Taesu was cautious for that very reason.
“They’re people with a lot of circumstances behind them.”
“Then what, you think tourists would want to sightsee here?”
“No, of course not.”
“Hm.”
Village Chief Jeon Nosik abruptly let out a breath.
To the tense Taesu, the sound came like thunder.
Flinch.
Seeing Taesu’s reaction, Village Chief Jeon Nosik looked dumbfounded.
“Why are you so nervous?”
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I didn’t suggest bringing them here lightly.”
“Then tell me what those tragic circumstances are.”
“Pardon?”
As Taesu doubted his ears, Village Chief Jeon Nosik’s expression hardened slightly.
“I’m saying let’s hear what happened.”
“Would that be all right?”
“If someone else had brought them, not a chance. But if Dr. Choi or those two over there brought them, there must be a reason for it.”
Village Chief Jeon Nosik had reaffirmed that the medical team were people of the village.
Only then did Taesu let go of a little of his tension and begin.
“Well, then……”
“Hm. Mm.”
As the story continued, Village Chief Jeon Nosik’s expression grew darker.
And a short while later.
Taesu’s explanation came to an end.
“……That is why we’re waiting for permission.”
“Huh. Well, that’s something.”
“You can take your time thinking it over.”
When Taesu added that, Village Chief Jeon Nosik asked in a low voice,
“Didn’t you bring them here asking us to take them in?”
“No. I’m only their guide. We’ll follow whatever the village decides.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m not the one who’s going to live with them, after all.”
At Taesu’s clear-cut answer, Village Chief Jeon Nosik lifted one corner of his mouth slightly.
“That’s the right thing to say.”
“Please think of us as having come to show our faces while we were at it.”
“……This doesn’t seem like something I should decide alone. I’ll be back.”
Rustle.
Village Chief Jeon Nosik rose with a heavy face and headed off to one side.
He was making for Elder Jeon’s house, the one closest to the village entrance.
It seemed the three elders were gathered there.
Taesu was watching him go when—
“Wahahaha!”
“Haha!”
The front was filled with laughter, people savoring their reunion.
Among the villagers, Jo Jeongmin approached him.
“Where did the village chief go, leaving you here alone?”
“He went to see the elders for a moment.”
“Mm. Has something happened?”
Jo Jeongmin immediately sensed that something was not ordinary and asked calmly.
Taesu did not agonize over it for long.
In the Korean village, matters large and small were decided by open vote within the village.
Knowing that rule well, he began telling the same story to Jo Jeongmin, who was at least easier for him to deal with.
“The truth is……”
It was a story he was repeating once again, but Taesu’s words continued calmly.
About ten minutes passed.
The expressions of the villagers gathered on the wooden platform had turned complicated.
It was the change that came after Jo Jeongmin relayed everything Taesu had told him to the others.
Their joy and delight were put on hold for the moment.
“……”
“……”
Even silence settled over them.
Taesu worried that he might have thrown a stone into a calm lake.
Rustle.
Jeong Minsu, who came up beside him, wore the same expression.
“The mood is that we should hear what the elders think and then discuss it again.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“Still, it’s not too bad so far.”
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had just arrived, picked up Jeong Minsu’s words.
“That’s right. I thought we’d get cursed out first thing, but it’s quieter than expected.”
“Right now, the silence feels more frightening.”
“I deeply agree with you, Dr. Choi. When it’s this quiet, it makes me even more uneasy.”
Kim Hyeokgwon answered while glancing here and there.
The atmosphere was serious enough that even a man as brazen as him was watching people’s reactions.
Then it happened.
“Dr. Choi!”
At the loud call, Taesu sprang to his feet and looked around.
Village Chief Jeon Nosik was beckoning from in front of Elder Jeon’s house.
Seeing that, Taesu’s heart dropped with a thud.
“Hell is calling.”
“Farewell. Write to us.”
“Yeah. I’ll try to send a letter. Hoo!”
Not content with making a pointless joke, Taesu even let out a long breath.
Even so, his tension did not ease, but for now he walked toward Village Chief Jeon Nosik.
When Taesu approached, Village Chief Jeon Nosik silently stepped aside.
The front door was wide open.
Taesu had steeled himself countless times on the way there, so he was able to enter at once.
Step.
The moment he stepped inside—
Elder Jeon’s rough voice came first.
“When you left, you acted as if you’d come back in ten years, and now you show up as soon as the season changes?”
“If you were coming, you should have come by yourselves. What’s with bringing a lump along?”
Elder An’s biting voice followed.
Lastly, Elder Jo dissed him with relish.
“They say a wandering beggar shows up only once a year, but that brat shows up once every three months.”
Taesu turned toward the direction of the voices.
The three elders were sitting side by side on Elder Jeon’s bed.
Only one season had changed, but their wrinkles seemed to have deepened by another year.
Taesu approached them.
Step, step.
At the sight of him walking over without a word, Elder Jo scolded him with a sour face.
“Look at that, look at that ill-mannered brat. His elders are in the middle of speaking, and that good-for-nothing doesn’t even answer.”
“……”
Even so, Taesu quietly closed the distance.
Soon, Taesu stood before the elders.
The three elders stared intently at him.
At that moment, Taesu smiled brightly and opened his mouth.
“I’ll greet you first.”
Thud.
Taesu neatly brought both hands together and offered a deep bow.
At the sight of him, the three elders froze for an instant.
It was only for a moment, and then they smiled warmly at Taesu as he bowed.
That smile, too, lasted only a moment.
