Chapter 42 — A Complete Miracle
"No way... is the machine broken?"
The neurosurgery chief standing before the CT scanner's monitor was tearing at his own hair.
Until just moments ago, the hemorrhage had filled the entire brain — and now it had vanished without a trace. The ruptured aneurysm had healed so smoothly it was as if it had never existed, and even the cerebral edema had drained away completely clean.
"Chief, the MRI is normal too. The angiogram shows... no abnormal findings whatsoever."
"How is that possible! Bring me the ER chart from earlier. Did we mix up the patients?"
The medical staff were in utter chaos.
But I alone remained calm amid the commotion.
The Long-Term Employee Perk. The word "complete recovery" had been no exaggeration.
As a reward for the ten years of youth I had poured into that company, the System had given my mother a perfectly brand-new life.
"Doctor, so... my mother is really going to be okay?"
I asked, pretending not to know anything.
The doctor cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses.
"Uh... well, medically speaking, it's impossible to explain but... yes. Miracle is the only word for it. Forget brain damage — her cerebral blood vessels have rejuvenated to the health of someone in their twenties. She could be discharged right now."
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
I bowed deeply and stepped out of the imaging room.
Father, who had been sitting on a chair in the hallway, shot to his feet.
"Dong-su! What did the doctor say? Is your mother going to be all right?"
"Yes, Father. They're calling it a miracle. She's completely healed. No after-effects either."
Father sank down where he stood and wept aloud.
Watching a man who seemed like he'd never shed a tear in his entire life cry like a child, my own nose stung.
Moved to a general ward, Mother was beyond fine — she was bursting with energy.
"Aiyo, I'm starving. Dong-su, aren't you going to feed me? Forget hospital food — got anything like a nice hot gukbap?"
"Mom, you just came back from the dead and you want gukbap? When they bring you porridge, you eat the porridge."
"Who died? I just felt a little dizzy and lay down for a minute, and these doctors made a whole circus out of it..."
Mother grumbled, tugging at the IV line stuck in her arm as if it were a nuisance.
She doesn't remember.
Thank goodness.
That she can't remember that terrible pain.
Then it happened.
The hospital room door opened carefully, and a woman with her face hidden under a hat and mask poked her head in.
"Um... Dong-su? Can I come in?"
It was Hae-in.
Ah...
In all the commotion, I had completely forgotten about her.
"Oh? Senior! You're still here?"
"How could I just leave? I was worried about your mother, so I was waiting outside. Is she... going to be okay?"
As she stepped inside, my parents' gazes converged on her at once.
Mother's eyes went round, spoon still in hand, and Father froze mid-wipe of his tears, staring blankly.
A woman in a suspicious getup. An aura that, to anyone, was anything but ordinary.
"And you... are?"
Mother asked.
I looked helplessly toward Hae-in, scratching my head.
She hesitated a moment, then slowly pulled off her hat and mask.
"Hello. I'm Song Hae-in — Dong-su's... ah, I mean, Team Leader Kim Dong-su's university senior and a close... colleague."
A beauty that glowed even without stage lighting lit up the hospital room.
In that instant, Mother's mouth fell wide open.
The spoon clattered to the floor.
"Oh my! Oh my goodness! Who is this? Song Hae-in? THE Song Hae-in? From the television?!"
"Honestly, dear. Why would Song Hae-in come here? It must be someone who looks like her."
Father chided her, but his own eyes were wavering with disbelief.
Hae-in smiled warmly and approached the bedside.
"Mother, I'm so glad you've recovered. Do you know how much he cried — Kim Dong-su, I mean, Team Leader Kim — the whole way here?"
"Oh my heavens! That's right! It IS her! Honey, I told you it was her! She's even prettier than on TV! Like a doll that got up and started walking!"
forgetting her illness entirely, Mother sprang up and clasped Hae-in's hand. Then, perhaps embarrassed by how rough her own hands were, she tried to quietly withdraw them — but Hae-in held on tight.
"Mother, I'm truly relieved you're feeling better. You have no idea how much he cried the entire drive over."
"Oh dear... such an honored guest, coming all this way... What exactly are you to our Dong-su?"
Mother's instincts had kicked in.
She'd caught on that no mere senior or colleague would come all this way — in the dead of night, driving herself, no less.
Her eyes darted back and forth between me and Hae-in.
My face burning, I coughed awkwardly.
