The rain had stopped, and the children were excited to finally have class on the field again.
"Alright, kids! Today we're going to do a relay race. We'll split into two teams."
PE teacher No Seongjin's booming voice echoed across the field. Twenty-eight second-year students stood lined up before him in their gym uniforms.
"Ah, I don't want to run, let's just play soccer!"
"Right! Let's just play soccer!"
No Seongjin laughed and shook his head.
"Quiet, you rascals!"
"Boo!"
"But Teacher, you like soccer too!"
The children shouted but were enjoying themselves. Because Teacher No Seongjin's PE class was fun no matter what they did.
Watching them, No Seongjin smiled warmly. These were the moments he enjoyed most as a PE teacher.
"Alright, then let's start with warm-ups. Light stretching in place!"
No Seongjin began demonstrating in front of the students. Arm rotations, waist twists, leg stretches. The familiar movements were no different from usual.
"Now we'll practice passing the ball!"
It was the moment No Seongjin was about to demonstrate by kicking the soccer ball.
'*Huh?*'
Suddenly, the strength drained from his right leg. In an instant, his balance crumbled.
"*Huk!*"
No Seongjin collapsed onto the field just like that.
The students looked at him in surprise. A few students giggled, thinking the teacher was playing a prank. The PE teacher was the most popular teacher in the school because he joked around a lot and got along with the kids without any reservations.
A male student standing in the front row asked,
"Teacher? Are you okay?"
"I think I just stepped wrong."
Flustered, No Seongjin tried to get up. But something was strange. His right leg had no strength at all. Even when he tried to push himself up with his left hand, his leg wouldn't obey.
"Teacher, are you really okay? Your face has gone pale."
This time, a short-haired female student asked worriedly.
"I said I'm fine. Just a moment......"
Breaking out in a cold sweat, No Seongjin tried to get up again. But his right leg wouldn't move, as if completely paralyzed. Trying to exert strength with only his left leg, he couldn't keep his balance.
The students began gathering around him one by one.
"Teacher, did you hurt your leg?"
"Shouldn't you go to the nurse's office?"
The children's worried voices reached No Seongjin's ears.
But to No Seongjin, those sounds felt like they were coming from far away.
'*Why is this happening all of a sudden?*'
He couldn't understand his situation. He had exercised his whole life. He had been far more confident in his body than the average person, so he couldn't believe his body suddenly wouldn't obey him.
"What happened?"
PE teacher Lee Jongmin, who had been teaching third-years nearby, came running over.
"Teacher No, what's wrong?"
"Suddenly, strength won't go into my leg."
No Seongjin's voice trembled. He had never shown such a helpless appearance in front of his students before.
"What? Strength won't go into your leg?"
Surprised, Lee Jongmin examined No Seongjin. From the outside, there were no visible injuries or anything particularly abnormal.
"Did you get a cramp? Or are your muscles knotted?"
"No, it's not like that. There's no sensation at all."
No Seongjin touched his right leg with his hand. He had sensation, but when he tried to move it, there was no response whatsoever.
The students grew increasingly anxious. The sight of the PE teacher suddenly unable to stand was shocking. The teacher's face was pale and bloodless, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead, showing that this was no ordinary situation.
"Teacher, hurry and go to the hospital!"
"Should we carry you?"
The children were genuinely worried. Some female students were already sniffling.
Seeing the students like that, No Seongjin felt sorry.
"Kids, I'm fine. You all got lucky today. I was going to make the relay race really hard......"
No Seongjin joked, but the children couldn't easily relax.
Determining the situation to be serious, Lee Jongmin shouted,
"Class president! Go to the teachers' office right now and tell them to call 119!"
The class president jumped in surprise and ran to the teachers' office.
Soon, several teachers came running out of the teachers' office. The school nurse came with a first-aid bag, and the vice principal and several other teachers came as well.
"Teacher No, where does it hurt?"
The school nurse began checking No Seongjin's condition. She took his blood pressure, checked his pulse, and examined simple nerve responses.
"His blood pressure and pulse are normal. But the response in his right leg is strange."
Principal No Deukguk, who had heard the news late, came running out with a pale face.
"Teacher No! What happened? Did someone call 119?"
"Yes, they'll be here soon."
Soon the ambulance arrived, and the paramedics moved No Seongjin onto a stretcher.
Some female students stomped their feet and cried at the sight.
"Kids, it's okay. I'll be back soon. When I come back, I'll work you hard, so be prepared!"
No Seongjin smiled for the students until the very end.
***
"Director. Please help me."
Principal No Deukguk's voice echoed through the examination room of Geumsan Clinic. His eyes were bloodshot red, and his face looked haggard, as if he hadn't slept properly for days.
Taeho slowly read through the diagnosis papers the principal had handed him.
Neurology opinions from Samcheok Medical Center, neurology diagnosis from Seoul Gilcheon Hospital, and even from Seoul Seyoung Hospital. They all reached the same conclusion.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
"I simply couldn't believe what Samcheok Medical Center said. So I went up to Seoul and got a detailed examination......"
Principal No said in a trembling voice.
