The Inspector's Petty Grudge
“Are these people out of their minds!”
“After you went to that Yongdeok-ri clinic last time, you lied to me, didn’t you?!”
At first, Manager Jin Seyoung felt a prick of guilt.
It was true that she had lied to the director. She had told him the director there was a retired Oriental medical doctor who was too young for the title, and that he only saw two or three patients a day—when in reality, the number had recently climbed to six.
But as she stood there, unable to answer, Director Go Myeongho’s misunderstanding only deepened.
‘A clinic that gets dozens of patients a day... she must have taken a kickback and kept it a secret from me!’
His blood boiled, and eventually, he resorted to verbal abuse.
“Did you take money from them? I hired you right after you got your certification when you were still green, taught you everything from scratch, and even made you a manager—is this how you repay my kindness with treachery?!”
Hearing that, Jin Seyoung finally snapped.
“Then why don’t you fix my wrist yourself, Director!”
“What?”
“I handle the front desk, run to the treatment room to pull needles when it’s busy, make follow-up calls, and brew herbal medicine in my spare time! I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and every time I asked for treatment, you acted like it was such a chore!”
“I, I never acted like it was a chore!”
He did, every single time.
Whenever she cautiously asked if she could get some wrist treatment after hours, he would sigh, “Ah... for someone who’s been sticking needles in people all day...” and make it so obvious he was annoyed that she rarely got any treatment at all.
Sure, treating staff wasn’t a mandatory duty.
But this was an injury sustained on the job—wasn’t that a worker’s compensation case? Besides... even when she did get treated, it was never very effective.
“Do you know? The director at Yongdeok-ri fixed my wrist completely with just five acupuncture sessions over two months.”
“Wha... wha... what is she saying!”
“Those half-days I took off every other Thursday afternoon? I was going to that clinic. And you told me since we’re a business with fewer than five employees, you weren’t obligated to give me that time off, so you deducted it from my summer vacation days, right?”
“That was the contract condition!”
“And the title of manager—did I ask for that? It’s just a fancy label. You make three employees run a clinic that sees over 50 patients a day, you give us peanuts for incentives, and you make me cover every single staff shortage. And don’t talk to me about ‘teaching’ me. I learned everything on my own!”
Director Go Myeongho’s face turned beet red.
“You’re fired! Get out right now!”
“Do whatever you want! As if this is the only place I can work!”
As she stormed out, Jin Seyoung spun around at the door of the director’s office and said,
“And try putting some soul into your acupuncture.”
“What!”
“You just stick dozens of needles in like you’re planting rice seedlings just to appease the patients, without even doing a proper diagnosis or exam. You know the patients only come here because of the physical therapy machines, right? Oh, and the ads and follow-up calls! I worked hard on those. I told everyone you were the best doctor in Goesan. Even though I knew that clinic was a hundred times better, it was my job!”
“You... you really!”
“I can’t lie to the patients anymore. Do you know that clinic has to turn away people who are begging for appointments? Wow, I wonder what that feels like?”
As Go Myeongho trembled with rage, Jin Seyoung delivered her final blow.
“Since you fired me and told me to get out, I’m leaving right now. Don’t forget to pay my unemployment benefits and the one-month severance for unfair dismissal. Goodbye!”
She walked to the front desk, dumped her belongings into a box, and lifted it with her perfectly healed wrist before walking out.
“You little brat, you’ll regret this for the rest of your life!”
However... 30 minutes later, it was Director Go Myeongho who began to regret it.
“Director, the alarm went off saying the medicine is finished, but we don’t have enough hands. Can you go handle it?”
“The needle-pulling is overlapping, the patient says they need to leave quickly.”
“I have to go take a payment, can you take off the physical therapy pads?”
‘Why is there so much work... I should have hired another person when the staff asked for it...’
Sticking needles, pulling needles, going to brew medicine, attaching the ICT pads—Go Myeongho gritted his teeth.
The more he worked, the more resentful he felt toward that Yongdeok-ri clinic.
‘Just you wait, I’m not going to let you get away with this!’
After the clinic closed that day, Go Myeongho, who had burned himself out, suddenly stood up and made a call.
