A Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts [EN]: Chapter 85

The Surgeon Who Uses Martial Arts – 85

Chapter 14: Salvation (5)

When the car stopped at a traffic light at an intersection,

Ji-ae was staring blankly at the downtown area visible beyond the windshield.

Seoul’s night was dazzling.

The lights emitted by the tall buildings.

The lights of the signs put up by the stores were sparkling noisily.

The streets were full of people, and the roads were full of cars.

The latest trendy song played from a speaker in one store could be heard on the road.

Ji-ae thought that Seoul’s night was splendid but only superficially so, without substance.

Just like herself right now.

Being a celebrity was a job envied and admired by many.

If you succeed moderately, you make good money.

People recognize you first and treat you well, and so on.

But people were only looking at the glamorous side of celebrities.

They didn’t know the darkness within at all.

Or they weren’t interested.

In Ji-ae’s case, as soon as an article was published, malicious comments clung to her like leeches.

The malicious comments gnawed away at Ji-ae’s mental strength and heart.

‘You can just not look at them,’ someone said.

‘You can just ignore them,’ someone said.

But they were saying it too easily because it was someone else’s problem.

She was a celebrity who lived off public attention.

She couldn’t help but check the replies and SNS [Social Networking Service] posts, which could be said to be the public’s interest and reaction.

That’s how she could give feedback.

Telling her not to look at malicious comments was like telling a struggling person to cheer up—a violent, cruel, and insensitive piece of advice.

“Ah…….”

Ji-ae let out a sigh without realizing it.

Some of the malicious comments she wanted to shake off stubbornly came to mind.

It felt like her heart was being torn apart.

Her self-esteem was crushed like tofu [easily broken or fragile, like the soft bean curd].

Baaang!

A nervous car horn blaring from behind.

Only then did Ji-ae drive the car again.

What was tormenting Ji-ae was not just malicious comments.

She had been struggling with stalking issues for a while, although it had been resolved well recently.

Has it been about three months?

Whenever she finished her schedule and went home, a man was always waiting for Ji-ae in front of her house.

How frightening it is to know that someone knows your movements.

Those who haven’t experienced it won’t know.

When the car stopped at a light again,

Ji-ae scanned through her phone contacts.

She had met all the people she wanted to meet in the past week.

Jun-hoo, whom she met today, was the last person she wanted to meet.

Jun-hoo, whom she met after a long time, was still honest and righteous.

He was steadily moving towards his dream of becoming a surgeon without being shaken by hardship.

Ji-ae envied such Jun-hoo a little, no, a lot.

She had heard that hospital internship was also quite difficult, but she wondered how he could endure it so well.

Perhaps I’m just too weak.

Is this all I can do?

Ji-ae, writhing in self-reproach, arrived at a multi-complex officetel [a building with both office and residential units] located in a downtown area.

She parked her car in the underground parking lot and got into the elevator.

Ji-ae went straight to the rooftop.

Because she had been contemplating for days, her steps were unwavering.

She still didn’t have the confidence to untangle the twisted knot of her life.

Then there was only one solution left.

Just cut that knot off.

A man was already on the open rooftop.

A man in his 50s was smoking a cigarette.

The man glanced at Ji-ae and quickly lost interest.

He didn’t seem to know Ji-ae.

“Excuse me.”

Ji-ae spoke to the man first.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, but can I borrow a cigarette?”

“Sure.”

The man readily handed over a cigarette and even lit it for her.

“Cough! Cough!”

The moment Ji-ae took a puff of the pungent cigarette smoke, she coughed painfully.

Her head was spinning, and nausea rose from within.

The cigarette she had smoked for the first time in her life was terrible.

“What? Is this your first time smoking? But why did you ask for it?”

The man asked with an absurd expression.

“Just…… I wanted to try it.”

“Did something bad happen to you, young lady? Don’t force yourself to smoke it, just throw it away.”

“No. It’s okay.”

Even while feeling disgusted, Ji-ae smoked the cigarette to the end.

It was like a simple stubbornness.

She also thought that she had to overcome this much to be able to do ‘that thing’.

