Golden Time

Chapter 62

Those interns were just following the resident’s opinions blindly.

The professor shook his head and laughed. And he came into the hallway to see the next patient. Han Myungjin quietly spoke to Lim Kyungsoo, who came close to him,

“They are horrible interns you know. They just accept the resident’s opinion like a law. Don’t you think so?”

Lim bowed his head with a bitter expression. He knew the professor was scolding him quietly so that the nurses and interns in the back would not hear. Lim recalled Suhyuk, who was walking behind.

What he said was the right answer. He later found out that it was a perforative peritonitis rather than a duodenal perforation. He personally checked and inferred from the answer from a huge numbers of CTs circulating on the internet and studied them hard enough, even to the point of having nosebleeds, but he did not offer the right answer in actual practice.

Did Lee Suhyuk look into and study CTs alone? If that’s the case, how hard did he study? Probably thousands more CTs than himself? He might have looked into it much more than that, otherwise it was impossible to understand his ability.

***

It took 30 minutes for them to make the rounds.

Suhyuk answered without any hesitation at the professor’s questions.

On such occasions the fellow interns studied Lim’s face.

For Suhyuk seemed to offer his opinion tactlessly. Lim Kyungsoo’s face was getting harder and harder. After the rounds, the professor patted Suhyuk on the shoulder a few times.

And he, with a mysterious smile, turned around and walked away.

Suhyuk looked at his back quietly.

The professor’s att.i.tude toward patients was different from other professors’. It was seen when he got on the helicopter and even now.

Professor Han, who got on the elevator, was seen smiling between the closed doors.

So when the door was completely closed, Suhyuk recalled the image of him when he met Prof. Han for the first time: a real doctor.

—–

During the next three days, the interns followed Lim Kyungsoo and experienced various things. They learned a lot about symptoms, diseases, disinfection, and treatment.

On such occasions, Lim would ask Suhyuk a question while examining the patient,

“Why would I give the patient a herniotomy?”

“You would do it very rarely and only when you suspect the possibility of a hernia.”

“What can you confirm by doing ultrasound?”

“If there is a lump.”

Lim could not help but shake his head. For Suhyuk answered his patient’s medical history without any hesitation.

“What about the gallbladder?”

“It’s located at the bottom of rib nine. It can move with one’s breathing.”

“What about solitary? What about diabetic nephropathy?”

Lim named all the diseases his patients were suffering from.

‘Please say you do not know at least one! You are an intern, not a resident!’

His dear wish like that did not come true, because Suhyuk did not hesitate to open his mouth for a second, and he had no more charts to show him. He showed all his patients to Suhyuk.

Late in the evening he released the interns.

“You guys did a good job today. Go home and relax.”

n.o.body believed his words because they had to wake up in the middle of sleep anytime when they had a call from him. Giving greetings to each other, they went back to their lodgings.

No, Suhyuk was an exception.

“Follow me,” said Lim to Suhyuk.

Suhyuk followed Lim without any objection to the veranda at the end of the corridor.

Lim offered a canned coffee to Suhyuk.

“Thank you.”

“What the h.e.l.l kind of person are you?”

Suhyuk laughed bitterly, saying, “I’m just an intern, Lee Suhyuk.”

‘Yeah, you’re an intern in name only.’

It seemed as if a senior resident was acting like an intern.

How much did he study before he could become an intern like that?

Of course, the situation would be different when it came to actual surgery or when he was in the operating room. But he was really great as far as his medical knowledge was concerned.

Lim, after taking a sip of coffee, said implicitly, “Did you study medicine by yourself since high school?”

Suhyuk was troubled for a while.

Have I ever studied? No. After the traffic accident, he lost all his memories. There was only one thing left. Medical science. Yes, medical science.

“I studied it from my middle school days.”

That was right, because he opened his eyes at that time.

Lim would not have believed it even if he had mentioned ‘I learned it in my dreams.’

Lim’s eyes glared slightly.

‘How can you study medical science from so early on? Is he a genius that comes into the world on occasion? A genius, who, without a calculator, answers a sum of astronomical figures. A genius who precisely plays the same tunes on the piano that he has heard only once.

It’s possible he belonged to such a genius group.’

While he thought about such things, Suhyuk opened his mouth, “Sorry.”

“What?”

“In front of the professor…”

“Oh, you don’t have to feel sorry. You just answered the professor’s questions. My answer was wrong, and that’s all. I’m not a timid guy, so never mind it!”

Lim laughed bitterly when he said that.

It was true that he felt offended at the time.

For the intern gave the right when he himself was wrong, and did that in front of the professor and the interns he should be teaching. Nonetheless, he blew away such a feeling.

He admitted that Suhyuk was better than him at deducing the disease of a patient by checking a CT or the patient’s condition.

‘Did he not say that he studied medical science since middle school? How much did he look into CTs and studied diseases?’

Though his pride was hurt a bit, he had to admit it that Lee Suhyuk was better at deducing the disease.

Of course, he was much better than Suhyuk in other areas, such as when it came to the technique of touching the patient directly in surgery or the treatment in the operating room.

His thinking reaching that far, he smiled bitterly, because he was comparing himself to an intern with only two months of interns.h.i.+p. Drinking up the coffee, he erased such thoughts.

“Don’t be proud of your ability, and study hard to the end. I called you to say this.”

