Hua Tuo Becomes a Surgeon

Chapter 11

‘Huh?’

Oh Gook-hwan closely examined the area Lee Minho was suturing to try to find fault, but to his disbelief, the sutures looked uniform, and their depth was consistent as well, as if he had done them himself.

‘W-what is this? Looking at his hands, he’s clearly overdoing it, but how can the suturing be this meticulous? I think he’s even better than me!’

With an incredulous look, Oh Gook-hwan continued to scrutinize the area Lee Minho was suturing.

Remarkably, there wasn’t a single thing to nitpick.

Oh Gook-hwan turned his head to look at Choi Yongsoo and saw that his eyes were just as wide with astonishment.

After a moment, Choi Yongsoo and Oh Gook-hwan’s eyes met.

Sometimes a glance can convey more than words.

This was one of those times.

“Cut!”

At that moment, Lee Minho finished suturing and asked the suture to be cut with scissors after tying a knot.

“Huh? Oh! Cut!”

Only then did Choi Yongsoo realize the suturing had finished while he had momentarily zoned out, and he hurriedly cut the suture thread with scissors.

“Dr. Oh Gook-hwan, I’ve finished the closure.”

“Uh, yes, alright.”

Oh Gook-hwan hurriedly concealed his shocked expression and tried to appear calm as he carefully inspected the area Lee Minho had sutured.

‘Ho! Not only was the speed unbelievable, there’s not a single flaw to be found!’

It was perfect all the way to the end.

“Dr. Kwak was right, you have very skilled hands. The best I’ve seen from an intern.”

“Thank you.”

“Dr. Hwang, how are the patient’s vital?”

“Blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen saturation are all good.”

“Then I’ll declare the end of the surgery.”

“Yes.”

“Dr. Choi Yongsoo.”

“Yes, sir.”

“After transferring the patient to the recovery room, contact the family once the anesthesia wears off.”

“Understood.”

“Ah, and just in case Dr. Lee Minho changes his mind, take good care of him so he doesn’t.”

“Huh? Ah ha! Yes, of course. Don’t worry.”

“Well then, good work everyone.”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

Oh Gook-hwan patted Lee Minho on the shoulder and left, while Choi Yongsoo continued to marvel at the area Lee Minho had sutured.

“Ancho… no, Dr. Lee Minho, what’s gotten into you? You seem to be better today than when you sutured the artificial skin yesterday.”

“It’s been a long time since I did it, so my hands may have been a bit rusty, but is it okay?”

“It’s been a long time? When have you ever sutured an actual patient before?”

As Choi Yongsoo gave him a confused look, Hwabu realized that he had unconsciously answered while thinking of his past life as Hua Tuo and hurriedly made up a plausible excuse.

“N-no. I meant it’s been a while since I’ve done sutures in general.”

“Oh! I thought you showed off your skills while rotating in other departments.”

When Choi Yongsoo lightheartedly teased him, Hwabu gave an appropriate response without revealing anything.

“Don’t be tempted by NS or GS later on. You clearly said yesterday that you’d apply to our department.”

“Don’t worry, unless something really special happens, I plan to apply to CS.”

“Even if something crazy happens, don’t go and choose our department. From now, I won’t bother you and will treat you well.”

“Hahaha, really?”

“Hey! I’ll even buy you something delicious.”

“What are you going to buy?”

“What do you want to eat?”

“Grilled eel.”

“What! Ee, eel? This crazy… Alright, forget it. If you’re going to switch to another department, then just go!”

Choi Yongsoo’s face crumpled, and Hwabu laughed inwardly.

‘Well, I guess not. I was trying to give you some leeway, but… you’re still hopeless.’

***

After leaving the operating room and changing out of his scrubs, Oh Gook-hwan headed to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Gook-hwan.”

At that moment, Shin Heechul, a fellow from the Emergency Medicine Department and peer, spotted him and called out to him.

“Oh, Heechul. Are you here for lunch?”

“Yeah. But didn’t you say you were going to the OR earlier?”

“I went in and came back out.”

“I thought it was a Morgagni hernia patient, and you’re already done? Must’ve been an easy one.”

