CHAPTER 2
“Professor Choi Jaehyuk. Do you know him?”
Inside the car on their way back after handing over the patient, Jihoon glanced at Harin, gauging her reaction.
Swallowing a sigh, Harin deliberately answered in a bright voice.
“He’s a friend of my eldest brother. That’s about the extent of our relationship.”
“What? That’s practically a personal connection! So that’s why he accepted the patient and told us to keep sending more?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a connection.”
Seeing her look uncomfortable, Jihoon laid out the reality of the situation.
“Even being distantly related through marriage is better than nothing. You saw me making those phone calls earlier, didn’t you? If I tell the team leader that Daehan University Hospital will accept our patients as their top priority, he’ll probably dance with joy.”
“It’s that big of a deal?”
“Of course it is! The biggest hospital in South Korea is saying they’ll take our patients without question. And on top of that, that doctor from earlier is going to perform the surgery himself.”
Jihoon continued, practically spraying saliva as he spoke.
“I looked him up while smoking a cigarette before we left. That newly appointed Professor Choi Jaehyuk is double board-certified in OS (Orthopedic Surgery) and TS (Trauma Surgery). On top of that, he’s a top-class surgical genius recognized even in the States.”
“Oh, a surgical genius.”
“And apparently, he’s a workaholic. Completely obsessed with surgery. He hasn’t been back in Korea long, but the whole hospital is already buzzing about how all he cares about is operating. They say he’ll be eager to take even more emergency cases without question.”
Of course he will. Choi Jaehyuk is a born genius and a workaholic. And yes, he’s a madman, too.
Instead of answering, Harin smiled bitterly, but Jihoon only grew more excited.
“Isn’t he a benefactor sent down from heaven to our Yongseong Fire Station? He must have taken pity on the harsh reality of our emergency rescue team.”
“Yes, well……”
“And why does he have to be so handsome, too? He looks like a movie star, and those long legs…… Wow. I swear, they came all the way up to my armpits!”
“The world has always been unfair.”
That was right.
Choi Jaehyuk had been the first person to make Harin realize the cruel truth that this world was never fair.
He was a being who shone wherever he went, like a star radiating light all on its own. That was why he had always been so infuriating, and yet, despite everything, he had burrowed so deeply into her heart.
He was an incredibly, exceptionally, terribly bad man.
As she gazed out the window, a chaotic jumble of thoughts swept through her mind.
In the Kang family, Harin had always been a complete outsider.
In a household where three generations were all doctors, she was the only child who brought home nothing more than an ordinary report card. Her ambiguous grades, somewhere in the upper-middle range, had always disappointed her parents—or, more precisely, her father.
No matter how desperately she tried, she could never overcome the barrier to medical school.
Director Kang had realized this early on and had even made her a suggestion.
“Well, you’re a girl. How about majoring in piano, like your mother?”
But would piano have been any different?
The arts were even more uncertain. In other words, she had been an ordinary high school girl with no particular talent or outstanding ability.
Harin was like a planet that could barely manage to reflect light, and only by borrowing it from a star.
No matter how hard she tried and how earnestly she ran, she could never escape the orbit she had been born into. Unlike Choi Jaehyuk, who had always been exceptional, that inherent limitation had made her feel terribly insignificant.
Still, isn’t it because a planet revolves around a star that the star shines even brighter?
Harin muttered to herself and let out a quiet sigh.
She didn’t want to enter that orbit again.
And she wanted even less to get involved with the people at Daehan University Hospital.
She was determined not to let her life, no matter how hard she worked to move forward, become as miserable as it had been back then.
“Sunbae. Thank you so much for today. I’ll work even harder from now on.”
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
Though puzzled, Jihoon ruffled her bangs.
“I like how spirited our new recruit is. You worked hard today, even though you were off duty. You’re the one who saved that grandmother.”
His words of encouragement made the tip of her nose sting.
Harin clenched her fists.
Kang Harin, emergency medical technician, was only just getting started.
Briefing on the National Severe Trauma and Emergency Medical Care Innovation Hub Development Project
The executives and board of directors of Daehan University Hospital had all turned out in force.
It was a specialized project briefing attended by political and government officials, including the Minister of Health and Welfare.
“Today, we have gathered here to innovate and improve the harsh state of emergency medical care in Korea, thereby elevating the standard of public healthcare and welfare to an entirely new level……”
“Is that really innovation?”
A deep, weighty voice rang out from the middle of the conference hall.
Jaehyuk slowly rose to his feet and strode forward with long steps.
Hospital Director Kang Wonseok hurriedly continued speaking.
“I was just about to introduce him, but it seems he’s coming up himself. The central figure of this project, Professor Choi Jaehyuk, a surgical genius whom we brought over from Johns Hopkins as part of this national initiative!”
With his long legs, Jaehyuk strode up onto the podium.
As he took the microphone and surveyed the audience, the room fell silent in an instant.
Jaehyuk’s gaze slowly swept across the conference hall.
