Episode 6. Between a Thug and a Surgeon
“Prisons are supposed to serve the purpose of rehabilitation, you know!”
The woman sounded quite serious.
“I don’t know why you were sent in, but if you’ve properly reflected on your crimes, I think restarting life as a member of society is meaningful.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. You even helped me, after all….”
The woman, speaking softly and earnestly from within his arms, suddenly felt oddly endearing.
Like a small puppy.
“And you even came all the way to the temple to atone for your mistakes….”
“Then I guess I should try living properly as a new person this time.”
“Yes! I’ll support your new life! So, with that meaning, I’ll grant you friendship!”
“What? Grant me… friendship?”
What is this cute lunatic?
The way she carefully enunciated even the commas made Taeheon rub his brow and let out a short laugh.
“You said I’m a gangster from the underworld. Where in the world does someone ask a gangster to be friends with them?”
“You’re basically my lifesaver.”
After hesitating for a moment, she swallowed hard and continued.
“You saved me three times in just one night. I almost got attacked by a wild animal, I almost got lost and stranded, and I almost froze to death on the mountain.”
“So that’s why you want to be friends? Regardless of whether I’m some thug? Even knowing who I am?”
“Everyone has two sides! You may have committed wrongs, but you also have a warm side that saves people.”
“Two sides, huh.”
“But what exactly did you do wrong?”
“I stabbed someone.”
I did it to save them, but they said it looked like I was trying to kill them.
“…What? Stabbed?”
The woman’s voice shrank lower and lower, like someone turning down a speaker’s volume. Even without seeing her face, it was obvious she was deeply unsettled.
“What now? Regretting your offer of friendship already?”
“N-no! Not at all! Haha! I’m a pretty chill person.”
“Oh, you’re chill? So chill that you’d befriend a freshly released gangster?”
“Yes….”
“Once we go down the mountain, we’ll never see each other again anyway.”
The dawn was deep. So was her misunderstanding.
The white winter night grew even deeper.
As soon as dawn broke, Agaang hurriedly followed the man down the mountain path.
Strangely, no matter how much she wandered the night before, she had always ended up in the same place—but once the sun rose, a hidden path seemed to reveal itself.
A cold wave advisory had been issued, so the hiking trail was nearly empty.
After walking for a while longer, the pointed top of the stone pagoda at Baekunsa appeared through the dense trees in the distance.
Haa… her legs nearly gave out as she collapsed on the spot.
It had only been ten hours, yet returning to Baekunsa felt like coming home, and a sigh of relief escaped her involuntarily.
“Are you scared of me?”
“N-no! Not at all! Haha!”
At his words about stabbing someone, her heart had dropped.
No—“dropped” didn’t even describe it. It had rolled all the way down the mountain.
Outwardly, she tried to act as if such a past wrongdoing meant nothing, pretending to be calm.
But inside, she kept speaking to him.
‘We agreed to be friends, so please don’t hurt me. At least until morning.’
She was glad his back was turned so he couldn’t see her expression.
“Thank you for helping me.”
A safe farewell was necessary.
A safe goodbye from this dangerous, delinquent man.
“I should get going now—I suddenly have something urgent, so I’ll head down quickly!”
“Suddenly?”
“Yes! I think I left the air conditioner on at home! I just remembered!”
“In winter?”
“Oh—no, not air conditioner! Heater! The heater!”
The man let out a quiet laugh without answering.
“I’ll support your new life! And this time, please live properly—don’t swing around metal tools, and be good! Be kind!”
“Be kind….”
“If we ever meet again by chance someday, then please tell me your name!”
The moment she turned around, she planned to sprint all the way back to her room at Baekunsa.
Remaining distance: 500 meters. About 800 steps.
Walking: 10 minutes. Running: 5 minutes.
“Go slowly! No need to rush!”
“…….”
“Then, goodbye!”
Let’s never meet again!
