Chapter 8

Episode 8 Strange Guy (1)

I sat on the chair in the empty Duty Room, staring blankly into the void.

The crazed comment left by 'Truck Hit Guy' persistently drifted through my mind.

“If you haven’t been hit, don’t even talk.”

Fuck.

Yes, I haven’t been hit. And I don’t want to be hit either, you crazy bastard.

I sighed as I looked at those ghosts who had no intention of growing up, even after death.

Hmm… Let’s organize this.

Until now, I’ve just been lurking in this database, barely taking in the information that trickled out. Just like when I posted about the FUO patient, if someone was lucky enough to give me an answer, great; if not, that was it.

I can’t go on like this. This is far too inefficient.

To properly tame and use these bastards, I need to firmly show the cards I’m holding.

‘I am alive.’

That one word. I need to stamp this fact clearly into the brains of those ghost bastards.

‘Good, let’s do it.’

I suddenly stood up from my seat. The problem was how to prove it.

“A verification, huh.”

The simplest way was a selfie—taking a picture of my face and posting it. I pondered for a moment, then shook my head.

Am I crazy? Imagining my appearance, drawing a V-sign with a rotten expression in this dreary Duty Room, made my hands and feet curl up so much they felt like they would disappear. It didn’t suit my personality. More than anything, the thought of those ghost bastards holding a critique session after seeing my face gave me goosebumps.

Comments like, “Looking at this bastard’s face, it looks like he only did a fucking load of studying, lol,” were bound to be posted.

Then what was another way? How about taking a picture of the EMR (Electronic Medical Record) screen and uploading it? A patient list and prescription records—there is no surer doctor verification than this.

‘…No, wait.’

A warning light went off in my head.

‘Violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.’

The patient’s name, age, and disease name—all of this is sensitive information. If I leaked this, not only would my doctor’s license fly away, but I’d also get a criminal record.

But wait a minute.

“They’re ghosts.”

Right? That’s true. They are already dead. They are ghosts who can neither face legal judgment nor intervene in reality. Does the Personal Information Protection Act even hold efficacy in the afterlife? Is there a cybercrime investigation team in the underworld that would send a note saying, “Korean Slave 1, you are requested to appear on charges of unauthorized leakage of personal information”?

The mere imagination was absurd, but one never knows. I had to avoid high-risk gambles.

After deep deliberation, I thought of the most perfect and safest method: the patient monitor. Heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation—that monitor where the vital signs of a living person blink in real-time. While it contains absolutely no personal information, it is the item that would prove more clearly than anything else that this place is a currently operating hospital.

Good, let’s go with this.

I looked around, picked up a piece of sticky note and a pen, and firmly pressed down to write the six characters that symbolized my identity.

[Korean Slave 1]

Now, the preparation was finished.

I quietly left the Duty Room and headed toward the Emergency Room station. Fortunately, everyone was busy, so nobody paid attention to a 1st-year resident shoved into a corner.

I approached the patient monitor next to an empty bed in Area B.

Beep— Beep— Beep—

The perfect background.

I stuck the note prominently on one corner of the monitor. Then, I brought up the gallery app and pressed the capture button to capture the scene.

Click.

Returning to the Duty Room, I threw myself onto the bed. The title didn't need to be grandiose—just short and impactful.

Title: Verification. I’m the active doctor you guys were looking for.

I wrote nothing in the body text. Just a single picture. Beneath it, I added one short sentence.

“Taking questions.”

Now, I am the boss.

Hehehe.

One deep breath. I pressed the register button.

And then, after one second of silence, comment alarms exploded simultaneously.

[A new comment has been posted.]

[A new comment has been posted.]

[A new comment has been posted.]

The gallery exploded.

Anonymous (1.234): Crazy, why is this real?

Anonymous (211.36): Hey, fuck, isn't this photoshopped? The handwriting on the sticky note is a total chicken scratch.

Hippocrates' Descendant: O living one, you truly existed in the mortal world!

Bone Nerd 88 (Male): Wow, fuck, then can you really grant my request to show me my bone marrow slide? Hey! Answer me! I’m so fucking excited right now!

↳ Anonymous (118.235): Nobody asked, you fucking pervert bastard.

Pediatric Ghost: You son of a bitch!!!! Was it real!!!!! Hurry up and run to the pediatric emergency room to see if RSV is prevalent among kids these days and come back!!!!!! It’s urgent, fuck!!!!!!

Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine: What model is that monitor? Why is it so flashy;;

Mes of the God (Male): Interesting. Do you have any cases going into emergency surgery right now? Laparoscopic or open surgery, it doesn't matter. Share the surgical field with me.

