Jeong-eun looked at Seong-ho standing before the operating theater and said, as if she found it curious,
“How could a thing like this happen right when he was having a health checkup?”
“So how fortunate is that? A neurosurgery doctor happened to be right there too, and if the symptoms hadn’t been grasped at once, it would have taken that much longer… I can’t tell you how fortunate it is.”
“Fortunate it is, all right… I just find it strange, is all.”
Turning her head away from Yeong-su Cha, who was saying how fortunate it was, Jeong-eun looked around at the other family members seated there. From the very back, arms folded, Tak-hyeon spoke with a frown.
“So you’re displeased about it?”
“It’s not that I’m displeased. It’s just that I find it a little strange…”
“If you’re going to say that sort of thing, go home.”
“Father.”
Tak-hyeon, arms still folded, glared at Jeong-eun and said,
“The youngest is inside the operating theater locked in a fight for her life, and her older sister sits out here blathering this and that—it grates on the ear, so just go home.”
When Tak-hyeon told Jeong-eun to get out of his sight, Jeong-eun turned herself around to say something. Just then, Jeong-eun’s Yeong-su Cha hurriedly apologized to Tak-hyeon and Seong-ho.
“Chairman. She said it only because she found it so strange—meaning that it turned out well. Brother-in-law. Don’t misunderstand. She said it out of a wish for her sister-in-law’s health.”
“I don’t misunderstand. I know well it’s said out of worry.”
Cha sent a grateful look to Seong-ho for accepting his apology, then took Jeong-eun’s arm, which she’d turned away, and pulled her straight. Jeong-eun flung off Cha’s hand and sat up straight with a face full of discontent.
Having quietly watched all this from the very back, Tak-hyeon asked Seong-ho,
“What do you mean to tell the press?”
Still standing before the operating theater, watching the surgery time counting up above it, Seong-ho turned his head to Tak-hyeon and answered.
“We’ll prepare and put out to the press that she’s abroad for a meeting with the head of a European fashion brand, and that while she’s in Europe she plans to tour several countries.”
“They’ll think it strange, since it wasn’t a scheduled trip.”
“I intend to say the European side moved up its schedule, so the meeting was arranged in a hurry.”
“Hmm…”
The response wasn’t satisfactory, but knowing there was no better method in the present situation, Tak-hyeon permitted Seong-ho’s handling of it by saying nothing.
Just as the brief exchange between Seong-ho and Tak-hyeon ended, Mun-jong and his wife entered the family waiting room.
“Gyeong-eun!”
Coming into the waiting room, Mun-jong called Gyeong-eun’s name wretchedly and ran to the operating theater door. With a face full of grief, he lunged as if to open the door and go into the theater.
“Brother.”
Worried about what might happen, Seong-ho blocked Mun-jong. But at Seong-ho’s restraint, Mun-jong cried out all the more wretchedly.
“Gyeong-eun. What is this? Why are you having surgery? Why!”
“Brother. Calm down. She’s in surgery inside.”
“Kim. What on earth happened?”
Mun-jong turned to Seong-ho and asked. Seong-ho calmed Mun-jong, looked at the operating theater a moment, then relayed to him the same explanation he’d given the other family members. Having heard it, Mun-jong, as if the strength had drained from his legs, spoke with a wobble.
“What a thousandfold mercy. A thousandfold mercy. If a thing like this had happened somewhere else, it very nearly would have been a disaster. Fortunately she was at the hospital, so they could respond quickly.”
As if his strength had drained away, Mun-jong let his shoulders droop, stood before the operating theater, and caught his breath. Watching this from her chair, Jeong-eun snorted as if she found it absurd.
“Now hold on. Why is he making a bigger fuss than anyone?”
“Oh my. What a thing to say. He’s her brother, so of course he’s worried.”
Jeong-eun turned her head and looked up at Hyeon-ju Bang, who was taking Mun-jong’s side.
“Did you get your makeup done, sister? Your makeup’s the level of someone off to an awards ceremony.”
Heavily made-up, Hyeon-ju Bang covered her face awkwardly with a hand.
“What’s heavy about my makeup? I only did basic makeup, since I might meet other people.”
“If you were worried about Gyeong-eun, you should have come with a face like that.”
Jeong-eun pointed at the face of Min-yeong Oh—sitting beside Suk-ja with a dull, bare face without a trace of makeup.
Just then, Suk-ja looked at Hyeon-ju Bang’s face and frowned. Then, looking at the Mun-jong who’d wobbled before the operating theater, she snorted.
“If you came late, all you had to do was quietly say you were sorry and sit down—what’s all this carrying on? Do you two not even worry for the youngest?”
“Mother. We’re worried too…”
“Quiet.”
Suk-ja gripped Min-yeong Oh’s hand tightly and shot a glare at Hyeon-ju Bang. The heavy makeup, and even the hair swept up, made it look as though she’d been not only to a makeup mirror but to a salon besides.
