Chapter 265

Episode 265 True Genius (2)

"…I plan to issue a clarification live."

I couldn't help but tilt my head at the hospital director's words.

Why would doing a live explanation make any significant difference?

My thought was that if the plan was to issue a clarification anyway, it would be standard practice for handling controversies to minimize variables by pre-recording it instead of going live.

However, I quickly changed my mind.

He must have a plan.

"And Dr. Han Hyeonjae…" The director took a deep breath. "You just need to prove that you are a genius."

This was actually a rather harsh demand. He was asking a mere 4th-year resident to prove his genius on a live broadcast watched by the entire nation's media and medical professors. If a single mistake happened, it was a cliff-edge strategy where both the hospital director and everyone else would plummet into the abyss together.

"…."

Silence hung over the Director of Medical Center's office.

Me?

Sigh….

Just like the test in the director's office last year, it seemed it was time to use the ghosts' knowledge to play the role of a genius. It was too late to back out now. Deciding to become a professor, deciding to remain a genius, and deciding to become the core personnel of the phantom department—these were all things I had brought upon myself.

So… I have to take responsibility.

In my own way.

Anyway, if I backed out or retreated now, suspicion towards me would only grow. Even if the phantom department opened safely, would I really be able to practice freely?

Not a chance.

Looking at the current situation, it was only a matter of time before the fact that the director favored me leaked out too. The proof was that a paper still in the submission process had been leaked to the outside. Either there was an insider in the hospital, or there was an insider at the journal's submission desk. Since the probability of the latter was relatively low, it was likely the former.

Whatever it was…. My answer remained the same.

"I'll do it."

A little while later, in the evening.

I was peacefully chatting with the ghosts in my officetel. Of course, the topic was….

[Dead Medic Gallery]

I need to cheat

Author: Korean Slave 1

You all know about the attack incident last time, right?

So anyway, things have gotten a bit difficult.

But they decided to openly push me as a genius at a public press conference.

Ghosts who want to join this plan, raise your hands.

Honestly, I worried a lot deep down while writing this post. No matter how much friendship we had built up until now, and despite the countless exchanges over nearly three and a half years, these ghosts were all people who had been recognized as master doctors while they were alive. Furthermore, even after leaving this life, they were people trying to fulfill their unfulfilled desire for learning. There was no reason for them to participate in making a mere resident look like a genius….

Mes of the God: OK

CrackOpenTheHead: Upvote if you're excited, lollllll

➔ Latte is Mine: Upvote lololololol

➔ ㅇㅇ(39.7): Up-vote

➔ Cardiology Ghost: Oh shit, do you not need internal medicine? Are you not inserting a stent in the heart by any chance?

Thoracic Surgery Veteran: You are so damn welcome.

Rheumatology Old Woman: Messing with my little quack, I absolutely cannot forgive them.

Bone Nerd 88: Do you happen to need OS?

➔ Pediatric Ghost: He says he doesn't.

"…."

There was. A reason to participate.

I had forgotten the fact that these guys were just ghosts who were crazy for content. Just like that, I was able to wrap up the day with a chuckle.

Yes. Articles filled with falsehoods are bound to be exposed in the end.

The long-awaited Saturday afternoon.

I was preparing for the press conference behind the stage of the grand auditorium. Only two people would stand on the auditorium stage today: Lee Jaeyoon and me.

"Director." I called out to the director, who was standing next to me checking his attire.

"Ah, Dr. Han. Why do you call?"

"Do you pay overtime for this?"

It was a joke to ease the tension.

"…Oh dear, I should discuss with the legal team…."

"No, it's a joke."

"…That was funny."

He didn't seem to find it funny.

"Director, they say we are ready," an employee said.

Director Lee Jaeyoon nodded at the employee's words. "Let's go, Dr. Han."

"Yes. Let's go."

Lee Jaeyoon's hand trembled slightly.

Well, it makes sense.

Simply knowing by himself that someone is a genius is vastly different from openly announcing that fact to the public. In the former case, if it turns out not to be true, you can just pass it off by saying, "Ah, that's a shame."

