Chapter 242
Episode 242. Famous (3)
That evening.
I was only able to leave the hospital after receiving the entire IV fluid. Baek Eunseo, who even hailed a taxi for me, left only after I managed to soothe her worries and send her back.
As soon as I returned to my officetel, I threw myself onto the bed. The moment I lay down, the phone I had tossed aside began to vibrate.
The caller was Mom.
The reason she was calling at this late hour—when she usually only called once a weekend—was as clear as day. I sighed and pressed the call button.
Hyunjae,areyoureallyokay?
Her son had yelled on nationwide live television and then collapsed. What parent wouldn't feel their heart drop? It was obvious that Mrs. Jung was calling for that exact reason.
"Yes, Mom. I'm really okay..." I began to pour out my desperate excuses. "It's just that too many patients flooded in yesterday and today, so I couldn't sleep well. I was just dizzy for a moment. They ran all the checks, I got some IV fluid, and I walked home perfectly fine."
Evenso!It
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sthefirsttimeI
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veeverseenyousaysuchharshwords,somyheartwaspounding.Whenhaveyoueversnappedatpeopleinfrontofotherswithsuchascaryface?
My mother's reaction was perfectly normal. Throughout my school years, I had been a reasonably average son who didn't cause much trouble. If anything, I was closer to being a proud son.
"That's because I don't usually swear in front of my parents. I use those words plenty in private. The Emergency Room is a really rough place. It's a life-or-death situation, so I got excited without realizing it and spoke a bit harshly. It's nothing to worry about."
Evenso,onabroadcastgoingouttothewholecountry,sayingsuchroughwords...
It was right when my mother was about to continue her nagging in a worried tone. A clattering noise was heard from the other end of the handset.
To put it into perspective, well. If I had to give an example, it sounded like someone forcibly grabbing the phone away.
Hey,hey!Hyunjae!Thatmademefeelsorefreshed!Hahaha!
It was Father. The atmosphere was 180 degrees different from my mother's worried voice a moment ago.
Right,amanshouldhavethatkindofgrit!Iclappedinthelivingroomwhilewatching!AdescendantofourHanfamilyshouldnaturallyhavethatkindofguts...
Smack!
Father's speech was forcibly terminated with a very savory hitting sound. It seemed my mother's back-smash had exploded magnificently.
Ugh,youuselessman!Youshouldthinkaboutstoppingyourson,butwhat
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stheretobragaboutandencouragehimfightingontelevision?!Handoverthephone!
The rowdy sound of my parents bickering was heard through the handset. A corner of my mouth turned up at the sound. Anyway, they were entertaining people.
Anyhow,Hyunjae.Takecare.Ifyou
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resick,takemedicinerightaway,anddon
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tskipmeals!Calloftensowedon
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tworry.
"Yes, yes, Mom, I got it~ Tell Father to calm down too. I'm really tired, so I'm going to sleep now."
Click—
After finishing the call like that.
I lay on my bed in the dark room, staring blankly only at my phone. It was the bulletin board of an anonymous community app for corporate employees. Every time I pressed refresh, posts mentioning my name kept coming up, and in one of the posts with the highest view count, hundreds of comments were continuously being posted in real-time.
ㅇㅅㅇ / Seoul Aseong Hospital: No matter how urgent the situation was, it wasn't even Neurosurgery, but an EM resident did a burr hole and that actually worked?
ㄴ illilililli / Cheongjin University Hospital: From the start, that resident was crazy famous within the hospital as a genius. If you look at the case presentation records from the Emergency Medicine Academic Conference, wasn't there a laparotomy? He did it in the resusc room. Search for it.
ㄴ I Love Sunbank / Doctor: Not a thoracotomy, but a laparotomy? In the ER? EM split the belly?
ㄴ illilililli / Cheongjin University Hospital: Yeah, resuscitative laparotomy and packing. Other than that, he pinpointed a rare disease at once and diagnosed aortitis, completely overturning Thoracic Surgery's surgical plan before. Not only were his surgical skills crazy, but he was a real genius internally as well, so rumors were rampant within the hospital. This gunshot incident just blew his potential wide open.
"Ugh." I gnashed my teeth looking at the screen. "Who on earth is that?"
It was at a level where they couldn't contain themselves without handing me the title of a genius resident. Seeing how they knew the inside story so thoroughly, there was a high probability it was a member of our department or at least a resident from another department who had consulted with me.
