Bread Kim, who at least knew that temper, quickly stepped in to mediate.
"We're leaving now. Come on, let's go."
Tap. Tap.
Bread Kim even pushed their shoulders and backs.
Thanks to that enthusiastic shoving, everyone was soon outside.
Click.
Only after the door closed did Taesu turn back to the operating table.
"......."
Kim Hyeokgwon's sharp gaze was fixed directly on Taesu. It was the look of someone about to unleash a scolding.
The moment he felt it, Taesu clapped awkwardly and spoke.
Clap, clap.
"W-we should clean up a bit before resting."
"Cleaning?"
"My head hurts from the smell of blood."
"Oh my, you're right. No wonder it felt strange."
Jeong Minsu was quick to catch on and sided with Taesu.
Provoking Kim Hyeokgwon for no reason would only invite a brutal barrage of facts in return.
And so, watching Kim Hyeokgwon's mood, Taesu and Jeong Minsu cautiously began cleaning the operating room.
A short while later.
The operating room had become considerably tidy.
And Taesu and Jeong Minsu were sitting in chairs.
It was a spot slightly away from the operating table, positioned where they could see the ECG monitor at a glance.
Beep, beep.
Only the sound of the ECG echoed in the silent operating room.
Taesu thought quietly.
'Is Changgyu okay?'
Whether the surgery was over, whether it had gone well.
He was curious about many things.
But Shanmeheum was a patient he had operated on directly.
She hadn't stabilized yet, so he couldn't leave his post.
Therefore, focusing on Shanmeheum was only logical.
On the other hand, Jeong Minsu was dozing off, his head nodding, perhaps overcome with fatigue.
Taesu's eyes were also hazy, but he didn't close them.
A glance.
He looked at Jeong Minsu dozing beside him and finally tapped him lightly to call out.
"Minsu."
"Hmm....... Wh-what, what's going on?"
At Jeong Minsu's violent reaction, Taesu patted his shoulder lightly and said.
"Go out and just sleep."
"No. Hmm, I wasn't sleeping."
"Wipe the drool from your mouth."
At Taesu's remark, Jeong Minsu quickly mopped his mouth with his sleeve.
"Huh? Tsk. Ah, way to embarrass me."
"As if you had any dignity to lose?"
"You really....... What a kind child, speaking so beautifully."
No matter how much Jeong Minsu glared at him, it wouldn't work on Taesu.
"Thanks for understanding."
"But has Mister Hyuk-kwon been like that the whole time?"
Perhaps embarrassed, Jeong Minsu changed the subject.
Right now, Kim Hyeokgwon was sitting close to the operating table, watching over Shanmeheum.
"......."
Even though they spoke, there was no reaction.
So Taesu reacted in his stead.
A nod.
That was all, a simple nod.
Even so, Taesu found Kim Hyeokgwon's appearance curious.
Then Kim Hyeokgwon broke his long silence and spoke.
"Stop staring like I'm some strange animal, and both of you go out and get some rest."
"Strange?"
"When have you ever seen me like this?"
"......."
Taesu couldn't answer easily.
It was the first time since Sabi that Kim Hyeokgwon had cared this much about a single patient.
Jeong Minsu was also silent, having never seen such a sight before.
Then Kim Hyeokgwon pulled up the surgical drape and continued.
"You've both worked hard. You nearly died so many times, yet here we are."
"We suffered together."
"But it feels funny saying this when I'm not even the guardian."
"It's not that funny."
When Taesu answered, Kim Hyeokgwon's indifferent voice was heard.
"It is funny. Isn't it funny that I'm worrying this much over a child I saw for the first time today?"
"Well......."
"Changgyu, and now this kid too. I've never cared like this before, have I?"
"......."
Taesu couldn't answer easily.
Jeong Minsu was the same.
As if he had expected Taesu's awkward answer, Kim Hyeokgwon showed no particular reaction.
Then he began something out of nowhere.
"As long as they're alive, that's enough. As long as they're alive......."
"Mister Hyuk-kwon."
Jeong Minsu called out softly.
But whether Kim Hyeokgwon hadn't heard, or deliberately didn't listen, he uttered another random remark.
"If they die, you can't meet them again."
"Why are you saying such things?"
"You've probably caught on by now....... I'm alone."
"Th-that's......."
Because they had caught on, they had nothing to say.
Kim Hyeokgwon paid no heed and continued.
"I don't even know who my father is."
"O-oh."
"And my mother passed away to the heavens long ago."
"Ha."
Taesu and Jeong Minsu covered their mouths.
It was a sudden confession.
Words they had never heard before.
No, Kim Hyeokgwon had hated talking about himself so much that they couldn't even ask.
So it was strange that he was opening up about himself on his own.
As if he had roughly expected their reaction, Kim Hyeokgwon asked in a bitter voice.
"Isn't it strange for me to suddenly do this?"
"No."
"It's not."
Taesu and Jeong Minsu answered simultaneously.
The moment their answer ended, Kim Hyeokgwon's voice continued.
"I did many bad things, and many evil things too. Because the back alleys of New Delhi aren't exactly a nice place for a child to survive alone in."
"Well......."
"But I studied Korean hard. To the point of sweating blood, as they say."
"May I ask why?"
It was the moment Taesu cautiously asked.
Swish.
Kim Hyeokgwon, meeting his gaze, raised one corner of his mouth and spoke.
"I brought it up so you'd ask. If you're curious, you have to ask."
"Then how did you start studying Korean?"
"To read a letter."