“It wasn’t easy, but the surgery went very well. The intern did a good job.”

Shin Heechul furrowed his brow at Oh Gook-hwan’s words.

“What can an intern do in the OR?”

“Ah no, really, thanks to that kid we were able to finish it quickly today.”

“What did the intern do?”

“He has very skilled hands, so I let him finish up. Oh! By the way, that intern will soon be joining your EM (Emergency Medicine).”

Shin Heechul’s eyes instantly went wide.

When it was said an intern did the suturing, it usually meant just simple skin sutures, and a good intern might do a mattress suture at best (suturing deep layers of skin at once).

However, finishing up a surgery means suturing everything, from the pleura to the muscle layers and skin – something only entrusted to residents in at least their second year.

“A-an intern did the closure? Did you really let an intern do the closure?”

“Yes, he has good hands, so I let him give it a try, and he exceeded my expectations.”

“Crazy, no matter how skilled his hands are, you’re letting an intern do the closure! Have you lost your mind?”

“I was ready to stop him if he couldn’t do it properly. But he did so well that I just watched until the end.”

After hearing Oh Gook-hwan’s explanation, Shin Heechul was briefly at a loss for words.

“Wow! I can’t believe it. Letting an intern do the finish is already crazy enough, but for him to do well enough for you to acknowledge it… Just how skilled are that kid’s hands? Comparable to Choi Yongsoo’s?”

“No, he’s suturing is better than me.”

“What? Hey, what nonsense are you talking about? If he sutures better than you, then he shouldn’t be just an intern, he should be a chief resident!”

“I’m serious. You’ll see for yourself in two days. Anyway, why would I lie about this?”

Noticing the lack of any hint of joking in Oh Gook-hwan’s face, Shin Heechul gave him an incredulous look.

“You’re really saying that an intern has better hands than you? What’s that intern’s name?”

“Lee Minho.”

“Lee Minho? You mean the intern who was caught by Professor Hwang after the patient died during transfer to the OR, and ended up doing graveyard shifts in CICU not too long ago?”

“That incident was partly due to errors in your department.”

“The patient’s heart stopped in just the few minutes it took to transfer them from the ER to the OR, so it’s absurd we’re trying to pass blame back and forth. The real issue was the outrageous lawsuit from the family. Honestly, it wasn’t something anyone should have been held responsible for.”

“True, but the poor intern without any power ended up being the punching bag.”

“That’s because your department and Professor Hwang were being unreasonable. I heard he took sick leave and went on a trip abroad after the lawsuit was dropped?”

“Sick leave to rest at home you mean. What overseas trip?”

“Tsk, hey, this is a hospital. If you’re sick, you should go to the relevant department, get examined and treated.”

“He took sick leave due to mental stress, so why should he get examined? And he didn’t go on any overseas trip, so stop talking nonsense.”

“Everyone assumed he went on a trip overseas.”

“I said stop talking nonsense!”

“Tsk, alright, alright, no need to get mad.”

“And Dr. Lee Minho said he’ll choose our department, please take care of him when he rotates to your department.”

“We may not have been at fault, but since Dr. Lee Minho took the brunt of it, I’ll make sure to look out for him.”

***

While making rounds that morning, Professor Kim Joo-hyuk, a cardiothoracic surgeon, furrowed his brow looking at the neat, tightly spaced suture lines.

Not just him, but the other professors, associate professors, and even fellows usually only operate on the key areas and don’t finish them completely.

This was not only because surgeries lasting several hours were grueling, but also to give residents maximum hands-on experience with patients.

‘No matter how I look at it. this doesn’t seem like the work of a resident……’

Checking the chart, the attending surgeon was Fellow Oh Gook-hwan.

‘Did Oh Gook-hwan do the full closure himself……? Is the patient a relative or something?’

Doctors are also human beings, so they can’t help but pay extra attention if their relatives or family acquaintances come as patients.

Professor Kim Joo-hyuk assumed this was the case with Oh Gook-hwan. After giving orders to Chief Resident Kwak Sang-do, Kim Joo-hyuk moved to the next patient.

‘Huh? Did Oh Gook-hwan also do the closure on this patient?’

