Chapter 2: It is not indigestion [1]

‘What the…?’ Ganghyuk tried to swallow the curse.

There was a man with a mustache right in his face. Dolseok was staring at Ganghyuk intently.

“Sir, if your mother knew about it, I would be scolded.”

“Are you talking to me? Who are you? And where am I?”

“Sir, are you pulling my legs again? What is that anyway?”

Ganghyuk looked at the thing that Dolseok pointed at. It was the medical visitation bag that he grabbed hard during the flight in his unconsciousness. But, it seemed that his clothes had been replaced with something strange.

“What is this? Why am I wearing it?”

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“Your mother made it for you. That is why you are wearing it.”

“Mother?”

“Please, it is not a moment to play a joke. I am going to Okseok first.” And the man rushed out of the room just like that.

“Ha” Ganghyuk sighed as he was left alone in the small room. ‘What is on earth happening here?’ He tried to check himself. He wore a white Hanbok (1) and sat on a futon. There was a small lamp and a low desk near him. The wall was covered with white Korean paper, but the material was different from what he saw in the Folk Village.

‘What happened?’ Ganghyuk tried remembering to the moment just before he lost his consciousness.

‘Yes, I met the president… and then I met the chairman…’ He did not remember what he did after meeting him. It was as if someone had cut the part out of his memory, completely erasing it.

‘What happened to me?’ He was wondering for a while until he heard a voice.

“Where is Ganghyuk?”

“Well…”

“Tell me, where is he?”

It seemed that the unknown man was very angry. And, the problem was that the target might be Ganghyuk.

Without any surprise, the door opened with a bang. As the door was slammed open too hard, the hinge was almost removed from its brackets.

“Hey, it is already noon and you are still there, lazy boy?”

The speaker was an old man with good looking beard. From his face, Ganghyuk recognized him immediately, but he could not believe his eyes. This guy could not be alive! He himself had cremated him and spread his ashes in the river!

Ganghyuk rubbed his eyes, but he was the same person even after Ganghyuk looked at him again and again.

“D…addy?”

“Daddy? It seems you are not fully awake yet.”

“Is that really you? You passed away last year. What happened?”

“What? Ha ha…” The old man laughed as if he had gone crazy, his beard trembling while his body trembled together with it like an aspen.

‘Is that really my father?’

His laugh was the same his late father’s. Seeing all of this, Ganghyuk felt that he was haunted.

The old man was very angry.

“Bastard!” the old man said. He rolled up the sleeves and held a brush on the floor. He flourished the brush as if he were a cleanup hitter in a baseball game. He was a strong man although he had wrinkles on the face.

Dolseok rushed in to pacify the old man.

“Please sir, he has recovered from the fever just now.”

“Leave me alone, Dolseok. Let me do it.”

“Okseok is sick now, and we cannot have another patient.”

“Ha, the boy… What should I do?”

The old man left the brush on the floor and tried to catch his breath.

Dolseok helped the old man, who had fallen to get up from the ground.

“Sir, I will take care of him.”

“Thank you for taking care of the bad boy. Okay… When can we expect the doctor?”

“Soon, sir.”

“Ok… I see.”

The old man walked away while shaking his head, his face full of agony. “God, why is my only son a useless bastard? Did I commit a big sin at some point in my life? He has not even washed his face yet even though the sun has risen high.”

Hearing his ‘father’s’ monologue, Ganghyuk felt very uncomfortable. It seemed like he was being scolded, he who was always at first position in school, and had a good life until he became the professor.

‘If it is a dream, it must be a nightmare.’ While he was looking at the back of the old man leaving the room, Dolseok arrived next to him. He bowed his head and said. “Sir, let’s go. Your father might die because of the agony.”

“Where do you want me to go, sir?”

“Please sir, do not call me ‘sir’. It is not comfortable for me to handle a joke right now.”

Ganghyuk did not know Dolseok at all, but the latter acted like he knew the former very well. He thought that Dolseok had good skills in acting. He seemed like a good actor from Chungmuro (2). However, if he were an actor, this was as good as it got.

