The emergency transport vehicle's sirens sliced through the midnight air, but inside the cabin, the only sound that mattered were the unsteady, rhythmic beep of the heart monitor tracking Do Ra-ik's pulse.
She sat in the corner of the vehicle, arms crossed over her tailored coat, her posture immaculate despite the chaotic night. She stared at the monitor not with panic, but with the cold, demanding scrutiny of a master craftsman inspecting a flawed piece of machinery.
When the vehicle pulled into the subterranean bay of Hankuk National University Hospital, the reception was instant, suffocating, and entirely predictable.
Whispering floor nurses, wide-eyed orderlies, and lingering residents stared at her as if she were a ghost returning to desecrate a grave. To them, the spectacle was scandalous: Chief Surgeon Maeng Se-na the disgraced Heiress-Surgeon currently suspended for physically assaulting a VIP was bringing the "Nation's Healer" back into the ER after he had mysteriously vanished from his private suite.
Dr. Choi rushed down the corridor, his face pale, his round glasses slipping down his nose as he gestured frantically toward the gurney orderlies were wheeling out.
"Dr. Maeng?!" Dr. Choi demanded, his voice pitching into an embarrassing squeak. "What on earth is the explanation for this?! A critically injured VIP with sternal fractures sneaks out of Room 802, and you bring him back in the middle of the night?! Do you have any idea how this looks to the administration?! To the media?!"
Se-na didn't blink. She stepped off the transport ramp, her heel striking the polished concrete with a sharp, decisive click. She scanned Dr. Choi from head to toe noting his rumpled lab coat and the scuffed, neglected leather of his loafers.
Neglected footwear, neglected discipline, she thought with her usual biting detachment.
"Save your pathetic hysterical conspiracies for the breakroom, Dr. Choi," Se-na said flatly. Her voice didn't rise, but it dropped into an icy, penetrating vibrato that instantly silenced the surrounding nurses. "I was taking an evening walk down the avenue when I found your high-profile patient collapsed near the curb like a stray cat. If your floor security spent less time gossiping over cheap, instant coffee and more time monitoring the corridors, a cardiac patient under acute observation wouldn't have walked out the front doors unimpeded."
Dr. Choi choked on his own breath, his face flushing crimson as her jab at hospital security hit its mark with clinical precision.
"Get him up to Room 802," Se-na commanded, turning to the orderlies and taking immediate, effortless control of the floor. "Hook him up to a continuous saline drip, monitor his blood pressure every fifteen minutes, and if his oxygen saturation dips below ninety-five, notify the attending on call. Don't just stand there gaping at me! move."
The staff scrambled into motion as if propelled by a electric shock, wheeling Ra-ik directly toward the dedicated VIP elevator.
Satisfied that the immediate mess was contained, Se-na turned toward the main glass doors of the lobby, intent on escaping the suffocating smell of floor disinfectant and returning to her apartment to process the madness of the evening.
"Dr. Maeng!"
A sharp, authoritative voice echoed across the marble lobby. Se-na paused, turning slowly to see Chief of Cardiac Surgery marching toward her, holding a thick leather folder.
"Gyoso-nim," Se-na acknowledged, keeping her chin lifted, her eyes cool and unreadable.
Chief stopped in front of her, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses with a long, weary sigh, he was pretty irritated with her but afterall her family funds ran the department he had no choice. "I was notified by the desk the moment you arrived. I was looking for you before you left the building."
"If the board has drawn up another absurd fine for my presence on hospital grounds, send it to my attorney," Se-na replied smoothly, adjusting the strap of her designer handbag over her forearm. "I have zero interest in listening to administrative lecturing at two in the morning."
"No," Chief interrupted, opening the leather file. "Two developments occurred while you were away tonight. First, the fifty-million-won disciplinary fine issued by the ethics board was settled in full two hours ago via a certified cashier's check."
Se-na's throat tightened slightly. The image of Ra-ik standing at her apartment doorway, holding out that exact check with dark, burning eyes, flashed through her mind. She forced her expression to remain absolute stone.
"Second," Chief continued, "Mr. Do Ra-ik submitted an official legal affidavit through his personal representative before his unauthorized departure tonight. He explicitly stated that he holds no grievances against you, that your physical actions in the ER were necessary emergency measures to restore his heart rhythm, and that he refuses to support any civil or professional charges against your license."
Se-na stared at the Chief. Underneath her immaculate armor, a sharp pulse of indignation flared. The arrogant bastard, she thought, her mind racing. He cleared my name before he even dragged his broken body to my door.
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