Truck Hit Guy: Hey!!!!!!!!!! Does your hospital have a trauma center!!!!

Intoxicated with satisfaction, I scrolled down. Ghosts from all sorts of departments were appealing to their specialties, courting me with what sounded close to screams.

Mes of the God (Male): O living one. How do they operate on an aortic dissection in your era?

Pediatric Ghost: Hey!!! Can't you hear me? Pediatrics!! Go to pediatrics!! What disease do kids die from the most these days!! I need to care for them!! Kids are fucking sensitive, too!!

Hippocrates' Descendant: Marvelous, this is the very evidence of being alive!

I lowered the hand that was touching my forehead and opened the writing window once more.

Title: Everyone calm down

Author: Korean Slave 1

From now on, I will occasionally bring difficult cases here.

If I throw a few lines of patient information, you guys just need to spill everything you know like you're doing now.

Isn't that a win-win for both of us?

Register.

Then, a reaction incomparably more violent than before erupted.

Anonymous (14.52): Deal!!!!!!!!

Anonymous (210.94): Of course, fuck!! Absolutely!!

Bone Nerd 88 (Male): Case? What kind of case? Osteomyelitis? Osteosarcoma? Spinal tuberculosis? I told you I’ll look at all of them for you.

Latte is Mine: If it’s an Internal Medicine case, this old man’s experience will be of help.

Operating Room Wall Clock: Fuck the internal medicine boomers, bring the surgical cases to me first without fail. I can read a laparoscopic field phenomenally well, period.

Mes of the God (Male): That suggestion is reasonable. I accept it.

Truck Hit Guy: So do you have a trauma center or what, fuck!!!!!!!!

Ghost bastards from all kinds of departments started fighting, each claiming to be the expert.

Is this how idols or celebrities feel?

This is enough. Now that I have this powerful weapon in my hand, I just need to gather LP step by step to acquire possession skills.

It was at that very moment.

“Hyeonjae쌤!”

Startled, I lifted my head.

“The patient in Bed B-22 seems to have a bit of a fever from a while ago. Come and take a look.”

“Ah, yes! Understood!”

I bounded up from my seat.

Ding— Ding—

The noisy alarm sound of the patient monitor. The shouting of a drunkard echoing from afar. The scent of disinfectant piercing my nose.

This is my reality.

“Fuck, back to work.”

Muttering a curse quietly, I walked visual-heavy, plodding steps toward Bed B-22.

Chief Resident of Emergency Medicine, 4th-year Lee Minjae (Male), watched the receding back of 1st-year Han Hyeonjae (Male) intently.

He had directly called a rheumatology professor to diagnose a rare disease called Vexas Syndrome, and then a few hours later, he even caught Ciguatera poisoning from tropical fish toxins.

To think this is the performance of a 1st-year who has only been here for a few months?

The records of the past few months flashed through his mind.

Han Hyeonjae. He was definitely not this kind of character.

“…Hyunjae, is it very hard?”

A patient brought to the emergency room with alcoholic liver cirrhosis. Finding a line in thin, inelastic blood vessels is tricky. But this was a bit much.

Hyeonjae, sweating profusely, pricked the patient’s arm four times, and the patient had a resigned expression. Finally, unable to watch any longer, he spoke to the nurse.

“Jin쌤, sorry, but could you catch the line instead?”

Hyeonjae couldn’t even lift his head, merely mumbling apologies like an ant. He was far from an ace. Just a clumsy 1st-year found anywhere.

“Hyunjae, this patient’s chief complaint is upper abdominal pain. What is the differential diagnosis here?”

“Acute gastritis is the most likely! If necessary, I will consider an endoscopy!”

“Then what labs should be ordered?”

“I will check the routine CBC, LFT, and inflammatory markers!”

His answer was loud, at least.

“Did you throw the differential for acute pancreatitis out the window? Why aren't lipase labs ordered?”

“……Ah!”

An exclamation as if he had just realized something. Such mistakes are commonly experienced in the early days of a 1st-year.

It stopped right there. He wasn’t particularly outstanding, nor was he completely useless to the point of requiring too much hand-holding. Yes, he was kind-hearted and diligent. He was just that kind of kid. Clumsy, sometimes pitiful, but still cramming through to do his job.

However, today, Hyeonjae was a completely different person. Like a veteran professor, he snatched up two rare diseases in a row.

‘What on earth is it? What happened in the meantime?’

There is always a reason when a person suddenly changes.

‘Did he… really study like crazy?’

Minjae stopped his thoughts there.