Chapter 11
For a moment, she was bewildered to be surrounded by strangers, but soon Hyunjeong was writhing from pain so intense it felt like her legs were being torn off.
“Ugh.”
She reached her hands toward her throbbing legs, but her body refused to move as if it were broken. Her vision spun dizzyingly, and she felt nauseous. An unfamiliar, pungent smoke lingered around her nose, causing her distress.
The continuous pain made it hard for her to even breathe properly. On top of that, a chilling feeling seeped into her bones. She gritted her teeth, but the unrelenting pain made her body tremble.
As Hyunjeong suffered in pain, the people surrounding the bed panicked, not knowing what to do.
“Hyunjeong! Hyunjeong!”
Someone grabbed and shook her writhing body. The clammy hands gripping and pulling her shoulders felt uncomfortable. The loud voices asking if she was okay felt like needles piercing her eardrums; she didn’t want to hear them. Her head pounded increasingly, the dizziness worsened, and she even felt the urge to vomit.
“Yerim, go get the doctor!”
A middle-aged man shouted, his voice choked with tears, and her already nauseous stomach couldn’t take it anymore, turning over completely.
“Ugh, ugh…”
Even in her disoriented state, Hyunjeong turned her head to the side and retched. Through her tear-filled vision, she saw a pair of black shoes step back from her side.
“Oh my, oh my, what’s wrong with her? Honey, what’s wrong with our Hyunjeong? Oh my, what do we do!”
Hands even more rough than the previous clammy ones shook her shoulders as if trying to dig into them. Told to look up, to look at her mom, her churning stomach found no way to settle.
She just wished all those noisily chattering mouths would shut up.
Amid the noise piercing her eardrums, she could hear the sound of someone running, tap, tap. Soon after, a sore feeling spread in her arm connected to the IV. And then, Hyunjeong’s eyelids slowly drooped shut again.
Hospitals near the major accident site were in a state of emergency. It took a long time to find Hyunjeong because many patients remained unidentified.
They managed to pinpoint Hyunjeong’s location based on her description, injury sites, and the estimated time she would have been transported by ambulance.
“Jo Jae-seok. That bastard.”
Taegon’s voice was murderous. Thinking of Jo Jae-seok, who had taken the unconscious Hyunjeong away as if kidnapping her, every curse word imaginable sprang to mind.
What kind of unscrupulous bastard abandons his fiancée with her leg trapped in a car, unable to move? How dare he, the one who ran away to save his own skin, have the nerve to take Hyunjeong?
A bastard worse than an animal.
“Hoo…”
The more Taegon thought about Jo Jae-seok, the more his anger boiled over, rising to the top of his head. The veins on his unconsciously clenched fists stood out vividly.
As it began to snow more heavily, the road to the hospital was slow-going, fueling his impatience.
How badly were her legs injured? Was she receiving proper treatment? How would she feel, waking up to see the man she utterly despised right in front of her? Even more so since he was the man who had abandoned her.
Taegon sat up straight in his seat and looked around the car. Even though they had left the accident site, the road was slippery due to the heavy snowfall. The road leading to the hospital was almost like a parking lot, filled with a long line of cars.
“Seonwoo, pull over.”
“You’re not thinking of walking from here, are you?”
“Walking would take forever. Follow me slowly.”
“Hyung! Hyung!”
Kim Seonwoo called after Taegon, who had gotten out of the car and was running towards the hospital, seemingly worried, and followed him out of the car.
It was neither the attire nor the weather for running, but he started running anyway.
It felt like the frightened eyes of the woman were constantly calling for him. It seemed he needed to be in her sight even a minute, no, even a second sooner.
Taegon, who had no time to brush off the snow accumulating on his coat shoulders, gradually picked up speed. Only his faint, white breath and the steam rising from his body followed behind him.
Taegon ran non-stop for thirty to forty minutes and arrived at the hospital emergency room. Even though considerable time had passed since the accident and the patients had been transported, the ER was chaotic with patients complaining of pain and medical staff rushing around.
