Before they knew it, the applause had died down.
“…….”
In the quiet, James faced Taesu and the other dispatched team members one by one.
Taesu had eyes only for James. No matter what was happening around him, he did not take his gaze off James.
Jeong Minsu looked slightly embarrassed, while Kim Hyeokgwon held his head high.
Yun Juseong and the Korean medical staff felt awkward in the unfamiliar atmosphere.
After their gazes had passed around, each according to their own personality,
James smiled gently and spoke first.
“I hear you wrapped things up well. You’ve all worked hard.”
Swoosh.
James extended his hand to Yun Juseong.
Considering his experience and everything else, Yun Juseong was the proper choice as leader of the dispatched team.
Yun Juseong himself, however, seemed to have not expected it and jumped in surprise.
Then he quickly rubbed both hands against his thighs and carefully clasped James’s hand.
“Uh, well, that is……”
“Haven’t they all come out to welcome you?”
“Ah, yes. Like this, uh… Thank you for welcoming us when you’re all so busy.”
Yun Juseong forced his tangled tongue to move and answered.
Bow.
Only after that did he lower his head, showing a deeper courtesy.
Then the sound of applause rang out once more.
Clap, clap, clap.
Since it was the second round of applause, it was not as loud as the first.
And soon, James looked around at everyone and said,
“That should be enough for the welcome. Everyone, return to your posts.”
“Yes, understood.”
Rustle.
The medical staff each began to move.
As they did, those who were on closer terms added a word or two of greeting.
“I heard this dispatch had great results?”
“We’ll have to hear some of your heroic tales soon.”
“Welcome back, everyone. Samba!”
“Kuti, I told you to stop going on about that samba nonsense.”
“You look tired. Get some rest and let’s meet later.”
Swoosh, swoosh.
Each of them waved and met their eyes once more.
Taesu and the dispatched team still could not adjust to this situation.
They had been dispatched several times until now.
But it was the first time they had ever been welcomed like this.
At that moment, James turned around and entered the headquarters building.
Then Dr. Ijakson and Dr. Ozma gestured to everyone.
“He said to have a cup of tea, so let’s go in.”
“Come on in.”
At those words, Taesu looked left and right and said,
“Let’s go.”
“Let’s.”
“Yeah.”
Step, step.
They all walked side by side into the headquarters building.
A little while later.
Everyone sat around the large table in the small conference room.
They all had drinks in front of them and were looking at James, who sat at the center.
James opened his mouth with a calm smile.
“Were you all surprised?”
“A little.”
Taesu answered on their behalf.
In formal settings, Yun Juseong stepped forward, but in private moments like this, it was different.
Everyone knew that James and Taesu were close.
Any dissatisfaction?
There was none to be found on anyone’s face.
This was a place where they were drinking tea with James, the world’s greatest surgeon.
All of them simply wore expressions hoping that this moment was not a dream.
Yun Juseong, with a dazed face, asked Nurse Chu Gangik,
“Chu, pinch me.”
“Okay. Like this.”
“Urgh! You actually pinched me?”
“You told me to.”
At that moment, the sight of the two bickering was somewhat absurd.
But Jo Uncheol, Nurse Lee Chorong, and Nurse Hwang Jisu could not even twitch their lips.
“…….”
“…….”
That was how nervous they were.
It was their first time sitting together with him like this.
On the other hand, Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Kim Hyeokgwon were simply calm.
Then James, having heard Taesu’s answer, spoke quietly.
“I told you there would be changes.”
“Ah, is this one of them?”
“One of them.”
Immediately after James finished lightly,
Dr. Ijakson added, as if he had been waiting.
“He emphasized that while people work hard inside as well, practicing medicine out in the field is even more difficult.”
“He said that even if we can’t hand bouquets to the medical volunteer teams or dispatched teams when they return, the medical staff who have time should come out to greet them.”
Dr. Ozma neatly finished the explanation.
At that moment, Kim Hyeokgwon, who had been listening quietly, raised his hand and said,
“I thought not everyone looked terribly thrilled.”
“There must have been some people dragged out against their will.”
“If that’s the kind of welcome it is, it probably isn’t all that pleasant for the ones receiving it either.”
The moment Kim Hyeokgwon offered his opinion,
Yun Juseong and the Korean medical staff, starting with him, gaped.
“To think he would dare directly oppose something Dr. James is doing.”
That was what all their expressions said.
Tremble, tremble.
They were so dumbfounded that the drinks in their hands shook.
Aside from them, no one else showed any change in expression.
And James answered directly.
“You’re the first.”
“Oh. Then I understand the awkward faces and the fidgeting.”
“Now that it has begun, it will gradually improve.”
“That’s true. Once you’ve done something once, doing it twice becomes easy, and after that you start enjoying it more and more.”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered plainly, as if his doubts had now been resolved.
Then Taesu tilted his head and asked,
“Excuse me, but didn’t you say Brad Kim had also been dispatched?”
“I did.”
“Has his team still not returned?”
When Taesu asked, Dr. Ozma answered with a slightly hurt expression.
“Dr. Choi, it feels like you only ever look after Dr. Kim.”
“It’s because I don’t see him around. Just how much are you tormenting him that he can’t even come say hello?”
Taesu asked with a sullen expression.
At those words, the Korean medical staff unconsciously had to clutch their hearts.
“Gasp, is Dr. Choi in his right mind right now?”
“That’s Dr. Ozma. He’s super famous……”
Their shock was, in a way, only natural.
These were giants of the medical world, people they would not dare address so easily.
And yet Taesu spoke with them frankly, as if it were nothing.
It was unbelievable.
