The deafening beeping ringed throughout the whole operating theater. The whole medical team was on a standstill. Everyone was looking at the straight line that was shown on the monitor in front of them.

“NO! NO! NO!” Dr Han shouted as he threw the scalpel in hand to the floor.

“Can’t we still use it?” Seungri asked timidly.

“No Dr Lee. We cannot use it! The muscle is dead. The heart is useless."

 He then turned around from the lifeless body in front of him and stormed towards the double doors of the room. He sprinted towards the operating theater next to where he was with Seungri tailing him like an obedient little puppy. He pushed opened the door, interrupting the procedure that was about to commence. In the middle of the room, a young doctor stood over his patient with the light shining on top of him. The scalpel in hand was about to pierce through the patient but was stopped the minute Dr Han came barging in.

“Excuse me?” the doctor shot sarcastically at Dr Han.

“Stop right there. Don’t move that scalpel, not even a single slice.”

 “What is the meaning of this?”

“My donor died.” Dr Han said in a calmer manner.

“Well, if your donor died it doesn’t mean I have to give up mine.”

“Is your patient higher on the transplant list?” Dr Han asked sternly.

The young man stayed mimed as he gulped hard on the question.

“Dr Yang is your patient higher on the transplant list?” Dr Han demanded.

“I don’t know!” he shouted in frustration.

“Well, mine needs a heart, NOW!”

“What? No! My patient needs a heart just as much! The transplant board will hear about this Dr Han!” Dr Yang demanded furiously as he made his way towards the phone by the side of the door.

The heated argument went on in the meeting room. Both surgeons were in the middle of a battle of wits for the donor. Both were fighting for their patients.

“My patient needs this immediately.” Dr Yang reasoned as he looked at Dr Han and another short stubby man who represented the transplant board. Seungri stood mimed by the huge mahagony meeting room doors as he watched the heated dispute.

“Well, so does mine!”

“Your guy is on LVAD, he is probably up and running right now. Mine is still on his debutimine drip.”

“That’s the best you can do? He can climb Mount Everest on a debutimine drip.” Dr Han provoked sarcastically. The stubby man between them had his nose buried in the files in front of him. He was reading it line by line and scheming through both the patient charts and medical records. Dr Yang smirked in disbelieve, shaking his head.

“Well as of this morning, Dr Han’s patient is ahead of Dr Yang’s except for the fact that Dr Han’s patient was clocked into the system a little later than Dr Yang’s.” the old man chirped out of the blue causing all eyes to turn to him. He smiled at both surgeons.

“How long before?” Dr Han asked as he huffed in frustration.

The old man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiled bitterly at Dr Han.

“7 seconds”

 “Thank you!” Dr Yang said in relieve as he smirked boastfully at Dr Han.

“My donor flatlined for god sakes!”

“I’m sorry Dr Han.” The board representative said sympathetically. He slammed the files in his hand shut.

Seungri’s phone suddenly ringed and disrupted the heated discussion. He looked at the number and slowly he answered it.

“What’s taking you guys so long? Is there a problem?”

Hana’s voice asked from across the line. Seungri bit his lips trying to think weather to tell her or not.

“Hello?” she asked again.

“There’s a slight problem.”

“What problem?”

“There were two donors, ours flatlined before we could recover the heart.”

“Seunghyun’s getting sicker. He is getting sicker by the second. His stats are on 70 and dropping.” Hana blurted while her voice rose with every passing moment.

“Hana, I’m not going to lie for you.”

“Then put Dr Han on the phone!” she yelled from the other end.

Seungri obediently handed his chief the phone.

 “Yeoboseo?” Dr Han answered.

 “Seunghyun’s getting sicker. He is critical right now. It’s flash pulmonary edema.” Hana answered panicking from across the line.

“What? That’s impossible. Is the LVAD working? Did you put him on nitro drip?” Dr Han questioned sternly.

“Absolutely. Yes of course.”

“She can be putting paddles directly on his chest, you’re not getting the heart!” Dr Yang interrupted from across the room.

Dr Han simply shoved off the remarks and focused on listening to Hana who sounded alarmed on the other side of the line.

“Blood pressure? How’s his blood pressure?”

“It’s dropping. 82/40.”

“Then get him off the drip and put him on dopamine now. Don’t hang up.”

He then walked over towards the huge oak table in the middle of the room where the other men sat quietly waiting. He cleared his throat as he began.

“According to my intern, Choi Seunghyun now qualifies as a 1A candidate for that heart. That puts him ahead of Dr Yang’s patient.” Dr Han explained looking directly at Dr Yang.

“This is bull. I’m out of here.” The young doctor stood up from his seat furiously glaring at Dr Han.

“Dr Yang, if Dr Han wants to run labs, do an Echo and VNP to fully ascertain the status of his patient I will have to allow it.”

“That will take an hour!”

“Is the donor stable?” the representative asked. Dr Yang stayed silent, puffing out in anger.

“Yes.” He answered after a few seconds of silence.

“In that case, Dr Han you have an hour to run those test.”

Dr Han placed the phone back to his ear.

“Dr Im?”

“I heard.” Hana answered timidly chocking her words. She put down the phone and hung up on her boss.

“What game are you playing us Han?” Dr Yang demanded angrily at him. He was already clenching his fist in irritation.

“I need to head back to check on my patient. Dr Lee will be here to make sure you won't steal the heart. I'll be back to harvest the organ.”

Dr Han walked out of the meeting room, dragging Seungri by the arm. They both halted once they reached a deserted corner.

“Do not let them get the heart. Do whatever you can to secure the heart, tackle him even if you have to. I’m going back. Hana is up to something, I can feel it.”

Seungri nodded, understanding what he was told to do.

“How are you going back?” He asked.

“I’ll just take a cab. I won't be long.”

Dr Han turned and ran out of the hospital to hail a cab back towards Yeoung-do University Hospital to check on Seunghyun. Something about Hana’s tone worried him. The LVAD was supposed to keep him alive, what triggered him to fail. A million thoughts ran through the old man’s head as he sat quietly in the backseat of the taxi that sped through the highway towards Seoul. 

I put down the phone to hang up on Dr Han. What have you done, the small voice inside my head screamed angrily at me. Whatever chances I had to fully become a doctor is ruined. I told a lie to my superior and my head went blank unknowingly of what else to answer. I ran to the other end of the floor towards the oncology ward. My eyes lingered around wildly. Once I caught sight of the person I was looking for I quickly ran up to her. I dragged Chaerin by the arm and out of the ward. We stood in the empty corridor to avoid anyone eavesdropping on us.

“Chaerin I told a lie…to Dr Han.” I told her hesitantly. My breathing was intensifying by the second. I could feel cold sweat trickling down my temple. My head was empty and I was clueless of what to do.

“Oh unnie! Good for you! Fight the power! Are you crazy?”

“No, no. I need. Oh God. I can’t think. I don’t know what to do. What do I do?”I questioned in panic, pacing the floor back and forth.

Chaerin stared at me. She was silently studying my face.

“There’s this guy, ahead of Seunghyun on the transplant list.”I went on yapping at Chaerin, throwing her my words.

“He’ll get the next one. Don’t worry about it unnie.” She said rubbing my shoulder