Rope (2)

The door closed, and a heavy silence settled over the room.

I clasped my hands like a criminal and waited for my sentence.

'So it has come.'

I had already received the disciplinary committee summons, but the chief calling me separately had to mean something else.

A harsher punishment? Or a recommended resignation?

No, did the chief even have the authority to hand down something worse... ?

Recommended resignation?

But why?

Didn't he really care about me?

As every worst-case scenario danced through my head, the chief opened his mouth.

"Hyunjae."

"Yes, Chief."

"Well, you probably know about the recent doctor helicopter case. The training committee's been convened."

"I know. I was notified for Friday morning."

I bowed my head.

"Right. Well, that's that."

Park Woong interlaced his fingers and leaned back.

The chair gave a creak.

"Hyunjae, do you realize how many other departments' turf you've encroached on?"

"Huh?"

I blinked at the sudden question.

Other departments' turf?

Was he asking how many acts of overreach I'd committed?

I counted on my fingers in my head.

First, opening up the abdomen last year... surgery.

And then stabbing someone's neck in the helicopter this time... anesthesiology?

And... hmm...

"Uh... two?"

When I answered cautiously, Park Woong snorted and shook his head.

"Two? As if."

Section Chief Park began listing my offenses one by one, raising a finger for each.

SGB

(* stellate ganglion block)

. That's anesthesiology and pain medicine territory. Since you did it in a helicopter, that's one right there.

One.

"REBOA. You punctured a vessel, inserted a catheter, and injected contrast. That's... trauma surgery territory, or maybe the vascular side."

Two.

"And last year, when you opened up the abdomen and controlled the bleeding from the ruptured spleen—that's clearly trauma surgery territory."

Three.

"Well, just counting the big ones, that's already about three. Add the small stuff and there'd be more."

"Yes."

I had nothing to say in rebuttal.

Come to think of it, I realized I'd been living like some kind of unlicensed all-in-one medical procedure operator rather than an emergency medicine resident.

"No, I'm not scolding you."

Park Woong waved his hands.

"It's just that... your talent, or maybe your guts, I guess. It once again confirmed that it's way outside the normal range for our department."

"Yes."

I just sat quietly, listening to words I couldn't tell were praise or an insult.

The chief fell silent for a moment and fiddled with a document on the desk.

"Originally, you know."

He began speaking.

"When I told you to get trained on the doctor helicopter. You remember, right?"

"Yes. You said it would be instead of a dispatch to the trauma center."

"Right. Actually, that... I was just going to let you ride it a few times as a kind of trial? Training? That sort of thing."

"...Yes."

My eyes widened.

A trial?

You were only going to let me ride it a few times?

"Honestly, what would a second-year even know? Adjust to the special environment of a helicopter, learn the transport system, maybe get a little motion sickness, then come back down—that's training. So I was thinking of rotating you for a month or two and sending you back to the ER."

The chief laid it out with complete honesty.

"If you got your board

(* board certification)

then we'd put you on for real. Of course, that was under the assumption you'd stay at our hospital after finishing your residency."

"Ah... yes."

I see.

I thought it was hell, but it turned out to be just a field trip.

Knowing that brought a strange sense of relief and betrayal at the same time.

So was I going back to the ER now?

After causing that whole scene in the helicopter, they'd kick me off, saying I wasn't qualified to ride it anymore, right?

Even better.

The ground is the best.

I cheered inwardly and waited for the chief's decision.

For those sweet words telling me to go back to the emergency room already.

But.

"But listen."

Park Woong leaned forward.

"What you did in the helicopter this time. SGB."

"Yes."

"Professor Kang Hyunjun said you were a real gem. Said you had to be put on the helicopter."

"...What?"

A bad feeling washed over me.

"Think about it. In that extreme situation inside the helicopter, a second-year pulled off a procedure that even a specialist would have shaky hands doing, right? You saved the patient. What do you think that means?"

The chief grinned.

"You're helicopter material."

"No, Chief, that was just a coincidence..."

"If it happens twice, it's skill. If it happens three times, it's fate."

The chief cut off my excuse.

"So I revised the plan."

He slid the document on the desk toward me.

[Proposal to Revise the Air Medical Team Duty Roster]

"Just start riding it from now on."

"...What?"

A dumbfounded sound slipped out of my mouth.

From now on?

Not after I get my board certification?

"Chief. If I may, very, very carefully state my opinion, I'm a resident, you know? I'm not a specialist yet, I still have training to do, I have to take call too... and even by the rules, this is..."

"The rules? Don't worry. I checked everything."

The chief smiled brightly and brought up the clause that had once driven me to despair.

"You can just extend the training period by about two years."

Two years?

Then for the rest of my residency?

"And Professor Kang Hyunjun was all for it too. The air medical team also wants to train you as a dedicated helicopter staffer. So on the days you ride the helicopter, I'll mark you off from ER duty. How about it? Pretty outrageous terms, right?"

It sure is outrageous.

Only because it's an outrageously life-ruining condition.

