The baby girl stared at Jung grumpily. She knew, Jung thought with amusement. She’d experienced the needle before, and no amount of cutesy facial expressions and silly dancing from the adult would distract her from the discomfort she knew was coming.
Sighing, Jung Hee asked the worried mother if he could carry the little girl for a moment. Meanwhile, he hid the vaccine injection in his borrowed scrubs and showed that his arm had nothing before he carried the little girl and danced with her a little. Jung knew he needed to finish this quickly because a quick scan of the clinic’s tiny reception room showed that it was getting filled up. He didn’t know why, but the clinic was getting busier and busier every time he came in to work.
The truth is, he didn’t mind. He is used to hard work, and the work itself is rather interesting to him. So he danced a little bit, but the baby girl used her chubby arm to keep herself at arms’ distance from him while still looking at him with suspicion. The baby girl’s look seems so similar to Eun Mei’s expression when he is near her. Jung’s smile widened at the thought. What is it about me that pretty little girls always find me suspicious? He thought with amusement.
When the baby lessened her guard, Jung suddenly raised his right hand up right next to the baby’s left ear and snapped his fingers twice. His snap was both loud and, well, snappy. He quickly placed his snapping arm back on the baby’s bottom to support her, just as she turned to investigate the sudden noise. Jung’s other hand came out from the other side with the vaccine needle and quickly but gently jabbed the needle in the baby’s thigh muscle. He decisively pushed the medicine in and then pulled it out in barely 2 seconds. The girl swiveled her head quickly back to the sudden sting but found nothing. Jung slapped a cotton band aid in the sight and smiled at the girl as she glared at him.
The girl suspected that the young man had done something, but she didn’t know what. And then her lower lips started to tremble. Jung saw it with alarm, and before she could wail, Jung placed a finger across her lips and started to vibrate her mouth as she opened it.
Brrrbbrrrbbrrrbbrrrbrbrbr!
The baby girl was shocked as she stared at the delighted Jung Hee. She tried to shout-cry again, and Jung was ready to vibrate her lips once more.
Brrrbrrrbrrrrbrbrbrbrrrr!!
The little girl was so frustrated that she suddenly raised her chubby fist and smacked it right into Jung’s nose. That is when the baby girl shouted her triumphant battle cry, “Aguuuhhh! Buu buu! ”
“Oww!” Jung shouted, incredulous.
Jung Hee could have sworn the baby’s face grew into a smug smile of satisfaction after seeing his face. The mother’s face was a mixture of concern, embarrassment, and awe of her baby when she took her back. Then she said her awkward goodbye before leaving and practically jogging away from the clinic.
Other people inside seem to see Jung Hee as this Chibi with big, adorable eyes, ready to cry while still holding his nose. I hope you get itchy rashes when you next poo, Jung thought darkly to the retreating baby.
The girl can punch.
“Next! ” Jung said irritably, and the patient line moved ever so slowly.
Then the mother and daughter are replaced by an older, grouchy man who muttered something when Jung greeted him. Jung recognized him as one of the regular locals who frequent the clinic. Jung proceeded to check his chart and asked what Jung could do for him.
“You can help me by bringing the actual doctor here! ," he said with a snarl. “Am I so unimportant that I have to deal with a kid like you all the time? ”
“Everyone has to deal with the kid, grampa. I’m the gatekeeper around here," Jung said amiably as he continued to write updates on the patient’s file. “So, what happened? Is your headache coming back? Or is it your back? Winter is coming, and muscle aches are common during the cold nights.”
“It’s the back of my neck. It gets stiff and painful, and then after a while, it is just numbed. But then I also get woozy and tired after.”
Okay, that is not good, Jung thought worriedly. Instead, Jung simply nodded and smiled. "I got it; I’ll inform the doctor right away. Meanwhile, just fill out this form and then take off your shoes. I need to record your weight on that scale.”
Jung offered him the form and a pen before leaving him for a while near a table chair. He absently admonished the mothers waiting to tell them that this is not a playground and they should reign in their rowdy children inside the clinic.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Jung knocked on the office door and noticed the doctor was still talking to the last patient he sent there. He gave her a signal that he needed to talk to her, and she nodded while continuing to give information about the prescription she is giving her current patient.
Meanwhile, Jung stored the five blood vials he collected from the previous patients and stored them in the proper bin so that they would be taken later and analyzed in the next town’s medical laboratory. Just as he finished, the door to the doctor’s room opened, and the doctor said goodbye to the last patient.
Then Jung jogged towards his boss and explained the situation of the next patient. First, he gave the readings he got, then his interview and what the patient said. He gave additional information, such as the pain in the leg the patient had last time he was here and that it happened again three days ago while he was at home.
Jung never presumes that he knows what he knows. And Doctor Soyeong understood this. JUng was good at collecting relevant data and she is the one who put it all together. “You think there is a possibility of a pulmonary embolism if we continue with the coagulant? ”
Jung looked her in the eye and shrugged. “ I think it is something you should be aware of when you are dispensing new medicine to the uncle,” Jung said.
She thought about it, then she nodded and smiled. “Thank you, Jung Hee. You are really getting good at this,” she said, and Jung smiled at her in appreciation. Jung was about to go back to the reception area when she said, “If you ever decide to become a doctor, tell me, and I’ll give you a glowing recommendation.”
