The new intern in the unit had to be chronically incompetent.

He handled my mother's post-surgery medication and somehow mixed up the drug. He gave her a potent blood thinner. That night, she died from a hemorrhage after her operation.

Before I could even accuse him, the intern had his puppy-dog eyes ready. "I'm sorry, Dr. Benford, but I thought that was the drug you wanted me to mix. Who was I to question my superior's order?"

Then the hospital director, who was also my wife, chimed in, "Your mom is the idiot for taking her meds without checking. She brought this on herself."

I was so enraged that I had a heart attack, which meant I had to undergo surgery in the same hospital.

The intern insisted on redeeming himself and assisted Victoria during the operation.

He could not even thread a needle because his hands kept trembling. In the middle of the procedure, this medical fraud removed his mask and wet the end of the surgical thread to force it through.

I died in the ICU the next day. The cause was a bacterial infection.

As I neared death, I heard the intern whine through tears, "How could I be so careless? If I weren't so clumsy, Dr. Benford would have lived."

Victoria gently ruffled his hair. "Don't take it to heart, pumpkin. Everyone knows how risky medical procedures can be. You're just starting out, so don't be so hard on yourself."

Because of my wife's efforts, both my mother and I were cremated without any investigation or disciplinary action. You would think that was the end.

It wasn't. The next time I opened my eyes, I was back on the day Hugo Spencer first joined our hospital as an intern.

I knew what would happen next, so I went straight to retrieve the correct medication for my mother.

By the time I reached her, Hugo "Insanely Incompetent Intern" Spencer was about to hand her a lethal dose of warfarin.

"Stop, Hugo! I don't recall assigning you to dispense medication," I called out.

His eyes avoided mine. "D-Dr. Benfort! I was just trying to help the nurses. They seemed so busy, so I thought… But isn't helping a good thing?"

I checked the drug and slammed it onto the table.

"You call this help? Administering warfarin to this patient would interact adversely with her other medication. And at this dosage? It's lethal," I snapped. "What will you do if you kill someone because of your recklessness? Can you handle the consequences at all?"

Hugo blinked, wide-eyed. "I thought a blood thinner was required after a surgery like this. I just wanted to help…"

I let out a sharp, sarcastic laugh and turned to Alex, who worked at the dispensary. "My mother just had surgery, and you didn't think to stop him from administering warfarin? Are you prepared to take responsibility if someone is harmed?"

Alex paled. "Oh God, I'm sorry! I promise I won't let anyone who shouldn't be handling our medications do our job again."

Hugo's eyes filled with tears. "B-But I was just trying to take some of the load off your back, Alex. Why are you pretending I wasn't? It's not right to gang up with a superior to bully me at work, is it?

"It's not easy to be an intern. Everyone treats us like scapegoats and cheap labor. Bullying me because I'm an intern is the worst."

A crowd began to gather, prompting Hugo to cry more openly.

Victoria arrived from the upper floor. She noticed the crowd and frowned. "Excuse me? Albert, what did this young novice do to warrant a public inquisition from someone in your position?"

My mother brightened at the sight of her. "Vivi, I'm glad to see you. This young man started it by giving me the wrong drug. That's dangerous, especially for someone as frail as I am."

"But did you actually take it, or was this just an honest mistake?" Victoria scoffed. "I don't see why anyone needs to act as if he caused irreparable damage when nothing happened. Live and let live."

Hugo raised his voice, making his sobs more pronounced. "It's all my fault! I shouldn't have offended you, Dr. Benfort. Please forgive me. I'll do anything to make it up to you."

His tears quickly swayed the crowd.

"Damn. I didn't think what people say online about interns being targets of bullying was real."

"Look at him. He's genuinely upset. If you ask me, he should be let off. He's learned his lesson."

"I trust the director's judgment. She wouldn't side with him if he were actually problematic."

I smirked. "Oh, you're on his side, Victoria? Fine. Then you can supervise him from now on. If anything happens, it's on you."

