A competent doctor can cure everything

I lost track of time from Friday evening onward.
Since I had to go to work in a few hours anyway, I decided to just sleep in the hospital’s on-call room.

I dragged my tired body back to the traditional Korean medicine ward.
‘…I should wash up and get ready for tomorrow’s rounds.’

My head felt fuzzy, like I had become a dumb zombie.
Once again, guilt and vague sadness surged up within me.

If Grandma was to pass away, I…
‘There would be no one left in this world I could call family.’

On my father’s side, since he, like me, was an only child, there were no close relatives.
On my mother’s side, things had turned even worse—more like enemies than family.

“…Sigh.”

I paused for a moment and took a deep breath.
Get a grip. There’s so much to do.

‘I should check the new department’s patient charts before going to bed.’

I headed for the staff shower room in the ward.

While walking to the shower, I checked my phone and saw a few messages.

I explained to Min-hwa, who lives with me, why I couldn’t come home.

I also briefly updated Wonil on the situation.
Both of them had sent messages asking if Grandma was okay.

And another one: the message from the intern supervisor, Lee Haet-nim.

The intern supervisor was always a step ahead of me in rotations.

So, before each turn change, I would always receive a handover file from the supervisor.

I was supposed to hear about this weekend’s traditional Korean medicine obstetrics and gynecology rotation as well.

I told her that something urgent came up, and I apologized but asked her to just write a brief handover file and send it to me.

[Intern Supervisor Lee Haet: Oppa! I’ve sent the handover file by email.]

[Intern Supervisor Lee Haet: I heard from Wonil. How is your grandmother? Is she doing better?]

I thanked her for the file and briefly replied that Grandma was okay.

After I finished washing up and roughly towel-dried my wet hair, I opened the door to the intern training room.

But someone was already there ahead of me.

“……!”

“Ah, Oppa.”

It was the intern supervisor.

“Aren’t you asleep yet?”

“No, I’m also switching shifts tomorrow, so I still have a lot to study.”

The intern supervisor hesitated for a moment before giving a faint smile.

“I saw the time you replied, and it seemed like you weren’t asleep either, so I thought it might be better if I explained things in person rather than just having you look at the handover file.”

“……”

That’s a lie.

Knowing the diligent nature of the intern supervisor, I was sure she had already finished studying the new department’s material in advance.

So, she must have stayed up this late to wait for me, just to hand things over.

Maybe it was because of the recent stressful events, but instead of feeling grateful, a vague sense of resistance rose inside me.

“Why?”

“…Pardon?”

“I have nothing to offer you.”

From my childhood experiences, I was always uneasy about unprovoked kindness.
When someone came up to me smiling, I’d instinctively become wary.
And since I was tired, I didn’t have the energy to hide those feelings.

But the intern supervisor’s expression remained warm.

“Oppa, you don’t know, but the other interns are all receiving help from you, directly or indirectly.”

“Help?”

“As the intern supervisor, I have many opportunities to talk to the others. Everyone is growing because of the positive influence they get from you. They’re realizing just how much an intern can do. Wonil is studying patient cases more diligently, and Min-hwa oppa has gained confidence in his attitude.”

“That’s…”

I was about to respond, saying that I just did my job as best as I could, but the intern supervisor didn’t give me a chance to speak.

“I was also really impressed by what you did in the rehab department, Oppa. With the Kim Jin-ah patient or the volleyball team assignment, I never would have thought to do something like that.”

“……”

“And you always give such good advice when your fellow interns are struggling.”

Well… it was just frustrating to watch, so I said a few words.

Like when Min-hwa failed the ABGA (arterial blood gas analysis) procedure.

“But Oppa, it seemed like you were trying to carry everything by yourself, and that made me feel bad. We’re all colleagues, right? I think it’s natural for us to help each other out when things get tough. Just like you help others, there will be times when you need help, too.”

“…Thanks.”

The intern supervisor’s genuine attitude finally melted the wariness I had.

I had never really thought much about being “colleagues,” but somehow, it was a bit… touching.

