Se-na didn't flinch. She actually let out a dry, airy chuckle that made the hair on Joo's neck stand up.
"Six months?" she repeated, tilting her head. "In six months, the Director will have lost forty percent of his donors, Dr. Choi will be a depressed alcoholic, and that 'hero' athlete will be a forgotten memory in a graveyard. But please... DO…file the paperwork. I'd love a six-month vacation. I have some properties in Jeju I've been meaning to look at."
She stood up, walking toward him until she was inches away, her gaze cold enough to freeze the room.
"But tell me, Gyosu-nim... when you stand in front of the press to explain why you suspended the only person capable of fixing this hospital's failures, do you think they'll care about my 'tone'? Or will they only care that you let a girl die to protect the Chief's fragile ego?"
She leaned back against her desk, crossing her legs with a slow, deliberate elegance. "Humanity? Ethics? Please, Joo gyosu-nim. You sound like a first-year student who hasn't realized yet that we aren't playing house in a med-school simulation. We are in the field."
Dr. Joo stood paralyzed, his mouth hanging slightly open as the words he wanted to scream died in his throat. He wanted to call her a monster, but the cold, jagged logic of her words held him in a chokehold; he knew what happened in the OR, what the senior nurse did and that the Chief had been ready to sacrifice her, and he knew that today without her the hospital's prestige would be nothing but a hollow shell.
She held up her hands, turning them over as if admiring a piece of fine jewelry. "To me, a body on that slab is just hardware I have to repair with these magical hands. Whether they wake up and thank God or stay dead and go to the morgue... I care the same. It's just a set of cells, tissues, and organs. If the hardware is too broken, it's not my fault. If I fix it, it's my genius."
She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "The rest? That's for people like you who get paid to 'feel' things because you aren't skilled enough to actually do things. Did you forget the disaster the surgical panel almost pulled? Or should I remind you that while I was being forced into that OR, the Chief was already preparing to throw me under the bus? Please. My brain is not just for decoration. If he can play dirty, why can't I?"
"You... you arrogant brat!" Joo hissed, his face turning a dark, dangerous shade of purple. "You are only here because your father bought the building!"
Se-na laughed, a sharp, ringing sound that felt like a slap. "Exactly! Thank goodness I didn't have to remind you. And isn't that wonderful? I have the money, I have the brain, and I have the god-tier hands. You have... what? What do any of you have? A dusty book on ethics, failing skills, trembling hands, and a mortgage you can barely pay?"
She stepped closer, her presence becoming suffocating, the scent of her expensive perfume filling the space between them. "Cuss me all you want behind my back. Call me a spoiled bitch. But the next time your VIP patient is dying on the table and your 'humanity' can't stop the arterial spray, you'll be back here to beg for these hands."
She watched him huffing with indignant rage as he stumbled out, his dignity in tatters. She didn't feel a flicker of guilt. Instead, she called out to his retreating back, her voice echoing down the hall.
"And Dr. Joo? Do set the ethics hearing. I have a few things of my own to bring to the table. Arrange it quickly, would you? If I'm to be suspended for a few months, I'd rather you do it now. I don't have time to waste on paperwork."
She slammed the door shut, after time. Idiots, she murmured under her breath.
Se-na had barely taken two steps toward the couch when another violent bang rattled the door. Her blood pressure spiked, a sharp, hot pulse thrumming in her temples. She ripped the door open, her eyes flashing with a look that would have made anyone flinch.
The head nurse stood there, trembling but determined. "Dr. Maeng... it's time for your rounds. The VIP ward is waiting."
Se-na didn't say a word. She simply grabbed her tablet and marched past the woman, her heels clicking against the linoleum.
The rounds were a bloodbath of sarcasm. She tore into the nurses for the way the IV poles were positioned; she mocked a resident for a slight stutter in his report. By the time they reached the third patient, the entire team was walking on eggshells, terrified to even breathe.
She stopped in front of a first-year resident, a young man who was frantically flipping through a patient's chart.
"You," she snapped. "Why is the potassium level still unadjusted?"
"I-I was just getting to it, Dr. Maeng," he stammered. "I'm sorry, I was distracted by the…"
"I heard your father is a carpenter?" she interrupted.
The resident blinked, confused by the sudden change in topic. "A woodworker, ma'am. He has a small shop in the countryside."
Se-na tilted her head, a mockingly thoughtful expression on her face. "A woodworker. How charming. And is that why you're lazing around here? So you can make his career shine?" she said in front of the patient without any regard.
"Ye... yes?" he asked, his voice small, confused and utterly lost.
Se-na shoved the medical report into his chest with enough force to wind him, and walked away without waiting for a response. "Try to keep up. I don't like slow learners. Otherwise to go to someone else."
As she disappeared into the next room, the young resident stood frozen, clutching the chart to his chest. "What... what did she mean by that?"
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