Chapter 36

The one yelling was Han Yoo-rim, who ranked lower than the administrative director, Hong Jae-hoon.

Despite being in a tiny room where he could see everyone clearly, Han Yoo-rim still shouted—which only meant one thing.

He was furious.

But Baek Kang-hyuk wasn’t someone whose brain worked well with that kind of approach.

“Your eyesight must’ve gotten worse while I wasn’t looking. You made eye contact with me just now, yet you’re still yelling?”

That was his response.

He didn’t even bother standing up or nodding in greeting.

Even though both Han Yoo-rim and Hong Jae-hoon were higher-ranking than him as department heads, he didn’t care.

Seeing Baek Kang-hyuk’s attitude, Han Yoo-rim immediately pointed a finger at him.

“Professor Baek! Did you forget about the faculty meeting at lunch today? Do you know how awkward the atmosphere was because the most important person didn’t show up?”

“Oh.”

Only then did Baek Kang-hyuk remember.

He pulled out his phone and checked.

Around ten unread messages and more than five missed calls.

All from the surgery department’s secretary or other faculty members.

“Didn’t notice. I don’t really check my phone when I’m in the clinic.”

“This is not the time to be so nonchalant!”

“Alright, alright, Professor Han, calm down.”

The administrative director, Hong Jae-hoon, stepped in before Han Yoo-rim started foaming at the mouth from rage.

Clearly, Han Yoo-rim was exaggerating even more because he had an audience.

And just as expected, he quickly settled down once Hong Jae-hoon spoke.

“Well, I apologize.”

“It’s not you who should be apologizing, Professor Hong. Professor Baek should be the one apologizing. Haha.”

As someone rumored to be the next hospital director, Hong Jae-hoon never lost his composure.

Instead, he simply stared at Baek Kang-hyuk with silent pressure.

But Baek Kang-hyuk wasn’t the type to pick up on subtle hints.

“What am I apologizing for? Faculty meetings aren’t mandatory, as far as I know.”

“Ah, yes, you’re technically right. However…”

Hong Jae-hoon let out a forced chuckle before continuing.

“The reason today’s meeting was scheduled at lunchtime was specifically so you could attend. You must have received the emails and messages about it. Didn’t you?”

“I saw them.”

Baek Kang-hyuk tapped his phone, his expression saying, ‘So what?’

Hong Jae-hoon held back a sigh and continued.

“If you read the email, you would have seen the departmental revenue report from last month. The trauma surgery department has already accumulated over 3 billion won in deficit in just two weeks.”

At the mention of 3 billion won, the nurses started whispering among themselves.

Even Cheon Jang-mi went pale, shaking her head.

She had assumed the trauma department was losing money, but she hadn’t expected it to be this much.

But Baek Kang-hyuk?

He looked completely unfazed.

“Isn’t that amount covered by the government subsidy? The Ministry of Health and Welfare is allocating 200 billion won over four years to support severe trauma centers starting next year.”

“That’s… as I mentioned before, that money is for facility maintenance and equipment purchases. It’s not meant to cover operating deficits.”

“Facility maintenance, huh…”

Baek Kang-hyuk gestured around the ICU.

“This ICU has been running since early last year, right? It was funded by the government’s trauma center initiative.”

“That’s correct.”

“Are we using it for its intended purpose?”

“Of course! The bed occupancy rate is 100%. Can’t you see? It’s completely full right now.”

Hong Jae-hoon pointed at the other two patients in the ICU, aside from Baek Kang-hyuk’s own trauma patients.

One was an internal medicine patient.

The other was a thoracic surgery patient.

Neither had anything to do with severe trauma.

They were simply overflow patients from other ICUs in the main hospital and cancer center.

“That’s not its original purpose. Have you actually saved any severe trauma patients here before I arrived?”

“A patient is a patient! Why are you making distinctions?”

“Because it matters. That funding was specifically meant to save severe trauma patients. Using it for other purposes is basically fraud.”

“F-Fraud?! How dare you…!”

Hong Jae-hoon’s face turned bright red.

His eyes darted to the nurses and residents nearby.

Professors valued their reputation and authority above all else.

Especially someone at his level.

And now, he had just been called out for fraud in front of so many people.

Seeing his flustered expression, Baek Kang-hyuk took a step closer.

“Regardless, don’t complain about the trauma center’s deficit. It’s not personal misuse—it’s money spent on saving lives.”

Then, he stopped right in front of Hong Jae-hoon, looking down at him.

Despite his gentle-looking face, Baek Kang-hyuk had a naturally intimidating presence.

Hong Jae-hoon, unable to stand his ground, instinctively took a step back.

Considering the rumors of Baek Kang-hyuk’s past ties to gangsters, his reaction wasn’t entirely irrational.

“Why are you coming at me about this? As a specialist, I just provided the necessary treatment to my patients. And I’ve included all the proper documentation to justify it. Did you not check?”

Just as he had said, Baek Kang-hyuk had already sent a detailed rebuttal email regarding the billing cuts.

Every procedure he performed was supported by research, textbooks, or expert recommendations.

If there were billing issues, it wasn’t his fault—the insurance review board was to blame.

That’s who should be questioned—not him.

At least, that’s how Baek Kang-hyuk saw it.

