A short while later.
The three startled faces had become comparatively calm.
Jeong Minsu was the first to stretch and speak.
“Nngh, they really start at the crack of dawn.”
“Haah. They must want to build that barn pretty badly.”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered with a yawn, the area around his eyes bloodshot and still thick with fatigue.
Taesu had already gotten out of bed and headed for the fireplace.
Clack.
He hung the kettle on the hook and turned around with casual coolness.
In the meantime, Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon had settled quietly at the table.
Rustle, rustle.
Both of them were looking over the papers on which they had organized the blood test results, their eyes red and bloodshot.
They had slept for only two hours.
All of them had to be so sleepy their eyes were swimming.
“Haah.”
Yawns sounded from time to time.
Even so, they were checking whether what they had organized up until the very end yesterday was correct.
Not only Jeong Minsu, but even Kim Hyeokgwon was now throwing himself into it with passion.
At the sight of them, Taesu smiled faintly.
Of course, that smile did not last long.
It was because of the test results.
His head was complicated, but for now, Taesu first prepared tea to warm their bodies.
Not long after, Taesu approached the table carrying the tea.
“Is anything different?”
“It’s damnable.”
At Kim Hyeokgwon’s response, Taesu’s brow immediately furrowed.
“There seem to be a lot of damnable things lately.”
“Tell me about it. There’s nothing different at all, so curses just come out on their own.”
Kim Hyeokgwon spoke bitterly.
Jeong Minsu was not much different.
“Damn it. If we test this hard, shouldn’t there be some margin of error or something?”
“Hmm. So in conclusion, there’s nothing different from what we organized yesterday?”
“Nothing. Not one thing. Not a single thing is different.”
Thud.
Jeong Minsu leaned roughly back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling.
Kim Hyeokgwon silently reached for his teacup.
Meanwhile, Taesu once again skimmed down the papers on which the results were organized.
“……”
The more he looked, the more stifled his chest felt.
Craack, crunch.
Outside, the sound of trees being felled could be heard now and then.
But here, in the medical team’s house, only silence filled the air.
An hour later.
The three of them headed to the work site together.
It was near the back of the village.
They had first gone to Old Man An’s house and were now on their way back.
Old Man An and An Hyeonguk had been asleep side by side.
Perhaps they had fallen asleep late; even when they entered, neither of them so much as stirred.
They had decided to stop by again in the afternoon and came over to the work site.
When they arrived, they could already see quite a few fallen trees.
Rrrrmm.
The trucks wrestling with the trees were making loud engine noises.
Around them, the villagers were dismantling the trees.
Thwack. Sssrk, sssrk.
With axes and saws, they efficiently divided everything from trunks to branches.
Then everyone, regardless of age or gender, carried what they could according to their ability.
Most of all, their faces were full of smiles.
It felt as if Makut’s vitality had been carried over to this village through the cashmere sheep.
Jeong Minsu looked at the scene and spoke quietly.
“At this rate, it’s practically a village festival.”
“They say many hands make light work, and people’s hands really are amazing.”
“They might finish it all today.”
The pace of work was fast enough for Taesu and Kim Hyeokgwon to continue admiring it.
As they watched, they saw Old Man Wang approaching.
Bow.
When they all greeted him together, Old Man Wang asked first.
“So, let me hear how it felt to sleep in a house for the first time in a while.”
“Ha, ha.”
“Why do your laughs sound so weak? You must not have slept well.”
Old Man Wang’s gaze as he asked was deep.
It seemed he had heard about what had happened overnight.
Taesu smiled gently and said,
“Our first night was quite heated.”
“Haha. I see. I see. I’m glad to hear it was heated.”
“We were grateful too. Thanks to that, we weren’t too late.”
At Taesu’s words, Old Man Wang leisurely raised his eyebrows and asked,
“There are many good things about being in the same village, aren’t there?”
“You can say that again.”
“Yes. And you weren’t short on firewood?”
Old Man Wang’s questions were especially numerous today.
The fact that a great deal of what had weighed on Old Man An’s mind had been relieved must have played the decisive role.
But the medical team was not in a position to simply smile.
“……”
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon’s gazes turned toward Taesu.
Taesu was used to such looks by now.
It was more comfortable for him to step forward.
So he naturally approached Old Man Wang, supported him, and said,
“That rock over there gets good sunlight. Why don’t you sunbathe for a bit?”
“Hmm, let’s do that.”
“I’ll guide you.”
Slide.
Taesu led Old Man Wang and glanced back with his eyes.
At that, Kim Hyeokgwon and Jeong Minsu immediately headed to the work site.
The moment only the two of them were left.
Glance.
Old Man Wang looked at Taesu’s face and asked calmly,
“You look like you lost a lot of sleep.”
“I slept for only a short while, but I’m much less tired than when I slept in the tent.”
“There must be a reason you slept so little.”
“Well……”
“Never mind. I’ll hear it when we get there.”
Step. Step.
Old Man Wang answered calmly and moved as usual.
Soon, they arrived at a broad rock.
It felt as though the world had somehow grown quiet.
Feeling puzzled, Taesu offered Old Man Wang a seat.
“This spot looks good.”
“Yes.”
Old Man Wang obediently sat where he was offered.
When Taesu turned his gaze, he saw Village Chief Jeon Nosik and Jo Jeongmin approaching from afar.
They were the ones Kim Hyeokgwon and Jeong Minsu had called, respectively.
Of the two who arrived, Village Chief Jeon Nosik spoke to Old Man Wang first.
“They said the trucks were overheating too much, so everyone decided to rest for a bit.”
