“If you waste your time like that, what are you going to do when you go back to Korea?”
“They said there are certificates and things proving we worked here.”
“Wouldn’t it be even more miserable if you came all the way to an NGO and were still an empty can who couldn’t do anything?”
Taesu drove the dagger in deep.
The more he did, the more Jeong Minsu’s shoulders shrank.
“W-well. I mean.”
“Minsu.”
“Huh?”
Jeong Minsu flinched.
Taesu held his gaze and spoke without looking away.
“Right now, no matter who looks at us, we’re a team of outsiders.”
“Probably.”
“To put it even more coldly, we’re ugly ducklings. Shabby doctors who aren’t welcomed anywhere, whom everyone looks at through tinted glasses.”
Every single word from Taesu stung as it pierced his chest.
Unable to endure that assault of hard facts, Jeong Minsu timidly resisted.
“That’s why we’re running around outside.”
“And yet you’re going to worry about personal connections and personalities?”
“……”
“Let’s face reality. We don’t have any side roads.”
Taesu said it flatly.
Swept up by that force, Jeong Minsu gave a faint nod.
“Th-that’s true.”
“If we want to survive after going back to Korea, skill is all we have.”
“Skill?”
“Yeah. Skill.”
“Hmm.”
Jeong Minsu’s eyes had softened before he knew it.
Even so, Taesu’s voice remained solemn.
“It’s not enough to just be good. We have to be far, truly far better than our peers.”
“……”
“Only then can we go back with our heads held high. Only then can we survive in that fierce crush.”
“……”
Jeong Minsu fell silent.
Not one thing Taesu had said was wrong.
When they went back to Korea?
If they didn’t possess overwhelmingly superior skill, they would be easy to look down on.
They had to have something to show, something enough to make people forget their past.
As he thought that, Jeong Minsu suddenly rolled his eyes left and right, then asked Taesu.
“Then are you saying you’re going to keep searching out rough places so you can perform surgeries and treatments on anything that comes your way?”
“……”
“N-no?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Taesu, who had been listening quietly, snapped, and Jeong Minsu hesitated.
“That’s what you’re saying right now.”
“Then did I just put patients on the operating table at random in Sahad?”
“That’s not what happened.”
Jeong Minsu answered, watching his mood.
Taesu spoke with his face still hardened.
“Before we are doctors, we are human beings.”
“……”
“And every person we meet will be a human being before they are a patient.”
“Y-yeah. That’s right.”
“Let’s not forget that. That, if nothing else, we must never forget.”
Taesu demanded that vow with intensity.
So much so that Jeong Minsu’s gaze trembled.
“Yeah. I know. Of course.”
“We will never sacrifice someone for our own greed.”
“We can’t. Absolutely not.”
“But even so, if we want to fulfill our goal, all we can do is work ourselves to death. Until we no longer have to pay such a steep price.”
Taesu made that vow fiercely, as if chewing the words and spitting them out.
A steep price.
The moment he heard those words, one side of Jeong Minsu’s chest ached faintly.
His instincts had already realized what they meant.
“Yeah. I don’t want to pay such a steep price anymore.”
“Hmm. Back to the main point. Anyway, that’s why I need Hyeokgwon-ssi.”
“……”
“I don’t care what price I have to pay. That’s how I honestly feel.”
Taesu ended heavily.
Rising from his seat, Taesu headed straight to the bed.
And closed his eyes.
He had said everything he needed to say.
Deciding on an answer to that was Jeong Minsu’s part.
He felt relieved inside.
Even so, Taesu could not fall asleep easily.
I can’t go back like this.
That was not merely a goal.
It was a purpose and a resolve that absolutely had to be fulfilled. Caprene’s knowledge was far too heavy a burden for him to become just an ordinary doctor.
Today, too, Taesu repeated it inwardly.
‘Now, as I enter the profession of medicine……’
The Hippocratic Oath.
It was not something to simply memorize.
It was time to reflect on whether he had spent a day worthy of the meaning contained within it.
In that way, Taesu brought his turbulent heart under control and brought the day to a close.
Jeong Minsu was still seated at the table.
“……”
Alone, he merely fiddled with an empty beer can.
His gaze stared into the distance without focus.
Just from his furrowed face, it was clear he was deeply turning something over in his mind.
That time continued on long into the dawn.
The next morning.
The three of them gathered in front of the Good Morning Earth office.
But the atmosphere between Taesu and Jeong Minsu was somehow awkward.
Having seen through it, Kim Hyeokgwon did not wonder about it and asked outright.
“Did you grab each other by the hair and fight?”
“We didn’t fight.”
“Then did one of you beat the other up one-sidedly?”
When Kim Hyeokgwon looked at him in surprise, Taesu stared back in disbelief.
“In that case, you should be paying a hospital visit right now.”
“Considering Doctor Choi’s temper, that’s true too.”
Kim Hyeokgwon replied easily.
Taesu smiled awkwardly and took hold of the doorknob.
“Let’s just go in.”
“Let’s. I’ll stay quiet, so you handle it well.”
“……”
Unlike Kim Hyeokgwon, Jeong Minsu remained silent.
Taesu said nothing more and went inside.
Thirty minutes later.
Creak.
The door to the Good Morning Earth office opened again.
Among the three people who came out, Taesu’s expression was particularly bright.
“We heard one more piece of good news at the end.”
“An expansion of medical equipment support. That is a bit unexpected.”
“It’s a good thing.”
“You sure there isn’t some hidden agenda?”
Kim Hyeokgwon started with suspicion.
