A span of time passed—short, if one called it short; long, if one called it long.
Chief Kandor, who had only listened in silence, had a face filled with grief.
Taesu offered him his final words.
“I’m sorry. Our skills were too lacking.”
“……”
Chief Kandor still said nothing.
Then Kim Hyeokgwon, who had been interpreting the whole time, suddenly added a word.
“I may not know much, but Doctor Choi didn’t just sit around with his hands folded and let this happen. I can guarantee that.”
“Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
When Taesu called him, Kim Hyeokgwon reflexively raised a hand to stop him.
Swoosh.
Then he added, addressing the silent Chief Kandor.
“I’m not taking their side just because I work with them.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
Kim Hyeokgwon, who had been defending Taesu, flinched.
Chief Kandor slowly looked around the operating room and spoke in his rough accent.
“It’s a mess. Enough to picture how frantic those moments must have been.”
“……”
“#^$%#%#$%.”
He went on at length.
Kim Hyeokgwon, listening closely, paused.
“Mm?”
“……”
Taesu waited in silence.
Then Kim Hyeokgwon calmly interpreted Chief Kandor’s words.
“He says everyone sensed it when they rescued him.”
“Sensed it?”
“He says, do you think this is the first time something like this has happened? That they’ve seen many deaths since they were young.”
“Hmm.”
Taesu’s heart grew even heavier.
Even then, Chief Kandor continued speaking.
“$^#%#$.”
And Kim Hyeokgwon, ears pricked, interpreted in real time.
“He says Bashu was too good a person.”
“@%#.#%/.”
“So he caught God’s eye and was taken early, and he’ll be happy in a place without pain.”
“^#$%$.”
“He also says everyone knows from your urgent expressions, your actions, your hands, that you were sincere, so don’t grieve too much.”
Kim Hyeokgwon translated with difficulty.
Chief Kandor, meanwhile, looked at Taesu with deep eyes.
There was no resentment or bitterness in them.
And that left Taesu with even less to say.
“I’m sorry.”
That was all.
Then Kandor spoke to Taesu again in halting English.
“Doctor, look at yourself.”
“At… me?”
Puzzled, Taesu looked himself over and froze.
His entire body was covered in blood. He had only been thinking about cleaning the operating table, and only now realized what state he was in.
Chief Kandor’s voice continued in Taesu’s ears.
“Effort leaves traces. You and your colleagues—I know without seeing. There is not one lie in the doctor’s words.”
“……”
“Please keep helping the others.”
“You mean we may continue treating them?”
“Of course. We need you.”
Swoosh.
Kandor took Taesu’s hand.
It was a hand ruined by blood and disinfectant.
“Ah.”
Startled, Taesu tried to pull away, but Chief Kandor did not let go.
Instead, he stared straight at Taesu.
Then he slowly nodded.
It was clear he meant every word he had said.
At that moment, Taesu’s eyes flushed red.
“Thank you. The others… I’ll make sure… I’ll make sure…”
“……”
Tap, tap.
Chief Kandor silently patted the back of his hand.
He might be able to understand.
But he was not the family.
Since it was not something to hide, Chief Kandor soon brought the family member inside. Several villagers followed behind him.
Their expressions were grief-stricken.
Among them, the family member saw the white cloth on the operating table and could not believe it.
The focus faded from her eyes.
Her whole body began to tremble.
Even so, she staggered toward the operating table.
Step, step.
“@#$%#@.”
A hollow murmur spilled from the family member’s lips.
Taesu quietly looked at Kim Hyeokgwon.
“……”
“……”
He turned his head and avoided Taesu’s gaze.
Tap.
Taesu lightly nudged Kim Hyeokgwon.
He had to hear it.
No matter what the words were.
It was not a choice, but a duty.
Kim Hyeokgwon could no longer push it away, and with his head turned, he interpreted in a low voice.
“No, it can’t be… This is a lie.”
Taesu’s gaze was fixed on the family member.
She had already reached the operating table.
Swoosh.
When the mother pulled back the white cloth and saw Bashu’s face, she denied it and wailed.
“Huuuuuh!”
Clench.
She gripped the white cloth so hard it crumpled and staggered. Since it was not fixed in place, there was nothing to catch her if she fell.
Taesu instinctively ran to her.
“Ah.”
Fortunately, he was not too late and supported her.
It was then.
Whip.
The family member turned on him venomously and poured out her resentment toward Taesu.
“!#!%@#$%, aaaaagh! !@#$@.”
“Save him… Ah, fuck.”
Kim Hyeokgwon could not bring himself to interpret and spat out a bitter curse.
He even bit his lips tightly.
It was an expression of his resolve not to translate, no matter what she said.
Taesu did not ask him to.
From the family member’s eyes, from her voice, he could already feel the resentment directed at him with force.
It was not merely resentment.
Thud.
The tips of the family member’s raised fingers struck Taesu squarely in the chest.
Taesu did not so much as flinch.
“……”
But Chief Kandor and the others were different.
Startled voices rang out here and there.
“@#%#$!”
“@%#$!”
They hurried over and pulled the family member away from Taesu.
