Taesu had no intention of stirring up trouble for no reason.
He chose to keep things brief, exchange only the essentials, and wrap it up.
“What is it?”
“Mm, uh…… Dammit, I came all the way here, so what am I hesitating for…… Ahem. Doctor Choi, sorry.”
“Pardon?”
Taesu was startled by his apology, which came out of nowhere.
Though he said nothing, Jeong Minsu seemed a little surprised as well.
Doctor Quentin, on the other hand, forced himself to shake off his embarrassment and asked,
“You know South Americans have fiery tempers, right?”
“So I’ve heard.”
“That’s why I came. I was the one who got ahead of myself without knowing my place, so I deserve to be cursed at.”
“That’s……”
Just as Taesu opened his mouth to say something,
Doctor Quentin, true to his impatient nature, cut him off.
“Anyway, I’m sorry.”
“Pardon?”
“I didn’t mean to openly humiliate you.”
The moment his words paused,
Taesu lightly tested whether that fiery temperament of his was genuine.
“You really didn’t mean to humiliate me?”
“Ah, uh…… To hell with it. Ahem! Fine. I was jealous and envious, so I said more than I should have.”
Doctor Quentin bluntly laid bare what was in his heart.
At that, Jeong Minsu also looked surprised.
And Taesu?
“Hahaha!”
He laughed heartily.
At that laughter, Doctor Quentin’s face flushed bright red.
“Do you really have to laugh that much?”
“It’s just so refreshing.”
“Does that mean you already saw right through me, Doctor Choi?”
Doctor Quentin asked eagerly.
Taesu lightly waved his hand and answered,
“Not exactly. It’s just that you’re the first person to show me your feelings so plainly.”
“And?”
“Hearing it makes me feel relieved. I wish everyone would do that.”
When Taesu answered in his easygoing way, Doctor Quentin instead put on a slightly sour expression.
“Is this the kind of personality Dr. James likes?”
“I’m not sure about that either. I haven’t operated with him many times.”
“You’re on the same team.”
“We were together for a short while during the Nepal earthquake. In terms of time, it probably wasn’t even a month.”
At Taesu’s answer, Doctor Quentin’s eyes widened as if they might split.
“Really?”
“Yes. That’s why I told you I wasn’t an official member of the surgical team.”
“Oh. Wait a minute…… I’m suddenly getting a migraine.”
“If I were an official member of the surgical team, I would’ve gone with Dr. James instead of being here.”
When Taesu added that, even Doctor Quentin’s gaze wavered.
“That’s true. That…… makes sense.”
“I’m just a resident.”
“That…… is not true! What kind of resident relieves cardiac tamponade with pericardiocentesis!”
Doctor Quentin quickly pulled himself together and protested.
His voice was extremely loud.
So loud, in fact, that people all around were looking their way.
That wasn’t all.
Even while their conversation bounced back and forth, his face still held apology.
His fiery personality showed plainly on his expression too.
Taesu glanced over at Jeong Minsu.
His eyes were asking, What do you think?
Jeong Minsu stared right back at Taesu.
‘Handle it yourself.’
That was clearly what his gaze said.
However, the reason he was sitting there with his chin propped up was so he could take Taesu’s side if things turned into a fight.
Once he realized that wasn’t the case, he had relaxed.
Taesu understood where Jeong Minsu stood.
Just then, Doctor Quentin raised his voice again and pressed him.
“Say something.”
“Pardon?”
“I just asked you. What kind of resident performs such a high-level emergency procedure?”
When he pressed him, Taesu answered as he had lived until now.
“It just happened because I kept encountering emergency patients here and there.”
“Can that…… really happen?”
“In any case, I also apologize for causing a commotion earlier over something I wasn’t certain about.”
At Taesu’s apology, Doctor Quentin instantly looked uncomfortable.
“Doctor Choi. That’s not it!”
“What do you mean?”
“I performed Vanessa’s emergency surgery. Do you know how much it weighed on me the entire time that I had pushed you so hard?”
“If I had at least been accurate about the diagnosis…… Ah, by any chance.”
When Taesu deliberately trailed off, Doctor Quentin immediately took the bait.
“What? If you have something to say, say it quickly. Refreshingly, with some fire, just spit it out.”
“I don’t know much about neurosurgical diseases or symptoms. Could you teach me a little?”
“From what I hear……”
“I spent today chasing after the others and bothering them a lot. I plan to do the same tomorrow, though. Haha.”
Taesu added an awkward laugh, embarrassed by his own honesty.
But Doctor Quentin did not take it lightly.
“How much do I need to teach you?”
“I didn’t learn it systematically, so I don’t really know either.”
“Then how did you learn?”
Doctor Quentin asked quite seriously.
It seemed he was trying to gauge Taesu’s level on the assumption that he would teach him.
But Taesu had no proper way to explain.
“As I said, by running into it in the field.”
“To put it simply?”
Now Doctor Quentin was asking even more actively.
It was just like his passionate personality.
Since it had come to this, Taesu spoke even more honestly.
“I can handle nerves after an amputation. But I’ve never dealt with a cyst like the one earlier.”
“What, you’re doing multiplication before you’ve even learned addition?”
“Because I just dealt with things at random depending on the patient’s condition……”
Taesu trailed off with an awkward expression.
Perhaps finding that strange, Doctor Quentin’s curiosity deepened even further.
“Where on earth did you encounter symptoms like that, for amputation to come out of your mouth first? Did you walk into the middle of a battlefield or something?”
“It wasn’t a battlefield. The first place I encountered patients like that was a place called Izambak……”
“W-wait. Izambak?”
Doctor Quentin’s eyes darted for a moment.
