It was on one such day.
It was the day the patients who had undergone surgery on the first day were returning to their garrison.
The patients had climbed into the cargo bed of a military truck. Some were sitting, and some were lying down.
Taesu moved among them, making his final checks.
“You’re much better now. You’ve been through a lot.”
“@$@$#.”
Taesu spoke in English, and the soldiers answered in their own language.
They could not exactly converse with one another.
But having spent even a short time together, they could more or less guess by intuition.
Thank you. Don’t hurt yourself. Get back safely, and so on.
With the affection that had built up in that brief time, they expressed concern and gratitude.
Even if they could not understand each other’s words, the looks and expressions they exchanged were sincere.
After those farewells ended.
Thud.
Taesu stepped down from the cargo bed.
Soon, the military truck began to slowly pull away.
Vrooom.
There were patients who had yet to fully recover, so it moved carefully.
Perhaps because of that, the patients kept looking at Taesu and waving.
Taesu also waved back with a happy heart.
“Take care.”
Wave, wave.
For a moment, the times he had operated on and cared for each patient flashed through his mind.
At first, it had begun as a promise, but now he felt a sense of fulfillment.
On the other hand, he was so exhausted that his face looked haggard, and his body was growing thinner.
Even if it was hard, he could not help but gain strength when he saw a patient regain their health.
Even as he thought that, the patients were still in sight.
Because the military truck was moving slowly, the moment dragged on.
Taesu continued smiling and waving, but a small change occurred in his heart.
“Let’s call it there already. How long are we going to keep saying goodbye?”
Though he grumbled, his smile remained.
Soon, the military truck reached the downhill road.
In time with it, Taesu began to back away little by little.
Step. Step.
By walking backward like that, he could leave the patients’ line of sight a little faster.
Only then could Taesu lower the hand he had been waving.
“Shall I head back?”
The moment Taesu turned around with a smile.
He stepped on the ground, but his foot landed diagonally on a protruding stone. Because he had failed to notice it, Taesu’s ankle twisted inward.
Crack!
“Ghh, aaah.”
Taesu lost his balance along with the sprained ankle.
Thud.
Landing on his backside, Taesu felt more bewilderment and irritation than pain.
“Damn it!”
Still, he could not just sit on the roadside like this.
He carefully tried to get up, placing the foot he had twisted back on the ground.
Tingle!
Electricity shot up from his ankle all the way to the top of his head.
“Ghhh!”
The agony was enough to make his entire body writhe.
Once he calmed down a little, he gently touched his ankle.
Heat was rising from it, and it had swollen tight.
It was definitely a symptom of a stretched ligament.
“Damn it.”
Irritation surged even further across Taesu’s face.
If he had been in good condition, he would have been able to react the moment he sprained it.
Even if he had been fairly tired, his reflexes should have covered at least that much.
But his condition had hit rock bottom to the point that he could not.
The problem was that it seemed difficult to stand up right away.
It was fortunate there were no patients requiring emergency care. Still, Jeong Minsu was examining and treating patients alone, so he had to go back and work with him.
Should he call for help over the radio?
It was obvious he would become a laughingstock, but he could not stay like this.
Just then, Taesu’s gaze turned to his house-call bag.
There were oral painkillers and water inside.
He needed to at least suppress the pain with those.
He reached out, but he could not touch the house-call bag.
“Ah, seriously!”
For now, it seemed he would have to force his body to move somehow.
But then.
“Dr. Choi?”
At the voice calling him, Taesu turned his head.
Namgung Hyeoncheol was approaching with a puzzled expression.
Taesu vividly felt his face flush bright red in an instant.
‘How humiliating is this?’
Someone to ask for help had appeared, but he did not like the situation at all.
In the meantime, Namgung Hyeoncheol came closer.
Strangely, he did not ask what had happened.
Instead, he stood still and observed Taesu’s state.
Taesu felt as if his embarrassment had doubled.
“Um, Hyeoncheol, I…”
“You sprained it.”
