At that moment, the corners of Jeong Minsu’s eyes sagged. He had been salivating only moments before.
“Mom?”
“Yeah. Mother.”
“I want to eat Mom’s banquet noodles.”
Jeong Minsu’s eyes turned wistful.
But it was then.
Taesu snapped his fingers and smiled deeply.
“Stop moping. That’s exactly it.”
“My mom?”
“The best thing to stimulate nostalgia is food, you punk.”
At Taesu’s pointed remark, Jeong Minsu immediately perked up.
“Oh, that’s true.”
“If you’re Korean, that’s the one.”
“Kimchi?”
“Of course kimchi is good too, but isn’t piping-hot, savory doenjang jjigae with freshly cooked rice the best?”
As Taesu explained with intense emotion, Jeong Minsu’s eyes grew hazy.
“Ah……. Ah……. I want to eat it. *Slurp.*”
“Wipe your drool. Anyway, let’s go with that plan.”
“Using food for something like this……. You cruel bastard.”
“The crueler it is, the better the effect.”
Taesu answered with a serious expression.
They had to enter the village to treat the patient.
Therefore, he could be as cruel as necessary.
Jeong Minsu was the same in that regard.
Before long, he spoke with a solemn expression.
“My mom’s doenjang is delicious.”
“Are you going to contact your mother?”
“Yeah. This place is……. *Gasp.*”
Jeong Minsu quickly clamped his mouth shut.
Taesu fully understood that reaction.
“Our parents don’t know either.”
“What do we do?”
“I wonder.”
It was when worry had colored them both.
Unexpectedly, Gim Hyeokgwon presented a solution.
“Don’t worry. I know where there’s a Korean grocery store near the Indian border city.”
“Store-bought doenjang won’t work.”
“Huh?”
“The smell alone is different from doenjang jjigae made with homemade doenjang.”
At Taesu’s words, Gim Hyeokgwon showed puzzlement.
“What does that matter?”
“If someone remembers the smell of doenjang jjigae, would it be the kind they sell nowadays?”
“Is it that different?”
“Yes. I’m from the countryside, so I know for sure.”
Taesu showed off his smidgen of knowledge.
Jeong Minsu greatly agreed with that.
“That’s right. Even in the markets, the famous doenjang jjigae places all used homemade doenjang.”
“How are people who can’t even contact home supposed to find homemade doenjang.”
“That’s true. Hmm……. Should we ask Gijun to send some?”
Taesu thought of I Gijun, someone who knew his situation.
At that moment, Jeong Minsu jumped up.
“Not him. No way.”
“You sure are picky about a lot of things.”
“Anyway, no. Me asking that guy for a favor? Absolutely not, unconditionally no.”
They’d had a water-and-oil relationship from the start, so the backlash was immense.
Taesu said one thing to the stubborn Jeong Minsu.
“Kids who talk exactly like you usually end up crying and making a fuss later.”
“Cut the nonsense. Isn’t there anyone else?”
“Should we ask Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon to send doenjang?”
“Tha–……. That’s a bit much. Still, I’m against I Gijun. As if that prickly bastard would ever scoop out doenjang for us. Hmph.”
Jeong Minsu still resisted strongly.
But the problem was that even Taesu couldn’t quite picture I Gijun sending doenjang.
“Ah, then who else is there. It’s awkward to ask Chief Ha Seokjun. And……. Is there no one?”
“Some wide, wonderful network you have.”
“Do you even have anyone to call?”
“No. I’ll be quiet.”
“Thanks. Anyway, this is really hopeless. *Sigh.* Huh? I think there is one person…….”
As Taesu trailed off, Jeong Minsu quickly asked.
“Why, who is it?”
“Someone you know, I know, and Gijun knows too.”
“If it’s someone we all know, don’t tell me…….”
Jeong Minsu’s eyes widened in surprise at who came to mind.
Taesu lightly nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. The very person you’re thinking of right now.”
“Oh my. Taesu, you don’t have to book a tour across the Jordan yourself.”
“Then do you want to make it from scratch right here?”