"Chief. You said I'd encroached on several departments' turf, right? Then if I ride the helicopter, won't anesthesiology and surgery hate it too?"

As a last-ditch effort, I brought up the political issue.

"What are you talking about."

The chief wagged a finger.

"If you ride the helicopter and bring patients back alive, all of that counts as our hospital's performance, and it all increases those guys' surgery numbers. Why would they hate it? They'll welcome it."

Park Woong stood up and grabbed both my shoulders tightly.

"Hyunjae. You're the jewel of our department. No, the jewel of our hospital."

"..."

"From now on, you're going to be the eagle of Cheongjin Medical Center. You're going to become a magnificent bird that flies through the sky."

What eagle.

I'm just a flying slave.

"Just ride it."

The chief delivered the finishing blow.

"It's all for your own good. When you get your board and become a fellow later, just watch. Do you know how much your market value goes up if you have helicopter experience?"

"..."

"I already revised the schedule and sent it up for approval, but if it's too hard, just tell me. If your motion sickness gets really bad or something, we'll have to take you off again."

The chief tapped the calendar on his desk.

"The weather looks good. Perfect for flying."

I stared blankly at the chief's face.

If the devil existed, would he wear an expression like that?

I thought it was a trial version.

I was only going to sample it and quit.

Before I knew it, I'd ended up being forced into an annual membership.

"And you'll get dispatch pay and extra allowances too."

...Allowances?

I felt like I'd seen a ray of light in my despair.

"Um... Chief, about how much exactly...?"

The chief beckoned me over and whispered the amount in my ear.

...

Maybe the helicopter isn't so bad after all?

After hearing the allowance, I caved to the money and stamped the revised schedule like a dog.

Just as I was about to open the door and leave,

"Hyunjae."

the chief called me again from behind.

"Yes, Chief."

"Later, if a professor slot opens up... there's also the Geoje branch hospital and all."

"Yes, Chief."

Of course.

If a new hospital opens, it'll need doctors and professors.

What did that have to do with me...

"If a lot of openings come up, we've roughly agreed that after just about a year of fellowship, we can get you appointed as a professor even on a non-tenure track. I already talked with the vice president of clinical affairs too...."

"...What?"

My eyes grew round.

One year of fellowship?

In this line of work, if you're unlucky, they string you along with the promise of becoming a professor for more than five years and then bounce you out to a local hospital.

But after only one year of fellowship, a clinical professor position...?

Emergency medicine wasn't some brand-new department that had sprung up yesterday, and when you thought about the past few years when it had been neither especially popular nor especially avoided, compared to the openings...

This wasn't even highway Hi-Pass level—they were basically saying they'd put me on a private jet and drop me straight in.

The super fast track I'd only heard rumors about.

"Anyway, just know that."

The chief flashed a knowing smile.

What could be more devilishly tempting than this?

This was the devil's temptation.

'Ride the helicopter. I'll fast-track the professor slot for you instead.'

Like I was bewitched, I nodded and left the chief's office.

***

A few days passed, and Friday came.

The day of judgment came back around.

Conference room of the Education and Training Department, East Wing, 14th floor.

The atmosphere was very different from the last disciplinary hearing.

At the head of the table sat Oh Manseok, the head of the Education and Training Department, looking worn out and holding a stack of papers, while beside him Professor Yoon Taeryong, the vice president of clinical affairs, sat with his arms crossed, looking utterly relaxed.

I clasped my hands together and waited for the verdict.

"This committee has deliberated on the matter of emergency medicine second-year resident Han Hyunjae's procedure performed inside the doctor helicopter..."

Professor Oh Manseok adjusted his glasses and read the decision in a dry voice.

"The act in question was an unavoidable measure taken during an emergency in which the patient's life hung by a thread..."

This part was the expected routine.

What mattered was what came next.

How would they gloss over the rule violation?

"In view of concerns that incidents such as this may become commonplace in the future, our hospital has revised the relevant regulations in consideration of the unique nature of the air medical team..."

Professor Oh paused for a moment and clicked his tongue.

"...in accordance with Article 4, Paragraph 2 of the newly established training regulations for boarding the emergency medical helicopter and performing procedures, and the clause stating that emergency procedures performed under the supervision of the supervising specialist are recognized as part of training, this case is deemed not to violate the regulations, and we hereby resolve to take no action."

...They made new regulations?

Professor Oh Manseok let out a deep sigh, his face practically saying, "Is this a hospital or a circus troupe?"

For Professor Oh, who was known throughout the hospital as a stickler for principle, this decision must have been quite a blow to his pride.

The previous no-action ruling was because the rule already existed; this time they retroactively applied the new clause, so it still ended up as no action.

On the other hand,

"Heh heh."

Vice President Yoon Taeryong, seated beside him, was grinning from ear to ear.

When Vice President Yoon met my eyes, he nodded as if very satisfied.

Seeing that smile, I felt a chill run down my spine and a strange thrill at the same time.

So the chief wasn't bluffing.

'Wait, do I have a backer now?'

A tumultuous second-year resident.

I had backing now.