Taesu did not let his curiosity linger and immediately made his request.
“I’d like to know how that Korean village came to settle there.”
“Hmm. When are you planning to leave?”
“We intend to go as soon as the patient recovers.”
“Then there’s a little time. Very well. I’ll look into it personally as well.”
When the person in charge readily agreed, a smile appeared on Taesu’s face.
“Thank you.”
“That much is nothing. To be honest, I was nervous, thinking it was going to be some enormous favor.”
“Shall I ask for a big favor too?”
“Please refrain from that one. Haha.”
And just like that, the atmosphere became warm again.
Since everything between them had been neatly settled, their smiles were even gentler.
Soon, the door to the Good Morning Earth office opened, and Taesu came out.
Click.
As soon as he shut the door, Jeong Minsu and Gim Hyeokgwon appeared like shadows and rushed to ask him first.
“So what happened?”
“What about my allowance?”
Taesu was dumbfounded by the fuss from the very people who had pretended not to hear when he’d asked them to go in with him.
“If you were that curious, you should’ve come in with me.”
“That’s originally the leader’s job.”
“Thank you for only pushing me from behind at times like this.”
“More importantly, what happened to my allowance?”
“I don’t know.”
Whoosh.
Taesu answered coldly and turned away.
Then he began walking off just like that.
Gim Hyeokgwon’s eyes shook violently, and he jumped up and down as he growled.
“What are you doing? Where do you think you’re going without giving me my allowance?”
“Taesu, at least tell us before you go. Come on.”
Jeong Minsu also seemed frustrated as he hurried close and grumbled.
“……”
Whether the two of them were bursting with impatience or not, Taesu walked on in silence.
It was his small act of petty payback for having been made to go into the office alone.
An hour later.
After finishing his meal, Taesu was sitting at a table in the rest area.
It was in front of the integrated dining hall, so many people were coming and going.
Taesu was staring intently at Gim Hyeokgwon, who sat across from him.
Gim Hyeokgwon paid no attention to that gaze and kept happily stroking his now-thickened pocket.
“Heh heh.”
“You seemed a little tired earlier.”
“Who? Who’s tired?”
Gim Hyeokgwon asked with a lively face.
Taesu smiled at his unchanging demeanor.
It was then.
Thud.
Jeong Minsu set down some drinks, sat beside Gim Hyeokgwon, and said,
“As expected, the PX is overflowing with people again today.”
“Considering that, you came back pretty fast.”
“Everyone glanced at me and said, ‘Is it just drinks? Then pay first,’ and let me through.”
Fizz.
Jeong Minsu answered as he opened a drink.
But Taesu couldn’t quite take that at face value.
“They told you to go ahead?”
“I’m telling you, they did. Oh, right, and the medical staff recognized me. They asked if I was Doctor Jeong while I was picking drinks.”
“This guy’s narcissism has gotten so bad it’s practically a medical condition now.”
Taesu looked at him in disbelief, but Jeong Minsu waved his hands and denied it.
“I’m telling you, it’s not that. They said they’d heard the news from Padum and that they’d look forward to more great news from me.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“It’s true, you bastard. Do you really have that little trust in me?”
“……”
Taesu suddenly fell silent and stared at him.
Perhaps feeling guilty on his own, Jeong Minsu slowly read the mood and opened his mouth again.
“I mean, I know I’m not the most incredibly trustworthy type, but……”
“Hmm. I don’t think what you said is completely wrong.”
“Huh?”
“Look.”
Taesu subtly gestured around with his eyes.
Here and there, people were looking their way.
Jeong Minsu followed the signal with his eyes, flinched, and quickly asked,
“What is it? Did we do something wrong? Why are they staring at us like that?”
“It means it’s true that the rumors about Padum have made it all the way here.”
“How on earth?”
“I think the answer is in your pocket.”
When Taesu only gave him that hint, Jeong Minsu immediately emptied out his pockets.
Rattle.
“My allowance envelope, wallet, coins, and…… huh?”
“That’s right. Your cell phone.”
“Ah. Calls do work.”
Jeong Minsu seemed to realize it only then.
A cell phone was an essential item of modern society, where word could travel a thousand li without feet.
Even in Padum City, they had called each other on cell phones when something urgent came up.
Since a communications network was in place, there must have been frequent contact with the NGO headquarters as well.
They could not know who had passed on the news.
Still, the gazes that had felt prickly before had softened, so it was something to be grateful for.
No one came over noisily either.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu liked that moderate amount of attention.
“Still, this is a lot better than having to live off people’s glares.”
“I told you, if you work hard, something comes back to you.”
“Now let’s drink in peace.”
“Sounds good.”
Clack.
The two lightly tapped their drink cans together and drained them with smiles on their faces.
After refreshing the mood with a sip of their drinks,
Gim Hyeokgwon, who had been quietly watching, asked,
“Are we just sitting here to drink soda?”
“No.”
“I thought so. Then what are you trying to say?”
Gim Hyeokgwon grumbled with a sullen face.
But Taesu’s gaze turned not to him, but to Jeong Minsu.
“I think it’s time Minsu knew too.”
“Ah. That.”
“We need to know so we can be careful with each other.”
“If that’s the reason, I agree.”
Gim Hyeokgwon understood at once.
Jeong Minsu’s reaction, however, was the opposite.
“What do I need to know?”
“There’s something I heard from Gang Yeonghun.”
“Why are you setting the mood like that?”
“Because I have to. It was……”
Taesu began speaking slowly in a low voice.
Former members of the independence army, and their descendants.
It was an explanation about their origins.
The conversation was in Korean.
The medical staff passing by around them were foreigners, so they could not understand.