“Hey mister. Why do you live?”

“Do you need a reason to live? You just live. I don’t know what happened, but cheer up. Even a guy like me is struggling to live.”

The man gave advice and left.

Ji-ae watched the man’s back and approached the rooftop door.

Thud!

Click!

The rooftop door closed and locked.

* * *

“Then try to reconcile with your lover. With this much sincerity, your lover will understand.”

“Yes. Thank you, driver.”

Jun-hoo paid the taxi fare and got out of the taxi. He looked up at the officetel where Ji-ae lived.

He could have just let Ji-ae go, but Jun-hoo didn’t.

He felt uneasy about Ji-ae’s appearance, which was different from usual.

He was earnestly hoping that his uneasiness was wrong, but he would have to check the details himself.

Thump. Thump.

Jun-hoo hurried towards the entrance of the officetel.

Of course, the entrance door was closed due to security concerns.

He couldn’t break the door.

And if he asked the security guard to open the door, he would be suspected for no reason.

Jun-hoo’s choice was to wait.

While waiting while pretending to talk on the phone, an opportunity came quickly.

Vroom~

A delivery motorcycle stopped at the entrance.

The moment the delivery man passed through the entrance, Jun-hoo naturally followed the delivery man.

But the problem still remained.

Jun-hoo didn’t know the number of the unit where Ji-ae lived.

So, as a last resort, he amplified his sense of smell with his inner energy.

Fortunately, Ji-ae’s perfume scent was captured by his sharpened sense of smell.

A subtle soapy scent and floral fragrance were vibrating in the elevator.

Finding a clue, Jun-hoo pressed all the buttons in the elevator.

“Excuse me? What are you doing?”

The delivery man stared at Jun-hoo with an unpleasant expression.

Pressing all the elevator buttons seemed like a prank.

“I’m sorry. I have to find a 택배 [Taekbae – delivery] package.”

“Still, isn’t this too much? I have to make deliveries too.”

“I’m sorry. I ask for your understanding.”

Jun-hoo bowed his head to express his apology.

He knew the delivery man’s situation, but there was nothing he could do.

He had to check where Ji-ae’s perfume scent, which started in the elevator, led to on each floor.

He would be able to find out the number of the unit where Ji-ae lived by following the perfume scent.

“I’ve seen all kinds of strange people. But don’t do this next time.”

When Jun-hoo came out politely, the delivery man also gave up as if he couldn’t help it.

After a while, the delivery man got off on the 5th floor.

Jun-hoo took the elevator up to the 18th floor.

Every time the elevator door opened, he checked where Ji-ae’s perfume scent was spreading.

As time passed, Jun-hoo’s brow narrowed. He even shook his legs, unlike his usual self.

The perfume scent only stays in the elevator.

Then she went straight to the rooftop, not home.

So Ji-ae was acting bright on purpose.

The vague uneasiness began to take shape.

Jun-hoo’s prediction was correct.

Ji-ae’s perfume scent started again on the 22nd floor, which was connected to the rooftop.

Following the perfume scent.

Jun-hoo got out of the elevator and climbed the emergency stairs.

Clang! Clang!

When he tried to open the door, the rooftop iron door was tightly locked.

Ji-ae must have locked it.

A normal person would have been frustrated here.

He would have been helpless in front of the iron door and wasted precious time asking the security guard for the rooftop key, but Jun-hoo was not.

Jun-hoo was different from ordinary people.

He could only hope that it wasn’t too late…….

Jun-hoo put inner energy into his palm and struck the iron door.

It was 청옥장 [Cheongokjang – Azure Jade Palm], one of the 장법 [Jangbeop – Palm Techniques] of the 서씨세가 [Seo Clan – Seo Family Clan, a prestigious martial arts lineage].

Thud!

The moment his palm touched the iron door.

The iron door creaked and fell backward.

The metallic sound spread loudly around.

As the door, which had been a hindrance, fell, Ji-ae, who was standing precariously on the railing, was seen.

If she took just one more step from there, Ji-ae would not be safe.

“Ju…… Jun-hoo?”