Dr. Ozma, in particular, even made an effort to explain himself to the sulking Taesu.
“If he can’t even overcome that much, he doesn’t qualify to be on our team.”
“I heard a rumor that Dr. Ozma torments him the most.”
“Oh? Did Dr. Kim tell on me?”
“No. Everyone seemed to know.”
After that grumbling exchange,
despite outward appearances, it was nothing more than wordplay between Taesu and Dr. Ozma.
Perhaps that was why, before long, they were smiling faintly at each other with warm expressions.
Then James lightly brought the room back to order.
“Let’s leave it at that for now.”
“Yes.”
At James’s single word, the room fell quiet again.
After that, James slowly looked around at everyone, starting with Taesu, and asked,
“Then who will be the first to tell us a story that delights the ears and fills the heart?”
“Me. I’ll do it!”
“Seeing Dr. Jeong so eager raises my expectations.”
Swoosh.
James lightly gestured for him to proceed.
Then Jeong Minsu sprang to his feet and began unraveling his tale in a clear voice.
“The case I’d like to talk about is……”
Naturally, the subject was about a patient.
Beginning with what kind of patient it had been, he explained in order how urgent the situation had been and what kind of treatment they had carried out.
Starting with Jeong Minsu, Taesu also presented a case that had remained especially memorable.
Kim Hyeokgwon did the same.
They gave off the air of holding a conference with practiced ease.
However, there were also those for whom such a setting was unfamiliar.
In order, next was Yun Juseong’s turn.
A patient case presentation in front of James, no less.
He had no prepared materials, and no time to prepare.
He literally had to draw out the memories in his head right here on the spot.
Even with thorough preparation it would not have been enough, and yet he had to present impromptu. The tension was so intense it would not have been strange if he fainted on the spot.
Still, what had to be done had to be done.
Unable to keep his hands still, trembling like an aspen leaf, he forced himself to continue speaking.
“I-I-I, I, th-th-that. So……”
His presentation progressed far too slowly because of his violent trembling.
It was to the point that Dr. Ijakson quietly asked Taesu,
“Is that friend all right?”
“If he’s at that level, isn’t he doing fine? He’s in front of James.”
“Then are you and Dr. Jeong the strange ones?”
“We probably don’t look all that normal.”
Taesu acknowledged it to some extent.
NGO’s top surgical team and NGO’s oddball foreign legion.
The friendship between these two groups, which received evaluations at opposite extremes, was counted as one of NGO’s mysteries.
Of course, the parties involved did not care in the slightest.
They were simply happy to be seeing one another comfortably again after so long.
Time passed, and lunch hour came.
Yun Juseong and the Korean medical staff made somewhat forced excuses and left.
Taesu, finding it strange, quietly asked,
“Dr. Yun, didn’t you say you wanted to have a meal with James?”
“If I eat now, I’ll definitely get indigestion. Absolutely not now.”
“Then please eat comfortably and rest.”
“All right. You worked hard. Tell Dr. Jeong and Mr. Hyeokgwon as well. We’ll get going.”
Rustle.
Yun Juseong and the Korean medical staff disappeared quietly like that.
That had happened just a short while ago.
Now everyone except them was sitting around with trays piled full of food.
Clatter.
As they enjoyed their meal, words that had not been exchanged earlier began passing lightly between them.
“Are there any other changes besides coming out to greet people?”
“There are quite a few residents here, too. He said that if there’s a patient case where their strengths can be brought out, we should give them more weight.”
When Dr. Ijakson answered, Taesu’s eyes sparkled.
“Then can I stretch my wings a bit too?”
“Hoho. If it’s an emergency patient like that, from the moment they arrive, everything from the attending doctor to the assignment of the surgical tent will be handled in one smooth process. Will you even get the chance?”
“What if I casually ask the secretariat to route emergency calls to me?”
Taesu tried probing once.
Dr. Ijakson glanced at him and asked back,
“You’re not serious, are you?”
“No. It’s a shame, but rules should be followed.”
“Don’t feel wronged. Keep striving.”
At Dr. Ijakson’s advice, Taesu accepted it with a bitter expression.
“I’ll have to become much better than I am now.”
“Then maybe you’ll be assigned a medical tent.”
Dr. Ozma suddenly cut in.
At those words, Taesu stopped his fork and looked at him.
“What do you mean, assigned a medical tent?”
“There will be an internal review every quarter. If you sit around doing nothing, you’re out.”
“Aren’t you creating too much tension?”
“The review criteria won’t be at the level of an audit. It’s more about looking back on ourselves so we don’t grow complacent.”
Dr. Ozma explained indirectly.
Besides that, Dr. Ijakson and Dr. Ozma took turns passing on several other pieces of news.
The key point was to give more opportunities to medical staff who made an effort.
The more Taesu listened, the more surprised he became.
These were sweeping changes that had happened in only three weeks.
James, who had pushed them through, seemed newly remarkable to him.
Before he knew it, Taesu’s gaze had turned toward James, who was quietly eating.
“His explosive nature is still the same.”
Since that also meant James still had that much energy left, Taesu set aside his worries about his health.
At that moment, James met his gaze, lightly wiped his mouth, and said,
“It was possible because the first and second team leaders of each department cooperated greatly.”
“Is that so?”
“They, too, seem to have vaguely felt it. Now that we’ve set new rules, we’ll have to watch a little longer.”
“I’m sure everyone will understand your and the team leaders’ intentions well.”
Taesu answered with a faint smile.
James lightly nodded and murmured inwardly,
“Once the foundation is in place, we’ll have more time together.”
In that way, James was drawing a larger picture.
Taesu was not yet experienced enough to notice all of that.