Chapter 214
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 214
Chapter Title: The Driver's Red Eyes
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“Mr. Kim Jinsang~ It's been a while. What's bothering you?”
“Can I see Director Han right now?”
Anyone coming into the clinic normally checks in at the desk for a quick preliminary exam along with registration.
They gauge how long the consultation might take, and I try to anticipate the likely condition.
But Kim Jinsang ignored the desk staff's questions and urged them on impatiently.
'Nerve pain from postherpetic neuralgia, maybe?'
It had been a while since he'd come alone without Park Seonyoon.
Was the pain suddenly so bad that he was this frantic?
His voice alone carried the same anxiety as his first visit to our clinic, so I messaged the staff not to bother dealing with him and just send him straight to the exam room.
“Hello, what's the problem?”
I greeted him and tossed out the standard line, but even as I asked, I had my suspicions.
It jumped out at me the moment I saw his face.
“Why are your eyes so bloodshot? Haven't been sleeping?”
He looked like a demonic cultist in the throes of qi deviation.
His eyes bulged, the whites were bright red, and dark circles hung heavy beneath them.
But it wasn't quite the uniform redness of conjunctivitis.
Staring at screens all night? Or exposed to dry air for too long?
“That's exactly why I'm here. My vision's all hazy. Nothing's in them, but I don't know what's going on. The ophthalmologist said no inflammation, gave me artificial tears, and told me to see internal medicine if it persists.”
Kim Jinsang leaned forward over the desk, spilling everything at once.
“Hold on, let's calm down first.”
“Ah, yes.”
Even so, with the trust built up between us, he listened well.
“How many days has it been?”
“Uh... about one or two weeks?”
“No idea what caused it?”
“No. I haven't done anything to my eyes specifically...”
Kim Jinsang claimed he had no clue.
But I had a pretty good idea.
“Your blood pressure seems high.”
“Ah?”
Having just seen a hypertension patient and pondering how to refer Kim Jinsang to the dojo myself, this was too on-the-nose to miss—hypertension-related symptoms bringing him in.
Kim Jinsang froze.
“Really? Does high blood pressure make your eyes bulge like this? Has it really gone up more?”
He seemed to find it plausible too.
Kim Jinsang twisted around, glancing repeatedly at the exam room door.
Earlier he'd been desperate to get in quick.
Now there was a blood pressure monitor in the waiting room, and he wanted to check it.
Sigh. Not all hypertension patients were hot-tempered, but it sure seemed like a lot of hot-tempered folks ended up with high blood pressure as they aged.
“Are you on blood pressure meds?”
The initial chart showed no medications, but enough time had passed since then, so I double-checked.
“No. I don't take them. My blood pressure isn't always high. It spikes when I exercise or get mad, but settles right down after a short rest.”
“I see. But it seems to be staying elevated now. Let's go check it out there.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
I went with Kim Jinsang to measure his blood pressure.
The reading: 144/82.
...By diagnostic standards, that was stage 2 hypertension.
“Huh, that's weird. My last health checkup was normal.”
Kim Jinsang looked utterly flustered.
I led him back to the exam room and asked,
“When was that?”
“You know, the year-end health screening.”
He meant the national health checkup required every two years for office workers. It didn't have to be at year-end, but most salarymen procrastinated until then.
Not long ago at all.
“It can spike temporarily. Your eyes have only been red for a week or two, so maybe the blood pressure's been up that long too.”
“Ah, but I didn't run here today, and usually it settles after 20 or 30 minutes of rest...”
“Sure, if it's a momentary flare-up that calms down. But if stress is ongoing, blood pressure can stay high longer.”
Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
That ramps up heart rate and constricts blood vessels, naturally raising blood pressure.
“Ah...”
“Any stress factors you can think of? Mental stress or physical overwork without rest, all of it.”
“...Come to think of it, there is something. Ever since then, I haven't been sleeping well, and my eyes started turning bloodshot.”
Kim Jinsang frowned.
Asking directly had jogged his memory.
“If you're not sleeping, that's likely the direct cause of both the elevated blood pressure and the bloodshot eyes.”
During sleep, blood pressure naturally dips in what's called nocturnal dipping.
Poor sleep disrupts that regulation, so it stays high even during the day.
“For now, instead of blood pressure meds, let's prescribe herbal medicine to help you sleep better and ease the stress. We'll monitor the eye redness and blood pressure changes too.”
“Ah, will it fix my anxiety too?”
Color returned to Kim Jinsang's face.
Of course it would help with stress control.
But his wording caught my attention.
“You feel anxious?”
“Yes.”
“Of anger, anxiety, or depression—which feels strongest?”
“...Anxiety right now.”
That was unexpected.
Kim Jinsang tended toward explosive emotional outbursts rather than constant volatility, so I'd assumed any anger or chest tightness got labeled as 'anxiety' arbitrarily.
Actual anxiety?
“Mind sharing what's causing the stress?”
Obviously, eliminating the root cause is best if possible.
If it was routine work stress or all-encompassing rage like Kim Jaegyu's, I'd have no choice but to treat symptoms and send him to the dojo to manage himself.
But hearing anxiety from a patient like Kim Jinsang made me want to check it out first.
“Hmm...”
“Everything said leaving this room stays confidential. I might not be able to help, but just talking it out will ease things a bit.”
“F-First, please keep it from the young master.”
Park Seonyoon?
Of course, keeping medical history or personal stories from acquaintances was standard.
