The Blacksmith's Eye
"What do you mean, go to an ophthalmologist all of a sudden? Are you just trying to brush me off—tell me to come back some other time?"
Chairman Jung Tae-geun's expression hardened. He must have taken my words as an excuse.
I waved my hands as I answered him.
"That's not what I meant at all, Chairman. I'm not a doctor, of course, so I don't have any specialized medical knowledge."
"I'm well aware of that. Which makes me wonder why a man who knows as much would say a thing like that."
"But in all the years I've spent making custom pieces, I've observed a great many people."
One of the abilities I had developed over a hundred years of crafting on Mount Olympus was a particular kind of observational eye—the ability to look at a person and sense where they were hurting. If someone came to me for a chair, I needed to understand why they had come to me for it in the first place. Only then could I make a chair that was truly fitted to them.
This kind of observation mattered for a simple reason: clients themselves often had no idea why they were uncomfortable. Just because an item had Soul imbued in it did not automatically make it a good one. Every object had to be made with a full grasp of the client's condition, crafted to be the optimal tool for their use. That was the fundamental principle behind everything I made. It was also why I almost always insisted that a client come see me in person when I made something for them.
Of course, this observational gift was nothing like a renowned physician's ability to name a disease at a glance. I was neither a doctor nor a practitioner of traditional Korean medicine, and I had no medical knowledge to speak of. How could I possibly know something like that? But I could instinctively tell where someone was uncomfortable, and which part of the body was the problem.
I explained my ability to Chairman Jung in terms he would understand.
"It's hard to put into words, but you've heard those stories, haven't you? A dog or a cat that keeps nipping at a particular spot on its owner's body, and when they finally go to the hospital, they find cancer. Think of it as something like that."
"...And you actually think that comparison holds water?"
Even after my explanation, Chairman Jung's expression showed no sign of softening.
The way his glasses keep slipping is probably because of his eyes, too.
There was some discomfort in his eyes that even he wasn't aware of. He kept frowning because of it, and that was why the frames kept sliding down his nose.
"Making a pair of frames isn't difficult. A few hours would be plenty. But that's a separate matter. Please go to an ophthalmologist as soon as you can. A major hospital, if possible."
I had already tried to persuade him several times. He still would not change his mind.
"Honestly... treating a perfectly healthy man like a patient. You've got a real talent for putting people off, you know that? I already had a full examination at the ophthalmologist a few months ago, during my regular checkup."
Chairman Jung rose from his seat, his face set.
"I'll be going. Looks like I made this trip for nothing."
Chairman Jung Tae-geun opened the door and walked out of the workshop.
"Ch-Chairman...!"
The man who had come with him called after Chairman Jung, about to follow. I caught him before he could leave.
"Excuse me—are you Chairman Jung's secretary?"
"Yes... that's right. Choi Tae-ho, chief of staff."
I spoke to him with an expression of absolute certainty.
"Please make sure you take the Chairman to a major hospital for an eye exam today. I could tell earlier that he actually listens to you."
A troubled look crossed his face.
"That's... not something I have any say in. The Chairman..."
"If you don't go now, you may regret it for the rest of your life."
Silence hung in the air for a moment. An unreadable expression flickered across Chief Choi's face. Then he hurried after Chairman Jung.
"Chairman! Chairman!"
The two of them left, and the workshop fell quiet once more.
Was I sticking my nose where it didn't belong...?
Maybe it had been nothing but meddling. I had told him out of goodwill, and that was the reception I got. I couldn't pretend it sat well with me. But if a disease that could still be stopped was left to run its course just because my feelings were a little bruised, wouldn't that be a far greater problem?
Besides, stress of this magnitude would vanish with a single cup of Maxim instant coffee.
I've spent a hundred years dealing with people a hundred times worse than that...
Just thinking about it made me shudder all over again.
Compared to Poseidon, that man is an angel and a Buddha rolled into one.
Grumbling to myself, I set a kettle on to boil, hoping to shake off the irritation from a moment ago.
The moment they left the workshop and climbed into the car, Chairman Jung Tae-geun erupted.
"What a complete waste of time. I came to get a pair of glasses made, and all I got was some nonsense about going to an ophthalmologist. And at his age—how many people could he possibly have seen? The way he talked, you'd think the man had been at it for over a hundred years."
Chairman Jung looked at Chief Secretary Choi Tae-ho, seated in front.
"Chief Choi. Let's go home. I need to rest today."
"Yes... Chairman."
Chief Choi gave the expected answer, but something about what that young man had said kept gnawing at him.
Honestly, from a secretary's position, there was nothing to gain by bringing it up. The Chairman had made his choice. Questioning it was out of line to begin with.
And yet, in this moment, Choi Tae-ho hesitated. Chairman Jung was the chairman of Daesan—but he was also Choi Tae-ho's uncle.
"Um... Chairman... I mean, Uncle."
"What? All of a sudden... I told you not to call me that while we're working."
Chief Choi tried to persuade him in a different register than before.
"Why not just go to the ophthalmologist, just this once?"
"What? Don't tell me you've bought into that ridiculous story too?"