But what if you treat him as a genius, throw a whole press conference, make all sorts of foolish moves to spread the rumor far and wide that this guy is a genius, and it turns out he isn't?

It would mean instant destruction.

But Director, you can rest assured.

The ones I get advice from are actual master doctors.

With that, I began to take my steps.

Thump—

Thump—

Flash—!

Click—!

Click, click—!

Pop!

From everywhere, a barrage of flashes and camera shutter sounds burst out to take pictures, echoing one after another. Lee Jaeyoon and I quietly stood in the center of the stage and bowed our heads. Then, we walked over to the pre-arranged desks and buried ourselves deep in our chairs.

Ah, it is comfortable.

Even so, there was no time to just enjoy the feel of the chair. I turned my head and turned on the floating window in the void.

Pop—

[Dead Medic Gallery]

I have arrived

Author: Korean Slave 1

Is everyone ready for the press conference?

[Comments]

Mes of the God: Hell Slave, you look excited.

➔ ㅇㅇ(118.235): Real, lolll

How do I look excited?

Looking at the post, there was a bit of that nuance. Anyway.

CrackOpenTheHead: Today is finally the day we blow away those bastards who looked down on Hell Slave.

Blow away?

Blow away what? I did my best to ignore the ghost who was saying scary things. Deciding to open the gallery window again once the Q&A or something started, I closed the window.

The director grabbed the microphone. Immediately, several questions burst out simultaneously from the press section in the distance.

"Director, please give us a statement!"

"Do you have some sort of relationship with the resident in question?"

"Why did you plan a dispatch unprecedented in the history of academia?"

The journalists didn't seem interested in how I actually saved the patient, or how difficult that 0.01% rare variant was to discover. They had only written a fictional scenario in their heads about a dark connection between the director and the resident. It was a typical, answer-predetermined witch hunt, biting relentlessly until the answer "I pushed him unfairly" came out of the opponent's mouth.

However, the director acted as if he heard the questions but ignored them, as if they were all bothersome, and then opened his mouth.

"Just a moment… I will give you an answer."

At those words, the room instantly fell silent.

"First of all, it is true that Dr. Han Hyeonjae is a resident I cherish."

At that statement, the journalists drove their offensive as if they couldn't afford to lose momentum.

"Are you admitting that there is some sort of relationship?"

"Then did you also plan this first-author incident, Director?"

"For what reason did you commit such an act?"

To those questions, the director tilted his head and spoke again.

"It… seems there is a misunderstanding."

At those words, the journalists also stopped questioning for a moment. Misunderstanding?

"The reason I cherish Dr. Han Hyeonjae is…" Lee Jaeyoon swallowed his saliva for a moment. "Because Dr. Han Hyeonjae…"

Everyone's attention was focused, and the sound of someone pressing a shutter filled the room.

"…is a genius."

"…."

"…."

The room instantly became quiet without a single murmuring sound. Silence itself.

The journalists stared blankly at the director with expressions that asked, "What did I just hear?" and it was the same for several professors and medical staff from other hospitals who had participated to ask questions today.

"Pardon?" one journalist said with a bewildered expression.

If the director had made excuses saying we are clean, it was a lawful procedure, and we will faithfully participate in the investigation, the journalists and attendees would have driven him into a corner endlessly. But he had just bluntly said he gave the first authorship because he is a genius.

Now, then, what should the snipers do?

Instead of digging into the director's corruption, they had to prove that the resident named Han Hyeonjae sitting on the stage was not a genius.

How are they going to prove it?

Naturally, they would thoroughly grill me with medical questions to expose my lack of depth. But at that moment, the snipers throwing questions would practically be walking into the mouths of predators called ghosts by their own feet.

It would be quite a sight to see.

"Do you think that… is reasonable ground?" a journalist barely managed to open his mouth to ask.

"That's right. It's a variant discovered by Dr. Han, and that's why he entered as the first author. Is there a problem?"

"Is there a way to prove it?"

At that, the director scratched his head and spat out a straight-no-brakes statement.

"At present, because we do not separately keep records of conference minutes or data down to the level of minutes, there is no objective evidence, but…"

"Then…!"