‘What is this? That is a louse.’

Lice were travelling over Dolseok’s hair and shoulders, but he did not care about them. Even for a method actor, this must have been an unbearable situation. Also, the scene that he saw from the distance was quite strange as well. In the blue sky was a smoke coming out of a chimney from all the cooking being done.

‘Seems like it is not a dream.’ Ganghyuk reckoned, but could not understand what had actually happened. And while he was busy wondering about the whole mess of a situation, Dolseok stood there without a movement.

‘I guess I will follow him then. Let’s try to follow him to discover what has happened.’ It did not seem that there would be any harm after all.

“OK, I will follow you.”

“Yes, master.” Dolseok swaggered his shoulders as he walked, seeming like he wanted to hurry up. His steps got faster and faster as the two approached a small thatched house after crossing the wide yard.

There were many people gathered in that area, and the old man who yelled at him just now was lingering outside the house.

It was a servant who was sick, but the old man was at a loss.

“Has the doctor not arrived yet?”

“No, sir.”

“Catastrophe! How can indigestion be so fatal?” The old man murmured impatiently.

There was a groaning sound coming from the room, causing Ganghyuk to look at the room out of curiosity.

A boy who was less than fifteen years old was lying down, sweating hard. Dolseok rushed in and groaned with anxiety, “Okseok, how do you feel?”

“Br….o…th…er”

The boy seemed to be very sick in the eyes of Ganghyuk, who was a doctor. It seemed that he was suffering from dehydration and fever, taking the dry lips into consideration.

“Here is the doctor!” Someone announced as the doctor arrived and politely bowed to the old man. “How are you, sir”

“I am always same. How about your father?” The old man responded.

“He is okay. Thank you for asking.” The doctor said.

“My servant is very sick. Please take a look.”

“Yes, I heard. I will take a look, sir.”

With that, the doctor walked inside the room, then rolled up Okseok’s sleeve to examine him.

“I will test the pulse.” The doctor said as he felt the boy’s pulse for a while and then nodded his head.

Ganghyuk was looking at his examination with interest.

“It is the disease because of blood stasis. I will stab his fingers and give him some oriental medicine.” The doctor diagnosed. then tied a finger of Okseok and stabbed it with a needle.

With that, blackish red blood started dripping out.

And now, it was Ganghyuk who was startled. He was just thinking, ‘Is he really going to stab the finger?’ He thought they were performing, when he saw the real blood, he realized that maybe it was neither a dream, nor a joke; but, in fact, the reality.

“Eu…” A painful moaning arose. At least, the pain Okseok felt seemed quite real. If that were the case, he could not leave just like that.

“Wait a moment. Can I see him?” Ganghyuk suddenly interrupted the solemn atmosphere with a tone of confidence.

Nobody could reject his offer, and only the old man, Seungmun, looked at him with regret.

Ganghyuk came inside the room and spoke to Okseok.

“Will you fold the knee like this?”

“Ah… Yes, sir.”

“Yes, good… Now, I will touch your stomach.”

“Eo… Okay.”

After preparing the boy, Ganghyuk stabbed his stomach with his fingers, causing him to frown deeply in pain.

‘His stomach is firm and hot… It is not a performance. It is real’

Okseok expressed even more pain when Ganghyuk removed the hand from his stomach. The pain seemed to be concentrated in the right abdomen.

Ganghyuk then went on to sense the pulse. He tried to measure the heartbeat through arteria radialis. ‘The heart rate is 120 beats per minute…. Very fast!”

Sensing this, he immediately stopped the doctor, who was stabbing the boy’s fingers.

“Stop it! It is not indigestion.”

“What did you say?”

“Stop it if you don’t want to kill him! Is your name Dolseok? Call 911!”

“What? Nine what?”

“Okay then! Get the bag that I had!”

1) Hanbok – Korean Dress

2) Chungmuro – Hollywood equivalent in Korea