“Aren’t you going in?”
The shift change had long since passed, and her senior had already come down to the emergency room.
Even so, Kwon Jua was still sitting at the ER station.
“I’m going to stay a little longer before I go in.”
“You should get some rest. I heard there were a lot of patients overnight.”
Even at her senior’s words, Kwon Jua couldn’t bring herself to leave.
Because she was worried about Inbae’s condition.
Acute enteritis.
He had eaten things he shouldn’t have, all at once.
She didn’t know what the strange herbal medicine was,
but hot-natured medicinal herbs with raw sashimi and oysters.
And alcohol on top of that.
It was a combination practically made to cause trouble.
Honestly, it wasn’t a serious illness.
His test results were stable, and he was responding well to fluids.
Every treatment they could provide in the ER was finished, and Inbae had been moved up to the ward.
They just needed to watch his condition for a day or two, then discharge him.
She knew that.
Even so, Kwon Jua couldn’t get up from her seat.
Should she stop by his hospital room once, or just go home?
She kept repeating the same thought over and over.
.
.
.
Kwon Jua still remembered that night.
The night she ate ramen at Gong Inbae’s house.
The night she sat on the wooden platform and looked out over the night view of Seoul.
That night, when the wide-open space had given Kwon Jua freedom, remained vivid in her mind.
It had let a breath of air into Kwon Jua’s suffocating life.
She had acted as though nothing was wrong, but in truth, Kwon Jua had been one step away from suffocating to death.
Because of the pressure and stress coming from everyone around her, she had been having bad thoughts.
People around her told her she was doing well, that she just had to keep going like this.
But she couldn’t endure it anymore.
She had no confidence she could overcome it.
If she just let everything go,
if she gave up on life, wouldn’t everything become easier?
That thought alone had filled her head.
That was why she had been able to act so recklessly.
Because she had wanted to give up everything.
Maybe that was why she had been able to follow Gong Inbae home.
Yang Jeongwon’s necklace might have been nothing more than an excuse.
That day’s deviation from the path was both a shock and a catalyst for Kwon Jua.
Kwon Jua’s life, which had always followed fixed places and fixed times, cracked apart.
Seeing Inbae, who thought in a way completely different from her,
who lived in an environment completely different from hers, gave her a lot to think about.
The glass of soju Inbae gave her had been so bitter, and yet so sweet.
It felt as if a new world had opened for Kwon Jua.
She thought that maybe, instead of ending the world, trying to live in it wouldn’t be so bad.
She thought there was still so much of the world that Kwon Jua didn’t know.
After that, she went back several more times.
Carrying ramen to repay, however shamelessly, what she had been treated to.
But Inbae wasn’t there.
It was disappointing, but it was all right.
She only needed to feel the freedom she had felt back then.
She sat alone on the wooden platform, cooked ramen, and looked out at Seoul’s night view.
But it was strange.
That feeling didn’t come.
The night view of Seoul, the wooden platform, and the ramen were all the same, but there was no comfort.
There was no freedom, as if a new world were opening.
There was no ease that made her feel she could lay everything bare.
Only then did she realize.
The comfort Kwon Jua felt had not come from ramen, but from Gong Inbae.
It had not been the place, the night view, or the wooden platform, but Gong Inbae.
It wasn’t that she liked Gong Inbae romantically or anything like that.
Just…
Just…
Kwon Jua had only needed an escape.
She had only needed someone she could comfortably take everything out and talk to.
She had only wanted there to be someone with whom she didn’t have to wear a mask or deceive herself.
And that had been Gong Inbae.
But Gong Inbae disappeared.
Even when they became third-years and ended up in the same class, it felt too burdensome to approach him.
She was afraid of talking to Gong Inbae, who was being ostracized by the other kids, or doing anything together with him.
She was afraid of other people’s eyes.
So after school, she would secretly visit Inbae’s house, but Inbae was never there.
And at some point, Inbae disappeared.
Inbae’s house disappeared too.
An apartment building went up in its place.
She thought she could no longer find any trace of Inbae.
But six or seven years ago, she saw someone in the neighborhood who looked like Inbae.
He seemed to look like Inbae, but for that to be true, he was far too cool.
A body built through exercise and a fine luxury suit.
She thought Inbae couldn’t possibly be like that.
She passed him by, thinking that couldn’t be Inbae, but even after time passed, she couldn’t forget that face.
What if it really had been Inbae?
That thought came to her.
After that, she wondered about him from time to time.
How he was doing.
She did want to see him.
And that Inbae had appeared before Kwon Jua as a patient.
After eating herbal medicine, raw food, and alcohol together and coming down with acute enteritis.
.
.
.
In the end, she decided to check on Inbae’s condition before leaving work.
