Song Mira quickly changed her expression and asked.
“How long have you known?”
“From the beginning.”
“Ah, that’s…”
“But it doesn’t matter. From now on, you just need to write proper articles.”
Taeho smiled.
She began to look at Taeho in a new light.
Now, it was not suspicion, but curiosity.
Song Mira hurried into the editorial department of QBC Broadcasting. Despite the late hour, the newsroom was still bustling with energy.
She caught her breath and knocked on the editor-in-chief’s door.
“Editor-in-chief, it’s Song Mira.”
“Come in.”
Kim Seong-u, the editor-in-chief in his mid-forties, took off his glasses and looked up at her. Though Song Mira was the ace of the investigative reporting team, her recent results had been lacking, so his expression was not particularly bright.
“Sit down. I heard you went to Samcheok?”
“Yes. I went to cover Director Kang Taeho.”
“Kang Taeho? Ah, that young doctor who’s a WHO special adviser and called the miracle country doctor? Did you find anything?”
Song Mira sat down and said,
“I saw him for myself, and this man is truly different.”
“Different how?”
“He’s the real thing.”
“Not a con artist?”
“No. A real, truly genuine doctor.”
Kim Seong-u folded his arms, stuck out his lips, then nodded.
“Well, I suppose that could be. Then you wasted your trip for nothing?”
“No. I want to cover him in earnest.”
“What are you talking about? He’s already been all over YouTube, not to mention legacy media. What more is there to cover?”
“He’s different from other doctors.”
“Hey, Ssong!”
Kim Seong-u let out a disbelieving snort.
“After a few misses, looks like you’ve lost your touch.”
“Oh, come on. Just watch this first.”
Song Mira took out her phone and played the footage from the Samcheok fish market. It was the scene of Taeho treating Seongjun.
“This is footage of him administering first aid on-site to an eight-year-old boy with glass shards lodged in his eye. But look. Have you ever seen that level of focus and hand movement?”
Kim Seong-u skimmed through the video and sighed.
“Ssong, what’s so special about a doctor treating a patient? It’s too ordinary.”
“It’s not ordinary! Editor-in-chief, you know how many doctors I’ve seen. This man is the real thing.”
“Sure, he’s really treating someone. So? Does a doctor treating a patient make news?”
Song Mira leaned forward.
“I’m telling you, he isn’t an ordinary doctor. There’s definitely something special about him. It’s like… the way he sees patients is different. As if he can see inside their bodies. He examined several people at once, and he grasped their conditions in an instant. Almost simultaneously.”
“Stop, stop. You know I hate that kind of mysticism the most, right? Viewers these days don’t fall for that. What’s gotten into you? Weren’t you the one who hated that sort of talk more than anyone?”
“Ah, this is so frustrating. I’m telling you, he’s really different. I watched him all day, and the speed and accuracy of his diagnoses were seriously… like some kind of machine. Right, it was like he was scanning them with AI.”
“Song Mira!”
Kim Seong-u cut her off firmly.
“Fine. Let’s say, as you claim, he diagnoses and treats people like a machine. So what? Ratings are our lifeline. Kang Taeho’s story has already been covered all over the place, and it’s not sensational either. What do viewers want these days? Scandals, corruption, conflict. That’s what.”
Song Mira clenched her fists and sprang to her feet.
“That’s exactly the problem!”
“What?”
“We’re living in an age where humanity is disappearing. Doctors only care about money, and patients come second. In a world like that, isn’t the fact that a doctor like Kang Taeho actually exists sensational in itself?”
Kim Seong-u frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
Song Mira raised her voice as she stood.
“Do you know what people are truly thirsting for? Meeting something real in a world full of fakes! That’s what becomes an issue!”
“Ssong, aren’t you approaching this too emotionally?”
“It’s not emotion. It’s conviction!”
Song Mira planted her hands on the desk and leaned forward.
“Editor-in-chief, please trust me just one more time. You trusted my instincts during the cult pastor case and the jeonse fraud case!”
Kim Seong-u fell silent for a moment. Song Mira’s investigative abilities had already been proven. She wasn’t called the ace for nothing. But even so.
“Still, this time is different. You’re not catching a bad guy; you’re boosting a good guy.”
“That’s even harder! And even more valuable!”
Song Mira sat down again and spoke calmly.
“Editor-in-chief, you know how severe distrust in the medical field is these days. In that situation, what if there’s a doctor with jaw-dropping ability who truly thinks only of his patients? That alone will be enough to make a splash.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because incredible things happened over the past two days. A fishing boat accident, an explosion at the fish market—you should have seen it yourself. Kang Taeho is on a completely different level.”
Kim Seong-u folded his arms and grimaced.
“Ha, look at that madness in your eyes. Did you eat something bad? What’s wrong with you?”
“He’s different from anyone I’ve ever seen. From the way he takes one quick look and classifies whether a patient is critical or minor, to the sincerity he devotes to each and every patient… This man is truly special.”
Kim Seong-u sighed and said,
“He’s that capable?”
“There’s something there.”
“I’m asking if you can capture that something. Can you figure out why he’s different from other doctors?”
“Yes!”
Song Mira pressed her lips together and nodded.
Kim Seong-u twirled his pen and thought it over.
“But what if it isn’t interesting? What if the ratings don’t come out?”
“Then I’ll take responsibility. But it absolutely won’t be boring.”
“All right. Do it. But…”
“Yes?”
“You have to take responsibility for the results. If the ratings don’t come out… you know, right?”
Song Mira stood up with a bright smile.