Taesu added quietly,
“It was a village formed by refugees, so it may sound unfamiliar……”
“Wait!”
“What is it now?”
“By any chance, and I mean truly by any chance, are you the ‘Hero of Izambak,’ Doctor Choi?”
Doctor Quentin suddenly asked in a rough voice.
He might have been curious, but for Taesu, it was a rather awkward nickname.
Jeong Minsu, too, would not go out of his way to mention it unless Taesu brought it up himself.
That was when it happened.
From behind them, Nurse Ellen’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Yes. Doctor Choi is the Hero of Izambak.”
“Gasp. No, Ellen. Is that true?”
“Why are you asking me when the person himself is right in front of you? Then I’ll be on my way.”
Whoosh.
Nurse Ellen continued walking as naturally as if she had never stopped.
But the ripple she left behind was not small.
Doctor Quentin’s eyes had widened to their limit as they turned toward Taesu.
“……Really, Doctor Choi is truly the ‘Hero of Izambak’?”
“Ha, ha.”
“The doctor who shouted between the soldiers of both sides, ‘This is not anyone’s land, but a doctor’s land.’ Is that you?”
“That, well……”
Taesu felt as if his hands and feet were curling up.
At the time, the situation had called for it, but hearing it from a third party’s mouth like this was unbearably embarrassing.
So much so that he dragged out his words and looked at Jeong Minsu.
‘You bastard, help me.’
‘Who are you?’
Swoosh.
Jeong Minsu naturally avoided his plea for help.
Taesu’s fist trembled.
At times like this, he felt like he wanted to just smack him one good time. But even that required a bit of leeway to attempt.
Doctor Quentin was still glaring with his eyes wide open and even urged him to answer.
“Doctor Choi, just answer whether it’s true or not.”
“Why is that so important?”
“Oh, no. It’s an extremely important matter!”
Doctor Quentin shouted, nearly yelling.
It was enough to make Taesu flinch.
“Why on earth?”
“How could it not be important that you are the doctor I respect so deeply, the one who respected everyone as a human being regardless of nation, race, or sect?”
“It wasn’t anything that grand.”
When Taesu reluctantly gave a halfhearted answer, Doctor Quentin froze.
“Pardon?”
“That was just the situation then. The Indian army and the Pakistani army were on both sides holding guns, so what was I supposed to do? If I didn’t want the village flattened, I had to embrace both sides.”
“Then…… really……”
“It’s not enough to be respected like that. And I only said it was a doctor’s land because they kept insisting it was their land, and it annoyed me.”
Taesu grumbled for no reason.
He described the situation the same way, but explained the reason those words had come out a little differently.
It was largely because he had no desire to seek praise for something already long past.
However, it seemed to sound completely different to Doctor Quentin’s ears.
Grip.
He abruptly seized Taesu’s hand tightly, his eyes sparkling.
“To think I chewed out such an incredible doctor like I was gnawing on dried squid. I’m truly sorry.”
“D-dried squid. Anyway, you don’t have to be that sorry.”
“No. When I heard that news, I went around telling everyone what an amazing doctor you were. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Doctor Quentin shouted in a voice filled with sincerity.
Startled by that rough intensity, Taesu apologized without realizing it.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“How is this something you should apologize for, Doctor Choi? I made a truly huge mistake. I am sincerely, truly, terribly sorry.”
“That’s not it. I just simply……”
“Of course you should be a member of Dr. James’s surgical team. You absolutely must be.”
Thump!
Doctor Quentin’s hand moved swiftly.
That hand covered Taesu’s hand, which was resting on the table.
“Ugh!”
Taesu flinched.
It was because he had never even dreamed of holding hands with a man.
Slide.
He tried to pull it away, but failed.
Instead, Doctor Quentin’s eyes shone even more intensely as he stared at Taesu.
“You asked me to teach you neurosurgical diseases and symptoms?”
“Yes, but your hand……”
“Understood. During this medical volunteer period, I will pass on everything I know to you. Shall we start now? Should we begin immediately?”
Doctor Quentin was not merely proactive; he seemed ready to charge forward like a bulldozer.
His personality really was fiery.
While he burned with enthusiasm, Taesu could only feel troubled.
“My hand……”
“Let’s start right away. Let’s just stay up all night!”
“No, just whenever you have time.”
“Time? No, that’s not right. Don’t do that…… Ah, that will work. Excuse me.”
Whoosh.
Doctor Quentin suddenly gave a polite nod, then moved away in an instant.
Only then did Taesu’s hand regain its freedom.
And for a moment, it felt as if the world had gone quiet.
That feeling lasted only briefly.
The way Doctor Quentin had suddenly changed like that bothered him.
“What is it? Why? Why do I feel uneasy?”
“Taesu. I think you’re going to suffer. Fighting.”
“Hey, are you just abandoning your friend?”
“Do they sell regulation garbage bags here too? Do I have to put you in one of those before throwing you out?”
At Jeong Minsu’s absurd question, Taesu looked at him with a hollow expression.
“I think we’re done here.”
“By the way, about Doctor Quentin. Something about him felt a little strange.”
“What?”
“He definitely has a fiery personality, but it feels like his mouth is just as loose.”
Unfortunately, Jeong Minsu’s assessment was similar to what Taesu had felt.
“I feel like I got caught in my own scheme.”
“Right. In that sense, congratulations.”
“I don’t think I’m the only one who’ll be congratulated.”
“No way?”
Jeong Minsu, who had been thinking about something, flinched hard and asked.
Taesu answered with a deep smile.
“You said we’d see it through together.”
“I take it back.”
“Denied.”
“Hey.”
Jeong Minsu suddenly shouted at the crisis that had come out of nowhere.
There was no way that would reach Taesu’s ears.