I nodded.
“Truth is, my hot temper might've hurt the company. Sigh, I think we lost a client.”
“Ah... something like that happened?”
“Ever since, the young master's been avoiding taking me along. I'm worried I'll get fired, everything feels unstable, I'm sorry, and I can't sleep. I should've fixed this temper sooner.”
Hot temper hurting the company? Did the driver snap at a company executive?
A whole drama played out in my head.
Kim Jinsang opened up as if he'd been waiting.
Two weeks ago.
Kim Jinsang was working as usual.
More precisely, taking a break between tasks.
After driving Park Seonyoon to an off-site meeting, he was waiting in the parking lot.
These times usually had little to do.
If Park Seonyoon asked for a personal errand, he'd handle it, but otherwise he killed time at a nearby cafe or just sat in the driver's seat with the engine off.
Having accompanied Park Seonyoon on a tiring trip to Seoul the day before, he was pretty beat today.
So Kim Jinsang reclined his seat and was half-dozing.
'She said it'd take over two hours... Fuel's good...'
Then an SUV pulled into the empty spot to the left of his parked car.
He hadn't paid much mind up to then.
Bang!
Suddenly, a jolt hit the driver's side.
“...?”
The cars hadn't collided.
He sat up and checked.
It was a classic door ding.
“What the—it's obviously too narrow! Where are your eyes?!”
Most underground parking spots in Korea were narrow like that.
Even so, cracking the door carefully let one person out easily.
What was this nonsense?
Kim Jinsang rolled down the window and barked.
He wanted to get out and confront them, but the adjacent car blocked the space.
“Argh, fucking... Busy as hell, and they make a fuss over nothing.”
Someone was inside, and the door-dinger stayed brazen even after hearing the yelling.
They even cursed back at Kim Jinsang.
“What did you say, you bastard?”
The guy brushed off his suit and tried to leave, so as soon as the adjacent door closed, Kim Jinsang got out and grabbed him.
Where do you think you're going?
The car had a mark, so compensation was due.
And interrupting his nap pissed him off too.
“What? Bastard? Do you know who I am?”
“Doesn't matter. Apologize properly and pay for the paint job.”
“I'm the GMCL Korea branch head!”
Instead of apologizing, the guy bragged about his position.
“Never heard of it, so what...”
“Global MediCore Link, got it? World-class pharmaceutical distributor! Not well-known in Korea, but huge globally...”
“Save the company pitch for the presentation. Our young master's bigger.”
“Young master?”
The man eyed Kim Jinsang up and down.
“Driver, huh? Know your place and don't talk down to me. Don't care who your young master is—even PK's chairman couldn't touch me!”
“What? Know your place?”
“Fuck, worthless punk anyone could replace, acting like your boss gives you clout...”
The man had started the informal speech first, with curses.
So Kim Jinsang matched it.
Sure, he'd yelled first, but no door ding, no yell.
But the man, realizing he was a driver, started personal attacks.
“Hey, back in my day...”
“Branch Head, you're late for the meeting.”
Then a woman emerged from the adjacent car's driver's seat.
He'd trashed a driver, yet had one himself.
“Ah, right.”
“Crazy.”
“I gotta head up—have your secretary handle this!”
With that, he bolted for the elevator mid-argument.
Secretary doubling as driver, apparently.
“Sorry, sir. The company will cover repairs.”
He got an apology from the secretary at least.
Repair promise and contact info secured.
“Ugh, what a cursed day...!”
Still, no direct apology soured his mood.
About two hours later.
Park Seonyoon returned.
“Young master, know what just happened?”
Kim Jinsang was still fuming.
“I see.”
Normally she'd empathize a bit, but Park Seonyoon seemed drained today.
“You look more upset than me?”
“Ah, yeah... Things didn't go well.”
She seemed a little down too.
“Well, that happens. Meeting flop?”
Kim Jinsang tamped his anger to comfort her indirectly.
Having served her since childhood made their bond closer than a typical driver-employer.
Of course, if it was something he shouldn't know, she'd hold back.
“It was shaky, but the deal fell through. Tried hard to salvage it today... Oh well, can't chase two rabbits.”
Not much of a secret, so she spilled openly.
A possibility flashed in his mind.
“That company we lost... was it...?”
“GMCL, a foreign firm not well-known here. Sigh, guess we'll handle overseas distribution ourselves now.”
GMCL.
The branch head's company.
“Ugh...”
I'd imagined him snapping because someone insulted Park Seonyoon or Chairman Choi Gwijae.
But the story was different from what I'd pictured.
Makes sense—he wasn't some murim warrior or medieval knight.
No drawing a sword over 'How dare you sully my lord's honor!'
“You only got mad about the door ding, right?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Hard to believe that alone killed a deal. You didn't really throw your employer's name around, and even if you did... Ah, he didn't know you were Park Seonyoon's driver anyway?”
“Well, maybe he mentioned it upstairs in the meeting?”
Doubtful.
Why bring up a parking spat in a business meeting?
“Wasn't on the car or your uniform.”
“Just a plain black sedan and a suit.”
Then maybe it fell through on its own merits?
“But since then, the young master's avoiding me! Monday, he drove himself for a nearby errand without calling me, and Wednesday he used the chairman's driver instead...!”
This guy—didn't seem like it, but he's surprisingly sensitive.
Just ask Park Seonyoon directly, yet here he was, sleepless and anxious!