Fire.

“Even after taking a quick look around, I noticed there wasn’t much firewood, and they didn’t have much food either.”

“The inside was certainly bleak. But you’re saying they were short on food as well?”

When Taesu asked, Kim Hyeok-gwon simply relayed what he had seen while moving around and inspecting the place on his own.

“There wasn’t a fresh vegetable in sight. There was about one sack of root vegetables, like potatoes.”

“Was that all?”

“There were some preserved foods, too. A few dates soaked in some kind of oil.”

Kim Hyeok-gwon quickly reported what he had found.

Taesu’s expression hardened considerably as he listened.

“If they aren’t receiving communal rations, that’s nowhere near enough to get through the winter.”

“Especially with that arm.”

“Hmm. You saw it.”

Taesu showed a slight stir of emotion.

That was also why his voice had dropped momentarily while drawing the blood.

Kim Hyeok-gwon spoke heavily.

“It was right behind him. I never dreamed there’d be an injury like that on his upper right arm.”

“It’s the season when their clothes have gotten thicker.”

“That’s true. But about that wound…”

“It looked like a gunshot wound. And it seemed to be quite an old one.”

When Taesu answered for him, Kim Hyeok-gwon furrowed his brow.

“It wasn’t just some wound. Even to me, it looked like all they’d done was remove the bullet.”

“Yes. It healed just like that.”

“With an arm like that, he must have had trouble exerting himself for long periods.”

“That’s probably why he offered it up when we asked to draw blood. People instinctively hold out the weaker side.”

Taesu’s voice was bitter as he added that.

Kim Hyeok-gwon felt the same way.

Having seen plenty of gunshot wounds, he seemed to have a rough idea of what kind of aftereffects they left behind.

But Taesu had one question.

“Where was he shot?”

“You mean where in Kashmir he was shot?”

“Ah, that was the wrong question. Anyway, if the elder’s situation is like this, I don’t think the other households will be much different.”

They had only visited the first house, yet Taesu already felt so heavy-hearted.

He couldn’t even begin to guess what kinds of problems the villagers they met from here on out would be hiding.

As silence descended at the thought—

Clap.

Taesu lightly clapped his hands, turning the mood around.

“Come on. This isn’t the time to be depressed.”

“There are still plenty of places to visit. But if they’re all more or less in this condition…”

“Then it looks like we’ll need presents when we visit the houses.”

At Taesu’s opening, Kim Hyeok-gwon eagerly asked first.

“Should I bring what we prepared?”

“Let’s go together.”

“No need. Let’s each do our own jobs properly. I’m off.”

Zzt.

Kim Hyeok-gwon shoved the medical bag over to Taesu and immediately began running toward the outskirts of the village.

Watching his warm retreating figure, Taesu smiled faintly.

But that moment lasted only briefly.

“Let’s move.”

Shaking off his heavy feelings, he headed straight for the next house.

From there, Taesu went door to door among the houses built to the right.

Perhaps because the first visit had left such a strong impression, he no longer found the second house onward particularly difficult.

The villagers were only somewhat wary.

Even that wariness wasn’t especially severe.

Whenever Taesu visited, men and women, young and old, all received treatment.

It took no small amount of time.

Everyone had at least one injury, large or small.

The middle-aged and elderly, in particular, had many wounds.

Naturally, those Taesu had seen in the photographs were included as well.

Most of the injuries were marks where they had been struck or scratched against something.

The problem was that they were festering inside.

They had been left untreated for too long.

Even when the wounds visible on the surface were small, pus had often settled deep within.

Taesu pitied them, but eventually grew irritated.

“Didn’t wounds like this hurt?”

“Well, they hurt for a while, but… once I got used to it…”

“That’s not something you should call ‘getting used to it.’”

When Taesu suddenly shouted, the person being treated flinched.

“Ahem. Well…”

“Yes. Whatever you’re about to say, I’m openly scolding you, so just listen.”

“…”

“You’re all unbelievable. What in the world is this? What the hell is this supposed to be?”

Squeeze.

Taesu’s hand was rough as he pressed the wound—so rough it bordered on reckless.

With his irritation added to the pain, how could the squeezing not hurt terribly?

A scream burst from the patient’s mouth.

“Aaaagh!”

“What are you screaming for, as though you’ve done something right?”

“But it hurts. I-it hurts.”

Now the villager being treated shouted back at him as well.

If Taesu had been the kind of person to soften just because someone shouted, he would never have endured this far.

Instead, he pressed him even harder.

“Bear it while screaming your head off.”

“Ugh.”

“I told you to scream. You really don’t listen, do you? Damn it.”

“Aaaaargh!”

The villager’s screams filled the house.

But those screams weren’t coming from just one place.

The exact same thing was happening on the opposite side of the village.

The person responsible, of course, was Jeong Min-su.

Since the patient was a stranger, Jeong Min-su watched his expression and carefully squeezed out the pus.

But for the other man, it felt like death.

“Aaaagh, you bastard!”

“I’m really sorry, but I have to squeeze it.”

“What? Let go. Let go of this!”

The patient stubbornly resisted.

At this rate, Jeong Min-su was about to lose his chance.

Jeong Min-su also became bold at times like this.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed with all his strength.

“Damn it.”

The strength released by the solidly built Jeong Min-su was tremendous.

“Aaargh! Somebody save me! I’m dying!”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say you’re sorry—gaaagh!”

“You’re not going to die.”

With a rough touch that belied his apologetic expression, Jeong Min-su continued the treatment.

He had to do at least that much.

Yellow inflammation and pus were flowing out in torrents.

The situation was quite serious.

The moment he saw it, Jeong Min-su’s true nature awakened as well.

His timidity slipped away.

His aggressive personality emerged, and he began berating the villager he was treating.