“In all things in this world, too much is as bad as too little. Do you think only the machines were struggling? People need to rest when it’s time to rest too.”
“That’s right.”
“This fellow says he has something to say, so sit.”
Tap, tap.
Old Man Wang lightly patted the space beside him on the rock and offered it.
Village Chief Jeon Nosik took the chance to quietly say to Taesu,
“Uncle and Hyeonguk will be asleep.”
“I saw them.”
“Good. I think Uncle will ask to see you later.”
“Let’s finish this discussion first.”
Taesu subtly avoided giving a definite answer.
Perhaps reading Taesu’s seriousness, Village Chief Jeon Nosik took a seat.
In the meantime, this time Jo Jeongmin spoke to Taesu.
“Dr. Choi, I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“Leaving?”
“I decided to go with Rajkumar’s group when they head down.”
Taesu reacted with surprise.
It meant that change was beginning in this closed-off village.
Jo Jeongmin lightly reminded Taesu of their previous conversation.
“I told you I would be going out soon, didn’t I?”
“Still, I didn’t think you’d be moving together with Raku.”
“It’s my first time going out, and since there’s a war on, he said it would be safer to have companions.”
“It’s a bit unfortunate that the timing happens to be now.”
Taesu showed concern, given the circumstances.
But Jo Jeongmin was already brimming with excitement at the thought of going out into the world.
“I’ll be traveling with a merchant caravan. And this time, I’ll go out and see and learn with my own eyes what the village needs and what might help it.”
“I see.”
“Do you not really like the idea?”
“That’s not it. Let’s wrap up this matter first.”
Taesu postponed the personal conversation with a grim expression.
At that moment, Old Man Wang asked,
“So why did you gather these two as well?”
“Last night, we ran blood tests on many of you.”
“You said you didn’t have that centri…… something.”
“A pull-string top took its place.”
Taesu answered, but no one understood.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll explain the details later.”
“You mean you’ll tell us the results first?”
“Yes. That’s the far more important issue.”
“Go on.”
Old Man Wang gave him the floor, and Village Chief Jeon Nosik and Jo Jeongmin watched in silence.
As their eyes focused on him, Taesu first took out his notebook.
Then he calmly announced the results of the tests they had done yesterday.
“First, among the adults in the village, almost all had problems with their livers.”
“Problems with the liver? What kind of problems?”
“Cholesterol and triglycerides……”
Taesu’s explanation had just begun.
But Village Chief Jeon Nosik blinked and cut him off.
“Dr. Choi, what? What does that mean?”
“I’m sorry. To put it briefly, as we suspected, symptoms are occurring in which the liver becomes enlarged or hardens.”
“When everyone is that healthy?”
Village Chief Jeon Nosik had a reasonable question.
Though they were resting for a moment, the villagers looked full of energy.
It was a temporary phenomenon caused by endorphins.
Even if he explained that medically, the people here would not understand.
Their way of life was far too different.
Not wanting to repeat his earlier mistake, Taesu came up with another approach.
‘A lot of hearts are going to be bruised today.’
It meant he was going to strike them with facts.
Taesu immediately looked for Village Chief Jeon Nosik in the notebook he had opened.
Rustle, rustle.
After flipping back and forth through several pages, Taesu found him and spoke of the symptoms he suspected.
“Village Chief, isn’t it hard for you to get up in the morning?”
“Everyone is like that in the morning.”
At his utterly obvious expression, Taesu was the one who flinched instead.
He had to find an explanation that was easier to understand.
“No, I don’t mean it that way.”
“Then?”
“Ah. Hasn’t it been quite a long time since you woke up feeling refreshed, no matter how long you slept?”
When Taesu changed the question, Village Chief Jeon Nosik rolled his eyes in thought.
Soon, his expression changed strangely.
“That’s true. My memory of the last time I woke up refreshed is hazy.”
“When the liver can’t do its job, the first thing that appears is fatigue.”
“Is that so?”
Village Chief Jeon Nosik was only adding a response.
The doubt remained.
Having expected that, Taesu added a more detailed explanation.
“You said that when you get a wound, you drink tea that clears the blood and apply medicinal herbs good for stopping bleeding.”
“Yes, Dr. Choi, you know all that.”
“Yes. I’m not saying that’s bad. But even though you treated wounds that way, they didn’t heal, festered, and got worse, didn’t they?”
When Taesu asked in an easy-to-understand way, Village Chief Jeon Nosik also understood properly and answered.
“I think the medicine here is a little less effective than where we used to live.”
“I can’t say for certain, but I believe the medicinal effect is probably similar.”
“Then?”
When Village Chief Jeon Nosik wanted an answer, Taesu said at once,
“These are all phenomena that occur because the liver has worsened.”
“Is that so?”
“To give you another example, there must have been times when your head suddenly felt heavy and your vision grew dizzy.”
Taesu was speaking about difficulty regulating blood sugar due to reduced carbohydrate metabolism.
He was speaking while looking at the tested figures.
But Village Chief Jeon Nosik flinched for an instant.
“I never told you that.”
“Your body swells easily, and the swelling probably lasts a long time.”
“Th-that’s right. How did you know that?”
Village Chief Jeon Nosik looked at Taesu in wonder.
His gaze strongly suggested that Taesu was guessing things with uncanny precision.
Taesu did not mind and moved closer to Village Chief Jeon Nosik in order to deliver the decisive blow.
“Village Chief, ahem.”
“Why are you coming so close?”
“I just wanted to ask one more thing. By any chance, at night……”
Whisper, whisper.
After Taesu said a few words, Village Chief Jeon Nosik flushed red and jumped in surprise.