[Oh, Director Go, what brings you to call?]
“Officer, what are you doing this evening?”
[I’m free. Are you taking me somewhere nice?]
“Of course, I have something very important to discuss.”
After hanging up, Director Go took off his white coat and put on his jacket.
He had something very, very important to discuss.
The next morning, Kim Deokhee, an officer at the Goesan County Public Health Center, called over his subordinate, Jeong Seunghyeon.
“Hey, troublemaker, let’s go!”
“Where to?”
“Medical facility inspection.”
“Inspection? Suddenly?”
It wasn’t the season for the annual periodic inspection, and there hadn’t been any formal complaints filed. But as a lowly Grade 9 official, he couldn’t defy a Grade 6 team leader, so he followed Kim Deokhee with a puzzled expression.
“Did something happen? Don’t we usually only go out if there’s a complaint or it’s the regular inspection period?”
“You have to keep your ears open to the local community to be a good public servant, kid. You young ones just stare at your phones whenever you have a spare second, tsk tsk.”
Ignoring the lecture that was becoming the background music of his life, Jeong Seunghyeon stepped on the gas toward Yongdeok-ri.
Kim Deokhee was first taken aback by how quiet the clinic was.
‘What is this? Director Go Myeongho said it would be packed, that he was doing something shady in that rural corner... why is there no one here?’
A young woman, who appeared to be the only employee, stared at them blankly.
“How can I help you? If you’re here for treatment, you need an appointment.”
“Ahem, we’re here for an inspection from the Public Health Center.”
“Oh, I see.”
The staff member’s indifferent reaction made the two men exchange confused glances.
‘Usually, when we show up for a surprise inspection, they either get angry and ask why we’re here, or they get nervous and start trying to butter us up...?’
If there was something even shadier going on, people would sometimes slip an envelope into their inner pocket. Even with the anti-graft laws, Kim Deokhee was a man who still cherished the “warmth” of the countryside. He had intended to gauge how much of Director Go Myeongho’s request he would fulfill based on the director’s “sincerity” here, but...
“Where would you like to start?”
The director didn’t even come out, and the employee was acting as if she didn’t care if they inspected the place or not. Kim Deokhee felt his pride wounded.
‘Is there any place that doesn’t have dust if you sweep it? Let’s see how long that stiff attitude lasts.’
He started with a hygiene inspection. He began looking around the waiting room with the eyes of a hawk, but his breath caught in his throat.
It was too clean. It was, quite literally, “perfect.”
The waiting room floor was polished to a shine, and there wasn’t a single speck of dust on the window frames. Even the drip trays under the potted plants were gleaming. The water cooler in the corner was spotless, and the cups on the tray were neatly arranged by size.
“Wow, it’s really clean. I’ve never seen a clinic like this!”
Jeong Seunghyeon exclaimed, oblivious to the mood. Kim Deokhee poked him in the side and headed to the treatment room.
The treatment room was even worse.
The bed sheets were snow-white, and disposable sheets and pillowcases were neatly stacked next to them.
‘But usually, there’s mold in these places...!’
Kim Deokhee, showing his sharp side, checked the wall behind the warmer containing the wet hot packs. But there wasn’t a single speck of mold or even a yellow stain on the white wall. The disinfection log on the wall was accurately recorded with the chemicals used, the time, and the signature of the person in charge. The medical waste was also separated perfectly without a single flaw.
Kim Deokhee, who had no way of knowing that Park Miyoung’s hobby was cleaning during the time between the six daily appointments, screamed internally.
‘What is this! Is the employee a germaphobe!’
In the end, he gave up on finding fault with the hygiene.
“Let’s see the charts.”
His second target was the charts. In rural clinics like this, it was common to see charts that were just photocopied and pasted...
“Wow, jackpot. Did the director here do a residency?”
“Yes, he’s a specialist in acupuncture and moxibustion.”
“As expected... specialists learn to chart strictly during their training. Still, this is almost textbook level.”
‘That idiot!’
Jeong Seunghyeon had said something useless again. ‘What on earth am I supposed to nitpick...?’
He could try monitoring the medical procedures, but since there were no patients, that was impossible too.
