Chapter 344: Escape (4)

“Say what?!” Bang Jin-Hun's expression fell, his voice sounding urgent.

The shocked Bang Jin-Hun hurriedly helped Jo Gyu-Min to place Kang Jin-Ho on the ground. He then extracted the person tightly held within Kang Jin-Ho's embrace. At least, that was his intention.

However, Kang Jin-Ho's arm seemed to be crafted out of forged steel as it refused to budge an inch.

“Oh, come on! Listen, Mister Jin-Ho! You're safe now! You can let go! Seriously!” Bang Jin-Hun was nearly overcome with the temptation to start hurling abuse in Kang Jin-Ho's way when the latter refused to release the person held within his arms. The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l.B(j)n.

Left with no choice, Bang Jin-Hun exerted even more force and twisted Kang Jin-Ho's arm out of the way. A cracking noise rang out first, then a slender figure of a person slipped out from within Kang Jin-Ho's embrace.

'Holy cow, isn't this...?'

Bang Jin-Hun had been wondering why Kang Jin-Ho had taken off his shirt, and as it turned out, that article of clothing had been used to protectively cover the woman's head. He must've taken off his clothing in the literal blink of an eye and wrapped it around her head to prevent the dirt from entering her facial orifices.

“Gee whiz. Now that is something else, alright.”

This gesture might be interpreted as insignificant by some people. However, it still sent this electrifying chill down Bang Jin-Hun's spine. The fact that Kang Jin-Ho had enough mental leeway during this life-or-death situation to worry about someone else stunned Bang Jin-Hun even more than the feat of climbing out from the underground tomb.

What if Bang Jin-Hun found himself in the same situation? Would he still have his wits about him to do something similar? He didn't think so.

Even as the soil flooded in from all directions to fill up his mouth and nose, how did Kang Jin-Ho find the time to rip his shirt off and wrap it around another person's head? Something like that was utterly impossible for most average people.

'I'm telling you, this guy has the capacity to shock me in so many different ways...!'

Thankfully, the woman that fell out of Kang Jin-Ho's embrace was still breathing faintly. Bang Jin-Hun confirmed that her chest was faintly rising and falling, then tore his eyes away from her to concentrate on Kang Jin-Ho's condition next.

“Mister Jin-Ho! Mister Jin-Hooooo!” Jo Gyu-Min, in a panicked state, was shaking Kang Jin-Ho around.

“Get out of the way!” Bang Jin-Hun shoved Jo Gyu-Min aside.

“He's not breathing! Do something!”

“Argh, seriously! Of course I'll do something! Move aside, will ya?!” Bang Jin-Hun pushed the clinging Jo Gyu-Min away, then placed his palm on Kang Jin-Ho's chest.

'Urgh, gimme a break...!'

Bang Jin-Hun must've been digging way too hard, as his qi didn't want to circulate properly toward his hand. If the folks back in the Martial Assembly heard how Bang Jin-Hun ran out of energy while digging the ground, they probably would collapse from laughing too much.

Bang Jin-Hun grunted, then dragged out his qi from deep within his dantian. Then, he pressed powerfully down on Kang Jin-Ho's chest.

Kang Jin-Ho's body spasmed briefly once.

“Argh, come on!”

Bang Jin-Hun drove more qi into Kang Jin-Ho's chest. Suddenly, Kang Jin-Ho's throat began visibly quaking. Bang Jin-Hun gritted his teeth and pressed down one more time.

Kang Jin-Ho's mouth flew open, and several lumps of jet-black dirt began gushing out like vomit. At the same time, Kang Jin-Ho began coughing and wheezing loudly. “Cough! Cough!”

“M-Mister Jin-Ho!” Jo Gyu-Min rushed to Kang Jin-Ho's side and wiped the soaked dirt away from the latter's mouth.

Kang Jin-Ho continued to cough several more times to expel all the dirt still trapped in his airway, then finally cracked open his eyelids to scan his surroundings.

“M-Mister Jin-Ho?! Can you hear me? Are you with us now?” Jo Gyu-Min urgently cried out.

Kang Jin-Ho silently stared at him before letting out a weak sigh. Jo Gyu-Min's state was quite wretched, even in Kang Jin-Ho's view. Not only was Jo Gyu-Min's once-impeccable business suit a muddy mess now, but his face was caked with dirt and tears as well.

“Mister Gyu-Min, was there a war or something while I wasn't here?”

“M-Mister Jin-Ho! H-how many fingers do you see?” Jo Gyu-Min hurriedly unfurled three fingers and placed them right in front of Kang Jin-Ho's face.

Kang Jin-Ho helplessly held his head. He found it rather hard to accept that the normally-levelheaded Jo Gyu-Min could act this way. Sure, he was happy about how worried Jo Gyu-Min was for him, but this was still a bit...

“T-tell me, how many fingers am I holding up, Mister Jin-Ho?”

In the end, Kang Jin-Ho burst into a round of raucous laughter. He cackled and chortled for a long, long while before lying flat on the ground to stare at the distant skies above. He stared at that pristine-blue sky and muttered quietly. “I had no idea that... the sky could look so beautiful.”