“That’s not it. If it’s that person, we might be able to ask, but it can’t be helped. You make the call.”
Jeong Minsu pretended to make a bold decision and confidently pushed the task away.
Taesu shot him a dumbfounded look.
“I was going to do it anyway.”
“Fighting.”
“I said I got it. *Hoo.*”
Taesu, who had answered bluntly, let out a small sigh.
He had to prepare himself mentally.
Despite that inner conflict, a saved name was already floating on his phone screen.
That name was?
- Chief Bak Seongmin.
He was the chief from when Taesu had interned at Yeonseong University Hospital.
Truthfully, he was the one who had given him the most grief.
But he was also the most memorable senior to this day.
Because he was the senior who had looked after Taesu until the very moment he left.
The emotion from that time still lingered even now.
But Taesu couldn’t press the call button easily.
Fidget, fidget.
Only a hesitant hand hovered.
Taesu must have looked frustrated, because Gim Hyeokgwon asked with a deadpan face,
“Do you owe him money?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you borrowed money from him.”
“No.”
“Then why are you gripping your phone like you’re going to crush it?”
At Gim Hyeokgwon’s pointed words, Taesu gave a bitter smile.
“It’s my first time calling him since coming to Kashmir.”
“With such a strained relationship, can you even ask him for a favor?”
“It’s not like that. I suppose you’d say he’s a senior who’s a bit scary but warm.”
Taesu corrected himself.
But Gim Hyeokgwon, having never experienced Bak Seongmin, couldn’t understand.
“Is that person’s personality a bit strange?”
“It’s not so much strange as…….”
As Taesu drew out his words, Jeong Minsu cut in.
“He’s a bit unique.”
“That’s what strange means.”
“Still, he’s not a bad senior.”
“That’s none of my business. Doctor Choe, when are you going to call?”
Gim Hyeokgwon wanted to skip the small talk and reach a conclusion.
He didn’t seem to like the sight of Taesu hesitating very much.
Jeong Minsu also looked at Taesu and asked,
“So are you calling now?”
“They say strike while the iron is hot.”
“Great proverb.”
Jeong Minsu answered half-heartedly and averted his eyes.
He had been like this during his internship too, but Jeong Minsu found Bak Seongmin quite difficult.
He was difficult for Taesu as well.
But right now, there was no one else.
“Damn it.”
Taesu gave up on worrying and pressed the call button.
Doo-roo-roo.
As the ringback tone sounded, Taesu’s lips dried up from nervousness.
He waited anxiously.
Click.
Bak Seongmin’s voice came through, sounding a little light.
“Hello? No, hello-o? Or perhaps……. Anyway, whoever you are, is it correct that you have placed an international call to me, Bak Seongmin?”
Bak Seongmin’s verbosity was the same as ever.
But his tone suggested he had no idea whose number this was.
Taesu immediately made a face at his oversight and hurriedly introduced himself.
“Chief, it’s Taesu.”
“Hu, huh? Hu-huh-huh? What’s with this number?”
“I think it changed because I’m using a local USIM here in Kashmir.”
Taesu explained in a voice full of tension.
But his worry was not unfounded.
Suddenly, Bak Seongmin’s voice changed completely.
“So you’re saying you’re Doctor Choe, you say?”
“Yes. Chief, have you been well?”
“The ungrateful Doctor Choe who said he couldn’t stand the sight of me and left Korea?”
“When did I ever…….”
Taesu tried to correct the mistaken memory.
But it ended as an attempt.
That was how fiercely Bak Seongmin’s voice came rushing at him.
“I figured you’d fall ill before you even made it ten li, but you went and boarded a plane, breaking my curse. That’s the Doctor Choe I’m talking to, right?”
“What in the world did I ever…….”
“Shut your mouse, you shameless bastard. After half a year, you call and say, ‘It’s me, Taesu’? I oughta throw you in full combat gear and run you laps around the parade ground, I swear.”
Feeling that the words he used had changed quite a bit, Taesu asked carefully,
“Did you enlist?”
“Of course, punk. A healthy doctor in his thirties who got his board certification naturally has to serve as a military medical officer, doesn’t he?”
