Since Section Chief Woo was with us, visiting his wife wasn't difficult.
After having Agent Jeong Ilsu wait on the first floor, we followed Section Chief Woo to the hospital room.
The inside of the hospital was noisier than I'd expected.
At the first-floor outpatient counter, I saw many civilians who seemed out of place in this hospital.
Families who looked rather wealthy were waiting their turn there.
It was a strange sight for a veterans' hospital, but now wasn't the time to find out why.
We passed the waiting people, took the elevator, and went up to the inpatient ward.
Section Chief Woo's wife was in a general ward—a four-patient room.
Before entering the room, we ran into an older woman coming out of it.
She looked exhausted, but when she saw Section Chief Woo, her eyes widened.
"Oh, isn't that Jeonghun!"
Section Chief Woo smiled gently at her words.
"Yes. I'm here."
At his words, the woman hugged him tightly and checked his body all over.
"Oh my, it's really you. My baby."
She was Section Chief Woo's mother.
Having confirmed her son was unharmed, she asked him,
"But how did you come here without a word?"
"It was a difficult place to contact."
Section Chief Woo answered her question while leaning into his mother's embrace.
"So, have you finished all your work and come back for good?"
But not every question could be answered.
"Not exactly. That's what I need to talk to you about."
At his mother's question, he looked at me.
Following her son's gaze, she turned her head and started when she saw Hanna and me.
"Look at me, leaving the guests standing there."
Hanna and I bowed to Section Chief Woo's mother.
"We are Section Chief Woo's colleagues."
Receiving our greeting, she replied hurriedly,
"Nice to meet you. Please take good care of my son."
After answering and raising her head, she looked at Hanna with a puzzled expression.
"This young lady is a colleague too?"
Section Chief Woo answered his puzzled mother.
"It's a special place. Hanna is in charge of very important matters too."
Indeed, Hanna was handling important work.
"If you say so, it must be true."
She immediately nodded and apologized to Hanna.
"I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with these things."
"It's all right."
After Hanna accepted the apology, Section Chief Woo's mother looked troubled.
"There's nothing to eat in the room right now... You haven't had a proper meal since you got back, have you?"
"That's..."
"I'll quickly go buy something. Go in and wait. The baby has been waiting for you. Guests, please go in and wait a moment as well."
Before we could stop her, she headed for the elevator.
Watching his mother rush off, Section Chief Woo scratched his head.
"She's usually a calm person, but I suppose she's excited because I came so suddenly."
"It's fine. That can happen."
At his words, Hanna and I shook our heads.
"Shall we go in then?"
In front of the hospital room, Section Chief Woo took another deep breath and stepped inside.
Section Chief Woo's wife was sitting on the innermost bed of the packed four-patient room.
A young woman who looked unwell even at a glance.
Seeing the sweat beaded on her face, it seemed she had forced herself up upon hearing sounds from outside.
Seeing Section Chief Woo enter, she smiled with a weary face.
"You've worked hard. Welcome back."
Section Chief Woo hurried across the room and stood beside his wife's bed.
He took his frail wife's hand and smiled back.
"I'm back."
His wife's health seemed quite poor, but the two appeared to be close.
After briefly stroking her husband's hand, the woman bowed her head to us.
"I'm sorry. We have guests, but this is the only way I can receive you."
"It's all right."
Like Section Chief Woo's mother, his wife also seemed to have a decent demeanor and personality.
They were people who would do fine in the underground city.
His wife's health was a concern, but there seemed to be a way around that too.
I didn't want to intrude between the couple meeting after so long, but I couldn't wait forever.
I spoke to Section Chief Woo, who was caressing his wife's hand.
"May I examine your wife for a moment?"
Hearing this, Section Chief Woo's eyes widened.
He approached me with an expectant face.
"That's right! Captain Hyeon, it works on Earth too, doesn't it? Could my wife get better?"
I dodged the spit flying toward my face and spoke.
"I need to check first. We don't know if my method will work here."
At my words, Section Chief Woo bowed deeply.
"Please. I beg you."
I stood beside his wife and said,
"May I hold your wrist for a moment?"
The wife, who had been watching her husband with a bewildered face, asked me,
"Are you a doctor?"
"No. I'm not a doctor, let alone a Korean medicine practitioner. I just know one unscientific, quack method."
If this weren't Earth and my patient weren't an ordinary person, I wouldn't have needed to say this much.
But I couldn't be confident that magic would work on Section Chief Woo's wife either.
Neither Soph nor I were proficient in healing magic, and we didn't know if healing magic would work on ordinary people on Earth.
Besides, healing magic wasn't almighty.
It could heal wounds or weakness, but if there was an actual disease, the magic probably wouldn't work properly.
"Looking at my husband, it doesn't seem like a mere quack method."
Section Chief Woo's wife smiled and held out her hand.
I took the wrist she offered without much expectation.
I opened my senses wide and examined her body.
Just like when searching for obsidian inside a monster's body, I checked Section Chief Woo's wife's body.
I didn't sense any particular problems.
It seemed there would be no issue casting magic.
Holding her hand, I cast healing magic.
Dark energy flowed from the obsidian attached to the invisible spear tip on my back, passed through my body, and created the spell.
