Gangnam University Hospital, a top-ranking teaching medical center that not only excels in teaching various specialties, its employees were also walking on thin ice. Baseball pitcher Kim Seung-hyun had just advanced to AAA, the highest level in minor league, and has lost his throwing arm during surgery.

Dr Nam and Seung-hyun were practically close—"almost like old friends who met each other again,” as described by one of the staff members. The professional pitcher had injured his arm many times in his career and Dr Nam, one of Seoul’s greatest orthopedic surgeons, was always there to fix his injuries like they’d never happened.

On one Tuesday evening, Seung-hyun was staying at his hometown in Gangnam after his team won the first half of the season. It was raining as he drove to the gym. It was almost pitch black, he could hardly see ahead. The other drivers were struggling as much as he was; consequently occuring a pileup in the 78^th street of Yeoksam neighborhood.

The former baseball pitcher had a large metal scrap impaling his right arm—his throwing arm. Naturally, Dr Nam became worried and promised to help his friend as much as he possibly can. The orthopedic surgeon was on-call along with his colleagues that night. Namely, the renowned OB/GYN Dr Young and her peer, Dr Kwon, a general surgeon. Many doctors in every department had done their absolute best to save the people affected.

19 victims, 8 severely injured, and 3 dead. At 8AM, the emergency department had eventually calmed down and Seung-hyun was on the operating table with an amputated arm.

A couple of months later, Seung-hyun’s lawyer scheduled an appointment to the chief of surgery in GUH, warning the employees about an incoming lawsuit.

Granted, the new Fellow Dr Kim ignores the impending doom of the hospital even though it would affect her entire fellowship – she couldn't care less. It’s much more interesting to listen to her coworkers having an argument about it, sipping iced tea while the chaos at their table ensues.

“So,” Sooyoung starts, sliding next to her while Sunny and Yuri were bickering in front of them. “Do you get how serious and career-threatening this situation is?”

“I got the gist of the story,” she shrugs, swirling the ice cubes on her beverage with a straw. “How much money are we talking about?”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes.

--

While the doctors were having their lunch unbothered (and arguing with each other), the residents were manning the emergency department by themselves.

“I thought this was a teaching hospital!” moaned Dr Han, sourly disposing of the blood-covered gloves in the waste bin.

“We can do various suture techniques without Dr Choi breathing down our necks!” reveled Dr Won with a grin.

Their conversation was cut short when two people came rushing in the ED. One of them with an abnormally large head and the other with ‘distressed’ written all over his face. “Can somebody help my dad?” cried the middle-aged man, helping his father onto the hospital bed.

“Sir, can you tell us what happened?” Dr Park wore her stethoscope and listened to the old man’s heartbeat.

“My dad suddenly had a seizure and he’s been having trouble remembering things, too,” he explained. “Do you think it’s a tumor?” he whispered to Dr Park.

“Sir, what’s your name?” she asked the father.

“Jiho, dear. And this right here is my son, Sung-woo,” Jiho chuckled weakly.

“Mr Sung-woo, did your father show other symptoms? Anything you can remember,”

“He said his vision got worse and he has difficulty walking. I don’t know if they’re symptoms, though,”

“No,” Dr Park pondered for a moment, “I think they are,” she shuffled to get her phone and called Dr Kim.

“Dr Kim, I need your consult,”

“Can you do the procedure yourself?” questioned Taeyeon with a whole kimbap slice in .

“We have a patient in his 60s with vision impairment, loss of balance, and a recent seizure activity,” Dr Park said, not beating around the bush.

“What’s your conclusion?”

“I think it’s hydrocephalus,”

“Okay,” Taeyeon ended the call and stood up from the chair, taking her lunch tray.

“Off to surgery?” Yuri asked, seeing her friend stand up in the corner of her eye.

Dr Kwon, or what her friends call her: Yuri or Yul, has been practicing medicine independently since fellowship. She thought working at a private practice would be more her style, but she’s an extrovert. Yuri had tolerated all the doctors at the practice enough (except for one person), and she decided to apply to a teaching hospital instead, where most of her friends from med school are currently continuing their education. It was a happy reunion until their hospital is near bankruptcy.

