school days.
Anyway, it was a hellish 24 hours.
After all that suffering, I deserve a reward.
I passed the bus stop and headed to the main road.
Then waved down a taxi.
'Taxi home today too! Kahaha! Massive splurge!'
So what if it dings my paycheck a bit.