Golden Time

“There are no morning rounds because the professors are busy today.”

The zombie-like faces of the pract.i.tioners brightened instantly.

Actually the morning rounds with the professors is a continual time of tension.

The questions poured out by the professors, hard to understand like an alien language, were killing them.

“Do you feel good because you have no rounds?”

At resident Park’s question, everyone shook their heads as if nothing happened.

“No, sir!”

Park continued, “Today’s schedules have all been cancelled, because all the other professors are also busy today.”

The students were so happy that their faces could not be brighter.

“So, do you like it?”

“No, sir!”

“You feel it’s regrettable since you won’t be able to do clinical practice, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Yeah.” “Sadly, I cannot practice.” “Yes!”

“Well, then let me schedule one for you guys.”

The students’ faces darkened instantly.

“Don’t be scared. Just do your homework in the PK room today, as long as nothing unusual happens today. Okay?”

“Yeah!”

When Park Ganghyun disappeared, the students became noticeably disturbed.

“Oh, when was the last time we had any free time?”

“Just be quiet. Otherwise, we might get a scolding.”

Suhyuk laughed bitterly. ‘Self-study...’

He had nothing in particular to do. It was much better for him to make the rounds and check the patients.

“I think we’ll finish early today. Shall we have dinner together?”

Suddenly, Choi Suryun, who came before Suhyuk, asked them.

“Good idea!”

“Don’t exclude alcohol.”

With such words, everyone looked at Suhyuk. He was always busy; busy with observing surgeries, and called for by the professors sometimes when clinical practice was over.

They felt jealous of him at first, but later they thought they were lucky not to be like him.

Without even going through it, they knew what kind of situations he was in when it came to having a one-on-one meeting with the professor. There, they would probably talk in an incomprehensible language instead of their native tongue. Rather than blinking their eyes before the professor, it was better for them to memorize a medical term related to bones.

“Let’s go, huh?”

Choi Suryon shook his arms impatiently.

Suhyuk laughed gently, “If we’re done early.”

Looking back, he never attended his group members’ gatherings. Though he usually gave an excuse to avoid it, he really could not find any time for it. He felt sorry for that, so this time he decided to attend.

“Okay, good timing,” he said.

He felt he could attend since he had nothing else to do, especially seeing that the schedule was canceled today.

He would have to stay as much as possible in the the PK room, because he would most likely be called for if he met the professors by any chance.

‘Do I have turn off my cellphone?’ Some professor would send him a text message.

Suhyuk shook his head, touching his cell phone.

‘Let me tell them I’ve some work to do, they’ll understand.’

“Hey, I saw you yesterday,” said Suhyuk.

Suryon’s eyes turned round at his words.

“Where?”

“On Jongno street. You were walking with your boyfriend, weren’t you?”

Choi made her eyes thin like a cat.

“I was at home yesterday, and I’ve never dated a man. I’m kind of a human treasure.”

Suhyuk tilted his head. Obviously it was Choi Suryon who was with the man.

‘Did I see the wrong person?’

“You said you were at home?”

With her face turning sour, she said, “You are too mean, as you do not recognize a friend’s face.”

“I wonder if I saw the wrong person...”

There were many people with similar faces.

“Yes, you saw the wrong person,” she talked quickly and turned back as if she became sulky.

Suhyuk awkwardly scratched his head with a sorry expression, because he made her a woman who’s engaged.

***

In the PK room only a murmuring sound was heard.

The trainees wrote the contents of the medical books in their notebooks as if they were trying to memorize them all and recited them out of their mouth with their eyes closed.

In the midst of this, Suhyuk was staring out of the window quietly.

He had nothing in particular to do. He already read the book many times. Actually the book was falling apart as he turned to it repeatedly to double check if there was anything he had missed.

“Suhyuk, breast cancer and spinal tumors are eligible for laparoscopic surgery, right?”

He nodded his head at his friends’ questions.

“Laparoscopic surgery has advantages and disadvantages, so I think you should choose carefully if you want to do itl.”

“Disadvantages? I wonder it’s easy and safe because it is not an open surgery?” she asked.

Suhyuk shook his head.

“Laparoscopic surgery cannot be promoted, and the vision is narrow. It’s hard to catch the whole picture. It takes a long time to stop even small bleeding.”

For a surgery like this, the belly is not opened, but a small hole is made, into which a lens and surgery tools are inserted. Accordingly, it has a cosmetic advantage. It’s less painful for the patient to undergo such surgery, and the recovery is faster. But on the other hand, the doctor’s vision is limited and uncomfortable. If any bleeding occurs, the blood can touch the lens and block the doctor’s vision. If the bleeding site cannot be restored quickly, the probability that the patient will be at risk with the complications continues to increase. That means no error should be allowed in this kind of surgery.

“You really look like a doctor who actually did the surgery,” said his friend.

Suhyuk just smiled at his friend’s words.

An hour pa.s.sed like that.

He rose from the seat by the time his friends’ murmuring sounded like a lullaby.

‘Will I feel better if I wash my face?’

Suhyuk sneaked out of the hallway quietly so as not to disturb his friends in the PK room.

Then he could see a boy wearing a crying expression.

The boy was close to tears, holding his father’s hands.

“Dad, can’t I not have this surgery?”

“No, this surgery is must for a man.”

“I’m afraid it will hurt...”

“No, not at all. You can just lay down for a minute and then come out. Just listen to the doctor and get the surgery over with. If you do so, I’ll buy you the stuff you mentioned last time.”

“Really?”

“Believe me. Have you ever seen me lying to you?”

At that moment, he stopped walking and looked up at Suhyuk.

“Doctor, does circ.u.mcision surgery not hurt at all?”

The boy thought Suhyuk looked like a doctor because he wore a white gown.

