Chapter 39
The practical session began immediately.
It was far more detailed than the training at the medical conference.
They learned how to handle embryo culture dishes, how to operate incubators while maintaining the correct temperature and humidity, and the entire process from retrieval to embryo transfer.
"Even if the embryologist handles most of it, you doctors still need to understand the whole process."
During the break, the subject of highly skilled embryologists came up.
Fertilizing sperm and eggs required experience.
So did growing fertilized embryos properly.
Gain listened carefully and nodded.
"If you're only planning to offer IUI at first, you don't need an embryologist yet. But if you're considering IVF, an embryologist and a proper laboratory are essential."
Gain wrote it all down.
She also made notes about the cost of hiring an embryologist and the price of the necessary equipment.
Equipment could be purchased if she had enough money.
Finding a good embryologist was the real problem.
I want to do IVF too.
As Gain thought about it, her phone rang during the break.
It was the same number she had missed earlier.
This time, there was also a text message.
[Gain, it's me, Kim Saetbyeol. I changed my phone number. Can you talk?]
Kim Saetbyeol had been Gain's classmate in medical school and was currently working at a regional hospital.
She had also introduced Gain to a senior doctor who helped her buy some of the clinic's early equipment.
Gain immediately pressed Call.
"Hey, Saetbyeol. What's going on?"
"I heard you're famous on the mom cafés now. People line up outside your clinic in Somang City."
Gain chuckled.
"I'm just doing what I always do."
"Um... Can I ask you something kind of sudden?"
Saetbyeol's voice on the other end was lower than usual.
"Our hospital shut down the delivery unit. There was a major lawsuit last month, and after that, the board decided to remove the entire department."
She continued,
"I wasn't even involved in that case, but the job itself disappeared anyway."
Gain remembered what the doctors had been discussing earlier.
A region where a major lawsuit involving delivery had happened.
Only now did she remember that Saetbyeol worked in that area.
"...Saetbyeol."
She was a friend Gain had almost forgotten after spending so many years in the other world.
Then Gain suddenly remembered Saetbyeol's old nickname.
Bulldozer Kim Saetbyeol.
During their third year of medical school, there had been an ophthalmology professor who casually touched female students' shoulders and the backs of their hands during rounds.
Everyone knew about it.
Everyone endured it because they did not want their grades to suffer.
Kim Saetbyeol wrote down every date and every situation in a notebook.
One month later, she gathered signatures from all twelve female students in the rotation and submitted a formal complaint to the student council.
Gain had been one of them.
Unfortunately, the school did not respond seriously.
They merely gave the professor a verbal warning.
The result was terrible.
When grades came out at the end of the semester, only those twelve students had unusually low ophthalmology rotation scores.
Low enough that they might have to repeat the year.
Their grades in every other department were normal.
It was only that professor's subject.
There was no way it was a coincidence.
One lunchtime, Gain happened to go to the rooftop and overheard Kim Saetbyeol making a phone call.
"Dad. I need one favor. Just this once."
One week later, the professor formally apologized to the students.
Their grades were reevaluated.
And the professor left for a one-year overseas training program.
Only around graduation did the truth spread through the school.
Kim Saetbyeol's father was an ophthalmologist.
And not just any ophthalmologist.
He had even served as president of the Korean Ophthalmological Society.
While other professors' children constantly bragged about their parents, Saetbyeol had quietly attended school.
She was considerate.
Loyal.
And easy to work with.
"Gain, if you happen to have a position... could you hire me?"
Her voice was serious.
"I don't care if the salary is lower. I just want to keep working somewhere that still handles deliveries."
"We're planning to open deliveries soon, but we aren't doing them yet."
It would still be a while before Jaecheol could join.
And Gain definitely needed another pair of hands.
Still, one thing bothered her.
"You still haven't made up with your father?"
As far as Gain knew, after retiring, Saetbyeol's father had successfully built a franchise ophthalmology clinic in Daechi-dong.
Hadn't they fallen out because Saetbyeol chose OB-GYN instead of ophthalmology?
"Dad still tells me to get an ophthalmology board certification and join his clinic. How can we make up?"
Saetbyeol spoke confidently.
"But I like obstetrics and gynecology. What am I supposed to do? He should've given up by now."
Then she added,
"He's already contacted every hospital I might want to work at, so if you don't hire me, I basically have nowhere to go."
"I'm in Seoul right now doing infertility training. Let's meet the day I come back."
"I already submitted my resignation. I can come tomorrow if you want."
Gain chuckled.
Saetbyeol was loyal.
Smart.
And incredibly impatient.
"All right. Then come tomorrow afternoon."
"Great!"
Kim Saetbyeol ended the call cheerfully.
Gain felt a cool sensation rising near her heart.
Submitting her resignation before calling meant Saetbyeol had already decided to place her trust in Gain.
The layer of divine power covering the bottom of the small soy-sauce dish grew slightly thicker.
It had definitely increased.
Gain smiled bitterly.
If I'd known this would happen, I could've just asked Saetbyeol to cover the clinic instead of going through the medical association.
But Pyo Jinwoo had already started working.
He was an experienced doctor.
He would surely take good care of the patients in Gain's absence.
***
On the evening of the first day, Gain called the clinic.
"Everything okay?"
"Of course! Oh, but Dr. Pyo taught us how to fold the sterile drapes again. He said the way we were doing it was wrong."
"I see."
Gain nodded.
Neither Jo Eunjae's method nor Lee Seyoung's original method was actually wrong.
But it was common for a new doctor to insist on his preferred technique.
The training course was extremely useful.
Gain was able to make concrete plans about which procedures she wanted to introduce and how to perform them.
But once class ended, she inevitably started worrying about the clinic.
After the second day's lecture, Gain called again.
The phone rang for quite a while before Lee Seyoung answered.
"Sorry for answering late. Things were a little hectic just now."