“But you said you didn’t like the army very much.”
Taesu asked cautiously.
Sure enough, what came back was a waterfall of nagging from Bak Seongmin.
“You think I enlisted because I like it? Ah, I’m getting mad again. Hey. I’m not some son of God, so how the hell am I supposed to dodge the draft, huh?”
“That would be impossible.”
“Exactly. Aah, be quiet for a moment.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes.”
Caught off guard by the sudden request for silence, Taesu answered blankly and waited quietly.
Then, perhaps having lowered his phone, Bak Seongmin’s voice came from a little further away.
- Sergeant Gim, I have a very important call right now, so let’s wrap this up short, sweet, and simple. Do you understand?
- Yes, sir.
- Complaining of chest pain, where did this punk learn to malinger, telling such a bare-faced lie……. Hah.
- Medical officer, I really, truly am in pain.
The voice of whoever answered was extremely tense.
Taesu instinctively realized he was in the middle of a consultation and waited even more quietly.
*He’s got his hands full.*
Since the target wasn’t him, he didn’t particularly mind.
Soon, Bak Seongmin’s voice continued.
- If you’re in that much pain, are you not gasping for breath once? Is there no cyanosis on your lips? Are you not sweating cold sweat? Is your facial expression perfectly normal?
- N-no, that’s…….
- Blood pressure, pulse, body temperature too. You can tell just by looking at the basics. I’m a thoracic surgeon, and a heart specialist at that. I’ve had a whole company’s worth of patients go through my hands for heart trouble alone, you punk.
Bak Seongmin’s voice was truly chilling.
Taesu nodded as he listened to the information Bak Seongmin had picked up.
*As expected of a senior with rock-solid fundamentals.*
Even as a chief, he’d had the skill to operate on simple heart diseases.
His rock-solid fundamentals could be felt even through a fragmentary consultation conversation.
But the soldier who had come in complaining of pain seemed to be far different from his expectations.
- Huk, th-then…….
- If you want to talk to your company commander, stay right there. Otherwise, get out swiftly, accurately, and decisively. Execute.
- Execute.
Thud, crash.
Even a sound of something breaking was heard.
And only after that did Bak Seongmin’s voice come close again.
“This punk. Lying without so much as a change in expression, ha. Ah, Taesu, you listening?”
“You’re still as sharp as ever, Chief.”
“Still my foot, damn it. That punk saying his heart hurts……. hearing that makes my own heart feel like it’s tearing. Really ruins my mood.”
Sensing something strange in that nuance, Taesu quickly asked.
“Did something happen?”
“Doctor Choe. If you wish to satisfy your curiosity beyond what is necessary, appear before me right this instant, right now. I’ll give you one minute.”
“That would be a bit difficult.”
Taesu refused in an awkward voice.
Perhaps because he hadn’t expected that, Bak Seongmin’s voice shifted to deep bewilderment.
“Wow. Me. Whoa-ho. Wow……. Doctor Choe dares to refuse me, Bak Seongmin’s words? That’s be—betrayal. Betrayal.”
“I mean it’s difficult time-wise because of the distance.”
“Then how much time should I give you? How much would suffice?”
It was a prodding tone that felt familiar somehow.
Taesu smiled lightly at that voice.
“You’ve been watching a lot of movies and dramas lately.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you say you’d watch all the ones you’d missed once you got your board certification?”
Taesu tried to ease the mood slightly.
At that, the wavering Bak Seongmin quickly caught himself and growled.
“I even bought a dedicated laptop……. but that’s not the issue. Did you call now to flap your jaws at me?”
“That’s not it. So……”
The moment Taesu tried to broach the subject.
Bak Seongmin, perhaps not having heard the rest, switched topics in an instant.
“So, you went all the way to Kashmir. Did you get some medals carved into your body?”
“Medals?”
“You know, like that. Gunshot, bang. Or a bomb blast right next to you, boom. Or maybe a blade going slash. That kind of thing.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Why?”
Taesu was even more bewildered by Bak Seongmin’s question full of confusion.