Golden Time

There was no other way to explain it than to say that he was just that lucky.

Another day pa.s.sed like that.

Even though only 24 hours pa.s.sed since he had undergone surgery, he could chat with a smile on his face, but it was still too much for him to get out of the bed and walk.

Turning over the chart before Milion in bed, Daman opened his mouth with a smile,

“Post-surgery condition is really good. You can be discharged in one month.”

His mother in the electric wheelchair expressed words of thanks continuously,

“Thanks so much, doctors. Thanks a million...”

When she offered her thanks like that, Daman turned his head to look at Suhyuk, who was smiling in the back.

The very doctor who saved his life.

Without his help, his mother would have sit up all through the night everyday, his picture soaked with her tears.

At that moment a man holding a camera around his neck came into the room.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Everybody turned their heads back. n.o.body knew him.

But the man was indifferent. Looking at the doctors, he cast his eyes at Suhyuk.

“Oh!”

Taking out a pen and notebook, he approached Suhyuk quickly.

“h.e.l.lo, my name is Robert, a reporter with CNO. You are the doctor!”

Suhyuk stepped back before he knew it.

“Yes... yes....”

“Can I ask you how you’re related to the patient? I heard the surgery went well...”

Suhyuk pointed to Daman, saying, “He performed the surgery.”

Daman said with a smile, “Fortunately the bullet...”

Glancing at the professor, Robert looked back at Suhyuk and asked, “Did you see the suspect’s face?”

What the reporter was interested in was not the doctor who performed the surgery.

It was instead the Asian doctor who took care of the victim with gunshot wounds.

Ordinary people were more interested in this Asian doctor.

How dramatic the report would be!

When Robert held out the recorder, Suhyuk suddenly spoke in Korean,

“Well... I don’t speak English well. I didn’t see the suspect. The police...”

Suhyuk could not continue because some sort of awkward Korean was being spoken by Robert.

“Oh...were you Korean? I could speak Korean a bit as I learned it...”

What happened?

How could he speak Korean, such as it is?

When Suhyuk was about to sneak out of the room, he saw some other reporters coming toward him.

“Isn’t he the person we’re looking for?”

“Looks like he is. Wasn’t he a doctor?”

Suhyuk was surprised all of a sudden, as they were taking out recorders, and holding cameras like Robert.

Suhyuk slipped out of the room without hesitation.

“Wait a moment!”

Without looking back, he quickened his stride, and went straight to the restroom.

Then he changed his mind and changed his direction.

The restroom was a closed place, and open to the public. Accordingly, once he went in, he would be confined there, surrounded by the reporters.

“Doctor!”

Suhyuk moved around here and there as if he was playing hide-and-seek with them.

The reporters were chasing him like ticks.

In the end, Suhyuk chose a place only he had access to. An operating room.

He quickened his pace to the operating room.

Despite their desperate calls, Suhyuk went into the room.

And the reporters swept up their hairs, gasping for breath after following him in vain.

After catching their breath, some of them sat on the hallway bench.

Once he went inside the room, Suhyuk caught his breath.

Then a masked man came out of the operating room.

“Dr. Lee, what are you doing here?”

The man, taking off his mask, was Phillip who just came out after serving as an a.s.sistant.

“Let me go out after I take a breather here.”

“What’s the matter?”

Suhyuk made a bitter smile, telling him about the situation about the patient with gunshot wounds and the reporters chasing after him.

Phillip nodded lightly. He felt Dr. Lee didn’t want to be known to the public.

“Okay, let me go first.”

Phillip went out when the automatic door opened.

As Suhyuk said, the reporters camped out on the hallway.

Watching them quietly, Phillip told them,

“You shouldn’t do this. You might get punishment for obstruction of justice if you go on like this.”

Then Robert stood up and said with a smile,

“Don’t you think the prestige of St. Hopkins Hospital will go up if the people know about this?”

“As you know, St. Hopkins Hospital is the best in New York. Please go back. If you don’t, I have no choice but...”

Phillip’s warning was very icy, and the reporters had no choice but to leave.

Phillip was standing there until they left the building to the end.

When they all left, he looked at the operating room where Suhyuk was hiding.

Suhyuk’s embarra.s.sing expression came to his mind.

Watching the automatic door, Phillip smiled and headed to the desk of the cardiothoracic surgery department.

Fortunately the news about Suhyuk was not reported.

But this was not back in Korea.