“I did. I should have been careful. This is really embarrassing.”
Taesu answered with a forced laugh.
At that moment, Namgung Hyeoncheol faced Taesu and scolded him sharply.
“You refused to take care of yourself like that, and now look what happened.”
“Haha, with our line of work, there are times when we can’t help it.”
“What do you mean, can’t help it? Are patients the only ones who are human? Are the doctors treating them not human?”
Namgung Hyeoncheol pushed him harder than expected.
Taesu was a little puzzled.
“I don’t think this is something I should be scolded for.”
“What do you mean it isn’t? You have good balance and quite a bit of muscle, but you failed to see this one stone and sprained your ankle.”
“Haha. Well… Huh?”
As Taesu answered bitterly, he instinctively sensed something odd about Namgung Hyeoncheol’s words.
In the meantime, Namgung Hyeoncheol lowered himself in front of Taesu’s ankle.
Tap, tap.
Carefully wrapping both hands around the ankle, he applied pressure little by little as he asked.
“Does it hurt here?”
“Ugh, of course it hurts.”
“Then what about here?”
“Agh! There, that hurts more.”
At Taesu’s reaction, Namgung Hyeoncheol furrowed his brow.
“Tsk. The accumulated fatigue has gathered in your ankle.”
“What?”
“Stay still. I’ll at least make it so you can move.”
Namgung Hyeoncheol spoke as if it were only natural.
Puzzled, Taesu looked into his eyes.
They were different from usual.
There was none of his cheerful, friendly warmth that made people feel good.
His gaze was intense and weighty.
That gaze was…
‘It’s similar to ours?’
It was similar, just as the word implied, but somehow a little different.
Then Namgung Hyeoncheol took something out of his pocket.
The moment Taesu saw it, he realized why he had felt that way.
“Acupuncture needles… Then you’re a Korean medicine doctor?”
“What Korean medicine doctor? I just learned a bit by watching over someone’s shoulder.”
“What kind of shoulder did you watch over that you go around carrying acupuncture needles?”
“If it’s not urgent right this second, ask me later. The needles are going in.”
The moment Namgung Hyeoncheol ended the conversation.
Tap. Tap.
Long silver needles were stuck into Taesu’s ankle.
Taesu, who had been staring in confusion, shuddered at the sudden tingling sensation rising from his ankle.
“Ghk, aaagh!”
“It hurts? Coming from someone who tears straight into living flesh?”
Namgung Hyeoncheol looked at him as if he found it absurd.
But from Taesu’s point of view, it was completely different.
“What kind of needles… Aaagh! Why does it hurt this much?”
“I’m stabbing somewhere that hurts, so of course it hurts. Would it not hurt?”
“When I was young, I also… Agh! I went to a Korean medicine clinic, you know?”
“Your memory from back then must be wrong.”
Tap. Tap.
Namgung Hyeoncheol answered each time as he continued inserting the needles.
Taesu shuddered every time.
“Agh. Aaagh! Ghhh!”
This was the first time in his life he had experienced acupuncture like this.
The needles were thinner than injection needles, but the pain was more than ten thousand times worse.
Drip.
Only a few needles had been inserted, but cold sweat was already running down him.
‘This bastard, is he a fake…?’
“Ghk!”
The pain rushing in made it impossible for him to even think any further.
A little while later.
Needles were stuck all over Taesu’s ankle.
After confirming their positions, Namgung Hyeoncheol said to Taesu.
“You just need to wait five minutes.”
“Haa. Haa.”
“You’re even breaking out in a cold sweat. If your ankle was this bad, you should have gotten it treated.”
When Namgung Hyeoncheol rebuked him, Taesu felt wronged.
“Can’t you see I’m like this because of the needles?”
“It was bad to begin with.”
“I’m the picture of health, you know? This is the first time I’ve ever been called frail.”
Taesu felt so wronged he wished the man could enter his mind and see for himself.
Even so, Namgung Hyeoncheol answered indifferently.
“I told you, your ankle was bad.”
