Kim Hyeokgwon glared at Nurse Casey with his large eyes and growled.
“Then what else is an interpreter supposed to do but interpret?”
“Why are you interpreting in the wrong place? When you’re someone who can even assist directly in surgery.”
“If I interpret here and start butting in, you people won’t like it.”
“Who says we won’t like it? It means fewer hands are needed, so why would we dislike it?”
Their voices grew louder and louder.
Taesu immediately had a sense of what the issue was. The problem was that this was not a place occupied only by them.
Taesu glanced around and then paused.
Perhaps because this was not the first time they had argued like this, there was no particular reaction from the surrounding medical tents.
What was surprising was that even the patients receiving treatment seemed to simply accept it as something that happened.
Taesu quietly asked Jeong Minsu,
“Have they been like this the whole time?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“You can’t give up too.”
“They’ve done it enough times that I’d have to fold down all my fingers and start on my toes.”
When Jeong Minsu indirectly described the number of times they had fought, Taesu flinched too.
“In one hour?”
“I told you.”
“Ugh. No wonder everyone’s sick of it.”
Taesu felt dizzy as well.
They had been conversing comfortably in Korean.
Until now, no one had understood them, so they had exchanged such secret conversations that way.
But now, that was a huge misconception.
Kim Hyeokgwon also knew Korean well.
Whoosh.
In the middle of arguing with Nurse Casey, he stopped and glared at Taesu.
“Let’s not have you two getting sick of it however you like without even considering my position.”
“Y-you heard us?”
“After listening only to English, Korean stands out even more clearly.”
“Haha, I suppose it would.”
Taesu tried to gloss it over with a laugh.
At that moment, Nurse Casey cut in with a frosty expression.
“Are you cursing me in Korean right now?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“Well, whether you curse or not, do as you please. In any case, Dr. Choi, you agree that Mr. Kim should interpret here and help us too, right?”
Nurse Casey seemed intent on ending the argument with Taesu’s answer.
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had no intention of standing by quietly, quickly cut in and asked,
“Dr. Choi, you said we shouldn’t make things uncomfortable between us for no reason.”
“Mr. Kim. Step aside. I asked Dr. Choi first.”
“This is about me, so where am I supposed to go? You say the strangest things.”
“What did you say?”
“What do you want me to do?”
The quarrel between the two was about to intensify even further.
It was then.
Suddenly.
Jeong Minsu slipped between the two of them and hurriedly mediated.
“I think you two should stop there.”
“Why?”
“Look over there.”
Swoosh.
Jeong Minsu raised his hand and pointed somewhere.
At the end of his finger was Taesu.
But all expression had vanished from Taesu’s face. Then his eyes narrowed, and a chilling voice rang out.
“Are the two of you going to keep interfering with treatment like this?”
“……”
“Did you come here to play?”
At Taesu’s cold question, Kim Hyeokgwon reacted first.
“Ahem. That’s not it.”
“Do you have more to say?”
“No.”
“Mr. Kim, please return to the school for now. It wouldn’t be good for us to leave our assigned places as we please.”
“Let’s do that. Keep up the good w-work.”
Kim Hyeokgwon quickly said goodbye, trying not to provoke Taesu any further, and moved away.
Taesu’s gaze turned directly to Nurse Casey.
“Treatment shouldn’t be disrupted like this, should it?”
“But… No. You’re right, Dr. Choi.”
“And he isn’t someone you can hold in place by force. If he were, I would have brought him here long ago.”
“I understand. I’ll stop.”
Nurse Casey answered unexpectedly meekly.
No, it seemed she was flustered because she had not expected Taesu to get this angry.
The same was true of Nurse Ellen.
“Dr. Jeong, is that really Dr. Choi?”
“It is.”
“He was the one who smiled when people were saying all sorts of things to him from every direction.”
“Mm. He’s just the kind of guy you see there. We should bring in the patients too. No need to invite a scolding.”