Amid the chaos, he scanned the emergency room with hawk-like eyes, his breath rough. He quickly passed by each emergency bed one by one. But Hyunjeong and Jo Jae-seok were nowhere to be seen. Taegon quickly ran to the nursing station.
“I heard that a patient from the highway accident, Seo Hyunjeong, was transported here. Where is she now?”
“One moment, please.”
The medical staff member who seemed to be checking a patient chart glanced over Taegon. The look wasn’t malicious, but he instantly felt a bad premonition.
“What is your relationship to the patient?”
Stumped by the unexpected question, Taegon was at a loss for words. What was his relationship with Hyunjeong? A one-night stand? Childhood housemates who called each other oppa and dongseng? Or someone who promised to save her whenever and wherever?
Uncharacteristically hesitating to choose his words, the staff member asked again.
“You’re not family, are you?”
Taegon was suspicious. Was asking the relationship standard procedure just for visiting a patient in the ER? Jo Jae-seok, who had taken Hyunjeong from his car, must have seen him rescuing her from a distance.
He probably instructed the hospital to refuse visits from anyone but family immediately upon arrival.
Judging by the staff’s tone, it seemed she hadn’t been transferred to a hospital in Seoul.
His anger towards Jo Jae-seok grew fiercer, and Taegon’s gaze unconsciously turned sharp. Seeing this, the medical staff member’s voice shrank.
“I’m sorry. The patient needs to rest now. The family has requested no visitors outside of family.”
“Hoo…”
Taegon swept back his wet hair and let out a deep sigh. He knew well that arguing here wouldn’t get him any information.
“I understand.”
The atmosphere grew grim, but at Taegon’s acquiescence, the staff member’s expression visibly relaxed.
“Then, just tell me one thing. Her leg was deeply pinned in the car frame. Was the surgery successful?”
His question was dry, but perhaps sensing the concern and worry for Hyunjeong behind it, the nurse answered, seemingly just to confirm the facts.
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
There were plenty of ways to find out without causing a scene. It would just take a little time.
Taegon gave a slight nod to the nurse and left the emergency room.
Even though he heard Hyunjeong’s surgery was successful, his mind wasn’t at ease. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw Hyunjeong with his own eyes, questioned her about her relationship with Jo Jae-seok, and helped her with whatever she needed.
Standing in front of the ER, he put his hands in his pants pockets and watched the disgustingly heavy snowfall. He then pulled his phone from his coat pocket.
He called Kim Seonwoo, who still hadn’t arrived.
“Are you still far?”
-“No, I’ll be there soon.”
“Get in touch with whoever you can, fast—a nurse, her attending physician, anyone from the hospital Hyunjeong is admitted to. Report her condition to me immediately.”
-“Understood.”
Right after hanging up, he got a call from his grandfather. The old man had been going on about his future granddaughter-in-law since morning. He knew exactly what the old man would say, but Taegon answered the call as usual.
“Yes, Chairman.”
-“What are you doing there!”
The sudden lion-like roar made his ears sting. He pulled the phone away from his ear. His brow furrowed involuntarily. When he put the phone back to his ear, the yelling continued.
-“I told you to bring my future granddaughter-in-law back! What are you doing in that highway chaos!”
How did he know he was at the highway accident site? Kang Ho-baek was more furious than usual, blowing his top. There was a time when his grandfather’s shouting would make him tremble, but now, a fully grown adult, he had matured enough not to be intimidated by his grandfather’s bluster. And he was good at not getting caught up in Kang Ho-baek’s tricks anymore.
“How did you know?”
-“Know what!”
“Did you have someone tailing me?”
-“You fool, videos of you rescuing people are circulating online!”
“Ah…”
It seemed people had recorded videos and posted them on SNS even in that chaos. Taegon pressed his tired eyelids firmly with his fingers.
-“Come back to Seoul immediately! You must tell me today who the girl who will be my future granddaughter-in-law is! If you don’t, I’ll have no choice but to find out myself. I’m Kang Ho-baek! I’m not dead yet!”
