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"ARE you the new intern?" head doctor kim hongjoong asked. i nodded, bowing down at 90˚ in respect. the head doctor chuckled and i stood back up. he gestured for me to sit and i sat straight up on my seat, trying to set an excellent first impression.
"no need to bow to me, su ssi. i'm not that old." the head doctor said, emphasising on 'that'. i couldn't help but grin. the head doctor has a certain type of humour.
he asked me to introduce myself and i did. well, you don't know who i am, do you? i'm xu minghao, currently studying medicine and biology in seoul university, and i'm going to have an intern period here at seoul national hospital so i can gain more experience before i get out of university.
"hm, that sounds great. i'll accept you. i'll transfer you over to doctor choi. he's the head of the cancer department. i'm sure you're more interested in the biology of cancer. (in which i shyly reply "yup") you can go over now. i'm sure he'll welcome you. he'll even assign you a patient if he's feeling great." grinned doctor kim. i got up and thanked him again. i got out of his office and sighed, i've got a great feeling about this.
i went around the hospital building looking for the cancer department. eventually, i found it on the third floor. i let out a breath and knocked on doctor choi's door, in which i was replied with a soft 'yes'.
i walked in and was instantly taken aback by the sweet rose scent, with a faint scent of cigarettes, and the cleanliness of the office. not to put any type of stereotype onto anyone, but this was honestly the least i would expect from the doctor seated behind the white desk.
to say the least, his desk was messy. files were everywhere, his eyes fixed on his computer screen and his left hand spinning a pen. he looked up only when i cleared my throat, and i forced a small smile on me.
"oh! my apologies. you must be... su myungho? yes, doctor kim recommended you to me. well, hello, i'm doctor choi seungcheol. nice to meet you, yes. i, um, i really do apologise for the messiness known as my workspace." he chuckled lightly, a hand sticking up to his hair, to which i gently scrunch my nose in disgust at it, "i'll appoint you to my assistant doctor, doctor yoon. he can assign you something to do. i really do apologise you seeing this as a first impression, but i know you have potentials, kid. now off you go."
i bowed politely and when i went up, he's focused on his screen again. he groaned and took a sip from his coffee. i smiled slightly at doctor choi's actions. this must be typical for him.
i exited his office and set off to find doctor yoon's office. turns out it wasn't hard to find at all. it was just three doors down of doctor choi's. i knocked twice and a loud 'come in!' was heard from the other side of the room.
the appearance and scent of this room were completely different than the one of doctor choi's. doctor yoon's office smelt like cigarettes, with just a pint of rose, which made me wonder and looked really, really tidy. it honestly looked as if doctor yoon cleaned his room every single day.
"ah, cheol put me in charge of you, didn't he, su ssi?" i nodded curtly, and he continued, "well, i do have a patient in hand. you can accompany me to go visit him for the first few times and i'll just leave you in charge of him. i know interns shouldn't have a patient for their own, but i feel like you can handle that. plus, um, well, let's just say he doesn't have long."
my small smile dropped instantly at doctor yoon's last sentence. he doesn't have long? does that mean he's going to die?
doctor yoon smiled, a small glint of sadness hidden behind his eyes, "i shouldn't be telling this to you. we should be positive, but it's hard, su ssi. it's hard being positive and optimistic when you literally see people die every single day, especially in the cancer department. we do have to pretend that we still have hope in front of their families, but we are the ones that know the truth.
"and the truth is hard to accept, xu ssi. so that's why i'm telling you the truth. it's because i believe you can handle the truth. you can, right?" i nodded, "good. then i'll hand the patient over to you after the first few times. you can come back tomorrow at 8 am and we'll start right away. in the meantime, is it alright if you just check on some patients?"
i nodded again, grabbing some files from doctor yoon, who smiled at me, "i can already tell you're going to get along with junhui."
junhui? sounds like a chinese name, i thought. i shook my head, what are the chances, minghao?
"oh, he's chinese, by the way," doctor yoon grinned at me and told me to go on. i frowned, why did doctor yoon say that?
