It was after they had finished their meal in good spirits.
Everyone came outside carrying their house-call bags.
“Then let’s each get moving.”
“We’ve got full stomachs now. Let’s do our best.”
Perhaps because they had eaten breakfast, everyone’s voices were full of energy.
And as they stepped out of the house, they dispersed toward their respective destinations.
Among them, Taesu and Jeong Minsu headed in the same direction.
They were on their way to factory manager Na Duyeong’s house.
Each of them had already stopped by once at dawn to check his IV.
As they walked, they shared what they had observed.
“I went first, so his vitals were…”
“The kidney sounds seemed a little louder…”
Their conversation passed back and forth quickly.
Perhaps because they had slept well, their minds were turning sharply.
In the midst of it, Jeong Minsu broached the subject with a serious expression.
“I was too out of it yesterday to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Why did you scrape the renal medulla like that with a curette?”
Jeong Minsu’s expression was plain and matter-of-fact.
It was the look he showed when exchanging medical opinions.
At moments like this, Taesu also did not joke or tease.
With an equally serious face, he asked in return.
“Why do you think I did?”
“It’s not like I didn’t think about it. But I still don’t get it.”
“You wrote that the activity in his right kidney improved a little overnight.”
Taesu reminded him of the conversation they had just had.
Jeong Minsu’s brow was lightly furrowed.
“That’s why I don’t understand. The renal medulla doesn’t regenerate.”
“But the factory manager’s right kidney wasn’t normal.”
“Right. It was renal hypertrophy. Though it shrank a little because you dug out too much of the inside.”
“Think of it the other way around. It was enlarged by foreign matter that had dug into the kidney, and it was in the middle of being overloaded.”
“So you deliberately reshaped it smaller?”
Jeong Minsu asked, his eyes widening.
Taesu nodded lightly and explained.
“When I participated in a kidney specialist’s surgery before…”
He continued his explanation, mixing in a slight lie.
That was because there were parts he could not speak of.
Though he had dragged in a kidney specialist who did not exist, everything else he said was true.
Taesu’s explanation went on in more detail than expected.
Enough that Jeong Minsu found it a little strange.
“You used to gloss over things before, but today you’re talking nonstop.”
“I slept well.”
“I’ll admit that. So?”
“It’s not that you scrape out the renal medulla recklessly…”
Taesu’s explanation continued right away.
The fact that he had become much kinder than before had changed starting yesterday.
The decisive point was that he had begun to picture not the present, but a future they would share.
He did not want to head for the summit alone.
Even if it was a little slower, he wanted to match steps and climb together.
He had chosen Jeong Minsu not merely as a friend, but as a partner in life.
About thirty minutes later.
Taesu and Jeong Minsu came out of factory manager Na Duyeong’s house.
A small trace of regret hung on their faces.
Jeong Minsu voiced the reason.
“He was talking so entertainingly. It’s a shame he just fell asleep.”
“That’s because his kidneys are trying to recover their function.”
“You think I don’t know that? More importantly, he’s gotten better even compared to dawn. If you drew a graph, it’d be roughly like this?”
Swoosh.
Jeong Minsu drew an ascending curve in the air with his hand.
Taesu nodded at that point as well.
Still, he properly corrected what needed correcting.
“The end is too high. Lower it a bit.”
“About this much?”
“Yeah.”
“Picky, aren’t you? Still, at this pace, could his kidney possibly make a full recovery?”
When Jeong Minsu showed that strange sense of expectation, Taesu glanced sideways at him.
“Don’t say absurd things.”
“Let’s dream big.”
“I’d like to, but reality is cold.”
“Tsk. If we estimate his recovery rate really high, maybe around eighty percent?”
When Jeong Minsu stated a figure, Taesu shook his head.
“No one knows.”
“You punk. You used to call me negative, but these days you’re worse.”
“The possibility can’t be predicted.”
When Taesu spoke clearly, Jeong Minsu bristled.
“Exactly.”
“The range of possibility is from zero to one hundred.”
“I know that too. So… Huh?”
As Jeong Minsu mulled it over, he seemed to sense something.
Taesu spelled it out for him.
“I’m telling you, no one really knows how much he’ll recover. A full recovery will definitely be difficult, but he could improve to a level close to that.”
“Put the other way, he could fall far short… Hup!”
Tap.
Jeong Minsu quickly covered his own mouth.
It was because, even after saying he would be careful, he had brought up something negative again.
Taesu did not scold Jeong Minsu, who had restrained himself on his own.
It had not even been twenty-four hours since the emergency surgery.
It was far too early to predict any result now.
But one thing was certain.
Caprene’s knowledge was a treasure trove.
He did not even know where the end of that knowledge lay.
It was that deep and vast.
And within it, there was not only Caprene.
In the surgeries he had participated in, there had been assistants, or second operators, who worked alongside him.
Their surgical methods were also included in his memories.
The key point that solved the difficulty in this kidney surgery was there as well.
That was why he had been able to apply and adapt part of the method James had once used to operate on a kidney.
This was an enormous discovery for Taesu.
It could become an opportunity for him to handle a wider variety of symptoms and diseases.
The problem was that he could not abuse it.
The deeper he dug into Caprene’s knowledge, the more pain followed.
There were no aftereffects.
But it was not pain he could endure lightly either.
In the end, Taesu’s choice was already decided.
‘I have to work harder.’
That was an unchanging truth.
Nothing was gained without effort.
And he knew that the more he developed himself, the wider the range in which he could utilize Caprene’s knowledge would become.