However, with my current intelligence and physical strength, it was also a fact that I didn't have the energy to deduce that bastard's identity.
"If I catch you, I'm really going to destroy you."
But the rumors on Blind were just the tip of the iceberg. When I switched apps to access short-form platforms including YouTube, videos of me were literally pouring out continuously. From videos on official terrestrial news channels to various cyber-wrecker issue channels with impressive, provocative thumbnails.
[An authorized doctor who collapsed from high blood pressure while raging at reporters' questions] — Views: 590,000
"...Who says it's high blood pressure, you crazy wrecker bastards." I let out a hollow laugh looking at the picture. I am healthy.
As I scrolled down, an even more spectacular video popped up.
[The doctor who properly educated today's trash reporters, shaking hands] — Views: 730,000
In the video, my face was depicted almost like a dark hero.
"Ah."
I turned off the phone screen and tossed it back onto the bed. What kind of treatment would I receive when I went to work at the hospital?
"I'm too tired today." Let's give up thinking. Escaping reality right now was an urgent matter for me.
I pulled up the blanket and covered my body. My eyelids became as heavy as a thousand pounds. Let's get some sleep.
The next morning.
Normally, since it was my day off, I would have been one with the bed until noon to catch up on my delayed sleep, but...
'After yesterday's incident, how could I sleep with a peaceful mind?'
As soon as I woke up, I sat leaning blankly against the bed. When I picked up the remote control and turned on the TV, sure enough, every news channel was talking about yesterday's accidental shooting. In the center of the screen was the familiar stage of the hospital's grand auditorium.
HanIhyun/DepartmentofCardiovascularandThoracicSurgery,CheongjinUniversityHospital
It seemed Professor Han Ihyun was taking charge of today's briefing.
Iwillstartthethirdbriefing.Yes.Well.Reporters,you
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vegonethroughalotoftroublewaitingthroughthenight.Thescreencomesoutwell,right?
Due to the aftermath of the overnight surgery, the areas around Professor Han's eyes were hollow, but his characteristic relaxed attitude remained the same. How could he maintain his mental strength like stone like that?
Thepatient,whowasmovedtoaregularoperatingroomimmediatelyafterthefirstemergencysurgeryintheresuscroomyesterday,completedasuper−high−difficultymajorsurgerylastingatotalof11hoursand40minutesuntilthismorningunderthejointexecutionofThoracicSurgeryandNeurosurgery.
Han Ihyun began to brief without even looking at the prepared materials. The sound of reporters typing on their laptops also began to be heard.
First,theThoracicSurgeryteampartiallyresectedtherightlowerlungloberupturedbybulletfragments,andmicro−anastomosedtheseveredpulmonaryarterybranchesandgreatvesselstocompletelycontroltheintrathoracicbleeding.
When it was time for the Neurosurgery part to come up, Han Ihyun lowered his head to look at the paper.
Atthesametime,theNeurosurgeryteamtrackedthetrajectoryofthesecondarymetalfragmentthatbroketherightclavicleandpenetratedintothetemporalbone,safelyremovingthefragmentinawaythatminimizedcranialnervedamage.
Han Ihyun on the screen drank a sip of water and caught his breath.
Subsequently,aftercompletelydrainingtheremnantsoftheepiduralhematomathatwaspressingonthebrain,theysuccessfullycompletedcranioplastytoreconstructtheduramaterdamagedbythegunfirewithanartificialmembrane.Currently,thepatientisreceivingintensivetreatmentintheICU,andfortunately,vitalsignsarefindingstability.
When the presentation announcing the success of the surgery ended, Professor Han Ihyun naturally stepped back behind the stage. Soon after, another person stood in front of the microphone.
KangHyunjoon/TraumaCenterDirector,CheongjinUniversityHospital
With the appearance of Director Kang Hyunjoon, a full-scale Q&A session began.
Director.Isn
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titaclearviolationoftheMedicalServiceActoranactofoversteppingauthorityforanEmergencyMedicineresident,notaNeurosurgerystaffmember,toperformaburrhole,whichisabrainsurgery?
The question that flew in first was, as expected, about the bomb that Mes of the God had thrown yesterday. Kang Hyunjoon frowned slightly and then drew a firm line.
