“Before that, one beer should be all right, shouldn’t it?”
“We need to get some sleep too.”
“Yeah. Let’s sleep, wake up early, and go see Changgyu first.”
“That’s the idea.”
Clack.
The two of them lightly tapped their beer cans together and drank deeply at the same time.
Having let go of some of the tension like that, the two went to bed early before the night grew any later.
The next morning.
Taesu, wearing a white gown, passed through the entrance of the Good Morning Earth building. His gaze was fixed on the cell phone in his hand.
Tap tap tap.
His fingers were moving quickly, writing something.
Then Jeong Minsu’s voice reached Taesu’s ears.
“If you keep walking like that, you’ll miss the stairs and fall.”
“I’m done.”
“With what?”
“I sent an email to the chief. I heard there’s a way to send it here by international mail, so I let him know right away.”
At Taesu’s words, Jeong Minsu raised his eyebrows slightly and asked,
“Yeah? How many days will it take?”
“About a week.”
“That’s slower than I thought.”
“Then we just have to make good use of the time while we wait. First, let’s go see Changgyu.”
As Taesu finished speaking and started moving, Jeong Minsu followed along.
The two of them entered the internal medicine ward area side by side.
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had joined them along the way, was with them as well.
“It’s this way.”
A large ward tent stood before the three of them.
It was the ward tent exclusively for Internal Medicine Team Two.
Rustle.
When they lifted the tent flap and stepped inside, a spacious interior opened up before them.
First, beds were lined up on both sides.
Beep, beep.
ECG. EEG, ventilators, and more.
Each bed was equipped with various medical machines. It was a facility that could put Yeonseong University Hospital’s internal medicine ward to shame.
Its scale was even larger.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon, entering for the first time, looked quite surprised.
“Wow, there are this many medical machines.”
“It definitely feels different from surgery, where there are a lot of operations, starting with the atmosphere.”
They even looked around in all directions.
“……”
Taesu was relatively calm.
It was because he had been in and out of other internal medicine ward tents before.
After glancing around, Taesu headed toward a doctor standing alone on the far side.
His brown hair drew the eye.
It was a name Taesu had heard once, and fortunately, he remembered it.
“Excuse me, you’re Dr. Gallion, correct?”
“As expected, you came early, Dr. Choi.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Taesu bowed politely in greeting.
As if it were only natural, Dr. Gallion got straight to the point.
“Let’s go. The patient is over there.”
“Thank you. But Dr. Gallion, has the child woken up by any chance?”
“Not yet. Ah, I should show you the chart.”
Swish.
Dr. Gallion immediately handed over the chart he was holding.
The moment Taesu opened it.
Rustle.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon suddenly appeared on either side and looked at it with him.
Their expressions changed at once.
“Treatment was definitely an internal medicine matter. His vitals have risen quite a bit.”
“They have. Even I can see that much.”
Just as the two spoke in turn, Taesu noticed something and lightly stopped them.
“Wait a moment. This is… hmm.”
“The CBC results… huh?”
“Let’s see Changgyu first and talk again after that.”
With those words, Taesu closed the chart at once.
There was something in the results that bothered him.
But it wasn’t something to discuss immediately.
Meanwhile, guided by Dr. Gallion, they arrived in front of Lee Changgyu.
Dr. Gallion gestured lightly toward the ECG and said,
“The last chart entry was an hour ago, and his current condition is as you see.”
“He’s improved a great deal overnight.”
“Since he passed through Dr. Wallik’s hands, I consider it only natural.”
Dr. Gallion spoke stiffly, but his voice was full of pride.
Taesu respected that pride as well.
Apart from that, he cautiously asked a question.
“But were there any particular problems?”
“What sort of problems do you mean?”
“The transport took far too long.”
“Ah, that. As recorded in the chart, there were no particular problems.”
Dr. Gallion spoke in a voice filled with certainty.
Only after hearing that did Taesu smile faintly.
“That’s a relief.”
But then it happened.
“However, the other problems are quite bothersome.”
A suddenly authoritative and cold voice was heard.
It wasn’t Dr. Gallion.
It came from right behind him.
Whip.
‘This voice?’
Taesu immediately turned his head.
As expected, Dr. Wallik was approaching.
Just the sight of him walking over carried considerable force.
“Good morning.”
Taesu greeted him first.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon followed by greeting him in the Korean manner.
It was a matter of basic courtesy.
For greetings supposedly pressed down by the atmosphere, they were quite composed.
The difference was extremely subtle.
But Dr. Wallik seemed to have noticed it.
Step.
Once he arrived, he looked around with a heavy gaze and opened his mouth.
“You don’t seem to be the type to get very nervous.”
“……”
“That’s fine. Did you check everything in the chart?”
Just as he had from their first meeting, Dr. Wallik spoke down to them naturally.
Taesu was not the type to mind much, so he answered immediately.
“Yes. While checking it, I also confirmed that some of the numbers were a little strange.”
“What sort of abnormalities?”
“Overall nutritional imbalance, and the liver fat levels were high.”
“That’s right. They must have been things you couldn’t test for on your side.”
He was referring to the difference in testing equipment.
The NGO headquarters and the medical volunteer corps differed in scale to begin with, so there was bound to be a difference in equipment.
Taesu knew that well, so he answered right away.
“Yes. That’s correct.”