“Not yet. I need to take them to CT first," she faked a gasp. "Can you imagine the residents are becoming smart without us?”

Taeyeon left the cafeteria and passed through the lobby where the piano is. As usual, a talented patient or employee would stop by and play the instrument. It was soothing. It almost drowns out the gloominess that this hospital brings. Music heals as much as medicine does, she smiles at the thought.

She reached the deserted emergency department with only the tired surgeons, a patient, and a stressed guardian in the room. Dr Park briefed her about Jiho’s condition.

Back at the hospital lobby as Chopin filled the room, Jessica had a silent nervous breakdown the instant she stepped inside. Acting like Kryptonite, the thought of the chief’s office was making her heart do tricks. She was planning on coming clean about her unsupervised operation on a patient, so it’s making this visit more dreadful.

She took a deep breath then exhaled. I am calm. She held her wrist up and saw on her watch that there was still time to play a few songs.

Jessica played it for 30 minutes straight.

The pieces she played were classics like Mozart and Bach, plus her own rendition of famous songs in Korea. They were perfect and natural; her muscle memory was not letting her down. Everything was serene until her phone vibrated in her pocket, making Jessica jump up from her seat and realizing that she was still at her new workplace: it was time for the interview. And confession.

Time for a brief nervous breakdown, again.

--

Taeyeon’s VP shunt procedure was robbed by the head of Neuro department, Dr Na.

“Robbed is a strong word,” Sunny commented.

“I don’t care. He took the resident on my service and I was the only one available to do a shunt. We were already prepping Mr Jiho,” Taeyeon buried her face in her hands.

Sunny sighed and rubbed her back. “Overreacting,” she muttered under her breath.

“Are you talking about me?” she lifted her head.

“No, baby. Go back to bed,” cooed Sunny, mocking Taeyeon’s childish reactions.

“Ugh, let’s get coffee,”

The pair stood up from the waiting room sofa and walked to the lobby, passing by the grand piano situated at the corner where Jessica is currently playing.

She had just finished talking to the chief of surgery: the kinda-boss-man of this entire hospital who oversees everything related to surgery. “Confession” also went smoothly. At least she tries to convince herself. Jessica’s punishment is as follows: her first pay will be deducted according to the losses from the surgery; she’ll personally come clean to the person, whom she saved, that she was still a first year resident and could've killied him; and lastly, pray that he wouldn’t sue her. “We’re already in deep water as it is,” the chief remarked.

Now she plays Eve (a random name she gave to the hospital’s piano) to brush her negative emotions aside. Her intense playing looks like she was not giving up the instrument until she pours all her emotions on the keys.

Taeyeon stopped dead in her tracks once she recalled the melody of the song. It was Want and Resent, an old ballad that she loves singing in the karaoke. “That’s so lame,” she says with a scoff. She said that, but this song was always the first track she sings when she throws a pity party after every serious breakup.

I sang this song so much, I associate it to my traumas now.

“Sunny, babe, can you tell that heartbroken woman over there to not wear out the piano keys? Our bonuses were spent on that,” Taeyeon points to Jessica’s back.

“No, you tell her,” she slowly backed away. “And ask if she feels remorse, too. I’m gonna get us coffee,” Sunny waved goodbye then suddenly sprinted to the café.

“Remorse?” Taeyeon kept repeating the word, not knowing what she meant as she follows her to buy drinks.

--

“Did you get my muffin too?” she seated beside Sunny who was on her phone.

“Did you talk to her?” she asked, not looking up at her phone.

Taeyeon grabbed her muffin and coffee, her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. “She was playing off beat, by the way,” she took a bite from her food.

“Huh?” Sunny was tapping on her phone screen almost impatiently.

“What?”

“E-mail,”

The neurosurgeon pulled out her phone and tapped on the e-mail notification on the lockscreen.

The headline read:

[★NEWS★] Jung Foundation Announces Its 20^th Surgical Research Contest Winner

“God, are they handing out money Jeopardy-style or are they even for health care?”

“Uh oh, here it comes,” Sunny sips on her hot chocolate, getting prepared for another venting session.

