As Taesu looked around, he confirmed that his IV bag had been replaced with a full one.
“Looks like everyone knows I’m here.”
He was muttering to himself and about to get up from his seat when it happened.
“Grrrk!”
A familiar snore sounded.
It was Jeong Minsu’s world-shaking racket.
The snore he made when he was fast asleep without a care in the world.
Then he must have come in early in the morning.
Leaving quietly was a courtesy that had to be observed even between friends.
Stealthily.
Just as Taesu was moving in silence,
his gaze, as he pushed the IV stand, turned back toward the bunk bed.
“Don’t tell me this guy…”
He wondered if that was the case, and it seemed he was right.
The person who had changed his IV hadn’t been a nurse, but Jeong Minsu.
Thinking it over, the time Minsu had returned to the quarters roughly matched the time the IV had been changed.
“That punk.”
Taesu gave a bitter smile.
Even while exhausted, he had changed the IV himself.
That was something directly tied to consideration.
Lately, Minsu had started grumbling more, and their bickering had increased. But Taesu couldn’t deny that their bond had deepened just as much.
Jeong Minsu had fallen asleep with the fluorescent light still on.
It was his way of being considerate, so Taesu could move around comfortably if he happened to wake up.
It wasn’t conspicuous, but carefully looking after every little corner was Jeong Minsu’s style.
Taesu lacked that kind of delicate affection, but he had one solid, weighty blow of his own.
“At least sleep properly when you’re sleeping.”
Rustle. Click.
Taesu drew the blackout curtain and turned off the fluorescent light, filling the room with darkness before leaving the quarters.
Kim Hyeokgwon was nowhere to be seen.
About twelve hours had passed out of the twenty-four.
It seemed he needed more time.
Since he was the type to show up on his own when the time came, Taesu left it at that.
Now it was time to return to the hospital room.
Taesu quietly entered the room.
Rrrk.
Only Doctor Hanks was inside.
From where Doctor Jonathan and Doctor Wallik were, it would have been difficult to watch over Doctor Hanks all night.
And Doctor Hanks wasn’t a patient whose vitals changed drastically in an instant.
Since Taesu had been away, he decided to check on him first for a moment.
Slide. Slide.
When he approached quietly, Hanks was asleep.
Taesu’s hand naturally went to the chart.
He picked it up and checked what had happened while he had been away.
“First, the anticancer drugs have started being administered in earnest.”
It had happened only an hour ago.
The name of the doctor who had led the chemotherapy was written there.
Doctor Vincent.
The head of Internal Medicine Team One, and one of the top internists at NGO headquarters.
Taesu also knew what he looked like. A tall, slender white man with long arms and legs.
He wasn’t a doctor Taesu had met in person.
Even so, there was only one reason he would know his appearance.
He was, as expected, one of NGO’s skilled doctors whom Caprene had met several times.
“If it’s him, then it’s certain.”
Taesu murmured quietly.
After he had finished going through the entire chart,
his gaze as he watched the sleeping Doctor Hanks grew a little complicated.
“You chose to sleep.”
A thin murmur slipped out.
There was no way Caprene’s knowledge didn’t include information about anticancer drugs.
He was speaking based on that.
If a patient had the will to overcome it, they would try to stay awake even while feeling the pain.
Conversely, falling asleep like this meant that, as expected, there wasn’t much will there.
Taesu did not feel at ease seeing that situation directly.
And he thought.
Lately, the same question seemed to keep circling in his mind.
“What exactly does it mean to live?”
Even after defining it, it turned back into a question.
He had no idea where he was supposed to find a clear answer.
Time passed, and evening came.
Taesu was still watching Doctor Hanks, who remained asleep in the exact same state as before.
Rrrk.
The door opened, and an unfamiliar doctor came in.
Taesu recognized him at a glance.
It was the very Doctor Vincent who had been mentioned that morning.
He wasn’t alone; several doctors were with him.
Among them, Doctor Vincent approached alone and stood before Taesu.
“I believe I heard you’re Doctor Choi. Is that right?”
“Yes, I’m Doctor Choi Taesu. Professor Vincent.”
“Professor, hm. It seems you’ve heard rumors about me.”
Doctor Vincent reacted calmly.
Taesu was the same.
“I heard on the news that you were appointed an honorary professor.”
“I see. Still, just call me Doctor. At NGO, I don’t want to hear external titles like that.”
“Understood. Then I’ll begin with the patient briefing. Doctor Hanks is…”
Without the chart, Taesu immediately relayed Doctor Hanks’s condition aloud.
Doctor Vincent listened to Taesu’s briefing while looking at Doctor Hanks with pity in his eyes.
He wasn’t merely looking; his gaze also contained his own experience and expertise as he observed him.
What Taesu reported wasn’t greatly different from that morning.
Soon, the doctors from Internal Medicine Team One collected blood and tissue samples from the sleeping Doctor Hanks.
It was to examine the changes over the course of a day.
Slide.
Once they stepped back, Doctor Vincent spoke.
“He is someone respected by everyone, so there must be no gaps in his care.”
“I’ll take your advice to heart.”
“Hm. And you don’t need to watch him all day. You’re a patient too.”
Doctor Vincent suddenly spoke about Taesu.
It seemed everyone wearing a patient gown was also a subject of observation to him.
Taesu obediently nodded.
“Yes, I’ll do it while resting.”
“You’re not fully recovered yet. If it’s too difficult, I’ll assign a doctor to him.”
“That won’t be necessary. Since his chemotherapy has just begun in earnest, I got greedy and wanted to watch over him myself.”
“As a doctor, that’s worthy of praise. As a patient, it’s something you’d be scolded for.”
