Chapter 37: This First-Year Resident is Different (1)

[What could it be?]

A sudden call from the department head.

It was only natural to feel uneasy.

‘What is it?’

[No matter what, I have to turn around. The one calling is the department head, not Kim Jin-yong.]

For a third-year resident.

Especially if they weren't someone like Kim Jin-yong, who was favored by the professors from the start.

Suhyeok could have been given a hard time.

Even so, it was quite surprising.

But because of his exceptional skills, it was manageable.

But what about the department head?

He had to bow down unconditionally.

“Yes, Professor.”

So, Suhyeok quickly turned around with his cane.

He almost fell, but Professor Kim Jin-shil, who was standing next to him, grabbed his arm, helping him to steady himself.

“Ah, thank you.”

“No, sit down.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Shin Hyun-tae waited for Suhyeok to sit down properly.

[He’s holding something in his hand.]

Baruda pointed to the documents in Professor Shin's hand.

It looked like there were several thick pages.

He handed the documents to Suhyeok and spoke.

“You know, right? Tae-hwa Medical Center selects one outstanding resident from each department to send for a one-month training program.”

“Ah… Yes, I know it’s for third-year residents.”

“Right, that’s correct. Originally, it’s for third or fourth-year residents.”

First and second-year residents were essentially the department's slaves.

They had to handle everything from patient care to trivial tasks.

Therefore, the higher-year residents almost never liked it when the first and second-year residents were absent.

They would have to take over those trivial tasks, which would be very annoying.

That's why, in the past, first-year residents were given two three-day vacations, usually on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

[Why did he hand this to Suhyeok? Suhyeok is… no, a first-year resident.]

‘I don’t know either. What is this?’

Suhyeok briefly looked through the documents he had received.

There were many items that needed to be filled out.

It even required English test scores, like TOEIC or TOEFL, to ensure it wasn't for someone going to a U.S. hospital.

One notable item was the research paper section.

‘Ah, you need a research paper to go.’

As he thought this, Shin Hyun-tae pointed to that section.

“I think you could go even as a second-year resident.”

Shin Hyun-tae thought of Lee Hyun-jong's face.

- Hey, is our praise for him limited to just domestic recognition? Let's go abroad! Abroad!

He seemed to want to send him right away.

But that would be a bit difficult.

First, it wouldn't be polite to the partner hospital.

While everyone now acknowledged Suhyeok's excellence,

they needed something more objective, like seniority,

research papers,

or conference presentation records.

“Second-year… for the training program?”

“Right. Don’t tell the others. You know, only one person from the department can go. If you go, no one else can.”

As Shin Hyun-tae said this, he thought of the current second-year residents who would become third-year residents next year.

It was a bit of a pity, but they were in a middle position.

There was Kim In-sung in the third year and Lee Suhyeok in the first year, but no one in the second year.

‘Oh, there’s Hwang Seon-woo.’

A second-year resident who, for some reason, was even worse than a first-year.

Lee Hyun-jong's opinion was that it would be better to give the valuable training opportunity to the capable first-year resident rather than to the second-year resident.

When Shin Hyun-tae mentioned that the same person might go twice, Lee Hyun-jong laughed.

- What’s the problem? It’s a winner-takes-all situation. Don’t you know?

Indeed, having published a paper in the NEJM at a young age and achieving great success, he was quite arrogant.

But Shin Hyun-tae had also achieved great success.

So, he was also somewhat arrogant.

“Ah…”

“Anyway, I and the director think there’s no one else to send besides you. But if the others find out, they’ll be jealous, right?”

“I guess so.”

Actually, there was a strange atmosphere lately.

Shin Hyun-tae and Lee Hyun-jong were openly favoring Suhyeok,

and even Cho Tae-jin was saying he wanted Suhyeok to stay in the department forever.

The other residents, who had been top students until high school and were now at Tae-hwa University Medical School, the best in the country, wouldn’t be happy.

“So, let’s keep it a secret.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Do you know how good this program is?”

“Ah… I’ve only heard about it, but I don’t know the details.”

“Really? Let me tell you. Our hospital’s PR team is either doing nothing or doing too much.”

Shin Hyun-tae, joking, opened the last page of the documents he had given Suhyeok.

There were many special benefits, but Shin Hyun-tae continued without looking at them.

He seemed to have memorized them all out of pride.

“It’s a program directly sponsored by Tae-hwa Life, so it’s really generous.”

“Ah…”

“First, round-trip flights. Economy class, but fully covered.”

“Wow… America…!”

“What, you’ve never been to America?”

Suhyeok had never even been on a plane.

Seeing Suhyeok’s darkened face, Shin Hyun-tae recalled that he was an orphan.

‘Ah, right.’

