A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 404

Chapter 78: Return Home (4)

A restaurant near the hospital.

Jun-hoo gazed at the two people sitting across from him, his eyes filled with emotion.

His parents had flown all the way to Cleveland without any warning, just to surprise him.

Perhaps the real reason for their visit was to attend his graduation ceremony tomorrow and congratulate him in person.

“It doesn’t feel real. It feels like a dream.”

Jun-hoo said with a smile.

It was a reunion after seven long years.

During that time, he had contacted his parents at least once a week and often video-called them.

However, there was an unbridgeable gap between exchanging calls and seeing each other in person.

“You must have been very surprised. You probably didn’t expect us to come without saying a word.”

“Was this your doing, Father?”

“Of course. Your mother wanted to contact you in advance.”

His father crossed his arms and raised his chin.

He seemed proud that his surprise visit had succeeded. His father sometimes acted like a playful child, just like now.

“Father.”

“Yes, Jun-hoo.”

As their affectionate gazes met, Jun-hoo said something that slightly dampened the mood.

“You’ve gained some weight. I can’t see your jawline.”

“Ahem. I’ve developed a taste for desserts these days.”

His father’s face turned slightly red, as if he was embarrassed.

His once sharp jawline had indeed become rounder.

“Don’t even mention it. These days, he makes sure to have a financier [a small French almond cake] or something after every meal, can you believe it?”

His mother, who had been silent, chimed in.

She patted his father’s back as if tapping the back of a wayward son.

“You eat them too, so why are you only picking on me?”

“I only eat half. I even cut down on rice on purpose.”

“I can lose weight whenever I want. I just haven’t decided to yet.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Stop eating desserts and make up your mind.”

The sight of his parents bickering made Jun-hoo’s smile even wider.

He never thought he would see his parents’ comedy act on American soil.

In any case, they didn’t look much different from how he remembered them seven years ago.

Except for the wrinkles on their faces and the gray hairs in their hair.

As far as Jun-hoo knew, they had both undergone annual health checkups at Shinwon University Hospital.

They had never received any particularly abnormal diagnoses during their checkups.

They wouldn’t have hidden a serious illness from him.

However, in the worst-case scenario, there could be errors in the health checkups… Such tragedies sometimes occurred.

For example, a chest CT scan might show that the lungs were fine, but four months later, the patient complains of chest pain and difficulty breathing, and another chest CT scan reveals stage 4 lung cancer.

What could be the reason for this?

Reasons included testing errors due to people with the same name and incorrect image readings by the radiology department.

As a doctor, Jun-hoo shouldn’t distrust hospitals.

However, he couldn’t ignore the fact that medical staff were also human and made mistakes.

‘I’ll have to check when I get to the hotel later,’ he thought.

While chatting with his parents, the food they ordered arrived.

The food was top-quality steak and salad. It was a menu he often ate with his colleagues after completing difficult and major surgeries.

“Eat before it gets cold. It’ll melt in your mouth.”

“Yes, Jun-hoo, you eat a lot too.”

“I will.”

His parents were clumsy with their knives.

Their hands often slipped, and the cuts in the meat were crooked.

It seemed like they didn’t eat formal Western food often.

Indeed, Jun-hoo barely remembered ever cutting steak with his parents at a restaurant.

The only thing they ever cut was pork cutlets.

“I’ll cut it for you. Just sit still.”

Jun-hoo reached out and began cutting his mother’s steak first.

He held the meat with a fork and cut it with a knife.

Swish!

The cut surface of the meat was smooth.

Juice dripped from the pink flesh.

Jun-hoo cut the steak into seven equal pieces without stopping.

He did the same for his father’s steak.

“You’re really a surgeon; you cut meat so well.”

“Yes, this meat is really delicious. It melts in my mouth.”

Jun-hoo smiled and cut his own steak as well.

To be honest, his filial piety was excessive.

He cut the steak with sword techniques when he could have just cut it normally.

Even a small action could have vastly different results depending on whether it contained the principles of martial arts or not.

After the meal, Jun-hoo left the restaurant with his parents.

He looked for accommodation for his parents.

The accommodation was, of course, a top-class hotel. It was a five-star hotel that cost over 500,000 won [approximately $400 USD] per night.

His parents were hesitant, but Jun-hoo insisted.

Just as his parents had only wanted to give him the best, he now wanted to give them only the best.

“Have you been very disappointed all this time?” Jun-hoo said as he got into the elevator.

“Disappointed? What do you mean?” His mother tilted her head and asked.

“I’m your only son, but seeing my face is like trying to pick a star out of the sky. I practically lived in the hospital during my internship and residency, and just when I finished my training, I spent seven years in America.”

“…….”

“Don’t say that. Your mother is proud of you for pursuing your dreams.”

His mother’s voice was warm.

His father added a word, not wanting to be outdone.

“When you were young, we may have been a fence protecting you from the world, but that’s not the case now that you’re an adult.”

“…….”

“Now is the time for you to pioneer your own world.”

“Thank you.”

Jun-hoo’s nose tingled at his parents’ support.

What could be more reassuring than having people who believe in you without question?

Jun-hoo also sublimated the family love he felt now from the perspective of a surgeon.

Saving one patient was also saving that patient’s family.