It was like a game.
The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward—the same principle.
That was exactly why Taesu could not neglect his efforts.
Just as he was continuing that thought.
Tap.
When Jeong Minsu lightly nudged him, Taesu snapped out of his thoughts.
“What?”
“Can’t you hear?”
A question full of dissatisfaction immediately spilled out.
It seemed he had called him, but Taesu had not heard.
Without changing expression, Taesu dug at his ear and said,
“Looks like the filter I put in my ear is working well.”
“Oh? You want to go at it?”
“Enough. Why did you call me?”
The moment Taesu asked the main point.
Point.
Jeong Minsu pointed somewhere with an indifferent face.
Taesu’s gaze turned that way.
An old truck was standing in front of a house, and people were loading luggage onto it.
Site foreman Go Jiyong and Mo Sangdu were helping.
And President Gu Seungheon was bowing his head to several people as he handed them envelopes.
Behind him, Himan was looking apologetic toward President Gu Seungheon.
Taking it all in at a glance, Taesu could guess what was happening.
His expression turned bitter.
“People who are going to leave will leave no matter what.”
“I don’t like this. It bothers me that the president is humbling himself like that and even handing them consolation money.”
“Still, they lived together for several years. We should think of it as payment for the hardship they went through.”
Taesu tried to think positively.
But Jeong Minsu’s expression hardened even more.
“Are they the only ones anxious and struggling? They’re running away, so why are they taking so much too?”
“Stop.”
“I really don’t think that’s right.”
Jeong Minsu turned his head away.
Just then, Kim Hyeokgwon approached from the other side.
“Looks like Dr. Jeong has a lot of complaints.”
“Mr. Hyeokgwon, how’s the patient?”
When Taesu asked, Kim Hyeokgwon lifted one corner of his mouth.
“I really do like hearing that question from you, Dr. Choi.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but…”
“I was about to say it too. Liteshi’s condition is…”
Kim Hyeokgwon explained at length.
The main point was that her condition had improved a lot thanks to the continuous blood transfusions.
Taesu carefully wrote the details in his notebook.
And since Taesu was not the type to just listen, he also shared factory manager Na Duyeong’s condition.
“The factory manager just now…”
Scribble, scribble.
Kim Hyeokgwon also took out his notebook and wrote it down.
Sharing patients’ conditions among medical staff was the most basic of basics.
Only then could they provide consistent medical service no matter who went to see the patient.
After they finished sharing information like that.
As Kim Hyeokgwon put away his notebook, he spoke first about Brad Kim.
“Brad said there was a patient complaining of abdominal pain, so he went that way.”
“It’s nothing serious, right?”
“If it were serious, he’d call.”
Slide.
Kim Hyeokgwon showed the walkie-talkie at his waist.
Taesu always kept one by his side as well, so he nodded.
“He’ll contact us if necessary.”
“That aside, Dr. Jeong. Let’s not think only badly of those people over there.”
Kim Hyeokgwon turned his gaze and said it to Jeong Minsu in passing.
Then Jeong Minsu answered sullenly.
“The problem is there’s nothing to think well of.”
“Why not? There are plenty of things to think well of.”
“Where, exactly?”
“What do you think would happen if they kept staying and stirred up anxiety?”
Kim Hyeokgwon immediately threw out the decisive question.
At that moment, Jeong Minsu flinched.
Then he rolled his eyes around and eventually looked at Taesu.
“What would happen?”
“…More people would become anxious.”
“That won’t do. Then it’s better for them to go. Goodbye.”
Wave, wave.
Jeong Minsu, whose attitude had changed in an instant, even waved his hand.
It was not simply that he lacked tact; he felt utterly innocent.
Seeing that, Kim Hyeokgwon let out a heavy groan, as if swallowing something surging up inside him.
“Grrrroan.”
“If you press down just a little more, it’ll go down.”
“Dr. Choi, why are you so calm?”
“I’ve emptied my mind. They call it the state of enlightenment.”
Taesu answered with an utterly relaxed face.
Kim Hyeokgwon was not the same.
“I think I need to cultivate my mind a great deal.”
“I hear there are various methods, so try looking some up.”
“I’ll take care of that myself. Anyway, it looks like they’re about to leave.”
Kim Hyeokgwon’s sense was accurate.
Once everyone had boarded, the old truck slowly started moving.
Site foreman Go Jiyong was driving, and Himan was riding in the passenger seat with a dark expression.
But they were not the only ones.
Vroom.
Behind the old truck, Raku’s truck moved.
There were people riding in the wide-open cargo bed, its tarp removed.
Because luggage was loaded together with them, it was impossible to count exactly how many people there were.
Taesu’s face, which had been watching calmly, gradually hardened.
“This might cause problems with the harvest.”
“That would be quite troublesome.”
“I should go see.”
Taesu immediately headed toward President Gu Seungheon.
President Gu Seungheon was watching the trucks leave.
When Taesu arrived beside him, he began with words of comfort.
“This is for the best.”
“Yes. Still, it feels bittersweet.”
“It’s a bit awkward to say this right now, but…”
The moment Taesu briefly stopped speaking.
Slide.
President Gu Seungheon met his gaze and spoke first.
“I suppose you’re asking whether there will be any trouble with the tea leaf harvest.”
“That’s right.”
“Twenty people left… so twenty-seven remain, and if we exclude the children, that makes around twenty-two.”
“Hasn’t the workforce been cut in half?”
Taesu’s brow sharply furrowed.