"Isn't that why I invited so many excellent medical professionals here today?"

"…!"

At those words, the journalist looked around as if realizing something. Numerous medical journalists, as well as professors and medical staff from other hospitals.

"Then, first, I will explain this case."

I grabbed the microphone.

"…And so, other medical staff did not initially recognize the variant in question."

I continued my explanation while writing with chalk on the mobile blackboard.

"Normally, when viewing cerebral blood vessels in neurosurgery, you look at DSA (Digital Subtraction Angiography) data. It's a 2D flat picture where only the blood vessels are colored black."

I displayed the PPT screen on the projector.

"When viewed in 2D, you cannot know the three-dimensional depth of whether the blood vessel passes above or below the optic nerve. It's just perfect for mistaking it as, 'Oh, the blood vessel is just a bit lower than usual.'"

I moved to the next screen.

"Therefore, I viewed it by overlapping the bone window of the 3D-CTA."

The fact was that I hadn't just looked at the shell of the blood vessel; I had perfectly rendered the three-dimensional spatial perception of the patient's cranial bone structure, the position of the optic canal, and the blood vessel digging between them.

The audience fell silent as they listened to my diagnostic process.

"I will take questions."

At those words, a dignified-looking person raised his hand.

"Yes, on the left, wearing black clothes… yes. Teacher. Please speak."

"Nice to meet you. I am Kim Suseon from Gyeongnam National University Hospital."

Professor Kim Suseon, Neurosurgery, Gyeongnam National University Hospital. Checking that for now.

"I understand that you secured from the left without touching the right A1 like in this case. But during surgery, the blood vessel on the right malformation side can burst unexpectedly, and a worst-case scenario may come where you have no choice but to place a temporary clip on the root side of the right A1."

I quickly converted the contents of the question into text in my brain and moved it to the gallery.

[Comments]

Hell Slave: He says a temporary clip might have to be placed on the right A1.

"At this time, even though the optic nerve was not physically pressed, an accident occurs where the patient permanently goes blind in that eye after surgery. Do you understand why?"

Swwish—

➔ Hell Slave: He's asking why blindness occurs even if the optic nerve isn't pressed.

I gave an answer to buy time. "Hmm…."

In this awkwardly quiet timing.

"Could you give me a moment to think?"

At my words, Professor Kim Suseon of Gyeongnam National University nodded. Along with an expression that said, "As expected."

➔ CrackOpenTheHead: Wow, this is a problem that can only be answered if you know the damn details of anatomy.

➔ CrackOpenTheHead: A normal A1 segment branches upward from the internal carotid artery. And the ophthalmic artery, which is the blood vessel going to the eyes, branches off separately from much further below.

➔ CrackOpenTheHead: But in the case of a malformation where the A1 segment digs under the optic nerve like in this patient, there are a damn lot of cases where this malformed A1 origin completely overlaps with the hole where the ophthalmic artery starts, growing into a single trunk.

I see.

Realizing the decisive fact, I grabbed the microphone again.

➔ ㅇㅇ(39.7): Or the ophthalmic artery completely branches out from the middle of that malformed A1 blood vessel!

Taking this advice too.

I opened my mouth.

"If you clip the proximal part of the malformed A1, not only is the blood going to the brain blocked, but the ophthalmic artery, which is the only blood vessel going to the eye, is clipped together, cutting off the blood flow. Even if only 5 minutes pass, the retinal nerve completely rots away, so even if they open their eyes after surgery, they become blind."

I took a short breath. Now that I had talked about the anatomical principle, I should also talk about the solution.

"Therefore, if a temporary clip must be used, one must figure out exactly at which point the ophthalmic artery branches off from this malformed A1 in the pre-operative angiography, and the clip must absolutely be placed only in the very narrow blood vessel gap past the point where the ophthalmic artery branches out."

At those words, Professor Kim Suseon's eyes widened.

"…That is correct. Thank you for the answer."

Kim Suseon's eyes began to shine with interest. He started scribbling something on a notepad.

I looked around the entire hall.

"By any chance," taking a breath, "are there any more questions? I would appreciate it if you raised your hand."