Chapter 25
"Her name is Namgung Ju. She worked front desk and she's extremely good. We worked at a call center together, but she said her main job before that was hospital administration."
Gain listened while calculating.
Running outpatient treatment and procedures on one floor had reached its limit.
Fortunately, the first-floor unit in the same building was empty.
Judging from the second floor, Gain estimated the first floor might require a deposit of around 150 million won and monthly rent around 3.5 million.
Misuk had brought her rice cakes earlier.
Gain needed to stop by that evening anyway to thank her and ask about the property.
Patients traveling in from other regions didn't hesitate to pay for detailed prenatal ultrasound examinations.
Mothers who came after reading PrettyMom's reviews willingly paid procedure fees.
The percentage of non-covered services in the clinic's revenue had grown.
Income was now sufficient.
Even the bank that financed Gain's clinic had looked at her recent sales records and proactively offered additional credit.
It was time to expand both staff and space.
Late that afternoon, the thirty-second patient needed help just to walk into the room.
She had a severe Bartholin-gland abscess.
It was swollen so badly she could barely sit or walk.
"We need to make a small incision and drain the pus. Even with anesthesia, it will hurt somewhat."
As she spoke, Gain unconsciously measured the divine power in her spring.
One drop would be enough.
If she let it flow through her fingertips, the pain could disappear even in places the local anesthetic couldn't fully reach.
The patient might stand up afterward without even realizing the procedure had finished.
Three seconds would be enough.
No.
Gain stopped herself.
There were many patients still waiting.
An emergency call might come tonight.
If someone arrived bleeding in the middle of the night, this drop belonged to that person.
As the lidocaine entered, the patient clenched the sheet.
Gain's hands remained perfect through the incision, drainage, and irrigation.
Not a single movement was wasted.
But every groan from the patient stabbed into Gain's ears.
Back when she had been a Saintess overflowing with divine power, these were sounds she'd never needed to hear.
"It's finished. You should be able to sit comfortably now."
"Thank you, Doctor. Thank you..."
The patient repeatedly bowed with tears in her eyes.
Gain's chest warmed slightly.
This patient's gratitude was deep.
Had Gain known she would feel this grateful, maybe spending one drop of divine power wouldn't have been wasteful.
Accepting the returned warmth, Gain apologized internally.
I'm sorry.
I could've made it hurt less.
She couldn't dwell on the guilt for long.
The next patient was already waiting.
It was well past eight at night before Gain finished treating the patients who had checked in during the day.
The final patient left.
Her staff went home.
Gain locked the door and hung a sign.
[Emergency Patients Only. Please Call.]
Then Gain sank into her consultation chair.
As always, she checked the spring inside her chest.
Almost empty.
She had used nearly all of it while treating forty-eight people.
At the bottom remained one final drop.
Barely enough moisture to scrape out.
The hand holding her pen trembled faintly.
I'm hungry.
When she couldn't sense the answer with her fingertips, she took pulses again.
Asked detailed questions.
Used ultrasound repeatedly when the clues still weren't clear.
With divine power, some conditions were obvious from a simple touch.
Without it, everything took twice the effort.
That was why she'd finished so late.
And now hunger hit.
Not normal hunger.
The feeling that some hollow space inside her body had been completely emptied.
The same sensation she'd always felt after overusing divine power.
If I go to the convenience store now, will they still have triangular rice balls?
Tuna mayo.
Jeonju bibimbap.
Her two favorites.
Unfortunately, everyone else apparently loved the same flavors because they were sold out almost every time she went late.
Then...
Jingle.
The bell over the door rang.
"...Um, can I still be seen?"
A woman in her mid-twenties poked her head through the opening.
No makeup.
Sweatpants.
One hand casually pressed against her lower abdomen.
"My stomach hurts a little. I think maybe I ate something bad. All the pharmacies are closed."
It wasn't obviously an emergency.
Her voice wasn't urgent.
No one could criticize Gain if she told the woman to come back in the morning.
She could send her home and go buy triangular rice balls.
