Old Faces and Lingering Ghosts

Screech.

With a loud screech, the car finally came to a stop.

‘I thought it took thirty minutes by car to get there…’

But this time, we arrived in front of the office in just fifteen minutes.
I was even a little impressed when Lee Ilwoo navigated through the side streets several times, and a familiar road appeared.

‘Oh, I’m dizzy…’

As I staggered out of the car, Lee Ilwoo hurriedly supported me.

“Are you alright? Lawyer. Did you by any chance inhale too much smoke earlier?”

‘This is because of motion sickness…’

Is racing one of the requirements for being an agent?
Instead of asking the question that was rising in my throat, I smiled and waved my uninjured hand.

“I’m fine. By the way, this is my first time here.”

Although I was a little motion sick, thanks to Lee Ilwoo, there was still time for my appointment.
I raised my head and checked the sign.

<Hope Surgery – Trauma and Burn Specialist>

“…It happens to be a burn specialist.”
“I know, right. I didn’t know.”

We went up to the second floor through the stairs.

“Hello. Is this your first time here?”
“Yes.”

Just like the neat white sign, the inside of the hospital was also neat.
Perhaps because it was late, there were no patients waiting for treatment.
I approached the desk and, after a simple registration, answered the nurse who asked me how I had come.

“I think I got burned a little.”
“A burn? May I take a look?”
“Ah, yes.”

‘Why is her expression so serious?’

The nurse, who had been smiling and responding until just now, hardened her expression and asked.
I quietly rolled up my now-somewhat-dry shirt and showed her the inside of my arm.

“……”

The nurse carefully examined my burn with a cold, hardened face.

‘It doesn’t look that serious on the outside…’

Do experts see it differently?
To my eyes, my skin was just red and raw.

“Let’s go to the examination room.”

Knock-knock!

The nurse, very formally and urgently, knocked on the door of the examination room and at the same time, flung it open.

“Doctor, we have a burn patient.”

As soon as the door of the examination room opened, a nameplate was immediately visible.

[Surgeon Go Eunhyeok]

But the owner of that nameplate was standing and organizing things instead of sitting in his chair.

“Come this way.”

He put down what he was organizing and turned around.
And the same word came out of all three of our mouths.

“Huh?”

From Lee Ilwoo, Go Eunhyeok, and me.
At that, the nurse looked at us with a bewildered expression.

‘Are he and Lee Ilwoo acquainted? Why is that person here?’

Fortunately, my reaction seemed to be buried in the two men’s reactions.
It was clear that the two men had recognized each other.
Unexpectedly, Go Eunhyeok was the first to compose himself and gestured to me.

“Please sit here and show me your wound.”
“Yes.”

I sat on the examination bed and held out my arm as Go Eunhyeok instructed.
Go Eunhyeok carefully examined my wound and treated it accordingly.
I stared at Go Eunhyeok as he was treating the wound.
I believe that people change.

‘And that no one stays the same.’

Because they are human, because they are alive, people change. Because if they don’t change, they are no different from things.
But even I once believed that ‘people can’t be fixed’.
That was also the reason why I had mainly taken on corporate cases as Yoon Eunho.
My meeting with Go Eunhyeok was like an incident that changed my mind.

“How did you get hurt like this? You would have been in big trouble if the wound had been a little deeper.”

Every time Go Eunhyeok moved, his soft-looking hair swayed with him.

“It seems to have been at least a couple of hours since you got burned, right?”
“Yes. Come to think of it, it’s really been about two hours.”

Go Eunhyeok nodded slightly and added.
His hands were moving busily, but the conversation didn’t seem to be distracting him.

“Burns have a surprisingly high risk of infection. The possibility of sepsis is also that high. You have to treat it quickly in the early stages so you don’t get a scar. But the good thing is that the wound is not that deep.”

Go Eunhyeok continued to explain how to deal with a burn after that.

“Fortunately, there are no pieces of clothing stuck to the wound. If a similar situation happens again, you should never try to take off your clothes by force and just come to the hospital as you are.”
“Yes.”
“Because that could actually make the wound worse.”

Go Eunhyeok, who had finished speaking, raised his gaze and looked at me as if to get a promise.
I nodded once to show that I understood.

‘This person is still the same.’

I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of nostalgia every time I met people I knew.
Especially when I ran into them unexpectedly in a situation like this.

“Burns have a very high risk of tissue necrosis, so you have to come to the hospital right away.”
“Yes, ah…”
“Does it sting?”
“A little.”

I don’t know if he was checking my nerves or if it was just a treatment, but my arm suddenly started to sting excessively.
As if he were conscious of my reaction, Go Eunhyeok’s touch slowed down a little, but the pain came in similarly.

[Do you know him?]

Gram caught my attention.

‘For a little while, a long time ago.’

[You didn’t come here knowing him, did you? Judging from your reaction, I don’t think so.]

‘No. If I had known, I wouldn’t have come here. We’ve never met as a doctor and a patient before.’

[Why?]

‘…I can’t get used to meeting people who only I remember.’

For a change, I honestly confessed my true thoughts to Gram.

[He must have been a good person, this person.]

Just as I was about to answer, Go Eunhyeok spoke first.

“Alright, the treatment is done.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“You have to be careful not to get it wet as much as possible. You have to come at least once every two days to check the progress, but first you need to disinfect it, so come back in two days.”

[Is it already over? …Isn’t he a quack?]

Ah, I almost burst out laughing.
As Gram said, the treatment took less than five minutes.
It was such a short time, but not for me.

