Chapter 54: Calculation (2)

[Suhyuk published in NEJM. You made a good investment with the director’s coin.]

‘I haven’t used it yet?’

[Indeed. But this is Lee Hyunjong.]

‘That…that’s true.’

There was no funnier sight than someone referring to Lee Hyunjong as a ‘research paper machine’. He truly was a machine himself. Some of his papers were even written from scratch while sitting under a shade tent at a golf course. At that time, Shin Hyun-tae had been losing badly at golf, and he vividly recalled being overwhelmed by Hyunjong’s intellectual prowess during those moments.

[Anyway, let’s take that research paper with us.]

‘It should be on my external hard drive.’

[Good thing you organized everything properly.]

‘Yeah, if I hadn’t, finding it would’ve taken more than ten minutes.’

Until March or even April, he either deleted his research papers after reading them or left them on his computer. However, after Shin Hyun-tae asked him to write a research paper, Suhyuk started storing all his documents on an external hard drive. Even if he had the information in his head, it couldn’t serve as references for the current paper he was trying to write.

Tap tap.

With that thought, Lee Suhyuk immediately printed out the document and headed towards the director’s office. Normally, residents wouldn’t know the location of the director’s office, but due to Lee Hyunjong’s unusual favoritism, Suhyuk not only knew its whereabouts but also frequented it regularly.

“Oh, Dr. Lee Suhyuk. Please come inside. Would you like your Americano chilled?”

“Yes, thank you very much.”

Even the secretary was aware of Suhyuk’s beverage preference.

“Ah, have a seat.”

Following the secretary’s guidance, we entered another room where Lee Hyunjong was waiting on the sofa for Suhyuk. He wasn’t just idly sitting there; he was typing away on his laptop.

“Ah, that? Give it to me.”

Lee Hyunjong stopped typing and extended his hand towards Suhyuk. It wasn’t for a handshake but rather for the research paper.

“Yes, here you go.”

“Hmm… Ah. Oh… So this is from him?” Lee Hyunjong glanced at the front page of the paper and nodded as if understanding something. Apparently, he recognized the author’s name, which wasn’t surprising given Lee Hyunjong’s status as a former president of international medical conferences. In today’s terms, one could consider him the ‘influencer’ within cardiology circles. However, due to his somewhat stubborn personality, he didn’t have many close acquaintances.

“Hmmm… Yes. It is completely identical. Good. I thought of illustrating the autopsy records.”

Lee Hyunjong’s hand momentarily paused while flipping through the research paper quickly. There was an attached file containing detailed drawings of the patient’s coronary arteries and heart. The level of detail in these illustrations from a 1994 research paper was astonishingly high. Suhyuk remembered discussing with Baru about how impressive they were at that time. Considering it was before digital painting and advanced 3D graphics, the quality of these drawings stood out significantly.

“Well, after retiring, this fellow became a medical illustrator,” Lee Hyunjong muttered, answering Suhyuk’s unspoken question.

‘Aha.’

“It all makes sense now.”

As both Suhyuk and Hyunjong nodded, Lee Hyunjong continued reading the research paper. It didn’t take him long to finish.

After all, it was just a case report. There wasn’t much content. At that time, they might have thought it as a sudden change. The possibility of anatomical variation wasn’t even mentioned.

“Good. It is exactly the same. Moreover, this was published in the International Cardiology Association’s journal. This should be sufficient as a reference. Come here first. I roughly wrote the introduction.”

“Uh… Yes.”

We had been separated for only ten minutes, yet he already completed the introduction. I wondered if this made sense.

[While we were printing out the research papers, he wrote another one.]

‘I feel slightly ashamed…’

[It is okay, Suhyuk. Even if you lack some knowledge, there is always me.]

‘Is this supposed to comfort me?’

[Yes.]

‘Sure…’

Suhyuk murmured while looking at his laptop screen, “What more could you ask from artificial intelligence?”

[It is amazing.] Baruda’s words expressed admiration.

There was almost one side of an A4 paper written entirely in English.

[Perfect grammar and appropriate word choice. It is the pinnacle of writing an English research paper.]

‘Ha…’

[Don’t worry, Suhyuk. I am interpreting everything for you.]

‘That’s true… Hmm. The content is good too.’

[Yes. There is no doubt about his expertise.]

In the past, Suhyuk would have spent considerable time just deciphering the English sentences. However, now with Baruda providing real-time interpretation, it significantly reduced the time needed. His understanding was comparable to that of a native English speaker.

“Indeed, since Professor Shin is well-versed in coronary artery anatomy, it seems like a perfect introduction.”

Suhyuk barely glanced at the screen before turning back to Lee Hyunjong within a minute. This was quite unexpected for Lee Hyunjong as Suhyuk had previously mentioned his weakness in English. Of course, he didn’t hear this directly from Suhyuk but read it in his application form.

“You’ve already finished reading?”

“Yes.”

“Your comprehension is impressive! You said you weren’t good at English.”

“I am studying English because I need to attend training abroad.”

Upon hearing Suhyuk’s response, Baruda muttered something about him being “a fraud surpassing even the director,” but Suhyuk showed no visible reaction.

“Well…anyway.” Recovering from his surprise, Lee Hyunjong tapped on his laptop.