"Ahem. Mom, well... we got close while I was shooting a commercial. She's taken really good care of me."
"Got... close?"
The corners of Mother's eyes crinkled.
Ever since her son's divorce, she had carried a stone in the pit of her chest. And now her son had not only become a team leader at a major corporation — he'd shown up with the biggest star in all of Korea?
This was a bigger shock and a greater joy than the recovery from the brain hemorrhage itself.
"Mother, I brought some porridge. The hospital food doesn't suit you, does it?"
Hae-in pulled a takeout container out of her shopping bag.
It was premium pine-nut porridge from a famous porridge restaurant.
Mother's smile stretched from ear to ear.
"Well, I never... I'm getting to eat porridge that Song Hae-in bought with her own hands. Honey, I think I'm all better now. I could check out of this place today."
"Heh heh... my, my. Can't tell if this is a dream or my birthday."
Father chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
The hospital room, where wailing had echoed not long ago, was now in full bloom with laughter.
I watched the scene from one step back.
My mother, who had lain pale and still, was smiling.
My father, who had been drowning in despair, was smiling.
And the woman I loved was smiling right there with my parents.
An overwhelming wave of relief washed over me.
More than the day I became a building owner, more than the day I sent the branch manager packing —
this very moment was, beyond any comparison, the happiest I had ever been.
Hae-in had to head back up early the next morning for her schedule.
Despite Father's protests, Mother insisted on climbing out of her hospital bed to see Hae-in off at the entrance.
Hae-in firmly refused and calmed them both down.
"Mother, you need your rest. I'll come again."
"Again? You promise? You're not just saying that, are you?"
"I promise. Next time I'll bring something delicious and pay you a proper visit."
A proper visit.
At those words, Mother and Father exchanged a look.
Pleased smiles spread across both their faces.
We left the hospital.
The pre-dawn air was cold, but our joined hands were warm.
By the time we reached the parking lot, the tension finally drained out of me and my legs gave way.
Hae-in caught me as I swayed.
"You okay?"
"Yeah... I'm alive thanks to you. If it weren't for you, noona, I might have crashed on the way here."
"I told you, didn't I? That I'd protect you."
She straightened my collar and looked up at me. Under the streetlight, her eyes sparkled like stars.
She looked especially beautiful tonight.
No — I was grateful to her.
"Senior."
"Mm?"
"What you were trying to say earlier... back at my place. You remember."
The confession that had been cut off by the ringing of my phone.
I decided that now was the time.
If I let this woman slip away, I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life.
"I don't... I don't want to be just close senior and junior anymore."
"......."
"Let's... let's date. I don't care if a scandal breaks out, I don't care if the whole world finds out. I'll take responsibility for you, noona."
A hospital parking lot in the dead of night.
Hae-in's eyes went wide with surprise — and then she broke into a brilliant smile and pulled my neck into her arms.
"You take it back if you break that promise about responsibility, okay?"
"Of course. You know what I'm capable of. I'm a man with real ability."
"Oh, I know. Our Team Leader Kim is very capable indeed."
Her lips met mine.
.
.
.
A long while later.
When our lips finally parted, a lingering reluctance trailed behind like a long tail. Our hot breaths scattered white between us, dissolving into the cold pre-dawn air.
Hae-in's face was flushed crimson under the streetlight.
Song Hae-in, the top star of her generation — a professional who never blinked in front of a camera — was blushing shyly before me.
The thought was unbearably endearing.
"......You mean it, right?"
She pressed her forehead against my chest and mumbled.
"Mean what?"
"About taking responsibility. And... about dating. If you say something different later, I will seriously get mad?"
"Should I put it in writing, then?"
At my joke, she finally burst into soft laughter.
We stood on either side of the car door for a long while, just looking at each other. The voice of reason telling me I had to put her in that car and send her to Seoul was locked in fierce battle with the instinct that wanted just a few more minutes together.
"You should go. You said you have a shoot tomorrow."
"I don't wanna go. Honestly, I'd love to just get kidnapped right about now."
"Do you know how big the penalty is for blowing off a schedule? However capable I am, that one's a bit above my pay grade."
"Tch... no romance in you at all, mister."
Pouting, she opened the driver's side door. And just before climbing in, she turned back and gripped my hand tight.
"Dong-su."
"Yes?"
"You stay right beside me! I'll take the responsibility!"
"Sorry — what?"
"I said I'M the one taking responsibility for you!"