“I’m telling you, I was healthy. This is an ankle that ran all over mountains.”
“This is why there’s no talking to Western medicine doctors.”
Scratch, scratch.
Namgung Hyeoncheol scratched the back of his head as he grumbled bitterly.
Those words struck a nerve in Taesu.
“You really do sound like a Korean medicine doctor.”
“I don’t have a medical license. What kind of Korean medicine license would there be in Kazakhstan? I’ve never even gone to school.”
“You’ve never gone to school?”
Taesu’s eyes trembled slightly.
Namgung Hyeoncheol’s reaction also turned awkward for a moment.
“You’re making me say things I don’t need to say.”
“I thought you had gone all the way to university. I even wondered if you might have majored in philosophy.”
“Why? Did traveling around the world like this make me seem like someone tormented by deep thoughts?”
“Yes.”
Taesu nodded with a dazed expression.
The more he did, the darker Namgung Hyeoncheol’s expression became.
“It might not be bad for you to just keep thinking that.”
“If you say that with that expression, don’t you think I’ll get curious?”
“Let’s keep that meddling to yourself.”
“Your meddling isn’t exactly minor either, Hyeoncheol.”
When Taesu threw in that jab, Namgung Hyeoncheol flinched.
“What meddling have I done?”
“I think I’m starting to understand why you go back and forth here and there several times a day.”
“What are you talking about?”
Namgung Hyeoncheol suddenly bristled.
At the same time, a meaningful smile formed on Taesu’s face.
“You really are a doctor.”
“Where exactly have you been listening with those ears of yours until now?”
“Do you think I’m talking about a licensed doctor?”
“Then what?”
Namgung Hyeoncheol reacted crookedly.
At that moment, Taesu pointed it out one by one.
“You worry about the patients, feel sorry for the doctors, and because of that, you want to help.”
“……”
“That’s what a doctor is. Not a doctor who waves around a piece of paper, but a real doctor.”
“Well, now I’m hearing all kinds of strange nonsense.”
“What part of it is strange?”
Taesu threw the words out as if challenging him to refute them.
But Namgung Hyeoncheol avoided his gaze and changed the subject.
“Give me your ankle. I’ll pull out the needles.”
“It hasn’t been five minutes ye— Gyaah! Why did you twist it!”
At the violent pain, Taesu burst out in anger.
Just as Taesu said, Namgung Hyeoncheol was twisting each needle once before pulling it out.
After pulling out one more, Namgung Hyeoncheol said with a sullen face.
“This is how they’re supposed to be removed.”
“You’re doing it on purpose. Aaagh! You’re doing it on purpose because I said it hurts!”
“If I pull them out normally, it’ll feel like your flesh is being ripped off. Are you fine with that?”
“What nonsense!”
When Taesu did not believe him, Namgung Hyeoncheol acted as he wished.
Pop.
The moment he pulled one needle straight out.
Taesu’s mouth fell open, and his whole body writhed.
“Ghhh… Aaagh!”
“See? I told you twisting them out hurts less, at least.”
Pop. Pop.
Even as he watched Taesu suffering, Namgung Hyeoncheol twisted the needles and pulled them out.
Taesu had never experienced acupuncture like this in his life.
Needles that hurt when they went in and hurt ten times more when they came out?
This was not pain a human could endure.
He now understood all too clearly why Namgung Hyeoncheol had no medical license.
‘If you do it like this, who would ever give you a… ugh… license?’
For now, since he was the one receiving treatment, he swallowed the thought.
That was the bare minimum of manners.
Even that dreadful time eventually came to an end.
Having pulled out all the needles, Namgung Hyeoncheol urged Taesu.
“Try standing up.”
“Ughhh. You cruel man.”
“Hearing that from you, Dr. Choi, gives me a sense of self-loathing. Stop talking and try standing.”
“It hurt that much just now, and already… Huh?”
Thud. Step, step.
In anger, Taesu planted his foot on the ground, but the pain had decreased significantly.