Hospital director Gi-cheol Do and center director No-nam Yun stood side by side with Chang-mu Kim, head of neurosurgery, and addressed Gyeong-eun Lee.

"Ma'am. How are you feeling? Is there anything at all making you uncomfortable?"

"If there's anything that troubles you, call for us anytime. I'll see to it personally."

Gyeong-eun, recovered now to the point where she could push herself upright and sit, leaned against the bed and answered with a smile.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, Director, and to you, Center Director, I feel much better. Especially Doctor Chang-mu Kim here—he mended me so well that I can sit up like this and talk with you."

At Gyeong-eun's thanks, Chang-mu Kim, the head of neurosurgery, shook his head.

"Thanks to me? Not at all. I only did my job."

Hospital director Gi-cheol Do threw a pointed glance at Chang-mu Kim, who had said it was nothing and clamped his mouth shut.

It was a signal—now that the subject had come up, bring up the matter of the hospital's support funding.

But in answer to Director Do's glance, Chang-mu Kim said something else entirely.

"Your recovery is proving every bit as positive as the surgery itself. Starting tomorrow, it would be good for you to get up once every two hours and take a short walk, to work at moving about."

"Then when will I be able to be discharged?"

"It's a touch early to be talking about discharge already… but it won't take long."

To Chang-mu Kim, who was hedging, Gyeong-eun pressed for an exact date.

"Can I be discharged next week?"

"Next week will be difficult."

"Then the week after? Can I be discharged the week after that?"

"That too…"

Wearing a troubled expression, Chang-mu Kim glanced over at Seong-ho Kim and shot him a look begging for help.

Seong-ho, who had been standing by the bed simply listening, smiled at Chang-mu Kim's look and gently soothed the impatient-seeming Gyeong-eun.

"Gyeong-eun. Let's take it step by step. You've only just started walking—it really is too early to be talking about discharge already."

At Seong-ho's words that…