Taesu was still confused.
“But how did Nurse Casey end up being assigned to me?”
“Casey said she would go.”
“Voluntarily?”
“Yes. She said she’d stay by your side, watch, help, and try to create an opportunity.”
“Wow, she’s an impressive person.”
Taesu sincerely praised Nurse Casey.
It had been a wise decision that preserved Dr. Oliver’s pride while also taking Taesu’s feelings into consideration.
At her praise, Dr. Oliver smiled softly without realizing it.
“Heh, words aren’t enough.”
“Um, I don’t think this is quite the mood for that.”
When Taesu subtly pointed it out, Dr. Oliver seemed embarrassed and cleared his throat.
“Ahem.”
“But I met Nurse Casey here for the first time.”
“You mean why she wasn’t there when we operated at headquarters? She was on leave because of family matters.”
“Ah. That’s why I didn’t know.”
Taesu immediately understood that part.
On the other hand, Dr. Oliver’s expression turned slightly sullen.
“During that time, Casey praised Dr. Choi so much that it got a little annoying.”
“I don’t think there was much to praise.”
“What are you talking about? How you look patients in the eye and listen to them, your sense in secretly giving snacks to children, your ability to read the whole operating room during surgery…”
On and on.
Dr. Oliver relayed exactly what he had heard from Nurse Casey.
His expression did not look particularly pleased.
Taesu wondered what was wrong now, then smiled lightly to himself.
‘Jealousy? That really doesn’t suit him.’
And yet he found it a little cute.
Because Dr. Oliver had seemed only bleak and austere, this contrasting display of emotion felt all the more curious.
After being jealous of Taesu for a short while, Dr. Oliver suddenly changed the subject.
“First, I want to apologize properly.”
“All of a sudden?”
Blink.
At the conversation that had no context, Taesu was bewildered.
But Dr. Oliver seemed to have been holding it in, and spoke again, more calmly.
“Back then, no—ever since our first meeting until now, I’m sorry for treating you coldly.”
“……”
“I think I had a prejudice against you without realizing it.”
“Dr. Park Jonghyeok.”
Taesu instantly recalled a person he was not very fond of.
In truth, he did not even want to attach an honorific to his name.
If his memory was correct, Dr. Oliver had said himself that he had heard about him from Professor Park Jonghyeok. As if confirming that memory, Dr. Oliver nodded.
“Yes. The biased things he said covered my ears and eyes quite a lot.”
“And now?”
“The Dr. Choi I experienced for myself? Dr. Schmidt said it, didn’t he? To choose my friends well.”
Another answer without context came back, but Taesu was somewhat used to it now and answered amiably.
“I remember.”
“If possible, I want to be close with the doctor Casey likes. To be honest, Casey dislikes Dr. Park.”
“Ahem.”
Taesu held back the laughter that almost burst out.
He thought of himself as rather odd, but Dr. Oliver was no ordinary case either.
Still, at some point, the awkwardness had disappeared without a trace.
He also felt as if he had come to know Dr. Oliver a little better.
At the very least, he was certain the man had a quietly talkative personality.
And now, that talkativeness was no longer unpleasant.
Then Dr. Oliver put on a bitter expression and spoke as if grumbling.
“I thought that since I’d lived this long, I knew a bit about the world, that I knew how to read people.”
“……”
“That was conceit and arrogance. That was the biggest mistake I made toward you, Dr. Choi.”
“I don’t think you need to put it that strongly.”
“No. Thanks to that, I decided to trust what I see, hear, and feel for myself more than what others tell me, so I consider it a good life lesson.”
There was no pretense in Dr. Oliver’s answer.
Looking at him, Taesu quietly added a word.
“There’s something my father used to say. I don’t know if it will help.”
“What was it?”
“He would ask why people have one mouth, but two eyes and two ears. He said it meant we should look and listen twice as much, and then speak carefully.”
That was truly something his father had said.
When Taesu was young, on the days his father came home after a drink, he would sit Taesu and his older sister on each knee and say it like a habit. Taesu still remembered it vividly.
Back then, he had been too young to understand its meaning.
He had simply liked his father’s broad embrace.
He disliked the smell of alcohol, but he liked his father enough to endure it.
Perhaps it was because those moments were his only chance for physical affection with his taciturn father.
And he also loved the moments when he listened to the old songs sung in his father’s deep voice.
Taesu was briefly lost in a happy memory.
Tap.
He heard the sound of a hand striking a knee, and Dr. Oliver nodded with deep eyes.
“That’s true. I think those words are very right.”
“Though that doesn’t mean I live without ever putting my foot in my mouth.”
“Knowing and practicing aren’t the same thing.”
“That’s true. Haha.”
Taesu burst out laughing lightly.
And then he was slightly surprised at himself.
It was the first time he had smiled since they had begun speaking alone.
That was how much the misunderstanding with Dr. Oliver had been resolved, and how much closer they had become.
The reason a long-standing misunderstanding could be cleared up at once was, after all, because of sincere conversation.
Sincerity gets through.
That was surely an eternal truth.
Was it because they had opened their hearts a little more?
The conversation, which was really chatter disguised as conversation, continued unexpectedly long.
Then the door opened.
Creak.
Through the gap, Dr. Schmidt leisurely entered with a gentle smile.
“Someone barely managed to finish surgery and come back, and some people are having such an enjoyable conversation?”
At his appearance, Taesu and Dr. Oliver immediately rose from their seats.
“You’re here, Doctor.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
Bow.
Taesu added a bowed greeting.
Dr. Schmidt approached with a slightly gaunt face, sat down, and gestured to them.
“Let’s sit down first.”