He even remembered that Suhyeok had almost sighed in relief when he was injured.

‘I feel a bit sorry for him.’

Back then, Suhyeok was a headache, but now he was someone the department needed to nurture.

Life is truly unpredictable.

“Anyway, you can go. The flight is fully covered. And the hotel expenses during your stay are also covered.”

“Wow…”

“Even living expenses are provided. 100,000 won per day. Isn’t that generous?”

“Yes, yes. So, it’s almost like…”

“It’s similar to your salary. Since it’s extra money, you’ll have a lot left over this month.”

“Really, that’s great.”

Suhyeok could perfectly understand why this needed to be kept secret.

It was so good.

He was a bit worried about his English, though.

[Don’t worry about that, Suhyeok. I’ll handle the listening, interpreting, and speaking.]

Baruda confidently promised.

While he wasn’t very reliable in other areas,

he seemed to be good at English.

Artificial intelligence like Papago had made significant progress.

“But there’s one problem.”

Shin Hyun-tae, with a slightly darker expression, continued to Suhyeok, who was smiling brightly.

“Yes, Professor.”

“You need a research paper. Given your skills, it shouldn’t be difficult… but it needs to be published before you go.”

“Ah…”

The process of getting a paper published was extremely complex.

First, you submit it, and they decide whether to accept it.

The issue was that, perhaps due to pride, they rarely accepted it on the first try.

They would always ask for some minor revisions.

After making those revisions and resubmitting, you would then face a long wait.

If you were going two years from now, you would have plenty of time.

But if it’s next year, it’s quite urgent.

“I could give you a research topic, but for the Department of Infectious Diseases… it’s mostly experimental papers, which take a long time. Sometimes the results are disappointing.”

Research papers by doctors can be broadly divided into clinical and experimental papers.

Clinical papers often use facts or theories already proven by experimental papers, conducting experiments in clinical settings or using patient data from already verified treatments.

Just hearing it, you can tell that the difficulty is lower compared to experimental papers.

“So… I asked the director and Cho Tae-jin, but they didn’t have any ideas recently.”

“Ah… I need a research paper idea.”

“Right. But fortunately, Professor Kim Jin-shil is a paper machine. She’s almost a machine.”

Shin Hyun-tae looked at Professor Kim Jin-shil, who had been sitting like a scarecrow.

Professor Kim Jin-shil didn’t pretend to be humble.

“I’ve written a lot, but I’m not a machine.”

“Ha-ha. You said you have a paper that needs internal medicine data, right?”

“Yes. I’m still at the stage of writing the research plan, but with the help of a capable attending physician, I can write it quickly. I can be the corresponding author, and I can give the first author position to Resident Lee Suhyeok.”

“Right, that’s great. So, Suhyeok, you’re busy as a first-year resident, but going for the training next year will be really good for you. So, try your best.”

The department head had arranged everything like this.

Honestly, just getting an idea would be a huge favor.

But to even be listed as a corresponding author.

Suhyeok felt humbled.

“Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

“Good. Then do your best. You can go now. I need to talk to Professor Kim.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Ah, right. Suhyeok.”

Just as Suhyeok was about to leave the room, the department head called him again.

“Yes, Professor.”

Suhyeok wondered when he would finally be able to leave the room,

but he turned around.

“If Kim Jin-yong says anything, just tell him that you’re being specially cultivated by me and the director. No, I’ll send an email to everyone now. To all the residents.”

“Eh? That’s… a bit much.”

“Hey, just accept it with gratitude. The other residents are so jealous. You might get backstabbed if you’re not careful.”

Thinking about it, it was true.

There was already some talk among his peers.

‘Bastards. Thanks to me, the 100-day shift was canceled.’

Of course, Suhyeok felt extremely wronged,

but it was also an inevitable situation.

How could he stop the small-minded people from gossiping behind his back?

But at least, he was grateful that they wouldn’t do it in front of him.

“Yes, Professor. Thank you.”

“Good. Now, really go. You’re on duty, so take a break when you can.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Suhyeok bowed and left the room.

As promised, Shin Hyun-tae talked with Professor Kim Jin-shil for a while and then sent an email.

<To all department members. Resident Lee Suhyeok of the Department of Internal Medicine, a first-year resident, has been recognized for his diagnostic skills and diligence by Director Lee Hyun-jong, myself, Professor Shin Hyun-tae, and Professor Cho Tae-jin. He is being selected and cultivated as a future leader of Tae-hwa Medical Center’s Department of Internal Medicine. Please help ensure that Resident Lee Suhyeok can focus on his work in the department without unnecessary emotional strain. Thank you.>

In summary, it meant, “Touch him, and you’re dead.”

Just as the false rumor about him being the director’s son was about to fade, a stronger backer was revealed.