Glug, glug.
The sight of clear soju filling the shot glass was almost beautiful.
How badly he had wanted to drink this.
At the thought of drinking to his heart’s content, his mouth filled with saliva.
Soon, every glass shimmered transparently.
Everyone held their glasses and looked at Tae-su.
They had laid out Tae-su’s gift, meaning they wanted him to say a word.
Tae-su did not particularly enjoy standing in front of everyone like this.
Still, at the drunken crew’s uproarious urging, he didn’t fuss over such things and looked at everyone.
“Good work, and let’s keep at it.”
“Some speech that is.”
“It’s not over yet.”
When Tae-su answered bluntly, Kim Hyeok-kwon added another quip.
“What do they say at times like this. ‘How long are you going to make us dance?’ or something?”
“That’s when you’re drinking penalty shots. Anyway.”
“Let’s finish quickly. Don’t keep us on edge.”
It was the moment Kim Hyeok-kwon coarsely urged him.
Tae-su raised his glass high and shouted with weight.
“Let’s drink… and die.”
“Die……”
Just as everyone was about to chorus.
Jeong Min-su suddenly raised his voice and stopped them.
“Wait. Hey, no matter what, what’s with ‘let’s die’?”
“Then, let’s live. And let’s save lives.”
Tae-su immediately corrected himself and shouted.
Perhaps they liked that; everyone cast off their discomfort and echoed with bright smiles.
“Let’s live and save lives.”
Clink.
Everyone clinked their full shot glasses together and vigorously tossed the soju into their mouths.
And.
“Krrr.”
“Ah, yes. This is it.”
“That’s the kick. The kick.”
“So this is the soju I’ve heard so much about? No wonder. I like it. I like it.”
Even the prickly Kim Hyeok-kwon’s gaze toward the soju was filled with nothing but softness.
Unable to stand seeing an empty glass, Tae-su immediately refilled it.
“Where’s the time to rest? Run, and run.”
Everyone was dumbfounded by Tae-su’s excited state.
“Doctor Choe is really in his element.”
“Bread. Tae-su tends to let loose half his marbles the moment he sees soju.”
“Looks like it. But if it’s soju, isn’t it fine for him to do that as much as he wants?”
“I agree. In that sense, Bread.”
“Yeah. Cheers.”
“Let’s do it together.”
Clink.
Once again, everyone clinked glasses vigorously and downed them.
From then on, a brakeless binge-drinking locomotive began barreling through the night, oblivious to the hour.
The alcohol was plentiful, and the end of the vacation was far away.
No one held back, repeating the cycle of pouring and drinking.
Then Tae-su looked down at himself and smiled an absurd smile.
“Haha. Well, this.”
“Why?”
“Look at this.”
When Tae-su held up both hands, Bread Kim immediately spoke.
“A glass in the right hand, kimchi in the left. So what?”
“I used to nag my father so much when he held them like this. And now here I am doing the same.”
“Of course a son takes after his father. Well, I’m not one to talk.”
“Why?”
“I haven’t sent my regards. I passed out yesterday and I’ve been playing hard today.”
It was the moment Bread Kim reminded them.
Tae-su, and of course Jeong Min-su as well, flinched.
“Ah, right.”
“Damn it.”
At the two people’s reaction, Kim Hyeok-kwon lightly clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, tsk. Your phones work perfectly fine, yet you still haven’t contacted home even once?”
“Ahem.”
“Don’t look away. Acting tough while blackout drunk isn’t pretty, so don’t even think about doing it today. Instead, make sure you call tomorrow.”
“I should. But it seems Mr. Hyeok-kwon has already called.”
Tae-su casually threw in a barb.
At that moment, Kim Hyeok-kwon raised one corner of his mouth crookedly and spoke.
“You need someone to call.”
“……”
“Why so gloomy? Come on, don’t worry about my circumstances and worry about this soju here. Drink, I said let’s drink.”
Kim Hyeok-kwon abruptly raised his glass.
As if drawn by his momentum, everyone clinked glasses.
Feeling like he had unnecessarily poured cold water on the mood, Tae-su became embarrassed.
No one showed it outwardly.
Then Bread Kim, who had subtly glanced back, spoke deliberately cheerfully.
“Anyway, I truly love you all.”
“……”
“Makut was my first time. I was hopeless and at a loss with nothing, but thanks to all of you being together, I was able to find my footing quickly.”
He even used honorifics, speaking in a way that embraced Kim Hyeok-kwon as well.
In an effort to break free from the sunken atmosphere, Jeong Min-su also chimed in.
“Makut was really one of the better ones. The first village I went to, Sahad Village, was no joke from the start.”
“If you don’t know Ijambak, don’t say such things.”
Kim Hyeok-kwon interjected heavily.
It was then.
Thwack.
Tae-su lightly struck the table and spoke.
“The Nepal earthquake was truly hell itself.”
“Hm? Hm…….”
“Here there’s at least an NGO camp. There, we wandered around without even a base camp……”
Perhaps because he was flushed red with drunkenness, Tae-su began to talk more.
But they weren’t simple-minded folk who would yield all the talking to Tae-su.
“Doctor Choe, don’t forget that it started with Ijambak.”
“Tae-su. Sahad was my first. From the first day, for several days, really……”
“These people, really. I’ve been with an NGO for several years now. It’s my first time moving independently, but before that, you don’t know how hard……”
Perhaps they were all drunk; everyone unraveled their experiences.
No one held back in their talk.
