Lee Changgyu turned it this way and that in his hand and asked,
“A call bell?”
“If you feel even a little strange anywhere, press it right away.”
“Thank you.”
A slight nod.
Lee Changgyu, lying down, moved his head in place of a bow.
His wariness was still severe, but he never once skipped a greeting.
That was why Taesu looked upon Lee Changgyu somewhat favorably.
Perhaps that was why he spoke with a faint smile on his face.
“I’ll still come by four times a day, at the usual hours.”
“Okay.”
“You must be tired from traveling so long. Get some sleep first.”
Rustle.
Taesu carefully tucked the thick blanket over him.
Lee Changgyu quietly closed his eyes.
“……”
He probably would not be able to sleep from excitement, but there was something satisfying about how obediently he followed along.
“You little rascal.”
Taesu smiled thinly and turned away.
He saw the stove in the middle of the tent.
The weather was chilly, but not yet cold enough to light a fire. So the stove, with its long stovepipe rising upward, was cold.
Taesu slowly looked around once, and at the end of his gaze he saw Kang Yeonghun.
“……”
A bow.
Kang Yeonghun lowered his head first in greeting.
Taesu returned it in the same way and moved on.
A slightly awkward air flowed between them, but it was always like that, so he was used to it now.
After leaving the ward tent, Taesu headed for the lodging tent.
An awning had been set up in front of the lodging tent, and beneath it stood a military table for meals and tea time.
At that military table, Jeong Minsu and Corporal Ryan were sitting across from each other.
They must have been talking the whole time, because faint smiles lingered around their mouths.
Taesu approached and asked in a relaxed voice,
“What were you two talking about that was so entertaining?”
“Ah, Dr. Choi. Would you like some coffee?”
Steaming.
Seeing the stainless-steel cup with steam rising from it made Taesu’s appetite stir as well.
“Having something this tasteful deep in the mountains sounds nice.”
“One moment.”
Rustle.
Corporal Ryan immediately stood to prepare the drink.
As Taesu sat down in the empty seat, Jeong Minsu asked as if he had been waiting.
“How’s Changgyu?”
“He’s stabilized a lot.”
“He’s such a wary patient that he’s not easy to deal with.”
“He’s in puberty too, so he must be even more sensitive.”
Taesu acknowledged it mildly.
The conversation related to the patient came to a light end there.
And after that.
Jeong Minsu glanced toward Corporal Ryan, who had gone off, and asked,
“What’s gotten into you? You’re the guy who used to hate it when anyone else made coffee for you.”
“You can’t stop Ryan.”
“True. What’s one cup of coffee? Even if he made coffee by the truckload and poured it into your mouth, it wouldn’t be enough.”
Perhaps imagining Jeong Minsu’s words, Taesu furrowed his brow.
“What, why not just send me off with acute caffeinism?”
“That’s not a bad idea. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Enough nonsense. Where’s Mr. Hyeokgwon?”
When Taesu asked a different question, Jeong Minsu pointed behind him with his thumb.
Swish.
“He’s sleeping.”
“And Squad Leader Sam and the soldiers?”
“Asleep in the surgery tent. It’s crawling with larvae in there.”
He was describing the way they looked tucked inside sleeping bags.
Taesu understood too, but he spoke with a sullen face.
“Still, larvae? Really?”
“So prickly. It’s not like I made up the word.”
“It still doesn’t sound great.”
When Taesu gave him a slight look, Jeong Minsu readily admitted it.
“I just won’t use it from now on, right?”
“It’s strange how obediently you’re answering.”
Taesu’s prediction was exactly right.
As if he had been waiting, Jeong Minsu asked,
“More importantly, I heard from Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
“Do we have no pride?”
“Did we ever?”
Jeong Minsu paused and asked back.
With calm eyes, Taesu answered heavily,
“If we don’t, then make some starting now.”
“Hmm. Well, we did come all the way here, but honestly, I didn’t expect to be treated this poorly.”
Several hours had passed since they arrived.
And yet he grumbled about how they had not been able to meet anyone.
Taesu spoke his own feelings as well.
“I don’t know what they’ve been through, but at the very least, this isn’t right.”
“But what if no one comes at all?”
“Then we go back.”
“What about all the trouble we went through to prepare everything?”
When Jeong Minsu asked further, Taesu spoke calmly.
“We can distribute the medicine elsewhere, and as for the food, it’s fine if we eat it ourselves and get rid of it.”
“That’s true. We’re the ones making a fuss because we haven’t been able to eat properly.”
“Anyway, that’s enough.”
Taesu subtly cut off the conversation.
Sure enough, Corporal Ryan was approaching with a stainless-steel cup that looked piping hot. Perhaps aware of the mood, he glanced at them and said,
“I hope I didn’t interrupt your conversation.”
“Not at all. Thank you for the coffee.”
“It’s nothing. I don’t know if it will taste all right.”
“No problem.”
Taesu answered briefly and took a sip of the coffee.
Sip.
As the hot coffee entered his body, the body that had stiffened in the cold wind loosened a little.
His expression softened just as much, and before he knew it, Taesu was smiling.
Even without putting it into words, the smile was enough to show what it tasted like.
Corporal Ryan smiled along with him.
Then he took something out of his pocket and showed it to them. It was not a radio, nor was it a cell phone. It was a somewhat unusual device.
Corporal Ryan held out the device and explained its purpose.
“It’s a GPS receiver.”
“Why are you suddenly showing us that?”
“There’s a transmitter attached to the long-range radio installed in the storage shed.”
