Below, Se-na's hands stopped completely. She stood over the open chest, the needle driver hanging loosely from her fingers. She wasn't looking at the heart. She was staring at the surgical nurse.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Se-na shrieked with pure rage. She had her hand holding the scalpel, dripping with the girl's blood, against the nurse's surgical mask, the sharp blade glinting under the lights. "A... BEAD... OF... SWEAT... JUST... ROLLED... DOWN... MY... TEMPLE . . . ALMOST ...TOUCHING ... MY .... EYE!" She savored each word with a tone of utter disbelief her brow raised and eyes wide.
"D-Dr. Maeng, the patient!!!" Dr. Choi stammered, pointing at the flatline.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PATIENT!!!" Se-na blustered, her eyes wide and manic behind her goggles. "I care about my vision! This incompetent thing just let a contaminant threaten my procedure."
WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR? "DON'T YOU SEE THE SWEAT ON MY FORHEAD?!" Se-na was shouting, her voice vibrating with a dark, sharp edge. "Sweat is unhygienic; it's a contaminant in a surgical field! Dont you even know that!!! want me to teach you!!!"
Everyone drop your work!!! she cried. i said DROP IT! lets teach her the basics first!" nurse was in shock and teary eyed.
"Hold it there!!!" Se-na's voice was a whip. "If even a single tear falls here in this field, I'll hold you responsible for this whole damn thing."
" Amateurs." She turned her gaze to the gallery, ignoring the dying girl on the table towards the chief, "This is called UNPROFESSIONAL."
Then turning to the nurse she said, "If you are only here to stare at a corpse and ignore the surgeon, get out of my OR! Now!"
When the desperate nurse failed to move, Se-na let out a huff of pure disgust. She stepped back from the table, dropping the needle driver with a deafening clang. To the horror of the gallery, she reached for the ties of her surgical gown. She was undressing; clearly walking away from an open chest.
The Chief turned a sickly shade of gray, his jaw dropping while a national icon was flatlining. "SE-NAA SHII…, we will fire her! We will …please! Just... save her! We'll give you anything!"
"Anything?" Se-na let out a sharp, jagged laugh. "No. I'm bored. If I can't have a sterile field, I rather not work at all. Its not even my patient. Just declare the time of death already!"
"DR. MAENG!" The Director's voice boomed over the speakers, cracking with desperation. "Fifty million won! A private research wing! Whatever you want! Just put your hands back in that chest! Look at the monitor, loookkk!!! there's a flicker! She's still there!"
Se-na paused, her gown half-off. She looked at the monitor and then back at him as if saying, you think I don't know?
"Fifty million? Director, I spend that on shoes in a weekend. Make it an investment share in the new surgical wing, replace this whole panel present in this OR with immediate resignation of the Chief with my appointment in his place! I don't have to tell you that its for his 'unprofessional' management of this department."
The Chief gasped, clutching the railing. "You... you bitch!"
Se-na tilted her head, a terrifyingly empty smile hidden by her mask. "Tick-tock, Director. The brain cells are dying..."
"DEAL!" the Director roared, slamming his fist against the glass.
"DIRECTOR!" the Chief cried, betrayal written all over his sweating face. "You can't!!!"
"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" the Director bellowed, veins bulging in his neck. "FOCUS! START WORKING ALREADY! NURSE! Get out of that OR before I have you blacklisted from every hospital in the country!"
"Se-na, she..." the Chief started again, desperate to save his dignity.
"Chief Han!" the Director cut him off with a vicious snarl. "Arrange another NURSE! INSTEAD OF THIS RAMBLING! And then get out of my sight! This instant!"
The nurse fled, sobbing. Se-na stood there, scalpel in hand while waiting for a new, terrified nurse to run in almost instantly and frantically wipe her forehead. Only when she was perfectly comfortable did she slowly, lazily reach back into the girl's chest.
Fifteen minutes later, the heart was back in rhythm, thumping with mechanical regularity. Se-na didn't offer a word of relief. She stepped back, her hands perfectly clean, looking down at the body like it was a piece of trash she had successfully recycled.
"She's... she's back," Choi breathed, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and pure horror at the woman beside him. "You saved her... but you almost let her die just to fire the Chief?"
Se-na didn't respond to him. She slowly looked up at the gallery.
She looked at the Chief, who was clutching the railing, looking pale and faint, perhaps secretly wishing the patient would die just to spite her and making her go down with him. Then she looked at the Director, whose color had returned as he watched the hospital's stock prices mentally skyrocket as soon as the news hit the media.
Se-na's eyes crinkled. She was smiling.
"It was a joke, by the way, Director," she said lightly, her voice airy as if innocently unaware of the gravity of the situation.
.
Enjoy next chapters ahead for FREE at patreon.com/accuscripter