Dr. Taesoo Choi

The nurses moved first.
The nurses quickly left the nurses’ station and barked at Tae-su, who was standing in front of them. The friendly smiles they had just exchanged were now nowhere to be seen.
“Move aside!”
“Yes!”
Tae-su quickly stepped aside to clear the way, but there was no gratitude in their eyes. The nurses passed him by and rushed toward the patient, whose alarm was ringing.
It hadn’t even been a minute.
“Arrest!”
“Quick, get the defibrillator, doctor!”
After checking on the patient, the nurses inside the station also became frantic.
Then, a doctor in a white gown came rushing in like a runaway train.
As soon as he saw Tae-su blocking the way, he shouted.
“Move!”
Before the doctor could even speak, Tae-su had already stepped aside.
He had become skilled at handling such situations.
Five minutes passed. Just as Tae-su’s tension was starting to ease, a doctor, drenched in sweat, approached and stood in front of him.
It was Kim Seok-dong, a second-year resident.
Not long ago, he had quit because he found the residency too difficult, but after being persuaded by the associate professor, he had returned.
With an impressive background, he was currently working in the SICU.
His skills weren’t bad, but he was always frowning and picking fights, especially with cardiothoracic surgery.
“Why did you come to the SICU and cause a patient to arrest?”
Although it was a clearly unreasonable complaint, it was the kind of harsh rebuke interns expected. Tae-su didn’t flinch, as he had grown immune to such treatment.
The doctor wiped the sweat from his face and spoke again.
“Choi Tae-su. You came because you were late?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’d better get moving. Go to the patient who just had an arrest. Don’t eat, don’t go to the bathroom, just keep watch until I tell you otherwise.”
“Understood!”
“Move before you answer!”
Under Kim Seok-dong’s unreasonable scolding, Tae-su had to move again.
He immediately stood next to the patient lying on the bed.
To keep meant more than just watching.
It meant constantly checking and recording vital signs, monitoring urine output, and being alert to any changes in the patient’s condition.
Tae-su’s gaze fell on the patient.
A man in his early 40s, hooked up to a respirator.
Since the chart was nearby, Tae-su naturally picked it up.
He was familiar with how to read charts.
Opening the chart, he began scanning it.
Though he had only been in cardiothoracic surgery for two months, there were still many unfamiliar terms. He had to keep an eye on the patient, so he figured it was a good opportunity to study.
“Uh?”
Tae-su suddenly felt something was off.
The chart was full of unfamiliar medical terms, but to his surprise, he was reading through them smoothly.
It felt as though he understood the terms and their meanings immediately.
He had definitely struggled with most of these terms before.
He was now so confused by the situation that he almost felt disoriented.
At that moment, a nurse approached him.
She was wearing a slightly different uniform—not the typical nurse’s attire.
It was a PA nurse (Physician Assistant), a nurse who had some of the physician’s responsibilities delegated to her for staffing purposes.
A PA in her early 30s called out to him.
“Dr. Choi.”
“Oh, Nurse Park In-jung.”
“It’s been a while since you’ve been in the SICU, right?”
Since Nurse Park seemed to know the situation, Tae-su answered with a somewhat embarrassed expression.
“It’s been about a month.”
“You’re usually not the type to be late.”
“I guess I got a little carried away after playing for so long.”
“It’s that age when you really want to have fun.”
“I should be studying more, but I had too much fun, and now it’s a problem.”
Although the person he was speaking to was a nurse, Tae-su spoke in a respectful and gentle tone.
Having been an intern, he knew that simply spending another day in the hospital was deserving of respect.
Nurse Park In-jung gave him a slightly indifferent look in response to his words.
“It seems like you’ve become more relaxed in the past month.”
“Once you roll with it, you get used to it.”
“Heh, well, have you gotten used to reading the charts now?”
Nurse Park In-jung’s friendly response caused Tae-su to unconsciously soften his gaze.
Kind nurses were rare, especially to interns.
When asked the question, Tae-su looked at the chart and replied.
