The Closed Doors of Gumyeong Hospital

A week later, just when things seemed to be dying down, Yusin’s name appeared in the news once more.

It was a theft incident. Yusin’s MVP trophy had vanished.

Because Yusin had not claimed the trophy, it had been kept in the club’s storage, but it appeared someone had stealthily stolen it.

The sole suspect claimed that they had merely snuck into the club because they were a fan of the Red Roosters, flatly denying that they had stolen the trophy.

To make matters worse, the CCTV happened to be broken at the time, leaving no evidence. The whereabouts of the trophy were completely shrouded in mystery, as if it had already been sold off somewhere early on. They said that because the suspect had thoroughly wiped away all evidence of contacting a broker for the transaction, they could not even indict them. It was bleak news.

People who came across the article focused on the broken CCTV rather than the suspect who was presumed to be the thief, hurling criticism at the club.

Yeohui frequented the fan cafe, various social media platforms, and a chat room titled ‘The Not-Lonely Gye Yusin Room,’ searching for every single post regarding the trophy.

And she examined all 127,638 search results until her eyes felt like they were going to pop out.

It was a task more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack, but Yeohui did not give up.

As a result, on a secondhand trading website, she found out about a black-market site that only those who were granted a specific access code could enter.

When she accessed the site, the private chat address of a person selling Yusin’s trophy popped up. It was a foreign messenger app that could not be tracked within the country.

A fruit obtained after combing through the internet for a solid forty-eight hours.

“Hehehe…”

Yeohui, who had forgotten about both sleeping and eating, let out a laugh of victory.

At the same time, as if it had been waiting for its owner to snap out of it, her stomach also sounded a loud rumbling horn.

However, instead of replenishing her lack of sleep and nutrients, Yeohui entered the private chat room she had discovered after much hardship.

There were many others besides Yeohui who wished to purchase it.

At the very top, a timer designated for midnight tonight was displayed. It was a system where the seller would award the item to the person who called out the highest amount up to that point once the time arrived.

Perhaps because not many people knew about the transaction yet, the highest price was not exceptionally steep.

One hundred million won. It was chump change that did not match the trading value of Yusin’s trophy, but since it was an illegal transaction, the seller also seemed to be selling it while taking this level of risk into account.

Yeohui sent a text message to her older sister, who had told her never to contact her unless it was an emergency.

Because this counted as an emergency. Even if her appendix were to burst right now and leave her rolling around on the floor, securing Yusin’s trophy was a far more urgent matter.

The conference room of Gumyeong Hospital was located on the highest floor of the main building.

A place that emerged past a heavy, soundproof door that looked like a dead end. Because it was located in a space far more secretive and closed off than the VIP wards, ordinary outpatients did not even know of the conference room’s existence.

Passing past a door that read ‘No Unauthorized Entry,’ a guidance plaque reading ‘Onsang Foundation Board of Directors Conference Room’ comes into view.

The moment one stepped into the conference room, what filled the vision was a full-length glass window capturing the entire panoramic view of the city, and the emergency room entrance unfolding beneath it. The scenery of ambulances constantly entering and exiting felt like the noise could be perceived through the eyes alone, but the air inside was strikingly silent.

Yeoun, who entered the conference room, ignored her personal cell phone that rang four times in a row from her suit pocket and took her seat.

The seats in the conference room were arranged in two rows surrounding a rectangular table, as if hinting at the tense power struggle clashing inside the hospital.

Because of that, on the surface, it appeared to be a confrontation between the hospital and the foundation, but in reality, there was no one who did not know it was a power grab between Gu Myeongil, who was at the end of his term as medical director, and his eldest son, Gu Sanghwan, who coveted his position.

Someone clicked their tongue toward Gu Sanghwan, remarking that a green young fellow was already coveting his parent’s share, while someone else whispered toward Gu Myeongil, murmuring that an old fox had nothing but greed left.

It was a meeting held amidst such a clash of interests. There was no way the atmosphere would flow amicably.

Yeoun took her seat, barely suppressing the thought that she already felt exhausted.

Her seat was on the line directly opposite Director Gu Myeongil of Gumyeong Hospital, the side where the affiliates of the Onsang Foundation sat lined up.

As she sat down in the seat where the Strategy and Planning Director nameplate was placed, Park Jeongyun, a non-executive director sitting next to her, offered a smiling greeting.

“Are you here, Yeoun?”

“Hello, Auntie.”

“I’d like to be doing well, but because of Jaeseong, there isn’t a day where I can be at peace.”

“Ah, is it because of the commotion Oppa caused in the VIP room after drinking yesterday?”

“There isn’t a thing you don’t know, is there?”

“Why wouldn’t I know? We’re family.”

Yeoun offered a bright smile and turned her eyes to the meeting materials placed in front of her.

On the cover, the words ‘Management Performance Report under the Onsang Medical Foundation’s Gumyeong Hospital’ were cleanly printed.

Before long, the problematic Gu Jaeseong, and Gu Sanghwan—the biological father of Gu Jaeseong and biological son of Gu Myeongil—entered the conference room at the same time, filling all the seats.

“I apologize for being late. The outpatient treatments ran long.”

He used outpatient treatment as an excuse, but to anyone looking, it was obvious he had just given Gu Jaeseong a harsh scolding outside the conference room before entering.

While the department heads and directors evaluated Gu Sanghwan as a good-natured man, Yeoun let out a sharp chuckle to herself.