‘Why on earth is Director Go Myeongho so wary of this place? It looks like a clinic that’s going to go under soon anyway.’
But he had to find something to hang them on. He didn’t want to return the hefty “gift” he’d received yesterday. He headed to the herbal medicine room as a last resort.
As Kim Deokhee rummaged through the medicine bags looking for expired items, Jeong Seunghyeon was chatting with Park Miyoung.
“This place is flawless too. Wow, look at the herbal medicine bags lined up. The brewing machine is gleaming, too!”
“I clean it diligently every day. It’s where we brew medicine for patients, so it has to be managed cleanly.”
At those words, Kim Deokhee’s ears perked up.
“Does an employee clean the brewing machine?”
“Yes. The director handles the herbs and the brewing himself, but I do the cleaning. Why?”
“The brewing fee is included in the herbal medicine price. The director is supposed to do the work that the fee covers!”
“Excuse me? Officer, that’s...”
Jeong Seunghyeon whispered in confusion, “I’ve never heard of such a thing?”
“That’s because you’re inexperienced. It’s illegal for a director to collect a fee for work they didn’t perform.”
“I’ve never seen anyone get caught for that before... and they said the director does all the brewing himself anyway?”
“Cleaning is part of the brewing process!”
He stormed into the director’s office and shouted,
“You didn’t do the brewing yourself, did you?”
“I did it myself.”
Kyungwoo replied blankly. What was this guy talking about? He had to touch the herbs and brew the medicine himself to accumulate experience points—he couldn’t delegate it even if he wanted to.
“You said you didn’t do the cleaning yourself.”
“...?”
Kyungwoo couldn’t respond to something he was hearing for the first time, but Kim Deokhee warned him,
“You know that herbal medicine preparation is an act that only an Oriental medical doctor can perform, and it can lead to business suspension or license revocation, right?”
At this point, one would expect him to bow his head, but the director didn’t even flinch.
“If my license gets revoked for something like that... I guess I’ll just take a break.”
It wasn’t like he opened the clinic because he was dying to work anyway.
‘Forced to take a break? Come to think of it, that might be sweet...?’
Faced with Kyungwoo’s unexpected reaction, Kim Deokhee finally turned away, grinding his teeth.
“Wait for the disciplinary action.”
On the way back, Jeong Seunghyeon spoke his mind.
“Officer, isn’t this going too far?”
“What!”
“There is a clause saying the director must prepare the medicine, but since he says he does the brewing himself, nitpicking the cleaning is...”
“Hey, you can only see what’s on the surface, can’t you?”
“Yes?”
“Who manages a failing clinic like that to this extent? It smells fishy. They’ve got some other intention, and they’ve packaged the outside perfectly so they don’t get caught.”
This was like suspecting someone of cheating because they got a perfect score on a test. Jeong Seunghyeon, who didn’t know the real reason Kim Deokhee was trying so hard to find fault, felt like he was going to explode, but he wasn’t the type to listen to a Grade 9 subordinate.
“We’ll hit them with an administrative penalty for this, and then report it to the higher-ups to dig into why they came to Goesan in the first place.”
Kim Deokhee was quite serious. Although Go Myeongho’s request had been the starting point, he had 15 years of experience as a health official. It was certain that this clinic’s management style was very far removed from that of a typical medical clinic.
‘If I dig into this well, could this be worth a commendation?’
He returned to the Public Health Center, carefully wrote up a report, and submitted it to his superiors.
The next day at the Goesan County Office.
County Governor Song Jiheon was reviewing official duties.
‘Surprisingly, there were quite a few people in the county besides Im Jia suffering from intractable diseases.’
He was checking the progress of the proposal, which had started at Kyungwoo’s request but had aligned well with his own policy direction and become an official project.
And then,
The moment he clicked to check the electronic approval document that had been transferred from the Public Health Center to the main office, Governor Song doubted his eyes.
‘Kyungwoo Oriental Clinic...?’
The moment he confirmed the report, Governor Song felt a ringing in his head. And after reading the contents, even more so!
“Are these people out of their minds!”
He jumped up and called for Yoon Gwanwoo.
“Secretary Yoon!!”