Chapter 70: Second Year (2)

“Yes. Thank you for bringing it.”

Suhyuk received his own room as he was invited to present at the conference rather than attending as a resident doctor. Additionally, thanks to Lee Hyunjong’s extra funding, Suhyuk had quite a spacious room. It was large enough for three or four people with both heated flooring and a bed.

“Wow… As expected of someone treated like a professor already.”

In reality, other residents might view this as preferential treatment, but An Dae-hoon simply admired Suhyuk’s status.

“No, it is just because I am presenting.”

Suhyuk tried to downplay it, but this only fanned the flames. The others, who were quiet until now, became excited.

“Wah, your presentation is today!”

“How did you come up with that idea?”

“A bacterium found in drowning victims…”

“I still get chills…”

It was almost like being part of a fan club. For Lee Suhyuk, this atmosphere felt incredibly awkward. He had never been particularly popular during high school or university.

“The food here is delicious.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m eating with Professor Lee Suhyuk. It melts in my mouth.”

This atmosphere persisted even after the food arrived. Despite not ordering any beer due to its exorbitant room service price and his own lack of interest in alcohol, their enthusiasm remained unchanged.

“It is slightly annoying. When will you start your self-study?” Baruda initially enjoyed the situation, but now he began showing signs of irritation.

I need to put an end to this. My ears might burst.

Suhyuk felt similarly, or even more so than Baruda. There was no reason for Baruda to respond individually to each message, but it wasn’t the same for Suhyuk.

“Alright, let’s put these outside first.”

As soon as he pushed the empty dishes out of the room, Suhyuk decided to reveal his true intentions.

Slam!

Despite the forceful door closing, the four prospective freshmen, who had been effusively praising Suhyuk, didn’t pick up on the change in atmosphere. In fact, one of them muttered about how impressive it was. It seemed they were almost brainwashed like followers of a religion, which fascinated Suhyuk since he had never experienced such adulation before.

“Well, it’s getting late now. I want to study. Would you like to join me?”

Suppressing his incredulous feelings, Suhyuk looked at the four prospective freshmen.

Finally, Suhyuk looked out of the window with a hint of regret on his face. A large slope was visible where all the other first-year trainees were located at this moment, except for these four individuals. Well, they might have moved to the dinner location by now. In any case, there would be no one studying among them.

“It’s…an honor.”

Of course, there were people who genuinely enjoyed studying. An Dae-hoon was one such individual, appearing thrilled about the opportunity to study with Suhyuk.

‘Is he crazy?’

[Baruda: “I appreciate your enthusiasm. I had to force Suhyuk to study.”]

Suhyuk ignored Baruda’s snarky comment and took out his laptop. Lee Hyunjong had generously purchased it for him, ensuring it was lightweight yet high-performing. Additionally, Hyunjong had gifted him a compact beam projector to practice lectures.

Suhyuk connected it to a projector and aimed at the wall. The folders containing his study materials, patient information, and presentation data appeared on the screen.

“Wow.”

Unlike the others with their gloomy faces, An Dae-hoon’s eyes sparkled brightly. However, Suhyuk felt a pang seeing Dae-hoon’s bald head shining even brighter than his eyes.

In any case, Suhyuk swiftly opened one of the files he had organized. It was an incredibly massive file, exceeding 100 MB despite being just a Hangul document.

Loading…

After a brief loading moment, all the patient cases Suhyuk had diagnosed since March popped up on the screen.

“T-this is…”

“It’s my first year of records. I removed cases that were too straightforward, but included all diagnoses with overlapping symptoms.”

“Wow… This…this is invaluable.”

Taehwa Medical Center did not limit interns to only intern tasks. Even during emergency room rotations, they allowed participation in the diagnostic process. Consequently, the interns gained a basic understanding of their roles as doctors.

Thanks to this approach, An Dae-hoon was not the only one captivated; his friends’ eyes also sparkled with interest.

“The symptoms…the medical history…and even the reasoning for diagnosis… When…when did you manage to organize all this?” An Dae-hoon, being the most enthusiastic, read every detail Suhyuk slowly scrolled through, expressing his admiration.

It contained detailed information on how Suhyuk examined the patient and his thought process leading to the suspected illness.

‘I almost died while working on this.’

[Nonetheless, my algorithm has significantly improved thanks to your efforts.]

‘And…there’s more work to be done?’

[Of course.]

‘Hah.’

Just thinking about it made him sigh due to its sheer difficulty. However, the rewards were abundant. The algorithm was now even more refined than when he diagnosed Scedosporium. Although his lack of clinical experience and background knowledge still posed challenges, time would gradually address these issues as Suhyuk continued to study independently.

“I will send this to each of you via email, so please study it. If there is anything unclear, feel free to ask me before midnight since I won’t be sleeping.”