There was no need to slice up precious time to enjoy cultural activities. Why bother when she could watch a cheap play as much as she wanted just by coming to the hospital?

Eventually, the lighting dimmed and the report meeting commenced.

Blue light poured from the screen. The nameplates on the table gleamed faintly as they caught the afterglow of the beam screen.

Every time a slide announcing management indicators turned over, the sharp lines of the graphs stood out vividly within the dim darkness.

“An operating loss of 13.8 billion won is projected for the first half of this year.”

A momentary silence flowed.

Jeongyun inquired.

“And the cause?”

“Pediatrics, thoracic surgery, and emergency medicine… these three departments account for 63% of the total loss. The deficit in pediatric surgery is particularly large.”

“63%?”

The sound of rustling paper erupted simultaneously from here and there.

Each person chimed in with a word. The opinion that it would be best to organize or downsize the unprofitable departments was about to solidify among the directors when Gu Myeongil opened his mouth.

“If we downsize emergency medicine, our designation as a regional trauma center will be revoked. The influx of severe patients will decrease, and research funds will also diminish.”

Gu Myeongil tapped the table twice with his finger.

“The same goes for pediatrics. Are you aware that the pediatric examination fee medical tariff has doubled? While other hospitals are reducing the scale of their pediatric departments or even closing them down due to financial difficulties, it would be fine for us to differentiate ourselves and compete.”

His tone of voice was polite, but ultimately it meant he could not agree to the organization, downsizing, and the restructuring included within it.

“This is Gumyeong Hospital, after all.”

Gumyeong Hospital, meaning a hospital that saves lives.

Its original name was Gugye Hospital, a small neighborhood hospital that Gu Myeongil, who came from an elite background, started as a partnership with an old friend.

The neighborhood hospital did well and expanded its scale bit by bit, and as people from other regions found their way there by word of mouth, it established itself as a symbol of that neighborhood. Making a name for himself as a renowned physician, it grew into a large-scale hospital and triumphed day after day.

That was how it had been, until it was heavily shaken a few years ago by a medical malpractice incident caused by Gu Sanghwan.

The fall took only an instant. Once a small distrust sprouted in their credibility, it spread like mold.

It was a natural course of events that the friend he partnered with broke away and departed. After losing his close friend, it even led to financial difficulties.

In the end, at the time when they were debating whether to close the hospital doors or not, the one who stepped up was Gu Sanghwan.

He possessed a justification. Since the family business was on the verge of collapse due to his own mistake, he would take responsibility.

To Gu Sanghwan, who brought along the second daughter of the Onsang Foundation, Park Jeongyun, and knelt down, Gu Myeongil granted an opportunity once more.

That was Gu Myeongil’s first mistake.

Gu Sanghwan persuaded Gu Myeongil and succeeded in a merger and acquisition with the Onsang Foundation.

Changing the hospital name, which had the image of medical malpractice deeply engraved into it, to ‘Gumyeong Hospital’ was Gu Myeongil’s condition.

Originally, it ought to have become Onsang Hospital. They might have had a difficult time with the negotiations, but the timing was good.

It was right after the authorization of the Onsang Medical Foundation. In order to eliminate their complex of being a newly established institution, the foundation was repeating mergers and acquisitions with famous local hospitals through aggressive expansion, and the value held by the name of ‘Renowned Physician Gu Myeongil’ was attractive even leaving aside the image tarnished by medical malpractice.

In that manner, Gugye Hospital was transformed into Gumyeong Hospital.

However, the vanished days of spring did not return easily.

Gu Myeongil, who became the medical director, went through all kinds of hardships while operating the hospital that had its name changed to Gumyeong Hospital.

As the scale grew, internal struggles over the increased money and honor knew no end.

The children fought, and the children’s children fought. Shouting matches occurred every single time a family gathering was held with siblings who had become worse than strangers.

Gu Sanghwan coveted the position of medical director, as if he had forgotten why they had entered the merger in the first place.

He was also hounded by the management pressure of the foundation. While dealing with a board of directors that brought up stories of downsizing at even the slightest deficit, and pressing down on Gu Sanghwan, who bared his fangs and told him to just take a rest if it was too difficult, Gu Myeongil’s gums receded, his teeth dissolved, and his hair turned stark white.

How long had it even been since he lost his old friend due to his son’s mistake, yet he even suffered the loss of a child.

Looking at Gu Sanghwan, who showed no sign of shedding even crocodile tears at his own younger sibling’s funeral, Gu Myeongil realized too late that what he had drunk was a poisoned chalice.

Taking his own mistake and crisis as an opportunity, Gu Sanghwan was holding his mouth wide open to swallow his father’s position.

With each passing day, Gu Myeongil’s internal footing diminished. As his wrinkles increased, his gray hairs increased, and his coughing increased, the shadow of Gu Sanghwan, who carried his in-laws’ house called the Onsang Foundation on his back, grew larger.

“Therefore, let us wait and observe the adjustments just a little longer.”

“But the projected loss amount is far too large.”

“It is a projected amount, is it not? Gumyeong Hospital is a hospital, not an enterprise. A hospital that rescues and saves sick people.”

Nevertheless, the reason Gu Myeongil could stand tall and hold out while displaying an opposing opinion at the board of directors in this manner was because the sales of Gumyeong Hospital occupied a proportion within the foundation’s entire finances that could not be ignored.