Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Wrapping Up Year 1 (1)
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Time flew by indifferently.
Before I knew it, autumn had ended and winter had arrived.
"Ugh, it's freezing."
Even bundled up in a tracksuit topped with a thick puffer jacket, I shivered in the cold air.
As always, I climbed into the back seat of a call taxi heading to the hospital.
The streets of Busan visible through the window—how to put it? Yeah.
They really felt like winter.
As my frozen body thawed a bit under the warm heater blast, I habitually summoned my one and only chatting companions.
[Burnt-Out Medics Gallery]
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Title: It's legit winter now. Busan, and it's a whopping -2°C!
Posted by: HellJoseonSlave1
Fucking cold for real.
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To my whiny post laced with exaggeration, the gallery ghosts pounced like they were waiting, starting to mock me right away.
Anonymous (210.94): It's not that cold at all?
LatteHotAir: -2°C and you're complaining? LOL. Ever rotted away as a military doc in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do? There, winter mornings hit -20°C easy, you greenhouse flower.
HeirOfHippocrates: Minus degrees! What a brutal ordeal for the human body! But a vigorous youth like you should withstand the cold with ease!
God's Scalpel: Quit your whining. If you're planning to blame numb fingertips as an excuse, cut it out.
...What jerks.
But not really bad guys.
Think about it paradoxically.
Without these lunatics, how the hell would I survive this hellish commute?
After a barrage of ridicule, someone finally dropped a pretty serious and useful comment.
Anonymous (39.7): You're almost done with year 1, right? Once the new interns and year 1s roll in, you'll be a year 2. Time to prep for a few things starting now.
Oh, now that's intriguing.
Anonymous (39.7): First, double-check you completed all the mandatory trainings and certs required for year 1—no loose ends. Second, when the new interns arrive next year, you'll have to teach them basic skills, so start organizing them in your head now.
The other specters began chiming in with their honey tips one by one.
LatteHotAir: Watch out for elderly falls in winter. Hip fracture season explodes. Slipping on ice or tripping over blankets indoors—tons of cases.
Cardiology Ghost: And you know MIs and strokes peak on those cold winter mornings when temps plummet? Vessels constrict sharply as body temp drops. Don't brush off chest pain in old folks as "probably indigestion."
Yeah, as expected.
These tsunderes never disappoint.
I fired off replies, trading dumb jokes.
Giggling away like that, the taxi pulled up to the familiar emergency medical center entrance before I knew it.
I closed the gallery window and got out.
Beep-
[Door opened]
"Ah, good morning. Thanks for your hard work."
I tossed out perfunctory greetings to everyone I passed in the hallway.
Finally, after walking, I stood before my one true sanctuary: the residents' lounge door.
Pushing it open, a blast of warm heater air welcomed me.
Whoa, nice and toasty.
This is life.
Sipping my freshly bought mixed coffee, I blankly stared at the massive whiteboard on the lounge wall.
The duty roster.
Packed with names and symbols marking shifts.
My eyes naturally tracked to the names of the year 4s, the big bosses of us residents.
Lee Min-jae, Yoo Sung-hoon, and even Kim Min-wook, who I barely crossed paths with.
...Huh, what's this?
I furrowed my brow.
Something's off.
Slots where names should be were conspicuously blank.
Normally, whether day or night shift, they'd be somewhere in the ER whipping us into shape—but next to empty spots sat lone [OFF]s or cryptic [Research] labels.
Research?
What research does a resident do?
What the hell?
Why?
In this winter?
Some secret project?
An inexplicable unease washed over me.
Fewer seniors meant more workload and responsibility dumped on grunts like me.
Hmm...
No answers from my brain.
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Title: Our dept's year 4s suddenly vanished from the duty roster—what's going on?
Posted by: HellJoseonSlave1
Yeah, straight up.
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The gallery mocked my question like it was waiting.
LatteHotAir: Dumbass?
Anonymous (210.94): This guy's a total blockhead LOL.
TrainingDeptGhost: Is your brain decorative? It's winter, duh.
LatteHotAir: What do year 4s do in winter, moron? Prep for boards! No time to roll in the ER with newbies like you when the final exam's breathing down their necks!
Ah!
Right!
That's it.
Boards are right around the corner.
The final boss to end this grueling residency life was closing in.
As I marveled and realized my own stupidity—
Screech.
The lounge door opened, and Lee Min-jae shuffled in with a ghostly face.
