The One-Star Amusement Park, Part 6
We carefully removed the child's hospital gown and began examining every inch of his body. His back, abdomen, arms, and legs. We strained our eyes, determined not to miss a single detail.
The examination was over quickly. Of course, it was not a happy conclusion. Faint bruises littered his back and buttocks. Worse, they were clearly inflicted at different times, layered over one another.
The police officer stared down in silence at the overlapping bruises that had accumulated over hours, perhaps days.
"I'll contact the Child Protective Services right away," the officer said.
"Ah, yes. Please do. I'm... not very familiar with these procedures," I stammered. I could make the clinical judgment, but I was completely clueless when it came to the subsequent administrative and legal protocols.
"That's our job." The officer flipped open his notebook. "For now, Doctor, please prepare all medical records related to today's clinical findings. If possible, we'll also need a formal medical opinion stating that child abuse is strongly suspected. CPS and our department will send an official request for cooperation soon."
"Right... a medical opinion..." A single document written by my hand would become legal evidence, deciding the fate of a child and the future of a family. Me? How could I? No matter how I looked at it, a medical opinion written by a mere first-year resident would probably do more harm than good in court. It carried very little weight.
Yeah, I shouldn't be the one writing this. This needs a specialist... Just then, a familiar voice drifted from behind me.
"Are you okay? What did you talk to the cop about? What's going on with the kid?" It was Lee Min-jae. He had returned unnoticed and was looking back and forth between the officer and me.
"Well, they need to secure legal evidence, so... they asked for a medical opinion. But if I write it..."
"What? You? No, no, no. Don't worry. A specialist should obviously handle this. I've already reported it to Professor Kim Seongchan, who's on duty today. He'll write it himself. You don't have to worry about it."
I let out a sigh of relief. Whew. Thank goodness. A document written by me would have lacked credibility. The officer gave Lee Min-jae a brief nod and headed toward the nurses' station to handle the remaining paperwork. Only then did Min-jae seem to relax slightly, stepping closer to the child's bed.
"So, how is the kid?" To check the child's condition, he gently pulled back the thin blanket covering him. Min-jae's eyes locked onto the mottled red and purple bruises covering the boy's back.
Instantly, all expression vanished from Lee Min-jae's face. The sly, playful fourth-year resident who had been reassuring me just a second ago was gone. With trembling hands, he began checking the other bruises with extreme care, making sure not to cause the child any pain. The inner arms, the thighs, even the soles of his feet.
"...Is he out of his mind? To leave a child in this state..."
"...Senior?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry... No... *Sigh*... A child... A child who's barely learning to speak... to beat him until he looks like this..." Min-jae's shoulders shook violently. "Crazy... absolute psycho... What kind of..."
I felt a chill run down my spine. It was a kind of fury I had never seen in him before. This wasn't the childish, dramatic anger he showed when nagging or teasing me; this was a pure, cold rage bordering on murderous intent. Oh no. If I leave him like this, he's going to storm out there and grab the father by the collar.
"Senior, you... you need to calm down. The guardians are still nearby. If we cause a scene..." I gently grabbed Min-jae's arm. If that explosive temper of his—the one he usually unleashed on me—flared up in the wrong direction here, it could ruin the entire legal process. Please, just hold it in. I'll let you nag me, scream at me, whatever you want later, but please, just hold it together right now, you crazy bastard.
Min-jae seemed to snap out of it at my words, letting out a ragged breath. He pulled the blanket back over the child and silently walked out of the curtained cubicle. Left alone, I looked down at the sleeping boy's face. I couldn't even begin to fathom the depth of pain and terror this tiny child had endured. How much did it hurt? What more can I do for him right now?
As I stood there in a daze, the curtain slid open with a sharp *whoosh*.
"Ah, right!" It was Lee Min-jae. He slapped his forehead as if he had forgotten something incredibly important and stepped back inside.
"I forgot to tell you something important. The pediatric resident on duty will be here soon. When I reported to the professor earlier, I asked him to request a pediatric consult. Cases like this need to be co-managed with pediatrics from the very beginning."
