Gil Sang-cheon
"I really don't want to see your face anymore."
Jeong Tae-ui nodded and replied just as bluntly.
"I also would prefer not to see your face if I could... But what can I do when the situation is like this? It's not what I want either."
The medical officer grumbled under his breath and roughly shut the drawer. He took out a medicine bottle from inside and tossed it to Jeong Tae-ui.
"Just take that and go, take it. Use it for simple bruises and don't come here. I've been busy enough lately with the sudden increase in patients, and you keep bringing more every single hour."
"Like I said, it's not what I want either."
Jeong Tae-ui sighed as he held the bottle in one hand, not sure how many times he'd seen this exact scene today. He then stared at the bottle of the tiger balm, supposedly a cure-all according to the medical officer's words, and fell into thought.
It says it's effective for headaches too, maybe I should try applying it. Maybe it'll ease this headache a little.
Jeong Tae-ui opened the bottle, dabbed some of the cloudy ointment on his fingertips, and pretended to apply it to his temple. Seeing this, the medical officer immediately started scolding him. Jeong Tae-ui retorted, "But you said before it could be used for headaches!" However, he didn't get a chance to say anything to the medical officer, who was now yelling incomprehensibly at the top of his lungs.
These days the medical officer was complaining about his murderous workload. He had desperately pleaded with the finance officer to find someone to help him, but the finance officer showed no sign of listening. Even Jeong Tae-ui could see that the medical officer's complaints were entirely justified. Especially considering the number of patients flooding in every day lately, it wouldn't be surprising if the medical officer collapsed from overwork.
"It's all because of that European bastard! Why the hell did that crazy guy have to come here and cause this mess?"
The medical officer, worn out from fatigue, eventually started to curse. Jeong Tae-ui wanted to offer a word of support, saying, "Well, he's part of our branch now, so he's not really a European anymore," but he could see that saying anything like that would only make the atmosphere more tense, so he kept his mouth shut.
"If I collapse from overwork, are you going to take responsibility? Huh?! Just so you know, if I go down, it'll be you guys who suffer!"
As the medical officer loudly complained, Jeong Tae-ui nodded along and thought to himself gloomily. I'll probably be the one to collapse first before you.
The injured couldn't move on their own, and it was Jeong Tae-ui's job to carry them to the medical unit. He even had to endure their harsh curses during the transport.
This situation was already expected from the beginning.
When Ilay Riegrow first came to the Asia Branch as an instructor. No, even before he came, everyone knew this would happen. No one could have failed to foresee this. Even Ilay himself must have known.
Jeong Tae-ui clearly remembered the first time Ilay had entered the lecture hall as an instructor.
No one had been unaware that the new instructor was him. So, just before he had entered the lecture hall, it had frozen in pitch-black silence.
The moment he had stepped into the hall, that silence had turned into a piercing, icy tension.
Originally, the vacant position that Ilay had filled had been for the late instructor, Kippenhan, who had been in charge of information management. Because of that, Jeong Tae-ui had hoped — almost prayed — that Ilay wouldn't take the position, despite his ominous feelings.
