He took a sip at a time of the tea that had gone beyond lukewarm and turned cold.
As he did, the heated atmosphere naturally settled into calm.
Elder Wang did not leave first.
He seemed to know all too well that this conversation with Taesu was important.
So Elder Wang was the first to ask in a subdued voice.
“Didn’t I say I don’t particularly want to talk about it?”
“Then you can leave that part out when you tell me.”
“Huh. Again.”
Elder Wang signaled with his eyes for him not to raise his voice.
Taesu felt the same way, so he spoke softly and calmly.
“We don’t know what happened in the past.”
“And?”
“We are facing each other like this, here and now.”
“Mm.”
“Just as with Changgyu and Songhui, we want everyone to be healthy. That truly is all.”
Taesu once again stated the reason he had come here.
Perhaps sensing the sincerity in his words, Elder Wang listened quietly.
Then he murmured a single sentence.
“A person who forgets yesterday has no tomorrow.”
Those words?
Taesu’s eyes flashed sharply.
“That sounds very similar to something Danjae Shin Chaeho said.”
“Who is that?”
Elder Wang asked back sullenly.
But a small ripple spread through the cold tea in his cup.
There was clearly agitation in the hand holding that cup.
With that alone, Taesu completely trusted what Gang Yeonghun had told him before.
To be honest, until now he had been hovering on the border between belief and disbelief.
Even after settling at the entrance to the village, he had not been able to feel certain.
But not anymore.
‘I’ll see this through to the end.’
That end would be the moment everyone in the village became healthy.
Until now, he had treated them with his convictions as a doctor.
But from now on, apology and gratitude would be added to that.
That was when Taesu made up his mind inwardly.
Thud.
Elder Wang struck the table heavily with his cup and demanded,
“An elder is asking you a question. What are you thinking about?”
“I was going back through my memories because you said it was different from the story I know.”
“Is that so important?”
Elder Wang pressed him roughly, wanting to return to the original topic.
It seemed he intended to hide it to the end.
Taesu respected his wishes as well.
So he turned the focus back to the conversation they had been having.
“Before looking for yesterday and tomorrow, shouldn’t you live through today first?”
“What?”
“I’m telling you, the situation is worse than you expect.”
“Didn’t I already say?”
“And yet you’re still being stubborn, which is why I’m frustrated.”
Taesu’s voice rose again.
Elder Wang also refused to back down and sharply demanded,
“I’ve been listening to you go on about that all this time. Do you think I don’t know?”
“Then make a decision quickly.”
“I’m thinking.”
“What thinking? We should be bringing the villagers in for tests right now, and even that wouldn’t be enough.”
Taesu shouted out his frustration.
Elder Wang’s stubbornness was no ordinary thing either, and he absolutely refused to retreat.
“You ill-mannered brat, there you go glaring at me with those fierce eyes again.”
“I’m telling you, my manners aren’t what matters right now.”
“You said you can’t even do any tests right away.”
When Elder Wang challenged him, Taesu answered like a thunderbolt.
“There are ways. If we look into it, we’ll find them.”
“You brat. Acting like you’re so great until the very end. How dare you answer back to your elders every single time.”
“If it’s something I can say, then I say it. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t.”
Crackle.
A powerful spark flashed in the gazes they aimed at each other.
They had said they would talk quietly.
In the end, their voices had risen again.
Elder Wang’s stubbornness was as tenacious as Gang Yeonghun’s.
But Taesu was no less so.
Neither side allowed even an inch of retreat.
The atmosphere grew so taut it became suffocating.
That was when it happened.
Rustle.
The sound of someone stepping on fallen leaves?
Taesu and Elder Wang’s sharp gazes turned in that direction at the same time.
There stood Kim Hyeokgwon with a sullen face.
“The weather’s nice and cool, but over here it’s downright freezing. Freezing.”
Step, step.
As Kim Hyeokgwon approached, Taesu first checked on the patients.
“What about Changgyu and Songhui?”
“At this point, wouldn’t it be stranger if something did go wrong?”
“Even so, we can’t let our guard down.”
“That’s why Dr. Jeong is keeping an eye on them a bit longer.”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered curtly.
This time, Elder Wang asked Kim Hyeokgwon,
“Why did you come, you rascal?”
“The conversation seemed to be dragging on, so I wondered if I should bring you another cup of tea.”
“Then you should have brought it.”
“You two are so heated that I thought cold tea would suit you better.”
“That, that mouth of yours.”
Elder Wang narrowed his eyes and scolded him.
But Kim Hyeokgwon’s personality was far from ordinary as well.
If anything, he was worse than Taesu, not better.
He immediately answered bluntly.
“The person saying that doesn’t seem all that benevolent either.”
“What is with all these brats?”
“That must be why we go around together. More importantly, they should be arriving about now.”
“What are you talking about?”
Elder Wang burst out angrily at Kim Hyeokgwon, who had changed the subject.
That was when it happened.
As if the timing were truly uncanny, hurried footsteps came from beyond the thicket.
Sasasak.
The tangled sounds of several sets of footsteps were heard first.
Soon after, voices brimming with anger struck their ears.
“You rotten bastards, stop right this instant!”
“You horse-nosed scoundrels, if you so much as touch a fingertip of his, we’ll really—”
“You die and I die!”
They were extremely murderous threats.