It was a piece of advice with his sincerity.

Suhyuk heard so many times about those who, called a genius, set foot on the path of a medical doctor. But their pride ruined themselves and led to the patient’s death sometimes. Rather than a piece of advice, it was a counsel for him. Did Suhyuk feel his sincerity?

Suhyuk bowed his head slightly and said, “Thank you.”

“Go home and relax. I won’t call you unless I have to. Are you off tomorrow?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. See you the day after tomorrow!”

“Yes. Take care!”

Suhyuk went out into the corridor, while Lim looked up at the night sky.

The days pa.s.sed by with him taking care of the patients every day, leaving him exhausted with tiredness.

How many times a day did he think about sleeping… Whenever he had patients, he just took care of them mechanically. No more or no less.

In the middle of this, intern Lee Suhyuk made a small wave in his heart, which made him full of a desire to learn as an intern following the residents. It was close being a desire that he did not want to be left behind.

Returning to his lodging, Suhyuk smiled slightly.

He felt that he would get some scolding from Lim because he might have appeared conceited.

He felt all along from his days as a PK trainee that doctors were really authoritarian. But the thoracic surgery department doctors were different. The sincere advice of the resident, and professor Han Myungjin who cared about the patient like a family member.

Suhyuk once again made up his mind. He was going to be a doctor.

If he could save the patient and if such a life threatening situation happens, he would move without hesitation.

He did not need to hide his skills. A doctor is a person who saves lives. He had no intention at all of getting tangled in authoritarian strings.

And he had something to do. It was learning.

He had to expand his learning and insights to fix Hana’s father’s legs.

And another thing, namely doing it for his own dream.

—–

On a Sunday morning, Suhyuk went out of the hospital. Getting on a bus, he got off at the market and walked down a familiar alley. Hana’s Rice and Soup store. It was lunchtime, so there were many customers.

“How are you?”

Suhyuk went inside and greeted Hana, who was busy with waiting tables.

She stopped, looking at Suhyuk.

Knitting her brows, she opened her mouth, “Why did you come again like this?”

“Hey, are you not serving soju here?”

At the customer’s shouting, she glanced at Suhyuk and headed to the refrigerator.

Suhyuk, who scratched his head slightly, turned to the kitchen.

“h.e.l.lo.”

Hana’s father greeted him gladly.

“You just got here? Doctors are not busy on Sundays?”

“I’m off today,” Suhyuk said, rolling his sleeves, and turned to the sink.

Hana’s father did not stop him. Even if he did, he would do the opposite just like a tree frog.

Doing the dishes, he looked at his legs. He just felt his heart was aching as if a thorn had been put in it whenever he saw Hana’s father walking with a limp.

“How are your legs?”

Hana’s father, while putting rice in a pot, smiled like a good man.

“I feel just okay. And I don’t feel uncomfortable when walking.”

Suhyuk took a short sigh. No matter who saw him, he was lying when he said he did not feel uncomfortable walking with limp like that. ‘Please wait a little longer.’

Suhyuk once again focused on doing the dishes.

It was almost 2 o’clock in the afternoon when he was done with waiting tables and doing the dishes being hectically busy.

The customers went out like a tide, and Suhyuk came out of the kitchen, wiping off his wet hands, and he approached Hana who was polis.h.i.+ng the tables.

“Let me clean this table,” said Suhyuk.

“No, I’ll do it,” she said, and turned to another table when he approached.

“Suhyuk, she seems to be mad because you don’t come here often these days,” said Hana’s father.

At his voice coming out from the kitchen, she answered with a sharp voice,

“Dad! When did I feel like that?”

“Oh boy, why are you screaming like that if you didn’t feel that way. Suhyuk, you did not eat lunch, right? Hana, bring him some rice.”

“I’ll take it.”

Suhyuk moved to the kitchen, but Hana moved faster.

“Would you just stay here instead of standing in the way?”

Suhyuk was forced to sit quietly at her sharp gaze.

Shortly after, rice and simple side dishes were placed before him.

“It’s not free,” she said, and went back into the kitchen.

When he was about to eat, he overheard the conversation between Hana and her father.

“Hana, did you see the meat I had cut here? I put aside some quality meat here.”

“How would I know, daddy?”

At their conversation Suhyuk could not help but smile. For he found more meat than usual in his pot.

“Thanks for the food.”

A spoon with plenty of meat and pork. Suhyuk opened his mouth wide to eat it.

He made a pleasant smile. He felt it was more delicious this time as he had not had that rice soup in such a long time. While he was eating a late lunch, Hana came out of the kitchen, and she watched the TV channel indifferently and then glanced at him.

“Does it taste so delicious?”

Suhyuk, full of meat in his mouth, nodded his head, laughing instead of answering.

Turning her head to the TV, she said lightly, “You look like you are going around without eating. So, eat a lot.”

At that moment, she heard the door opening gently.

With a slight smile, she said, “Come on in. How many are you?”

A man in neat suit came in through the door.

The man looked around, as if he thought to himself why there was a place like this.

Checking inside the store with a curious look, he smiled a bit.

“It’s been a long time,” said the man.

“Who are you?”

When her big eyes glanced at the man with wonder, Suhyuk recognized him immediately.

He did not feel good at all. Neither did the man who had also recognized Suhyuk.