Chapter 10 – Elixir
“Is patient Hahn-suhjin back yet?”
It was dinner time, but Hahn-suhjin hadn’t returned yet. Kim-jahong and the other physicians were very worried. They were worried maybe something had happened to Hahn-suhjin.
“Try calling him. Hurry.”
“I’ve already called several times, but he won’t pick up his phone. I’ve even texted him. We aren’t able to contact him.”
“Huh-uh. Maybe something really happened to him?”
Professor Kim-jahong was so frustrated that he felt as if he was going crazy.
His mouth became dry just thinking about the unknown enzyme extracted from Hahn-suhjin’s blood. He wanted to do a component a.n.a.lysis, but they only had .01 mg of the substance left. This made his more anxious.
‘I’m sure of it. It is a substance being made by patient Hahn-suhjin’s immune system.’
Professor Kim-jahong had an unwavering belief that his theory was correct. The only thing left to do was to find evidence to support his theory. However, his main collaborator, Hahn-suhjin, wasn’t back yet, so he was frustrated.
“I can’t stand this. I’ll have to go look him up myself. Do you have patient Hahn-suhjin’s address?”
“Yes, professor? You want to go look for him yourself? Wouldn’t that cause trouble? There is the matter of protecting a patient’s private information….”
“That’s not important right now!”
In the end, he disregarded his student’s objection. Professor Kim-jahong found out Hahn-suhjin’s address from the admissions office, and he stepped out of the hospital.
Hahn-suhjin’s house was a one room apartment that was about 40 minutes drive from the hospital. After parking his car, Kim-jahong pressed the apartment security panel from the 1st floor.
「Who is it?」
“Mr Hahn-suhjin? It’s your primary physician.”
「Ah, yes. What brings you here?」
Kim-jahong had a ominous feeling when he heard the indifferent voice. He let out a fake cough, then he continued speaking.
“You have to hurry up and come back to the hospital. You can’t be discharged yet. Mr. Hahn-suhjin is…”
「I went to another hospital for more testing, and they said I’m fully healed.」
“…….”
「Why did you hide it from me?」
Kim-jahong couldn’t say anything. It was true he hid the fact that Hahn-suhjin was cured, because he wanted to study him a little bit longer.
He was barely able to pull himself together. Kim-jahong spoke.
“I’m sorry if there were any misunderstandings, Mr. Hahn-suhjin. Truthfully, we knew you were close to being fully healed. However, we were being very thorough just in cases we missed something. Even at the latest, he would have given you a clean bill of health in the next day or two.”
「…….」
“If you felt bad about that, I apologize. We shouldn’t be like this. Can we speak face to face?”
「I’ll be down.」
Kim-jahong felt a little bit relieved at the answer.
After a moment, Hahn-suhjin came down wearing comfortable clothes. Hahn-suhjin took Kim-jahong to the convenience store in front of building. He bought two coffees from inside, then they sat on a bench outside.
Kim-jahong wanted to go to a more appropriate location to try to persuade Hahn-suhjin, but he pressed down firmly on his desire.
“I apologize once again if there were any misunderstandings. Even amongst doctors, we differ on when we could give the p.r.o.nouncement of a full recovery. It could be a difference of couple days. He have to play it safe.”
“Well, I understand. Why did you want to speak to me face-to-face?”
It seems the misunderstanding was put aside for now. Kim-jahong swallowed dryly. This was the important part starting from right now.
“I think Mr. Hahn-suhjin has a special immune system that sets you apart from the others.”
“My immune system?”
“You don’t have to think too hard on it. Basically, immune system is the ability of one’s body to overcome a disease. People with a strong immune system doesn’t get sick often, and even if they do become sick, they recover more favorably than the others. I believe this is the reason why Mr. Hahn-suhjin was able to overcome the terminal cancer.”
“So what?”
“We discovered a special enzyme produced by your immune system within Mr. Hahn-suhin’s blood. If we could study the chemical makeup of this substance, we might be able to make a groundbreaking drug that could cure cancer. This would grant the dreams of every cancer patient in the world.”
Kim-jahong mixed in some truth to convince the other man. If it would work, he would have kneeled in front of this man.
“Mr. Hahn-suhjin. Please help us.”
A professor his father’s age was bowing his head deeply, and he was making an earnest plea. Hahn-suhjin’s resolved weakened a little bit.
‘Was I too sensitive to what was going on?’