That was how deep his distrust of people ran.
But Taesu smiled gently.
“There are three of us: two low-ranking doctors and one interpreter-nurse. What hidden agenda could there be?”
“Wait, stop. Among those three, who’s the person with the unfamiliar job?”
“You know all of us, don’t you?”
“Looks like there’s someone besides me.”
Kim Hyeokgwon openly glared at him, rejecting the intent behind Taesu’s words.
Taesu did not want to argue about that issue either.
And at this moment, there was something that had to take priority above all else.
Rustle.
Taesu took out the allowance envelope he had received inside.
Then he separated out a large portion of the allowance and politely handed it directly to Kim Hyeokgwon.
Thap.
“You worked hard on this dispatch as well.”
“Oh my, as an interpreter-nurse, I shall continue to devote myself with all my heart and soul.”
Bow.
Kim Hyeokgwon bent at the waist and respectfully accepted Taesu’s allowance with both hands.
It was hard to believe he had been glaring at him just a moment ago.
That made him all the more like Kim Hyeokgwon.
On the other hand, it had to be the first time Jeong Minsu had seen such a scene. A word full of doubt abruptly came out.
“Um?”
Taesu’s gaze naturally turned to Jeong Minsu.
“……”
He did not speak.
But with his eyes, he was asking whether Minsu felt nothing from his actions.
And Jeong Minsu?
“……”
He remained silent.
At that sight, Taesu was slightly disappointed.
It was then.
Perhaps having read the gaze passing between the two, Kim Hyeokgwon spoke first.
“There’s money you’re happy to receive, and money that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”
“That’s true.”
“More importantly, we’re done with business now, right?”
As Kim Hyeokgwon asked, Taesu took out the leather pouch he had received from Chief Kantor yesterday.
“We should see what this is and divide it equally.”
“When a gift is this small in volume, I start getting my hopes up.”
“Hmm. Shall we take a look?”
Taesu immediately opened the mouth of the pouch and poured it into his palm.
Something tumbled out from inside.
What settled in his palm was none other than gold dust and rough gemstones.
Seeing them, Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon, and even Jeong Minsu, who had been silent, widened their eyes.
“Huh?”
“This is…”
“Whoa.”
Other than exclamations of surprise, there was nothing to say.
Among the three, Kim Hyeokgwon spoke in a bewildered voice.
“I-I just said that as a joke.”
“Not anymore.”
Taesu answered blankly.
Immediately after, Kim Hyeokgwon added another remark.
“It seems Sahad isn’t a strategic point in the war just because there are a lot of rivers around it.”
“Y-yeah.”
“So that’s why Kantor wouldn’t let us check until the very end.”
“Exactly.”
Taesu answered without being able to take his eyes off it.
Then Jeong Minsu asked.
“Shouldn’t we give it back?”
“That’s a little complicated.”
“Huh?”
“It’d be one thing if we’d returned it on the spot. But too much time has passed.”
“Well, that’s…”
As if acknowledging it too, Jeong Minsu’s words trailed off.
Kim Hyeokgwon did not open his mouth at all.
Taesu soon made his decision and spoke.
“It’s a huge relief we promised to go back.”
“So you’re saying we just keep it?”
“If we go back to return it, do you think they’ll gratefully accept it?”
“……”
Jeong Minsu could not answer.
In the meantime, Taesu picked up the gold dust and held it out to Kim Hyeokgwon.
“This is your share, Hyeokgwon-ssi.”
“If you give it to me, I’ll take it, but if you’re going to regret it, let’s not do this.”
“Take it.”
Kim Hyeokgwon grew even more surprised and asked again.
“You’re really telling me to have it?”
“Yes.”
“Really, truly, really?”
“My arm hurts.”
Taesu merely reinforced his certainty.
Perhaps because it was something he had not expected at all, Kim Hyeokgwon still looked confused. But that lasted only a moment.
Thap.
Kim Hyeokgwon immediately took the gold dust from Taesu’s hand, then glanced sideways at him and said,
“It’s in my hand now. Now it’s mine.”
“I told you it was.”
“Hey. Doctor Choi. What are you scheming?”
Even while holding the gold dust, Kim Hyeokgwon looked suspicious.
Even under that gaze, Taesu replied with the same good-natured smile.
“From now on, I’ll be a solid source of income for you.”
“This was a one-time thing, though.”
“Who knows? The next village might be full of gold mines.”
Rather than give a definite answer, Taesu stimulated his curiosity.
Kim Hyeokgwon gave Taesu a bitter smile.
“I hate things like adventure and challenges.”
“Then what have you been doing until now?”
“That…”
For a moment, Kim Hyeokgwon, whose speech was always as smooth as flowing water, was at a loss for words.
Taesu did not miss that moment and added,
“Isn’t a bonus the very flower of adventure? Don’t hesitate too much.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“So?”
Taesu asked out of the blue.
It was a question asking whether he was willing to join them next time as well.
And Kim Hyeokgwon?
“……”
He was silent.
Naturally, that meant yes.
Before he could bring up anything else, Taesu drove in the wedge.
“Then take care of your personal matters until the schedule is set.”
“Well, let’s do that.”
“Have a happy time.”
“Heh heh, I’ll have to have a long, in-depth conversation with this yellow fellow.”
Kim Hyeokgwon turned around while examining the gold dust from every angle.
Taesu was about to turn around as well.
That was when he heard the voice of Jeong Minsu, who had been quiet all along.
“Um, Hyeokgwon-ssi.”
“What is it?”
“Mm… I’ll buy you a drink.”