“Shall we get started then?”

Thanks to the file that Lee Haet-nim had prepared in advance, the handover went smoothly.

“Thanks to you, it ended quickly.”

“It’s nothing. Oh, by the way, I should also give you some off-the-record information that I didn’t write in the handover file.”

It wasn’t exactly appropriate to formally hand it over, but it was something everyone was curious about.

It was a tip about the department’s professors and residents.

“Since it’s an OB/GYN department, both the professor and the residents are mostly women. You’ll be working with Professor Bu Yeo-jung and Senior Lee Yi-won, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Ah, both of them can be a bit hard to deal with.”

The intern supervisor smiled awkwardly and swept a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Professor Yeo-jung, well… she’s kind of a sharp-tongued person? She’s very direct and doesn’t shy away from difficult questions. But I don’t think she’s trying to be mean to the interns. It seems like her goal is more educational.”

I know. Since I was a student, she was known as a beautiful yet scary professor.

During lectures, she would randomly pick someone to stand up and answer questions, and if they couldn’t answer, she’d embarrass them.

In that professor’s class, everyone had to stay on their toes.

“And as for Senior Lee Yi-won, well, she’s like a cat—aloof and a bit standoffish. I was scared when I made a mistake and got scolded. But, she has this habit of suddenly bursting into laughter at the strangest points, and at first, I was really surprised.”

I had run into Senior Lee Yi-won a few times in the hospital corridor.

She definitely wasn’t the soft, warm type.

“The handover is complete!”

“Thanks.”

Thanks to my “colleague,” I’d gained a bit more time to sleep.

Sometimes, I wondered if it was okay to accept help like that.

The feeling… wasn’t bad at all.

I sincerely thanked her before I left.

* * *

Around lunchtime on the first Monday of August,

Lee Hyun-Seung was on her way to a patient’s room.

The patient was none other than Seon-Joon’s paternal grandmother, the same patient he had swapped his vacation for.

“Oh, weren’t you on vacation? Why are you at the hospital?”

“Well, there’s some work I had to do.”

Every colleague she ran into along the way was taken by surprise to see her.

Lee Hyun-Seung didn’t have the energy to explain in detail, so she just brushed it off.

‘I didn’t expect to spend my vacation like this either.’

Hyun-Seung had to admit that her annoying friend Jeong Daun was right.

Seon-Joon, always calm and composed, making decisions with a level-headed judgment—his extreme flustered state had deeply hurt Hyun-Seung.

‘I didn’t even care about my own vacation plans.’

Yeah, without hesitation, she wanted to help him.

And that was definitely not a normal feeling.

‘I’m crazy… I’m the shameless one.’

It was just a few days ago that I vehemently denied Jeong Daun’s words.

With a wry smile, Lee Hyun-Seung stepped into the hospital room and froze for a moment.

A man with pale skin and dark blue hair raised his body when he saw her.

“Professor.”

“Oh, oh… you’re here?”

Seon-Joon lowered his head slightly.

“Really, thank you so much. I was in such a rush that I didn’t properly thank you. And I’d like to pay the penalty for my vacation myself.”

“No, no, don’t worry about that.”

As Hyun-Seung was flustered, it was now Seon-Joon’s grandmother who extended her hand.

“Oh my, Professor. Thank you. You couldn’t even go on your vacation because of this old woman.”

“It’s nothing. I owed you one from the last time, when I was in the mountains. I didn’t handle myself well back then, and I want to take this chance to apologize to you, Grandma.”

“Oh! No, no, we really must have some kind of fate between us. How should I repay this kindness? Professor, are you married by any chance?”

“Ah, no! I don’t even have a boyfriend.”

Hyun-seung waved her hands in a fluster.

And then, she regretted it inwardly.

Did I just deny that a bit too strongly? Will it look strange?

“Then you live alone? Next time, I’ll make some side dishes for you and send them.”

“My grandmother is a great cook.”

Seon-Joon chimed in from the side, helping his grandmother.

