Chapter 78 – Grandfather Eoheung (3)

Ten days later, the clinic.

With Kim Ji-hyuk’s persuasion, Sang-cheol’s mother went up to Seoul and received a detailed examination.

Finally, the results came out, and receiving Kim Ji-hyuk’s contact, Sang-cheol’s mother visited the clinic.

“Mother, the test results are out!”

Kim Ji-hyuk welcomed her with a bright face.

“Wh-what did they say?”

Gulp, Sang-cheol’s mother swallowed her dry saliva.

“Sister! It is such a relief! The test results came from Seoul, and they say you do not have cancer, Sister!”

Nurse Park In-seon, who was beside her, made a fuss and rejoiced.

“Yes. That is right. Just as the nurse said, it seems it is not lung adenocarcinoma. Mmh, the name of the disease is non-specific interstitial pneumonia, and though the terminology is a bit difficult, it is not such a fatal disease. If you receive treatment well, you can recover completely. It is a relief.”

Kim Ji-hyuk added an explanation.

“Doctor! Is it true?”

Sang-cheol’s mother had a dazed face. She wore an expression of disbelief at how this could be.

“Yes. For details, we must test more, though. However, the nodule that formed in the lung must be removed by surgery, even if it is benign. I think it would be best to go up to Seoul and get hospitalized as soon as possible.”

“Ho-hospitalization?”

Relieved at the news that it was not cancer, but only for a moment.

At Kim Ji-hyuk’s words that she must be hospitalized, Sang-cheol’s mother’s lips trembled.

“Yes. You must absolutely be hospitalized. I will take measures so that you can be admitted to the National Medical Center in Seoul.”

“Ah, yes…”

Sang-cheol’s mother’s face darkened again.

‘As expected, the medical fees are the issue. Indeed, considering Sang-cheol’s family circumstances, being hospitalized for about a month at a Seoul hospital would be a considerable burden.’

Kim Ji-hyuk, reading her expression, spoke again.

“Let us try to find a solution for the treatment costs together with me. There will surely be a way to receive help.”

“That is right, Sister! I will look into it together with you too, so do not worry too much. Still, how fortunate is it that it is not cancer! Now, you are saved, Sister! Sang-cheol is saved too!”

Nurse Park In-seon smiled brightly and chimed in.

“Indeed.”

However, Sang-cheol’s mother’s expression was still not bright.

The reason was simple.

Once she received a death sentence like a bolt from the blue in the form of lung adenocarcinoma, a poor family like Sang-cheol’s could not afford the treatment.

Now it was 1954, and all welfare policies in South Korea were close to zero.

Since there was no medical insurance system, how many people could afford the enormous surgery and treatment fees.

Therefore, although it was not lung adenocarcinoma, from her standpoint of having to undergo surgery and hospitalization, she could not put her mind at ease no matter how mild the illness was.

“Cheer up, Sister! They say even if the heavens fall, there is a way out. For Sang-cheol’s sake, you must not grow weak.”

Nurse Park In-seon, who could not possibly not know this, rubbed her back and comforted her.

“I should. Doctor! Thank you truly. How can I repay this favor.”

“Not at all. Although it is hard as the nurse said, please take courage for the child. And, the disease you are suffering from is not an illness to be passed over lightly like a cold. You must receive treatment somehow.”

Just in case, Kim Ji-hyuk emphasized the importance of treatment once more.

“Yes. Then I will head out now. The work is heavily backlogged.”

She stood up weakly from her seat. Bowing to Kim Ji-hyuk and turning around, her shoulders were slumped.

“If she is to be treated in Seoul, the cost won’t be easy, right?”

A moment later, as Sang-cheol’s mother left the clinic examination room, Nurse Park In-seon wore a worried expression.

“It must be so. The medical fees are one thing, but since she cannot work for a while, the living expenses will also be a worry.”

“She is a sister who lives hand-to-mouth day by day, so it is a big problem. First, I should look into the county office at least.”

Nurse Park In-seon’s expression was dark.

“Yes. I will also see if there is any way at the National Medical Center.”

* * *

A few days later, the clinic.

“Grandmother, since you have asthma, you must not be covered in dust. Please avoid going up the mountain if possible.”

“Is that as easy as it sounds. I have to dig deodeok and mugwort to make ends meet. My son and grandson are working themselves to the bone while inhaling all that coal dust in the mine, shouldn’t I help out too.”

“Yes. I know that, but at least during the changing of seasons, you must rest at home.”

“Then I have to listen to the old man’s nagging all day long?”

“Then you can also nag him back, Grandmother. At any rate, you must rest at home for at least a few days. Nurse, please prescribe three days’ worth of asthma medicine.”

“Yes. Doctor!”

‘If only there were a nebulizer… Mmh, a nebulizer shouldn’t be very difficult. I should develop it when I have time!’

“Dr. Kim!”

Around the time he finished the examination in that way, Grandmother Seosandaek pulled at Kim Ji-hyuk’s sleeve.

“This is not much, but please take it.”

The grandmother took out a crumpled wad of bills from her gojaengi pocket.

It was a bundle tightly bound with a rubber band.

“Oh, you do not have to pay for the examination. The mining office is supporting us sufficiently… And even if we accept fees, such a large sum…”

“It is not that, it is to help with Sang-cheol’s mother’s treatment fees.”

The grandmother smiled and squeezed the wad of bills into Kim Ji-hyuk’s hand.

“No, no! We are looking into the treatment fees separately! This is money you earned by digging herbs with difficulty while roaming mountains and fields with an unhealthy body. And earlier you said it was even hard to make ends meet.”