***

The first thing Jo Gyu-Min did after sobering up was transfer Choi Yeon-Ha to the hospital. He contacted the Jaegyeong Hospital and warned them not to expose her identity and to provide her with the best treatment available.

Thankfully, she hadn't been reported missing yet, so her side of the problem could be dealt with quietly. It wasn't like she was about to start shooting another project, anyway. What a piece of good fortune it was that she was in between work at the time of this incident.

Jo Gyu-Min learned sometime later that the people in Choi Yeon-Ha's management apparently weren't too worried about her. They said that when Choi Yeon-Ha wasn't working on a movie or a TV show, she'd often switch her phone off and disappear for a few days.

The hospital performed a quick examination and concluded that Choi Yeon-Ha would need several days of recuperation due to physical exhaustion. Other than that, however, her prognosis was good. The doctors didn't find much wrong with her.

And then...

“Please listen to me, Mister Jin-Ho! You need to get examined, too!” Jo Gyu-Min ardently pleaded with Kang Jin-Ho.

“...I'm really fine, Mister Gyu-Min.”

“No, you are not! You're not made out of... out of dragon bones or something, you know! How can anyone be okay after being trapped underground for several days! We've already booked an appointment with a psychiatrist for Miss Choi Yeon-Ha. Even if your physical body is fine, you should also still speak to a psychiatrist, just in case! Don't you know how scary trauma can be?”

“...No, I'm telling you, I'm really fine.”

“Owww, you just don't want to listen, do you? Please pay attention, okay? Looks like I'll have to start from the beginning again!”

“...Mm.”

Kang Jin-Ho was currently sitting through a minefield of nagging straight out of Hell itself. At this rate, the trauma he might develop wouldn't be from getting trapped in a collapsed tunnel but more like the fear of his fellow humans, courtesy of Jo Gyu-Min!

Maybe Jo Gyu-Min had finally realized that Kang Jin-Ho was not Superman after all from this incident, judging from how he mercilessly nagged on and on! Which meant Kang Jin-Ho was now helplessly flailing about within the ocean of incessant nagging, something he never got the chance to experience even with his parents.

“So, are you still dead-set on not getting examined by a doctor?”

“Yes.” Kang Jin-Ho flatly replied.

A suspicious smile suddenly formed on Jo Gyu-Min's face. “I see. Well, I guess it can't be helped if that's what you insist.”

“Thank you.”

“However!” Jo Gyu-Min raised a finger and spoke in a resolute voice. “How are you going to explain this situation to your parents, Mister Jin-Ho?”

“...Sorry?”

“Surely, you must've thought of a suitable excuse that could explain where you've been for the past several days without phoning your family once?”

Kang Jin-Ho's irises powerfully quaked just then. He had not thought that far ahead. He was too busy thinking about escaping from the tunnel and obviously didn't have the time to think of excuses like that.

“If you insist on being uncooperative like this, I'll have to refrain from assisting you any further, Mister Jin-Ho. If we honestly look at whether you can convince your parents without my help or not, surely you wouldn't be behaving this way..”

“Kuk!” Kang Jin-Ho bitterly bit his lower lip. “I... I'll get examined, then!”

“Sorry? Did you say something?”

“I said, I'll get examined, Mister Gyu-Min.”

Finally. Finally! After what felt like ages, Jo Gyu-Min had finally eked out a small victory for himself.

***

“So, uh..” Doctor Goh Myeong-Deuk frowned, his expression hinting at his current dilemma. It seemed he was having a bit of a difficult time trying to explain what he could see. “So, what you're saying is..”

The good doctor pushed his glasses up his nose while staring at the medical chart. His head tilted this way and that before turning to the side to stare at Kang Jin-Ho.

“...You were involved in an accident recently?”

“Yes,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Goh Myeong-Deuk's brow furrowed slightly.

'These stinking high-society bastards...'

The good doctor wasn't sure which family this gold spoon brat came from, but it didn't really matter. Goh Myeong-Deuk had already grown sick and tired of the rich bastards demanding him to not ask any questions and just deal with the injuries before his eyes.

As a doctor, he had to experience that ordeal so many times, and that was precisely why he chose to transfer to the Jaegyeong Hospital. Because, this particular hospital was famous for being the only place in South Korea that responded with, 'That ain't gonna work,' whenever the privileged class tried to exert pressure or influence on its operation.

But now, that dreaded event was finally happening within this hospital's corridors, too! The hospital director's freaked-out voice on the phone forced Goh Myeong-Deuk to postpone all of his prior appointments and prioritize examining this young man.

But now, he had no choice but to swallow nervously while staring at Kang Jin-Ho. “Sir, you... In my opinion, I don't see anything wrong with you.”

“I see,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

Jo Gyu-Min sitting nearby cautiously asked, “...Is he really okay, Doctor?”

“Yes. Well...” Goh Myeong-Deuk scratched the back of his head while making an awkward expression.

'Shouldn't you at least tell me the circumstances first?!'