"You here, sir?"
"Yeah, I'm here~."
Lee Min-jae replied weakly and plopped down in the seat next to me.
"You're almost year 2 now too. Hang on three more months, and you shed that cursed newbie title."
"Ah, yes. Right. Haha..."
I laughed awkwardly.
"So, uh, you been nicer to the interns lately?"
"Pardon?"
"Nicer to them. Intern matching season's coming. How you act decides how many juniors pick our dept next year. Show 'em you're a kind, competent, cool senior, and they'll think, 'Emergency med's badass! I wanna be like that sunbae!' Right?"
At his words, a vivid past scene flashed in my mind.
'...Sir, looks like you only did history-taking and nothing else...'
Me, dumping a workplace foreign body case straight onto innocent intern Park Seong-jeong.
...
Lee Min-jae seemed to take my silence as affirmation.
"Yeah, you're doing great, I'm sure. Our dept's future rests on your shoulders now."
He patted my shoulder and buried his head back in his textbook.
'Very... educationally... treating them well.'
Yeah. Super educational.
Taught that intern the essence of this shit hospital ecosystem—crushing dignity for senior comfort—with my whole body.
Yeah.
Did good.
Whatever.
Can't even handle my own shit, now dept future too?
But his words lingered.
'Treat interns nicer...'
Fine.
Let's try.
I prowled the ER hunting for prey.
Yeah, Park Seong-jeong.
At least some atonement.
And if I subtly infuse the glory of emergency medicine along the way? Win-win.
Genius, me.
I headed to the vending machine. Grabbed the fizziest-looking cider can.
Clink clink.
Holding the cider, I approached Park Seong-jeong sorting EKG paper in the station corner with my most natural, kindly sunbae stride.
"..Seong-jeong."
My voice made his shoulders twitch.
"Yes? Yes, sir?"
"Here."
To break the ice, I offered my ace bribe: bribery no. 1.
"This is super cold and fresh—I just got it. You must be tired; wanna drink?"
"Uh... yes. Thank you, sir."
"Good, good. ER been okay lately? Anything tough?"
"Yes. Seems fine. Still so much to learn..."
"Better than anywhere? Internal? Surgery? Better than surgery getting reamed in the OR all day? Or ortho/neuro staring at the same patients forever? Our ER's way more dynamic and fun, right? How's it 'fine' exactly?"
My persistent questions made the intern's eyes waver uneasily.
"..Uh.. um... Everyone's... nice..."
"Yeah! They're nice! Our dept folks might seem rough around the edges, but warm hearts."
I clapped his shoulder and launched full sales pitch.
"Uh, Seong-jeong. Truth is, emergency med's really great, you know? For your life..."
Wait. How to persuade?
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Title: How to drag interns into EM?
Posted by: HellJoseonSlave1
Wheeling and dealing hard rn. Telling 'em EM's legit great.
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LatteHotAir: You con artist. Peddling snake oil to the innocent.
God's Scalpel: Anyone swayed by that pathetic sales pitch lacks doctor material anyway.
Anonymous (118.235): Just be honest. We get treated like dogs, but it's rewarding.
PedsGhost77: No! Plant dreams and hope! Say it's mastering all depts' knowledge, saving dying lives on the front lines as a hero!
Amid the clashing advice, I resolved to craft my own killer move.
Yeah, honesty plus a dash of hype.
Find that golden ratio.
Like 7:3 beer-soju.
"Seong-jeong, straight talk. Our dept's tough. But listen."
I paused, locking eyes.
From that 'Conversation Skills' e-book I borrowed earlier.
"But you're restarting hearts, tubing airways of the suffocating, nailing the first diagnosis on mystery illnesses. It's euphoria you can't know till you feel it. Changing a whole life with your hands."
I drove it home.
"Of course, your call. But think hard. Stable specialist? Or real doctor on hell's front line?"
Sounded way more legit and cool than expected.
Park Seong-jeong stared blankly.
"Ah, yes. Got it, sir. I'll... think positively about it."
...Positively?
Fireworks exploded in my head.
"Yeah, yeah! You must!"
I grabbed his hand and shook it like mad.
Nailed it!
I raced to the gallery, triumphant, to share the victory.
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Title: Guys!!!!! Says he'll think positively!! That's a total yes, right?? Junior incoming next year!!!!!
Posted by: HellJoseonSlave1
Kyaa!!!
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God's Scalpel: Yeah, that'll happen, dumbass.