Taeho carefully examined the diagnosis papers once more. Electromyography, MRI, blood test...... All the results supported the ALS diagnosis.
Commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
It is a degenerative neurological disease in which the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord are gradually destroyed, causing muscles to weaken and atrophy. At first, strength in the arms and legs weakens or muscle spasms begin, but as the disease progresses, the respiratory muscles become paralyzed as well, making it a fatal disease that can lead to death within a few years.
When he first met No Seongjin in the principal's office, something had felt off. The faint tremor he felt when shaking hands, and the trembling of his eyelids.
But he hadn't expected it to be Lou Gehrig's disease.
Taeho opened his mouth carefully.
"Principal, to be frank, ALS is a disease that is extremely difficult to cure with current medicine."
No Deukguk's face grew even paler.
"They said the same thing in Seoul. They said we can slow the progression but a cure is difficult. But isn't there another way, Director?"
Taeho's heart was heavy. He had treated many incurable patients up until now, but ALS was one of the diseases that showed the limits of modern medicine.
No Deukguk spoke desperately.
"I've heard that you've cured many difficult-to-treat diseases until now. You saved Minsu from our school too. My son....... Can't you save my son too?"
Taeho was troubled hearing Principal No's earnest request.
Could he really cure ALS?
Even with Rema's help, this didn't seem easy.
"Principal, regrettably, ALS is a truly difficult disease."
"I know. But you are the only one I can rely on. Seongjin is my only son."
Thick tears flowed from Principal No's eyes. He had devoted his whole life to teaching, instructing countless students. As a principal now, he hadn't earned a lot of money, but he took pride in having lived honorably. But right now, he was only a father who wanted to save his son.
Principal No wanted to grab even the hem of Director Kang Taeho's trousers.
"Please, just see him once. Do the examinations over again. We cannot give up on our Seongjin like this. Director."
Taeho let out a deep sigh. As a doctor, he couldn't turn away from a patient. Especially when he saw a family pleading this desperately.
"Very well. I can't promise anything, but let's have Teacher No brought here so I can examine him."
"Really? You'll really see him?"
"I can't promise that I will definitely cure him. However, I will do my best."
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
No Deukguk bowed his head deeply.
He was prepared to do anything if it meant holding onto even a thread of hope.
***
"Teacher No, please come this way."
Taeho guided No Seongjin, seated in a wheelchair, into the examination room. Principal No Deukguk followed beside his son with an anxious expression.
"Please make yourself comfortable. Teacher No, may I examine you once more?"
"Yes, go ahead."
No Seongjin nodded impassively. He had come here because of his father's insistence, but he had already resigned himself.
Examinations upon re-examinations upon further re-examinations. He was utterly exhausted.
Taeho first observed No Seongjin's overall condition. He carefully examined his expression, posture, movements, and so on.
"Spread your hands out like this."
No Seongjin extended both hands forward. Taeho observed his hands closely.
A very fine tremor was visible in his left hand.
"Mm?"
Taeho's eyebrows rose.
His sharp intuition was sending him signals with a tingling sensation.
"Is something wrong?"
Principal No, watching anxiously from the side, asked nervously.
"Nothing is certain yet. I'll continue the examination."
Taeho carefully observed the muscles in No Seongjin's arms and legs. Fine muscle spasms called fasciculations were observed in several areas. This was one of the typical symptoms of ALS.
But something was strange......
"Teacher No, please follow my finger with your eyes."
Taeho turned on a penlight and checked No Seongjin's pupil response. It looked normal on the outside, but the response in his left pupil was infinitesimally slower than his right.
This kind of asymmetry was slightly different from the typical symptoms of ALS.
It was frustrating not knowing what it was. It was like having an itch that he couldn't satisfyingly scratch.
If only the [Patient Empathy Sense] ability would activate like when he diagnosed Minsu......
He had never felt it again since Minsu, so he didn't know how to call it forth.
While Taeho was deep in thought, No Seongjin sighed and spoke.
"Let's stop now. It's no use anyway......"
"Seongjin!"
Principal No shouted angrily. He had begged Director Kang Taeho to see him just once to get here, and to think he would show such disrespect......
"Stop it. Father!"
This time, No Seongjin didn't back down. The pain and fatigue he had endured all this time surged forth at once. Everything was sickening.
"Please, just give up on me now. I've lived my whole life doing what you wanted. So please, just let me go. Let me go in peace at least!"
Slap!
Principal No sprang up and slapped his son's cheek in an instant. Both No Seongjin, who had been struck, and Taeho, who was watching from the side, looked at Principal No with shocked eyes.
"How! How could a parent give up on their child! You wicked boy!"
Principal No trembled all over and collapsed into his seat. Then he muttered as if talking to himself.
"Instead of you, instead of you with your bright future ahead, I prayed every night to be the one who got sick......"
No Seongjin bit his molars tightly and hung his head.
In Principal No's appearance, Taeho saw his own late father.
'*I'll take all the bad things, this old man will. Taeho, you just take the good things. Got it?*'
At that moment, Taeho suddenly felt his body grow languid. The scene before his eyes slowly distorted as if rippling.
*It came!*
The sensation he had felt with Minsu.