"Sit down."
Gain's mouth moved before she could think.
Habits were difficult to break.
I really should hire someone for overnight duty.
"When did the pain begin?"
"Day before yesterday? It comes and goes."
"When was your last period?"
"Uh... It's been a while. I'm irregular. About six weeks?"
Gain frowned.
"Any dizziness?"
"I got dizzy when I stood up after using the bathroom earlier. But I'm dieting, so maybe that's why. Oh, and weirdly, the tip of my shoulder hurts. Why does my shoulder hurt if my stomach is the problem?"
Shoulder?
Damn.
A chill ran down Gain's spine.
When blood collected inside the abdomen, it could irritate the diaphragm.
That signal could be referred to the shoulder tip.
It was textbook knowledge.
Yet the patient in front of her was smiling.
Her blood pressure was fine.
She was a healthy young woman in her twenties.
Cruelly, young people often looked perfectly normal right until the moment they collapsed.
They didn't know either.
I need to check.
Gain thought about the spring inside her chest.
Much less than a ketchup cap remained.
I saved this for an emergency patient.
A woman in labor might arrive in the middle of the night.
Gain couldn't waste it.
She didn't even know when or how it would refill.
But what if the patient in front of me is the emergency?
What if Gain saved it because this woman looked fine, only for her to die?
"I'd like to run some tests."
"Oh, I think tests are unnecessary. Money's a little tight. I probably just ate something wrong."
The woman shook her head.
Gain stopped debating.
Something felt wrong.
"Let me hold your hand. I'll only check your pulse."
Fortunately, the woman didn't refuse that.
Thank goodness.
Let's see.
The final drop of divine power traveled through Gain's fingertips.
The woman gave an awkward smile.
Then Gain heard a silent scream.
Tsk.
Deep inside the abdomen, one fallopian tube was stretched from within.
A thin crack had already begun leaking blood.
It looked like a balloon about to burst.
Ectopic pregnancy.
Impending rupture.
"Could you do one urine test? I won't charge you for it."
"Oh. Really?"
The woman hesitated.
"It'll only take a moment."
She agreed.
Naturally, the pregnancy test showed two lines.
"I'm pregnant?!"
The woman's eyes widened.
She stammered in confusion.
She didn't look particularly happy.
"How did you know? I thought my stomach was just upset."
"I'll explain after one ultrasound."
Gain's expression was serious.
Seeing the doctor become so solemn, the woman grew nervous.
"Is something wrong?"
The ultrasound showed an empty uterus.
Then a mass appeared to the right of it.
Beneath that was a clearly visible pool of dark fluid.
Gain lowered the probe and met the woman's eyes.
"You're pregnant, but the pregnancy is outside the uterus. It's about to rupture. If it ruptures, you'll bleed internally."
The woman stared.
"If you go to a large hospital and have surgery now, you'll be fine. So I'm calling an ambulance."
"What? I just thought I had indigestion..."
"It would've been best if it were only indigestion. It isn't."
If she truly believed it was indigestion, she probably wouldn't have wandered into an OB-GYN clinic at night in the first place.
The woman's eyes filled with tears.
"Then... I can never get pregnant again?"
"No. That's not true. This fallopian tube may have problems after surgery, but the other tube is healthy."
Gain checked her watch while calling 119.
9:14 p.m.
As emergency services searched for a hospital capable of performing urgent gynecological surgery, the woman began crying.
Gain quietly held her hand.
She stood outside and watched the blue ambulance lights disappear from the alley.
Then she looked inward at the empty spring.
There truly wasn't a single drop left.
If I'd saved it...
If she'd sent away a real patient today to preserve the power for some imaginary patient tomorrow...
The woman might have gone home.
Cooked ramen.
Had the tube rupture inside her abdomen after midnight.
And collapsed alone on the floor of the studio apartment where she said she lived by herself.
Gain stopped the thought.
Instead, she took the two chocolates from her coat pocket and ate them one after another.
