“I… I don’t have money for the hospital bill. I’m sorry.”
His head bowed toward Taeho like a sinner’s, his shoulders shrunken.
The sight overlapped with the image of his father from the past.
“I took your mother to the hospital… but we didn’t have money for the fees…”
His father had had to carry his mother, who needed inpatient treatment, back out of the hospital.
Years later, when he told his son that story, his father had looked exactly like that.
A person who was sorry even for being sick, because he had no money.
A person who, because he had no money, had let his young wife go like that and become a sinner to his son.
“Don’t worry about the hospital fees. For now, just focus on getting treated.”
Taeho answered with warm eyes.
***
Friday morning, Geumsan Clinic.
Patients with appointments who had come from far away and residents of Geumsan-ri were waiting for treatment in the waiting room.
“Director, please come out for a moment.”
Nurse Park Geumja called Taeho, her face ashen.
“This is Geumsan Clinic, correct?”
An authoritative, cold voice.
A middle-aged man in his forties and a man in his thirties stood side by side. The younger man held blueprints and documents in his hands.
“What brings you here?”
When Taeho asked with a puzzled expression, the middle-aged man offered a perfunctory smile and held out his ID.
“I’m Team Leader Seo Seonggyu from the Architecture Division of Samcheok City Hall. An order came down today for an emergency safety inspection.”
“So suddenly, without even contacting us?”
“Huh? We should have sent an official notice beforehand. You didn’t check it?”
“An official notice? We never received anything like that.”
“Well, what can we do?”
Team Leader Seo Seonggyu gave a faint smirk.
The young man, who was apparently a technician from a specialized inspection agency, unfolded the blueprints and said,
“We’ll have to inspect everything, from the rooftop to the interior walls and the condition of the columns. The building is quite old, after all.”
“Has some problem suddenly occurred?”
“We received an emergency order from the city. A civil complaint was filed saying that residents’ anxiety is growing because this building is considerably aged.”
“You’re saying the residents filed a complaint like that?”
The people sitting in the waiting room watching the scene began to murmur.
“There ain’t nobody who’d do that. What’re they talkin’ about?”
“What in tarnation are they sayin’?”
“Who said that?”
Team Leader Seo Seonggyu responded calmly.
“We cannot disclose the complainant. We are simply proceeding according to procedure, so we ask for your cooperation.”
Team Leader Seo Seonggyu and the technician began looking around the inside of the clinic, searching for cracks and traces of leaks. As they did, they spoke loudly to each other now and then and wrote things down.
“The cracks here are serious.”
“I think I can see some leaking, too… This looks dangerous as it is.”
Taeho approached with his arms crossed.
“Leaks? We’ve never had a leakage problem until now.”
“That’s for us, the experts, to determine. The results will be reported separately.”
Team Leader Seo Seonggyu answered expressionlessly.
The residents watching from the waiting room murmured with anxious faces.
“Are they gonna tear it down?”
“What’re we supposed to do if the hospital disappears?”
After a long while, Team Leader Seo Seonggyu and his group noisily wrapped up the inspection and said,
“Safety issues have been confirmed in several places. There’s a high possibility that a corrective order will be issued, so keep that in mind. You’ll be notified of the official results later.”
Taeho could guess what was going on.
At the last village meeting, Village Chief Jang Minseok had once mentioned safety issues with the Geumsan Clinic building.
But even so, it would not have been possible for a Geumsan-ri village chief to move the City Hall Architecture Division on his own.
Moreover, Jang Minseok had already stepped down from the village chief position.
Then the remaining reason was obvious.
It was probably because the news had reported that Taeho was treating the villagers poisoned by heavy metals.
In the first place, the Eco Resource Center being brought into Geumsan-ri was not something the village chief alone could have decided.
The mayor, too, could not be free of responsibility.
If they were going to pressure him like this, Taeho had his own way to respond.
Taeho took out his phone and made a call.
***
Late that evening. In the waiting room of Geumsan Clinic, an old man in his seventies sat with a sullen expression.
The person Taeho had asked for help was none other than his first patient, Gu Yongsan.
“That fellow’s the most famous structural engineer in Gangwon-do, ain’t he? He’ll be trustworthy.”
Gu Yongsan spoke bluntly, but Taeho bowed deeply, filled with gratitude.
“Thank you very much, sir.”
“What’re you thankin’ me for? Geumsan Clinic’s the only hospital in this village, ain’t it? Even givin’ you an award wouldn’t be enough. Those City Hall riffraff are tryin’ to get rid of it, so how could I just sit still?”
Even after that, Gu Yongsan spent a long while cursing the people at City Hall.
Not long after, a black van arrived in front of Geumsan Clinic. The middle-aged man who got out of the vehicle was holding a hard hat and an equipment bag.
“Hello, I’m Sin Myeongcheol.”
“Hello. I’m Kang Taeho, the director of this clinic.”
Taeho and Sin Myeongcheol shook hands and exchanged business cards.
Sin Myeongcheol belonged to a specialized safety diagnosis company in Gangwon-do. He smiled as he looked at Gu Yongsan.
“I came right away after receiving Mr. Gu’s call. I heard the situation was urgent.”
Gu Yongsan, who had been full of anger, softened his expression for a moment and nodded.
“The situation here’s urgent, so diagnose it quickly and accurately.”
“Yes, understood, sir.”
Taeho immediately guided him inside the clinic. The staff had already cleared space in the examination rooms and hallways.
Sin Myeongcheol looked around the interior with the eyes of a professional and said,
“I heard City Hall said it was an old building with many safety problems?”
“Yes. To my eyes, there’s no problem at all. We absolutely need a fair diagnosis.”
