The automatic doors of the neuro clinic opened.
Dowook, who led the way, walked in and found outsiders who did not look like patients in the lounge and reflexively hid Ko Yoon-ah behind him.
"Wait. I think they're reporters."
Dowook thought he had reacted quickly, but Ko Yoon-ah was seen by the reporters.
"Ko Yoon-ah!"
At one person's cry, about 10 people approached the entrance at once. Surrounded by reporters, the experienced Dowook tried to escape from the siege.
"They're my sponsors, doctor."
Then, Ko Yoon-ah's voice stopped him.
To Ko Yoon-ah, who was bowing, the suit man who was at the forefront spoke first.
"I'm Shin Jung-chul, head of the market team at Juno Sports. I contacted you after reading the article, but you didn't answer. Is it true that you were diagnosed with a mental illness that could end your career at Melbourne Hospital in Australia?"
"I'm not sure about the article, but I was diagnosed with stress-induced fibromyalgia in Melbourne."
"Really? You should have told me the truth before renewing the sponsorship contract. The company is going crazy right now. The special promotion plan for the Lunar New Year was also completely stopped."
She bowed her head at Shin Jung-chul's lamenting words, and there was a reprimand in the other’s tone.
"Our WestFace can't afford to sponsor unpopular sports. We signed the contract only due to Athlete Ko Yoon-ah, but what if you can't play in the game?”
"The same goes for Nissan. Does it make sense for a tennis ball company to be promoted by a non-tennis player?”
Ko Yoon-ah’s head bowed down more and more. Those who questioned the loss of image continued.
Dowook couldn't speak hastily when he saw Ko Yoon-ah's bag on her shoulder and the logo of the exercise jacket she was wearing was ‘JUNO.’
‘I heard that sports also have quite complicated hierarchies. To actually see it in person like this.’
Ko Yoon-ah, who only apologized quietly, was obviously in a lower position.
"You'll have to take responsibility for this. Although you made it to the semifinals of a major tournament, how long do you think the topic will last? A player made it to the semifinals in the men's singles in the past. Who remembers him now? Wake up and deal with it, Ko Yoon-ah. Luck doesn't last long."
Ko Yoon-ah's eyes quickly turned red at the harsh words thrown at her.
‘Hmm…….’
Dowook had also read in a previous Olympic special article that if sponsorship was cut off for athletes playing unpopular sports, they would not be able to train properly or participate in games at will.
However, seeing them attack Ko Yoon-ah, who had looked at the tennis court so longingly and emitted an overwhelming special sense, Dowook couldn't stay still.
“Everyone, please act like the adults you are.”
Everyone sent Dowook an annoyed glance..
The fact that she was 20 years old this year meant that she was the same age as the children from the bus accident who took their CSATs last year. This was not the treatment that a person who trained so hard that she had such a high-quality sense at the age of 20 should receive.
Dowook calmly spoke to them, who were more worried about their losses than in helping a young player.
"Myeong Sae Hospital has not yet diagnosed Ko Yoon-ah with a mental stress disorder."
"The hospital that specializes in treating athletes has already confirmed and announced it, what gives you the right to overturn it?”
Dowook turned to look at the man who raised his voice right away.
"What do you do for a living?”
"I'm the head of Dongshin Distribution's public relations office."
"Oh, PR manager. I thought you were a prominent doctor because you were more certain about the illness than I was."
“What?”
"Ko Yoon-ah's symptoms involve very rare neuralgia. It doesn't fit with fibromyalgia. Whatever the Australian specialized hospital says, I strongly deny the diagnosis."
Ko Yoon-ah's eyes slightly grew wide at Dowook’s declaration.
"If you don't interfere with my examination, I'll tell you the exact name of the disease in a few hours, so please wait until then before you get angry. I think you should prepare an apology. And this is an off-limits area except for patients and medical staff."
Pointing toward the exit, Dowook shouted.
“Dr. Nam! Lead these reporters outside! If they resist, call security!”
The head of Dongshin Distribution's public relations office looked at Dowook and walked out of the clinic. The rest of the sponsors followed suit.
Dowook talked to Ko Yoon-ah, who was crouched down.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry.”
"You’re not sick because you want to be, so you don't have to be sorry about that. One more thing as a doctor who knows tennis is I’ve never met someone with as great of a se… umm, skill as Ko Yoon-ah.”
She didn’t fully understand this comfort exactly, but the tears that formed around Ko Yoon-ah's eyes disappeared as if she had found some stability.
Inside the clinic’s diagnostic area.
“You mean she’d already received a diagnosis of fibromyalgia?”
Dowook nodded at Professor Lee Won Seok's question and detailed the pain he’d experienced with Ko Yoon-ah's sense.
Pain that poked the nerve line connecting the elbow, back, and cervical spine.
"…… to the vertebrae. I think there’s a problem, especially with the outer cortical spinal cord connected to the right arm fibrous nerve."
"That makes sense.”
Professor Lee blanked out the chart space prepared for the fibromyalgia examination and wrote a new chart.
"We need to urgently specify the lesion area for a precise diagnosis.”
"Let's also contact Melbourne Hospital to get Ko Yoon-ah's examination chart. The time difference there…….”
Ko Yoon-ah, who was staring blankly at Dowook explaining her pain with more detail and professionalism than herself, came to her senses and replied in a hurry.
"It's two hours faster than Korea."
"Really? There's not much difference. Professor Lee. If the cause is specified, it will be possible to confirm by cross-verification of both data.”
Professor Lee, who was working on the examination schedule step by step according to Dowook’s words, spoke quietly.
"The more I see you at work, the more I'm surprised. How can such a detailed guess be made with just a questionnaire?"
