Chapter 95
And so, we arrived at the conference hall.
The massive hall of Daegu EXCO was already filled from early morning with the passion of K-medical professionals, or with the fatigue of people dragged here against their will.
I stretched out my crumpled body after getting out of the car and awkwardly adjusted my tie.
“All right, you two.”
Professor Cheon Eunjeong clapped as soon as she got out of the car.
Beside her was Lee Minjae, already wearing the look of someone whose soul had half fled the building.
“Since this is your second time here, you’ve probably got the gist already, right? You know what we’re doing?”
Professor Cheon grinned mischievously at me.
She seemed to remember how I had stood there, lost and clueless, when I was dragged to a conference for the first time last fall.
‘Ah, yes. I’ve got it.’
I wore a rotten smile inwardly.
‘First, get out of the professor’s line of sight. Second, plunder the pharmaceutical company booths with Lee Minjae. Third, fill my stomach with free coffee and snacks. Fourth, erase my presence as much as possible and hide until it’s time for my presentation.’
It was the perfect plan.
But a second-year newbie at social life couldn’t just spit out whatever was on my mind.
I put on the face of the most exemplary, academically enthusiastic second-year in me.
“I know—it’s my second time doing this!”
I answered in a voice stiff with discipline.
“I’ll diligently attend the refresher courses, check out interesting sessions, socialize with doctors from other hospitals, and learn the latest medical knowledge too!”
“Exactly!”
Professor Cheon gave my shoulder a very satisfied pat.
“Good. Dr. Han is now in his second year too. You’ve become very dependable. That’s the spirit. I have a meeting in the morning, so let’s have lunch together later. Minjae!”
“Yes, Professor!”
Lee Minjae, who had been fooling around beside us, jumped in surprise and answered.
“Just because you became a fellow, don’t go wandering around grinning like a first-year. Take good care of Hyeonjae.”
“No, Professor! How do I look like a first-year…”
Professor Cheon lightly ignored Lee Minjae’s protest and disappeared into the crowd.
And with that brief farewell to Professor Cheon, only Lee Minjae and I were left in the hall.
I slowly turned my head toward Lee Minjae.
Lee Minjae was also looking at me, the foolish expression from earlier nowhere to be seen.
We exchanged looks in silence.
‘Let's go?’
‘Let's go.’
Lee Minjae pointed his chin at the blue-and-white, garishly decorated pharmaceutical booth nearest the entrance.
“Hyeonjae.”
“Yes, doctor.”
“Operation K-Medical Professionals Reclaim Their Money’s Worth begins. I’ll handle the high-value target on the left. You handle the stationery on the right. Regroup in ten minutes in front of that coffee booth. Over.”
“Understood.”
And so we became booth marauders.
***
That was how we were roaming the conference hall.
I was taking a short breather with a paper cup of instant coffee, my spoils of victory.
While scouting for my next target in the crowd, two doctors standing right beside me caught my eye.
Their name tags bore the names of huge, intimidating hospitals like ‘Seoul Aseong Hospital’ and ‘Oseong Seoul Hospital.’
“Look at this.”
One man unfolded the conference program and clicked his tongue.
“What is it, mandatory credits?”
“No, what is this for the oral presentations?”
I casually listened in on their conversation.
“...What is this. Wow, what lunatic brought this to a conference?”
‘Hm? What kind of presentation is it that they’re cursing like that?’
I sipped my coffee and stepped a little closer.
“It says the surgery was led by an emergency medicine doctor. Does that even make sense?”
“Crazy. Emergency medicine? GS
(* General Surgery)
not GS, right?”
“Right. Supposedly a second-year at a hospital in Busan.”
I almost spat the instant coffee in my mouth onto the floor.
I hurriedly turned away from them.
My heart was pounding like crazy.
‘I’m screwed. The rumors are already everywhere.’
Their horrible conversation kept drifting in from behind me.
“Was he gutsy, or just brainless? What the hell was he thinking, cutting open a belly like that?”
Stunned, I looked down at the name tag on my chest.
[Han Hyeonjae / Cheongjin University Medical Center]
This wasn’t a name tag; it was basically a label screaming, ‘I’m the crazy bastard who cut that belly open.’
I hurriedly snatched the dangling name tag and shoved it deep inside my jacket.
‘Let’s survive. Please, just survive without getting noticed until the presentation.’
***
[Oral Presentation 5 - Trauma]
The vast corridor of the Daegu EXCO Convention Hall.
I stood in front of a huge signboard.
...Is this it?
[Oral Presentation 5: Trauma / Room 301-303]
My heart sank.
I awkwardly adjusted my tie again.
Though the tie probably wouldn’t even be visible anyway.
Phew.
I took a deep breath.
Thanks to absorbing the Memory Palace skill last night, my brain was running smoothly.
It felt as if the dozens of anticipated questions the ghosts had thrown at me, and every sentence from the paper Professor Cheon had given me, were all being rendered in 3D in my head.
Yes, I’m ready.
I carefully opened the heavy door and stepped inside.