Jung hesitated for a moment and looked at the doctor. The very thought made Jung raise his eyebrow. And then he actually thought about it some more. Even before his brain analyzes the suggestion, his head is already shaking. "Thanks, doctor,” he said with a sad smile. “That means a lot. But I will never have the money to pay for that kind of college course. Knowing my family’s financial status, I should aim for something more... practical.”
The doctor stared at him for a moment and was about to argue, but then she nodded slowly, almost to herself. It is a sad fact, but not everyone in the country can just pursue their dreams; sometimes responsibilities get in the way. “Even so, the offer remains. You should think about it.”
“I will, doctor unnie. Now the patient? ”
“Thank you, Jung Hee,” she said. “Call him in.”
Jung did so. He went out and called the next patient in line. Jung just gave the doctor additional information for her consideration.
“It’s about time!" the old man harrumphed. Jung just smiled and helped the patient over to the doctor’s room. “If I die of old age waiting there with all those noisy kids, are you going to compensate my family?! ”
“Maybe,” Jung said affably. “But now, we will never know.”
The doctor welcomed the patient and guided him inside her office, then looked behind the patient and nodded to Jung. Then she closed the door. Jung wondered if the doctor would prescribe a regular dosage of aspirin or maybe something stronger. Since it is not yet a critical issue, she will probably issue the aspirin and ask him to come back by next month. That is just enough time to monitor the patient.
For the next 3 hours, Jung took names and other vital information; he recorded patients pulse and heart rate, their height and weight, and then took blood samples.
Jung then announced that the blood results will take about 2 or 3 days, and they need to bring their receipt to get the result. Meanwhile, Jung advised them what they could do in the meantime while waiting: mostly get some rest and not eat too much sugar. The last one is almost a joke since none of the peasant population has extra money to buy sweets of any kind.
Jung Hee returned back to the lobby, still concerned about the last old man who wobbled out of the clinic, when one of the uncontrollable kids suddenly bent over and barfed his breakfast on the marbled floor.
There were gasps of surprise and dismay from the mothers, but Jung automatically quieted them down. “Its okay, ladies and gents. I’m dealing with this.”
Then he kneeled and gently patted the back of the child. “Are you okay? Do you feel light-headed?" The child stared at him with a mixture of bewilderment and shame.
Jung just smiled at him. "It's okay, little one,” he said to calm the boy down. In reality, he isn’t that bothered. Things like this happen all the time, and he didn’t mind. He’d dealt with more gross things than this all his life. But first, he has to make sure the kid is okay and that this is not a precursor to something worse. He checked the kid’s temperature and pulse rate. Everything is okay, but just to be sure, he will let the kid go next to see the doctor. He’ll deal with any problems later. Now he needed to clean the corridor before someone else might get into an accident. He gave a stern look at the other kids and told them to stop running around and, in particular, not to get near the puke. He informs them that he will be out looking for a mop and a bucket, and any additional accidents will result in longer wait to see the doctor. The parents held their children, and Jung nodded satisfactorily.
Now, where did the doctor place the cleaning mop again?
Jung walked down a nearby basement and opened the lights. He normally didn’t go down here because most of the things here were the personal effects of the doctor and things that he didn’t need. But now he needed a mop, so he looked around. His eyes zeroed in on the huge stack of boxes in the middle of the room. It looks interesting, and it is obvious that they are medical supplies. He didn’t know that the doctor stores a lot of supplies here. It was one of his duties to deal with inventory, and this much product is something he didn’t know about.
Curiously, he went and opened one of the boxes.
eliquix Apixaban (5mg) film-coated tablets, the box said.
Jung Hee read the entire MIMS catalog in the doctor’s collection, and he remembered that Eliquix is an anti-coagulant drug. It was certainly important in the clinic since they do have a lot of older patients, diabetics, and people with heart ailments, but even then, the supply in the room is just too many.
“What are you doing here? ” A grizzly man stood behind Jung and glared at him.
Jung Hee turned and faced a middle-aged man with narrowed eyes. Jung had seen the man around the clinic. He only interacts with the doctor, and most of the time they just whisper to each other. Jung wasn’t sure, but his best guess is that this man is the doctor’s boyfriend. "I was looking for a mop for the mess upstairs.”
The man looked around and then pointed a finger. “Then get the mop over there and stop snooping around.”
Jung raised an eyebrow. He took a step forward and offered his hand. “My name is Kim Jung hee. I work for the doctor. And I’ve seen you around but never got to introduce myself. What’s your name? ”
“My name is Kim None of your fucking business,” he said, leaning forward and intimidating Jung. Jung wasn’t intimidated.
With his gym training, he can already tell that he can take the guy out if he needs to. He wasn’t really doing it actively, but if he sees someone for a specific amount of time, he automatically assesses the fighting capability of every person he meets and compares himself to them. It gave him an almost unconscious sense of self-confidence that he wasn’t even aware off. But this man was obviously given authority by the doctor to be here, and he didn't have the same permission, so he backs down.
Jung bowed and quickly did what he was told. Before he could move, however, the man stopped him with a hand to the arm. “These boxes have nothing to do with you,” he said, looking him dead in the eye. “It is best if you just forget what you see here. Do you understand? ”
“Sure,” Jung said. “Anything else? ”
He let Jung go, and the young man went back up the stairs. A few minutes later, he forgot all about the incident and continued to work. By the end of his shift, he said his goodbyes and left for home.
Despite his observation skills, Jung did not see the pair of eyes that followed him out.