Even if the wounds looked outwardly the same, the degree of severity would change depending on whether the patient was injured ten days ago or earlier in the day. That was common sense, wasn't it? So, to think they wanted Goh Myeong-Deuk to examine the patient without any background information whatsoever!

'These brats, they must've read way too many mangas!'

Goh Myeong-Deuk groaned while showing Kang Jin-Ho the X-ray photo, the radiograph of his arm. “Sir, do you see this faint line running through your arm?”

“Yes, I can see it.”

“It looks like a fracture, but it's almost healed, you see?”

“Okay.”

“If this was a recent injury... Mm, now such a thing is normally not possible. An injury like this is rather uncommon, you see? Whenever you fracture a bone, it's not easy to get it looking like this. So, I must assume that it's actually in the process of healing itself...” Goh Myeong-Deuk continued to scratch his head. “...Did you get injured around two weeks ago?”

Jo Gyu-Min didn't say anything and sighed deeply, a hollow expression suddenly floating up on his face. He looked like he had given up on life for some reason.

'Dear Good Doctor, sir. It's only been three days...'

“Oh, uh... And the wound on your leg is quite significant, but... It's also closing up quite nicely, isn't it? Well, that could've been taken care of with timely treatment, anyway. However..” Goh Myeon-Deuk spoke in a grave voice. “...Seeing how regeneration of your tissue is only this much after two weeks, I have to conclude that you haven't been taking care of your wound properly. Originally, deeper wounds than yours would've already developed scabs by now. If you dress the wound as instructed and look after it well, you will see dramatic improvement within a day or two. Enough to not impact your daily life, at least.”

'...Dear Good Doctor, that's also only three days old!'

Jo Gyu-Min glared at Kang Jin-Ho's radiograph with a face of a man filled with resentment toward the entire world.

Wasn't Kang Jin-Ho also a human being like the rest of them? In that case, how could a fractured arm heal so much within two days! How did that even make sense!

'An alien. He's definitely an alien!'

Unfortunately, Jo Gyu-Min couldn't let go of his lingering attachments that easily. “H-how about pneumonia? No signs of anything like that? You see, some dirt got inside this young man's mouth.”

“Huh? His lungs, you ask?” Goh Myeong-Deuk began tapping on the computer's keyboard a couple of times to bring up another set of Kang Jin-Ho's X-ray images, this time depicting his ribs and pure-white lungs.

'Wowsers, even his ribcage looks handsome...'

Jo Gyu-Min sat there in a daze, thinking that something like that was indeed possible.

But then, the decisive blow from Goh Myeong-Deuk came flying in to nearly knock Jo Gyu-Min's sanity into the winds. “As you can see, his lungs are pristine. It's so clean that I won't blame you for thinking it's a photoshop job. It'd be wonderful if this young man can continue preserving his lungs like this. Please don't take up unhealthy habits like smoking, sir. It'll deteriorate your lungs in no time at all.”

'But, Good Doctor, this so-called young man is a chain smoker. A bloody chain smoker! Did you know that the first thing he did after regaining consciousness was to ask for a smoke?! And he smoked three cigarettes in a row before finally agreeing to come to the hospital!!!'

Jo Gyu-Min suddenly felt a strong urge to rush toward the nearest window and yell, 'The king has donkey's ears!'

This world was rotten to the core! Jo Gyu-Min, unable to find other ways to pressure and coerce Kang Jin-Ho, groaned loudly and rubbed his face.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at him before bowing his head at the doctor. “Thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, uh... It's not much of hard work, sir. You didn't need much treatment, if any, after all.”

“Even so, thank you.”

“No problem, sir. Well, have a great day.”

Kang Jin-Ho got up, then bowed his head one more time before leaving the office. Goh Myeong-Deuk blinked his eyes a few times in amazement while staring at the doorway.

'Huh. For a gold spoon brat, he's not a bad kid, I suppose?'

A 'regular' gold spoon at his age, the one capable of nearly giving the hospital director a heart attack from fright, would've treated everyone as second-class citizens below them. Even the doctors treating them would be no exception.

Goh Myeong-Deuk had developed a strong allergic reaction to such attitudes over the years, but even he didn't feel repulsed by today's interaction. That was how polite Kang Jin-Ho's attitude had been. And it also didn't come across as fake, either.

“Huh. I guess even the Jaegyeong-branded gold spoons are built differently?”

A weird misunderstanding was developing inside the Jaegyeong Hospital.

***

“Fufu.”

“...Yes, I got it.”

“Fufufu!”

“I told you, I got it!” Jo Gyu-Min replied irritably.

The unfairness of the world should have limits, no? How could someone rescued from a tunnel cave-in look so unaffected and healthy like Kang Jin-Ho!

“So? How will you help me with my family?”

Kang Jin-Ho had completed his side of the deal. And that was why he now had every right to demand Jo Gyu-Min honor his side of the bargain.

Jo Gyu-Min groaned loudly, then began explaining his plan. And as he listened, Kang Jin-Ho's eyes progressively grew wider and wider.