“Yes.”
Thud.
Once they were seated again, Dr. Schmidt looked back and forth between the two and said,
“Judging by your expressions, it doesn’t look like you were tearing into each other, and it seems it wasn’t just resolved—you’ve become close.”
Dr. Oliver answered first, full of vigor.
“Isn’t sincerity meant to get through?”
“Likewise.”
When Taesu added neatly, Dr. Schmidt looked dumbfounded by the sudden situation.
“This isn’t just becoming close, is it?”
“I’ve decided to continue operating with Dr. Choi from now on. Of course, together with Dr. Jeong as well.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He’ll be in the medical tent in the morning, then come to surgery in the afternoon. We’ve also discussed to some extent how he’ll work alongside the other departments.”
After Dr. Oliver summarized it neatly,
Swoosh.
Dr. Schmidt immediately looked at Taesu and began confirming.
“Dr. Oliver isn’t imagining this all by himself, is he?”
“He’s a wonderful person with so much to learn from. Would such a strange thing happen?”
“Huh. What are you people? Good grief.”
Dr. Schmidt could only let out hollow laughs at how abruptly the relationship between Taesu and Dr. Oliver had changed.
Still, Taesu and Dr. Oliver looked at each other and smiled.
After a brief, friendly exchange,
Dr. Oliver, who had surgery scheduled, rose from his seat and said,
“Then I’ll excuse myself first.”
“If your ears itch during surgery, know that it’s because we’re talking about you.”
“Please keep it moderate. Then.”
Dr. Oliver lightly met their eyes and left the office.
Click.
Once the door closed, Dr. Schmidt spoke about him in passing.
“Now he even trades jokes. He’s changed a lot.”
“What was he like before?”
“When I first saw him, I thought he had no emotions.”
“Surely it was only to a certain degree?”
When Taesu made a doubtful expression, Dr. Schmidt explained in more detail.
“It was rather severe. Severe enough that I secretly asked a psychiatrist if it might be emotional flattening.”
“Oh dear.”
“Especially his first surgery—I still can’t forget it. We may be used to bleeding, but he was the first doctor I’d seen whose eyes didn’t waver even once like that.”
“That really was serious.”
Taesu’s expression immediately darkened.
The psychiatric term “emotional flattening” was, in a word, similar to “indifference.”
Since emotional and mood changes appeared only minimally no matter the stimulus, one’s sociality would become extremely poor.
It was true that surgery required cool reason.
But the sensitivity to understand and empathize with a patient’s situation was also important.
Seeing Taesu’s concern, Dr. Schmidt added,
“I judged it dangerous, so I kept him with me and watched him.”
“Did something happen?”
When Taesu continued to show curiosity, Dr. Schmidt glanced at him.
“Are you really the same people who were growling at each other until yesterday?”
“We aren’t now, so what does it matter?”
“That’s not something to say so proudly.”
“Anyway. I like hearing stories like this.”
At Taesu’s subtle urging, Dr. Schmidt looked exasperated, yet continued speaking.
“Oliver began to change after he met Casey.”
“Ah. I understand right away.”
“The interesting thing is that Casey also had quite a cold personality, but she changed a lot after meeting Oliver.”
“Oho.”
When Taesu looked intrigued, Dr. Schmidt nodded.
“No one really knows what happens between a man and a woman.”
“That’s true.”
“At the time, the medical staff who were at the camp together even joked that if anyone was lacking something, they should try finding a partner.”
“Haha. Since there’s an exemplary case right in front of us, it’s not entirely wrong.”
As Taesu laughed loudly and expressed his agreement, Dr. Schmidt casually suggested,
“If you’re lacking something too, Dr. Choi, you should think about it.”
“Pardon?”
“No, wait. Since Dr. Choi has Mr. Kim, does that mean you already have a partner?”
At the strange turn of events, Taesu’s eyes went wide.
“Why did the conversation suddenly go that way?”
“I heard from Casey on my way here. She said the harmony between you two seemed even better than theirs.”
“That’s only Casey’s objective… No, why am I making excuses right now?”
Taesu even felt wronged.
Perhaps finding that reaction amusing, Dr. Schmidt burst into hearty laughter.
“Puhaha. Dr. James said it was quite fun teasing you, Dr. Choi, and your reactions really are satisfying.”
“Ah. James.”
Since he was not someone Taesu could say anything to, he smacked his lips bitterly.
After enough time had passed to drink a cup of tea,
Taesu parted with Dr. Schmidt and headed for the medical tent.
The medical tents had continued treating patients as if the earlier commotion had been a lie.
“Hey, Dr. Choi.”
“You’re late. You should’ve come faster.”
“You worked hard.”
Welcoming greetings rang out with every step he took.
Taesu greeted them in the same way.
They were medical staff he now felt comfortable with, like friends.
Soon, Taesu arrived at Medical Tent 3.
There were Jeong Minsu, Nurse Ellen, and Nurse Casey.
But Kim Hyeokgwon was also there among them.
Taesu was glad to see him, but also found it a little unexpected.
“Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
“What kind of chatter took you so long?”
A sharpness pierced him from the very first words.
His expression was full of dissatisfaction as well.
It was not an atmosphere where provoking him would be wise, so Taesu asked in a humble manner,
“Didn’t you say you’d rest a bit and then go to the school?”
“And yet I’ve been caught here. Happy?”
“Caught here?”
Just as Taesu asked in confusion,
Nurse Casey approached with a somewhat cold face and suddenly scolded him.
“Dr. Choi, how could you do that?”
“What did I do?”
“How could you send someone as capable as Mr. Kim to the school?”
“Pardon?”
Taesu was bewildered.