Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Emergency Quest (3)
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[Remaining time: 00:06:51]
If this kept up, in seven minutes I'd miss out on 1,000 LP and a hidden trait right before my eyes.
No can do.
Time to grasp at straws.
I reached for my final resort.
The hive mind couldn't resist.
I summoned [Overturned Doctors' Gallery] into the air once more.
Title: Urgent) 50s male pt, sensory disturbance
Author: HellKoreaSlave1
R/O acute gastroenteritis pt. N/V/D, abd pain (*abdominal pain) on arrival. Vitals stable, labs unremarkable. But cold-hot reversal (*cold-hot sensation reversal) noted. Feels cold water as lukewarm. What to rule out first? No time.
Post.
The moment I hit the button, comments flooded in like crazy.
Anonymous (210.94): Dude, are you actually alive!!!!
HippocratesHeir: Sensory disturbance—stroke ruled out? Describe the physical exam in more detail.
PediatricsGhost77: Hey, you bastard, say something!!!! You got no intention of communicating with us!!!!
As expected.
These ghost bastards ignored my question entirely, fixating madly on me alone.
Right then, that IP popped up again.
Anonymous (118.235): Dumbass? Ask about Southeast Asia travel history or what fish he ate, gg reinterview gg
Huh...?
Fish...?
Out of nowhere...?
I narrowed my eyes.
Southeast Asia travel? Fish? What did that have to do with enteritis symptoms and temperature sensory reversal?
Even pulling every scrap of medical knowledge from my brain, no connection clicked.
HippocratesHeir's stroke suspicion sounded way more plausible.
The gallery—no, that Anonymous (118.235) drifter—was suspicious.
But I had no options left. Four minutes remaining. Worst case, no loss.
I headed back to Bed B-17.
The patient, paler than before and moaning, cracked his eyes open weakly at the sight of me.
"Doctor, what now...?"
"Patient, just a few more quick questions. It's important."
"Had any recent trips to Southeast Asia?"
The patient shook his head.
"Southeast Asia? Jeju Island's the farthest I've ever gone in my life. Southeast Asia, my ass."
First clue missed.
"Then yesterday or today—any sashimi or unusual fish dish? Something you don't normally eat."
At my question, a faint light flickered in the patient's eyes.
"Ah, fish!"
"My boss went to the Philippines and brought back this stewed fish for lunch yesterday... name was Lapu... Lapu-something. Three or four hours after eating that, my stomach flipped, and all this hell broke loose."
Philippines fish, Lapu-Lapu.
"Got it—hang tight!" I shouted at the patient before bolting back to the station like a madman.
I immediately posted a second thread to the gallery.
Title: Drifter, get in here ㅇㅇ
Author: HellKoreaSlave1
Got the answer, but why'd you tell me to ask?
Patient ate recent Philippines fish (Lapu-Lapu). No travel history—acquaintance brought it. What is this?
And then,
Not even a second after my post went up.
The gallery exploded.
Anonymous (210.94): l m a o l m a o l m a o l m a o l m a o l m a o l m a o
PediatricsGhost77: Hey, you idiot bastard, what're you doing lmao lmao lmao served it up on a platter and you're like "eat it?" lmao lmao
ORGhost3: lmao gonna lose it for real lmao is this clown even a doctor? lmao lmao
HippocratesHeir: You're alive, confirmed. And more clueless than I imagined.
Anonymous (1.234): Alive confirmed, total moron confirmed lmao
Had these crazy ghost bastards lost their collective minds?
Then, amid the sea of mockery, the answer I wanted finally dropped.
Anonymous (118.235): Ciguatera (*ciguatera, type of tropical food poisoning), you moron.
Anonymous (118.235): Starts with GI symptoms, then headache, myalgia—and that temperature reversal you saw is super characteristic. Toxicology 101, dipshit.
Ciguatera. Ciguatoxin.
Right, that existed.
The rare toxin I'd half-assed underlining in the book, figuring it'd never show up in Korea my whole life.
