Having not been able to go home in two days and eaten only old jjajangmyeon, Chief Ha dropped his chopsticks at the news Dowook brought over.
“Say that again?”
“He’ll agree, on the condition that I perform the actual surgery……”
“What will Choi Hoo be doing?”
“That! He’ll just be the assistant.”
Dowook was also flustered as he had no idea why Prof. Choi was doing this.
“But why? If he’s not going to do it, then just don’t, just why?”
“It might be a rash decision, but I think he wants to test my ability.”
Chief Ha was more shocked.
“Did you get on his bad side already? Isn’t this him trying to find fault in you to kill you? It wasn’t that long ago that he asked you to be his assistant. That Choi Hoo, I’m gonna …..!”
Chief Ha, who’d just clenched his fist, released it as if he had never done so.
“…… he’s too crazy to catch and torture. Since it’s not yet official, let’s go with Plan B, let’s go to a rural hospital. I’ll use training as an excuse and go for about a month.”
“I don’t think we need to do something so drastic.”
“What do you mean there’s no need! How can we let a resident open the head of a VIP patient? Is that something a professor should say?”
Chief Ha raised his voice and continued to explain since he thought Dowook wasn’t paying attention.
“I’m not saying your skills are bad, but the situation is what it is. Having someone who can keep the aftereffects at a minimum is the department’s face. That’s also what the patient wants.”
“It’s not like I don’t know that. Oh, that surgery technique without aftereffects…..”
If there was one more thing he figured out about the special height, it was the fact that he could infer the principle in reverse through what he sensed.
It wasn’t easy to understand the calculating ability of a math genius, however, Choi Hoo was different. That’s because he was from the same surgical department.
“What Prof. Choi wants is not the area below the nape but the back of the neck. I think he wants to cut the joint and perform the craniotomy himself.”
“My god, the confidence. If it’s Choi Hoo, he probably won’t even touch the spinal nerve. He is capable of that. But why does he want you to do it, is the question.”
“That’s….”
Dowook said something that he’d wanted to say since the beginning but didn’t.
“I think he recognizes my skills a little.”
As expected, a feeling of distrust filled the room.
“If you say rubbish in this kind of situation, you’re also crazy. What did you do, you Choi Hoo?”
“I kept up with his pace pretty well. So he didn’t go ment- ah…..didn’t scold me too much.”
“That crazy guy didn’t go mental on you? Why not?”
Chief Ha fell into a state of confusion.
“So what you’re saying is, Choi Hoo, who recognizes your skill, wants to check how good you are by having you perform the surgery on a VIP patient?”
“I guess that’s how the conclusion goes?”
“Brat. What do you think would happen if I conveyed the situation as is to the vice president? Don’t you think it’s more convincing to say Choi Hoo went mad?”
Dowook scratched his cheek. Prof. Choi’s reputation was certainly the opposite of his skills.
“Ok. Let’s say that you’re correct. So what about you? Do you want to do it since Choi Hoo is telling you to?”
Of course Dowook wanted to do it.
The boss’s ability to act as if one was simply performing plastic surgery where other neurosurgeons would deeply agonize over the aftereffects.
The chance to be the main surgeon with that skill was not common.
But this was not something a resident like him could decide.
“I am simply playing messenger. The choice is up to you, Chief.”
“You’re not saying you can’t.”
Chief Ha asked again with a serious expression.
“You really want to do it? If you make a mistake with a VIP patient the vice dean cares so much about, you might even lose your chance for a fellowship. Can you do it with that kind of pressure?”
“It’s just the prelude. Instead of feeling pressured by the patient’s identity, I should feel it when I’m in front of the operating room.”
“This brat, saying something so cool suddenly. That’s something only I can do.”
Chief Ha became more sure of his decision and looked at Dowook.
The student he’d spent 10 years lovingly teaching was telling him that he wanted to spread his wings and fly. With Choi Hoo on his back. If he didn’t support him at this time, when would he have the opportunity to?
“Ok. Let’s do it. Go ask Lim So Yool what she intends to do. If she agrees, I’ll take care of asking the vice dean. No problem, the neurosurgery department is one body.”
Not expecting the chief to allow it, Dowook’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Are we really trying? Why does it feel like, even you are being audacious, Chief.”
“Hey! We’re ……”
Clearing his throat, Chief Ha spoke in a serious tone.
“We’re surgeons, not hard-core office workers ……. Damn it. You did it first, so it’s not working.”
“Is that really so important right now?”
“Very. We’re surgeons not some peddler selling this and that …… hmmm. Peddler gives off an inferior feeling. Then a lawyer? Reporter? Are analogies really based on timing?”
Dowook sighed and went to stand in front of the office door.
“Keep thinking about it. I’ll go to the VIP ward and come back.”
Myeong Sae Hospital Skylounge.
Lim So Yool’s line of sight was fixed on the window.
Looking down at the city’s nightscape was a good way of passing one’s free time.
“Um.”
However, it wasn’t easy to do today. Lim So Yool looked down at her left arm which was tingling with pain.
It was hard to complain that the long tube dripping fluid into her arm was hurting, but ignoring it as if it didn’t hurt was difficult to do as well.
To think she had to keep it on for 3 more hours. She really wanted something sweet right now.
“If you move that, it would hurt more.”
Maybe it was because her eyebrows were furrowed, a girl from a nearby table advised her with worry in her voice.
Lim So Yool turned to look at the girl and became solemn.
She hadn’t realized since she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. The girl had a portable oxygen tank beside her and a respirator connected to her nose.
“Thanks. I’ll stay still.”
“Where are you sick, unni?”
“My head. You?”
“My chest. I'm always out of breath.”
She was a cute kid with pretty exotic eyes. Seemingly familiar with diseases, she gave the tip nonchalantly and returned to her work without a care.
Lim So Yool looked at the colored pencil the girl was holding. She thought the girl was drawing something, but she wasn’t.
“If there are 7 bears and 4 more come….”
While she was counting, she put down her colored pencil and used all of her tiny fingers. However, before she reached 11, she was met with the reality of having only 10 fingers.
Looking at the child diligently counting, Lim So Yool’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“Do you like math?”
“What’s math?”
“The one in your book.”
“But this is Kumon Learning?”
This child could not tell the difference between the brand of the workbook and math. Lim So Yool gently looked through the book’s content. It seemed to be a beginner guidebook that taught numeric concepts through pictures.
How to explain so it’s easy to understand? The concept of quantity is probably first?
“Math is a way to increase the number of those bears by a lot more.”
“Many? Then I like it.”
A child smiling without any pretense. Lim So Yool smiled as if she had met a friend from her hometown.