Doctor Vincent’s voice rose slightly.
Since he wasn’t exactly wrong, Taesu smiled faintly.
“I’ll take your advice to heart.”
“If you’re in the same state tomorrow morning, I’ll have you meet with Doctor James.”
“I’ll be switching shifts with Doctor Jeong soon. Until then, I’ll watch him while resting comfortably.”
“Do that. Then… I’ll be going now.”
Only after taking in Doctor Hanks one more time did Doctor Vincent turn around.
And when everyone left and the door closed,
“Why is a resident…”
“Doctor James…”
“Still, how could they…”
Faint sounds of dissatisfaction from the doctors of Internal Medicine Team One drifted in.
Taesu did not flare up at their backbiting.
What they were saying was more correct.
They said he was an important person even within NGO, yet a resident—and a patient at that—Taesu, was caring for him.
It was only natural for them to be dissatisfied.
They too must have been frustrated that they could only say it behind his back.
Taesu now had enough understanding to accept that much.
And his impression after meeting Doctor Vincent?
It was simply so-so.
At over sixty years old, showing an authoritative side couldn’t really be called a flaw.
Rather, Doctor Hanks, who was in his fifties, could be considered the unusual one in his words and actions.
With that, the important scheduled tasks passed.
A thought suddenly occurred to Taesu.
“No one really comes to see him.”
It had become even more pronounced since yesterday.
He was able to learn the reason through a call with Doctor Wallik.
“Focus only on his care.”
“Understood.”
“No one has come to visit, have they?”
“No.”
“If anyone spouts nonsense about visiting the patient, remember who they are and where they’re from, then report it.”
It was an order from the head of Internal Medicine Team Two.
Strong vigilance could be felt within that order.
As expected, his guess had been right.
It seemed they had blocked other doctors from visiting so that Doctor Hanks could rest peacefully.
If it were another patient, that could certainly have been helpful.
But Doctor Hanks was a little different.
‘Could this actually be poison?’
It might be better to surround him with junior medical staff and remind him that he was not alone.
That was purely Taesu’s thought.
It was an area where one couldn’t definitively declare what was right.
A little more time passed.
Rattle.
The door opened, and Jeong Minsu came in with a haggard face.
“Time to switch.”
“Did you get some rest?”
“I just woke up a little while ago. Haam, my stamina’s shot, and then going into emergency surgery was hell.”
At Jeong Minsu’s groaning, Taesu smiled.
“When your body’s in bad shape, you have to watch out even for falling leaves.”
“That’s what I’m saying. I thought I was just having a cup of tea with Brad Kim, and it turned into a very fruitful time.”
“The patient?”
“Of course they lived. With my godlike suturing skills, swish, swish, swish!”
His voice changed from that alone.
The result of the emergency surgery must have been satisfactory.
Taesu had enough generosity to accept that much bragging.
“You worked hard, and now work hard again.”
“Where else is there such easy nursing duty in the world?”
“That’s true. Anyway, there weren’t any particular problems…”
“Yeah. Then…”
Swish, swish.
Their conversation passed quickly between them.
Since the handover didn’t contain anything special, there was no reason for it to take long.
“Then I’m going.”
After finishing the shift change, Taesu left the hospital room as he was.
Click.
After closing the door, Taesu’s expression darkened slightly.
Doctor Hanks was relying on sleep again, and Taesu wondered whether there would even be a chance to draw out his will.
It was then.
“You said it was nothing special.”
It was Kim Hyeokgwon’s voice.
After leaving the quarters yesterday, he had disappeared just like that, and now he had appeared.
His fatigue-stained face held an even more confident, imposing air.
The moment Taesu saw that expression, he was certain the results were good.
“Shall we settle the payment first?”
“Oh my, allow me to guide you.”
Kim Hyeokgwon walked ahead with a broad smile.
The moment they arrived at the quarters, the settlement proceeded immediately.
Thump. Thump.
“This is the promised commission fee. And this is the incentive for being two hours early.”
“Here you are. If you have work again later, please seek me out. I will kindly serve you anytime, my valued sucker—no, customer.”
Kim Hyeokgwon bowed politely.
With money in his hands, he was gentler than any lamb in the world.
The transaction ended there.
Both of them decided to step out of the brief amusement and return to reality.
It wasn’t as if they exchanged any particular words.
But they could tell from each other’s serious expressions alone.
Before long, Taesu, seated on the sofa, took out the documents and asked Kim Hyeokgwon,
Rustle.
“So, was there anything special?”
Taesu flipped through the documents and skimmed them quickly.
Rustle, rustle.
But the contents of the investigation were surprising.
“Selected as an outstanding resident twice, and he created a volunteer club in high school?”
“They say he went on a medical volunteer trip with a college professor and ended up settling into NGO just like that.”
“How on earth did you investigate all this?”
When Taesu asked, Kim Hyeokgwon winked.
“Let’s only dig so far. If you know too much, you get hurt.”
“You’re not CIA or something, are you?”
“Heh heh. Think of me however you like.”
“Judging by the way you say that, I guess you’re not.”
Taesu answered plainly and continued examining the documents.
It seemed he had grown too used to Kim Hyeokgwon’s way of speaking.
The same was true for Kim Hyeokgwon.
“He lived such a clean life there wasn’t much to dig up behind him.”
“You can tell just by looking at his face.”
“True. Someone said so.”
“Said what?”
Rustle, rustle.
Taesu asked while casually turning the pages.
Knowing he was still listening, Kim Hyeokgwon spoke without concern.
“That people don’t live like that because they look that way; they come to have that face because they lived like that.”
“That’s the answer.”
“If you’ve read that far, Africa should be starting soon.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s words were exactly right.