What was strange was that he heard no one grumbling about it.
“Purrr.”
Jeong Minsu and Kim Hyeokgwon had fallen asleep at some point as well.
It wasn’t as if Taesu was perfectly fine either.
As the tension drained from him, his eyes began to close just as quickly.
“I’m grateful that everyone survived…”
Rustle.
Taesu, too, fell asleep before he could finish his sentence.
A faint smile rested on all their sleeping faces.
It was because there had been no deaths among their group.
The relief of having safely fulfilled their bare minimum duty led them into a peaceful, deep sleep.
Around evening.
Taesu was sitting on an outdoor bench at the hotel.
With a cup of coffee set in front of him, Taesu was holding his phone.
The person on the other end was none other than James.
As if Taesu had finished explaining the situation, James first asked after them in a heavy voice.
“…So everyone is all right?”
“Yes. Fortunately… Ahem. Fortunately, we were all able to come down without any casualties.”
“Then why does your voice sound like that, Doctor Choi?”
“Me? What do you mean?”
Taesu played dumb to the end.
But his face was half twisted in pain.
After waking up, his back, which had been attacked by stones, was throbbing terribly.
He had taken painkillers in advance, but they were slow to take effect, so the pain continued.
‘Why is everything military-grade so damn useless?’
It was one of the medical supplies he had received from the battalion medic.
It was clearly an oral painkiller used even by NGOs, and yet the effect was different.
He felt he was beginning to understand why his hometown friends who had been discharged earlier distrusted anything military-issued on principle.
Even so, Taesu tried to sound as natural as possible during the call.
The problem was that the person he was speaking to was James.
“It’s not too late, so be honest.”
“Yes?”
“From the trembling in your voice and the irregularity of your breathing, especially the fact that your inhalation isn’t smooth, I’d say you injured your back. Am I wrong?”
At James’s analysis, Taesu nearly screamed.
Thump.
He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and managed to hold back the cry.
He had never dreamed James’s auscultation skills were at this level.
He had accurately caught a faint sound that even Taesu himself had not been aware of.
It would have been stranger not to be shocked.
Taesu remained like that, covering his mouth and blinking.
Perhaps because the silence stretched on, James’s urging voice immediately came through.
“If you intend to keep your mouth shut, I’ll send a car over there right now.”
“No, sir. I was covering my mouth.”
“Did you injure your mouth too?”
“I was surprised. You were so accurate I almost screamed.”
Taesu told him the truth exactly as it was.
But James did not take it at face value.
“Do I have to get angry for that glib tongue of yours to settle down?”
“This time, I’m serious. The truth is, my back…”
Taesu honestly confessed the current state of his body.
Naturally, he included the reason he had been injured as well.
“…That’s how it happened.”
“Hmm. If you were injured while protecting a family, then I have nothing to say. Preventing people from becoming patients in the first place is also something a doctor must do.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“You said you slept and woke up. It seems your head has cleared a little.”
At James’s words, Taesu smiled bitterly.
“I think I did have a dream.”
“Yes. It’s already in the past. You’re all safe. For now, think only of that.”
“Understood. And I apologize for deciding on my own that I’d return later.”
Taesu apologized politely, but James’s voice was indifferent.
“Someone once said this. Even a child in your own arms won’t move according to your will.”
“Pardon?”
“It means there’s no way to control colts roaming around outside from here.”
“We’re colts… We are a little free-spirited.”
Taesu hurriedly dressed it up in nicer words.
That was only what Taesu thought, and it was not something that would work on James at all.
“More like colts with their reins cut loose.”
“Thank you for the cold assessment.”
“We’ll save that kind of talk for when we meet face-to-face. More importantly, you say they did such a thing under the NGO flag.”
James’s cold voice pricked his ear.
For a moment, Taesu felt as if winter had returned.
Even though he was talking over the phone, it felt as if the air around him had frozen over.
They said quiet people were frightening when they got angry.
James was exactly that case.
He enjoyed jokes and laughed often, but when the opposite happened, he could become colder than anyone.
It was clearly engraved in Caprene’s memories.
Taesu quickly tried to placate him.
“James, please don’t get worked up. Calm down.”
“You’re worrying about them in that situation?”
“I don’t care if you tear those bastards apart or fry them alive. But you need to watch your blood pressure.”
“Have I ever told Doctor Choi that my blood pressure isn’t good?”
James was sharp, as expected.
Taesu, too, had accumulated enough experiences by now that he no longer panicked.
“How long have I spent with you, James? If I still didn’t know, that would mean I’d been neglecting my studies.”
“Mm. I see.”
“If you keep getting worked up, it’ll affect your surgeries later. Calm down.”
When Taesu said it again, pitch returned to James’s voice.
“Yes. I have surgery scheduled tomorrow as well, so I should manage my condition.”
“That’s exactly it.”
“But I don’t think I’m in a position to be receiving that concern from Doctor Choi right now, am I?”
Without giving him a chance to relax, James pressured Taesu again.
Taesu had not said it simply to gloss things over, so he returned to the point.
“In any case, it’s clear that this happened under the NGO flag.”
“Colonel Clark and Squad Leader Sam said they would come see me, so I’ll hear the details once more from them.”
“It’s dinnertime, though.”
“I don’t know about you, Doctor Choi, but this place is already walking on thin ice.”
James quietly relayed the situation on-site.
Taesu had more or less expected it, so he smiled bitterly.
“I’m sorry for making you worry again this time.”
“Don’t be so discouraged. By the standards of the troublemakers the NGO has had throughout its history, what you did is almost cute.”
“Really?”
“If I start talking about that over the phone, there’ll be no end to it. At any rate, don’t worry about what comes after. Wrap things up properly and return.”
