Chapter 72

“What’s that?”

Professor Hong Jae-hoon pointed at the helicopter that had just landed on the tennis court.

“I don’t know.”

Han Yoo-rim was just as clueless.

Wasn’t Trauma Surgeon Baek Kang-hyuk still at Incheon Port?

That meant there shouldn’t be anyone at Hanguk University Hospital who would go so far as to bring in a patient by helicopter.

“Who’s getting off? There’s even a reception team. Was there any prior notice?”

“None.”

“Is it not the surgical department?”

Hong Jae-hoon tilted his head as he looked outside.

By then, the helicopter door had fully opened, and the paramedics who had gotten off first pulled out a transfer stretcher.

Lying on the stretcher was a young patient, with some strange line plugged into his back.

“Alright, straight to the CT room!”

Soon, a doctor wearing a bloodstained gown jumped off.

Hong Jae-hoon didn’t recognize him, but Han Yoo-rim did.

“Doctor Yang Jaewon? Wait, what’s he doing flying here alone?”

“So it’s surgery after all? What’s that guy’s deal?”

“Uh… I told you before, didn’t I? One of the guys who said he would follow Professor Baek Kang-hyuk to train in trauma surgery.”

“Ah… that crazy one. And that guy flew here alone? What if something had gone wrong? Hasn’t he only been in trauma surgery for a month?”

“Uh… right. I have no idea what’s going on either…”

“And you call yourself a department head? How can you not know what your subordinates are doing! Go find out immediately!”

“Yes, yes.”

“No, wait! I’m coming too. I can’t trust you to go alone. You’re always suspiciously defending Baek Kang-hyuk.”

Professor Hong Jae-hoon quickly threw on the gown hanging on the coat rack and rushed out of the administration office.

The gown smelled fresh and crisp, as if it had just been ironed.

It was a world apart from the gown Jaewon was wearing.

“Doctor, let’s move the patient first!”

Jang-mi shouted as she ran toward Jaewon, panting.

She had already been contacted and had brought out a specialized ICU stretcher.

The quality of the stretcher itself was incomparable, and it was fully equipped with all sorts of monitoring devices.

“Ah, that’s better.”

“On three! One, two, three!”

“Heave!”

Whether it was the staff that greeted them or the paramedics who brought the patient, they were all veterans.

No matter that the patient had undergone brain surgery; transferring him took only a moment.

They quickly began wheeling the new stretcher into the hospital.

Rumble, rumble.

Since the path wasn’t designed for hospital beds, there was a lot of friction.

There were bumps here and there too, making it quite a rough ride.

It was enough to make one wonder if there could be a worse facility for moving trauma patients.

“By the way.”

As they reached the emergency room entrance, Jang-mi looked back at Jaewon.

Jaewon replied without taking his eyes off the monitor.

“Yes?”

“Where’s the professor? Didn’t you two go together?”

“Ah… Professor is coming by ship.”

“What? Ship?”

He went by helicopter but is coming back by ship?

What the hell was going on?

“I’ll explain later. First, we need to get the CT scan. This patient had a [basilar skull fracture] and cerebrospinal fluid was leaking, so we need to check his condition first.”
(T/N: Basilar skull fracture – a break in the bone at the base of the skull.)

“Ah… Then should I book an OR? Should I call neurosurgery?”

“No. The surgery’s already done.”

“What?”

Jang-mi looked at Jaewon with an expression of complete disbelief.

Jaewon just shrugged and pushed the stretcher.

“I’ll explain that later too. A lot happened.”

“Ah… alright.”

There were at least a dozen questions she wanted to ask.

But Jang-mi was part of the Severe Trauma Center.

A true professional among professionals.

It wasn’t too hard for her to put personal chatter aside.

Rumble, rumble.

The stretcher sped down the hallway.

“What the heck…”

Some patients and guardians stepped aside while pointing at the stretcher.

It was only natural — a young man lying there looking like he was half-dead was bound to draw attention.

“There they are.”

Just as the stretcher was about to turn the corner into the CT room, Hong Jae-hoon and Han Yoo-rim arrived at the emergency room.

Hong Jae-hoon pointed at Jaewon and ran toward him, with Han Yoo-rim following behind.

‘What the hell is going on? Did Yang Jaewon really fly alone? No way…’

Maybe it was because he was confused, but his steps kept tangling.

“What’s wrong with you! Can’t even run at your age?”

Hong Jae-hoon yelled while grabbing Han Yoo-rim, who was falling behind.

No matter what, he was still a cherished junior.

Of course, if an accident happened, he would cut him off like a lizard shedding its tail.

But that was that, and this was this.

“Sorry.”

“We can’t enter the scan room anyway. Actually, we won’t. Let’s head to the control room.”

“Yes.”

The scan room referred to the place where the CT machine operated.

The amount of radiation exposure from one CT scan was hundreds of times that of an X-ray.

It varied depending on the body part, but that was the general idea.

So unless absolutely necessary, no one wanted to enter.

Thus, the two professors went straight to the control room where the radiologic technologist was.

“Ah, good afternoon, professors.”

The technologist bowed deeply.

In contrast, the two professors barely acknowledged the greeting and pointed at a monitor.

It was showing the inside of the scan room.

“Who’s that patient?”

The technologist couldn’t hide his flustered expression.

Normally, even a radiologic technologist had a basic understanding of the patient’s background.

