Hua Tuo Becomes a Surgeon

Chapter 10

After a while, an employee set up the grill and placed the pork belly on it. While waiting for the pork belly to cook until it turned a nice brown color, Hwabu first poured himself a glass of soju and drank it.

“Aaah! It’s clear like white wine, but the taste is quite mild and mellow! The aroma is a bit faint, but instead, the refreshing taste of the plums cleanses my mouth!”

Shortly after, when the pork belly was cooked to a golden brown, he tried it wrapped in lettuce just as he remembered from Lee Minho’s memories.

‘Hooh! It’s definitely pork, but there’s not even a hint of the porky smell! Is it fresh meat that hasn’t aged for even a day?’

This time, Hwabu tried eating the pork belly by dipping it in salt.

As expected, there was no distinctive porky smell that he knew.

“Hooh! The pork I knew didn’t taste like this at all. Did they feed it medicinal herbs?”

Even the pork skin that was usually tough and gristly pork skin was chewy and savory when cooked well.

While savoring the taste, Hwabu kept his hands busy, quickly polishing off the first order of pork belly and soju before ordering three more servings. Despite having already eaten chicken and pizza, he felt like he could keep eating more.

Buuuurp.

In the end, after drinking five bottles of soju and five servings of pork belly, and even having soybean paste stew on top of that, Hwabu realized that his stomach was so full that he couldn’t eat anymore.

“Burp! Haaa! I feel like my stomach is about to burst!”

After paying the bill with his card, the now quite tipsy Hwabu staggered outside, shaking his head.

“Soju isn’t as strong as white wine, so why am I so drunk? Have I become lightweight? No, maybe because this isn’t my original body.”

He usually handled alcohol very well, so he was a bit confused about not being able to control his body even though he thought he had only drunk enough to feel good and full.

Although he was staggering, Hwabu still managed to get home.

As soon as he opened the door and went inside, he felt more and more intoxicated and the whole world seemed to spin around.

Suddenly, he thought that maybe this difficulty wasn’t just because of being drunk.

‘Is the possession about to be lifted?’

If the possession was lifted, it would be best to return to the state he was in when he first woke up in bed.

Hwabu hurriedly took off his shoes and lay down on the bed.

As he lay down, his dizziness only worsened and his stomach churned as if it was turning upside down, but he thought that it was just a symptom of the possession being lifted, so he closed his eyes and endured.

‘I’ll be falling into a deep sleep soon…… Even if it had just been a day, I’ve had quite a lot of new experiences……’

“Uuugh! Uuuuuugh….”

As he lay there with his eyes closed, the food from his stomach started rising back up his esophagus.

‘I, I can’t hold it in!’

He tried to get up and rush to the bathroom, but he couldn’t even take a step away from the bed before vomiting.

“Blerrrrggghhhh……”

In an instant, vomit sprayed out of his mouth like a fountain, splattering across the bedsheets bed and floor.

“Kuhhhghhh…… W-what kind of body is this, so weak to alcohol? Uuugh. Uuuugh……”

When another bout of vomiting came up, Hwabu hurriedly covered his mouth and dashed for the bathroom but ended up vomiting again halfway there while opening the bathroom door.

“Blehrghh. Bleerrrgghhh……”

After throwing up uncontrollably, even through the dizziness a thought crossed his mind.

‘Damn! Once the possession ends and my soul leaves, this body will be found as a corpse…… The paramedics won’t even want to touch it because of how filthy and smelly it will be!”

Thinking that he had a fairly positive experience using this body for a day, Hwabu felt that he should at least clean up the vomit before the possession ended.

After he leaned over the toilet and vomited one more time, he felt a little relieved in his stomach.

Hwabu took out the wallet, phone, and keys from his pocket and threw them outside the bathroom, then stripped off all his clothes and put them in the washing machine. Using a towel, he wiped off the vomit and threw it in the trash, then he roughly rinsed the bedsheets before putting it in the washing machine.