“You can probably guess why he hasn’t woken up yet, but you can think of it as the aftereffects of undergoing major surgery with a body that had grown far too weak.”
“Mm. Yes.”
“Even so, I expect he’ll wake up sometime this afternoon or evening, so there’s no need to worry too much.”
Within Dr. Wallik’s rigid tone was a softness directed toward the patient.
He was different when dealing with colleagues and when dealing with patients.
Taesu knew that to some extent, so he didn’t mind much.
Then Dr. Wallik opened his mouth again and asked,
“Will you be staying?”
“No. I was planning to come back later when the child’s guardian arrives.”
“Then what’s your schedule?”
“I don’t have anything in particular yet.”
Taesu asked with a puzzled expression, unable to grasp his intent.
Dr. Wallik spoke with an indifferent face.
“Then let’s have a cup of tea.”
It was not a suggestion but a notice, yet there seemed to be a reason for it.
Sensing that, Taesu was about to look to Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon standing on either side of him to ask their opinions.
Poke, poke.
He felt something prodding him in the back from both sides.
It was clearly a silent pressure telling him to leave them out of it.
Above all, Dr. Wallik was also looking only at Taesu with a clear gaze.
The surrounding situation made Taesu instinctively realize what he had to do.
He had things he wanted to ask anyway.
He disliked being pushed into it.
If that was how it was going to be, he chose to step forward himself.
“I was thinking I’d like to treat you, since you’ve been taking care of the patient.”
“Then let’s go.”
Whip.
Dr. Wallik answered simply and turned to walk away.
Taesu looked at Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon for a moment.
Sway, sway.
They were standing exactly where they were, only waving their hands.
They were clearly expressing their intention not to go.
Taesu had no reason to force them, so he only nodded.
Then he immediately followed Dr. Wallik.
Dr. Wallik’s examination tent was next to the ward tent.
Its neatly organized feel made it look more like an office than an examination room.
It showed Dr. Wallik’s personality perfectly.
Taesu and Dr. Wallik sat facing each other with warm coffee placed between them on the examination desk.
They both took a sip of coffee first.
Clack.
At the same time as he set down his coffee cup, Taesu formally greeted him first.
“It must have been sudden, but thank you for accepting the patient.”
“Mm.”
“Looking at the course of his recovery, I was reminded that internal medicine truly is internal medicine.”
Hearing Taesu’s greeting, Dr. Wallik narrowed his brow slightly and asked,
“Are you the type who’s good at saying pleasant things?”
“I’m glad they were pleasant to hear.”
“Hmph.”
“But I don’t make things up out of nothing.”
Taesu’s answer was a little bold.
Unexpectedly, Dr. Wallik nodded with an indifferent expression.
“It seems that way. More importantly, the reason I asked to see you separately was…”
“I guessed it was because of the liver fat levels.”
“So you had an idea.”
Dr. Wallik replied calmly and picked up his teacup.
Taesu looked at him and answered with a slightly confused expression.
“To be honest, I was quite surprised as well.”
“You didn’t expect it?”
“When I administered emergency treatment, I knew his liver wasn’t in very good condition.”
Hearing Taesu’s answer, Dr. Wallik immediately inferred and said,
“You must have assumed it was because of the massive bleeding.”
“That’s right.”
“That can happen. When bleeding is severe, the color of the liver changes too.”
He spoke in an unexpectedly easygoing way.
So Taesu revealed his doubts even more openly.
“But for his liver levels to be that high… It feels like I took a blow.”
“On top of that, the nutritional imbalance is severe.”
“I don’t know the child’s living environment, so it’s difficult for me to say anything.”
Taesu spoke honestly.
Perhaps pleased by that clean answer, Dr. Wallik first offered his own conjecture.
“In cases like this, the most likely cause is the consumption of a large amount of a specific food.”
“I was told there’s a date palm grove near the village.”
“That has little relation to fatty liver.”
“Mm.”
Taesu called to mind the photographs in his head. But there had been no food captured in those pictures.
Then Dr. Wallik spoke again.
“You’re planning to leave for that village once the patient recovers, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“If this isn’t a problem limited to that child, there’s a high possibility that everyone in the village has similar symptoms.”
“I’m of the same opinion.”
When Taesu answered, Dr. Wallik asked,
“Do you have a plan for that?”
“To be honest… I don’t. I only just learned of it now, so I don’t really know what I should do.”
“Even just improving the intake of the food causing it could make things better.”
“I see. Thank you for telling me.”
At Taesu’s thanks, Dr. Wallik asked with a strange look in his eyes,
“Are you the type to thank people often?”
“I was taught not to hide gratitude or apology.”
“That’s good teaching. You seem to have a fairly honest personality, and I think I understand why Dr. Schmidt has been praising you so much since before.”
Dr. Wallik mentioned Dr. Schmidt once again.
He was directly telling him that the two of them were not unrelated.
Taesu answered calmly.
“Dr. Schmidt simply looked kindly on me.”
“As if I don’t know that fastidious personality of his.”
“……”
As Taesu only listened quietly, Dr. Wallik continued.
“And it was the first time that friend had ever asked me for anything other than a patient.”
“Something other than a patient?”
“You don’t know?”
Dr. Wallik wore a curious expression.
Taesu’s face was truly bewildered.
And Dr. Wallik?
He leisurely lifted his coffee cup.
It felt as though he had handed Taesu the hilt of the blade.