“Look at this. Look at it! Why did you leave it until it got this bad?”

“W-what’s with this guy?”

“What do you think I am? I’m a doctor. Hold still.”

“Why is his personality like—aaagh!”

The villager screamed as though he were about to faint.

The sight was so desperate that his wife took the children and retreated to a distant corner.

The medical staff weren’t the only ones causing pain.

Whenever the doctors moved on to another house, Kim Hyeok-gwon would visit once more.

Knock, knock.

“We’re with the medical team.”

“We don’t need anything.”

The response was sharp enough to eat him alive.

Kim Hyeok-gwon had bristled the first time as well, but by now he simply accepted it.

“That nasty doctor went to another house. I’m a gentle and kind interpreter.”

“What interpreter?”

“I mean, that’s just how it sounds.”

“So why are you here?”

Even when questioned from inside, Kim Hyeok-gwon answered in his usual easygoing manner.

“You’ve had a hard time, so I brought something to help restore your strength.”

“…”

There was no response from inside for a moment.

As though accustomed to moments like this, Kim Hyeok-gwon slowly looked around his surroundings.

“There’s a stream running over there by this house. At least you won’t have to worry about water.”

He even took his time looking over the place to see what features it had.

Despite being clearly turned away at the door, he didn’t leave. He simply waited.

Perhaps a minute passed.

Creak.

The door opened slightly, and a woman in her early forties cautiously appeared from inside.

Her eyes were hollow, as though she had suffered terribly while being examined.

“Can’t you please stop now?”

“My goodness. They must have poked and prodded you quite a bit for you to be this horrified.”

“I really want it to stop.”

Her entire body trembled as she struggled.

“I’m telling you, I’m not that nasty doctor.”

“Then…”

“There are four people in your family, right? I heard your children are very cute.”

The unfamiliar Kim Hyeok-gwon suddenly brought up the family’s circumstances in a way that was almost absurdly out of place.

The homeowner hesitated, but the pitiful look in her eyes softened slightly at his compliment about the children.

“Oh, yes.”

“Please take this. Pour in boiling water and wait about five minutes, then you can eat it.”

“W-what is it?”

Perhaps it was emergency rations she had never seen before. The homeowner accepted it awkwardly and asked, so Kim Hyeok-gwon gave her a simple explanation.

“It’s a meal that’s easy and quick to prepare, and there’s quite a lot of it.”

“Really?”

“Anyway, I’m sure it’ll taste good. Oh, and this is a sweet gift for the children. Have your meal, then get some good, warm rest.”

He smiled.

Kim Hyeok-gwon said goodbye with a smile and moved on.

Once he had gotten a little distance from the house he had just visited, he pulled the radio from his pocket and asked,

Bzzzt.

“Where’s next?”

—Bzzzt. I need a little more time.

—Bzzzt. I just finished one house. There’s a large rock in front of it, and there are three people in the family.

Taesu and Jeong Min-su’s voices came one after another.

Kim Hyeok-gwon’s expression was less than pleased.

“Why do these doctors have to split up and make me do all the legwork?”

Despite his grumbling, he was already moving.

He was only handing out emergency rations.

Even so, perhaps he found it rewarding, because a faint smile rested at the corners of his mouth.

Several hours later.

Since it was a mountain village, the sun had already begun to set.

The three men met again at the wooden platform in the center of the village.

Despite the chilly weather, the schedule had been so grueling that sweat covered all their faces.

Kim Hyeok-gwon took a long drink from his canteen first, then let out a deep sigh of satisfaction.

“Whew. That finally eased my thirst a bit.”

He held out the canteen, and Jeong Min-su quickly took it and drank.

“Haaah. That was seriously exhausting. Here.”

The canteen naturally passed to Taesu.

Glug, glug.

After drinking his fill, Taesu wiped his mouth and answered with a hardened expression.

“Whew. It’s not a matter of whether there are many people or few.”

“Each individual case is serious.”

Jeong Min-su had already opened his notebook. He nodded with a similar expression.

Taesu asked about the most important matter first.

“You collected all the blood samples, right?”

“Here. I’ve kept them safe.”

Tap, tap.

Jeong Min-su lightly patted the medical bag as he spoke.

Taesu nodded and took out his own notebook, opening it.

Kim Hyeok-gwon also picked up his notebook and pen, listening intently.

Thus, a meeting suddenly began.

It wasn’t that they were trying to enjoy the outdoor atmosphere at their leisure.

They were even more eager not to waste the time they could use to recover their exhausted bodies.

Once the mood was set, Taesu spoke first.

“Let’s contact the NGO and send the blood samples out as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. But you said the people you saw also had a lot of pus?”

“They were old wounds. Squeezing them all out was enough to exhaust me.”

“Same here. They were bad enough that we’d need to treat them every day while seeing their faces for at least two weeks.”

Jeong Min-su shuddered slightly, as though the thought still made him dizzy.

That was when Kim Hyeok-gwon joined the conversation.

“I handled the cleanup and got every insult there was.”

“Then how did they react to the emergency rations?”

“What reaction? By now, they’ve either eaten them all or are eating them.”

“Then we can check their reactions tomorrow.”

Scratch, scratch.

As Taesu made a note, Kim Hyeok-gwon tilted his head and asked,

“We’re only giving them out once, aren’t we?”

“Most of them are suffering from malnutrition and fatty liver disease.”

“That’s what you said.”

“Unless that gets resolved, even if we treat them, any improvement will only be temporary.”

Kim Hyeok-gwon spoke just as seriously as Taesu looked.

“Even if we assume we can do it a few times, how long are we going to keep hauling food over here?”

“That…”

“Do we really have the capacity for that?”

Kim Hyeok-gwon reacted sharply.