“Understood.”
Click.
When the call ended, Taesu lowered his phone.
Jeong Minsu and Brad Kim were already seated at the table.
Seeing that Kim Hyeokgwon was nowhere in sight, Taesu looked around and asked.
“Where’s Mr. Hyeokgwon?”
“He went to interpret with Himan. Seems there are people who say they’re leaving today.”
At Jeong Minsu’s answer, Taesu nodded.
“I suppose they’d want to leave quickly.”
“By the way, Doctor Choi, what did the professor say?”
“He told us not to worry about what happens afterward, to finish up well, and come back.”
“He must be worried sick, right?”
When Brad Kim asked again, Taesu pointed to the phone in front of him and said,
“Call him.”
“No, I’m a little… not up for that.”
“Aren’t you pushing too much onto your team members, Team Leader?”
“On the very first day I was officially appointed team leader, I got on a helicopter and flew there. And then this kind of incident happened. Do you think I’d want to call?”
When Brad Kim explained his position, Taesu gave an awkward smile.
“That’s true too.”
“It feels like it’s somehow my fault.”
“That part is absolutely not true, so don’t make assumptions. Relax a little.”
“The problem is that I can’t do that just because I want to. Whew.”
Brad Kim let out a long sigh.
Because he had set his heart on the NGO, his position was completely different from Taesu’s.
Taesu knew that as well, so he said nothing more.
As silence fell, his hand naturally reached for the coffee.
The Toritina he drank every day was nice.
But the taste of coffee after so long was different in its own way.
In that calm atmosphere, they quietly enjoyed their coffee.
A little while later.
The number of people enjoying coffee gradually increased.
Field Chief Go Jiyong and Mo Sangdu appeared, and then Namgung Hyeoncheol joined them as well.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Namgung Hyeoncheol.
Among them, Field Chief Go Jiyong called him by the form of address used only between the two of them and asked,
“Brother Namgung, what are you planning to do?”
“What would you like me to do, Brother Go?”
“Who am I to decide that? You should do as you wish, Brother Namgung.”
Field Chief Go Jiyong spoke with a bitter expression.
Mo Sangdu, seated beside him, was there despite his pain.
They had not spent a very long time together.
Even so, affection was a frightening thing, and none of them welcomed the sudden situation of standing at a crossroads.
Namgung Hyeoncheol seemed to feel the same.
“I don’t know about anything else, but I have no idea where I’ll ever get to eat meals made by the madams again.”
“They are delicious.”
“Which is why I’m asking. Are you returning to Korea now?”
“That… I’m not sure. That’s for the president and the factory manager to decide.”
Field Chief Go Jiyong put off giving a firm answer.
More precisely, his meaning was strongly that he would follow their choice.
Namgung Hyeoncheol thought for a moment, then smiled gently.
“I don’t have anything urgent right away, so I’ll wait a little.”
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
Field Chief Go Jiyong’s voice had no strength as he answered.
It was because reality was far too bleak compared to the burden resting on their shoulders.
Taesu, Jeong Minsu, and Brad Kim did not look good either.
Even if they wanted to offer some kind of help, there was no clear answer.
To be honest, he had thought of the Korean village.
‘There’s no way those prickly elders would agree…’
Knowing better than anyone the trio of old men who were wary of Koreans, he had no choice but to remove it from the list of candidates.
It was while he was thinking that.
Kim Hyeokgwon approached together with President Gu Seungheon and Factory Manager Na Duyeong.
Surprisingly, they were with Raku.
Taesu, who spotted him first, was startled and immediately rose from his seat.
“Raku.”
“Doctor Choi. Doctor Jeong, Doctor Kim… Is everyone all right?”
Raku, who had hurried over in one breath, took each of their hands and looked them over this way and that, showing his concern.
At the sincere worry he showed, Taesu’s chest tightened slightly.
“We’re all safe.”
“You have no idea how shocked I was when I received word earlier today. My hands and feet were shaking so badly I couldn’t even hold the steering wheel.”
“Then how did you…”
“I came with an employee from the merchant guild.”
“I’m sorry for making you worry so much.”
At Taesu’s apology, Raku shook his head vigorously.
“Not at all. Seeing you face-to-face like this is enough.”
“Please sit down first. Hurry.”
Taesu readily gave up his seat to Raku.
It was because the hand he was holding was still trembling even now.
Just as Taesu truly thought of him as a friend, it was clear Raku felt the same.
Jeong Minsu seemed to agree.
Slide.
He held out a glass of water and offered it to him.
“Please drink some water first.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“We’re all here like this, aren’t we? We really are all right.”
“Whew.”
Nod.
Raku nodded deeply while letting out a long breath.
While Raku was calming himself for a moment,
Kim Hyeokgwon gave them a rough report on what he had gone to do.
“Himan’s family and Barun’s family decided to stay with us, and the others decided to go back.”
“I see.”
“They must be anxious too. They don’t know what’ll happen from now on, and they probably don’t want to suffer like dogs all over again.”
Kim Hyeokgwon finished speaking with a bitter face.
No one could object to that blunt expression.
Because that was exactly the reality they were facing now.
They had gathered like this in order to break through that reality.
Then, as if proving that a leader’s true worth was shown in a crisis, President Gu Seungheon stepped forward.
“We all know the situation, so I’ll skip the preliminaries. Master, there’s something I’d like to ask you. Would that be all right?”
“Yes. I’ve calmed down a great deal.”
“Then I’ll ask despite my shamelessness. You said before that you had looked at a few candidate sites for cultivating Toritina.”
“Pardon my asking, but do you have tea trees?”
It was at the same time as Raku’s question.