But Hong Jae-hoon was an administrator.

He wasn’t just looking at one department or one doctor—he had to manage the entire hospital.

“Professor Baek, don’t act like a child. What if the insurance review board starts a full-scale audit on our hospital? Do you know how much we’d lose? It wouldn’t be 3 billion won—it’d be tens or even hundreds of billions!”

“A full-scale audit, huh…”

Baek Kang-hyuk muttered, looking uninterested.

He had never cared about this kind of bureaucratic nonsense, and he wasn’t about to start now.

Right now, people were dying right in front of them, and it was the laws and regulations that were getting in the way.

Shouldn’t the priority be fixing those laws and regulations, instead of blindly obeying them?

“Stop talking nonsense. I didn’t come here as hospital management—I came here as a doctor. I’m here to save lives.”

“Tch… I’m explaining this clearly, but you just refuse to get it… Are you doing this on purpose? Are you just stupid? Is this because you went to Muan University— No, never mind. Forget it.”

Hong Jae-hoon barely stopped himself from saying, “Because you’re from Muan University.”

Not out of consideration for Baek Kang-hyuk, but because there were too many witnesses.

‘Can’t have people spreading rumors that I discriminate based on academic background. That wouldn’t be good in today’s world.’

So he swallowed the words he really wanted to say and moved on.

“Anyway, what I’m saying is—stop acting like you’re special just because you save lives. Every single person in this hospital is saving lives, not killing people. So why is it that every other department is profitable while only the trauma surgery department is losing this much money?”

“Because the system is flawed. If you have a problem, go complain to the authorities instead of bothering me.”

“This guy…”

Hong Jae-hoon clicked his tongue, looking up at Baek Kang-hyuk, whose stubbornness was worse than steel.

‘What the hell was Director Choi thinking when he hired this guy…?’

The hospital director had lost his mind after getting scolded by the Minister of Health during a government audit.

That was the only explanation for hiring some no-name surgeon with zero verification.

Hong Jae-hoon made a mental note to confront the director later.

It was clear that reasoning with Baek Kang-hyuk was pointless.

“Whatever. I’m leaving for now. Just think carefully about what I said. I’m not asking you to turn a profit like other departments. Just reduce the deficit while still saving lives, got it?”

“I don’t know about anything else, but I’ll keep saving lives the way I always have.”

“Ugh, I’m gonna explode.”

Hong Jae-hoon clutched his chest in frustration before storming out.

As soon as he did, Han Yoo-rim, who had been silent the whole time, quickly followed.

Just before they exited the ICU, Hong Jae-hoon patted Han Yoo-rim’s shoulder—not as a gesture of encouragement, but as rebuke.

“Professor Han, you’re the head of surgery, aren’t you? Do your job properly, will you?”

“What can I do? You saw how he argued back even against you, Professor Hong…”

“And the night shifts? You’re making sure he gets more of them, right? He looked perfectly fine earlier. His skin was too clear.”

“Yes, of course. He’s on night shifts every day. Just last night, he… uh… performed three or four surgeries, I believe.”

“Three or four? Hah. How much money did that waste?”

Han Yoo-rim hesitated.

He had already reviewed last night’s surgical records, but the numbers didn’t seem real.

A liver transplant and a kidney transplant—both in one night?

Even with all his years in surgery, he couldn’t comprehend it.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

Hong Jae-hoon immediately caught on that something was wrong.

And Han Yoo-rim had no choice but to tell the truth.

He wasn’t just any professor—he was a man aiming to be the next administrative director.

To get there, he had to stay in line with the current one.

“Well… He performed one liver transplant and one kidney transplant last night.”

“What? At night?”

“…Yes.”

“What was the official procedure name?”

“For the liver transplant, it was coded as abdominal hemorrhage control surgery. For the kidney transplant, it was acute liver failure requiring transplant.”

“And does insurance cover the liver transplant under these conditions?”

“I… asked the transplant surgery department.”

“And?”

When Han Yoo-rim looked up, Hong Jae-hoon’s face was horrifyingly tense.

The 3-billion-won deficit was already massive—but now, it seemed there was an even bigger loss looming over them.

“So? What did they say?”

“Well… They said… insurance wouldn’t cover it. We could only bill for the hemorrhage control surgery…”

“That idiot. If he had just registered the patient on the transplant waiting list, we could’ve gotten reimbursement!”

Of course, if the patient had been placed on the transplant list, they would’ve had to wait—and in that time, the patient would have died.

But the fact remained that the patient had already survived.

At this point, death wasn’t even a consideration.

All Hong Jae-hoon could think about was the money they had lost.

“And you let him do that?”

“What could I do? You saw him earlier… He’s not backing down. And if the hospital board finds out about this…”

The hospital board members cared about the hospital’s reputation and image.

But what they cared about the most was money.

They didn’t mind if the hospital wasn’t making huge profits, but they hated seeing deficits.

If word got out that the hospital started losing money the moment the current administration took over, there would be consequences.

In other words—

Hong Jae-hoon wouldn’t become the hospital director, and Han Yoo-rim wouldn’t become the next administrative director.

“We can’t let them find out! What kind of question is that?!”

“Then… what should we do?”

“Find a way to fix this. I don’t care how—just do it.”

“…Understood.”