“That is the reality for all of us.”
“…….”
“The reality where we feel sorry when we see someone else’s pain, while pushing our own pain aside.”
“That… yes. That’s true.”
It was something Taesu agreed with as well, so he barely managed to answer.
Thud.
James’s hand came to rest on his shoulder.
At that moment, Taesu flinched.
James’s fingertips were trembling faintly.
He must have been thinking of the son who had gone before him.
Perhaps unable to bring himself to say it outright, he spoke around it.
“That reality isn’t far away.”
“No. Just like how we ended up injured.”
“Yes. Like you all, who chased after emergency patients and became emergency patients yourselves.”
“That’s true.”
That was all Taesu could say.
After that.
Slowly.
James brushed his hand down Taesu’s shoulder and said,
“Dr. Hanks has lived as a member of an NGO for nearly twenty years, starting in his thirties.”
“Yes.”
“And now his illness has worsened to the point where no one can do anything about it.”
“Mm.”
Taesu had no choice but to let out a heavy, bitter sound.
James’s opinion was cold and accurate.
Seventy percent of the pancreas had mutated into a mass of cancer.
It had metastasized throughout the lymph nodes.
Cancer cells had also invaded the abdominal artery.
Because of cancer cells that had traveled through the bloodstream, cancer was beginning to sprout in the lungs and esophagus as well.
Taesu dared to think about it.
Would it be possible if Caprene and James operated?
The answer was no.
It was to the point where they would have to determine whether surgery was even possible in the first place.
James was speaking of that cold reality based on the same standard.
Soon, his words continued.
“He knows his own condition too.”
“Of course. He should know.”
“At first, the person who needed those three months was Dr. Hanks himself.”
Regret flashed across James’s face as he spoke.
Seeing that, Taesu quickly asked,
“And now?”
“Now he seems like a man who has lost hope. But I haven’t.”
“Then?”
Not only Taesu, but Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon looked at him as well.
James met each of their gazes in turn and said heavily,
“Let’s keep him alive for three months. That’s my goal.”
“Three months. That’s…”
“Yes. In his current state, even one month would be difficult.”
James cut him off in a weighty voice.
Then Dr. Ijakson, from the other side, added,
“He’s refusing chemotherapy, so he’ll probably replace it with sleep.”
“Then what about surgery?”
“That’s why surgery is being delayed.”
At Dr. Ijakson’s words, Taesu asked quietly,
“Surgery is being delayed because he’s refusing chemotherapy?”
“Well… everyone here knows, so let’s just say it plainly.”
“Yes.”
“Right now, his stamina and willpower are too weak for him to go into surgery.”
When Dr. Ijakson said that, Dr. Ozma added a word as well.
“We’re thinking that maybe things might change if he at least starts chemotherapy.”
“His stamina is a problem too, isn’t it?”
“It is. But if we’re going to operate on cancer, it’s important to suppress the cancer cells.”
After Dr. Ozma answered, James added,
“We plan to operate the moment the cancer cell activity is suppressed.”
“Dr. James, that’s…”
“At present, the odds are one percent—no, perhaps even lower than that.”
“Probably.”
Taesu answered with difficulty.
He disliked talking in numbers like this.
But with the lesions so clearly visible before their eyes, it was far too difficult to say they could overturn the situation.
James did not reproach Taesu for feeling that way.
“Yes. If we consider the probability of table death, it would be better not to operate.”
“Hmm.”
“But Dr. Hanks wants the surgery.”
At that moment, Taesu recalled one missing detail and asked,
“Then what does the three months mean?”
“His first and last vacation in life.”
“Vacation?”
Taesu’s eyes trembled faintly.
Dr. Ijakson added an explanation.
“Dr. Hanks is someone who has continued medical volunteer work for twenty years without rest.”
“When he was young, there were times he went alone to volunteer regions, just like Dr. Choi.”
“In some regions of Africa, he’s even called a ‘saint.’”
“If we’re talking about recognition rather than skill, he’s probably about the same as Dr. James.”
Following Dr. Ozma, Nurse Catherine and Nurse Lumie each added a word.
Taesu was startled by that news as well.
The reason Dr. Hanks only slept was not merely because of pancreatic cancer.
If he had run without resting for twenty years, it was only natural that he would want to rest.
That much only surprised him a little.
What truly shocked Taesu was something else.
It was the fact that Nurse Lumie had brought James up as a point of comparison.
Whoosh.
Taesu’s gaze reflexively turned toward James.
James nodded with a calm expression.
“Dr. Hanks’s achievements are so admirable they cannot even be compared to mine.”
“Ah.”
“We have to give a man like that his final vacation.”
“We have to make that happen.”
Taesu’s voice had hardened before he knew it.
Right beside him, Jeong Minsu’s raised voice also rang out.
“We absolutely have to do it.”
“I agree this time too.”
Kim Hyeokgwon stepped forward of his own accord.
The three of them were of one mind.
For the first time in a while, their motivation boiled up.
But there was an even bigger problem.
They themselves were patients.
Taesu reminded himself of their current situation and asked,
“So what are we supposed to do?”
“Keep him company.”
“Yes?”
When Taesu stared at him in confusion, James added,
“It will take at least three days to establish the surgical plan.”
