『-A woman in her 20s was caught trying to defect to North Korea in the border area of Paju, Gyeonggi Pr ovince. According to the police, a woman in her 20s was arrested and handed over to the police after hitting a checkpoint barricade and running for about 3km thro ugh the civilian access control line while trying to cros s to the north side of the Unification Bridge at midnig ht on the 12th...』
A man in a crisp white coat was listening to the morning news while preparing for treatment.
He hummed and neatly combed his graying hair. In the morning, he followed his routine by pouring water into the coffee pot, warming up a teacup, and finally checking his reservation schedule.
Whenever he checked his packed schedule like this, he couldn't help but think about the past.
The hospital, which started out in an old building in a local area, has grown into a large hospital with five c ounselors. He was excited about this proud achievem ent again today.
Let's see, let's see. The first patient scheduled today is....
At that moment, boom! The door opened without w arning. "You can't go in like this..." !" The nurses at th e front desk rushed in, but an uninvited guest ambled in carrying a gift box with a large, bright red ribbon.
"Teacher, Seoryeong is here."
"..!"
The doctor's eyes widened and his wrinkled cheeks hardened.
"How could you... without contacting me?"
"I thought maybe you weren't there."
Seo-ryeong burst out laughing as if she was truly h appy. She had a beautiful, curved face, but there was something unnatural about her. Her doctor, who had been seeing her since she was ten, quickly noticed h er discomfort.
"These days, people around me suddenly disappea r."
"Seo-ryeong...."
"Please sit down, sir. "I came to get counseling."
Seo-ryeong sat on the sofa reluctantly. He quickly hid his trembling hands and immediately sat down in f ront of Seo-ryeong with a calm face.
I knew better than anyone else the personality of a child named Han Seo-ryeong. Therefore, rather than needlessly irritating them with excessive rejection, it is better to first listen carefully to their story...
"Would you like some black tea?"
"huh?"
"I brought some gifts to give to the teacher."
The packaging was a fancy box. Seo-ryeong untied the large red ribbon and opened the box.
It was a black tea box packaged in sets of Famous Tea, Fruit Tea, Classic World Tea, and Green Tea.
"The water is boiling right now."
Seo-ryeong went to the island home bar table set u p on one side of the treatment room and selected a te acup. She had a carefree attitude as if she was walkin g around her own home. The doctor, feeling suffocated, pulled her tie a little.
"Honey, your eyes... "What happened to your eyes?"
"They say you're getting better."
Seo-ryeong could not take her eyes off the sight of bubbling water.
"Fortunately, they said it wasn't incurable. "It's funny, right?"
She let out a short laugh. She was lucky that she w as getting better, but she didn't know why she was funny.
However, the doctor raised his eyebrows and agreed. What was always important was building rapport, a nd creating an atmosphere of empathy was important.
"How have you been? "How are you these days?"
"I'm currently looking for a job. "Because I have to make a living."
"What about your husband?"
"You ran away or something?"
"....what?"
Seo-ryeong just shrugged her shoulders. She chos e one of the tea sets, opened her wrapper, and poured it into her teacup. When I poured hot water over it, a nice reddish color came out.
"I behaved well like I was taught."
"....."
"She's as gentle as a puppy, has a lot of humor, an d is pretty."
She continued, neatly organizing the remaining black tea bags.
"You know, teacher. I tried hard to live a good life. So, even those who were dying were taken care of and saved. "It wasn't productive at all."
"....."
"And yet it looks like this."
Seo-ryeong approached with graceful steps and pla ced the teacup. The doctor's throat began to burn littl e by little. She clasped her clammy hands under the table.
"What on earth was the problem?"
The sullen expression was quite pitiful, but the doct or thought it was theatrical. The man quickly drank th e hot tea to hide his expression. He didn't have time to enjoy the taste.
"Why do people abandon people after giving birth, run away after loving them, and betray them even after cherishing them?"
"..."
"Teacher, why did you do that?"
The hand that was putting down the teacup made a mistake. When he raised his head, Seo-ryeong was I ooking at him coldly. Then he began to smile again, uncharacteristically closing his eyes.
"It is said that in the old days, the mafia mixed black tea with poison to punish traitors."
"...!"
It felt like all the blood had been washed away. The doctor's hand wandered precariously around the neck.
As before and now, her big, pretty eyes were dull a nd emotionless, like unpainted beads. But she kept h er gaze straight from beginning to end.
That part hasn't changed since I was young. If you want something, you have the tenacity to get it at any cost. The doctor's mouth trembled.
"Hey, dear..."
"You turned me into a schizophrenic patient. "If it w eren't for that, he would have been stuck in prison."
"Tsk....."
"Are you scared?"
"|-|..."..."
At that moment, the doctor, gritting his teeth, push ed Seo-ryeong away and stood up.
Poisons, no matter how small they are, dissolve the internal organs. He felt a squeezing abdominal pain and tried to somehow get out of the treatment room.
However, his flabby legs flopped down before he could take a few steps.
"Teacher, don't turn your back on me."
Seo-ryeong said, kneeling somewhere on his spin e.
"Ugh...!"
"Who ordered it?"
"I-I don't know about that.... Wow....!"
When Seo-ryeong put her weight on his knees, he screamed. She put her arm inside her open mouth an d turned up the volume on her TV.
"Ugh...!"
"I need to know. I think it might have something to do with her husband. "I'm sorry, but I'm distracted by my husband's work, sir."
"Ugh..."
Eventually, the arm fell off and the doctor drooled a nd gasped.
"me too. Well, I don't know. just... I was just aske d a favor...."
"What did you ask for?"
"Han Seo-ryeong's... "He wanted to see my medic al records."
Medical records? Seo-ryeong tilted her head expres sionlessly.
"So you are arbitrarily manipulating the opinion?"
"...Well, that will never hurt you-"
"I'm sorry, but I got caught trying to defect to North Korea this time."
"....!"
"You caught me right away."
The doctor relaxed his body as if he had resigned hi mself. Seo-ryeong took off her knees and sat back on her sofa, looking tired. And he sipped the black tea th at was on the table without a care in the world.
The man looked at that figure in astonishment. The hard eyes were twitching.
"you... you... !"
"So, who exactly was it? "Where did they come from?"