“Let’s leave it here. The abstract is… like this.”

At first glance, he seemed to be randomly typing on the keyboard.

‘Is he crazy?’

[The sentence cannot be deleted.]

It was reminiscent of someone writing effortlessly with a single stroke. Although Suhyuk thought Baruda was aimlessly tapping away, not a single word needed to be removed from the text appearing on the screen. However, unlike what Suhyuk had seen earlier, the content wasn’t detailed but rather summarized - akin to an abstract.

“You can flesh this out and add the results and discussion sections.”

“Oh… So we’ll use this as the abstract?”

“Yes, that’s right. The deadline for submission is probably approaching soon, isn’t it? I’ll handle the submission since our hospital is leading this project anyway.”

“Understood, Professor. By when should I provide you with my part?”

Generally, after completing experiments and data analysis, it would take about a week to write a research paper. This was precisely the situation now. Although I felt like we were rushing by writing a research paper based on just one case…

In any case, Suhyuk anticipated finishing within a week as he looked at Lee Hyunjong.

“Well. Should we start writing here?”

However, Lee Hyunjong transcended human capabilities in some sense.

“Are you crazy?” Even Baruda, aspiring to be the world’s best artificial intelligence, was astonished.

‘Does he mean that seriously?’

[Based on facial expression analysis… It doesn’t seem like a joke.]

‘Oh damn. Is it possible?’

[I will analyze if it is feasible. Please give me 5 minutes.]

‘5 minutes. Understood.’

Originally, Baruda could have provided an instant response, but…

Currently, most of Baruda’s computing devices lost during the explosion were temporarily using Suhyuk’s brain. As a result, the types of information that could be processed increased significantly, including sensory data from five senses, but the speed had decreased considerably. Both Suhyuk and Baruda became accustomed to this reduced speed over time, so it no longer caused much inconvenience.

In any case, Suhyuk cleared his throat and turned towards Lee Hyunjong, aiming to fulfill Baru’s request for stalling five minutes.

“Ah, by the way, Professor.”

“Yes?”

“It’s about the research paper with Professor Kim Jinsil.”

“So sudden?”

Given the abrupt nature of the request, Suhyuk could only think of limited topics to discuss.

“Brought up a research paper while writing one…,” Baruda continued grumbling.

“Yes, I’d like your input on some matters. From my perspective, Dr. Lee, you might have more insights…”

“Ah… Indeed, I have more experience and am smarter. Right?”

Fortunately, Lee Hyunjong didn’t think it was strange. His boasting just annoyed Suhyuk. Of course, Lee Suhyuk genuinely believed that Lee Hyunjong was a genius, so he wasn’t as affected as Shin Hyun-tae had been earlier.

“Yes, Dr. Lee.”

“Okay. Go ahead.”

“Well… It isn’t actually about the heart.”

“That’s fine. I roughly understand.”

If anyone else said this, they would be considered crazy. However, Lee Hyunjong truly was such a person. He had a general understanding of most medical fields.

“You know about the high-frequency treatment for liver cancer, right?”

“Oh… Yes. It is often used. The liver is quite resilient.”

Originally, burning cancerous tumors was extremely dangerous as living cancer cells could spread to other areas during the process, causing artificial metastasis. However, there were exceptions for certain types of cancers, including liver cancer.

“Still, doesn’t it sometimes cause metastasis?”

“There have been reported cases.”

“So I will create a mass containing radioactive isotopes using pig’s liver similar to a cancerous tumor.”

“Oh… Continue.” Lee Hyunjong showed interest like a true scholar. Despite this being unrelated to his field, he displayed curiosity, making him quite unique. Yet considering his status as one of the world’s top experts in his domain, it also showcased his exceptional intellect.

In any case, Lee Suhyuk’s mouth curved upwards as he felt relieved.

“After irradiating that mass with high-frequency waves, I want to check if there is any radioactive isotope spreading from it to other parts of the body.”

“Aha… Then you can know whether there is metastasis or not? This is interesting. It seems like an experimental research paper. By the way?”

“I am unsure if it should be done on a living pig or just using a dead pig’s liver. If we choose the former, it will cost some money…”

“Ah. Wait a moment.” Lee Hyunjong became excited, thinking this could be both fun and meaningful for a research paper.

Meanwhile, Baruda sent the analysis results.

[There is quite a bit of textbook data regarding coronary artery anatomy, so I can immediately write it up.]

Fortunately, it was a positive sign.

“It would be more accurate to use a living pig rather than a dead one.”

“I think so… Professor Kim Jinsil or myself don’t have any research funds…”

“Yes, it would cost quite a bit.”

Research pigs couldn’t be just any pigs. It was necessary to eliminate variables.

“Hmm.” Lee Hyunjong briefly pondered before nodding his head. “Ah, forget about it. Use my research funds. I’ll be listed as the second author. That’s fine.”

“Ah…really?”

“Indeed. Isn’t this an interesting research paper? If it helps, that’s great.”

“Thank you…thank you very much.”

“No problem. By the way, when do you plan to use it?” Lee Hyunjong’s expression turned slightly sharp again. This was the face he wore when discussing his lifelong field of study rather than dabbling in another area out of curiosity.

Seeing this, Suhyuk confidently replied, “Immediately.”