“…This is the fine work of the one who’s the eldest.”
At Suk-ja’s words, Hyeon-ju Bang, with a face on the verge of tears, read Tak-hyeon’s mood. Mun-jong too straightened his bent legs and looked at Tak-hyeon. He was reading how Tak-hyeon felt about it.
Tak-hyeon, arms still folded, didn’t so much as spare a glance for the Mun-jong couple’s looks; he turned to Do-beom and said,
“Chief Hwang, help Head Kim and get the press under control. If word gets around that all the Ilhyeon family gathered at the Seoul Ilhyeon Hospital, strange rumors might start circulating.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Only after giving Do-beom the instruction did Tak-hyeon turn his gaze to Hyeon-ju Bang. And looking at her heavy makeup, he clicked his tongue and said,
“On top of the news that Gyeong-eun collapsed, if a photo of you—the eldest—coming as if pleased gets caught, the out-of-wedlock story we’ve only just put the fire out on might come flaring back out along with it, so conduct yourself well and don’t let that happen.”
At his words, Hyeon-ju Bang bowed her head low. Mun-jong, who’d come from before the operating theater to where Hyeon-ju Bang was, bowed his head to Tak-hyeon at her side.
“I’m sorry. We came thinking we’d get ready quickly and come…”
“Enough, just sit down. It’s distracting.”
At the sight of Tak-hyeon, who had no intention of hearing excuses, Mun-jong and Hyeon-ju Bang quietly went to one side of the chairs and sat.
“That’s exactly why I said let’s hurry.”
“Come now, we might meet the doctor and be photographed—how could I just come like that?”
“Look at your sister-in-law. She hasn’t done her hair, and no makeup either.”
“That’s because she lives with Mother.”
“Really, you…”
“Why turn it on me? And you—just how quickly did you get ready? You dawdled just as much as I did.”
“The way you speak to your husband…”
As the voices grew steadily louder, people’s gazes drew toward the Mun-jong couple. Mun-jong hurriedly read Tak-hyeon’s mood and, dipping his head slightly, said,
“We’ll settle this at home.”
“Who’s supposed to be afraid of ‘we’ll settle it at home’?”
Not backing down, Hyeon-ju Bang shot back at Mun-jong and turned her head toward where she felt a gaze. There, Min-yeong Oh, wearing a sneer, held Suk-ja and looked at her.
That woman…
At the sight of Min-yeong Oh’s face, not a trace of makeup to be found, anger surged up in Hyeon-ju Bang. Because the contrast with herself made her feel all the more the sinner. Hyeon-ju Bang even came to think that Min-yeong Oh, having come to the hospital with a bare face so unlike her usual self, had done so deliberately to throw her into a corner.
Standing before the operating theater, Seong-ho looked without a word at the waiting-room chairs where the commotion had briefly flared. Watching from a step’s remove as the family waged their war of feelings while Gyeong-eun underwent a surgery skirting the line between life and death, Seong-ho’s gaze sharpened. At the sight of them thinking first of their own comfort before Gyeong-eun, a fire blazed up in his chest.
Having looked around at the family in their chairs with a sharpened gaze, Seong-ho turned his head again and looked at the clock above the operating theater. At some point, three hours had comfortably passed since the surgery began, and the endless waiting went on.
When six hours had passed, Gyeong-eun’s family, who’d kept their places, began to complain of discomfort.
“Mother. There’s no telling when it’ll end, so go and rest a while and come back.”
Hyeon-ju Bang urged Suk-ja to rest.
“Yes. Father. I’ll have a word with the hospital director, so go rest in an empty room and come back. How many hours has this been now?”
Mun-jong nodded as if in agreement with Hyeon-ju Bang and urged Tak-hyeon to rest.
“If you’re tired, then you go in and rest.”
Tak-hyeon, sitting bolt upright with his back straight, spoke without unfolding his arms.
“Do you think I don’t know it’s you who want to rest?”
“Father. It’s not that—Mother ought to rest a little too.”
Mun-jong, unable to sit still as if his body were twisting itself in knots, tried to persuade Tak-hyeon. But without relaxing his seated posture, Tak-hyeon looked at Suk-ja and said,
“If you’re tired, you go in.”
“I’m not tired.”
Suk-ja—who hadn’t said a single word, yet kept being dragged into it—turned to the children and shouted.
“When did I ever say I was tired? Just as your father said, if you’re tired, you go in and rest.”
“Mother. It’s not that.”
“I’m going nowhere, leaving my own child.”
Suk-ja glared at the children as if to say she’d give them a hiding if they said “rest” one more time. Then, patting the back of the hand of Min-yeong Oh—who was holding her hand tightly without a word—she said,
“Child. You’re the one suffering. You go in and rest.”
“Mother. The young miss suffers far more than I do. I’m only sitting here like this. What suffering could there be to speak of? I’m fine, so let the tired ones go in, and let us keep the watch.”
