It was a conversation so natural it made their earlier savage exchange seem questionable.
Nor did he particularly sense any falsehood in it.
“Then let’s see if the opportunity arises.”
“For now, it seems you’d like to rest.”
“That goes without saying. Ugh.”
Taesu shamelessly let out a groan.
Captain Austin also smiled faintly and put some distance between them.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
Swish, step step.
After finishing his farewell, Captain Austin turned with precision and walked away.
His knees were not in perfect condition either.
After spending hours in a state of tension, they were trembling faintly.
Taesu, on the other hand, seemed to have crossed the final threshold, and he let go of his tension in a great rush.
“Good grief, I’m exhausted.”
“Our Taesu sure knows how to say goodbye properly.”
“You could’ve done some too.”
“Pass.”
Jeong Minsu refused outright, but Taesu accepted it sullenly.
“Fine. Of course. Let’s go now too. Mr. Hyeokgwon, let’s go.”
“Let’s.”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Yeah. Everyone worked hard.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s reply somehow lacked energy.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu simply thought it was because he was tired.
They themselves were so exhausted they wanted to collapse on the spot, so there was no reason he would be any different.
Thud, thud.
Each of them instinctively walked toward their lodgings.
A triumphant return? As if.
They longed for a bed more than a bouquet of flowers.
A little while later.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu entered their quarters.
Flop, flop.
They threw down the dispatch bags and clothing bags that had been slung over their shoulders.
At the sight of the beloved lodgings they had only imagined in dreams, they suddenly grew teary-eyed.
“This… this isn’t a dream, right?”
“Yeah. It’s not… We’re back. We came back alive.”
“Minsu.”
“Taesu.”
They flung themselves into each other’s arms.
The two friends celebrated their return after three months with overflowing emotion.
That lasted exactly five seconds.
The moment five seconds passed, Taesu and Jeong Minsu both froze at the same time and growled lowly.
“What are you doing right now?”
“What about you?”
“Why do I suddenly feel extremely unpleasant?”
“Exactly. I think it’d be best if we let go now.”
Whoosh.
The speed at which they separated was truly lightning-fast.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu quickly turned their backs to each other and brushed themselves off with their hands.
Pat, pat.
“Ugh, I’ll get bad luck. Shoo.”
“No matter what, to think I hugged that bastard…”
“Ugh. Forget it. Forget it.”
“What happened? What are you talking about, something happened just now?”
Taesu quickly agreed with Jeong Minsu’s words.
“Right. Nothing happened.”
“Of course, of course.”
Slide.
Even as they said that, they subtly put distance between themselves.
That bit of joking lasted only a moment.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu fixed their eyes on their respective beds.
Soft pillows, mattresses, even blankets. On top of that, the air in the room was warm thanks to radiator heating.
Perhaps their frozen bodies were thawing, because they already felt languid.
At this moment, they needed nothing else.
Their eyes were filled with the desire to slip into bed and feel that warmth with their whole bodies.
Jeong Minsu seemed unable to hold back any longer and headed straight for his bed.
“Bed… ack.”
Grab.
Taesu, who had caught hold of Jeong Minsu, shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“What else is left?”
“We have to show proper respect to the bed.”
Slide.
Taesu lowered his gaze.
Following his gaze, Jeong Minsu looked himself over and realized it.
“There isn’t a beggar more wretched than this.”
“Lying down like this would be an insult to the honored bed.”
“Right. We can’t commit such sacrilege against the sacred bed.”
“Let’s go. To wash up with hot water.”
“Ooh.”
Taesu and Jeong Minsu moved with unnecessarily solemn expressions.
After quickly grabbing what they needed, the two of them headed straight to the communal showers outside.
Civilization, encountered after so long.
It delivered a sensational shock to them.
“Whoa! Water’s coming out. This must be what they call a showerhead.”
“Ah! It’s hot. We didn’t even light a fire, but hot water’s coming out on its own.”
They hopped around in delight like excited children.
The problem was that the two of them were not alone.
NGO medical staff passing nearby glanced at them. However, they were not looking at them strangely.
The news that the two of them had been dispatched away from the NGO for a long period had spread widely.
They also knew they had returned today.
They could not understand the conversation in Korean, but even at their somewhat rustic reactions, they smiled faintly.
Almost no one approached them to exchange greetings.
That was how much consideration they showed the two men, who were steeped in exhaustion.
A little while later.
The door opened again, and the now-clean Taesu and Jeong Minsu entered.
“Hot water really is the best.”
“My whole body just loosened right up… If I collapse like this, it’ll be just perfect.”
“That’s exactly it. But what’s that?”
Taesu suddenly voiced a question.
Something had been placed on the table inside the quarters.
Since they had gone out and come back together, there was no way Jeong Minsu would know.
With puzzled faces, the two approached the table.
Something was covered with a white cloth.
Slide.
They lifted the white cloth.
Under it was a spread starting with steak, packed with food so nutritious it was almost excessive. There was also a bottle of wine and two glasses.
“What is this?”
“Room service?”
“Say something that makes sense.”
“Then what is it… huh? There’s a card here.”
Rustle.
Jeong Minsu picked up a piece of paper folded in half and opened it.
A short message was written on it.
—Have a light drink, loosen up, and get plenty of rest. Keep tomorrow afternoon open. DR. J.
The moment they saw the initials, Taesu and Jeong Minsu thought of the same person.
“James.”
“Ah, Dr. James.”
It was a small event, but the emotion it stirred was a hundred times greater.