After receiving the p.r.o.nouncement of a full recovery, he had been suspicious of Professor Kim-jahong. He had thought the professor had an ulterior motive, and the professor purposefully didn’t tell him anything.
However, he just said he had been about to declare his full recovery in a day or two. Hahn-suhjin started thinking maybe he had overreacted to the whole thing.
Hahn-suhjin stared at Professor Kim-jahong. The professor was looking at him with earnest eyes, and he was waiting for an answer.
He focused his mind then he put strength into his eyes. However, the Insight didn’t activate.
It was too bad.
It would have been quite convenient if he was able to freely read a person’s heart. He didn’t know if this was a limitation of his Insight or if he was lacking in someway.
Without the Insight, he would have to come to his own decision. Hahn-suhjin thought through it carefully, and Kim-jahong waited with anxious eyes.
“I…….”
The surrounding was quiet enough to hear Kim-jahong swallow dryly.
“I’ll have to decline. I’m sorry.”
When the king opened his eyes, he felt a sense of pride inside.
“He’s a slave, but he isn’t half bad.”
The king had been worried that he would immediately give consent. Fortunately, Hahn-suhjin refused the doctor’s offer.
Unlike Hahn-suhjin, King Arthur could see the doctor’s true intent. He hadn’t use any malicious spells to find this out. The king was always surrounded by a thick wall of people. He had to subjugate them, and he ruled the continent with judicious politics. He was able to discern the truth using his experience gleaned from past experiences.
The doctor hadn’t told a lie except he hadn’t voice his true intent.
“If he was a person, who only held a pure intention towards the sick, then I would have believed his plea….”
The king mumbled to himself in a bitter manner.
A part of him had a desire to cure the terminally ill cancer patients. The doctor surely had that desire in his heart, but at the same time, he had a large ambition for his own success.
“Your majesty.”
A maid wearing a thin and billowy clothes approached him, and she respectfully lowered her head.
“Your people is gathered outside. Please show them your majesty remains undiminished.”
“All right.”
When the king stood up, four maids helped put on his clothes. He wore clothes trimmed with gold and silver. Then he wore a fancy crown adorned with jewels.
The king stepped into the corridor. The golden cape with a red trim billowed behind him. Several dozen people including the Chamberlain followed in a train behind him.
When he came out onto the balcony, he could see a large plaza.
There were hundreds of thousands of his citizens gathered in the plaza. When their king a[[eared, they all let out a shout.
The people, who couldn’t get into the plaza, had gathered outside. They let out a bigger shout in response. Everyone yelled for their king. They were happy he was healthy.
“Huzzah for our sovereign lord the King!”
“Hurray for King Arthur! Hurray!”
The king slowly waved his right hand as response, and he lightly nodded his head. It caused the ear-splitting cheer to become louder.
It was at that moment. A large shadow appeared in the distance. The people became quiet for a moment, and they turned their gaze.
It was a large black dragon. Its full length was over several hundred meters, and it was a dragon used for combat. It flew low as if gliding, and it landed in front of the balcony where the king was standing.
A man encased in metal from head to toe was standing on top of the dragon’s head. As soon as he saw the king, he knelt on one knee. Then he bowed his head.
“Your majesty. The Kardin Knights are endlessly happy to see you in good health.”
“Did you complete the mission?”
“Yes, sir! We subdued the Kweitel, who was causing chaos on the waters of Crowbis. The citizens of the Crowbis region have resumed their normal lives without fear.”
The king raised his head.
He could see a faint shadow on the distant horizon. The shadow was getting steadily larger. It wasn’t a single shadow. It was the collective shadows of his numerous Black Dragon corps..
Behind the Dragon corps, there was a creature that was much bigger than the dragons. It was round, and numerous tentacles was attached to its head. It was a hideous creature. Each of its tentacle was twice as long as the black dragon.
The creature was bound by countless nets made out of light. It had been captured by the Dragon corps. It wasn’t dead yet, so it moved intermittently. However, the Dragon corps didn’t give even a small chance for it to escape.
“Wah-ah. The monster Kweitel was captured!”
“Hurray for the Kardin Knights! Hurray for the Dragon corps!”
“Hurray for our sovereign lord the King! Hurray for our sovereign lord the King!”
The booming cheers shook the surrounding as if it would blow the capital away.
The king put on a benevolent smile, then he lightly shook his hand towards the people.
He was the ruler of Lenorjian. He was the owner of everything alive.
This was the absolute truth that no one could deny.