No,itisnot.ThecurrentEmergencyMedicalServiceActstipulatesthatemergencymedicalpersonnelmustdotheirbesttosavethelifeofanemergencypatientwhoselifeisindanger,andclearlyincludesclausesthatreduceorexemptcriminalliabilitythatmayoccurinthisprocess.
Evenifthatisthecase,isn
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topeningthechestandheadinaregularresuscroomexcessivelyoverlookingtheriskofsecondaryinfection?
ThegrandprincipleofTraumaSurgeryis
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DeathbeforeInfection.
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Ratherthancausingthepatienttogointocardiacarrestwhileperfectlycalculatingasterileenvironment,savingthelifethroughresuscitationandthencontrollinginfectionthroughbroad−spectrumantibioticadministrationisthecurrentglobalstandardoftraumaresuscitation.
"It is said that a thoracotomy and a burr hole were proceeded simultaneously on one patient. Is this realistically possible inside a narrow resusc room?"
Itiscorrectthatitwasaveryunusualandextremelyhigh−difficultysituation.TheThoracicSurgeryspecialiston−siteatthetimeproceededwiththethoracotomy,andatthesametime,theEmergencyMedicineresidentperformedtheburrholeatthepatient
′
shead.Itisamiraculousresultthatwouldhavebeenabsolutelyimpossiblewithoutperfectdivisionofrolesandtrustamongthemedicalstaff.
When the word 'miracle' came out of Director Kang's mouth, the flashes at the scene exploded even louder.
Asaresult,isaninternaldisciplinarycommitteeorafact−findingcommitteescheduledtobeheldregardingtheEmergencyMedicineresidentinquestionwhocausedtheproceduralcontroversy?
At the last reporter's question, Director Kang Hyunjoon turned his head.
Thehospital
′
spositionremainsunchanged.AsthePresidentoftheMedicalCenterclearlystatedinyesterday
′
sbriefing,ourmedicalstaffmadethebestmedicaljudgment.Iwillendthebriefinghere.
I pressed the power button on the remote control and turned off the TV screen.
'Haa...'
From the president to the Thoracic Surgery professor, and the Trauma Center director. The high-ups of the hospital setting up a shield and blocking for me with their whole bodies was somehow... should I just say it made me dizzy?
As a day passed, the community's reaction also seemed to have found a bit of calmness, escaping from blind criticism or praise. However, the problem was... a few very provocative article titles still hanging on the main page of the portal site.
“Are you going to die while stamping?” Resident pours out harsh words to reporting team
[Field Video] “With that level of yours...” Doctor lecturing during live broadcast
Tug-of-war with the media while the patient's life is on the line... Elite consciousness crossing the line makes people frown
The reaction in the comment section I checked was in a state where opinions were slightly divided, escaping from unconditional praise. Of course, swearing at reporters was now a default value, so opinions agreed on that part, but...
'It's separate from properly educating trash reporters. Even so, what does an Emergency Medicine resident know about surgery? He acted up too much.'
vs.
'If a person died while calculating procedures, you would have blamed the doctor again back then, so what are you talking about?'
Roughly keyboard battles of this nuance were continuing endlessly.
'Let's look back at the current state.'
A star doctor was born overnight. But his identity was neither an old professor nor a fellow, but a mere resident. Then, what about the reactions of other current practitioners? Naturally, it was awkward. Numerous medical professionals, as well as ordinary people who knew even a little bit about the biology of this industry, seemed quite flustered. The fact itself that a resident picked up a scalpel and a drill outside the operating room was breaking the common sense of the medical community, and on top of that, he was from a non-surgical department?
Ugh. My head throbbed. Fame or whatever, I was just tired.
'It's something that has already happened anyway, so is there anything I can do?'
Since it had gone far beyond the scope of what I could clean up, let's roughly resign myself to it.
Mmh!
It was at that moment when I was about to turn on the Gallery to throw some double curses at that bastard Mes of the God.
Bzzzzzzz—
The phone vibrated. Checking the screen, it was an unsaved number.
"010...?"
It wasn't a hospital number, nor a spam number, but a normal mobile phone number. What was it? Did reporters find out my number and start calling?
Hesitating for a moment, I pressed the call button. "Hello?"
Ah,yes AreyouTeacherHanHyunjae?
A strangely familiar voice was heard.
"Yes. But who is this~"
As I asked back in wonder, the man revealed his identity in a very welcoming voice.
IamtheKBCbroadcastingstationPDwhofilmedthedocumentaryinyouremergencyroomtheyearbeforelast...