He merely looked at them without saying a word, yet the tension in the room caused people’s shoulders to stiffen naturally.
From the head of surgery seated directly in front to the staff members at the back, even the minister sitting opposite him seemed to take a careful breath.
He hadn’t uttered a single word, yet it felt as though the density of the air in the room had suddenly increased.
“Yesterday, I witnessed something astonishing in the emergency room.”
His steady, unwavering voice rang throughout the hall.
The hospital director’s eyes wavered violently.
“I haven’t received any report of an unusual incident. What are you referring to?”
“A patient with a fractured femur was brought in as an emergency case, and they turned the patient away.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I mean they refused to accept an emergency patient.”
“They must have been short on beds. As the minister knows, there was an eight-car pileup on Hannam Bridge yesterday.”
Director Kang wiped the sweat running down his forehead while cautiously glancing at the minister.
Whether the director was concerned or not, Jaehyuk continued.
“There happened to be an empty bed. And yet they refused to accept the patient. The paramedic was at a loss because it was the last hospital on the list.”
“Th-that happened?”
“That’s why I want to make things clear here and now. Minister.”
Jaehyuk looked directly at the minister seated in front of him, his eyes lowered beneath his brows.
“Why did you bring me here? Why did you summon me all the way back to Korea when I was doing perfectly well in the United States?”
“……”
“You said Korea needed emergency surgical equipment. You promised you’d let me operate to my heart’s content, as much as I wanted. And didn’t you tell me that all I had to do was save lives?”
There was an undeniable force in his firm, subdued voice.
The sheer weight of his words made it perfectly clear who held the authority and the power to make decisions.
“Ahem.”
The minister cleared his throat and stood up.
He walked onto the podium, took the microphone, and burst into hearty laughter.
“My, my. You’re certainly an impatient fellow. How can you come out swinging like this when you’ve only been back in the country for a day?”
“I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I.”
The minister abruptly stopped laughing and looked around the room.
Then, peering over his glasses, he stared directly at the hospital director and continued.
“Director Kang. You should know that this administration is currently pushing forward with the strongest emergency medical care innovation initiative as a national project.”
“Of course. We’ve promised our full cooperation on numerous occasions.”
“Then make sure the emergency medical system is established here under Professor Choi Jaehyuk’s command.”
“Yes! You have nothing to worry about. Nothing like what happened yesterday will ever happen again.”
Having received his assurance, the minister patted Jaehyuk on the shoulder.
“This man is renowned for performing perfect surgeries. To the extent that people in the medical community say South Korea is a country that has Choi Jaehyuk.”
“Yes. I’ve known him since he was a student, so I’m well aware of that.”
“If you give him cases, he’s the kind of man who’ll operate for twelve hours a day. Make good use of him.”
“I have a feeling I’ve been tricked into something.”
Jaehyuk let out a short laugh and narrowed his eyes.
His face had been stiff for a moment, but as soon as he relaxed it, the coldness vanished, replaced by a radiant, sunny expression.
A few small gasps of admiration came from various parts of the room at the sudden change in his demeanor.
Jaehyuk swept his bangs back and chuckled softly.
“That’s enough for the introduction. Let’s get to the main point. I’m thinking of forming an emergency task force centered around Daehan University Hospital. What do you think about putting together a team in cooperation with nearby secondary and tertiary hospitals, local governments, and…… the paramedics from the fire station responsible for this jurisdiction. Was it Yongseong Fire Station?”
“The team is entirely under Professor Choi’s authority. Isn’t that right, Director?”
“Of course. Professor Choi can put together the team as he sees fit.”
Jaehyuk looked back and forth between the minister and the hospital director before adding,
“And as for the most important matter, the budget, I hope I won’t have to worry about that either.”
Looking at the minister, who had clasped his hands together firmly, Jaehyuk smiled softly.
It was the relaxed smile of a predator that had just secured its prey.
After that, the tedious flattery and self-congratulation continued for quite some time.
Seated in his chair, Jaehyuk stroked his chin.
Everything was proceeding smoothly, exactly as he had planned.
The stage had been set. All that remained was to place the pieces on the board.
There was just one problem: a certain girl who stubbornly refused to listen to a single word he said.
No, was she even a girl anymore?
“I’m Kang Harin. I look forward to working with you.”
The small face of the girl who had greeted him with an innocent expression, pretending as though they were meeting for the first time, flashed through his mind.
Kang Harin.
The woman who had remained on his mind throughout the entire time he had been away from Korea.
He’d heard she had run away from home, and now she had become an emergency medical technician.
How interesting.
As expected, she was still making fascinating moves, just as she had ever since childhood when she’d been Choi Jaehyuk’s personal source of dopamine.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jaehyuk wrote down the name of the first member of his task force.
EmergencyMedicalTechnicianKangHarin,YongseongFireStation.Emergency Medical Technician Kang Harin, Yongseong Fire Station.
It was time to punish her for turning her back on all those days when they had been inseparable, spending every waking moment together.