She was curious as a friend, but she also had a sense of responsibility as a doctor.
Checking on a patient who had received treatment in the ER and been moved to the ward was naturally something a doctor ought to do.
It hadn’t been that way until yesterday, but starting today, she had decided to make it so.
It was a new rule that had come into being for Kwon Jua as of today.
One that would disappear by tomorrow.
At the station, she checked Gong Inbae’s hospital room.
Room 2308.
Huh?
Is this right?
That’s a VIP room, though.
No, not just VIP, but a VVIP room.
The biggest and most expensive hospital room in their hospital.
Inbae had been admitted to that room.
Wasn’t something wrong?
She checked again and again.
But Inbae’s room really was 2308, and it really was a VVIP room.
It was strange.
The Inbae she knew couldn’t be admitted to a VVIP room.
It was a bit much to say it like this, but Inbae had been a child whose dream was to go to an orphanage.
That was how difficult and hard his life had been.
He had been a child standing at the edge of a cliff.
He had been Inbae, who had been anxious over eating a single packet of ramen.
And that Inbae was admitted to a VVIP room.
She couldn’t understand this situation.
What had happened to Inbae all this time?
She was curious.
She wasn’t curious about how Inbae had made a lot of money and ended up in a VVIP room.
All that time.
She was unbearably curious about how he had lived over those ten years.
She wondered what kind of face he had made, and how he had lived.
It felt like there would be so many stories.
Kwon Jua headed to Room 2308.
To check on Gong Inbae, not as a patient, but as a friend.
.
.
.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
I saw Scott’s face.
I remembered coming home yesterday.
I hadn’t been feeling well all day yesterday.
I was sweating, and my stomach kept churning.
The urge to vomit kept rising.
I thought I’d be fine once I slept and woke up,
thought I’d feel better if I went home and lay down,
but I guess not.
I was on my way to the bathroom because I felt like I was going to throw up when I collapsed.
After that, I remembered nothing.
I must have been found collapsed and brought to the hospital.
Was I really in that bad a condition?
“I’m truly relieved you’ve woken up.”
Scott’s voice was wet.
What’s with him this early in the morning?
This is too much. Don’t do that.
I like you better when you’re sly and don’t listen.
Don’t be like this for no reason.
“Where am I?”
“The hospital.”
When I tried to get up, Scott supported me.
With Scott’s help, I sat up with my back against the bed.
Only then did the hospital room come properly into view.
A spacious room.
It was well equipped with a bed, sofa, conference table, TV, and so on.
It seemed to be a VIP hospital room.
On one side, Obsidian Unit agents were guarding me.
“I’m fine now, so go rest. You’ve worked hard.”
“No, sir. We have strengthened the perimeter a little more. We have raised security to Level 3 and are currently providing close protection.”
“I’m the one who’s sick, so why are you raising the security level?”
Even though I had no strength, Scott’s words made me laugh.
I’m the one who’s sick, so why raise the security level?
“When you are ill, it is only natural to be careful and vigilant.”
“This is Korea. Nothing’s going to happen.”
I spoke as if soothing Scott.
“You are ill in that very Korea, are you not? You were never once ill even in the Philippines.”
Scott’s words left me speechless.
Is that so?
Come to think of it, maybe it was.
I think I had been tense the whole time.
In the Philippines, without even realizing it, I think I had been tense constantly.
The Philippines, where carrying firearms was unrestricted and there were plenty of lunatics.
Going back and forth to China, where things didn’t operate by common sense, I must have stayed tense without knowing it.
And when I came back to Korea, the thought that it was safe must have made that tension loosen without me realizing.
Was that why I got sick?
“Thanks.”
“Serving you, sir, is my duty.”
Just then, the door to the hospital room opened and a female doctor came in.
“You’re already awake.”
“Yes…”
“But it’s really hard to get in here. What’s going on outside?”
“Sorry?”
“There were so many people outside.”
I looked at Scott.
It seemed Scott had stationed Obsidian Unit members outside for security.
“Ah. I’m sorry. I’ll take care of it immediately.”
As I said that, I looked at Scott.
Scott got up, grumbling.
“Lower security to Level 1.”
When Scott called out, the agents inside and the agents outside quietly left their positions.
Now the agents would probably begin guarding me from a distance, disguised as guests or visitors.
“How are you feeling?”
“I think I’m all right.”
“It was acute enteritis. You’ve received fluids and the vomiting has stopped, so we’ll observe you for the day, and you should be able to be discharged tomorrow.”
“I see. Thank you.”
The doctor nodded, then paused for a moment.
“Yes… But…”
“Yes.”
“You don’t recognize me?”
Only then did I raise my head and look at the female doctor’s face.