At those words, Taesu and Jeong Minsu's expressions changed strangely at the same time.
This time Jeong Minsu asked.
"A letter?"
"Yes. To read the letter my mother left behind."
"Is your mother Korean?"
Though Jeong Minsu asked with difficulty, Kim Hyeokgwon's answer was simple.
"No. A pure Indian. Quite the elite, even studied abroad in Korea."
"Hm?"
Taesu and Jeong Minsu only grew more puzzled.
Seeing their reaction, Kim Hyeokgwon resolved the doubt on his own.
"She met that man during her studies in Korea. She said she found out she was pregnant with me after returning to India."
"Ah......."
"Quite the cliché story. A fairly wealthy family that sent their daughter to study abroad, but too rigid to accept me, so my mother left home."
It sounded easy to say, but in India where the caste system still prevailed, it was a tremendous problem.
Because Taesu and Jeong Minsu came from Kashmir with a similar culture, they couldn't take it lightly.
But this wasn't the place to vent complaints about that.
What mattered was Kim Hyeokgwon's life.
"And then?"
"It's cliché. The baby was born, and to survive she did whatever harsh work she could, and so she fell ill....... Well, I already told you what comes next, so I'll skip it."
"So what about you, Mister Hyuk-kwon?"
Though Taesu asked carefully, Kim Hyeokgwon continued without much reaction.
"What could I do when my mother was ill?"
"......."
"It's obvious too. I went to that family and got beaten and kicked out. So I buried my mother myself."
"How old were you then?"
Taesu asked, dreading the answer.
But Kim Hyeokgwon's answer, which had flowed smoothly until now, was suddenly inaudible.
"......."
"......."
Taesu and Jeong Minsu did not rush him.
And so, silence suddenly filled the operating room.
It didn't last long.
Perhaps having steeled himself, Kim Hyeokgwon's voice was heard, flat and detached.
"It was right around Shanmeheum's age."
"Then you've been alone since then?"
"I told you. I did many bad things, and even more wicked things, to survive."
Kim Hyeokgwon's answering voice was parched.
But Taesu and Jeong Minsu could hardly imagine it.
That at such a young age, after losing his mother, he had been left completely alone and raised in a lawless district was simply astounding.
"......."
"......."
Though they couldn't say a word, Kim Hyeokgwon carried on indifferently, as if it were no big deal.
"It was one day when I was living like a scoundrel after my mother passed."
"What happened?"
"I was cleaning up the house to move and happened to find a letter. What do you call what people write before they die......."
"A will."
"Ah, that. I suppose it was a will, not a letter."
"I suppose so."
Even though Taesu answered with trembling eyes, Kim Hyeokgwon still didn't care.
"Anyway, it was written in Korean. I opened a Korean book with my own hands then, one I wouldn't have given a second glance at even if hit with it when I was young."
"People do change when there's a reason."
"They do. So I steeled myself and opened it, and Korean was surprisingly easy to learn. I wrote my name in an hour."
When Kim Hyeokgwon marveled strangely, Jeong Minsu cut in slyly.
"I don't think that's the important part."
"No, it was easy. Maybe because my mother only spoke Korean at home, once I learned the words, the meanings came to me right away."
As Kim Hyeokgwon's words kept veering in different directions, Taesu, unable to listen anymore, stepped in.
"Anyway, so you read the entire will?"
"It took about three days, but I read it."
"Three days....... You really are smart."
Taesu hadn't wanted to say it, but he couldn't help but be surprised at that part.
Even if he had spoken Korean with his mother at home since childhood, it was a second language. By middle school age, language should be firmly set.
Yet reading a letter in just three days was an incredible feat.
Kim Hyeokgwon himself only kept up his indifferent reaction.
"Korean is easy to learn."
"Let's say that. Hmm. If you don't mind......."
"You're asking what the will said?"
"......."
Nod, nod.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu expressed their answer with intense nods simultaneously.
They couldn't directly ask him to tell them the will's contents, so they had acted instead.
Kim Hyeokgwon spoke with the same detached face.
"What's so hard about that. Apologies for leaving me alone, telling me to eat well, just full of worries."
"......."
"And she says thank you for studying Korean."
"I see."
That was all they could say.
But they could roughly feel what Kim Hyeokgwon's mother had been thinking.
She must have hoped that someday, if Kim Hyeokgwon contacted his father, he would ask after him in Korean and converse in Korean.
Kim Hyeokgwon himself surely knew that.
But he omitted any words about that and spoke of himself afterward.
"Anyway, I thought I couldn't keep living like this."
"So what did you do?"
"There are many Korean companies in New Delhi. I went to one randomly and asked them to hire me since I could interpret."
Contrary to Kim Hyeokgwon's dull tone, Taesu and Jeong Minsu listened with perked ears.
So Taesu immediately asked.
"Did they?"
"They did. Anyway, I stayed there for about ten years, solving all my food, clothing, and shelter. That's when Korean became completely natural to me."
"But why did you become an interpreter?"
When Taesu asked slyly, Kim Hyeokgwon answered indifferently.
"The company fell on hard times and pulled out to Korea, so I had nothing to do. I tried to start a business with the salary I'd saved up, but I was too naive."
"Scam......"
"I was ripe to be scammed. At an age not even thirty, holding several years' worth of adults' salaries."
Seeing Kim Hyeokgwon's dark expression, Taesu conveyed his sympathy.
"It was a lot of money."
"I got scammed properly. That neighborhood is full of people who'd steal your nose while you're watching."
"......."
Not knowing what to say to that, they simply didn't answer.