"Sure, I'll take him. What's the issue?" she replied, unfazed. "Meanwhile, you should apologize for bullying him."

I rolled my eyes and ignored them.

After seeing my mother off, I returned to work. You would think that was the end of Hugo's fiasco, yet he proved too foolish to know when to stop.

He followed me to my desk. "I mean, it's fine if you don't think I deserve an apology from you, Dr. Benford. I was never the kind to hold grudges anyway. But… well, Director Benford seems to be paying me a lot of attention lately, so I was worried she might have worked up a temper against you because of me, and… that would affect your marriage, right?"

I shot him an unamused look. "Do you get paid for doing nothing?"

Hugo bit his lip, muttered something about "earning his wage," and left.

Ten minutes later, a scream rang out from the operating studio nearby.

I frowned. Memories of my past life—of dying because of this himbo making the most basic medical mistake—surged back.

Still, no one was scheduled for an operation today. So what was that?

I headed for the studio and arrived just in time to see Adam Lark, a colleague, shouting at Hugo. "Who told you to clean this with a roll of gauze and disinfectant? This is a da Vinci Surgical System, goddamn it. You're going to break it. Do you know how expensive it is?"

Hugo had already started crying. When Victoria arrived, he ducked behind her like a child hiding behind his mother. He tugged at her sleeve. "I didn't mean to clean it the wrong way. I just wanted to sanitize it… and it looked like stainless steel, so… I mean…"

Victoria glanced at the machine, her expression clearly displeased. But when she saw Hugo's face, she softened. "Oh, it's fine. There's no reason to cry. It's just a machine. No one died, and that's all that matters."

She turned to Adam and barked, "You're in charge of the surgical equipment, so this is also your fault. You shouldn't have let him clean it without supervision. This is why you will pay for the repairs. We'll deduct the cost from your bonus."

Adam stood there, bewildered.

Hugo, however, spoke through his sobs. "I'm so sorry. Dr. Benford told me to earn my wage, so I thought this was it. This is all my fault. Dr. Lark shouldn't have to go through this. I promise I'll pay you back with part of my salary as soon as I receive it."

Victoria sighed. "That's sweet and dutiful of you, Hugo, but that won't be necessary. Insurance will cover this, so don't let it weigh on you, okay?"

As if Hugo would ever be held responsible. The arm of the equipment was already ruined. Even with insurance, the cost could still reach 100,000 dollars or more. Yet Adam had the misfortune of being blamed and forced to pay.

Victoria used to be a strict professional. She would never have let anyone off the hook simply because she knew them.

When I first started working here, I once dropped and broke a pair of forceps. She reprimanded me on the spot, in front of the entire unit, and deducted my bonus to cover the cost.

Now? Hugo caused 100,000 dollars in damage, and she let him walk away. Somehow, it became an innocent doctor's fault.

Unfortunately, Hugo had an even more outrageous move to make. He suddenly turned to me and said, "Actually, Madam Director, I think this should be Dr. Benford's fault. If he hadn't ordered me to do whatever it takes to make myself useful, this wouldn't have happened."

I let out a disbelieving snort.

"Excuse me? Did I order you to tamper with equipment in the ER studio? You're about to graduate with a medical science degree. How did you even get an internship here if you don't know how to handle valuable equipment or take responsibility?" I shot back.

Victoria slapped me across the face.

I never saw it coming. My head snapped to the side, my ears rang, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

"Watch your tone and attitude, Dr. Albert Benford," she snapped. "Hugo is an intern. As his seniors, we are responsible for guiding and correcting him when he makes mistakes. That does not give you the right to insult him or force him to take the blame for you. You're supposed to be a professional. Act like it."

Behind her, the intern went pale. He started crying again. "Stop. Please don't fight Dr. Benford over me. I shouldn't have come here."

I cupped my cheek.