After using his body for a while, he felt a little more comfortable and the dizziness subsided slightly.

‘The drunkenness seems to be passing now. I should hurry and wash up before I fall into deep sleep.’

Hwabu took a quick shower, then went and lay down on the bed before closing his eyes. Although he still felt a little dizzy and nauseous, he still managed to endure it.

***

“Huh? Why hasn’t the possession ended yet?”

The next day, when Hwabu woke up, he realized that his soul was still inhabiting Lee Minho’s body and tilted his head in confusion.

“The symptoms last night were clearly those of the possession being lifted…… Don’t tell me I got so drunk from just five bottles of soju? Even if this body is weak, soju is much lighter than white wine……”

Although his stomach felt much better, he still felt queasy and a little nauseous, and he even had a slight headache.

Typical hangover symptoms.

Hwabu moved his body with a look of incomprehension on his face.

His hands and feet moved fine, and even when he got up from the bed and walked around, he didn’t feel any discomfort.

“Were yesterday really just symptoms of drunkenness and not the possession being lifted?”

And his physical strength was still weak, like someone who had never done any physical training.

“Come to think of it, this body died from drinking a few bottles of soju. So of course it would be weak against alcohol!”

The nausea in his stomach made him think of hangover soup.

When he observed his body, he definitely didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.

‘There’s a good soybean sprout hangover soup place a ten-minute walk from here, I should go there for breakfast.’

After washing up and getting dressed, Hwabu went to the hangover soup restaurant.

He found an empty seat, sat down, and ordered the soybean sprout hangover soup. As he waited for it to arrive, he used that time to inspect his internal state again.

‘Unlike yesterday, I definitely don’t feel any disassociation at all, like this is real my own body! This was definitely possession, so why isn’t there any sign of it being lifted, and why do I feel more integrated?’

If the possession did not end, it meant that he could still experience more of this era, which was good, but on the other hand, the unpredictability of when it might end also made him uneasy.

‘I don’t know when the possession will end, but until then, should I live in this body?’

There were still a lot of foods he hadn’t tried, and like the doctors of this era, he wanted to pick up a scalpel and perform a surgery.

‘As an intern, I won’t have many opportunities to operate, but when I go to ER in two days, maybe I’ll get a chance to do some simple surgeries!’

From Lee Minho’s memories, Hwabu found that ER interns often participated in surgeries directly under the orders of residents when there was an influx of emergency patients.

After a while, when the soybean sprout hangover soup arrived, Hwabu stopped thinking and picked up his spoon to carefully taste the soup.

‘Wow! I-It’s delicious! Even though it’s a simple dish without much in it, it’s so good. What’s more, my queasy stomach is gradually getting better too.’

As Hwabu ate the soybean sprout hangover soup, he wondered if there was no such thing as bad-tasting food in this era at all. Somehow, out of the food he had tried so far, not a single one had tasted bad.

***

Fellow Oh Gook-hwan was performing surgery to repair a Morgagni hernia (a condition in which abdominal organs herniate through a small congenital diaphragmatic defect below the sternum). He had made an incision in the patient’s upper abdomen, reduced the herniated transverse colon and greater omentum, and then fixed the defective diaphragm to the ribs to close the defect.

After completing this important surgery that lasted about three hours, Oh Gook-hwan took a moment to think about who would close the patient’s abdomen after connecting the drainage catheter.

‘Sang-do said this is the first intern he’d seen who can suture better than him……’

Oh Gook-hwan straightened his back and looked at Lee Minho who was holding the retractor.

‘Well, let’s how good he is.’

The tasks interns perform in the OR are so simple that unless they plan on pursuing a surgical specialty, many don’t pay close attention or just go through the motions. Lee Minho had in fact received quite a scolding from Oh Gook-hwan and the residents for this very reason before.