Suk-ja wore a moved expression toward Min-yeong Oh. And gripping Min-yeong Oh’s hand tightly, she gazed at her intently.
Jeong-eun looked back and forth between Min-yeong Oh and Hyeon-ju Bang as if she found it amusing, and said to Hyeon-ju Bang,
“All of a sudden you’ve become the wicked one, sister?”
“You brat!”
When Mun-jong shouted at Jeong-eun, Jeong-eun stuck out her lips.
“Did I say something wrong?”
Jeong-eun twitched the corner of her mouth up as if amused, and the corners of Hyeon-ju Bang’s eyes rose.
Just then, the firmly shut operating theater door opened. Standing before it, Seong-ho hurriedly asked the Chang-mu Kim who approached, removing his cap.
“How did it go?”
Chang-mu Kim, who’d performed the surgery, felt that the people approaching him were familiar faces. They were people whose names came up on the news—and the economic broadcasts—every other day. And the one among them who looked to be the greatest elder was a man whose name Chang-mu Kim had heard until his ears rang since he was a child. But Chang-mu Kim, wholly unbothered, told Seong-ho the surgical progress.
“It was more serious than expected, so the surgery took a little long.”
“Serious? Did a problem arise?”
Jeong-eun threw out the question at Chang-mu Kim’s words, but Chang-mu Kim, without so much as a glance at her, went on speaking, looking only at Seong-ho.
“Three vessels burst at the same time. This is a very rare case. Had there been even a little delay, it very nearly would have been a disaster.”
Seong-ho closed his eyes for a moment. At the thought that his choice had not been wrong, he felt the tension release.
Chang-mu Kim continued his explanation to Seong-ho.
“We found and sealed all three, so the surgery ended successfully. Tonight we’ll watch her progress in the intensive care unit, and once she wakes, we plan to move her to a general room tomorrow or the day after.”
“Thank you.”
Seong-ho bowed his head to Chang-mu Kim. At the thought that he was an even finer doctor than he’d felt in that former life, Seong-ho lowered his head. Chang-mu Kim raised the bowed Seong-ho upright and said,
“Thanks to the swift surgery, there should be no impairment to her daily life.”
“She won’t limp, or lose the use of a hand, or anything like that?”
Suk-ja, gripping Min-yeong Oh’s hand, couldn’t hold back and threw out the question. Perhaps unable to ignore even Suk-ja’s question, Chang-mu Kim turned his head, looked at her, and answered.
“Yes. According to what we confirmed during surgery by sending electrical signals, there was no abnormality. So long as she wakes well, she should be able to live just as before.”
“Aigo. Doctor, sir. You’ve worked hard.”
Suk-ja went up to Chang-mu Kim and took his hand. Unable to fling off the chairman’s wife’s hand, Chang-mu Kim held it and, looking at Seong-ho, said,
“Whether heaven lent a hand or it was chance, I don’t know—but thanks to it bursting while she was at the hospital with you, Head, we could take proper measures, and it seems the best result came of it. That aside, your health checkup, Head…”
“Given the situation as it is, you needn’t concern yourself with that.”
Seong-ho gave a slight smile at the relieved Chang-mu Kim and stepped a little aside. It was to give Chang-mu Kim a gift, in gratitude for Gyeong-eun’s surgery ending successfully.
“Chairman. This is Neurosurgery Head Chang-mu Kim, who took charge of Gyeong-eun’s surgery.”
Seong-ho introduced Chang-mu Kim to Tak-hyeon.
“Doctor. This is my father-in-law and the chairman of the Ilhyeon Group, Chairman Tak-hyeon Lee.”
When Seong-ho introduced Tak-hyeon, a tension came over the face of Chang-mu Kim—who until then had been indifferent to the other family members. Because indifference toward the others might be fine, but Tak-hyeon was another matter.
“I’m Chang-mu Kim.”
When Chang-mu Kim bowed his head, Tak-hyeon walked to the spot Seong-ho had vacated and took Chang-mu Kim’s hand.
“Neurosurgery Head Chang-mu Kim, is it?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve done well.”
“Not at all. I only did the work I’m meant to do.”
“Your name. I’ll be sure to remember it.”
At Tak-hyeon’s words, Chang-mu Kim’s face flushed red. Because even Chang-mu Kim, doctor born and bred, understood what it meant to say he’d remember his name. Tak-hyeon patted Chang-mu Kim’s shoulder, expressing his gratitude for the surgery’s successful end, and the other family members each said a word to Chang-mu Kim, telling him he’d worked hard.
Having yielded his place to Tak-hyeon and stepped a pace away, Seong-ho, grateful that his choice had not been wrong, raised his head. And he turned his gaze to the people of the Ilhyeon family, huddled together in one place. With one of the things he’d absolutely had to do upon coming here resolved, the thing that remained—revenge—loomed all the larger in his eyes.
(End of Chapter 146)