A moment later, the pediatric resident on duty appeared, looking utterly exhausted. "I'm Min Ji-woo from Pediatrics. I received the page. Where is the patient?" She looked to be around my age. Giving us a brief nod, she walked straight to the child's bed.
She immediately began a thorough physical exam, just as Min-jae and I had done. She checked the skin turgor, felt the anterior fontanelle to see if it was bulging, and gently pulled down his eyelids to inspect the conjunctiva. Once the physical examination was complete, Min Ji-woo walked over to the station and pulled up the X-rays we had taken on the monitor.
"Yes, this is definitely abuse."
I asked her cautiously, "Doctor, the guardians are currently isolated for the police investigation, but what should we do with the child? He doesn't need immediate, urgent medical intervention, but shouldn't we admit him, if only for his own protection?"
Min Ji-woo fell into thought for a moment. "Yes, I agree. We absolutely cannot send the child back to those parents right now. I'll contact the medical social work team and CPS to arrange temporary protective custody and proceed with the admission process."
And so, a plan was set. The child's fate was now out of the hands of the emergency room residents and transferred to the police, pediatrics, and Child Protective Services. I returned to the station and began catching up on my backlogged charts. It was at that exact moment that the consultation room door burst open, and the child's father stormed out, fuming. A young police officer was hot on his heels, desperately trying to hold him back.
"What kind of evidence do you even have to treat us like criminals?!" he roared, his voice echoing through the entire emergency department. "I know my kid best! What do those quacks know after looking at him for a few minutes? They're writing a damn novel based on a single piece of X-ray!"
The moment his voice hit my ears, an uncontrollable surge of anger welled up inside me. I stopped typing and stood up from my chair. I didn't know what I was doing; instinct had completely overridden reason. When did this anger start? The moment I saw the child's X-ray? The moment I read the comments telling me to report it? Or the moment he called us quacks?
Just as I was about to take a step toward him, a figure brushed past me like a shadow. It was Lee Min-jae. Unlike me, whose face practically screamed *I'm furious*, Min-jae wore an expression of absolute, chilling calm as he strode forward and blocked the path of the screaming father.
"My, my, dear guardian. You asked what we could possibly know after looking at him for just a few minutes, right?" Lee Min-jae pulled out a work tablet. He tapped the screen to wake it up and shoved it directly in front of the father's face. On the screen was the X-ray showing the Classic Metaphyseal Lesion (CML) I had taken earlier. "This. This image. Do you have any idea what this is?"
"……."
"Of course you don't. How could you? How could an ignorant man like you possibly understand this?" A cold, contemptuous sneer curled the corners of Min-jae's mouth.
"Allow me to explain it to you nicely. This almost never happens unless there is child abuse. It is a fracture that is physically impossible to sustain unless you violently twist and shake a child's leg like a toy. And yet, this was found in your son's leg. And you're still claiming it's not abuse?"
His voice grew louder and louder, booming through the room. "You son of a bitch. Do you even deserve to be called a father? Have you even counted how many bruises are on that tiny body? Did you even look at him once to see why he couldn't walk and cried all night? A baby walker? Cut the crap. Do we look like idiots who would fall for a pathetic lie like that?!"
"W-what did you say, you bastard?! Are you even a doctor? Are you done talking? I'm going to remember your name! Do you know who I am?!" The father's face flushed red with rage as he spat threats. But Lee Min-jae didn't even blink.
"Oh, please do. Memorize it well. I'd love for you to remember it. Want me to sign it for you? Because by the time you're done writing your apology letters in prison, I'll be far away in Seoul, and you won't even be able to find me."
The moment I heard those words, a faint memory surfaced in my mind. The voice of Professor Cheon Eunjeong saying, 'I heard you're looking into a fellowship at Aseong Hospital.'...Wait, this guy was actually preparing for a fellowship at Aseong Hospital? My brain, of all times, chose this moment to focus on the strangest detail.