Only after the sweetness touched her tongue did the trembling in her fingers begin to calm.
Money or divine power...
Both exist to be used.
Gain removed her coat.
Locked the clinic.
Changed the sign.
[Out. Emergency Patients, Please Call My Mobile.]
Then she slowly walked down the market alley.
The yellow light inside Misuk's real-estate office was still on.
It was already past ten.
"Are you still open?"
Gain looked through the door.
Kim Misuk half rose from her chair with one hand resting on her property notebook.
"Oh, Director. What brings you here at this hour?"
"The rice cakes you left earlier were delicious. And I wanted to ask about the first-floor unit."
"The first floor?"
"Yes. I want to rent it. I'd like to hear the official deposit and monthly rent terms. If possible, I want to sign quickly enough to move in within a month."
"I'll ask the landlord."
Kim Misuk smiled happily.
But she didn't look well.
She wiped her forehead with the back of one hand.
Her cheeks were flushed red.
Deep shadows surrounded her eyes.
"Misuk, wait a moment."
Gain gently took both her hands.
Misuk flinched.
"Director?"
Gain checked her pulse.
Thin.
Fast.
Cold sweat lightly coated the palms.
Her fingertips were cold, but the center of her palms felt feverishly warm.
"Misuk, menopause has been very hard on you, hasn't it?"
Misuk's hands stiffened inside Gain's.
"You can tell just from my face?"
"Of course. Your chest suddenly becomes hot, while your back turns cold. You break into sweats and wake up frequently at night. You've also become much more irritable than usual."
Gain gently held her hands again.
"It's been very difficult, hasn't it?"
Misuk's entire body shook at those words.
The emotions she'd been forcing down suddenly broke free.
"...It's hard. It's really hard."
Tears streamed from her eyes.
Words she'd told no one began spilling out.
"I raised my daughter like she was made of gold, and she doesn't understand me at all. I can't sleep at night. People in the neighborhood ask me for ridiculous favors. I change clothes three or four times a day but keep sweating until everything feels sticky. It's only May. What's summer going to be like?"
She wiped her face.
"I finally went to the hospital, but they started talking about side effects of hormone medicine and it frightened me so much I just left. When my husband was alive, things weren't like this..."
Gain never released her hands.
"You've been carrying a lot by yourself."
With her other hand, Gain gently patted Misuk's shoulder.
"Come early tomorrow morning. I'll examine you and choose medication that fits your condition. There are types with fewer side effects, and there are also non-hormonal options. We'll look at them together."
"Director..."
"And about your daughter..."
Gain smiled.
"Let's deal with that slowly after your body feels a little better. Teenage girls have their own hormones making their emotions jump all over the place too. Anyone can be like that. I was the same at that age."
Gain squeezed her hands gently.
"You didn't raise her wrong."
Only then did Misuk look directly at Gain.
Fresh tears ran over the still-wet tracks on her cheeks.
Gain handed her tissues.
Misuk sniffled and blew her nose loudly.
Her gaze landed on the paperwork on the desk.
With tears still in her eyes, she said,
"I'm sorry. You came here to give me work, and I'm showing you this."
"Please look into the first-floor lease as quickly as possible."
"Of course. Who do you think you're asking?"
"And take care of your health too."
Misuk slowly nodded.
The tension left her shoulders.
"I want to go over right now and get the prescription."
"You can, but the pharmacy is closed. You'd have to come back in the morning anyway."
Misuk burst out laughing through her tears.
"You're right. I'm keeping you from going home too."
"I live in the clinic call room. Didn't you know?"
"Oh my. Oh my. Oh my!"
Kim Misuk suddenly became serious.
"There's nothing in there except a bed and one desk! How can a person live like that?"
Gain laughed.
"It's convenient for now. Let me expand the clinic, hire more staff, and get less busy first. Then I'll ask you for help."
Misuk made a decision.
She would absolutely find a good home for this doctor who lived like some kind of monk.
"The landlord wants to meet you personally about the first-floor contract. I'll explain everything next time."