Since it was a moment they could drink carefreely after so long, perhaps their reins loosened even more.
At first, they took turns speaking one at a time.
But that was only for a moment.
From some point on, they were busy talking simultaneously, each on their own.
Their eyes were unfocused, and their tongues were twisted.
That was how drunk they were.
In the words they spat out like that, each contained their own pain.
“So back then……”
“That patient of mine……”
“That I would end up like this……”
“What’s always weighing on my mind is……”
Having gotten thoroughly drunk, their suppressed inner thoughts burst out without hesitation.
The amazing thing was that they only spoke their own words, not listening at all to what the others were saying.
It was closer to rambling than conversation.
But there was no need to find fault with that.
Such times were necessary too.
They needed to spit out the regrets pent up inside like this to dilute them.
It was a time to relieve mental stress, not physical fatigue.
Vacation was needed precisely for moments like this. If the mind was healthy, the body could overcome any adversity.
They were healing themselves by voicing their wounded hearts like this.
This was likely exactly what Chairman Seok Jeong-hyeon or James had intended.
And so, each person’s rambling continued long and longer through the night.
The next afternoon.
“Ugh.”
Tae-su groaned and opened his eyes blearily.
His head hurt from a severe hangover.
In a half-awake daze, he looked around to find himself in the bed he was staying in.
How did I get here?
He remembered nothing except rambling while drunk.
Tae-su, who had been tossing about trying to get up, suddenly froze.
And then soon collapsed back into the bed.
“Ugh, my stomach.”
Groaning in pain, he even clutched his stomach area.
Tae-su found himself absurd.
He had enough of a drinking history to be called a heavy drinker, and had taken some pride in it.
And yet here he was, unable to move due to a hangover.
The saying that your tolerance drops when you stop drinking was true.
Tae-su, who had been writhing like that, suddenly blinked.
“Ah, right.”
His parents.
The thought that he had to call home to check in filled his hazy head.
It was only proper to send his thanks first.
“Ugh.”
Tae-su groaned as he got up and picked up his phone.
It had been truly a long time since he had used it.
He had wandered only in places removed from modern civilization to the point that it felt strange for a moment.
Not that he had forgotten how to use it.
Swish.
He skillfully operated his phone and began composing an email to send to Chief Secretary Jeong Yong-cheol.
“Only now contacting you after yesterday’s binge……”
Tap, tap.
Tae-su muttered and tapped his phone.
He should have sent his thanks long ago, but he had been distracted by alcohol and was only now putting it into action.
“……With the Chief Secretary’s support, I will strive to live up to expectations. There. Done, send.”
Tap.
An absurd smile hung on Tae-su’s lips after sending the email.
He found himself absurd, forcing his hangover-addled brain to work, muttering like a madman as he sent his greetings.
Anyway, after sending the greeting, his uncomfortable heart felt much lighter.
Now it was really time to call his parents.
He traced back in his head what he had told them when he left Korea.
“I said it was an outstanding resident privilege……”
The more he traced back, the more it was a bundle of lies.
His family didn’t even know Tae-su was in Kashmir.
They thought he was enjoying special treatment and learning much at a famous overseas hospital.
It was indeed a privilege, and he was learning and mastering without rest.
Only the location was different.
But to hide that lie, he had to create more lies.
The layered lies had swelled like a snowball before he knew it.
Should he come clean now?
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought that.
But what of the shock his mother and sister would receive, and the nagging that would pour out?
“Ugh.”
Tae-su quickly shook his head to dispel useless thoughts.
It couldn’t be helped.
He knew it, but it was something he couldn’t help doing.
Tae-su felt pangs of conscience over the additional lies he would create, yet couldn’t stop.
Soon, Tae-su, having finished thinking, put the phone to his ear.
Ring, ring.
The dial tone sounded immediately.
It was around morning in Korea right now, and he was calling the home phone.
Naturally, his mother would answer.
His mother’s voice.
His heart welled up slightly just at the thought.
Then he heard the sound of the phone being picked up.
But…….
“Who’s this?”
“Father?”
Tae-su, whose expectation had missed the mark, was momentarily flustered.
Perhaps because that feeling was conveyed directly through his voice, his father’s gravelly scolding followed.
“Yeah. I picked it up. What’s the problem with me picking up my own home phone?”
“No. Nothing.”
“You thick-headed fool.”
At his father’s anger-filled voice, Tae-su quickly tried to smooth things over.
“I was surprised because Mother usually answers around this time.”
“Sorry that I picked up. And your mom went to Seoul. Want to hang up?”
“That’s not it. Father, how have you been?”
Tae-su subtly asked after him and changed the subject.
At that moment, his father’s voice grew even colder.
“Are you calling now because you’re finally curious?”
“That’s not it.”
“Cut the excuses. Is the foreign water so good you can’t make one call?”
It was a voice dripping with resentment.
At that voice, Tae-su suddenly burst out laughing.
“Haha.”
“You’re laughing?”
“As expected, my grudges are genetic.”
When Tae-su latched onto that strange point, his father’s voice changed to one of absurdity.
“What kind of guy is this?”
“Ahem. The genetic identification is clear, Father. When a son is working, isn’t it possible for him to be out of touch?”
“Well, well. Where’s this mewling whelp coming from?”
His father’s sharp expression hurt Tae-su slightly.
“But calling me a whelp……”
“Cut the useless talk. Are you getting by?”
“Y-yes.”
Tae-su unnecessarily raised his voice in reply.