A little while later.
Slide.
The door to the hospital room opened.
It was one of the surgical intensive care rooms.
Though it was a three-person room, there were only two patients.
Lee Changgyu lay in the bed by the wall.
And a nurse with her back turned was checking his vitals on the ECG.
Gang Yeonghun, seated beside the bed, was watching Lee Changgyu with a sorrowful expression.
Gang Yeonghun did not react even to the sound of the door.
It seemed he had no interest in strangers, since he knew no one here.
Just as Taesu and Yun Juseong slowly stepped inside—
The nurse who had finished recording the ECG turned around.
It was Nurse Casey.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
They looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
But only for a moment.
Nurse Casey seemed to grasp at once why Taesu had come.
She quickly walked over and said,
“The patient hasn’t woken up yet.”
“Yes. But you’re not in surgery?”
“I’m off surgery today. On days like that, I make rounds in the ward.”
“I was worried because you were going into surgery every day. I’m glad you have some time to rest.”
Taesu smiled gently.
But Nurse Casey protested with a sullen face.
“Says the person who’s causing a commotion every single day.”
“What can I do?”
“You can’t help it, but please rest even a little.”
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”
Taesu put on his usual easy charm with a wink.
Her expression suggested she very much doubted whether he had properly heard her advice.
In the end, Nurse Casey shook her head.
“As if my words ever reach you. Take the chart and get going.”
Thwack.
Nurse Casey handed over the chart roughly.
Taesu knew that even in that rough gesture, there was warm concern.
So he only smiled softly.
After receiving the chart, Taesu and Yun Juseong immediately approached Gang Yeonghun.
As the distance narrowed, Yun Juseong spoke first.
“Give me the chart. I’ll take a closer look at his condition.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
“I’m not planning to leave.”
Tap.
Yun Juseong lightly tapped the chart, then went around to the other side of the bed.
It seemed he intended to keep his ears open in this direction.
Since Taesu had spoken with him yesterday, he was surely yielding the conversation to him.
He was more considerate than expected.
‘He’s a decent person.’
Taesu stopped thinking about Yun Juseong there.
They could talk anytime, so there was no rush.
As Yun Juseong approached the ECG—
Taesu also checked the ECG first.
‘His recovery is definitely slow.’
If anything, it was worse than Shanmeheum’s.
It was by no means less severe.
When Taesu had first seen him, he had suspected malnutrition because of his small build for his age.
It seemed he had been right.
Compared to the vitals he had heard yesterday, they were better, but only to a certain extent.
It was not a tremendous change.
Taesu’s keen eye did not stop there.
Though it was only for a moment, he took in as much information as possible.
Urine output, blood loss, and all the drugs hanging on the IV.
The moment he finished assessing everything—
Step.
Taesu arrived beside Gang Yeonghun.
First, he bent lightly at the waist and greeted him.
“We meet again.”
“……”
Gang Yeonghun only looked at him without speaking.
His gaze was somewhat heavy and sunken.
As expected, it did not feel welcoming.
Taesu could clearly see the difficulty that lay ahead in their conversation.
‘Damn.’
At that moment, Gang Yeonghun quietly stood up.
Then he faced Taesu and held out both hands.
Clasp.
Gang Yeonghun respectfully took Taesu’s hand and bowed deeply enough that the crown of his head was visible.
“Thank you for saving our Changgyu. Thank you, truly.”
“No, I wasn’t the one who operated—”
At the sight that far exceeded his expectations, Taesu found himself flustered without realizing it.
Even so, Gang Yeonghun steadfastly continued expressing his gratitude.
“I heard that if the emergency treatment hadn’t been done properly, he wouldn’t even have made it into the operating room.”
“Even so, I didn’t do it alone.”
“When Changgyu wakes up, we’ll go and thank everyone.”
“Well, that’s… First, please raise your head.”
Since this was not something Taesu could argue over, he quickly tried to change the subject.
But Gang Yeonghun was no ordinary stubborn man either.
It was a meeting between a Choi and a Gang, both reputed to be stubborn.
The two of them clearly demonstrated what sort of result that produced.
“Please, that’s enough, raise your head…”
“Still, I must thank you…”
Back and forth.
The same words were repeated between them for quite some time.
Even Yun Juseong, watching from the side, shook his head.
Still, since there was a beginning, there was also an end.
Taesu and Gang Yeonghun sat side by side, looking toward the bed.
Taesu looked at Lee Changgyu, who appeared much tidier now, and spoke first.
“Changgyu is a strong child.”
“Does he seem that way to you?”
“Yes. It was a surgery even adults would have a hard time enduring, but he overcame it so proudly.”
At Taesu’s praise, Gang Yeonghun nodded heavily.
“Changgyu’s father must have helped him. I’m certain of it.”
“Yes. I think so too.”
“It couldn’t have been by my brother’s efforts alone. I am grateful to everyone who lent their hands directly.”
Gang Yeonghun expressed his thanks with deep courtesy and care.
Feeling as though the same thing was about to repeat, Taesu subtly cut him off.
“You can tell them separately later.”
“Ahem. Yes. I understand.”
“But… um…”
Taesu’s mouth did not open as easily as he had expected. In truth, on the way here, he had thought of countless questions.
But all of those questions were far from the heart of the matter.
Dragging out time with this and that conversation in the name of courtesy was not Taesu’s style.
‘To hell with it. I don’t know anymore.’
He would go straight for it.
Because he knew it was sensitive, he faced it head-on all the more.
