Dr. Shin Seonhan: The Doctor Who Sees The Future [EN]: Chapter 220

#Side Story 2. The Reason Yeonseo Smiles (2)

“Why? What happened to Mom? Is she badly hurt?”

Yeonseo’s voice trembled as she asked, more shaken than Jina had ever witnessed.

Jina was taken aback.

Having been close to Yeonseo for a year, she’d never seen her in such a state of panic.

“Okay, I understand… Jooan, don’t worry too much. Okay, I got it.”

Yeonseo hung up the phone.

She tried to regain her composure.

However, it was clear to anyone that she was deeply distressed.

Jina, who was watching from the bed, carefully inquired, “What’s wrong?”

“My mom fell down the stairs.”

“Is she badly hurt?”

“I don’t know. They’re examining her… They said there was a lot of blood from her leg. Our stairs at home are a bit steep, so she might be seriously injured…”

Crack!

Yeonseo dropped her phone in her haste.

The screen cracked.

The broken screen seemed to mirror her chaotic state of mind.

“Lee Yeonseo, calm down.”

Jina quickly got out of bed, grabbed Yeonseo’s hand tightly, and said, “Are you on duty today?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have any urgent calls coming up, right? I’m off, so I’ll cover for you. You just need to take calls from the 13th floor URO [Urology] ward, right?”

“……”

“Hurry up and change your clothes and go. I’ll call the 13th floor ward.”

“Can you do that? Thank you, Unni [older sister or close female friend]. I’ve already done all the pre-ops [pre-operative preparations] for tomorrow, so there won’t be many calls.”

Yeonseo quickly changed her clothes.

“Your house is in Uijeongbu, right? Which hospital in Uijeongbu? I’ll call a taxi for you.”

“Song Hospital.”

“There’s a taxi waiting. If you pack your things now and go out to the front gate, the timing will be perfect.”

“Thank you so much, Unni. I’ll repay you later…”

“Forget it, just go quickly.”

Thump, thump, thump!

Yeonseo ran.

Her long hair fluttered as she frantically hurried down the hallway.

The sound of interns laughing boisterously in the lounge faded behind her.

Normally, she wouldn’t have cared, but the sound of other people having fun felt cruel today.

“Did you call for a taxi to Uijeongbu?”

“Yes. Please hurry!”

Yeonseo quickly got into the taxi.

She was out of breath.

Something felt like it was about to explode inside her chest.

The emotions she had been hiding, suppressing, and enduring at the hospital were boiling up, threatening to overflow at any moment.

Unaware of this, the taxi driver chuckled and said, “Oh my, I saw a beautiful young lady running towards me, I thought you were a celebrity!”

“……”

“But what brings you to Uijeongbu at this hour? Do you have a broadcast schedule or something? Hehehe…”

The taxi driver stopped joking and closed his mouth.

He saw Yeonseo’s dark expression in the rearview mirror.

It was not an atmosphere for jokes.

Embarrassed, the driver turned up the radio and focused on driving.

“…I’ll get you there quickly.”

“…Thank you.”

Vroom—

The taxi sped off.

The night view of the Han River passed by outside the window.

When she opened the window slightly, the wind blowing over the Yeongdong Bridge rushed into the back seat.

Yeonseo wiped her eyes.

But once her eyes became hot, they didn’t cool down easily. As if broken, they kept getting hotter and hotter.

Mom, let’s be happy.

Don’t be sick.

Don’t be sick.

A soft song played on the radio.

It was a song named after a bridge on the opposite side of Seoul, and today the lyrics painfully resonated with her.

Pain, like a river, flows and flows, eventually drifting somewhere. But it never stops.

Whoosh.

Yeonseo took a deep breath and looked at the Han River with reddened eyes.

‘Don’t be sick, Mom. Please.’

Yeonseo murmured to the scenery passing behind her shoulder.

* * *

Tolstoy’s famous classic novel begins like this:

Every family has at least one secret or difficult circumstance that they can’t easily share with others.

Yeonseo was no different.

In her childhood, Yeonseo had experienced shocking events.

Twice.

“That family got divorced again.”

“Oh my goodness.”

“How could they do that?”

The first father was an irresponsible person.

The second father was a violent person.

It was far from the harmonious family in fairy tales…

In the end, Yeonseo’s family was left with indelible scars.

“That mother must have a very unfortunate life.”

“I know, right? She has such a beautiful face.”

“Having a pretty face isn’t everything. She must have a seductive aura…”

“Shh, the child will hear you.”

“Ahem, ahem.”

Yeonseo was an elementary school student.

But she could understand everything people were whispering about.

Each word that people carelessly uttered left deep scars on Yeonseo’s soft heart.

More than anything, she couldn’t believe that a father could leave her so easily.

“……”

Nothing is permanent.

Everything changes.

A person’s heart can turn at any time.

Yeonseo realized that from a very young age.

After two failed marriages, her mother no longer dreamed of a third marriage.

“Yeonseo, women need to be capable. They need to be able to stand on their own.”

Her mother no longer relied on men.

Instead, she started working a job introduced to her by an acquaintance.

A hospital assistant.

She worked in the nursing department, on three shifts.

Day, evening, and night.

Her main task was ‘assisting nursing duties:’ changing gowns and sheets, cleaning the environment, washing equipment, moving medicines and supplies, etc…

She earned around 2 million won a month [approximately $1,500 USD].

During that time, Yeonseo practically raised young Jooan herself.

He was her half-brother from her second father, so it would have been understandable if she felt awkward or resentful, but with a 10-year age gap, she didn’t feel that way.

One day, her mother came to Yeonseo’s bed after finishing her evening shift and said.

“Yeonseo.”

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t it hard taking care of Jooan?”