It was a familiar face.
In an instant, I checked the name embroidered on her coat.
Kwon Jua.
“Huh? Kwon Jua?”
“Now you recognize me.”
Kwon Jua smiled slightly.
She’s still pretty.
I was a little surprised.
She had poured out her worries about having to go to medical school,
saying that medical school was her mom and dad’s dream, and in the end, she really had gone to medical school.
Seeing someone who had achieved her dream made me feel oddly proud and pleased.
“So you became a doctor after all.”
“What?”
“You said you had to become a doctor. Back then, at my house.”
“Ah… I did.”
Kwon Jua answered wistfully, as if something had come to mind.
I didn’t remember exactly what we had talked about that night.
I only remembered it as a deviation from the path, as freedom.
But thinking back, a lot of things had happened that night.
“Congratulations on becoming a doctor.”
I offered her my congratulations.
“Thanks. I remember now. That night. I still think about that night sometimes.”
“Huh?”
To Kwon Jua, that night really had come as a great stimulus.
The experience of that day had played a large part in allowing her to become a doctor like this.
She had admired the idea that if she went to medical school and became a doctor, she could live that kind of life.
“I really liked that day. I told you back then too, didn’t I? That it felt so free.”
Kwon Jua spoke with a smile.
Why is Kwon Jua talking like that?
There seems to be a lot of room for misunderstanding in this conversation.
I’d appreciate it if she used subjects whenever possible.
A victim had already appeared.
Hearing our conversation, Scott quietly stood up.
“I will step outside for a while. Please speak comfortably.”
“Scott, wait…”
I called Scott, but he only left behind a smile with his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at me, then went out.
That’s not what this is…
I feel kind of wronged.
.
.
.
After Scott left.
Kwon Jua and I sat together and began chatting softly.
The awkwardness lasted only a moment.
As we talked, one story led to another.
We talked about how each of us had lived, and what we were doing now.
I couldn’t say everything, but it was fun.
I also said a lot of pointless things.
Kwon Jua, too, was able to be honest for the first time in a while.
Because she could be that way in front of Inbae.
For the first time since that night, Kwon Jua felt at ease.
She had found a diary she had lost.
The Inbae before her eyes looked a little different now.
*******
Hong Kong Triad headquarters.
“Chairman. They say production of D-Sand will be completed today. We will load it and send it out as quickly as possible.”
After hearing the report, Zhang Tian slowly closed his eyes and sank into thought.
He was debating whether it would be all right to send the samples as they were.
After the previous samples were stolen, they had hurriedly made another million samples.
They had barely managed it by running a small factory at full capacity.
The problem was whether the samples they sent again would arrive properly.
It seemed the old foxes within the Triad had made their move.
He had secretly given orders to grasp the situation and report back, but all that returned were reports saying there was nothing unusual.
It was strange.
They were moving this openly,
and the goods had been intercepted in the middle, yet there was nothing unusual.
It was right to assume that even the reporting line had been contaminated.
There was no one he could trust.
If even the samples made this time were stolen, the blow would be considerable.
He wasn’t talking about financial losses.
No matter how much the Triad had declined, it could withstand that much.
The problem was trust.
If the samples disappeared again this time, the Daehun Faction would almost certainly cancel the contract.
Was there any need to work with a place that couldn’t even deliver samples properly?
Even Zhang Tian wouldn’t trade with such a place.
No, when the first samples had already disappeared, those bastards’ lives might have disappeared along with them.
If they failed to secure the contract with the Daehun Faction, Mao Qin would eventually disappear from the Triad.
He would be held responsible for the Korean conquest he had argued for so strongly ending in nothing.
After that, it would be Zhang Tian’s turn.
He couldn’t simply stand by and watch a future so obvious unfold.
Zhang Tian made a decision.
“This time, send it direct.”
“Pardon?”
“Didn’t you hear me? Send it straight from the factory to Pyeongtaek, direct.”
“In that case, the logistics costs will be high, and the risk of exposure will also increase.”
Zhang Tian nodded as he answered.
Zhang Tian had his own calculations.
“I know. That’s why we have to do it. And put a few men on the cargo ship to guard the cargo.”
“Pardon?”
When the secretary asked again, Zhang Tian glared at him once.
“What’s with you today? Why do you keep making me repeat myself?”
“I apologize.”
The secretary bowed his head.
“Take care of it immediately and make sure we can track the cargo’s location in real time.”
“Understood.”
The chief secretary bowed his head and left.
The chairman’s office was empty.
Zhang Tian turned his chair and looked out the window at the night view of Hong Kong.
It was beautiful.
He didn’t want to lose it.
Looking at that sight, he thought he could do anything to protect that place.
Zhang Tian believed he could accept anything.