The wife's hand glowed faintly as the healing magic seeped into her body.
"Huh?"
When the magic activated, she looked at me in surprise.
Color began to return to her face. The cold sweat vanished, and her slumped posture straightened.
After checking her body, she asked me in an astonished voice,
"What happened? I feel so much better."
"Is the disease cured?"
Section Chief Woo, watching from behind, also asked urgently.
I shook my head at his words.
"Unfortunately, it is not cured. Her condition has only temporarily improved. It will return to normal after some time."
"I see..."
At my words, Section Chief Woo hung his head in disappointment.
I took out a box from my backpack and said,
"As expected, this treatment method is meant for energy users."
[Healing magic moves the energy inside the target's body to treat them. In the past, even people who couldn't use energy were treated at facilities with magic circles drawn to draw in ambient energy, but such facilities no longer remain.]
According to Soph, there had apparently been magic hospitals in the Magic Kingdom capable of treating ordinary people.
I didn't know if we could find such ruins in the future, but we couldn't expect to find them immediately.
And while she couldn't be treated right away, that didn't mean there was no way.
I reached into the box and took out two glass bottles.
After spreading a soundproofing magic around us, I handed the bottles to Section Chief Woo.
"Take these. These are Awakening Potions for your wife and mother."
I had set aside some Awakening Potions to give to the family members of agents who would be returning with us.
What I gave to Section Chief Woo was part of that stock.
I had planned to give them from the start, and Section Chief Woo knew it, but he seemed unable to understand why I was handing them over at this moment.
I told him the reason.
"I haven't checked your mother, so I don't know if this medicine will work on her, but it will definitely be effective for your wife."
When I checked with extrasensory perception, Section Chief Woo's wife possessed an overflowing aptitude to become a candidate user.
With luck, she could have become a candidate even without the Awakening Potion.
With this level of aptitude, using the potion would definitely make her a candidate user.
"Then...!"
Section Chief Woo gripped the glass bottles tightly.
It was fortunate we were on Earth. If this were Trapist, the bottles would have all shattered.
After confirming the bottles were intact, I spoke to Section Chief Woo.
"If she becomes an energy user and comes over to Trapist, healing magic will definitely work."
If healing magic was used and she became an energy user, she would be able to wield superhuman strength, let alone recover her health.
Hearing my words, he bowed his head once more.
"Truly... thank you."
Sincere gratitude.
I waved my hand.
"Your wife was lucky."
This was the luck of Section Chief Woo's wife, who had beaten one-in-fifty odds.
At my words, Section Chief Woo shook his head.
"No. If Captain Hyeon weren't here, this would have been impossible."
That was true as well.
Until then, Section Chief Woo's wife had been watching us with a bewildered face.
She seemed unable to believe the situation.
After checking my phone, I spoke to Section Chief Woo.
"It's a hospital, so she can get the injection here. Section Chief Woo, stay with your family. I'll give you Agent Jeong Ilsu's phone number—tell him if you need anything. I'll finish some business in Seoul and come back."
It wouldn't be easy for him to explain everything to his family alone, but I couldn't stay at this hospital forever.
Having confirmed the city's new residents, I now had to handle the next matter.
"Are you leaving now, sir?"
"You know I'm busy."
At my words, Section Chief Woo didn't stop me.
His wife also flusteredly brought up something about his mother, but Section Chief Woo stopped her.
I said goodbye to her and asked Hanna,
"Are you coming with me?"
"Of course."
Hanna chirped and clung to my side. Even though she didn't seem to have awakened yet, her expression was bright.
We left the room, took the elevator, and went down to the first floor.
When we got down, there were even more civilians.
People waiting their turn.
Even without enhancing my senses, their words reached my strengthened ears.
The words of a middle-aged woman in luxury brands and a young man with a tired face.
"Why the hell did we have to come to a military hospital to get some shot?"
"What do you mean? Father pulled major strings to get this slot. Don't you know he even begged the party leader to get this?"
"How would I know that? Where do they make you get a shot without explaining the effects? What if there are side effects!"
"Keep your voice down! Didn't Father say he got us tickets to survive? He said this shot is what lets you live like kings over there!"
It was a short conversation, but not difficult to understand.
Much was omitted and distorted, but I could immediately tell what they meant.
If everyone here had come for the same reason as that mother and son, they were all here to get the Awakening Potion.
That Awakening Potion was part of the five hundred doses given to Korean power holders previously.
It had been handed over to obtain information, and I knew it would be used for personal gain, but seeing it exploited like this left me with mixed feelings.
My agent's family hadn't known the truth either, yet these people were squeezing through the cracks of security to reap benefits.
"As I thought, we can't let this continue."
"Huh?"
Hanna tilted her head, but those words weren't meant for her.
They were words I said to myself.
I took out my phone and dialed a number.
The call connected, and the other party answered.
"You finally called."
A man's voice came quietly from the receiver.
It was the voice of the NIS agent I had met at the warehouse.
After confirming the agent's voice, I spoke into the phone.
"Let's meet. At the same place as last time. It would be good if that reporter we met could come too."
Having seen the secret being exploited for the benefit of the powerful, there was no longer any need to keep it.
I felt it was time to keep the promise I had made then.
Family (2)