“Look, I’m not gonna do my little speech again. I’ll save it for later when we have drinks,”

“Ugh,” groans Sunny playfully. “I need to cut down on alcohol,”

The red-haired surgeon sneaks a glance at the person behind Taeyeon who responds, “Fine, I’ll just invite Yuri and her private practice friends. Maybe I’ll even find myself a wife while I’m at it,” she opens her messenger app and begins inviting Yuri and her former colleagues to a group chat solely for a drinking get-together.

“Are you sure you’re not coming?” she confirms for the last time while in the middle of typing out names.

“Just for tonight,”

“Suit yourself,” she shrugs.

Sunny’s eyes are still boring holes on the woman behind Taeyeon. She looks familiar but she can’t recall where she saw her before.

Chestnut hair. Fair skin. Small face.

“Ah!” exclaimed Sunny, finally remembering who that person is.

“Changed your mind?” Taeyeon puts down her phone and looks at Sunny having a Eureka moment all of the sudden.

“No, no, no,” she shook her head. “I have a consult,” she shooed Taeyeon off her chair, her eyes still fixed on the woman until they left the indoor café.

--

“Auntie, can we get five servings of beef?” shouted Taeyeon across the bustling kitchen.

“Fancy,” remarked Tiffany with a laugh.

“What’s the occasion?” asked Yoona, taking a bite of kimchi. “Wow,” she slumps on her chair and sighs.

“Ask Fany,” Taeyeon smiled at Tiffany, giving her the floor while she pours herself a glass of beer.

Four pairs of eyes at the table are focused on Dr Young. She showed her famous eye-smile before announcing, “I applied for GUH's chief position in OB/GYN,”

The group bursted with joy—applauding, clinking glasses, and bombarding the soon-to-be department chief with a range of questions from, “Have you heard from them yet?” to, “Did you leave because of Dr Nam?”

Tiffany blew raspberries before gulping down her shot of soju. “Do you want the tea?”

Her friends eagerly nodded, especially Yuri and Seohyun who are almost never present when the group drinks together. In other words, they’re totally unaware of what’s happening in their friends’ lives right now.

“I just don’t feel happy there,” she shrugged. “Not anymore, at least. It was fine when I was minding my own business, until I keep getting dragged into I never cared about,”

“So, it is because of that sketchy surgeon?” noted Taeyeon with a proud, drunken smile before dozing off while sitting upright.

“I never said anything, okay?” Tiffany smiled then returned to eating after her announcement.

Taeyeon’s loud snoring earned a few chuckles.

“Didn’t she just drink three bottles?” said Seohyun with a laugh, taking two pieces of grilled beef and wrapping it in lettuce.

Yoona let out a big sigh.

“Anything bothering you?” Tiffany asked.

“Nothing. I haven’t drunk with all of you guys in a while,”

“Me too,” Seohyun cuts in, playing with the fermented leftovers on her plate. “This industry is so competitive recently, I can’t imagine the papers you’re all working on,”

“Everyone at GUH seems to be in the animal trials already, while ours are yet to be opened via e-mails,” sighed Yuri.

Tiffany agreed in silence.

--

Jessica slams her phone on the mahogany table, the harsh sound echoing in the empty café right next to the hospital in Gangnam. She angrily walks to Sunny who’s pretending to text.

“Excuse me, you’ve been looking at me for a while now,” Jessica stood in front of Sunny, arms crossed over her chest.

Sunny exhaled and placed down her phone, looking up at the angry Jessica. “Why are you back at the hospital?” she replied in the same accusing tone.

“I work there now,”

“Are you a new board member or…?”

“Wait, why are you asking?” she questioned in curiosity, wondering why a complete stranger is practically asking for her qualifications at the job.

“You and your friends visited us before, right?” Sunny leans closer as if she was challenging her. The latter nodded reluctantly, clueless to where this is going.

“Do you remember how many studies you've denied five years ago?”

“Oh,” she snickered. “Now I know what this is about,” Jessica pulled out the chair in front of the red-haired woman and sat down.

“About a hundred,” she replied indifferently.

Sunny responded with a sneer. She finished her drink before adding, “I’ll see you tomorrow, hoobae,”

Taking her phone and purse, Sunny walks off and exits the coffee shop without looking back. Jessica only grunts in frustration, mostly at herself.