“Don’t worry, editor-in-chief! I’ll open up this doctor named Kang Taeho properly and show him to you!”
“How?”
“We have to start with close coverage. I’ll follow him around starting tomorrow.”
“Did you get permission to film?”
“I received permission to film inside the hospital and accompany him for three days.”
Kim Seong-u sighed and gestured for her to leave.
As Song Mira opened the door, she said one last thing.
“Editor-in-chief, this time I’m really going to hit the jackpot! The entire nation will come to know just how incredible Kang Taeho is!”
After the door closed, Kim Seong-u muttered to himself.
“She’s completely fallen for him…”
He replayed the video once more and carefully observed Kang Taeho’s expression.
“Well, I wonder if anything worth using will come out of it.”
***
Song Mira, along with cameraman Choe Jinsu, went around various parts of Geumsan Samcheok Hospital conducting interviews.
On the second-floor inpatient ward, nurse Kim Sujin answered while organizing patient charts.
“I haven’t known the director for very long either. How should I explain him? In a word, I’d say he’s a charismatic leader type.”
“In what way, specifically?”
“Hmm… It’s like he can see through a patient’s condition at a glance. He pinpoints illnesses other hospitals couldn’t find, and even in emergencies, he never panics and gives very calm directions. So we end up feeling steadier too.”
Kim Sujin smiled.
“And the patients’ expressions change completely.”
“How so?”
“Most of the director’s patients are people who have gone around to several different hospitals, fallen into despair, and then come here as a last resort. That’s why we have such a high percentage of patients from other regions. Before they’re treated by the director, they look hopeless, but afterward, they seem to have hope. Their expressions become much brighter.”
“Have those patients actually been cured?”
“This hospital hasn’t been open long, but from back when he was at Geumsan Clinic, there seem to have been quite a few people who were treated by the director and fully recovered.”
“Thank you for the interview.”
During lunchtime, Park Hyeonu, the chief of internal medicine, spared her a little time.
“Director Kang? Honestly, I was suspicious at first. When I heard such a young doctor was suddenly going to take over the hospital, I thought he was a spoiled rich kid who didn’t understand the local situation and was recklessly jumping in.”
“What do you think now?”
“My view has completely changed. To be honest, when Samcheok Medical Center was closing down, I was planning to move to Gangneung. The conditions there were better too. But right before the medical center closed, there was a major traffic accident.”
“Ah, you mean the incident where a tour bus overturned on the Samcheok coastal road?”
“That’s right. Director Kang happened to be here at the time.”
Song Mira asked with a face full of anticipation.
“What happened?”
“It was a code orange situation…”
“Code orange?”
“It’s an emergency medical alert code issued when a major accident or disaster occurs.”
“Yes. I read in the articles that there were many seriously injured patients then.”
“But Director Kang performed the triage, you see? He sorted them out one after another at a glance… I’m a doctor too, but because it’s human work, misdiagnosis can certainly happen. Even after examining a patient and taking their history, you can make a wrong judgment. But Director Kang seemed a little different.”
Song Mira swallowed. At last, the story she had wanted was coming out.
“How was he different?”
Park Hyeonu tilted his head slightly and said,
“Should I call it intuition? Intuition, quick judgment, and that composure—it was almost an art form. In any case, Director Kang is truly a born doctor.”
“Why do you think Director Kang Taeho displays that kind of special ability? Don’t other doctors have that ability?”
“I don’t know the reason either. But in every field, there are geniuses who can’t be surpassed by effort alone. I think Director Kang might be that type. In any case, in all my years as a doctor, I’ve never seen a doctor like him.”
Song Mira felt disappointed. If he was simply defined as a genius, everything became rationalized. How Kang Taeho came to possess such ability no longer mattered.
“Thank you for the interview during your valuable time, doctor.”
“Ah, if you want to know more about Director Kang, try asking Nurse Go in the emergency room. Nurse Go Hayoung.”
“Nurse Go Hayoung?”
“Even within this hospital, Nurse Go is probably the person who has seen Director Kang from the closest distance the most.”
Song Mira thanked Park Hyeonu, the chief of internal medicine, and rose from her seat.
***
Emergency room nurse Go Hayoung agreed to an interview despite being busy.
“The new director is… Ah, when I say director, I still think of the previous director, Director Kim Byeongjo.”
Nurse Go Hayoung laughed, the corners of her eyes wrinkling.
Song Mira chimed in.
“That makes sense. Since you’ve worked here a long time, Nurse Go, you must naturally be much more used to the previous director.”
“Director Kim Byeongjo is now the honorary director, but old employees like me distinguish between them by calling them the former director and the new director. In any case, Director Kang Taeho is our hospital’s dependable pillar. He’s still young, so he’s dynamic, and he has vision too.”
“I see. But I heard that you’ve encountered Director Kang most often and from the closest distance. Was there anything special about Director Kang that set him apart from other doctors?”
“He is special.”
When Go Hayoung said it firmly, Song Mira’s eyes widened.
“In what way did you feel he was special?”
“No matter how urgent the situation is, he stays calm, and his instructions are clear, so they’re easy to follow.”
“How do the patients react?”
“It’s like magic. Once the director lays his hands on them, the patients calm down. And…”
Go Hayoung lowered her voice.
“Sometimes he makes truly incredible diagnoses. To the point where you wonder, how could he know that?”
“That’s interesting. Could you tell me exactly what part you found incredible?”
After thinking carefully, Go Hayoung’s eyes lit up.
“Ah, that…”