Jeong Minsu quietly led Nurse Ellen away, just in case sparks flew in their direction.
Taesu also scattered the chill around him, softened his expression, and suggested to Nurse Casey,
“Now, shall we start again?”
“Yes. Let’s.”
Nurse Casey was dazed by the sight of Taesu changing so suddenly once again.
But because she understood what had made Taesu angry, she did not look displeased.
Soon, José approached Taesu while supporting a patient.
It was a face he had seen a few days ago.
Taesu greeted him warmly and first asked after his condition.
“Has there been any discomfort when moving your leg…”
“#%#@$%#…… Since yesterday, little by little……”
When José interpreted, the patient also smiled and conversed with Taesu.
The cold atmosphere disappeared as if it had been a lie, leaving only warmth behind.
The same was true for Jeong Minsu, who was treating patients beside him.
The other medical staff nearby had been watching every bit of it without missing a thing.
They thought his sudden emotional shift was odd.
But now, they could clearly feel that there was more to it than that.
Perhaps because the news had already spread throughout the medical volunteer corps, they could hear voices comparing him to someone else.
“Someone else acts different in front and behind your back. No, wait, Dr. Choi is different in front and behind too.”
“It’s not easy to be different like that.”
“Still, isn’t that the way it should be?”
“That’s true. But it does make me wonder if we were like that back then.”
“Everyone, stop talking and let’s keep treating patients, before Dr. Choi catches us and scolds us for nothing.”
“Hahaha, yeah, let’s hurry and take care of the patients first.”
Everyone laughed lightly and resumed treatment.
It was not that they were minding Taesu’s mood, but they did not want to lose when it came to the heart with which they treated patients.
That evening.
After finishing dinner, Taesu and Jeong Minsu sat facing each other at the table in the lodging courtyard, the same as always.
“Ugh. What did we even eat?”
“Exactly. We were too busy greeting people… Hic. Now I’m finally digesting.”
It seemed their bloated stomachs were finally beginning to settle little by little.
Their groaning lasted only a moment.
Thud.
The sight of them spreading out papers that had grown quite thick by now had become utterly natural.
As Taesu looked over the papers, he asked first,
“There weren’t any new patients, right?”
“Today was hectic.”
No sooner had those words ended than someone sat down beside Jeong Minsu and said,
“Starting tomorrow, they’ll be bringing in patients from nearby cities, so new cases will appear again.”
“Brad.”
As Jeong Minsu called out, it was Brad Kim.
Taesu looked at him, pleased to see him, and immediately asked,
“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you since this morning.”
“I saw you in the dining hall, but I pretended not to. You were getting greeted like crazy.”
“What? Ah… Thank you very much.”
When Taesu glanced at him and forced out a greeting, Brad Kim waved his hands.
“Don’t look at me like that. I was in the operating room all day, so I wanted to at least eat in peace.”
“All day? You must have been busy.”
“I really wanted to call the two of you. Well, I know what happened, so let’s leave that aside.”
Brad Kim tried to gloss over it.
It seemed he did not want to keep talking about something unpleasant.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu agreed with that as well.
The joy of reunion lasted only a moment.
Before they knew it, the three of them had spread out the papers as if it were a matter of course. Then Taesu briefly checked his wristwatch and suggested,
“Let’s start with orthopedics first. We can do the questions and answers a bit later.”
“Sure. Let’s wake up the ones sleeping in our heads first.”
“It’s another delightful review session today. Hup, let’s do this.”
Following Brad Kim, Jeong Minsu also showed his enthusiasm energetically.
And as always, the three of them began reviewing the cases they had organized.
Not long after that.
“Is this seat empty?”
At the relaxed voice coming in English, all three of them raised their heads at the same time. Standing there with a smiling face was Dr. Quentin.
Taesu’s face brightened.
“Kkudi.”
“I came to see if there was anything you didn’t know. To the samba-like doctors burning with passion again today. Oh, that wasn’t directed at Dr. Kim.”