“You’re telling us to keep close watch over the patient twenty-four hours a day until then.”
“Yes.”
“I’m his roommate, so that’s more than possible.”
“And one more thing.”
As James began, Taesu quickly understood and spoke first.
“I’ll report to you the moment the anticancer effects appear.”
“Yes. If you do that, then regarding the three of you participating in surgery…”
“Dr. James, wait a moment.”
When Taesu cut him off, James looked at him in puzzlement.
“What is it?”
“Are you telling me to look after a patient with conditions attached?”
“…….”
For the first time, James’s mouth closed.
Taesu paid no mind and continued while meeting his gaze.
“To be honest, our physical condition isn’t good enough to decide whether we’ll participate in surgery.”
“That’s true.”
“Even if we become strong enough to lend a hand in surgery, I’ll ask the patient to decide.”
“Are you that confident you can take care of him well?”
“If you doubted that, I don’t think you would have called us.”
Taesu’s answer was not just bold, but audacious.
Dr. Ijakson even gave a low whistle.
“Whew.”
“As expected, when it comes to guts, he’s the best.”
Dr. Ozma also smiled softly at Taesu’s crisp, decisive attitude.
Meanwhile, Nurses Catherine and Lumie put their heads together and whispered.
“Who else would clash with the professor like that?”
“Dr. Smith and Center Director Dwayne?”
“Or maybe the Ivy Club university hospital directors.”
“Now we’ll have to include Dr. Choi too.”
Nod, nod.
The nurses reached their own conclusion and accepted it on their own.
Meanwhile.
Facing Taesu, James said heavily,
“Prove that my decision to call you was right.”
“I’ll show you.”
“You had better.”
James answered with a stern expression until the very end.
It seemed the issues surrounding this patient were disturbing him deeply, both in body and mind.
Taesu could see that clearly.
But he could not say anything.
Right now, Taesu could not comfort James’s pain.
After enough time had passed to drink a cup of tea.
The three of them stood not in the conference room, but in front of a hospital room.
Beside the hospital room door, the names of the admitted patients were written.
- Dr. Hanks.
- Dr. Choi Taesu.
It was the first time Taesu had seen his own name with his own eyes there.
It did not feel particularly good.
Kim Hyeokgwon must have felt the same, because he snapped,
“We’re going around putting our names on hospital rooms here and there. What a fine job we’re doing.”
“We couldn’t help it.”
“To be honest, Dr. Jeong and I are being discharged soon.”
At those words, Taesu suddenly realized something and asked,
“By the way, what exactly was wrong with you?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Then do you know what’s wrong with me?”
Taesu immediately shot back.
At that moment, Kim Hyeokgwon’s gaze wavered slightly.
“That, you were badly hurt… ahem.”
“Didn’t you see on the helicopter back?”
“We were carried in unconscious. Both of us.”
At that, Taesu’s expression also turned awkward.
“Shall we put off talking about ourselves until later?”
“Good idea.”
“Right. Then let’s go in.”
Slide.
Since it was his own hospital room, Taesu opened the door at once.
After they entered together.
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon immediately looked around the room.
“It’s pretty big for a two-person room.”
“This place is like a hotel.”
They said that, but they were not envying the hospital room.
It was merely an expression of approval.
Taesu looked toward Dr. Hanks’s bed.
Then he was startled.
“Huh?”
Dr. Hanks was awake.
Since his bed was by the window, he was sitting with the backrest raised, looking outside.
The closer Taesu got, the more lifeless he appeared, just as expected.
Leaving surgery aside, if someone lacked the will to live, no treatment could have a good effect.
The problem was serious.
Then Dr. Hanks slowly looked at the three of them and said,
“Are you friends of Dr. Choi?”
“They’re my colleagues.”
“Bonds between patients are important too.”
Dr. Hanks answered, making an effort to sound positive.
Taesu did not let the misunderstanding drag on and cleared it up immediately.
“This is Dr. Jeong Minsu. He and I have shared hardships since our internship.”
“Good to meet you.”
“And this is Mr. Kim. Kim Hyeokgwon. Should I call him a professional medical interpreter? What’s certain is that he’s a specialist when it comes to medicine.”
Taesu introduced him in very grand terms.
Since all of it was undeniably true, it was not really grandiose.
Unexpectedly, Dr. Hanks believed him without suspicion.
“I see.”
“I’m just an interpreter who pokes his nose into this and that, so you can think of me that way.”
“I heard a little about you from Dr. James.”
“And you pretended not to know?”
When Kim Hyeokgwon immediately pressed him, Dr. Hanks shook his head.
“No. I didn’t know what you looked like.”
“Then it really is our first time meeting. I’ll be in your care.”
Kim Hyeokgwon greeted him affably.
At that moment, Dr. Hanks’s gaze turned toward Taesu.
“I don’t think you came merely to say hello.”
“We just met with Dr. James.”
For the first time in a while, Taesu changed the way he referred to James.
Since the other party did not know their relationship, he did not want to speak too casually and be treated as an eyesore.
Dr. Hanks asked calmly,
“Did the professor tell you to help me?”
“Yes. We intend to help with your care until the surgery.”
“Excuse me, but…”
Dr. Hanks spoke cautiously.