“I heard from Brad that he went to the village.”
“Mm. I see.”
“I’m going to ask you a few things, and I may touch on sensitive matters.”
“Then it will be a continuation of yesterday.”
Gang Yeonghun’s expression turned bitter.
But what was different from yesterday was that he did not openly push him away.
Taesu saw in that a hope that the conversation might continue.
Without delaying any further, he went straight to the core.
“This may sound unpleasant to you, but it isn’t a question meant to provoke you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Then I’ll ask. Why do you dislike Koreans?”
“……”
For an instant, Gang Yeonghun flinched sharply.
It seemed he had not expected a nuclear punch from the very first question.
Taesu once again apologized for that point.
“I’m sorry if I was rude.”
“A-ahem.”
“I suppose I’m impatient by nature, but I feel like I won’t be satisfied unless I hear the answer to that first.”
Taesu added those words to dispel at least a minimum of misunderstanding.
Then he carefully watched Gang Yeonghun’s reaction.
He was quietly thinking about something.
‘Was that too much?’
But there was no taking back words already spoken.
Just as Taesu’s concern began to swell—
Slowly.
Gang Yeonghun looked at Taesu with a heavy gaze.
“That question is better, actually. Better than talking around it.”
“Ha, haha.”
“So I’ll just answer directly as well.”
“Yes.”
Taesu immediately erased his awkward smile and assumed an attentive posture.
Having made up his mind, Gang Yeonghun answered just as bluntly.
“If there had been Koreans here, I would have asked to go somewhere else.”
“You still haven’t given me a clear answer.”
“You said it wasn’t very important.”
“Now that I’ve learned even of the village’s existence, it has become important.”
“That seems like convenient logic.”
Gang Yeonghun smiled bitterly.
Rather than mockery, it was an expression emphasizing that Taesu was thinking far too lightly of this.
On the other hand, Taesu was serious.
“If I’m thinking about it wrong, then please correct me.”
“Why should I?”
“……”
“I don’t want to say anything unnecessary. As soon as Changgyu wakes up, I’ll take him with me.”
At Gang Yeonghun’s words, Taesu immediately objected.
“That won’t do.”
“What?”
“At the very least, I intend to take responsibility until he gets healthy.”
“How?”
This time, Gang Yeonghun objected, but Taesu answered calmly.
“I’m thinking of taking him to the NGO main base.”
“What would be different there?”
To that question, Taesu answered with absolute firmness.
“Yes. It’s different.”
“……”
“There are plenty of internal medicine specialists there, and the medicine and medical equipment are worlds apart from here.”
“Hm.”
Gang Yeonghun swallowed a breath.
Taesu continued without concern.
“Caring for Changgyu until he is discharged in good health is the NGO’s basic manual.”
“I see.”
“But if we are to be dispatched, we need justification.”
At Taesu’s unexpected turn of words, Gang Yeonghun paused and looked at him.
“Dispatched?”
“Are you going to leave the sick people in the village as they are?”
“Mm.”
“To be honest, it’s true that we clung to the emergency treatment even more desperately because they were Koreans.”
When Taesu spoke honestly, Gang Yeonghun answered in a low voice.
“Korean…”
“People who speak Korean. Is that good enough?”
“Ahem.”
Gang Yeonghun only let out a dry cough.
Taesu continued, paying him no mind.
“This is a place full of foreigners.”
“I suppose it is.”
“Meeting Changgyu in a place like that made me feel both sorry and glad. That may only have been my own feeling, though.”
The moment Taesu finished speaking—
Yun Juseong, who had been listening all along, abruptly cut in.
“Dr. Choi, if you put it that way, I and the others are going to be very hurt.”
The timing was truly artful.
Taesu glanced at Gang Yeonghun and added a word.
“You heard him, didn’t you? Apparently that’s how it is.”
“Hoo.”
Gang Yeonghun let out a faint sigh.
It felt as though something within him had been stirred.
Taesu did not stop and probed a little deeper.
“As I looked through the photos, I saw many sick people.”
“Th-that’s true.”
“I can’t say for certain, but for most of them, the sooner treatment begins, the fewer aftereffects there will be.”
Taesu indirectly asked his opinion on the dispatch.
At that moment, Gang Yeonghun shook his head.
“That isn’t something I can decide on my own.”
“I’m not saying this lightly either.”
“……”
Gang Yeonghun hesitated, unable to push him away easily.
Taesu could guess the reason.
He did not want to do this, but if he wanted to hasten a decision, he had no choice.
Slowly.
Taesu operated his phone, enlarged a photo, and pointed to one person.
It was a little girl of about five or six, smiling brightly.
The most striking thing about the child was the swelling, about the size of a fist, that began at her left cheek and extended to her nose and mouth.
Pointing at the child, Taesu asked,
“This child is Song, right?”
“Hm.”
For the first time, a strong reaction came from Gang Yeonghun.
As expected, his guess had been correct.
At the end of the little girl’s gaze, and at the end of her wide-open arms, stood Gang Yeonghun.
Gang Yeonghun, too, had his arms spread wide toward the little girl.
It was the clearest proof possible.
Though it might be cruel to Gang Yeonghun, Taesu spoke the truth.
“I’m not certain, but it appears to be a type of epidermal cyst.”
“Hm.”
“But that’s the best-case scenario. If not, it could be neurofibromatosis, or acute parotitis. In the worst case, it might be a salivary gland tumor.”
At Taesu’s final words, Gang Yeonghun flinched violently.