Chapter 68
Late December.
The hospital was full of year-end bustle.
But for us, late December meant something else.
‘Announcement of the newly accepted residents.’
The judgment that would determine the quality of my life next year.
Would a new slave... no, a new junior, finally come in to lighten our on-call burden?
All afternoon, Kim Ji-hoon and I kept refreshing the notices board on the hospital intranet whenever we got a chance.
The F5 key was practically worn down to nothing.
“When is it going to be posted already?!”
Kim Ji-hoon bit his nails anxiously.
“They said it was supposed to go up sometime this afternoon!”
“Shut up for a second. It’ll be posted when it’s posted.”
I acted cool on the outside, but my heart was racing anxiously too.
That was when it happened.
As the page refreshed, a new post appeared at the very top of the list.
[Notice] Final List of Accepted First-Year Residents
“It’s up!”
Kim Ji-hoon and I shouted almost at the same time and crowded in toward the monitor.
“Oh... where is it... let me see...”
I scrolled down like crazy.
“Found it!”
[Emergency Medicine | TO: 4]
Four slots.
Yeah, same as last year.
And please, let all four names be listed beneath it.
[Baek Eun-seo]
[Park Seong-jeong]
Two applicants... for four spots...?
Kraaaagh.
I didn’t believe my eyes.
There were only two names.
But even then, one familiar name caught my eye.
“Park Seong-jeong? He ended up coming to EM after all...?”
“What?”
Kim Ji-hoon, who had been despairing beside me, looked up.
“That intern who handled that patient with something stuck up their ass for you back then? Why the hell did he come? To get revenge on you?”
“Shut up, Kim Ji-hoon.”
I swallowed my sarcasm and checked the other name.
Baek Eun-seo.
It was the one who came last time to submit an application.
“Mm, well. Not bad.”
I comforted myself.
Better than zero, at least.
“Hey! Two people, two! That’s only half! It means next year we’ll still have to be on call like first-years! It means our lives are guaranteed to be hell again!”
“Better than zero, you bastard.”
It was better than nothing.
“What about the other departments? Are we the only ones in this mess?”
At Kim Ji-hoon’s words, I scanned down the acceptance lists for the other departments.
“Internal medicine and surgery did okay and filled a decent number. Uh... OB-GYN is wiped out?”
[Obstetrics and Gynecology | TO: 3]
[none]
[Pediatrics | TO: 5]
[none]
“Oh, man...”
Kim Ji-hoon clicked his tongue.
Why bother writing [none] if they were just going to leave it blank anyway?
“Oh, hey. There’s one in thoracic surgery. What a psycho.”
[Cardiothoracic Surgery | TO: 2]
[Jeong Jae-sang]
Kim Ji-hoon and I exclaimed at the same time.
That was when we were babbling on, using the rise and fall of the other departments as drinking chatter.
A cold shadow fell over us from behind.
“Hyeo... Hyeon-jae.”
“Don’t talk to me, Kim Ji-hoon. I’m busy checking whether the other departments survived or died.”
The moment I finished speaking, a voice as cold as ice came from behind me.
“Aren’t you working...?”
“Oh.”
I nearly screamed.
When I turned my head, Professor Cheon Eun-jeong was looking down at us with her arms crossed.
“Professor Cheon! Oh! I didn’t even know you’d arrived!”
I shot up from my chair and bowed at ninety degrees.
“I should be working! Of course I should be working! I’ll get right on it!”
Scurry, scurry, scurry.
***
Time passed without fail.
Countless patients passed through my hands, and my first year of residency was drawing to a close, accompanied by the ghosts’ endless nagging.
Then came February 11.
A resident’s year begins in March and ends in February of the following year.
The end of winter also meant the end of the year. And at that end, there was always a parting.
The entire Emergency Medicine department dinner.
The venue was a barbecue restaurant in front of the hospital.
From the fresh-faced first-years who had just joined to the fourth-years leaving the hospital today, and even the professors.
I just sat there dazedly fiddling with my beer glass.
R1.
First-year resident.
That hellish time was really coming to an end now.
After a long while of meat grilling and drinks circulating, Chief Park Woong banged the grill with his spoon.
“All right, everyone, listen up!”
The noisy restaurant fell silent in an instant.
“Tonight, we’re sending off our proud fourth-years, who devoted their youth to our Emergency Medicine department for the past four years. You’ve all worked so hard! Come on, everyone, a round of applause!”
Applause erupted.
Clap clap clap.
I clapped until my palms hurt too.
“All right, then let’s hear about your brilliant future plans! Doctor Yoo Seong-hoon, what’s your plan going forward?”
Fourth-year resident Yoo Seong-hoon stood up from his seat.