***
And before I could even gather myself, my time had come.
The professor serving as chair thanked the last presenter of the previous session and brought up the next slide.
[Presenter: Han Hyeonjae (Cheongjin University Medical Center)]
Right.
My turn.
I got to my feet like a creaking robot and walked toward the podium.
The sound of my shoes echoing through this quiet lecture hall felt ridiculous.
Once on the podium, I plugged my presentation USB into the laptop and adjusted the microphone height.
Oh, please.
“Hah...”
Let’s take a deep breath.
When I raised my head, the sight before me was horrifying.
…No, what the hell, why are there so many?
Right, these gazes aren’t here to look at me.
These hundreds of eyeballs aren’t all here to look at me.
They’re probably just interested in the trauma session.
That’s how I comforted myself.
The lecture hall was so packed it was hard to find an empty seat.
In the front row, big-name professors like Professor Kim Hyeokjae were watching me with their arms crossed, looking interested, and in the middle rows, even fellows and senior residents from other hospitals were sitting there with judge-like expressions.
Even the group in the very back row who had been badmouthing me in the corridor earlier were staring straight at me.
This is a complete public execution.
‘Right. Don’t freak out.’
I gripped the microphone tightly.
‘Stay confident, Han Hyeonjae. You’re the best.’
Right.
I am the best.
At the very least, the backing behind me is flashier than that of anyone sitting here.
Let’s imagine that hundreds of ghosts, including the God of Scalpels, are preparing to give real-time commentary.
You lot are only swaggering around with a few professors backing you, but I’m backed by the dead gods of medicine.
Good.
Let’s do this.
I pressed the presenter’s next button with trembling fingers.
The first slide appeared on the giant screen.
[A Case Report of Emergency Resuscitative Laparotomy and Damage Control Packing Led by an Emergency Medicine Physician in the Setting of Delayed Surgical Support]
I opened my mouth to speak into the microphone.
Praying desperately that my voice wouldn’t crack.
“Good afternoon. I’m Han Hyeonjae, a second-year emergency medicine resident at Cheongjin University Medical Center.”
Ah, my voice sounds fine.
“The case I’ll be presenting today is a case in which, when immediate intervention by a trauma surgery specialist was impossible in a patient with a penetrating abdominal injury, an emergency medicine physician led an emergency resuscitative laparotomy and successfully resuscitated the patient.”
I pressed the next button.
Slide 2.
[The Treatment Gap]
Large letters appeared in the center of the screen.
“Patients in hypovolemic shock caused by abdominal penetrating injuries have a very high initial mortality rate, especially when massive intra-abdominal bleeding is involved.”
I slowly swept my gaze across the lecture hall, imitating the lecture tone of a famous professor I had studied hard.
“The problem here is,”
Ding.
With an animation effect, new text rose up.
[The ‘treatment gap time’ that occurs when immediate intervention by the surgical team is impossible]
“This is exactly that treatment gap time.”
Ding.
Next slide.
A terrifying graph appeared, showing survival rates plummeting vertically from the moment the patient arrived at the emergency room.
[Graph: Sharp decline in survival rate over time after patient arrival (Source: Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery)]
“The tens of minutes, or more, it takes for the trauma surgery team to reach the patient. The time it takes to prepare the operating room. During this gap, the patient’s survival rate drops exponentially every minute and every second.”
I posed a question to the audience.
“That’s right. What should an emergency medicine physician do during this gap?”
I was about to move on to the next slide.
So I could deliver the next line I had prepared.
That was when it happened.
A hand shot up from the front row over there.
It was one of the guys from the Aseong Hospital group earlier.
‘Wait a second.’
I was momentarily flustered.
‘This isn’t even Q&A time—can he just raise his hand like that?’
What, was I the only one who didn’t know because I was a rookie?
Or was he picking a fight?
‘...No idea.’
Trying my best to seem calm, I briefly paused the presentation.
The chair, Professor Kim Hyeokjae, frowned but did not stop the questioner.
“Yes, go ahead.”
The man took the microphone and asked, looking at me.
“I’m listening closely to your presentation, Dr. Han Hyeonjae of Cheongjin University Medical Center.”
‘Listening closely, my ass. I just started.’
“You just asked what an emergency medicine physician should do during that gap period, and surely the answer you’re about to give is...”
The man drew a breath.
“Are you saying that what can be done during that gap, what an emergency medicine physician should do, is damage control surgery?”
Silence fell.
Everyone’s eyes turned back to me.
If I answered yes, I’d be an arrogant second-year trying to encroach on surgery’s territory, and if I answered no, the whole point of this presentation would disappear.
I stared at him blankly.
…
Heh.
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.
‘Ah, thank you.’
You just asked, on my behalf, at the most dramatic moment, the very thing I most wanted to say.
You put the perfect full stop on all the buildup I had prepared.
I readjusted the microphone in my hand.
And I faced every professor and doctor in this massive hall, along with that idiot who was trying to screw me over.
I answered with a smile.
“Yes.”