Initially, when creating these materials, Suhyuk’s sole purpose was to enhance his diagnostic algorithm and improve his own skills - a personal endeavor. However, upon entering his second year as a resident and mentoring juniors, he realized they could also serve an educational purpose. Although limited by the absence of artificial intelligence among his peers, these resources still provided more practical knowledge than standard textbooks available in the market.

“Wow… can we really have this for free?”

The first-year residents immediately recognized the value of these materials. Even reading just one case felt as vivid as personally examining a patient.

“I have one condition.”

“Condition…?”

“Firstly, I will give you the March materials. Let’s meet next Saturday at 10 AM in the hospital. Based on your understanding of the material, I’ll decide whether to provide April’s content.”

“Oh…”

In other words, if he didn’t study, he wouldn’t receive further materials.

‘On the flip side, does this mean that by studying diligently, I could become Lee Suhyuk-sensei’s protégé…?!’

An Dae-hoon gazed intently at Suhyuk, whom he deeply admired. Honestly, he was aware that Suhyuk had never mentioned having a protégé before, but he couldn’t help indulging in this hopeful thought, especially after being profoundly impressed by Suhyuk’s immense abilities.

“Y-Yes sir.”

Thus, An Dae-hoon eagerly nodded - some might even say hastily - as he wrote down his email address on a notepad nearby.

“M-Me too…”

Seeing this, the first-year residents cautiously approached and added their email addresses as well.

Regardless of how it happened, Suhyuk was currently wielding significant influence within the Internal Medicine department. Even third-year residents avoided any conflict with him. The professors also treated him exceptionally differently from others.

He excelled academically and provided excellent patient care, but above all, it was because he was the director’s son.

“Great. Study hard, and I’ll see you next week. There’s quite a lot to cover, so you should probably start today. I’ll send them over immediately.”

Suhyuk laughed heartily as he was thrilled to end his lonely life of studying alone. Except for An Dae-hoon, everyone else shuddered at Suhyuk’s laughter, but they didn’t care about it.

‘I need to study since I am in Internal Medicine.’

Some might consider this thought arrogant. However, anyone who had observed Suhyuk closely over the past year would never label him that way. Since acquiring Baruda, Suhyuk hadn’t missed a single day of studying.

“Well then, please head back to your rooms. All patients have been discharged now. Study diligently, and we’ll see each other next week.”

“Ah, yes! We will do that!”

“Yes, sir…”

Except for An Dae-hoon, the others’ voices were unusually soft.

Regardless of their response, Suhyuk closed the door as soon as they left and trudged towards his laptop.

‘Can’t I just watch one episode of my show?’

He was negotiating with Baruda.

[If you play when others play, how will you become the world’s best internal medicine doctor?]

Of course, these words had no effect on Baruda. He truly lacked any sense of empathy. Expecting such emotions from artificial intelligence might have been misguided from the start.

‘But today, there was also that presentation…’

[Was presenting considered studying?]

‘Haaah…’

Despite numerous attempts after receiving this rebuke, it proved futile each time. With disappointment, Suhyuk glanced at the folder secretly hidden on his desktop before turning his attention to another folder.

Unlike what he had shown to the first-year residents earlier, this folder contained only research papers. Moreover, these were not just any papers but ones curated by renowned experts such as Lee Hyunjong, editor of an international cardiology journal; Shin Hyun-tae, educational director of the Korean Society for Infectious Diseases; and Taejin Jo, a rising star in the Hematology-Oncology Department.

“Wow.”

The research papers from these distinguished scholars were incredibly difficult to comprehend. Due to Baru’s computational abilities being downgraded from the world’s best semiconductor chip to Suhyuk’s brain, understanding them was quite challenging. Fortunately, there was no language barrier.

‘This is tough… Molecular-level research is undoubtedly complex… It’s far from clinical work…’

[It is inevitable due to recent research trends. Clinical experience can be accumulated at hospitals, but knowledge of research must be obtained through conferences like this.]

‘Seeing this, medical research in our country still has…a long way to go.’

[It is unavoidable. Conducting one research project requires tens of billions won.]

‘Do I need to go to the United States?’

[Yes, aren’t you going there this summer? Take advantage of the opportunity to observe their approach.]

Baruda reminded Suhyuk about his scheduled training at Iowa State University Hospital in August. Suhyuk was already eagerly anticipating this trip, and mentioning it lifted his spirits even more. Having never flown before, his first flight destination being the United States felt quite exciting - how could he not feel thrilled about such an adventure?

However, there was still much time remaining before that trip.

Firstly, he had to survive March with the inexperienced first-year residents and interns.

“Huh? What do you mean? The patient was fine just now. Why is this happening?”

“S-she suddenly started gasping for air…”

“Don’t describe it like a layperson; use medical terminology. Give me your impression.”

“U-um… Dyspnea, difficulty breathing?”

“That’s not a diagnosis but a symptom… Ugh. Where is she?”