We’ll never see each other again!
She laughed loudly, pretending to be relaxed, and waved at him.
A perfect farewell speech. Truly flawless.
She spun around—
“Someone help! Someone, please help!”
A desperate voice rang out from afar.
“Hey, you two over there! Please help us!”
A man came running while carrying a woman on his back, shouting frantically. They were a middle-aged couple wearing bright, colorful hiking outfits.
“I’ve called 119! They said they’ll be here in three minutes! Please help her!”
The man rushed up and laid the woman on the ground.
“I’m in a hurry, I’ll take my leave now.”
“Wait, sir! Please calm down first! Tell us what happened!”
Agaang gasped and grabbed the sleeve of the man who had turned away.
The woman on the ground had turned pale blue, clutching her neck and losing consciousness. Her breathing was shallow and weakening.
Agaang quickly checked the carotid pulse with her fingers. Thankfully, there was still a pulse.
She lifted the eyelids—pupils were slowly reacting to the sunlight.
“She ate a chocolate bar while hiking and it got stuck in her throat. She suddenly collapsed.”
A chocolate bar?
Chocolate would have melted by now—it shouldn’t cause a complete airway obstruction. Then why did she collapse?
Could it be a nut stuck in her airway?
“Sir, may I check what kind of chocolate bar it was?”
“Anyway, I called 119 a while ago, so the ambulance will be here soon! I’m not the guardian, just a passerby! I’ll be going now!”
“Sir!”
While she was checking the patient, the man had already run off into the distance. His retreating back looked almost ridiculous in its haste.
Probably an affair couple.
He must be trying to escape before the ambulance arrives. Tch.
First, remove the obstruction!
The Heimlich maneuver!
“Excuse me! Please help support this woman! I’ll apply pressure to her upper abdomen from behind!”
Agaang shouted urgently toward Taeheon.
“Hey! Hello!”
No response.
She turned back in frustration.
“…….”
The woman’s hiking bag was wide open, its contents scattered everywhere.
“…What are you doing right now?”
And in his hand—
a hiking knife.
“Why do you have a knife? Put it down.”
Agaang steadied her trembling breath and spoke calmly.
“You promised me last night! You said you’d live properly this time! That you wouldn’t stab anyone again!”
“Move.”
His voice had dropped—completely different from before, sharp and firm.
“You’re not seriously planning to stab her with that, are you?”
“Didn’t you hear me? Move.”
“Put the knife down right now!”
Agaang didn’t back down and shouted again.
“Stop talking nonsense and move!”
His gaze fixed on the knife tip was colder and sharper than a honed blade.
“No!!!”
The woman snatched the knife away and sprinted downhill with all her strength.
Taeheon, now disarmed, held his empty right hand in the air for a moment, stunned.
He had been about to explain he was a doctor.
That this wasn’t an attempt to slit a throat, but an emergency tracheostomy.
That he wasn’t trying to kill someone with a knife—but save them.
He couldn’t understand how such courage came from such a fragile body.
The woman had disappeared in an instant, not even realizing she had cut his hand while grabbing the blade.
He immediately pulled a multi-tool and a straw from the front pocket of the patient’s hiking bag.
Oral swelling, respiratory distress, cyanosis. Rapid pulse.
If it was truly a chocolate bar stuck in the airway as the man said, there would be no rash or swelling around the throat.
It was clearly an anaphylactic shock triggered by a small amount of peanut powder in the chocolate.
A severe systemic allergic reaction that could block the airway and lead to death within minutes.
Not a single second could be wasted—an airway had to be opened immediately.
Using his left thumb and index finger, Taeheon stabilized the laryngeal cartilage.
With his right hand, he traced down the center of the neck and stopped above the cricothyroid membrane.
The moment he was about to make the incision—
“Get your hands off the patient!”
Paramedics rushed in from afar, shouting as they ran with a stretcher.
Their faces were pale with panic.