After three months of recognizing and using other people’s senses through his own nerve path, Dowook was able to precisely pinpoint the areas that hurt when ordinary people were only able to say that their arms or shoulders hurt.
Since this fact could not be revealed straight away, Dowook smiled lightly and said.
"Recently, there’s been quite a bit of spinal nerve surgeries, so the thought occurred to me.”
"That kind of coincidence comes only when your skills are enough. If you were a neurologist, the clinic workload would be reduced by one-third. After your fellowship, think about getting a professor appointment here. I'll give you a T.O."
"Jae-geol will get upset if he hears you say that."
"It's the truth."
When Lee Won Seok, who seemed older and more knowledgeable, relied on a young doctor, Ko Yoon-ah's gaze unconsciously stayed on Dowook. On the tennis court, the more she looked at him, the more reliable he seemed.
"Now get started. I'll take care of the neurological examination. Please send a resident to help me."
"Will you?"
Dowook, who was consulting with Professor Lee, turned his head to Ko Yoon-ah. Suddenly, he looked at her in embarrassment.
"I have an operation at 1 o'clock, so I think I need to finish the examination in a hurry. Let's go."
"What? Yes."
When they left Professor Lee's office and went to the neurological examination room, Dowook’s friend Son Jae-geol rushed over.
“Dowook.”
“Huh? Did the professor send you over?”
Son Jae-geol briefly greeted Ko Yoon-ah and asked quietly.
"There’s a huge crowd of reporters outside. Is it because of this person?”
"Isn't it obvious? You don't even watch the news?"
"I barely have enough time to look at patient charts… Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Ko Yoon-ah. I'm a fan."
Looking at his friend who seemed to have learned of Ko Yoon-ah’s existence for the first time today like him, Dowook tested him.
"She lost in the 16th round by a very small margin.”
"I know."
"I never knew tennis was such a fun game.”
"Isn't it a national sport?"
His friend who gave a mechanical answer with a tired face as if he hadn’t left the hospital for 3 days. Dowook whispered in his ear with a tsk.
Surprised, Son Jae-geol opened his mouth.
"Let’s go in, Ko Yoon-ah. Dr. Son is going to come in after reflecting on himself. Go and wake up. We have a difficult checkup ahead of us."
After 30 minutes.
Next to Ko Yoon-ah, who was lying on her stomach with nerve electrodes on her right arm and back, Dowook was looking at the examination with a serious expression.
"It's not here either, Jae-geol. Please move one electrode to the thoracic spine. About five millimeters."
Ko Yoon-ah's back muscles flinched when a new electrical stimulus was applied. Son Jae-geol, who attached the device, asked Dowook.
"Why do we have to do this manually?”
"We need to find where the nerve capillary group is fluctuating."
"I don't know what you're looking for when everything looks the same.”
"Please pay attention to whether the patient is in any discomfort. Number 5, thoracic spine."
"I've been doing this for 4 years. What you're doing now is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Normally, it would be but it was a completely different story for Dowook, who was aware of the exact path of movement of the needle.
The path through which his special sense activated was a bundle of 1 million nerve fibers called the spinal cord. Some were in charge of sensory information and some were in charge of exercise information.
The reason Ko Yoon-ah's sense and pain were passed along was that there was a problem within this bundle of nerves.
For this reason, from Dowook’s perspective, it was more like finding a rod in a haystack.
Dowook focused on the electrical signals.
After dozens of minutes, he found it.
“Huh?”
At Dowook’s surprised exclamation, Son Jae-geol turned to the monitor in surprise.
“What is it?”
“The abnormal activity. It was here.”
“Where, where?”
The waveform diagram was printed out and Dowook handed it to Son Jae-geol.
"This part. Report it to Professor Lee right away. Even the position of the electrode in detail.”
"Wow, damn. This small wavelength. Are you human? You sure you’re not a robot?”
"Just hurry up and inform the professor."
A circle was drawn in the areas with slightly different amplitudes. Son Jae-geol ran out holding the waveform in his hand.
Dowook approached Ko Yoon-ah.
"I found the area that caused the pain. Now we only need to identify the incidence factors through neural MRI and biopsy."
The electrode was removed and Dowook pointed out where it was to the curious patient.
"If spinal cord damage is the cause, a blocked nerve should be considered. Depending on the situation, you will need about two months of rehabilitation. If the cause is a virus or bacterial spondylitis it can be treated with extensive antibiotics. You have to wait and see the progress for a year on a three-month basis to determine complete recovery."
Dowook added to Ko Yoon-ah, who sat down.
"None of these will affect Ko Yoon-ah's awesome serve."
"Oh…"
As soon as Ko Yoon-ah removed the electrode attached to her arm, both hands wrapped around Dowook back tightly.
“Thank you, doctor.”
“It was nothing.”
At the same time, Ko Yoon-ah's sense rushed in, so Dowook quickly patted her back and stepped away.
The sense had to be scattered immediately. It was hard to control his desire to run out and exercise right away. He’d only put in four serves earlier, but his arm and waist muscles were still stiff.
Her body had a different muscle density than the general public. Since she trained so much, she must have gained such an outstanding sense even at the age of 20.
"I think my role ends here."
Dowook, who checked the time, took Ko Yoon-ah's jacket from where it was hanging at the entrance and held it out.
"From now on, please follow Professor Lee Won Seok's instructions. I'll be back in three hours after the surgery. Let's talk to the sponsors with the results then.”
Ko Yoon-ah nodded with a brighter face.
She was much bigger and stronger than the students from the academy bus, but with such an expression, she looked like the 20-year-old she was, so Dowook couldn’t help but smile.
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