At that, Taesu tilted his head.
“I think this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“This location is so remote that we needed it in order to find our way back.”
“That does make sense.”
“You don’t need to worry.”
Corporal Ryan spoke with certainty.
At that, Taesu showed slight curiosity.
“Does it work well?”
“Yes. It’s working properly, like this.”
Corporal Ryan showed him the GPS receiver.
Perhaps because it had been manufactured for military use, its exterior was rugged. The screen resembled a radar display, and there was a green dot marked in the very center.
Beep, beep.
A small electronic sound came from it, but he simply accepted it as such.
The novelty only lasted a moment.
Taesu suddenly thought vividly of Colonel Clark’s face.
“Was this the External Cooperation Director’s consideration?”
“That’s right. And strictly speaking, it isn’t surveillance……”
“I’m well aware that it’s consideration for our safety.”
“Exactly.”
Corporal Ryan agreed firmly.
The more he did, the gentler Taesu’s expression became.
“Please be sure to tell him thank you.”
“The External Cooperation Director is also grateful that you requested a dispatch to a safe area.”
“That was our selfishness.”
Taesu said it with a slightly embarrassed expression.
It was at that moment.
Corporal Ryan deliberately feigned ignorance and said something unrelated.
“The mountains are beautiful here, and the air is very good.”
“They are.”
“I hope you spend a more relaxed and healthy time here, for our share as well.”
“Thank you.”
Taesu greeted him with sincerity.
He was grateful to the PKO for paying attention even to such small details.
Corporal Ryan, who had been pretending not to notice, also smiled warmly.
A little while later.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu entered the lodging.
“Snore.”
The sound of Kim Hyeokgwon snoring came softly to their ears.
As Taesu listened to it and lay down on the field bed,
Jeong Minsu’s stiff voice came from where he had already buried himself deeply in his sleeping spot.
“Ahhh. Are we finally getting some rest?”
“Sleep well.”
“It’s not exactly the kind of atmosphere where patients are going to come rushing in right away.”
“That’s why we should rest while we can. Sleep.”
Rustle.
Taesu turned his body to the side.
It was truly the first time he had arrived at a dispatch site and started by lying down like this.
In the past, he would certainly have been restless because there were no patients.
Compared to then, Taesu’s current appearance even seemed far too lax.
But that was not exactly the case.
“How long am I going to keep pulling the string taut?”
There were times when it was necessary to ease the tension.
And now was one of those times.
Slowly.
Before long, Taesu’s eyes closed, and he soon fell into a deep sleep.
How much time had passed since he fell asleep?
Taesu, asleep on the field bed, shifted slightly.
It was then.
He froze.
Taesu’s body stopped halfway through turning.
It was because he felt as if someone was watching him.
Taesu reflexively opened his eyes and sat up.
Springing upright.
“What is it……”
But just then,
a thin, high-pitched girl’s startled voice rang out.
“Oh my!”
Patter, patter, patter.
The girl hurriedly ran out of the tent.
Taesu, who had barely managed to confirm only her retreating back, moved his eyes for a moment.
“Was that the girl named Songhui?”
It was the most likely guess.
But it was strange.
It was not very believable that Songhui had come alone.
Could it be?
Taesu’s eyes flashed, and he quickly got up and headed outside.
He came out in front of the tent.
Before his eyes, there was nothing but mountains, streams, plants, and trees.
He had hoped that perhaps some patients had come, but as expected, there was no one.
“Ah… oh.”
Taesu’s expression changed into deep disappointment.
Jeong Minsu, who had followed him out at some point, also stopped short.
“What the. There’s no one here.”
“I know.”
“Songhui must be extremely curious.”
Jeong Minsu tried to interpret it positively.
But then, a voice that lent credibility to his words came from beyond the bushes.
It was the sound of children talking.
“Songhui, where did you suddenly go?”
“Huh? Ah…… over there.”
“Over there? Where the doctor uncles are? The adults told us not to go there.”
“No. Dad said it was okay.”
“He said we’d go together later. He didn’t say you could go by yourself.”
Songhui’s voice making excuses and another child’s voice scolding her overlapped back and forth.
Listening to it, Taesu smiled brightly.
“So Mr. Yeonghun was on the approving side after all.”
Just as Taesu murmured,
Kim Hyeokgwon was the last to come out, his face puffy, and grumbled.
“You said you weren’t carrying a torch.”
“I can’t cut off my feelings that cleanly.”
“Dr. Lee is surprisingly a man with a lot of lingering attachment. Since we’re up anyway, let’s eat.”
Kim Hyeokgwon tossed out the words and turned away.
Taesu composed himself and looked around, then flinched.
“They’re gone.”
All the military vehicles had disappeared.
It seemed he had slept without even hearing the noisy engines.
He immediately set aside his regret.
They were people he would soon meet again, and he was used to that kind of life now.
Just then, cautious footsteps could be heard.
Crunch.
Taesu turned his head and saw Jeong Minsu.
The moment their eyes met, Jeong Minsu stopped short and quickly hid something behind him.
“Ah…… It’s nothing.”
“When you say it like that all of a sudden, it only makes me more suspicious.”
“Ahem, that.”
“What?”
Taesu’s voice rose in an instant.
If it was “that,” it was the homemade doenjang Park Seongmin had sent.
As if he had expected that reaction, Jeong Minsu grumbled in protest.
“Let us eat some too.”
“Hmm. Shall we?”
“Really?”
Unable to believe it, Jeong Minsu opened his eyes wide and asked back.