Though he had begun changing his clothes, his face was filled with puzzlement.
“Why would Dr. Mahal…?”
Had something happened to a patient?
He was on vacation, but receiving a call like this made his mind fill back up with patients.
A short while later.
Ding.
The first-floor elevator doors opened, and Taesu stepped out.
His appearance as he headed toward the lobby was extremely casual.
Thanks to that, the handsome charm that had always been hidden by surgical scrubs and a gown seemed to come alive again.
Taesu headed straight for the lobby without hesitation.
As he approached the front desk, he spotted someone standing nearby.
It was a man in a sharp suit with black hair.
Korean?
Taesu’s expression changed in a dozen ways as he looked at him without thinking.
“Huh? Huh? Wait… that man is?”
Taesu began to grow more and more surprised as he watched the man ahead of him turn toward him.
A neat, tidy impression and attire.
His hair was combed back, making his polished look stand out even more.
But that orderly air was not the issue.
What shocked Taesu was that he was someone completely unexpected.
The man now smiling gently at him.
It was none other than Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol, Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon’s right-hand man.
For a moment, Taesu doubted his own eyes.
“Really?”
No matter how many times he looked, it was definitely him.
Swoosh.
He even raised a hand.
Only then did Taesu’s suspicion turn into certainty.
At the same time, Taesu snapped to his senses.
This was no time to stand around.
Tap, tap.
Taesu quickly hastened his steps and approached Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol.
Just as the distance between them narrowed,
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol naturally extended his hand and greeted him.
“Dr. Choi, it has truly been a long time.”
It was a calm, quiet greeting.
Drawn by that warmth, Taesu quickly clasped his hand as well and bowed deeply.
“Chief Secretary, have you been well?”
“You don’t look like you’re in any condition to be asking after my well-being.”
“Does my face look that bad?”
Taesu lightly rubbed his cheeks, which had turned a deep brown, and smiled awkwardly.
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol responded to him.
“Bad? Not at all. You’re overflowing with healthy charm… My apologies. It does look bad.”
“Hearing you speak without sugarcoating it makes me certain you really are the Chief Secretary.”
At Taesu’s meaningful reply, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol lightly returned the volley.
“The bones hidden in your words are still sturdy as well, Dr. Choi.”
“Pardon? Haha.”
Taesu covered his slight fluster with laughter.
Then Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol, still smiling, asked him a question.
“Have you had any inconveniences during your stay?”
“No. The room here is comfortable… Come to think of it, how did you know I was here?”
“Are you only curious now?”
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol asked back meaningfully.
At that moment, images flickered through Taesu’s mind.
‘Then?’
Smack.
Out of nowhere, he struck his fist into his palm.
It seemed he had sensed something.
Still, just in case, Taesu did not stop at thinking it and asked aloud.
“Were you the one who upgraded my room?”
“No.”
“Yes. I thought so. Wait, no?”
Taesu, who had judged it on his own, looked at him in surprise.
Perhaps finding that expression amusing, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol nodded with a faint smile.
“I did handle the matter, but the order came from someone else.”
“Someone else ordered it?”
“It seems you’ve momentarily forgotten that I am that person’s shadow, Dr. Choi.”
“Shadow… Don’t tell me the Chairman is here?”
Taesu, piecing it together, was startled.
As if confirming his guess, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol added in a low voice.
“How could there be a shadow where there is no light?”
“Then Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon really is here?”
Whip, whip.
Taesu looked around so violently it seemed his neck might snap.
At that moment, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol said quietly,
“He is not here. But he is waiting for you.”
At the same time as those calm words,
Taesu stopped scanning the lobby.
This was no time to be bustling about on his own.
With an expression that had grown much calmer, he said to Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol,
“May I ask you to guide me?”
“Of course.”
“Let’s go at once.”
Whoosh.
Taesu turned around with great energy.
In his ear came Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol’s voice, holding back laughter.
“Your temperament truly hasn’t changed, Dr. Choi.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s this way.”
“Ah, ahem.”
With an embarrassed look, Taesu followed Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol’s guidance.
A car was waiting at the hotel entrance.
The driver was there, of course, and an interpreter was seated in the passenger seat. Thanks to that, Taesu and Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol could travel side by side.
Vroom.
It was right after the car passed through the hotel’s main gate.
Now that his mind had calmed somewhat, Taesu asked what he had been wondering.
“How did you know I had come out on vacation?”
“Through Good Morning Earth.”
“Do you have an acquaintance there?”
Taesu asked carefully.
It was because he could not begin to grasp what connection there might be.
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol stared at Taesu.
“Dr. Choi, I think you’re remembering something incorrectly.”
“I am?”
“What was the reason you ended up choosing Kashmir for medical volunteer work?”
When he gave that subtle hint, Taesu recalled a hazy memory.
“A notice was posted on the hospital bulletin board… Ah.”
“There’s no reason something like that would have been posted for no reason, is there?”
“I see. Then you’ve had dealings with Good Morning Earth for some time?”
At Taesu’s question, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol smiled faintly.
“We’ve had a connection for quite a long time. Through Dongseong Construction, we once carried out a support project for the homeless as well.”
“Something like that happened?”
“It was the idea of a certain young man at the time. Someone who loved people, who was very progressive and admirable… a friend like that.”