When Taesu raised his head, they were wearing sour expressions as if nothing had happened.
After finishing his bow, Taesu continued his greeting.
“Have you been well?”
“I was extremely well until just a moment ago.”
“Haha. That must be why your complexion looked so good, Second Elder.”
The more smoothly Taesu spoke, the more curtly Elder An answered.
“How can this face look good when all I’ve seen are wretched illnesses?”
“At your age, that much is excellent.”
“I think that’s enough.”
Whoosh.
Elder An immediately turned his gaze away.
Only then did Elder Jo offer Taesu a log stool.
Even that invitation was blunt.
“The house won’t collapse.”
“I know it’s sturdy. Oh my, there’s a chair here. I’ll sit for a bit.”
“That mouth of his thawed right along with the weather.”
Elder Jo also grumbled.
Taesu knew their true feelings, so he was not hurt in the slightest.
Rather, he treated them even more warmly, like a grandson or nephew.
“Since we’re talking about the weather, those emergency patients who were flown to the snowy mountains back then were all saved and sent home.”
“You made that damned fuss to do exactly that, so of course you should have.”
“Yes. Since Youngest Elder helped us then, of course we had to save them.”
When Taesu answered amiably, Elder Jo grumbled loudly.
“A doctor saving people is only natural. And here you are acting like you deserve praise for it.”
“Haha. You’re right. In any case, we’ve been doing well too.”
“I wasn’t curious.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Bah!”
Whoosh!
In the end, Elder Jo too was pushed back by Taesu’s glib tongue and turned his head away.
It seemed like sharp words were going back and forth, but in truth, the atmosphere was warm and cozy.
The elders also glanced him over now and then, checking on Taesu.
Taesu was the same.
‘There’s nothing to worry about this year.’
They looked healthy enough for him to be sure even by an imprecise visual examination.
In that way, they carried out an exchange that was not quite a probing battle, and yet was.
What broke that atmosphere was Elder Jeon’s voice.
He asked in a deliberately weighty tone,
“So you’re saying the ones from Korea are waiting at the seonangdang?”
“That’s right.”
“I heard the reason from the village chief, but what reason is there for us to accept them?”
“There is none.”
At Taesu’s firm answer, Elder Jeon’s expression instead turned puzzled.
“You brought them here asking us to accept them, yet you say we don’t have to?”
“I was only asked to guide them.”
“The village chief said the same, but you wouldn’t have brought them if you had no feelings about it.”
Elder Jeon gazed at Taesu with heavy eyes.
His manner of speaking resembled Elder Wang’s.
Having become the village’s highest elder, he was trying to follow Elder Wang as much as possible.
It could not be easy to change the way of speaking and values he had held onto his entire life.
Nevertheless, Taesu could feel Elder Wang’s presence from Elder Jeon.
Perhaps because of that, rather than feeling nervous, Taesu calmly stated his position once more.
“It would be a lie to say I don’t feel pity for them.”
“And yet you won’t get involved?”
“Yes. I won’t.”
“What if we tell them to leave?”
Elder Jeon asked again, but Taesu’s answer was the same.
“Then I’ll take them away.”
“What if they say they can’t go?”
“If you truly say no, I’ll drag them away if I have to.”
“Can you do that?”
Elder Jeon tested him once more.
Even so, Taesu’s answer was resolute.
“To me, the elders, the village chief, and the people of this village are more important.”
“Hm. And so?”
“There’s no need for me to feel uncomfortable in my own home, is there?”
Taesu’s answer was consistent from beginning to end.
At that moment, Elder An stepped in again.
“Then let me ask you one thing. If we let them in, do you think they’ll be beneficial to the village, or harmful?”
“Wouldn’t it be stranger for me to kindly bring harmful people all the way here?”
“I am not asking whether they are evil people.”
Elder An scolded him with a frustrated expression.
Only then did Taesu understand properly and think it over.
“Mm. I do think they could be of help.”
“In what way?”
“At the very least, they know how to lay ondol floors. The floor was so warm, and when it heated my back, I was happy beyond words.”
“Is, is that so?”
Elder An’s eyes wavered faintly.
Laying gudeul stones required considerable expertise and experience.
That was why such people were respectfully called tosu, those who handled earth and soil.
After wavering, Elder An returned his expression to normal.
Taesu saw it clearly, but deliberately did not show it.
Then, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and instead of swallowing it down, he voiced it aloud.
“I can tell you anything I know. But I am not them.”
“Are you telling us to meet them in person?”
“If you have no desire to, you don’t have to meet them.”
“Irresponsible brat.”
Elder Jo seized the opportunity to rebuke him.
Even so, Taesu did not budge and held to his position.
“I’m just a lowly doctor who cares more about my home and my hospital.”
“Oh-ho. Are you finally acknowledging yourself?”
“I’ve always been lacking. I was at the beginning, and I still am now.”
Taesu said it with an expression that said it was only natural.
As he lowered himself like that, the elders’ expressions crumpled slightly.
“Bah, what a boring brat.”
“Youngsters these days are no fun to tease.”
“Brothers, look at that brat. An elder is speaking, and he just stares with his eyes wide open. Why are you always like that?”
At the elders’ sudden change in attitude, Taesu grew even more bewildered.
“What do you want me to do?”
“How dare you talk back. Tsk!”
“Then please hurry up and make a decision. I need to look around the hospital too, and check on the villagers’ health.”
Taesu also let his heart settle and treated them like he had in the past.
Unexpectedly, the three elders smiled.