Professor Kim Joo-hyuk examined the second patient’s surgical site, and he frowned slightly when he saw Oh Gook-hwan’s name on the chart.

“Wait! Is this patient also a relative or acquaintance of Oh Gook-hwan?”

Even if it’s a relative, taking away residents’ training opportunities twice seems too much. He thought he should say something later.

After giving orders for the treatment of the second patient, Kim Joo-hyuk moved on to the third patient.

“Huh? Did Oh Gook-hwan finish the surgery on this patient too?”

As Professor Kim Joo-hyuk, who was examining the third patient’s wound, saw Oh Gook-hwan’s name on the chart, he frowned slightly.

Both patients had been operated on the previous day when he was off.

‘What is this! Is this patient also a relative or acquaintance of Oh Gook-hwan?’

Even for personal relations, taking away training opportunities from residents twice was too much. He thought he’d have to give Oh Gook-hwan a talking to later.

After giving orders to Chief Kwak Sang-do for the treatment of the second patient, Kim Joo-hyuk moved on to the third patient.

First, he looked at the chart and saw that Fellow Oh Gook-hwan was listed as the attending physician for this third patient as well.

After asking about the grandmother’s condition, checking her vitals, and examining the drainage tube, he saw the same meticulous sutures at the surgical site that seemed to be Fellow Oh Gook-hwan’s work.

After providing orders to Chief Kwak Sang-do for this patient, Professor Kim Joo-hyuk slowed his pace as he went to check the next patient and spoke up.

“Dr. Kwak.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Where is Dr, Oh Gook-hwan right now?”

“He was on night call yesterday, so he’s off-duty today.”

“He seems to have done quite a lot of surgeries yesterday, but he even had the night shift?”

“Professor So Yong-cheol said he had an urgent matter and asked him to cover his call shift instead.”

“I see, if that’s the case it couldn’t be helped. I was going to call him over to have a word, but I guess we’ll talk later.”

Seeing the hint of displease on Professor Kim Joo-hyuk’s face, Kwak Sang-do cautiously asked, feeling puzzled.

“Why all of a sudden? Is there an issue with Dr. Oh Gook-hwan’s orders?”

“No, his orders were fine.”

“Then why……”

As Kwak Sang-do trailed off, Professor Kim Joo-hyuk let out a short sigh before speaking.

“Judging by the suture lines, it seems Oh Gook-hwan did the full closures himself, and robbing residents of training opportunities like that is too much.”

When Professor Kim Joo-hyuk finished speaking, the tension on Kwak Sang-do’s face from moments ago relaxed.

“Ah! Professor, those weren’t done by Dr. Oh.”

“Oh, he didn’t do it? Then who did? Did you do them, Dr. Kwak?”

“No, I didn’t do them either.”

“Then who?”

Professor Kim Joo-hyuk tried to think of which 3rd or 2nd year residents might have that level of suturing skill, but couldn’t recall anyone and shook his head puzzled.

“Dr. Lee Minho did them.”

“Dr. Lee Minho? Oh, you don’t mean the intern?”

Professor Kim Joo-hyuk’s eyes instantly went wide.

“Yes.”

“An intern sutured that well?”

“Yes. He’s a very skilled friend who will be a promising prospect of cardiothoracic surgery in the surgery.”

“Isn’t Lee Minho the intern who transferred that patient who ended up dying while being transferred from the ER to the OR, and got scolded by Professor Hwang? I heard he did graveyard shifts in the CICU for a while because of that.”

“That’s the same one.”

“And that intern did those sutures?”

Professor Kim Joo-hyuk asked again with an expression of disbelief.

“Yes.”

“But what’s this about him being a promising prospect of our department? His sutures were impressive for an intern, but he hasn’t even applied to our department yet.”

“Since he was good at suturing artificial skin, I gave him a vascular anastomosis set as a test, and he was able to anastomose the artificial blood vessel flawlessly without even using a loupe. So, I asked him to apply to our department.”

“And he agreed just based on that?”

“Yes. That’s why I said he’s a promising prospect.”

Professor Kim Joo-hyuk gave an expression of disbelief.