When Dr. Quentin glanced at him, Brad Kim grumbled,
“There are tons of things I don’t know when it comes to neurosurgery too. Hurry up, sit down, and tutor us.”
“Still, how could I tutor Dr. Kim…”
“I said sit down already. Dr. Choi, what are you doing?”
Brad Kim comfortably smoothed out the atmosphere and urged him to sit.
Thanks to that, Taesu could also be shameless.
“I was actually thinking of going to find you tomorrow, Kkudi.”
“If you put it like that, do you think I’ll want to do it? Unlike how I look, I’m delicate at heart.”
“That’s why you should hurry and sit. Here. This thing you mentioned before…”
Whoosh.
Taesu truly pulled Dr. Quentin down into a seat and immediately began asking questions so he could not say anything else.
Perhaps because Dr. Quentin had come for this very reason, he no longer held back and naturally melted into the atmosphere.
But it was not only Dr. Quentin.
“The weather’s chilly, but why is it so heated here?”
“Dr. Johnson.”
“Dr. Kim. Didn’t you say earlier there was something you didn’t know about dental diseases? But it looks like neurosurgery has claimed the place first, hasn’t it?”
“Stop saying strange things and sit down already.”
Perhaps Brad Kim had many things he was curious about, because he left his own seat and had Dr. Johnson sit there.
“You didn’t have to get up.”
“When you’re learning, you learn even if you have to sit on the ground. Anyway, about this…”
“That is…”
Brad Kim and Dr. Johnson also instantly fell into their own world.
Jeong Minsu felt pointlessly left out by what was happening in front of him and beside him.
“Damn it. Is there no one for me?”
The words had barely left his mouth.
“Hey, Dr. Jeong.”
“Oh. Dr. Talon. Please sit down first.”
Springing up.
When Jeong Minsu stood to have him sit in his place, Dr. Talon was flustered.
“Why all of a sudden… I was just passing by…”
“I understand. Anyway, just a moment. There was something I was curious about…”
Flutter, flutter.
Jeong Minsu hurriedly flipped through the papers, looking for a question.
Perhaps there was something he had marked in advance, because Jeong Minsu soon found it and immediately began asking.
“Here. I don’t quite understand this part…”
“Dr. Jeong, I really was just passing by.”
“I know. But since you’ve sat down, please just explain it to me.”
“Fine. Fine, so stop pestering me. Phew. Let’s see, hm. This is, in other words…”
Dr. Talon obediently put everything aside and chose to resolve his curiosity.
The once simple table had, at some point, become crowded with people.
And not only them, but mid-career specialists specializing in surgery who were passing by also offered a word of advice here and there.
They also introduced new symptoms and diseases beyond the existing cases.
In particular, the mid-career specialists, with their wealth of experience, also taught them about atypical symptoms that could appear even in the same cases.
In that way, the knowledge of Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Brad Kim grew even richer.
One week later.
It was time to prepare for morning treatment.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu, who were replenishing what was lacking in the medical tent, had grown a little thin.
It was enough to worry Nurse Casey and Nurse Ellen, who had stayed by their side all that time.
“Are you two all right?”
“You are eating properly, aren’t you?”
At that question, Taesu smiled and said,
“I feel like you’ve been asking us that every day lately.”
“You look haggard even at a glance, so of course we’re worried. Oliver asks every night if you’re all right too.”
“Dr. Jeong seems happy about it.”
As Taesu said, Jeong Minsu quietly stroked his face and smiled broadly.
“I really have gotten a bit slimmer. You can see my jawbone here.”
“I don’t think that’s something you should be so proud of.”
“Ellen, this is the first time I’ve seen my jawbone since high school.”
“Yes. You must be very proud.”
Nurse Ellen was worried, but at times she also felt deflated by Jeong Minsu acting like that.
In that way, the nurses could not shake off their worry, looking at Taesu and Jeong Minsu as if they were children left by the water’s edge.