Sin Myeongcheol nodded firmly, then took out his equipment and began the inspection in earnest. He checked the condition of the walls and columns with ultrasonic equipment and collected concrete core samples from the floor.
“Engineer, if you need anything, please tell me.”
“It’s all right. Once I collect core samples from a few places, I’ll be able to measure the exact strength.”
Sin Myeongcheol replied calmly.
For a while, the inside of the clinic grew noisy with the sound of drills and vibration. But Taeho actually felt relieved.
If proper inspection results came out, he could use this opportunity to completely put an end to the anxiety that the old building was dangerous.
After two or so hours had passed, Sin Myeongcheol packed up his equipment and said to Taeho,
“On the preliminary level, it doesn’t appear to have problems as serious as City Hall claimed. I don’t think the results of the detailed examination will be much different. Normally, it takes about two weeks for the official report to come out, but since you say the situation is urgent, I’ll organize it as quickly as possible.”
“Thank you very much. Please make sure it’s an authoritative report.”
Taeho smiled brightly. He intended to go to City Hall as soon as the report came out.
***
The results of the detailed safety diagnosis conducted at his own expense came out.
It was old, but there were no major issues.
The conclusion was that partial repairs would be sufficient.
It was solid evidence that could erase the stigma of being an old, dangerous building.
When he searched the City Hall website, the name of Gwak Byeongdae, manager of the Architecture Division of Samcheok City Hall, came up.
Taeho decided he would meet Manager Gwak Byeongdae in person.
Early in the morning, Taeho drove to the parking lot of Samcheok City Hall. On the front of the four-story building with its remodeled exterior wall hung a large banner that read, “Clean City Samcheok.”
When he went up to the third floor, he saw a door at the end of the corridor marked Architecture Division.
As he pushed open the office door and entered, an employee approached and asked,
“What brings you here?”
“Ah, I’m Kang Taeho from Geumsan Clinic. I came to see Manager Gwak Byeongdae… Is he here now?”
The employee gestured to a chair on one side.
“Yes, please sit and wait a moment.”
Not long after, a middle-aged man with a tired-looking face and a heavy smell of cigarettes approached.
“You said you’re from Geumsan Clinic?”
He wasn’t exactly annoyed, but it was obvious he was not pleased.
A weary expression, as though he were dealing with a malicious complainant.
“Yes, hello. I’m Kang Taeho.”
“What did you come about?”
“I wanted to speak with you about the emergency safety inspection that was conducted at Geumsan Clinic recently.”
“You’re the director of Geumsan Clinic?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Gwak Byeongdae pressed his lips together and let out a light sigh.
“Let’s go into my office.”
The two entered the Architecture Division manager’s office.
As soon as they sat down, Taeho took out an envelope of documents.
“This is the detailed safety diagnosis report for the Geumsan Clinic building. According to the results commissioned from a specialized building safety diagnosis agency, the rebar placement and concrete strength are sufficient, and it says there will be no problem as long as partial repairs are done.”
Gwak Byeongdae pushed up his glasses and opened the document.
“Geumsan Clinic Structural Safety Diagnosis Results Report”
Across several pages, photographs and measurement data, core test strength results, ultrasonic analysis values, and more were organized.
Gwak Byeongdae frowned and nodded.
“You went out of your way to get a separate detailed diagnosis like this. Is it somewhat different from the results of the preliminary inspection the city conducted?”
“Yes. According to this report, the building can be used safely enough with only aging-related repairs.”
Gwak Byeongdae flipped through the report roughly and glanced over the internal data.
“It says here that the rebar placement is in good condition. Our team that went to the site said there were cracks.”
“Yes. When examined practically, they were only fine cracks, and the core strength of the concrete was above the standard.”
As Taeho carefully pointed out the pages, Gwak Byeongdae’s expression turned troubled.
Now that he had received an official report, he could no longer simply ignore it.
‘This is a headache.’
Before sending out the emergency safety inspection, the mayor had boasted confidently.
He said the director of Geumsan Clinic was a young doctor who had just graduated from medical school in Seoul and gone into a rural clinic. He likely knew nothing of the world and had spent his life only studying.
They had thought that if City Hall quickly pressured him with a building safety inspection, he would be startled too late, try to defend himself, then back down at an appropriate point.
But the young doctor sitting before him was different from what they had expected.
Before the City Hall results even came out, he had proactively responded by getting a safety inspection first.
Instead of defending against their attack, he had struck back with an attack of his own.
On top of that, the specialized safety diagnosis agency he had commissioned was an A-grade agency that did not usually accept requests for small buildings like this…
How had they produced results for him so quickly?
In any case, now that he had brought this level of evidence, it had become difficult to easily produce a different result.
Gwak Byeongdae felt as though he were boxed in on all sides.
The mayor’s face, already raging and raising hell, flickered before his eyes. Things were already difficult since the Eco Resource Center had fallen through, with the mayor nitpicking at every little thing. If he failed to handle the Geumsan Clinic matter, how much more would the mayor tear into him?
His stomach burned as if lava had been poured into it.
Gwak Byeongdae let out a sigh.
“In any case, since such an authoritative result has come out, we will review it once again as well.”
“Thank you. I will formally submit this report to City Hall. And I will enclose this remodeling plan regarding the building reinforcement.”
Taeho spoke with a relieved expression.
Gwak Byeongdae was about to nod, then suddenly furrowed his brow.
“Ahem, yes. However, the mayor… no, from City Hall’s position, ugh…”
In the blink of an eye, Manager Gwak Byeongdae clutched his stomach and bent over.
Startled, Taeho hurried over to him.
“Manager, are you all right?”
“Ah… It hurts. My stomach hurts like it’s being stabbed with a knife…”