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol’s proud voice gradually died down.
Not knowing the bitterness behind it, Taesu asked indirectly,
“Did he perhaps move to another company?”
“Yes. He left for a very distant country. The Chairman was deeply saddened as well.”
“Then you should try contacting him.”
When Taesu suggested it, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol answered with a slightly hollow smile.
“I don’t know if contact will reach him.”
“In this day and age, who doesn’t use even an email?”
“Ha ha. Well, who knows.”
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol answered only that much.
Afterward, an strangely curious silence continued inside the car.
Taesu tilted his head at the sudden change in atmosphere.
But he could not ask any questions when he saw Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol’s sorrowful gaze turned toward the window.
About ten minutes later.
Taesu arrived at the entrance of a bustling district in Srinagar.
It was only an area where a market and a few convenience facilities were clustered.
Still, perhaps because it was a country with a large population, there were quite a lot of people.
After passing through that crowd, they arrived at a tea house.
At the entrance, the word “coffee” was written on plywood, but no matter how he looked at it, it did not have the atmosphere of a coffee shop.
As Taesu looked around, Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol called to him.
“Dr. Choi, this way.”
“Is he upstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Then excuse me, I’ll go first.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Taesu hurried past Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol and rushed up to the second floor.
And the moment he reached the second floor,
An elderly man seated alone by the window drew his gaze.
A small frame.
Half-gray hair.
Fine wrinkles.
And yet his presence was like a great mountain, enough to fill the entire table.
It was Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon.
Taesu’s chest trembled for no reason from the joy of seeing him. It was a different feeling from reuniting with Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol.
He was the very person who had opened the opportunity for Taesu to gain experience in this faraway foreign land.
Meeting him here, Taesu could not help but be filled with new emotions.
His thoughts lasted only an instant.
Since he had seen an elder, the first thing to do was to approach and pay his respects.
Tap, tap, tap.
He was closing the distance to Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon with hurried steps.
Just as he was about to arrive, a wall appeared squarely in front of Taesu.
“Hm?”
“Who are you?”
A rough-looking man who appeared to be Korean asked politely. But while his words were polite, his atmosphere was quite threatening.
The thought that he was another attendant flashed through Taesu’s mind.
In that instant, Taesu realized his mistake.
Seok Jeonghyeon was not merely the chairman of Dongseong Medical Center. He was also the chairman leading a significant group of companies in South Korea.
There was no way only Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol would accompany such a man on his travels.
Since it had been wrong to approach recklessly, Taesu was about to introduce himself.
“I am…”
It was then.
A pleasant voice came from behind the attendant.
“Manager Park Haeyong. How can you block a guest we have gone to such lengths to wait for?”
“My apologies.”
Swoosh.
The man called Manager Park Haeyong stepped aside without another word.
Then Taesu’s eyes met those of Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon, who was looking his way.
They were truly deep eyes.
His mouth opened again toward Taesu.
“Dr. Choi, what are you in such a hurry for that you came running?”
When his gently chiding tone was accompanied by a faint smile, he was the very image of a benevolent grandfather.
As if drawn in, Taesu approached him.
Then, following exactly what he felt in his heart, he lowered himself and performed a deep bow.
Watching Taesu, Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon’s eyebrows twitched lightly. Then he looked at Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol, who had just arrived.
Shake, shake.
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol shook his head, expressing that he had no idea what was going on.
Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon’s gaze returned to Taesu.
Soon, with an inscrutable smile, he quietly watched him.
After completing the bow, Taesu finally spoke his first words to Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon.
“Have you been well all this time?”
“What ‘well’ is there when I’m on my way to becoming an old relic?”
“Health is the most important thing.”
Taesu carefully expressed his concern for his well-being.
As if pleased to hear that greeting, Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon smiled broadly.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to earn money?”
“I learned that you need to be healthy to earn money, too.”
“Haha. Have you attained enlightenment in the past half year? Still, you’re right. Sit down and tell me what other truths you’ve realized.”
Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon gently gestured toward the chair opposite him. At that invitation, Taesu smiled brightly and took his seat.
Scrape.
Chief Secretary Jeong Yongcheol and the other attendants took seats around them at a distance.
It seemed they did not intend to interfere with the meeting between the two.
As soon as they sat facing each other, tea arrived as though it had been waiting.
Clink.
Right after the teacup was set down,
Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon stared at him, and Taesu asked with an awkward expression,
“Do I look that bad?”
“No, I suppose I’m curious why you began by bowing so suddenly.”
“My father taught me that this is what one does when meeting an elder after a long time.”
Even after hearing Taesu’s answer, Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon’s expression did not change much.
“If it was your father’s teaching, then I can understand. Still, I am not an elder of your family, am I?”
“You are the highest elder of the hospital where I belong.”
“Did you not resent the circumstances that forced you to come all the way here?”
Chairman Seok Jeonghyeon’s question was by no means light.
Taesu also answered calmly.
“No matter what anyone says, it was my choice. If anything, I am deeply grateful to you, Chairman, for listening to the words of a mere resident.”
“Is that so?”
“It feels embarrassing to ask this now, but there is still a question that has remained in a corner of my heart.”
Taesu asked as courteously as possible so as not to offend him.
It was a question he had always wanted to hear answered one day, and now that the time had come, he was facing it without putting it off.