Suhyuk smiled bitterly. It did not matter if he had it or not. Yet a boy can feel the pain more than an adult. After the surgery, however, the situation is reversed. It is the adult who feels the pain of it more, especially unbearable pain during the waking-up period in the morning.

“It does not hurt. If you count from 1 to 100 it will be over soon.”

Suhyuk stroked the child’s head and then moved to the bathroom and thought to himself,

‘Yeah, it will hurt.’

***

The trainees did not come out of the PK room except for when they were eating.

No one bothered them whether they studied or fell asleep.

Having gotten used to day-by-day when making the rounds in extreme tension, this moment seem like a dream to them.

“By the way, how long must we stay here?”

Their expressions turned dark at one trainee’s question.

It was already past 5 PM. At this time, they usually get ready to go home after getting permission from their primary doctors.

But until now they did not hear anything.

“If we leave without permission, we’ll get scolded tomorrow, right?”

“Of course!”

At that moment, Choi Suryon waved her cell phone, saying, “We got the permission.”

“From whom?”

“Who? Of course, it’s from resident Park Ganghyun.”

At her words, the students quickly packed their bags.

***

Inside a grilled pork belly restaurant they were busy cooking the meat.

Because they were so hungry, they ate up all the side dishes while cooking the pork.

“It’s been a long time since I ate with Suhyuk.”

“Yes, he’s busy as if he’s become an intern already.”

Suhyuk smiled bitterly and opened his mouth, “Let’s gather one more time after the practice presentation is over next week.”

Everyone let out a sigh at his words.

Evaluation of clinical practice.

Each student is supposed to examine a patient a.s.signed to them, and then make a summary of the results of the examination and present a powerpoint to the professor. The prospect was dark. It was terrible even to think about a situation where any of them is a.s.signed a patient with a rare disease.

“We don’t have to be scared right now. Let’s worry about it later.”

Cups of soju were gathered over the grilled pork belly with its delicious smell.

“Cheers for the sake of perfect practice!”

“Cheers!”

“First cup, drink it up!”

Everyone had a drink with a pleasant spirit.

“Huh? Suhyuk won’t drink it up?” Choi Suryon asked.

At her words, their gazes turned to Suhyuk’s cup.

Known as a heavy drinker, Suhyuk drank only half of it.

“What are you doing?”

“We gathered together in a long time. Are you trying not to drink it all?”

Critical gazes given by his friends.

With a bitter smile, Suhyuk had to lift his cup again.

Though he made a pledge to drink alcohol properly, he had not hung out with them in such a long time, so he felt he could forget about it momentarily. For they were casting a fierceful gaze at him.

When Suhyuk emptied the cup neatly, Choi, who held a bottle of soju, laughed,

“Come on, let me pour some more.”

Coming out of the pork house, they went into another bar as if they had not drunk enough already.

Even though it was Sunday, lots of people were drinking. It seemed most of them were college students. Suhyuk and his friends ordered drinks and snacks as soon as they took their seats.

“Are not you worried about tomorrow’s test?” asked Suhyuk.

At his question, each of them quipped,

“I just live for today.”

“I want to enjoy to my heart’s content as I can’t when I become an intern.”

When Suhyuk was shaking his head, a part-timer brought snacks and liquor.

“Drink it,” Choi offered him liquor.

“Let me drink it slowly,” he said.

“Hey, when it comes to drinks, the thing is you ask for it, not just drink it,” said Choi with a smile and asked him if he wanted it. Then he turned his head to the side suddenly because he felt it uncomfortable to see her V-neck. He was at a loss where to cast his eyes because he could see the hollow underneath her collarbone in that V-neck.

“Hey, are those girls there pretty?”

“Where? Which area?” asked Kwon Jaehyuk.

Except Suhyun, all the male students moved their gaze toward the table where the girls were drinking.

Pretty and cute, they were drinking at the table. Kwon stood up abruptly.

“Let me go over there.”

“Come on, man. You will turn them off with that face of yours!”

“Just meet a girl at a blind date later. They might swear at you.”

Kwon’s face was long like a horse’s. It could not get any longer than that.

“Hey, guys, don’t you know the saying, the brave deserves the fair?”

Despite his friends’ discouragement, he went over to the girls with a proud smile.

And then something surprising happened.

In about 2 minutes, he exchanged contact numbers with one of the girls.

Coming back to his seat, Kwon held out his cup to get it filled up.

“What’s the secret?”

“No secret. Just the fact I’m a Daehan MS student works wonders.”

With a sigh, Suhyuk shook his head, but his other friends’ eyes were glaring already.

“These men...” said Choi, who looked at them as if they were being pathetic, showed a cup to him.

Looking at them with a regrettable expression, Suryon offered him a cup.

“Let’s drink,” she said.

“Today of all days, you seem to drink a lot. Drink slowly.”

“Don’t you know I’m a good drinker?”

Clink!

Clinking gla.s.ses, she stood up furtively.

“Let me go to the bathroom,” she said, moving slowly.

After she entered the bathroom, she locked the door.

Staring at the toilet seat, she put her fingers in her mouth. About five minutes or so pa.s.sed by.

A woman knocked hard on the toilet door that Choi went into.

Bang! Bang!

“Hey, I’m really in a hurry!”

Choi did not come out as if she had rented the bathroom.

“Ooops... d.a.m.n it. Are you having constipation...”

Choi came out immediately knitting her brows and she stared at the woman.

“You don’t know any manners...”

Though she opened her mouth as if she wanted to protest, she quickly rushed into the bathroom.

Choi went to the sink. After she washed her face, she looked at her face reflected in the mirror.

Both cheeks were tinged red.

“I should not get drunk.”

Choi, who touched her face lightly, walked out of the bathroom.