But today, Lee Minho seemed to be paying very close attention, as if trying to etch every detail of the surgery into his mind.

‘He did say he’s aiming for our department, and indeed, his attitude has definitely changed!’

“Dr. Lee Minho.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I heard from Chief Kwak that you can suture at the level of a senior resident?”

“Huh? Ah! I worked hard, and Chief spoke highly of me.”

“And I heard that you’re planning to join our team… Why don’t you go ahead and close up this patient.”

“M-me?”

Hwabu looked at Choi Yongsoo, who was assisting, with a bewildered expression. Normally, finishing up like this was the job of the first assistant, Choi Yongsoo.

When Lee Minho didn’t respond right away and looked at him instead, Choi Yongsoo chuckled.

“Don’t look at me, just show your skills when given the opportunity.”

“Would that be alright?”

“Why? Not confident? Are you only good at suturing artificial skin, and your hands would start shaking when you try sticking a needle in an actual patient?”

“No, sir. I can do it well.”

“Then go ahead. I was curious to see if you could perform the same way on an actual patient after seeing your skills yesterday.”

“Thank you. I’ll do it then.”

Hwabu nodded his head in thanks, inwardly chuckling.

Having Lee Minho’s memories, he knew how they had treated him so far, but their attitudes seemed to have changed overnight.

‘I’m not sure why their treatment of me has changed…… but that doesn’t erase past grievances.’

Short after, Oh Gook-hwan stepped back, and Hwabu bowed his head and stood in his place.

“First, I’ll do another visual inspection.”

When Hwabu turned to Oh Gook-hwan and asked, Oh Gook-hwan nodded in satisfaction.

“Doing a final check before closing the patient up is the most basic of basics.”

“Thank you.”

Hwabu carefully inspected not only the area that Oh Gook-hwan had worked on, but the surrounding areas too before speaking up.

“It seems there are no abnormalities after re-examining, so I’ll start connecting the drainage tube and begin the suture. Drainage tube and needle holder, please.”

When Hwabu extended his hand, the nurse handed him the prepared drainage tube and needle holder.

Since the needle already had suture thread attached to it, Hwabu immediately began connecting and securing the drainage tube to the surgical site.

‘Let’s see what kind of skill made Chief Kwak spit out high praises?’

Oh Gook-hwan watched with anticipation as Lee Minho began to start closing the surgical site after the inspection.

In fact, most of the interns who applied for the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department had applied to other departments first, and then only came here with a resigned, bitter attitude after being rejected.

It was either join the cardiothoracic surgery to at least be able to stay at this prestigious S University Hospital, or go to another general hospital and practice in their desired department.

That was why cardiothoracic surgery interns often just killed time doing the bare minimum, and when they became a resident, that was when they would start taking their training seriously.

However, Lee Minho had stated his intent to choose cardiothoracic surgery even though he still has several months before having to decide on a specialty.

After experiencing unfair treatment and being stuck with graveyard shifts, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he shied away from being a cardiothoracic surgeon. But instead, he seemed charged up, which made Oh Gook-hwan want to cheer him on even more.

‘Hoho! Good placement of the drainage tube. Meticulously suturing up each muscle layer. Is this what made Sang-do spit out praises?’

Truth be told, Oh Gook-hwan hadn’t expected much despite the high praise since Lee Minho was just an intern. But his dexterity was much better than expected.

Drurrruruk. Snip. Stitch, stitch, stitch……

Shortly after Lee Minho finished suturing the muscles layer by layer and begin suturing the skin to close the patient’s stomach, Oh Gook-hwan’s went wide in surprise.

Lee Minho’s hands, which were unhurried but meticulous, suddenly began to pick up speed,

‘Th-this punk isn’t getting cocky, is he? Just because I didn’t say anything and let him be……’

There are often cases where interns overstep boundaries like this when given praise and opportunities, as if they can do anything. In such cases, you have to rein them in and give them a good scolding.