“Yes... well, I got lucky somehow, so I’ve decided to join the critical care fellowship at Oseong Seoul Hospital in Seoul.”
“Nice! Seong-hoon, you’re moving up to the big leagues!”
Admiring exclamations erupted here and there.
“Where did Doctor Kim Min-uk say he was going again?”
Kim Min-uk, whom I barely knew because we almost never interacted, stood up.
“I’m wrapping up life in Busan and going down to take a department chief position in the Emergency Medicine department at a general hospital in my hometown, Tongyeong. I figured I’d try living a little easier now.”
At that, everyone burst into envious laughter.
Yeah, that kind of path exists too.
“Right, right. Going back to your hometown and serving local healthcare is also a great choice. Now, last one! Our chief resident, Lee Min-jae?”
All eyes turned to Lee Min-jae.
There had already been rampant rumors for months that he was preparing for a fellow position at Aseong Hospital, one of the biggest hospitals in the country.
Lee Min-jae stood up with a solemn expression.
“Yes, everyone. I...”
Lee Min-jae paused for a moment.
And then he shouted loudly.
“I’m staying!!!!”
Silence fell.
Staying? Where?
“I, Lee Min-jae, will bury my bones here at Cheongjin University Medical Center, where I have devoted my youth and soul!”
Right then, a loud “pffft!” came from the professors’ table.
When I turned my head, Professor Cheon Eun-jeong was coughing and choking on the water she had just sprayed out.
“What? Huh? Min-jae, what did you just say? You’re staying? Staying where?”
“You didn’t know? I thought the professors all knew. I’ve decided to bury my bones here at Cheongjin Medical Center! I can’t leave the ER, and I can’t leave all of you here!”
“Haha, what is this? I was the only one who didn’t know?”
What? I was startled too.
Could a professor really not know about this?
As Professor Cheon looked around in confusion, the chief sitting across from her burst out laughing.
“Because Professor Cheon always nags Min-jae and teases him so much, I deliberately kept it a secret from only you! Surprise!”
“Chief!”
Professor Cheon Eun-jeong looked at the chief with a betrayed expression.
Only then did everyone who’d figured out the situation burst into laughter.
Lee Min-jae’s surprise bombshell set the dinner party mood ablaze.
Just as the commotion had been going on for quite a while, Chief Park Woong raised his voice again.
The chief’s gaze was aimed at the two young faces sitting at the very end of the table, almost like invisible people.
“And we have very special guests here with us today!”
At that, all eyes turned to Park Seong-jeong and Baek Eun-seo.
They were the incoming first-years.
“Our incoming first-years are here today too, so how do you feel? How does it feel to be here?”
At Chief Park Woong’s question, Park Seong-jeong’s face went pale.
“Uh... I... um... EM... is... really... quite... a good... department... yes... and the seniors are all nice too... I’ll learn a lot...”
Laughter burst out here and there at that soulless answer.
“We should probably have Doctor Park Seong-jeong practice his poker face before medical knowledge. Haha!”
With that, Park Seong-jeong’s initiation was over, and the attention naturally turned to Baek Eun-seo beside him.
“So, Doctor Baek Eun-seo, why did you come here? Because you like Emergency Medicine? Or just because it matched your scores?”
At Chief Park Woong’s teasing question, Baek Eun-seo stood up.
“Ah, me? I applied after watching senior Han Hyeon-jae perform an exploratory laparotomy on a patient!”
A moment of silence.
Every sound in the noisy barbecue restaurant stopped as if lying dead in that moment.
I dropped the piece of pork ribs I was about to put in my mouth back onto the plate.
And one second later.
“Hahahahaha!”
Lee Min-jae’s burst of laughter shattered the silence.
That laughter was the starting gun, and the whole restaurant turned into a sea of laughter.
“Wow, I can’t believe there was an intern crazy enough to apply to EM after seeing that lunatic!”
Lee Min-jae was laughing so hard he was almost in tears.
“Incoming first-year.”
Fourth-year Yoo Seong-hoon at the next table tried to hold back his laughter and gave serious advice.
“You can’t go crazy like Han Hyeon-jae and cut open a patient, got it? He’s just a mutant, a mutant. He even staked his license on it. He’s insane.”
“Exactly! He even used casual speech back then!”
Fellow Park Se-young added.
My face burned bright red with embarrassment, and I lowered my head and gulped down soju.
“Ah, doctor! Why are you bringing up the old story again!”
My protest was buried under the huge wave of laughter.
“I mean, it’s not even that old a story! It was just a few months ago.”
Lee Min-jae teased me as he refilled my glass.
I knocked it back in one go.
Ah, that’s bitter.