YBD 34

Chapter 34

Maybe it was because of last night’s festival—many drunk people were brought in during the night.

Most of them were discharged and sent home by morning, but a few were still in inpatient rooms getting IV fluids.

As Yeonwoo finished handover and was walking out of the nurse station, she spotted Jiwoong dozing off against the counter.

“If you want to sleep, go inside. I’ll watch things here.”

She nudged Jiwoong’s arm to wake him, and he immediately straightened up like he hadn’t been asleep at all.

“I wasn’t sleeping.”

Even though he had been nodding off like a sick chicken just moments before.

“Yaaawn, but I am tired. I think I overdid it yesterday. And I have to go again today. You know that chili pepper contest I told you about? It’s today.”

“Hope you win first place again this year.”

“Thanks. Huaaahhh…”

Stretching and yawning, Jiwoong loosened up his body while Yeonwoo looked toward Sajun, who was talking to the head of surgery in the distance.

Even though he was the same age as her brother, Ikwon, he somehow looked younger.

Watching him with both hands in his coat pockets, speaking seriously, Yeonwoo couldn’t help but smirk slightly.

Maybe it was the lingering closeness from the previous night’s festival.

Yeonwoo quickly forced her expression back into a neutral one.

And yet, her gaze kept drifting back to Sajun.

“Who are you staring at like that? Can’t be the department head… Is it Dr. Beom?”

Jiwoong sidled up to her, whispering teasingly.

“Weren’t you going to go take a nap?”

“Work comes first. Anyway, Ryu Yeonwoo…”

Jiwoong narrowed his eyes and looked at her as if he had a lot to say.

What now?

“…What?”

“I heard something weird from old man Bae yesterday. I ran into him at the town festival.”

“W-What did he say?”

She had briefly run into old man Bae at the festival yesterday. They exchanged quick greetings and passed by. What had he said?

“You went to the chili pepper festival, right? With Dr. Beom?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah, I did. It was my first time, and we just stopped by on the way home.”

Yeonwoo felt guilty for turning Jiwoong down when he’d asked her to go with him, so she couldn’t even meet his eyes properly and mumbled her words.

“So… what’s your exact relationship with Dr. Beom?”

“What do you mean, ‘exact’? You know what it is.”

Her heart pounded—was her crush on Sajun that obvious?

“I didn’t know you were such an ambitious person.”

What was that supposed to mean?

“I’m not. I don’t have any ambition.”

Yeonwoo looked genuinely confused.

If she’d been ambitious, she wouldn’t have come to this countryside hospital in the first place.

She might have stayed at the main hospital and stubbornly hung on.

“You’re full of it,” Jiwoong said, nudging her shoulder.

Yeonwoo staggered slightly from the push and stared at him, not understanding his strange behavior.

It was a bit unsettling.

“You know Dr. Beom is the hospital director’s only son, right?”

“Who doesn’t know that?”

Still, it was a bit much to assume she was ambitious just because of that.

“Did you know he’s also the grandson of the chairman of Cheongeum Transport Group?”

“…What?”

She only knew that Cheongeum Transport was one of the main express bus companies between Seoul and Busan—she had no idea who the CEO was.

“Our hospital survives despite years of deficits, all thanks to Cheongeum Transport.”

Now it made sense why Jiwoong was talking about ‘ambition.’

Dr. Beom, the heir of a conglomerate.

Seeing her with him must have prompted these comments from Jiwoong.

“Honestly, I like ambitious people. They say dream big, right? Who knows, Yeonwoo—you might end up a chaebol daughter-in-law. I support your dream.”

He seemed absolutely obsessed with the idea of ambition and kept going on, leaving Yeonwoo flustered.

“So if it feels like things are getting romantic with Dr. Beom, just go for it. One move, bam! People’s lives can change in an instant.”

Go for it?

Me?

With Dr. Beom?

Yeonwoo didn’t know what kind of face to make and just stared at Jiwoong blankly, deciding it was best to ignore him.

“Of course, the ‘madam’—not that he even has a madam—might slap you with a wad of cash. But if that happens, just play along and take the offer. So, what do you think?”

Jiwoong looked at her eagerly, waiting for her response.

Yeonwoo was now certain—he and Seyoung would get along perfectly.

“Yeah, yeah. That sounds like a good idea,” she replied half-heartedly.

She knew there was no point in engaging. No matter what she said, Jiwoong would twist it into his own interpretation.

“Right? Right?! You really do have ambition.”

Leaving behind Jiwoong, who was now delighting in his nonsense, Yeonwoo looked back toward Sajun, standing with his calm and dignified aura.

Why did Dr. Beom become a doctor anyway?

She’d never thought about it before, but the question surfaced for the first time.

Just then, a nurse’s urgent voice rang through the ER.

“Doctor! We’ve got a stabbing victim arriving in five minutes!”

Yeonwoo immediately braced herself to receive the patient.

Sajun, who had been talking with the department head, stopped mid-sentence and rushed out of the ER.

Yeonwoo followed after him.

The sound of the ambulance siren grew louder until it finally stopped in front of the ER.

Just because it was a rural hospital didn’t mean things were quiet.

With fewer hospitals able to handle trauma surgeries, emergency cases were increasingly being diverted to Cheongbong Hospital.

Even though Sajun had joined and added to the team, the ER was still short-handed.

The ambulance doors opened and a stretcher was pulled out. The blanket covering the patient was entirely red.

Soaked in blood.

Yeonwoo swapped hands with the paramedic, climbed onto the stretcher, and began applying pressure to the wounds.

“Straight to the resuscitation room!”

Following Sajun’s command, Jiwoong rushed the stretcher inside with Yeonwoo on it.

A flurry of urgent treatment began.

The patient had been stabbed multiple times and had completely unstable vitals.

“He was stabbed by a drunk guy swinging a knife.”

Sajun explained in a low voice as he came in behind.

“There was one cardiac arrest episode during transport.”

The patient had stab wounds to the neck and abdomen. Even intubation was a challenge.

Yeonwoo finally managed to secure the airway after several attempts.

Meanwhile, Jiwoong attached monitors and secured lines in both arms.

“We’re going into surgery now. Both of you, come with me.”

“Yes, sir!”

The patient’s condition was dire, but they had stabilized his vitals just enough. If they operated quickly, he could survive.

And with Sajun in charge, Yeonwoo believed they had a chance.

“Wow, that was intense. So you were the one holding the scalpel, huh?”

Mansoo listened with amazement as Jiwoong recounted his ‘heroic’ tale.

Yeonwoo sat beside them silently, entering chart notes and writing prescriptions.

Some days, one cardiac arrest led to another—and today seemed like one of those days.

Another CPR patient was brought in later, and thankfully, they managed to stabilize him too.

He was currently in the ICU under close observation.

“I don’t get why there are so many random crimes lately. Why stab innocent people?”

“Seriously. It’s a miracle he survived. Without Dr. Beom, he probably wouldn’t have made it.”

“Exactly. Most people don’t survive en route. Did they catch the guy?”

“Yeah. Turns out he was a schizophrenic. According to the police, he just said life was too miserable, so he did it. Who would’ve thought something like this would happen in Cheongsong? We all need to be careful.”

The surgery to repair the patient’s damaged organs and stop the bleeding lasted four hours.

Yeonwoo and Jiwoong assisted, but Sajun was the lead surgeon—and he never let his guard down for a second.

He probably wouldn’t say anything, but the fatigue had to be overwhelming.

They were supposed to go to the chili pepper festival after work. Now she wasn’t sure if that would happen.

Bzzzt.

Sajun’s phone buzzed briefly.