“The initial diagnosis was myocardial infarction. The surgery seems to have been successful, but there appears to be an acute issue with the coronary arteries.”
“Oh, what happened next?”
“Within two hours after the anomaly was discovered, he had an emergency CABG (coronary artery bypass graft). It’s been three days since the surgery.”
As Tae-su recited the chart details, his eyes were slightly trembling.
It felt so natural.
It was as if he had been doing this for decades.
Before his time off, he had stumbled over words, but now he was pronouncing them clearly, and he was surprised at himself.
How?
He was burning with curiosity.
He almost asked Nurse Park In-jung, but his reason barely stopped him from voicing such an absurd question.
He was truly surprised by himself.
Meanwhile, Nurse Park In-jung was watching Tae-su with a peculiar look in her eyes and asked,
“Have you decided to stick with cardiothoracic surgery?”
“I’ve been studying hard.”

Tae-su forced a smile and tried to brush it off.
Honestly, he didn’t understand the situation either. He had even considered that cardiothoracic surgery might not be a good field for practice.
It wasn’t very lucrative, and it required a lot of both physical and mental effort.
Worldwide, cardiothoracic surgeons were highly regarded, but in Korea, outside of large university hospitals, it was difficult to even perform surgeries.
Starting a private practice was nearly impossible, and salaried positions in this field were among the lowest-paying for doctors.
In simple terms, it was considered a “3D” field in medicine.
As Tae-su tried to suppress the complex thoughts inside him, Nurse Park In-jung didn’t let go of her skeptical expression.
“You’ve been studying hard? Heh, are you lying to me?”
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about it a bit.”
To avoid seeming too evasive, he added a little white lie. Finally, Nurse Park In-jung understood.
“You should’ve said that earlier. You can’t fool me. I’ve seen enough interns to know.”
“Haha, I guess so.”
“Alright, then, how are the vitals and the urine output?”
“Since the arrest, everything seems stable so far.”
When Tae-su spoke, Nurse Park In-jung smiled.
“If you need anything while you’re keeping watch, just call me.”
“Thank you.”
“Good job.”
With a warm smile, Nurse Park In-jung walked away.
She remained friendly toward Tae-su until the end.
Sometimes, this happened. Some nurses felt particularly sympathetic toward interns and helped them out.
It was helpful in its own way.
Moreover, nurses played an important role in the hospital. If the doctors were in charge of the external operations, the nurses took care of the internal ones.
Interns who had fallen out of favor with the nurses had often suffered.
PA Nurse Park In-jung was faster and more accurate in assessing situations than most residents.
Even the professors trusted her.
If you had the knowledge, it was always good to get help.
Once alone again, Tae-su briefly glanced at the patient’s face and then returned to the chart.
As he did, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
“Why did the oxygen saturation drop?”
The last check had been recorded 15 minutes before the arrest.
It was usually checked every 15 minutes, but the oxygen saturation was the only value that had dropped.
The fact that the drop was so minimal was a problem in itself.
What kind of issues could arise if the oxygen saturation drops?
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, an avalanche of thoughts rushed through Tae-su’s head.
But the range was so vast.
It wasn’t just the knowledge he had learned; even unfamiliar diseases popped into his mind.
If he tried to narrow it down, dozens of possibilities came to mind.
Among the most concerning were issues with the heart and other bodily organs.
‘Why is this happening?’
Confused by what seemed like abnormalities, Tae-su lightly hit his head.
But the thoughts didn’t disappear.
In fact, it seemed like they multiplied, like a trigger, and more and more possible diagnoses flooded his mind.
He shook his head quickly, but the thoughts remained.
He couldn’t make sense of the situation.
At that moment, Tae-su forcibly stopped his thoughts.
He was an intern.
It would be troublesome if he forgot his role. Tae-su got up from his seat immediately, concerned that he might miss something in his report, and headed toward Kim Seok-dong.
Outside the nurses’ station, he saw Kim Seok-dong, who was busy entering various charts into the computer.