The moment Elder Wang heard those voices, he shook his head from side to side.
“Sigh. Those, those immature fools.”
“They seem to have loyalty, at least.”
When Taesu slipped that in, Elder Wang immediately glared at him.
“You, that mouth of yours... I ought to.”
“Ahem.”
“This one and that one both. Good grief. My head.”
Elder Wang seemed displeased with everything around him.
Just as that lament ended.
Sasasak.
The three old men who had cornered Taesu appeared.
But they were not empty-handed.
Each of them was holding farm tools such as sickles and hoes.
When they saw Elder Wang, they raised their voices even more forcefully.
“Hyungnim, we’re here.”
“You bastards, stay exactly where you are.”
“If you move, you’re dead.”
Rumble.
The look in their eyes as they pushed in like bulldozers was even menacing.
They were not all.
“Elders!”
Sasasak.
Gang Yeonghun appeared after them, chasing after them with a flustered face.
At the atmosphere that had turned chaotic in an instant, Elder Wang shouted like a thunderclap.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Hyungnim.”
“Put down those unsightly things first.”
“Ahem.”
“You brats, are you still going around in a pack like that? Grow up. Grow up already.”
“You’re all right, aren’t you? Those bastards didn’t hurt you, did they?”
The old men pretended to lower their farm tools, but they did not relax their guard.
Elder Wang waved his hand as if annoyed and scolded them.
“Hurt me? What hurting?”
“Songhui’s mother ran into the village shouting that something terrible had happened.”
“What?”
“She said it was the first time she’d ever heard you yelling at the top of your lungs. That something very serious had happened.”
The old man standing in the middle answered while gauging the atmosphere.
Elder Wang answered with effort, wearing an expression as if his head were throbbing.
“We were just talking, and it got a little heated.”
“She said you were fighting so loudly that the sound carried clearly all the way to the tent.”
“My voice is just loud. But if you thought it was that dangerous, why did only you lot come?”
When Elder Wang asked in disbelief, the old man standing on the right answered.
“We told the young ones to grab that hefty fellow in the tent.”
“If anything has happened to you, Hyungnim, we’ll twist him up good.”
The old man standing on the left shouted confidently.
The moment he heard that, Taesu’s eyes flew wide open.
“Min, Minsu?”
“Oh dear. Looks like we’ll be setting up Dr. Jeong’s tombstone here.”
“Hyeokgwon, I don’t think this is the time to be so relaxed.”
As Taesu spoke, he tried to run out.
Gang Yeonghun, who had been watching both sides of the situation, stopped Taesu.
“Dr. Jeong should be fine.”
That was his opinion.
Elder Wang seemed to think otherwise and urged Gang Yeonghun on.
“Gang Yeonghun, is this the time to be saying that? Hurry and go check.”
“Yes. Elder Wang.”
Sasasak.
At the same time he answered, Gang Yeonghun dashed toward the hospital tent.
It was an exit made without even properly catching his breath, but the situation called for it.
Just when it felt as though the noisy atmosphere had finally begun to settle.
Shuffle.
The old men gathered behind Elder Wang as if guarding him. Their gazes toward Taesu were so intense they were almost stinging.
They even deliberately showed themselves gripping the lowered farm tools tightly.
‘Try anything funny and we won’t let it slide.’
That was exactly what it meant.
In that way, the old men tried to pressure Taesu with a menacing atmosphere.
At that moment, someone stepped up behind Taesu.
Step.
Naturally, it was Kim Hyeokgwon.
He faced off against the old men with his characteristic cold smile.
“Heh.”
He even let out a light laugh on purpose.
It was clearly an expression of confidence that even if it was three against one, he could win as much as he liked.
The old men immediately bristled at that laughter.
“That bastard, what does he think he’s doing?”
“I didn’t like him the most from the very beginning.”
“Those insolent eyes of his, I ought to just—”
Their growling sounded as if they would charge at any moment.
At that instant, Elder Wang stepped in to settle the situation.
“You brats.”
“......”
With a single word, he immediately subdued the old men.
But the situation on this side was not much different.
“Numbers don’t matter. More of the same is still the same.”
“Hyeokgwon.”
“......”
At Taesu’s low call, Kim Hyeokgwon slowly shifted his gaze to the side.
Only then was the uproar settled.
At that moment, Taesu looked around in front and behind him and said to Elder Wang,
“This feels like a summit meeting.”
“Looks like we both have a hard time living with immature comrades.”
Elder Wang let the words slip like a complaint.
Taesu clearly heard the unusual expression contained within those words.
Now, even when he heard such expressions, he did not react sensitively.
More than anything, he decided to first wrap up this situation, which had grown far too large.
“So what do you intend to do?”
Taesu asked calmly.
It was before Elder Wang could open his mouth.
The old men reacted first, their expressions twisting fiercely.
“Intend?”
“What are you going to do?”
“You little brat, you—tsk.”
At their reaction, Elder Wang growled lowly.
“I told you to be quiet.”
“Ahem.”
“If you babble one more word, you lot had better prepare yourselves first.”
“Yes.”
The old men quickly answered.
To anyone watching, Elder Wang, who was physically unwell, was at a disadvantage. Even so, the old men were tense enough that if he told them to die, they would at least pretend to do so.
At first, it had felt awkward.
But now it felt natural.