Inside the observation room of the operating theater—
"He's experiencing acute cardiac tamponade. His chest X-ray was still normal this morning, but everything happened so fast. He suddenly lost consciousness, and the situation is critical. I had no choice but to operate on him."
Liz spoke, her voice filled with both panic and anger.
The panic came from experiencing an emergency surgery for the first time.
The anger stemmed from the fact that this wasn't supposed to be her responsibility. She had been forced into this, and in her confusion and helplessness, she had nearly watched a patient die right in front of her.
"You go ahead. I can handle things here."
Dr. Shepherd signaled to Dr. Burke.
Hearing this, Dr. Burke immediately stepped out.
The cardiac patient was, in fact, one of his own—someone from his clinic's patient group. Now, an intern under his supervision had performed an emergency open-chest procedure on him. Who knew how bad things might get?
This could directly affect his reputation.
At that moment, Alex stormed in, fuming.
"You performed open-chest surgery in the ward without calling me? Were you just trying to show off?"
"I paged you 50 times!!!"
Liz was visibly emotional. "Do you even know what I just went through?"
"Oh… the battery died. I forgot to replace it."
Alex glanced at his pager, realizing it had run out of power. He let out a small, awkward laugh.
"You forgot?"
When Liz saw the reason for his absence—and his nonchalant reaction—she completely lost control.
"You actually forgot?!"
Her frustration boiled over. She snatched Alex's pager from his hand and threw it to the ground. Then, stomping on it repeatedly, she shouted, "You bastard! You lazy, arrogant, useless idiot!"
Spittle flew onto Alex's face, forcing him to raise his hand to shield his eyes.
After venting her anger, Liz turned on her heels and stormed off.
Just looking at Alex's face made her sick.
"This medical center never has a dull moment," Dr. Bailey muttered wearily.
"It seems like Dr. Clive is the one with the strongest connections among all of us," Adam couldn't help but remark sarcastically.
How long had they been interning?
Alex had already—
Ignored a nurse's warning and neglected a patient, worsening their condition. Made an outrageous, unethical comment: "Someone her age should've died long ago." Botched an acting drill and insulted a patient, calling them disgusting and deserving of their suffering. Neglected his duties, almost costing another patient their life.
On top of all that, his medical skills were clearly below the standard for an intern at this center.
Incident after incident, yet he showed no remorse.
If Alex didn't have powerful connections, Adam simply wouldn't believe it.
Even as the so-called overpowered protagonist, Adam wouldn't dare pull half the stunts Alex had.
Dr. Bailey shot Adam a look, instinctively wanting to shut him down.
Alex was her intern. She could criticize him, but others couldn't—especially not Adam, who also had a privileged background.
But then she reconsidered.
Adam had real talent. He never denied his own connections, but at least he was competent. And despite how bluntly he put it, he wasn't wrong.
So, she swallowed her words.
Did Alex have strong backing? Of course.
Dr. Bailey had heard that he got in through connections with Director Glassman.
She also knew that Alex hadn't even passed his medical licensing exam yet—he had failed. If he didn't pass his retake in time, he wouldn't even be qualified to be a doctor, let alone continue his residency.
"Damn nepotism," Dr. Bailey cursed internally.
She had climbed her way up entirely on her own, working over 110 hours a week, earning the respect of everyone in the hospital through sheer effort.
If she were the hospital director, she would never have let someone like Alex in.
If she were the head of surgery, she wouldn't have hesitated to fire him, no matter what the director thought.
If she were an attending physician, she wouldn't have let him anywhere near her operating room.
But unfortunately, she was none of those things.
She was just a resident, technically on the same level as Alex. Until she finished her training and got her attending license, she couldn't afford to offend the director's connections.
So, she had to turn a blind eye.
"Shit!"
Just then, chaos erupted.
No one cared about Alex anymore—everyone's attention snapped back to the surgery.
The patient was hemorrhaging.
"Control the bleeding!"
"Her body can't handle major blood loss. We need more blood bags!"
"Suction more! I can't see anything!"
"Clamps! Get me clamps—now!"
"Is there any blood left in the rapid infuser?"
"There are two more bags on the way."
"What do you mean, 'on the way'?"
"We didn't anticipate this much blood loss. We prepared twice the estimated amount, but we've already used it all."
The OR was in complete disarray.
Dr. Shepherd and the nurses were exchanging rapid-fire instructions.
"Where did you cut?" Dr. Shepherd asked Dr. Bailey.
"I didn't cut anything—it ruptured on its own," Dr. Bailey quickly explained. "Her condition was already poor when she was admitted. Her arterial walls are too fragile."
"We've already used ten units of blood!" a nurse reminded them.
"I can't see a thing."
Dr. Shepherd was drenched in blood, his vision blurred.
"Her blood pressure is dropping. If we don't stop the bleeding now, she won't make it," the monitoring nurse warned.
"Got it!"
Just then, Adam reached in and pressed down on the bleeding site.
"What?"
Dr. Shepherd was momentarily stunned.
In such a chaotic situation, there was no time to suction all the blood away. Finding the exact source of the hemorrhage amidst a sea of red was pure luck.
"The bleeding is slowing. Blood pressure is stabilizing."
The nurse's announcement confirmed Adam's words.
"Well done, Adam!"
Dr. Shepherd, overjoyed, dropped the usual formalities. "Hold it steady!"
Then he barked at the nurses, "Get those blood bags here—immediately!"
"Suction!"
"Clear my field of vision!"
Dr. Shepherd rattled off command after command.
At moments like this, if the lead surgeon panicked or froze, the patient was doomed.
But if the surgeon remained calm and knew exactly what to do, the patient's chances of survival skyrocketed.
A renowned surgeon like Dr. Shepherd wouldn't panic.
His earlier flustered state was due to not being able to locate the bleeding source. Without blood transfusions, even the best surgeon would be powerless.
But once Adam miraculously pinpointed the rupture and stopped the bleeding, Dr. Shepherd seized the opportunity without hesitation.
At that moment, he felt nothing but gratitude for Dr. Burke's decision to bring Adam into the OR.