“No? It’s not hard at all. Jooan is my brother, so I have to take good care of him.”

Her mother stroked Yeonseo’s hair with a complex expression that couldn’t be expressed in words.

“I’m sorry, Yeonseo… For making you sacrifice.”

Sacrifice?

The word sounded unfamiliar to Yeonseo.

Rather, she thought it was her mother who was sacrificing in this family.

That’s how Yeonseo and her mother lived, pitying each other.

Then one day.

Yeonseo, who was in middle school, went to the hospital where her mother worked.

She had visited a few times before to pick up house keys or bring things, but that day was special.

It was to carry out a school assignment called , which involved meeting and interviewing experts in various fields.

“Oh my, you must be Yeonseo. I’ve heard a lot about you from your mother. You’re even prettier in person than in the pictures?”

A professor’s office with warm sunlight shining in.

A female doctor greeted Yeonseo with a kind smile.

She was an elderly and kind-looking family medicine doctor. She was kind enough to readily accept the interview request from her mother, who was an assistant.

However, Yeonseo, who was in her adolescence, had a slightly rebellious personality.

Seeing her mother always working hard and earning little, she felt a bit prickly and resentful towards the seemingly relaxed doctor.

“Doctor, how much do you earn?”

“Huh?”

“Is the job stable?”

A middle school student’s bold question.

The doctor must have been quite taken aback.

She could have scolded her for being rude.

But the doctor smiled kindly and answered sincerely.

“Well, you could say it’s stable. Because people are always sick in body and mind. So the job of a doctor won’t disappear. Probably.”

Those words were deeply engraved in the mind of Yeonseo, who was in middle school.

A stable job as long as there are sick people in the world?

She liked it.

‘Stability’ was the most important value to Yeonseo…

It was the first time she felt attracted to the job of a doctor.

The doctor continued.

“And the income of doctors varies depending on individual circumstances, but usually…”

“!”

The moment she heard the following words.

Yeonseo’s career path was decided.

From then on, she decided to study. Quite fiercely.

From that day on, Yeonseo threw cheap road shop cosmetics [inexpensive cosmetics sold in street shops] into the trash.

“Mom, I’m going to study.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to study hard and succeed.”

Did her mother sense something extraordinary from young Yeonseo’s determination?

Her mother, who was folding laundry, asked without adding any other words.

“Should I sign you up for a tutoring academy?”

“Yeah.”

“!”

Her mother was surprised.

It was the first time since elementary school that she had asked her mother to do something for her.

Of course, the family’s financial situation was by no means sufficient to invest in private education.

Moreover, there was also the youngest child at home.

It would not be easy to focus on studying while taking care of a young sibling who still needed care.

But Yeonseo’s determination was firm.

“Just trust me, Mom.”

I’ll work hard.

I’ll pay you back someday.

Until our family can be happy…

Until then, I’ll live hard.

So, Mom.

Until then, don’t be sick.

Please.

* * *

Thud!

The taxi door closes.

Yeonseo ran towards the hospital emergency room.

Soon, in the waiting room, she could find a familiar silhouette sitting with his head bowed.

“Jooan.”

“Noona [older sister].”

A boy of about fifteen years old.

Jooan raised his head.

His fair face was red from crying.

As soon as he saw his sister’s face, he shed tears like dew under his long eyelashes.

Yeonseo’s heart sank.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying so much?”

Jooan wiped his tears with his sleeve and said.

“Mom’s knee was torn and they had to stitch it up with twelve stitches.”

“…That’s all?”

“Yeah.”

“What about her bones?”

“There’s nothing wrong, for now.”

“Just her knee? Is she okay anywhere else? Her head or back?”

“I think she’s okay.”

Yeonseo breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness.

If she fell down the steep stairs and only tore the skin on her knee, it was a good thing.

Because she had seen all sorts of terrible cases at the hospital, she knew that this was not a huge deal.

But Jooan couldn’t think so calmly.

“Noona, why is our mom so sick so often?”

Her brother started to sob again.

As he spoke, his voice filled with tears, as if he was choking up.

Yeonseo hugged her brother and patted his back as if comforting a child.

“It’s okay, Jooan.”

“It hasn’t been long since she had surgery for her thyroid or something. But this time, she fell down the stairs again…”

“It’s nothing.”

“What do you mean it’s nothing…”

“Do you think your sister only sees one or two sick people at the hospital? Compared to the people there, our mom isn’t even that sick. Everyone experiences things like this in life. So stop.”

“Sniff…”

“Stop.”

Pat, pat.

Yeonseo calmly stroked her brother’s back.

He’s big enough to be in middle school. He’s quite big now, and his voice has changed.

But from the perspective of his sister, who had raised him since he was a child, he still looked like a child.

Jooan buried his forehead on his sister’s shoulder and sobbed as if he was sad.

“……”

Meanwhile.

The people in the emergency room were all staring blankly at them.

The doctors, the nurses, even the patient who had been carried in a little while ago with blood gushing from his head…

Everyone couldn’t take their eyes off the two of them.

It was understandable, as the visuals of the two were no joke.

It goes without saying for Yeonseo, but Jooan was even more so. People were already asking if he was an idol trainee [a person training to become a K-pop idol].

The two siblings hugging each other looked like the protagonists of a pathetic movie.

‘Wow, look at how good-looking those kids are.’

‘Are they from a celebrity family?’

‘What do they feed them at that house?’

‘Wow… even their crying faces are art, art.’

Everyone couldn’t say it, but they were admiring them.

Meanwhile, Yeonseo continued to hug and pat Jooan.

At that time, an emergency room doctor carefully approached the two of them.

“Are you family members of patient Jin Hye-kyung?”