It was essential for preventing accidents.

But cases like this, where doctors suddenly pushed their way in, were different.

“Uh… I only know he came from Baengnyeong Island.”

“Baengnyeong Island? What are you talking about? Weren’t patients from Baengnyeong supposed to come by ship?”

Professor Hong Jae-hoon turned to Han Yoo-rim with a face full of confusion.

But it wasn’t like Han Yoo-rim would know about something he had never heard of either, so he just looked around the control room.

Of course, there was nothing to be found.

The paramedics had already gone to the administration office for patient admission, and inside the control room, only people like Jang-mi — who knew nothing about the situation — remained.

The only one who knew what had happened was shouting to the radiologic technologist from inside the scan room, wearing a [lead apron] (T/N: Protective gear worn to block radiation exposure).

“I’ve got him secured! You can start the scan now!”

“Ah, understood. Beginning the scan.”

The technologist glanced nervously at Professors Hong Jae-hoon and Han Yoo-rim but soon pressed the button.

Thunk thunk thunk thunk.

As the machine whirred to life, the CT scan began.

Meanwhile, Jaewon firmly held the patient in place to prevent him from falling off.

Since the patient had been sedated on purpose, even a short moment of negligence could lead to a fall.

Clack clack clack clack.

As the scan progressed, images were transmitted to another monitor.

Despite everything, Hong Jae-hoon and Han Yoo-rim — being doctors — instinctively shifted their attention to that monitor.

“What the… He didn’t just transport the patient?”

Hong Jae-hoon muttered, seeing something crammed inside the patient’s nasal cavity.

Han Yoo-rim pointed toward the ceiling of the nose — the [cranial base].

“Here… This looks like reconstructive surgery traces.”

“They reconstructed a fracture? Where?”

“The… helicopter?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! How’s that even possible?”

“I mean, I saw them doing surgery on the ship earlier…”

“That was Baek Kang-hyuk! This is Yang Jaewon! A guy who was doing hemorrhoid surgeries just a month ago — you think he cracked open a skull?”

“Ah.”

That was true.

Even Han Yoo-rim himself would have run for the hills if told to perform brain surgery.

It was absurd to think Dr. Yang Jaewon had done something to the brain himself.

“But still… the surgery looks good. No leaks or anything.”

Despite his initial fury, Professor Hong Jae-hoon nodded as he reviewed the images.

It was a CT scan result worth acknowledging.

The reconstructive surgery shown was flawless.

“There’s no way he did that.”

“When’s the scan done? I need to ask; this is driving me crazy.”

No sooner had Professor Hong Jae-hoon finished speaking than the machine stopped.

The technologist turned to the professors.

“The scan’s complete. You may enter now.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Before they even moved the patient back to the stretcher, the two professors stormed into the scan room.

Jaewon was caught off guard.

“Uh… What brings you here?”

Instead of answering Jaewon’s question, Professor Hong Jae-hoon immediately shot his own.

“This patient — he came from Baengnyeong Island?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“His head was operated on. Who did it?”

“Professor Baek Kang-hyuk performed the surgery.”

“Where? He should still be on the highway after getting off the ship.”

“Oh, he’s on the highway? How did you know that…”

Jaewon gave them a look that said, ‘Since when did you care this much about trauma surgery?’

Of course, for Hong Jae-hoon and Han Yoo-rim, that wasn’t important.

“Never mind that. Where and when was the surgery done?”

“Ah, the surgery was performed on Baengnyeong Island.”

“On Baengnyeong Island? Is there even a hospital there?”

“No. Just a military infirmary.”

“A military infirmary… for brain surgery?”

Professor Hong Jae-hoon wasn’t a surgeon who personally performed operations.

But it wasn’t like he had no sense for what was normal.

At the very least, he knew how absurd that sounded.

“What kind of crazy…”

He muttered, completely dumbfounded, when Jaewon gently nudged him aside.

“Excuse me, can you move? We need to get the patient to the ICU.”

“Ah, right. No—wait!”

“Let’s talk while we walk. The patient’s more important, right?”

Jaewon, technically just a fellow moving from his first to second year, was contract staff.

Meanwhile, Hong Jae-hoon was the third most senior in the entire hospital, right behind the hospital director and vice director.

Normally, Jaewon would never dare show this kind of disrespect.

But lately, his role model had been none other than Kang-hyuk, the reckless.

Jaewon wouldn’t admit it, but he was unconsciously becoming a mini-Kang-hyuk.

“W-What? Hey!”

Thus, Jaewon pushed the stretcher forward before Hong Jae-hoon could even finish speaking.

“Jaewon!”

“Patient first.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Han Yoo-rim got swept along too.

The professors only managed to corner Jaewon for a proper conversation after they safely transferred the patient to the ICU.

Hong Jae-hoon, having barely calmed his frustration, spoke up.

“Alright, let’s say — as you said — this patient was operated on in Baengnyeong Island. But why… why did Professor Baek come by ship? Do you know how much chaos this is causing online right now?”

“Ah, that…”

Jaewon started answering calmly but then glanced out the window.

Weee-ooohhh.

An ambulance was pulling into the emergency entrance.

Behind it followed a military vehicle.

And behind that, a TV Goryeo broadcast van.

“Where are you looking!”

“I think that’s Professor Baek’s car.”

“What?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to ask him directly? Honestly, I don’t know what happened on the ship either.”