“Then throw it away. Do as you please!”

The grandmother pouted and twitched her cheekbones.

“Grandmother Seosandaek, it is Grandfather’s eightieth birthday soon, and if you are to hold a feast…”

Nurse Park In-seon also chimed in, but it was to no avail.

“Feast? Having lived this long, I should be grateful. Eightieth birthday, what nonsense. Whenever my body throbbed and I threw a fit because it rained, did you say that because you do not know Sang-cheol ran over to massage my arms and legs? Do you not know that the young thing never uttered a word of complaint?”

“……….”

“……….”

“If I had done so while squeezing large hard candies into his hand, it would be different. Unless his conscience has grown hair, he won’t be able to say no. Even if this money is lacking, it is lacking by a long shot. During the war, when the People’s Army plundered the entire storehouse to feed themselves, Sang-cheol’s mother fed and cared for us. Are you planning to make me into a woman who doesn’t even know gratitude?”

Grandmother Seosandaek yelled at the two.

“Oh, Grandmother!”

Nurse Park In-seon giggled at the grandmother’s rich, earthy talk.

“Anyway, since it is money I do not know about, throw it on the road or use it in the outhouse, do as you please. Because I absolutely cannot stand to see it enter the belly as alcohol money for that boozer old man.”

“Yes. I understand that heart sufficiently. I do. But it is money you need to live on, Grandmother. Please take it back. We will resolve it well.”

Kim Ji-hyuk persuaded the grandmother so that she wouldn’t feel offended.

“Dr. Kim, what is so important about money?”

“Pardon?”

“Isn’t money something you have one moment and do not have the next? What is the use of me eating well and living well alone?”

“……….”

“If you go to that mountain, shepherd’s purse covers the ground in spring, and angelica shoots release their fragrant scent in summer.”

“……….”

“But, those shepherd’s purse and angelica shoots covering the ground do not grow on their own. That mountain raises them with utmost care. It blocks the scorching sunlight by spreading leaves, and when the rainy season comes in summer, it protects them with firm soil so they do not wash away. It raised them with care and love, that is.”

“Grandmother is right.”

Nurse Park In-seon nodded her head intensely.

“But you see. Even if we go in and out countless times, harvesting herbs until their seeds dry up—shepherd’s purse in spring, angelica shoots in summer, Fischer’s ragwort in autumn—the mountain has no complaints. Even, once a year passes, as if it never happened, it silently sprouts and waits for us to come. So, would it be right if I only ate well and lived well alone, not looking back at those in difficulty?”

“Yes.”

Only then did a pleased smile hang at the corner of Kim Ji-hyuk’s mouth.

“When this heart and that heart, earnest hearts gather one by one, just like rainwater becomes a river and a sea, things that won’t work out will work out.”

“Yes. Grandmother’s words are correct.”

It was a solemn moment.

“Right now, Sang-cheol’s mother’s heart must be in ruins. At the thought of the sky collapsing and young Sang-cheol, her inside must be rotting and decaying. I know that heart well. Didn’t I also cut out a piece of my breast here?”

“……….”

It appeared that the grandmother had lost one side of her breast to breast cancer surgery ten years ago.

“Truly, back then, I did not want to live in this world either. But as I lived, it all passed. If you endure, you manage to live through it all.”

“……….”

Nurse Park In-seon and Kim Ji-hyuk were left speechless.

They merely stared at the grandmother with complex emotions.

“Oh dear, I guess I played the pity card uselessly. I must get going. My old man has a beggar crawling in his stomach, so if he misses mealtime, he throws a fit like a child. Today I should pluck some spring shepherd’s purse, dissolve soybean paste, and boil shepherd’s purse soup to feed him.”

“Shepherd’s purse soup is great!”

“If he downs a bowl of takbaegi with shepherd’s purse soup, my old man is in pure paradise. Would you like to taste some shepherd’s purse soup too, Dr. Kim?”

“If you give me some, I will eat it gratefully!”

Kim Ji-hyuk bowed his head first.

“Then, Grandmother, go carefully, and you must take your medicine on time.”

“Of course! It is not like that childish old man will take care of me, so I must tenaciously take care of myself. Thank you, Dr. Kim!”

“Oh, my body aches. Is it going to rain?”

Groan, the grandmother stood up from her chair, laboriously straightening her bent back.

Wait, a moment later.

“Oh my, it is 20,000 Hwan! That is not a small amount of money for the grandmother.”

As of 1954, a bag of rice was about 3,900 Hwan, so it was a huge sum of money close to five bags of rice. After Grandmother Seosandaek left, Nurse Park In-seon untied the rubber band, checked the amount, and wore a sorrowful expression.

“Indeed. I should also press the Seoul hospital once more. There must be some way.”

Kim Ji-hyuk stared down at the wad of bills the grandmother had left behind.

* * *

That evening, the clinic.

Even though a considerable time had passed since inquiring about medical benefits for the destitute to the Seoul headquarters, there was no news, and in case, he checked with the county office, but as expected, there was nothing they could support. In addition, they requested support from the mining office, but unless she was a miner or family member, they could not support her particularly.

Although there was no helpful support even for miners.

Because it was 1954, when the concept of social welfare systems was completely non-existent.

It was a situation where nothing could be done with the money the villagers had pooled together.

Around the time Kim Ji-hyuk was lost in various thoughts like that,

“Doctor! Doctor! Are you inside!”

Bang—

A man entered, violently opening the clinic door.

On his back, Sang-cheol’s mother was carried, unconscious.

“Wh-what happened here?”

At that, Kim Ji-hyuk sprang up from his seat and ran to him.