Se-na's jaw tightened. Her fingers gripped her pen so hard the plastic groaned, but she forced a cold, impeccably controlled breath through her nose.
"Leave them on the tray," she said flatly.
Neglected authority, petty retaliation, she thought bitterly, watching the nurse scurry away. Choi thinks four weeks of paperwork will break me.
Before she could sign the first file, a sudden commotion erupted near the glass double doors of the elevator bank.
The sharp, metallic click of high heels echoed against the polished marble floor, accompanied by the heavy, synchronized footsteps of three men in dark charcoal suits. Emerging from the central VIP elevator was a woman in her late fifties, wearing an immaculate cream tailored suit and holding a sleek crocodile-skin folder.
It was Secretary Han, the chief corporate strategist and primary legal representative for Do Hyun-joo's board flanked by two high-powered corporate litigators.
Se-na stood up from her desk, her clinical instincts sharpening instantly.
"Where is Do Ra-ik's suite?" Secretary Han demanded, sweeping toward the nurses' station without acknowledging the hospital staff. Her voice was sharp, efficient, and thoroughly devoid of warmth. "We are here to process his immediate medical transfer to a private corporate facility in Gangnam."
The floor nurses froze, looking like panicked deer caught in headlights.
"Mr. Do is currently under acute post-traumatic observation," Se-na said, stepping out from behind the desk and placing herself squarely in the center of the corridor leading to Room 802. She crossed her arms over her white coat, her posture radiating absolute authority. "External transfers are strictly prohibited for patients within seventy-two hours of acute traumatic resuscitation."
Secretary Han stopped, her cold, calculating eyes scanning Se-na from head to toe. A condescending smile touched her crimson-painted lips.
"Ah. Dr. Maeng Se-na," Secretary Han said smoothly, adjusting the folder under her arm. "The disgraced surgeon who assaulted our client in the emergency bay. I heard the board restored your coat... or rather, demoted you to desk clerk."
Se-na's expression didn't flicker. "My administrative assignment does not alter medical reality. Do Ra-ik suffered severe sternal trauma, multiple rib fractures, and acute hemodynamic collapse. Transporting him across the city risks cardiac tamponade, internal hemorrhaging, or suture disruption."
"That is no longer your concern, Dr. Maeng," one of the litigators stepped forward, pulling an official document from his leather briefcase. "We hold broad medical power of attorney executed by Mr. Do Hyun-joo. Furthermore, the family has formally revoked this institution's authority over his care. Step aside immediately."
"Power of attorney?" Se-na let out a quiet, sarcastic scoff, her voice dropping into an icy vibrato that silenced the whispers at the nurses' station. "The same family proxy that attempted to enforce a fraudulent, duress-signed DNR while he was actively flatlining on my trauma table?"
Secretary Han's composure cracked slightly, a sharp glint of annoyance flashing in her eyes. "Watch your tongue, Dr. Maeng. Slander against the Do family will destroy whatever remains of your family's social standing and your medical license."
For a second, the corridor hung in silence and then, a low, genuinely amused chuckle escaped Se-na's lips.
To threaten the Maeng family with social annihilation was like a provincial mayor threatening an international dynasty. The Do conglomerate was formidable, but compared to the sheer, global financial clout of the Maeng empire whose corporate donations bought entire university hospital wings without blinking Secretary Han's threat was utterly hilarious.
A cold, wicked smirk touched Se-na's lips as she tilted her head with supreme condescension.
"Destroy my family's social standing? Guess you don't know who you're talking to," Se-na murmured under her breath, her voice dripping with arrogant mockery. "Your entire board couldn't even buy out my own pocket change, let alone touch our name."
Secretary Han's eyes narrowed into slit-like daggers. "What did you say?"
Se-na instantly caught herself. Realizing she was letting her inner rich brat leak out in front of the floor staff and legal team violating the precise clinical discipline required of her she quickly stifled her chuckle, cleared her throat with a polite, artificial cough, and adjusted the crisp collar of her white coat.
She composed her face into a picture of strict, unyielding medical authority.
"I said," Se-na replied smoothly, her voice dropping back into an icy, dry, and impeccably formal register, "that I am stating verified medical and legal records. The legal affidavit submitted by Do Ra-ik last night explicitly revoked all third-party medical proxies. He is a legally competent adult who has designated himself as his sole medical decision-maker. Unless you have an emergency injunction signed by a magistrate within the last twelve hours, you are currently trespassing on a restricted VIP wing."
The lawyer opened his mouth to issue a counter-argument, but Secretary Han held up a gloved hand, cutting him off.
"You speak with immense arrogance for a woman sitting at an outpatient desk," Secretary Han murmured, leaning in closer to Se-na. "Do you truly believe you can shield him, Dr. Maeng? Do Ra-ik is an asset belonging to the family conglomerate. A broken, defective tool that will inevitably be discarded."
"Then discard him somewhere else," Se-na snapped, her eyes flashing with pure, unyielding disdain. "Because as long as he is breathing inside Room 802, he is under my clinical jurisdiction. And security will escort you out of this lobby in two minutes if you take another step down this hall."
The standoff hung in the air like a taut steel cable.
Before Secretary Han could utter her next threat, the heavy dark-wood door of Room 802 swung open with a soft, resonant thud.
Do Ra-ik stood in the doorway.
He was leaning heavily against the wooden frame for support, his dark hair messy, his navy hospital shirt unbuttoned at the throat, and an IV pole clutched tightly in his right hand. Though his skin was pale and marked by profound physical exhaustion, his tall, imposing shadow dominated the entire corridor.
His dark eyes swept past the litigators, landing with cold fury on Secretary Han.
"Secretary Han," Ra-ik rasped out, his deep, gravelly voice cutting through the corridor. "Did my father send his cleanup crew so quickly?"
Secretary Han instantly shifted her posture, bowing her head slightly with practiced corporate deference. "Mr. Do. You shouldn't be standing. We are here to ensure you receive private, high-level care away from... compromised public institutions."
"I am fine right where I am," Ra-ik said, his voice absolute and sharp. He looked down at the legal papers in the lawyer's hand with open disgust. "Tell Do Hyun-joo that if he wants me moved, he can come drag my body out of this hospital himself."
He shifted his gaze toward Se-na, the intense fury in his dark eyes softening into something raw, profound, and spoken only between two people who had survived the dark together.
"And tell him," Ra-ik added, his eyes locked onto Se-na's guarded face, "As you can see… just now my doctor has already refused his request."
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