The family member kicked and struggled as she sobbed.
“Uaaaaagh! #!#@#$@!”
“……”
Taesu only listened in silence.
It was the sorrow of a mother who had lost her son.
Right now, she needed someone to resent.
That someone was him.
Because it was Taesu who had begun the emergency surgery, he humbly accepted that burden as well.
“I’m sorry.”
As Taesu bowed his head in apology, his back trembled faintly.
And some time later.
The operating table was empty.
Chief Kandor and the villagers had personally taken the deceased patient away.
The family member was carried home just before she fainted.
Chief Kandor apologized to Taesu on her behalf.
“I am sorry. Please understand a mother’s grief.”
Mediating things that way must have been the best he could do.
Taesu understood fully.
Then, together with Kim Hyeokgwon, he cleaned the operating room.
Splash, scrub.
They washed and wiped because they could not leave the operating table in that state.
He hated it.
He hated even this moment.
Thinking of his pathetic self made his nerves raw.
But one thing was certain: Bashu’s liver had been too badly damaged, and the bleeding had been tremendous.
No matter who it was, even James, it would have been difficult to save Bashu.
Kaprene’s knowledge supported that conclusion.
Taesu knew it too.
But that could not become comfort, an excuse, or a refuge.
Splash.
His hand moved fiercely as he sprayed water, as if trying to wash away the heaviness in his heart.
Then it happened.
Kim Hyeokgwon glanced at Taesu and asked.
“Are you all right?”
“Well… It’s not like it’s the first or second time.”
“No, I mean the injury. That injury there.”
Swoosh.
Kim Hyeokgwon pointed at Taesu’s chest.
Taesu looked down at where his finger indicated and gave a bitter smile.
“You noticed?”
“It’d be stranger if you were fine after being struck with fingertips like that.”
“Is that so?”
Swoosh.
Taesu pulled up his surgical gown.
On his chest, as if engraved there, were five nail marks. She had struck him so hard that bruises had bloomed.
It was the bitterness of a mother who had lost her child.
Taesu lowered his surgical gown again and said,
“If it’s only this much, I got off cheap.”
“Hoo. What sin did your body commit?”
“The sin of meeting the wrong owner, I suppose. Let’s finish cleaning.”
Splash.
Taesu sprayed water the moment he finished speaking.
Like that stream of water, he hoped the family member’s grief would quickly be swept away by time.
The cleaning did not take long.
There were still many patients lined up outside.
They could not keep relying on Squad Leader Sam and the PKO soldiers forever.
Now it was time to go out again.
“Hoo.”
Taesu looked at the screen and drew a short, deep breath.
To be honest, he did not feel at ease.
Kim Hyeokgwon approached him.
“Let’s say this side is handled. What are you going to do about that side?”
“That side, damn it.”
Taesu looked at the dazed Jeong Minsu.
There was no light in his eyes at all.
It felt as though his soul had left him and only the shell remained.
Taesu was a doctor too.
There was no way he would not know Jeong Minsu’s current state.
He knew it all too well through bitter experience.
But.
He had to get out of it.
For a today better than yesterday.
And for a tomorrow better than today, he had to get out of it no matter what.
But Kim Hyeokgwon was unsparing.
“He really makes things exhausting. Exhausting.”
“Mr. Hyeokgwon.”
“What? Did I say something wrong? And I don’t think this is something you should just keep covering for.”
Kim Hyeokgwon stated his thoughts clearly to Taesu.
Taesu agreed as well.
“Yes. You’re right.”
“What is this? You’re making me nervous.”
“Please give me exactly one minute. I’ll be out within one minute, no matter what.”
Snap.
Taesu firmly held up his index finger.
His expression was not at all relaxed.
It was a promise that he would not overlook the situation outside.
Kim Hyeokgwon nodded with a bitter face.
“One minute.”
“Absolutely one minute.”
Taesu gave a definite answer.
Even so, Kim Hyeokgwon seemed displeased, glancing at Jeong Minsu and grumbling.
“Sigh, that guy—is he Lee Seonjeong or what? He’s even worse than that nurse.”
“The situation is a little different.”
“It looks the same to me. I’d rather have Nurse Song—damn it, what the hell am I babbling about?”
Kim Hyeokgwon snapped angrily and went outside roughly.
Flop.
The screen quickly returned to its place.
In the meantime, Taesu approached Jeong Minsu.
“……”
He still looked like only an empty shell remained.
Taesu looked at him with apologetic eyes.
He had led him into the surgery, had even pulled him in and told him to participate.
He could not help blaming himself, thinking that if he had kept him outside doing emergency treatment, Jeong Minsu would not have received this kind of shock.
Then it happened.
Suddenly, Taesu’s apologetic expression turned fierce.
There was one reason.
Because of Jeong Minsu’s shout during surgery.
‘I’m not running away. I said I’m not.’
Those were words he had spoken himself.
Those words had surely been sincere.
So Taesu hardened his own heart as well.
Right now, what Jeong Minsu needed was not comfort, but rebuke.
“Minsu.”
“……”
“Jeong Minsu.”
Roar.
It came at the same time as the sharp shout.