Growl.
Once the food filled their eyes and even the fragrant smell stimulated their noses, their stomachs went into an uproar.
This was no time to think about anything else.
The two sat down immediately and began shoving food into their mouths.
“Nom nom.”
“Chomp chomp.”
“…Kgh, cough. Water, water.”
“You should eat more slowly. Here.”
Glug, glug.
What filled the glass instead of water was wine.
Normally, they said wine was enjoyed by lightly swirling the glass to appreciate the color, smelling the aroma with the nose, then holding it in the mouth to savor it.
But Taesu and Jeong Minsu drank it down without hesitation, as if they were drinking bottled water.
“Gulp, gulp.”
“Ahh. Tastes good.”
After wetting their throats, their combative meal resumed.
They were hungry and thirsty, and had no mental room to consider each bite.
Instead, they ate and ate again.
It was an amount too much for two people, but they wiped it all clean.
True manners were not something shown on the surface.
It was eating like this until their stomachs were about to burst so that James, who had gifted it to them, could feel proud.
Their bellies were full, and the wine’s intoxication made their bodies languid.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu immediately lay down on their beds.
Bounce.
The softness of the springy mattress felt as though it were enveloping their entire bodies.
Sleepiness poured over them.
Lying down right after eating slowed digestion.
They knew that better than anyone, but everything was too much bother.
Taesu spoke in a dazed voice, his eyes drooping.
“Sleep well. You worked… zzz.”
“You fell asleep while talking… snore.”
Jeong Minsu, who had been scolding him, also failed to finish his sentence and fell asleep just like that.
That was how they brought their eventful day to an end.
The next day.
It was late morning, with the sun high in the sky.
Someone knocked on the door of Taesu and Jeong Minsu’s quarters.
Knock knock.
There was no response from inside the room, only silence.
After a little while, the sound of knocking came again.
Knock knock.
“…”
Still, there was no answer.
Perhaps tired of waiting, the door finally opened.
Creak.
The one who entered was Kim Hyeokgwon, looking thoroughly exhausted.
He was the type who would come in while scolding them first.
But today, strangely enough, he came in with a calm air.
“You still haven’t woken up?”
“…”
Still, no sound could be heard.
Finding it odd, Kim Hyeokgwon narrowed his brow and looked at the beds arranged side by side.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu were each lying on their beds.
Seeing them not moving an inch, Kim Hyeokgwon was dumbfounded.
“Looks like you completely let your guard down.”
But then.
“…Ugh.”
“…Uuuuugh.”
Faint groans could be heard.
Kim Hyeokgwon tilted his head and stepped closer.
But both Taesu and Jeong Minsu were breaking out in cold sweat, clearly suffering.
“Uuuugh.”
“Khh. Ugh.”
Startled, Kim Hyeokgwon stepped between the beds, looking left and right as he asked,
“What is this? Why are you two like this? Dr. Choi, Dr. Jeong.”
Perhaps because Kim Hyeokgwon called out loudly, Taesu and Jeong Minsu reacted one after the other.
“My… ugh. My back…”
“I think I have terrible indigestion… huu.”
At those words, Kim Hyeokgwon’s tension suddenly drained away.
“I thought it was something serious. I was wondering why you weren’t coming to the office. Stop exaggerating and get up.”
Pat, pat.
Kim Hyeokgwon lightly patted and coaxed them.
Even that was a little different from his usual self. It was enough to make one wonder if this was really Kim Hyeokgwon, the venom-tongued man acknowledged as such by himself and everyone else.
However, Taesu and Jeong Minsu were too busy groaning to notice.
“Ugh… Please give me a muscle relaxant or something.”
“I need a digestive aid. I was throwing up all night… sigh.”
At their barely managed replies, Kim Hyeokgwon realized this was not an ordinary situation.
“Just where and how exactly are you hurting for you to be like this?”
“My back… urk. I can’t… put strength in my back.”
“Ah. You said yesterday that you’d tweaked your back. Well, after running around half-dead in that condition and even doing emergency surgery, there’s no way you’d be fine.”
Kim Hyeokgwon recalled each thing as he spoke, but there was one thing he deliberately did not mention.
Perhaps he did not even have the mind for that now, because Jeong Minsu, pale as a sheet, even looked ready to cry.
“Mr. Hyeokgwon, save… save me.”
“You two are the doctors, and I’m an interpreter.”
“Then at least… ugh. Please call the medical staff. Emergency.”
Jeong Minsu could not even get up and only groaned.
Taesu was the same.
It was the first time they had been in so much pain that they could not even get up.
Kim Hyeokgwon looked back and forth between the two of them, thinking deeply.
He did not look as if he was about to call the medical staff, nor did he seem about to prepare medicine himself.
He seemed to be contemplating something.
Finding that strange, Taesu groaned and asked,
“Why… ugh. What are you thinking…”
“You said you didn’t like Western medicine, didn’t you?”
“I’m not in a position to be picky… aaargh.”
“But what would you do if there were something more effective than Western medicine?”
At Kim Hyeokgwon’s suggestion, Taesu perked up his ears.
“More… something better?”
“In two hours, you should at least be able to walk slowly.”
“Two hours… urk, call, absolutely call. Agh.”
Taesu, who had shouted, let out another suppressed scream, perhaps because it jarred his insides.
It was just as Kim Hyeokgwon was about to turn around.
Grab.
A hand suddenly shot out and caught his wrist.
The owner of that hand could only be Jeong Minsu.