Chapter 17
At the end of Yeonwoo’s slowly turning gaze, a man appeared.
Her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth dropped open.
Her heart plunged to her feet, then shot up to the top of her head, bouncing back and forth.
“Is that how I taught you?”
The man who stepped into the resuscitation room with a cool smile was unmistakably Beom Sajun, the one she’d longed to see in her dreams.
Sharp eyes, a masculine jawline, hair still cut short.
“…H-How…”
A dazed voice leaked from Yeonwoo’s lips.
At the same time, Jiwoong let out an equally idiotic sound.
“Princess? Where is there a princess here… Ugh, w-who are you?”
Yeonwoo slowly blinked and stared at Sajun.
It wasn’t a dream. It was real.
Wearing a slightly too-small doctor’s coat, he raised the corners of his mouth in a smile.
It was that smile she’d thought she’d never see again.
“W-Who are you?”
Still overwhelmed by Sajun’s presence, Jiwoong asked again.
“Me?”
With a showy flip of his coat, Sajun straightened his shoulders.
Which made the coat look even smaller.
“This is not a place where just anyone can walk in, you know.”
“And yet, here I am.”
Sajun flashed an ID badge.
The badge bore a photo of Section Chief Jang Chanwoo of OS.
In other words, it wasn’t his.
“W-Wait a moment. Can you show me that again?”
“What’s the point? If you’re not planning to let the patient die, get out of the way.”
“We still need to take an X-ray!”
Jiwoong shouted, but he couldn’t overpower Sajun’s presence.
With the air of someone ending a joke, Sajun now turned serious. He reached toward Yeonwoo.
W-What is he doing?
Before Yeonwoo, startled, could flinch, he took the stethoscope hanging around her neck.
“Stethoscope.”
He put it on and examined the patient himself.
Checking both lungs with sharp eyes, he muttered in a low voice:
“Pneumothorax.”
“Ah!”
In cases of difficulty breathing caused by pneumothorax, relieving the pneumothorax took precedence over intubation.
He glanced at Yeonwoo with an expression that seemed to say, Just now figuring that out?, then removed the stethoscope and grabbed a chest tube.
Yeonwoo suddenly snapped to attention.
“Emergency treatment comes before tests. Did you forget? Hold the patient’s upper body.”
Wearing gloves naturally, Sajun issued the instruction, and Yeonwoo’s body moved instinctively.
Get a grip!
Beom Sajun is here.
Yeonwoo, eyes sharp with resolve, sprang into action.
She handed him a local anesthetic first. Sajun took the syringe and injected the area of the chest wall where the pneumothorax was located.
“Scalpel.”
Yeonwoo assisted him like she had in Sutahn. Though she could’ve done it herself, the patient’s condition took priority.
He glanced briefly at Yeonwoo, then made a 1.5 cm incision in the skin.
“Kelly.”
Yeonwoo handed him the forceps before he even asked.
Using the Kelly clamp, he inserted the chest tube into the pleural cavity, then used his finger to check for lung adhesion inside.
“Give me the tube.”
He grasped the tube with the forceps and inserted it from the distal end. After inserting about 10 cm, he rotated it 360 degrees to prevent twisting, and connected it to the chest drainage system.
Lastly, he secured it to the chest with 0 silk sutures.
The treatment was so fluid and natural that silence fell over the resuscitation room.
“Ugh… cough cough…”
The patient coughed, then showed visibly improved breathing.
The monitor numbers were returning to normal.
Jiwoong, who had watched the whole thing slack-jawed, rolled his eyes toward Yeonwoo.
“Princess, you need to intubate.”
“Yes!”
“And let’s see… Your name is Seo Jiwoong?”
Sajun asked, looking at Jiwoong, still standing dumbstruck.
“Y-Yes, sir!”
“After the chest X-ray, get head and abdominal CTs.”
“Ah, understood!”
Jiwoong hurried to prepare the scans, suddenly very respectful, and Yeonwoo completed the intubation.
“You’ve improved a lot.”
Sajun said, watching her perform the intubation with skill.
Somehow, that made her puff up with pride.
“When the exams are done, prep the OR. I’ll go into surgery right away.”
He wasn’t going to transfer the patient to another top hospital—he was doing the surgery himself.
Yeonwoo couldn’t help but twitch a smile. Her chest swelled with emotion.
A hollow heart now filled with warmth.
Though late, it was a moment where everything felt forgiven.
“Yes, sir!”
Yeonwoo responded with her most energetic voice yet.
✦✦✦
With the help of a nurse, Sajun changed into surgical scrubs and thought back on his earlier encounter with his grandfather, smiling.
They say words have power—and now he was really back at work starting today.
When he entered the director’s office at his father’s call, his grandfather, seeing him in a white coat, asked in disbelief:
“Sajun-ah, you’ve already started working?”
“Yes, starting today.”
“If you’re not too busy, come sit here.”
“Okay.”
Sajun walked over to the couch, coat fluttering.
His father watched him with a look that said, I still don’t fully get this kid.
“Sajun.”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
“I don’t care what you do. But never do anything that could damage your body. I won’t tolerate that as long as I’m alive.”
His voice was gentle, but his expression was firm.
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You’re good at saying that. I called you today because I just couldn’t ignore this anymore.”
“Whatever rumors you’ve heard, I’m fine. As you can see.”
“You’d better be! Now go meet someone again.”
“You’re saying that again?”
Sajun’s dark eyebrows shot up.
“Get married! Have a child—boy or girl—and keep the family line going. Then I won’t care where you go or what you do.”
“I told you, I’m back in Korea. Don’t you see the lab coat?”
Now realizing that this visit wasn’t just to check up on him, Sajun gave a troubled smile.
“I’ve already told your father, so go meet her.”
Hyuncheol nodded vigorously beside them.
Apparently, the two had already made arrangements.
Sajun hesitated briefly, then agreed without complaint.
“Yes, I will.”
This wasn’t the first matchmaking, and sparing half a day wasn’t a big deal.
He decided it was a kind of repayment for all the worry he’d caused his grandfather.
Seeing him agree so easily, the old man gave him a suspicious look. Sajun responded with a confident smile.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Completely serious.”
“Good. Then let’s proceed, Hyuncheol.”
“Yes, Father.”
“You say Sajun started working, right? Isn’t he busy?”
“He is. He was just about to head down.”
“Then go on.”
Apparently wanting to confirm with his own eyes, the grandfather followed Sajun out of the director’s office.
Luckily, at the emergency room parking lot, Sajun saw his grandfather off.
Just as he was about to return the borrowed coat, he stopped in his tracks.
An ambulance had just arrived.
Medical staff, including Yeonwoo, rushed over urgently.
Watching from a distance as a patient was wheeled in on a stretcher, Sajun called the administration office and officially reported his return to duty.
The patient’s condition looked serious.
✦✦✦
The OR doors opened, and Sajun walked in.
Yeonwoo, having finished all prep, looked at him with sparkling eyes.
Thankfully, the patient’s brain showed no abnormalities.
However, he had multiple rib fractures and a sternal fracture, requiring immediate surgery.
Sajun, fully dressed in his surgical gown, stepped into the sterile field.
Yeonwoo, now in the position of first assistant, swallowed hard.
A historic moment—she was performing surgery with Dr. Beom Sajun at Cheongbong.
She had waited so long for this day.
“You may begin.”
The anesthesiologist said, looking at Sajun.
“Today’s lead surgeon is Dr. Ryu Yeonwoo. I leave the patient in your care.”
Lost in emotion, Yeonwoo could hardly believe what she just heard.