The video that was taken through the CCTV about Suhyuk’s treatment of the wounded patient still spread.

Those acquaintances of Suhyuk’s came to know about it, and the video was spreading through the internet, with lots of replies to it.

Though he never wanted it, his presence was being appreciated back in Korea, where he was not there anymore at the moment.

***

Suhyuk moved cautiously all day long.

Whenever he moved, he basically looked around first.

It was not in his element to draw others’ attention. It felt too uncomfortable for him.

The long arduous day was now over.

When he was waiting for an elevator to go back home, Han Myungjin opened his mouth,

“Why don’t you take a break for the rest of the day?”

Suhyuk shook his head. Though he wanted to, he could not break his promise to William.

It was an a.s.signment he had to resolve by all means.

“Okay, I won’t give you any errands for beer. So come back home straight after you’re done.”

Han got on the elevator, while Suhyuk headed for William’s office.

And he thought to himself, ‘in the near future...’

If he worked harder with William, he felt he could produce some good results.

As soon as he knocked on the door, William opened it.

***

Suhyuk went in. The door did not stay open for very long.

It was well past the time Suhyuk usually went back home.

Past 1am, and still there was no sign of their movement inside.

The hallway was quiet, except for some occasional footsteps from some medical staff.

Then a loud voice was heard from William’s room.

“Oh my G.o.d! Ha ha ha...”

It was William’s voice.

“Suhyuk! I owe it all to you. Thanks!”

William expressed his thanks to him by grabbing Suhyuk’s hands.

All he did was to make a puzzle, which everybody could do.

But putting the complex puzzle together was not something anybody could do.

But Suhyuk did it! And at that within a month.

“You’re wonderful!”

Suhyuk smiled at that.

As he put together the puzzle, all he needed to do was to identify what kind of picture it was.

‘I can now do it.’

Suhyuk tightened his fist strongly.

The next evening.

After the day’s work Suhyuk made a strange look in front of William’s office.

For the door was locked tightly, and he did not take Suhyuk’s call.

He could learn the reason from the nurse at the desk of the cardiothoracic surgery department.

William was on vacation leave for one week as of today.

Anything wrong happened to him? Or...

Suhyuk smiled bitterly. It did not matter to him even if William took all the papers of his.

Suhyuk just wanted to confirm the outcome of his research with his own eyes.

He wanted to check it by all means because he had something to do.

Walking through the hallway, Suhyuk shook his head.

Though William was a recent acquaintance of his, Suhyuk did not think William was a shallow guy he could not trust.

At that moment his cell phone buzzed and Suhyuk smiled.

It was a call from William.

“Yes, William. It’s me”

“Dr. Lee, could you come to Manhattan now?”

“Why do you want me to come there all of a sudden?”

“Oh, I’m afraid you might find it difficult to locate my place...”

As Suhyuk arrived in New York only recently, obviously it would be difficult for him to get there easily. It would take some time even if he gave him the address.

William opened his mouth again,

“Let me send you a car, so the driver can take you here. It’s urgent. There seems to be an error in our research.”

Suhyuk tilted his head because he and William found no error when they met yesterday.

Was it because their research was at the final stage?

“Okay, then. Let me wait for the car at the main gate.”

There might be hidden errors he failed to catch.

After the call he headed to the main gate right away, and waited for about 30 minutes.

A luxurious car arrived there.

A middle-aged man in black suit got out, and asked with a smile,

“Are you Dr. Lee?”

“Yes, you’re right.”

“Please get in. William is waiting for you now.”

Nodding his head, Suhyuk got in the car.

It was around 8pm.

When he was looking out the car window, the driver’s eyes were reflected in the side mirror.

His eyes were cast toward him, ‘Asian...’

His glittering eyes showed he was surprised at Suhyuk.

After about one hour’s drive, the car arrived at the destination.

It was an auditorium seemingly reserved for operas.

“Is this the place where William wants to meet me?”

At Suhyuk’s asking, the man nodded and adjusted the b.u.t.tons on his upper clothes.

“Let’s go.”

Suhyuk followed him silently.

He felt something was strange because the man entered through the rear door instead of the main door.

Though he cast a doubtful look, the man was just smiling.

They soon arrived at one door covered with leather.

The man held out his hand instead of entering.

“Let’s go in.”

Nodding his head, Suhyuk pushed the door open.

And he formed a blank expression when he stepped in.