A Desperate Performance
"...What did you just say?"
Time froze. I slowly raised my head. I'm so dead. Sirens wailed inside my head. This was on a completely different level from being humiliated by Nam Seung-hyeon from Internal Medicine. That was just being ignored; this was an outright mutiny—hurling profanity directly at a senior's treatment plan.
My brain screamed as it scrambled for a solution. I couldn't exactly say, "I did that because I was pissed off at a system window." I needed an excuse, an excuse, any excuse. The most plausible, god-tier excuse possible. I ran tens of thousands of simulations in a single second. Finally, my survival instincts squeezed out a last-resort answer.
I suddenly smacked my own forehead with full force. At my sudden outburst, Choi Sumin's eyes widened, along with those of the surrounding nurses.
"I was talking to my own stupid self, Sunbae!"
"I almost delayed the diagnosis because I couldn't even take a proper history! I found myself so pathetic and fucking incompetent for missing something so basic! I was swearing at my own stupidity! I deserve to be beaten!"
It was a masterclass in acting, fueled by pure desperation. A crazy performance of self-flagellation paired with an excuse that sounded logical yet completely unhinged. My senior stared down at me in silence. I could practically feel the gears turning in her head: Is this guy actually insane, or is he putting on a show?
After a few agonizing seconds of silence, a deep sigh finally escaped her lips.
"Whew." Her icy expression softened. "Fine. Get up."
I slowly stood up straight.
"The triage nurse was supposed to catch that, but they missed it because it was too busy. It's not your fault, so don't beat yourself up over it. Besides, aren't you pushing yourself too hard lately?"
I survived. The tension drained from my body, leaving my legs shaking.
"No, ma'am! I'm perfectly fine!"
"Whatever. Since you made the diagnosis, you explain it to the patient and their guardian." With that, she turned her attention back to her monitor. I bowed deeply and headed toward the patient.
Bed B-17. The patient looked utterly bewildered by the sudden flurry of medical procedures.
"Sir, you must have been very startled. We've found the exact cause of your pain."
The patient's eyes shook with anxiety. "Do I have some kind of terminal illness?"
"It's nothing like that. It's just a very rare type of food poisoning. Have you ever heard of ciguatera?"
"Cigua... what?"
"To put it simply, you've been poisoned by a toxin found in tropical reef fish. It's extremely rare and almost never seen in Korea, so you just had a bit of bad luck. This toxin plays tricks on your nerves. That's why you had that strange symptom where cold things felt hot."
"Haha, so what happens to me now?"
"Fortunately, we caught it early, and your treatment has already begun. The IV fluids we're giving you now will help flush the toxin out of your system. We've also administered something like a painkiller, so you'll feel much better soon."
"If I hadn't come to the hospital, I would've just groaned in bed thinking it was a simple stomachache and ended up in real trouble. Thank you so much."
After explaining a few more precautions to the patient, I returned to the station. I felt completely drained of energy. I quietly opened the system window.
Current LP: 600
Cut in half, but still, 500 points. I opened the shop list and checked the Possession skill once more.
Skill: Possession (빙의)
Price: 5,000 LP
4,400 points to go. I still had a long way to go.
Once the ciguatera commotion settled down, the patient in Bed B-17 stabilized and was processed for admission to the general ward. The ER quickly returned to its usual chaotic state. Drunks causing scenes, the wails of a child who had split their head open after a fall, and the ceaseless ringing of the telephones.
After mindlessly treating three or four more patients, midnight was already fast approaching. As I sat at the station to catch my breath, Choi Sumin walked up and tapped my shoulder.
"Hyeon-jae, good work. Go to the duty room and catch some shut-eye."
"No, I'm fine. I'll finish up my charting before I rest." I replied, trying my best to sound energetic, and sat back down in front of the EMR. The patient list filled the screen.
61-year-old male patient. Admitted today at approximately 19:00 complaining of chest pain. Lost consciousness and suffered cardiac arrest immediately upon arrival. CPR initiated at 19:27 in the emergency medical center's resuscitation room. Administered 1 mg of epinephrine a total of 5 times at 3 to 5-minute intervals, but...
My fingers felt heavy as I tapped away at the keyboard. Ah, I'm so tired... A wave of physical and mental exhaustion crashed over me all at once. I let go of the mouse and leaned back in my chair.
What exactly was the penalty for Possession? Severe whole-body muscle pain. Just how bad would it be? And what were the conditions for someone to see this gallery? How could I earn LP more efficiently? Ultimately, unable to overcome my curiosity, I logged back into the Deceased Doctors Gallery.
Should I lurk a bit more? I was curious about what these ghosts usually talked about to pass the time. I clicked on the popular posts tab and read the title of the top post, which had the most comments.
It was indeed a fascinating case. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy usually occurs in postmenopausal women. It is incredibly rare for a young male to present with ECG findings identical to an acute myocardial infarction. The person behind this username was undoubtedly a doctor who had been brimming with pride during his lifetime. With an intrigued expression, I scrolled down to check the comments.
Just as expected. The thread was rife with bickering and criticism right from the start. Online communities were exactly the same, whether the users were dead or alive. Whenever someone bragged, someone even more impressive was bound to show up to assert dominance. Sure enough, the final boss made his entrance in the very next comment.
Goosebumps broke out over my skin. Coronary artery dissection in a pregnant woman. Just imagining it made my palms sweat. It was a worst-case scenario where the heart could rupture and the fetus was in extreme danger. And he operated and saved her? What kind of god-tier surgeon had this Mes-ui Sin been during his lifetime?
For now, that guy was the first name on my Possession list. Where was this list, you ask? I had just made it up in my head. It seemed like there were quite a few people in this gallery I needed to keep a close eye on. If I didn't keep some sort of record, I feared a major disaster where I'd have the points during an emergency but wouldn't know who to possess.
As I continued to lurk, one comment stood out from the rest, carrying a completely different vibe.
"..."
I was momentarily speechless. The first two ghosts were clearly bragging about the rarest cases they had treated... but this crazy ghost with the username HitByATruck was explaining exactly how he had departed this world, high-fived the Grim Reaper, and walked down the path to the underworld.
Seriously, you guys need to grow up. What are you even doing, acting like this even after you're dead?
Sigh... These bastards were still talking nonsense even from beyond the grave.