42 | Guardian Consent
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It is said that secondary traffic accidents generally cause more severe damage. Seo-a was involved in a secondary accident and was in a serious condition after being hit by a fairly large vehicle. Although surgery requires guardian consent, Seo-a was in a difficult situation as she had severed ties with her guardian. Eventually, I urgently called Seo-a's guardian.
“Hello, who is this?”
“I am Kim Seok-jin, a professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at OO University Hospital.”
“… A professor of thoracic surgery?”
Yes, and he is also Seo-a's boyfriend.
But what do you want to know? He has no connection to us whatsoever.
Seo-ah was badly injured because of a traffic accident.
"I was told that guardian consent is required for the surgery, so could you come to the emergency room now?"
“This is a really urgent situation. If we leave it like this, Seo-a will die.”
“…Tell them to die.”
“What did you say? Is that… what you have to say right now?”
He ruined our family too, so there isn't a single person who would mourn his death.
“… You’ve lost your mind, completely.”
“You are not fit to be a parent. If Seo-a dies because the surgery cannot be performed due to guardian consent, you are a murderer.”
After hanging up the phone, I shook my head irritably. I bowed my head and agonized over it, but there was nothing I could do. Seo-ah, barely clinging to life on a ventilator, was so pitiful, and all I could do was cry.
Are they even real parents? How on earth was Seo-ah born to parents like that? I ran to the nurse and explained the situation. At this moment, I was Seo-ah's guardian. But the law was preventing the surgery. What is the law anyway, to the point of threatening a human life?
Seo-a's surgery kept getting delayed. It was obvious she would die if left like this, yet I could do nothing. I, who had always been capable, was powerless at this very moment. It was utterly miserable to be incompetent at the very time when I should have been demonstrating my abilities the most.
In the end, I cast aside all dignity as a doctor and knelt before the nurse. I wanted to save Seo-a more desperately than anyone else. As a fellow doctor, it seemed so foolish that the law held such power over a person's life.
As if my wish came true, Seo-a was able to enter surgery just 10 minutes after arriving at the emergency room. We might have already missed the golden hour. But I wanted to hold onto even a glimmer of hope. I believed in Seo-a's will. I did not want to lose the Seo-a I loved. She was someone I could not afford to lose.