Hyun-seung awkwardly smiled and accepted the kind gesture.

“Well, then, I’ll graciously accept. Haha… By the way, the patient can be discharged today.”

As she left the room, Hyun-seung’s mind wandered back to the unsettling memory.

The words Seon-Joon had mumbled in confusion on Friday night.

‘He definitely said, “If my grandmother dies,”’

It was strange that the son and daughter-in-law had not been seen since the patient was admitted.

It was also odd that only Seon-Joon’s contact number was listed as the emergency contact for the patient.

It seemed like her suspicions were correct.

‘Is he without parents?’

No wonder he had been so flustered and overwhelmed by the situation—this wasn’t like him at all.

Somehow, it made her feel quite sorry for him.

His usual rational demeanor often came off as aloof or cold.

‘Tch. This is only making me more worried.’

Meanwhile, there were others talking about Seon-Joon at that very moment.

* * *

SBC, a national broadcast station.

One of Korea’s three major broadcasting networks.

The human documentary PD at SBC was having a meeting with the writers to discuss the next broadcast item.

The program they produced was an emotional, calm, five-part documentary about the lives of people in their local neighborhoods.

“Is there anything good among the tips we’ve received?”

“I think this one looks interesting. It’s a story sent directly by a family of a patient at Hanbit University Hospital.”

A writer introduced one of the tips that had been received.

“The tip was sent by the patient’s father. His daughter became paralyzed from a car accident, but a doctor of oriental medicine has been treating her for a month with great care. Recently, she’s shown noticeable improvement. They even sent a video.”

The video showed a young woman supporting herself with a walker for the disabled, taking slow steps.

The people around her cheered, and the man, who appeared to be her father, was moved to tears.

“Originally, the patient could only lie down, but she’s improved like this. The doctor of oriental medicine would give her acupuncture for an hour every day and also did physical exercises with her.”

“Acupuncture for an hour every day? What kind of acupuncture lasts that long?”

The PD clicked his tongue in disbelief and suddenly recalled something.

“Wait a minute, Hanbit University—doesn’t that mean the writer Kim used to be there? Kim, do you know anyone at Hanbit Hospital?”

“Actually, I have a college classmate in the hospital’s PR team, so I checked with them. It turns out that the oriental medicine doctor is quite well-known at the hospital. Even though he’s just an intern, many people praise his skills.”

The woman, referred to as “Writer Kim,” continued speaking clearly.

“And this doctor is already a hot topic online.”

“What? A hot topic?”

“Yeah, just look here…”

She played a video on the conference room monitor.

“It’s even appeared in a video by a 1 million subscriber YouTuber, and a professional gamer mentioned it in their award speech. Also, even the idol Mika showed off their friendship in the comments.”

“Hm, the visuals are good. If it airs, the image will definitely be popular.”

The PD scratched the back of his head with the pen while watching the video.

“Hmm… But with just this, it’s a bit unclear. Actually, if you search ‘recovery from paralysis’ on YouTube, you’ll find plenty of people who’ve recovered from paralysis. It’s too weak a story to schedule as a solo feature. And he’s an intern, right? Not a professor or a resident. If he’s just an intern… Well, the level isn’t quite enough to make him stand out.”

“Hmm, I see what you mean.”

“Let’s keep this on file and look at some other tips. Still, we’re lucky. Did you hear the story from PD Choi’s team in the variety department?”

“Ugh, yeah. They finished filming, but now the guest turned out to be a scammer, and they’re all in a mess.”

“Right. Lucky for us, we don’t have that kind of problem.”

PD Choi was in charge of a talk show program for the general public. From what he’d heard, it seemed that a business guest’s past fraudulent activities had been exposed, causing a huge stir.

Naturally, the footage that had been filmed was scrapped, and PD Choi’s team was left with a major headache.

“Oh, PD, what about this one…?”

Thus, the tip about Seon-Joon got buried among other stories.

It would be a little while before his name was brought back into the spotlight at this broadcast station.