He would not forget the weight of family and would do his best in any surgery from now on.

“Originally, Ah-young was supposed to come with us,” his mother changed the subject.

“Ah-young?”

“Yes. I met Ah-young occasionally while you were away.”

This was news to Jun-hoo.

“Didn’t Ah-young tell you?”

“No. This is the first I’m hearing of it.”

“I thought she would have told you. Your father became addicted to desserts because of Ah-young. He fell in love with the desserts Ah-young brought.”

That made sense.

There was no reason for his father to suddenly like desserts.

But why didn’t Ah-young tell him that she had seen his parents?

He suddenly wondered why.

He would have to call her later to find out.

“We had made all the arrangements and were about to see her at the airport when she said an emergency patient had come in. Aortic dissection [a tear in the wall of the aorta] or something?”

“…….”

“So, only the two of us came. Don’t be too disappointed.”

“I’m not disappointed. I know Ah-young’s heart well.”

If Jun-hoo had been in Ah-young’s position, he would have chosen the patient over the flight to America.

Jun-hoo and Ah-young both had in common that they cherished patients, and they had in common that they had lost loved ones to diseases in their major fields.

Ah-young lost her younger brother.

Jun-hoo lost his brother, Sung-ho.

Because his mother brought up Ah-young’s story, his longing for Ah-young, the longing he had been suppressing, burst forth.

But from now on, there was no reason to suppress his longing.

He would soon be returning to Korea, and he could see her whenever he made time.

Ding-dong!

The elevator stopped.

Jun-hoo entered the room he had booked and inserted the card key into the slot at the entrance. The light on the ceiling of the hallway emitted a welcoming glow.

“You must be tired from the long trip? I’ll give you a massage first,” Jun-hoo said, rolling up his sleeves as he entered the bedroom.

In fact, the massage was an excuse, and his real purpose was ‘Whole Body Internal Energy Angiography.’ [a technique to assess their health using his internal energy]

He couldn’t leave his parents’ health solely to checkups.

* * *

The next day, morning.

Proelium Hall, 5th floor of the Mayou Clinic Annex.

Proelium Hall was a small auditorium that could accommodate about 100 people.

“There’s something about the atmosphere that makes people feel inferior,” Hyung-seok muttered, looking around the auditorium as he sat in the front row.

A banner hung from the ceiling of the stage that read, ‘The 1st Boost Up Program Trainee Graduation Ceremony.’

The seats were already full.

There were more doctors wearing doctor’s gowns than ordinary people like Hyung-seok.

“￠●☆∧)”

“∨∽♤◉”

They were muttering to each other in English.

Hyung-seok couldn’t understand a single word.

People who couldn’t get in were lingering near the entrance, and many of them were reporters with cameras.

It was unusual for reporters to show up at a regular graduation ceremony.

In other words, this graduation ceremony was no ordinary event.

“Why are you so nervous when it’s your son who’s graduating?” Hyung-seok playfully slapped his wife’s thigh.

His wife had been sitting upright, staring at the auditorium since a while ago.

“I feel like they’ll find fault with me if I’m even slightly relaxed.”

“Let them try to find fault.”

“Are you serious?”

“I can’t understand what they’re saying anyway.”

Only after hearing Hyung-seok’s joke did his wife relax her stiff expression.

“My son is amazing. Coming to a foreign country, speaking a foreign language, and treating patients.”

“That means he’s sincere about his patients.”

“Did Jun-hoo become a doctor… because of me?”

“Are you talking about the surgery you had for a cerebral hemorrhage [bleeding in the brain]?”

“Yes.”

“I’d say there’s a high possibility. At least the reason he chose neurosurgery is definitely because of you.”

Hyung-seok still couldn’t forget the look in his then high school son’s eyes as if he had lost the whole world while his wife was undergoing surgery.

When he thought about it, it seemed like it was just a while ago, but his son was already a healthy man in his mid-thirties.

While chatting with his wife, the full-fledged graduation ceremony began.

Although he couldn’t understand English, Hyung-seok followed the ceremony by guessing.

He stood up and pretended to sing the American national anthem and offered a silent tribute.

After a while, a bespectacled, gray-haired old man went up on stage and began to speak.

He had a feeling that this person was the hospital director.

“Let me introduce the best performers.”

Out of the man’s many words, Hyung-seok only understood the word ‘best.’

But at that very moment, his proud son, Jun-hoo, went up on stage.

Hyung-seok’s eyes widened like an owl.

According to what Hyung-seok had learned, Mayou Clinic was one of the top American hospitals boasting cutting-edge medical technology.

Then how good and capable would the doctors belonging to Mayou be?

But Jun-hoo was the best among them…!

He wondered if he was dreaming.

“You must be flustered because you don’t understand what I’m saying. Roughly, I’m saying that I’m number one here,” Jun-hoo said with a smile in Korean on the stage.

“Please live a long and healthy life and watch how far I grow. I’ll speak in English from now on.”

Jun-hoo began to calmly give his speech in English.

How many minutes had passed?

When his son’s speech ended, applause erupted from all directions. Someone even stood up.

Flashes were bursting from the entrance. He didn’t know what it was, but it seemed like he had given a great speech.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Hyung-seok was just busy clapping his hands like a seal because he was so proud of Jun-hoo.