Once again, I'd gotten the answer thanks to these insane ghost bastards.
Sure, I'd been roasted as a quack moron in the process.
[Remaining time: 00:01:21]
No time left.
"Senior Choi Soo-min!"
I shouted at my senior, who was sitting at the station.
"B-17 patient—ciguatera fish poisoning!"
Every sound in the nurses' station cut off instantly.
Chart shuffling, phone rings, chit-chat—all gone.
My senior's eyes filled with a look screaming, *What bullshit is this kid spouting now?*
"Hold up. Ciguatera? That tropical fish toxin?"
A totally normal reaction.
Ciguatera.
A disease with occasional case reports even down south in places like Jeju.
The kind of textbook illness a Korean clinician might encounter once in a lifetime, tops.
And a first-year resident was diagnosing it in an enteritis patient?
I'd never buy it either if I were the senior.
I took a deep breath and pressed on.
"Patient ate Lapu-Lapu fish stew—caught fresh by an acquaintance in the Philippines yesterday. GI symptoms kicked in a few hours later, and now he's got cold-hot reversal."
As my words ended, my senior's eyes flashed wide.
"...Ah, damn! That's it!"
With a short exclamation, he spun to the keyboard without hesitation.
Tadak-tadak-tak—!
My senior hammered orders into the EMR at breakneck speed.
"Grab another IV line, mannitol 20% at 1 g/kg—load over 30 minutes, stat!"
"Keep EKG (*electrocardiogram) monitoring on, hourly BP checks! Watch tight for bradycardia (*bradycardia) or hypotension!"
"Gabapentin 300 mg now—if pain's not controlled, titrate up on schedule!"
"Foley (*Foley catheter) in for urine output!"
Holy shit.
I stared blankly at the scene, letting out an awed curse under my breath.
A third-year wasn't a third-year for nothing.
The speed was on another level.
I'd only tossed out the diagnosis name, and my senior was unleashing a storm of orders without a second to think.
Was this what they called experience?
To issue even one of those orders, I'd be flipping through books, asking my senior, groaning for ages.
But my senior wrapped the whole process in mere seconds.
I genuinely started respecting him.
My savior who'd saved my life—no, my LP.
[Remaining time: 00:00:12]
[Remaining time: 00:00:11]
Right as the quest timer ticked down to the end, Senior Choi Soo-min slammed the enter key, locking in the final order.
Phew. Made it.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Sure, I'd done jack beyond the diagnosis, but the quest was cleared anyway.
1,000 LP and a hidden trait.
Wonder what the hidden trait was?
The moment I'd been waiting for. Heh heh.
Right then.
Ding~!
A calm, cold alert chimed, and a new system window popped into my view.
[You delegated treatment to another doctor!]
[Acquired LP reduced by 50%!]
[Final reward: 500 LP, hidden trait unlocked (locked)]
"..."
My brain stalled out.
What?
Acquired LP cut by 50%?
1,000 points slashed to 500 in a blink.
And that hidden trait unlock came with a bullshit "(locked)" tag.
I'd asked the gallery! I'd figured it out!
Just 'cause my senior placed the orders, the reward got halved? How was that fair? How was that right?
Something snapped inside me with an audible *crack*.
Fatigue, tension, rage at the sheer injustice—it all crashed together, numbing my brain. Before I knew it, my inner voice burst out unfiltered.
"Fucking bullshit!"
Too loud for a mutter, too quiet for a yell.
The furious clatter of my senior's typing halted.
The entire ER air froze solid.
Senior Choi Soo-min slowly dragged his gaze from the EMR screen to me.
An unreadable expression, face drowned in shock and confusion.
My senior parted his lips and asked me quietly.
"...Hyeon-jae, what did you just say?"
...Huh?
Did I seriously just swear out loud?
For real? Let it slip? Profanity?
Right in front of my senior?
Am I insane?
Yeah.
Han Hyeon-jae, first-year ER resident.
utter noob that I was, I'd turned into the lunatic who'd spat a double curse at the orders from my third-year senior—the ER's very own angel.