Chapter Text
“Paging Dr. Jung to the second floor nurses’ station. Dr. Jung to the second floor nurses’ station.”
Jinsoul’s face scrunches up in confusion as she grabs her morning coffee from the hospital’s coffee cart. She didn’t have any open cases on that floor and if it was a new case, she would have been paged to the ER or the Neurology wing for a consult.
Curious and hoping it was something exciting, Jinsoul makes her way to the elevator.
It takes less than 5 steps after the elevator doors open for her to be greeted by party poppers being shot at her by the nuisances she calls her friends and coworkers. Confetti rains down on the blonde’s unamused face.
“You guys paged me here for.. what exactly am I here for?” Jinsoul huffs out in annoyance.
The shortest of the trio steps forward, her bobbed hair swaying in perfect motion as she did so. “We’re celebrating! A little early but still, it’s not everyday our best friend gets promoted to Head of Neurosurgery.”
“Yeah you’ll finally be obligated to attend those boring A&P meetings they make every department head go to each month with us now,” the redhead to her right, Vivi, says.
“Those meetings may be boring but they have the best catering,” Jungeun, who was leaning against the front desk flipping through a chart, adds as an afterthought.
Jinsoul groans. Not this again. Her friends have been pestering her about this possible promotion for weeks now ever since rumors that the current Head of Neuro, Dr. Man, was retiring first spread. They were all convinced his stepping down meant her taking his spot. I mean, sure, she had been called to Jaden Jeong, the Chief of Surgery’s, office three weeks back to discuss some changes within the Neurosurgery department. But that wasn’t a job offer. And Jinsoul didn’t want to plant false hope.
But her friends were relentless. Granted, they were mostly excited for her finally being recognized for her talents and hard work and perhaps, a little smug at the fact that their friend group would then be heading four different departments. Currently, Haseul is the Head of General surgery, Vivi the Head of ENT/Plastics, and Jungeun the Head of Cardiothoracic surgery (‘the youngest department head in all of Blockberry Medical’s history’ Jungeun would coyly add in every time). So with Jinsoul as the Head of Neurosurgery they would be, to quote Vivi’s words from one of their previous drunken nights out, “running the whole goddamn hospital”.
“Don’t you pull that face, Jung Jinsoul. You are the best candidate for that position and everyone in the surgical wing knows it. Stop doubting yourself.” Haseul speaks up again upon seeing Jinsoul’s furrowed brow.
“It’s not that, I just don’t want to get my hopes up for something that’s not even confirmed yet! I mean, the rumor about Dr. Man retiring was just gossip from the nurses. Plus, Chief Jeong hasn’t even properly offered me the job yet.”
Vivi scoffs. “Okay, first of all, you know the nurses have all the tea. Second, Dr. Man is a fossil. I wouldn’t trust that man with a scalpel anywhere near me. And neither do the patients, it seems, because if you’ve been paying attention to the surgical board, he’s been taking on less and less cases and basically dumping anything that isn’t a simple biopsy onto you. People come to Blockberry Medical Center looking for Dr. Jung Jinsoul of Neurosurgery to remove their brain tumors, not Dr. Man.”
And as much as Vivi was making sense (and feeding into her ego), Jinsoul still didn’t want to get her hopes up.
Jungeun chimes in, finally looking up from her charts. “You got the email right? About the staff meeting in Auditorium B? Chief Jeong wrote that he had an announcement to make today and I’ll bet you 3 bypass surgeries that it’s about the soon-to-be vacancy in the neuro department.”
Jinsoul hates when her friends uses logic and reasoning against her. “I… ‘ll see you guys later. I have to make rounds.”
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Jinsoul hates to admit it but her friends’ words had gotten to her. After she had finished making her rounds and checking on her post-op patients, it was near time for the staff meeting. She makes her way into the auditorium with a skip in her step and her head held a little higher than usual. It didn’t help that she was getting a lot more greetings than usual from her fellow doctors, waving, smiling, and even shaking her hand as if to congratulate her. She was buzzing by the time she took her seat next to her friends, sitting between Vivi and Haseul.
It took a few minutes to quiet down the crowd but eventually everyone settles down as Chief Jeong makes his introductions.
“Hello all. I’m going to make this as short and swift as possible because I know you are all busy people with patients and surgeries to get to. First of all, a reminder that the new class of interns will be arriving tomorrow so residents who have been assigned any should be prepared for that. Attendings as well should look to this as a teaching opportunity.”
“Oh I totally forgot about the new interns! Tomorrow should be fun.” Vivi comments from her seat.
Jungeun groans and rolls her eyes. “For the love of God Vivi, please stop sleeping with the interns.”
“Let me have my fun. You’re just jealous because you wish the interns liked you, Dictator Kim.” Vivi replies back, throwing air quotes around the dictator title. A title Jungeun had gained from the intern class three years ago for her notoriety with being a tough and unyielding teacher and has stuck ever since.
“Whatever, you’re still the worse.”
“Shhh I’m trying to listen.” Haseul harshly shushes the bickering duo.
Back on stage, Dr. Jeong continues, “Additionally, as you all may have heard, there have been rumors circulating about a vacancy in the Neurosurgery department.” The man on stage pauses as if for dramatic effect and Jinsoul finds herself holding her breath.
“We didn’t want to make an announcement before finalizing everything but it is true that Dr. Man will be retiring, therefore leaving an opening for the Head of Neurosurgery position.”
“Oh my fucking god, this is it, what did we tell you?!” Vivi nudges Jinsoul playfully but the girl sitting next to her was as still a statue.
“After much discussions and observations over these past few weeks, I have come to a decision on his replacement. I don’t believe there’s anyone more fitting and qualified for this role.” Jinsoul unconsciously grips the armrests of her seat, almost as if preparing to launch herself upwards into a standing position.
“So let’s all give a warm welcome to your new Head of Neurosurgery… Dr. Ha Sooyoung!”
“…“
“Who.”
“The.”
“Fuck?”
Jungeun, Haseul, and Vivi all say in succession.
Jinsoul has her eyes glued to the stage, watching as Chief Jeong gestures for this Ha Sooyoung woman to come closer to the center so that her new peers can see her better. She stares hard at the woman now standing center stage, unfazed by the awkward tension and scattered applause from the crowd, as she makes a brief introduction.
Jinsoul couldn’t tell what was worse. The fact that an outsider stole the job that she had been vying for and working so hard towards. Or that said outsider was the most gorgeous woman she had ever laid her eyes on.