Ji-ae turned towards the door at the sudden commotion and made a blank expression.

She was flustered because Jun-hoo, whom she had broken up with, appeared at the crucial moment.

“Ji-ae. Come down first. Let’s come down and talk.”

Jun-hoo approached Ji-ae and coaxed her with kind words.

He couldn’t bear to see Ji-ae lose her life.

After experiencing the 무림 [Murim – martial arts world], he had vowed not to lose precious people.

He couldn’t let that vow be broken.

Then or now.

He hated writhing in helplessness that he couldn’t do anything.

“Don’t come closer. Please.”

“……Okay. Then I’ll talk here.”

Jun-hoo stopped walking to avoid stimulating Ji-ae.

“How are you here?”

“I followed you because I had a bad feeling. I knew you were different from usual.”

“I can’t fool your eyes.”

Ji-ae made a miserable expression.

“You had a hard time living as a celebrity, right? You still have a lot of things you couldn’t say to me, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“…….”

“But I can’t just tell everyone everything just because it’s hard, right? That’s just being spoiled.”

“…….”

“My manager and company people don’t care about me that much. They say everyone experiences that much?”

Ji-ae’s pain in her heart was not recognized by anyone.

And Jun-hoo easily realized that the pain had accumulated and hardened.

And finally, it had come to destroy Ji-ae.

Perhaps what Ji-ae needed was CPR for her heart.

CPR was not only necessary for the body.

It was also necessary for the heart.

The heart dies just like the body.

“Then come down and let’s 풀어 보자 [pul-ja – resolve it]. Tell me everything you couldn’t tell me. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Will everything really be okay if I tell you?”

“It will definitely get better.”

“Based on what?”

“Because your pain can be recognized.”

“That’s weird. Pain being recognized.”

Ji-ae shook her head as if she couldn’t understand.

“The heart is the same as the body. It hurts, but if you pretend it doesn’t hurt, it keeps hurting and hurts more.”

“…….”

“So if you accept the fact that it hurts, you can start treating it from then on.”

Jun-hoo explained calmly.

Jun-hoo was greatly shocked when he carried out his first mission in the 무림맹 [Murim Alliance – Martial Arts Alliance].

The martial arts he had honed so far collapsed so insignificantly.

In front of the swords wielded by the 사파 [Sapa – Unorthodox or Demonic Faction] people, his colleagues died 피픽 [pikpik – one by one].

All Jun-hoo could do in that place was cowardly run away.

After that, an unbearable sense of helplessness gripped Jun-hoo.

I still can’t do anything.

Even at the moment when his father’s life was cut off by 적일도 [Jeokildo – Red Blade Demon]’s hands, he couldn’t do anything.

That’s what happened when his colleagues died.

I’ll probably do that in the future too.

After a long period of wandering that began like that, Jun-hoo changed his mind.

He decided to willingly accept the sense of helplessness that was deeply rooted in him.

Even if he was helpless in the face of adversity.

Let’s resist by struggling somehow.

Then there will be no regrets.

Jun-hoo was able to move forward from the moment he acknowledged his helplessness.

If he did, wouldn’t Ji-ae be able to do that too?

That’s what Jun-hoo thought.

“I was honestly having a hard time. I couldn’t tell my parents that I was having a hard time because I was worried they would worry.”

Ji-ae continued, sobbing.

“When I told my friends, they didn’t sympathize at all. They said that if you make that much money, you should be able to handle it as a celebrity.”

“…….”

“The people at the company also said it was natural for me to have a hard time.”

“…….”

“So I feel like I’m the only weird one?”

“It’s not wrong to have a hard time. It’s not a problem either. So you’re okay, Ji-ae. I guarantee it.”

Jun-hoo smiled softly and approached Ji-ae again.

“Will you come down now? We can overcome it well if it’s the two of us.”

“I…… I don’t know.”

Ji-ae’s body, which was wiping away tears with her sleeve, suddenly staggered greatly.

Her body lost its balance due to the strong wind blowing from the high-rise.

Ji-ae let go of the railing she was holding onto.