"If he simply didn't want to take you as a client, he could have made up an excuse and sent you on your way. But he tried to talk you into it several times. There had to be a reason for that."
"......"
Chairman Jung said nothing for a moment. Choi Tae-ho's argument must have carried some weight.
Choi Tae-ho pressed once more.
"There's nothing on the schedule for the rest of the day anyway. They say better safe than sorry, don't they? Why not just get it checked?"
Jung Tae-geun let out a long, heavy sigh. And then—
"Fine. Let's go to the hospital. Let's see if that bastard was actually right."
Listening to a kid like that...
He had finished the battery of tests and was waiting for the doctor, but no matter how he turned it over in his mind, he was in a foul mood. It felt as though he had been taken in by some cult leader.
"I really must be getting old. In the old days, I would have torn into him right then and there."
There was probably nothing wrong with him at all. He regretted not giving the young man a piece of his mind on the spot.
He waited a little longer. Then the doctor came in, sat down, and said something that was the complete opposite of everything Tae-geun had expected.
"Chairman. You came very close to something quite serious."
"Something serious? What are you talking about? Is there actually something wrong?"
"It's acute angle-closure glaucoma."
"Acute angle-closure glaucoma?"
The doctor showed him the photographs they had just taken and explained.
"If you look here, you can see the drainage canals where fluid leaves the inside of the eye. This is a condition in which those canals suddenly narrow, causing the pressure inside the eye to spike."
"What...!? So is this serious? Can it be treated?"
"Yes. It's a truly dangerous disease. Left untreated, the symptoms can progress all the way to blindness."
"B-blindness?"
He was in his mid-sixties now. He had lived a full life, but there was still so much he wanted to see. Losing his sight—it was a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
The doctor smiled, however, and set about reassuring Chairman Jung.
"You don't need to worry too much, though. If you'd come even a week later, it would have been truly dangerous. Fortunately, at this stage, it can be easily treated with a laser. Since you're already here, why don't we do the procedure today?"
"Really? You can treat it today—right now?"
"Yes. Of course we'll need to monitor the progress, and there will be follow-up treatment, but because you came in early, I believe we can treat it quite easily."
Only then did Tae-geun let out a sigh of relief.
"Hah... thank goodness. I'm not even seventy yet. I thought I was about to go blind..."
"Please don't worry. As long as the laser treatment goes well, there shouldn't be any problems. But how did you happen to come in at exactly the right time? If you'd been even a little later—or if you'd gotten on a plane in the meantime—it could have been a real disaster."
"That serious?"
The doctor nodded and explained the danger of the condition.
"In the early stages, it's easily treatable. But as the word 'acute' in the name suggests, it's a ticking time bomb. If even a week had passed, treatment might not have been so straightforward."
"......"
The doctor picked up the phone.
"I'll book an operating room right now, then."
Chairman Jung nodded in silence. The doctor in front of him was one of the top five ophthalmologists in the country. He certainly would not be lying.
"How the hell did that guy even know..."
The doctor, who had overheard Chairman Jung's mutter, paused mid-call.
"Pardon? How did I know...? I confirmed the test results several times. It's certain."
"No, I wasn't talking about you. It's nothing—don't concern yourself with it. I'll step outside and rest for a bit. Let me know when you're ready."
Chairman Jung rose from his seat.
Once the surgery's over, I should go apologize...
Until moments ago, he had written the man off as a con artist. Now he was the benefactor who had saved him from going blind. That made everything he had done nothing short of rude. The things he had said just a few hours ago filled him with crushing regret.
I can't just show up empty-handed. I should bring something with me.
Whatever else could be said of him, Jung Tae-geun of Daesan was a man who repaid both debts of gratitude and debts of vengeance with unmatched thoroughness.
When he stepped out of the room, Chief Choi, who had been waiting, rushed over to support him.
"Are you all right, Chairman? What did the doctor say?"
"Acute angle-closure glaucoma. He said if I'd been even a little later, I would have gone blind."
"What!? Then it was actually that dangerous?"
"We're going into surgery right away. Fortunately, he says if we treat it now, a simple laser procedure will take care of it."
"Is that true? Thank goodness...!"
Chairman Jung told Chief Choi to keep it quiet.
"Don't tell the family."
Part of it was that he didn't want to worry them. But more than that, if word got out that a chaebol chairman was ill, there would always be someone waiting to use it as a pretext to challenge him for control of the company.
"Yes. Don't worry, Chairman. Let's get you to a hospital room. I'll have everything prepared at once."
"Yes, let's do that. I should rest a bit before the surgery."
Chairman Jung went to the VIP hospital room prepared for him and waited for the procedure. Being able to go into surgery this quickly was a privilege of being a VVIP.
But no matter how quickly he could get the surgery, if he hadn't known about this in advance, he truly could have lost his sight.
Well, I'll be damned... that's something else...
He never would have imagined that going to get a pair of glasses made would lead him to a benefactor who would catch a disease this serious before it was too late.
Hoo... I really owe him a massive debt of gratitude...
A little while ago, he had been thinking of preparing a cash gift of around twenty million won. But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed he needed something better than that.
"What would be good..."