He had calculated even that before speaking.
He did not only explain it in words, but also showed the results he had searched up on his phone.
“……as you can see here……”
“Gasp, h-huh.”
Thud.
Just like Taesu had at the time, Jeong Minsu clamped a hand over his mouth and opened his eyes wide enough to split.
Soon, Taesu wrapped up his explanation.
“……That’s what he said.”
“Is, is that certain?”
“How does it sound to you?”
When Taesu asked in return, Jeong Minsu hesitated.
Did he trust Gang Yeonghun’s words?
He seemed to be asking himself that.
As if he had found his answer, Jeong Minsu said seriously,
“I can believe it to some extent, but it’s hard to believe it blindly.”
“I feel the same.”
“So that’s why you want to go?”
When Jeong Minsu asked, Taesu shook his head.
“That comes after.”
“Right. The patient comes first?”
“Yeah. Though the fact that they’re Korean has become an added factor.”
Taesu cleanly revealed his true feelings.
That seemed much easier for Jeong Minsu to hear.
But as Jeong Minsu was nodding, he paused and asked,
“Who knows about this?”
“The three of us.”
“Not even Bred?”
“I didn’t tell him. Or the others.”
Taesu let the nuance show that he had intentionally kept it hidden.
Gim Hyeokgwon added to that part.
“He says he didn’t tell them on purpose because they can’t come with us.”
“Because we don’t have enough certainty.”
When Taesu finished, Jeong Minsu agreed as well.
“That’s right. I don’t think it’s good to make a fuss for nothing.”
“The reason I’m telling you is……”
“It’s the same thing. If I don’t want to make a fuss when we get there, I need to know beforehand.”
When Jeong Minsu immediately understood, Taesu looked at him with a curious gaze.
“When did you develop such tact?”
“What do they call this? A cow stepping backward and falling over?”
“No. They say it catches a mouse.”
When Taesu corrected him, Gim Hyeokgwon nodded.
“Anyway, that’s it.”
“I think that’s right.”
Taesu agreed as if it were only natural.
At the sight of the two of them, Jeong Minsu frowned and cut in.
“I have at least that much tact.”
“That’s truly a relief.”
“But if it really is true, what are you going to do?”
Jeong Minsu abruptly asked about a heavy topic.
As if he had already thought about it, Taesu answered in a subdued voice.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
“Huh?”
“We’re in a situation where we’re flailing around ourselves. Who are we supposed to help?”
Taesu spoke of the cold reality.
But Jeong Minsu flared up fiercely.
“If it’s true, if it’s really true, then it’s not something we can just let pass.”
“Do you know why those people turned their backs on Korea?”
When Taesu asked, Jeong Minsu froze.
“N-no. We can go and find out.”
“And after that?”
“Th-then…… couldn’t we spread the word here and there?”
Jeong Minsu asked cautiously, his voice shrinking with a lack of confidence.
Taesu firmly shook his head.
“That’s just a thought that makes only you feel better.”
“Well, I can’t say you’re wrong.”
“For now, let’s think only about treatment. We need to have today before we can think about tomorrow.”
At Taesu’s weighty words, Jeong Minsu nodded.
It was then.
Rustle.
Gim Hyeokgwon looked blankly at the photo on the phone and said,
“Let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.”
“Pardon?”
“Have we gotten permission to enter the village?”
Gim Hyeokgwon mercilessly stabbed at the facts.
Even so, Taesu answered without wavering.
“The conclusion is that we’re going in.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because they’re sick.”
“Even so, they won’t necessarily agree.”
Gim Hyeokgwon voiced an opposing opinion.
As if that was the answer he had wanted, Taesu added,
“That’s why we gathered here to put our heads together.”
“I figured as much, so I’m looking.”
Gim Hyeokgwon still spoke indifferently.
Taesu knew that, so he showed a gentle smile.
And when Gim Hyeokgwon kept looking at the phone, he asked casually,
“So have you found any openings?”
“I don’t see any.”
“We need a crack before we can squeeze in.”
Taesu spoke bitterly.
At that moment,
Taesu himself had nothing that came to mind right away.
Then Jeong Minsu, who had been listening quietly, thought deeply and muttered,
“At times like this, it’s good to stir up a scent of home……”
Taesu’s ears perked up, and he glanced at him.
“A scent of home?”
“Yeah. Among the old men at the market, there were some from the North.”
“And?”
“They often said that since they couldn’t go back, they wished there were something that could soothe that longing for home.”
Jeong Minsu said, groping through his old memories.
At that, Gim Hyeokgwon snapped in a brusque voice,
“A scent? What are you going to do, spray perfume all over the mountain?”
“Not that kind of scent. I mean longing for one’s hometown.”
“Damn it. Korean is easy when you’re learning it, but the deeper you dig, the harder it gets.”
Perhaps embarrassed, he grumbled for no reason.
It was something one could easily misunderstand, so they did not react much.
After mulling it over a few times, Taesu suddenly closed his mouth.
“Hometown, hometown…… Hmm?”
“What?”
When Jeong Minsu looked at him curiously, Taesu asked seriously,
“During our vacation, at the hotel.”
“Ahh. Soju, ox bone soup…… ugh.”
“Yeah. While we were eating that, you said something.”
“I said ox bone soup needs somyeon noodles. You gently loosen the noodles and slurp them down with rice.”
Jeong Minsu’s eyes sparkled intensely.
Taesu quickly grabbed hold of his consciousness before it departed on a gourmet journey.
“Not that.”
“Ah, then well-fermented kimchi on top of rice……”
“I’m not talking about food. You bastard, your mother.”
The frustrated Taesu finally spoon-fed him the hint.