"You know what? Fine. Forget making Dr. Lark pay for this. I'll cover it," I said. "And we're getting a divorce."

To my surprise, Victoria had prepared for this as well. She pulled a divorce agreement from her bag and held it up in front of me.

"You said exactly what I was thinking, Albert! I've been hoping for this!" she shot back. "I used to think I could spend my life with just anyone, but Hugo showed me how wrong I was. He taught me that everything changes when you meet your real soulmate."

What was she talking about? We had been together since medical school. Seven years of steady, ordinary happiness, and now she was telling me she had found her "real soulmate"?

The agreement would leave me effectively bankrupt. Most of my assets would go to her, and yet I signed it on the spot.

Adam couldn't stand by and watch. "Did you even read what you signed? The terms are a trap. You're walking away with nothing!"

I smirked faintly. I would not be so sure I was the one coming out on the losing end.

…

Victoria used my entire year-end bonus to repay Adam.

At the same time, the atmosphere at work shifted. Everyone began avoiding Hugo as if he were contagious.

I thought that chronically incompetent fool might finally stop causing trouble, but when the head of radiology stormed into my office the next day, I realized I had been too optimistic.

"You and your unit have a lot to explain, Dr. Benfort! Who approved this application? It's a joke. A farcical, insulting joke!" Cynthia Valdez snapped. "The patient already filed a complaint. Someone uploaded it online, and now our entire institution has turned into a meme!"

I reviewed the application. Someone had ordered CT scans for more than 24 body regions for a single patient, and my electronic signature was somehow attached to it.

It did not take long to find the fallout online. Derisive posts and tweets flooded every platform. The hashtag "HospitalGrift" was trending.

[I've been saying this for a long time, and I just want to say, "I told you so!" This is what big hospitals do now. They order a pile of scans and tests, then stop there. They don't know how to treat you. They outsource that to AI!]

[This is insane. Do you know how much all those tests would cost? It would bankrupt an average person.]

[I found the doctor responsible: Albert Benfort. Graduated from Columbia State Medical University. For more information, including his ID number, see here.]

I did not need to be a detective to know who was behind it.

I went straight to Victoria's office and demanded, "You helped him authorize this with my digital signature, didn't you? This is serious misconduct, and you know it. It's caused significant reputational damage to me and to this institution."

Hugo stood beside her, eyes red and watery. He tugged at her sleeve. "I… I just wanted to help lighten your workload, Dr. Benfort. The patient seemed to be in real distress, so I thought a thorough examination would help. I didn't think this would happen…"

Victoria pressed her fingers to her temple.

"Albert, he used your account because he wanted to learn from you," she said, clearly taking his side. A faint note of fatigue edged her voice. "Yes, he made a mistake, but his intentions were good. And it didn't cause any real harm, did it? This hardly qualifies as malpractice."

I took out my phone. "If the administration doesn't issue an official statement and apology online, I will report this to the police and request an investigation."

She stiffened.

"There's no need to escalate this. I can post a statement from our official account right now without your threats," she replied with a sneer. "Honestly, I've noticed more and more issues with you lately. You're a poor team player, Albert, and that's a serious problem for someone who's supposed to lead a department."

That made things simpler. I placed my resignation letter on her desk and waited.

Victoria glanced at it without reaching for a pen. "You think you can threaten me with your resignation? Please. From where I stand, you're just clearing the path for Hugo to reach his full potential."

I laughed. "His full potential? This should be interesting."

…

Victoria eventually released an official statement that cleared my name online, but that was the only fair action she took. She began stripping away my authority and responsibilities, assigning me the most tedious and physically exhausting tasks while her precious soulmate was free to "reach his full potential."

It was a disaster. He administered eight separate injections to a patient and still failed to draw a simple tube of blood.

He mixed up diagnoses between patients, producing absurd results such as an 80-year-old woman diagnosed with meniscus damage from an intense basketball game, or a 70-year-old man labeled with irregular vaginal discharge and menstrual cycles.