‘…I thought it had been at least thirty minutes. He’s not that kind of person. He’s just used to it.’

I got off the bed and bowed my head.
A neat bandage was already wrapped around my arm.

“Thank you.”
“I’ll prescribe you antibiotics and painkillers, so you shouldn’t drink alcohol while you’re taking them.”
“Yes.”

With Go Eunhyeok’s final words of advice, Lee Ilwoo and I left the hospital.

Chime.

“Goodbye.”

When we came out of the pharmacy on the lower floor with the medicine, Lee Ilwoo, who had not said a word since entering the examination room, opened his mouth.

“Lawyer. I, I just remembered that I left something in the car. I’ll stop by and go up.”
“Yes, I’ll be at the office. Take your time.”

I waved my hand, answering nonchalantly.
Lee Ilwoo was silent for a moment and then bowed his head slightly.

“Thank you. I’ll be right there.”
“Not at all.”

I answered like that and immediately crossed the crosswalk that led to the front of the office.
When I looked back after the short signal ended, Lee Ilwoo was already gone.

[What did he leave in the car? I don’t think there was anything.]

‘I wonder, a person?’

[…What?]

‘It’s not that he left something in the car, he must have gone to say hello. They seemed to know each other too. I thought I saw them make eye contact when we were leaving the examination room.’

I said that and slowly climbed the stairs of the office. While holding onto the handrail that I had never held before.
Perhaps because of the sense of stability that the familiar space gave me, the strength was rapidly draining from my body.

[What on earth kind of person is he, no, lawyer. Are you alright?]

‘I’m fine, I’m fine.’

Though I probably look like a drunk person from behind.
But there’s no one behind me, so what’s the big deal.
When I had almost crawled up the stairs on all fours, I was faced with people I hadn’t expected to see.

Chime…

Contrary to the weak sound of the wind chime, a loud voice was heard from above my head.

“Lawyer Cha!”
“Lawyer!”

It was Won Youngoh and Jeong Donghyeok.

“Oh, you two were here. Why haven’t you gone home yet at this hour… Lawyer Won, you must have come back after dropping Doyeong off.”
“Lawyer Cha, your appearance is now… Can you even stand properly? Shall I help you?”
“Ah, of course. I’m fine. It’s just because the tension was released.”

At their surprised looks, I somehow managed to straighten my back and try to stand up straight.
But there was something I had overlooked.
It was my clothes and appearance, which were covered in ash.
Won Youngoh and Jeong Donghyeok froze at the sight of me.
Realizing that, I awkwardly ran my hand through my hair.

“Haha…”

Today was a very long day…

I was made to sit on the sofa through an arrest disguised as assistance.
The two pairs of eyes that were looking at me as if to say, ‘tell me,’ felt as if they were interrogating me.
I diligently omitted the parts that could be omitted and explained what had happened as concisely as possible.
And I also left out Lee Ilwoo’s identity.

“…So that’s what happened. I’m just a little tired.”

Nevertheless, there was no sign of their expressions relaxing.

‘I don’t even want to imagine their reaction if I had told them everything as it was.’

Chime.

Just then, Lee Ilwoo returned.
Won Youngoh and Jeong Donghyeok scanned Lee Ilwoo with hot gazes.
Then, seeing that he had no visible injuries like me, they let out a deep sigh and looked away.

“Mr. Lee Ilwoo, are you hurt? I just heard what happened from Lawyer Cha.”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

Feeling a sense of guilt that was unknown to others in Lee Ilwoo’s expression as he answered, I scratched the corner of my eye instead of Lee Ilwoo.

“The hospital also said it wasn’t that serious.”
“You should go to another hospital tomorrow. No, let’s go together. You inhaled smoke, after all.”
“Lawyer Won is right, Lawyer Cha.”

The duo was firm.
I looked at Lee Ilwoo with a look that said, ‘help me’.

Vibrate.

Though I didn’t know that my gaze would bring a call from someone other than Lee Ilwoo.
Lee Ilwoo said sorry with his eyes and left.
After Lee Ilwoo had left the office again, Won Youngoh, who had been crossing his arms all along, uncrossed them.

“…I don’t think we can continue to live like this. And we shouldn’t.”

What does that mean?
I looked at Won Youngoh with a look of curiosity.

“I think I’ve been like a bystander until now. I’m sorry, Lawyer Cha.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In the first place, the reason you got involved with that ‘K’ was because of me. Even when I was stabbed, if it hadn’t been for you, it could have been a bigger problem.”

Won Youngoh was talking about the incident when he was stabbed, not long after I had joined the office.

“But instead of focusing on and solving that, I chose the trial. So I think the response has been delayed that much.”

I just looked at Won Youngoh.

“When the news of the fire came out earlier, I thought, ‘no way’. I thought, ‘no way the two of them are there’, ‘no way’. But no way. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Jeong Donghyeok nodded in agreement with Won Youngoh’s words and fixed his gaze on me.
I couldn’t easily open my mouth.
In my opinion, Won Youngoh was already doing everything he could.
When a similar incident happened like today, he not only took on my work but also didn’t refuse to do trivial things.

‘Even though we’re in an employment relationship.’

Jeong Donghyeok was the same.
It was no different from me bringing Jeong Donghyeok to Dike.
I had offered him a job, but I didn’t want to get him involved in such a dangerous matter.

‘Because I don’t know how much damage the two of them will suffer.’

Even while I was silent, the two of them waited for me without rushing me.
In the meantime, Lee Ilwoo returned.
He strode in with a large stride and opened his mouth before he even sat down.

“Uh, I have something to say to the three of you.”