When Your Pain Becomes Mine

A luxury bar in Hannam-dong.

"Gimme a drink."

Sitting at the bar, Ojae raised his finger.

As the bartender filled the glass halfway, Ojae scowled.

"Fill it to the top."

The bartender reluctantly filled the glass as he requested.

"Huh…"

Ojae was only sipping the drink because it was so expensive.

'Bzzzz.'

Then, his phone rang on the table.

He saw that the caller ID was Gyeonhui, which was saved with the name 'Emperor's Majesty' in his contacts.

"Having yourself a hard time, boy?"

Ojae turned over his phone.

"Really? Ojae, are you really not answering Gyeonhui's call?"

Then, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

After looking back, Ojae opened his eyes wide, surprised by her familiar face.

"Miss Chae... Chaekyeong."

"Did you guys get into a fight?"

"... I can't even imagine it."

"Or did Gyeonhui made you feel sorry for him?"

After a moment of contemplation, Ojae nodded slowly.

"I've known all his scars, but sometimes, I still feel bad for him. "

Ojae smiled bitterly.

"So, have you guys been together since you were both young?"

"Yes, sort of."

"How was he then?"

"Hmm, at first, he would push himself to do everything. Bright and spirited. Then gradually..." Ojae smiled, but soon his face darkened.

As memories of Gyeonhui's childhood came to his mind, his feelings subsided.

"What's wrong?"

Ojae pondered for a moment and slowly shook his head. "You should hear the story from him later since it's just his own story."

A bitter and lying Ojae rose from his seat.

"Are you leaving already?"

"I feel sorry for him after remembering his childhood. I have to go to him and take care of him."

Ojae took his credit card out of his wallet and handed it to the bartender.

"That'll be one hundred seventy dollars."

"What, what? Hmm."

"... It's crazy expensive."

Chakyeong heard him grumble until he exited the bar.

She giggled while watching him do so.

***

Sun, who was now lying on the medical table, bit her lower lip, seemingly frustrated. She was abruptly taken to the hospital, and she was not comfortable.

"Now, how about this part?"

Dr. Seo pressed her little toe with a wooden instrument.

"... It hurts."

"Does it? Wait a minute."

He returned a while later and pressed the clavicle area with a wooden instrument.

"How about here?"

"It hurts."

"Wait a minute."

Again, Dr. Seo headed to the next room.

She was suspicious about this situation that had already been repeated dozens of times.

"Well, how about now.

When Dr. Seo lifted the wooden prod again, she raised her torso.

"What are you doing now?"

"Hmm, I'm examining you?"

Dr. Seo responded with an awkward smile.

"I'm wondering why you are using a wooden acupuncture instrument when you're not an oriental medical practitioner."

"Oh. The reason is simple…. to better understand the cause of your pain..."

Dr. Seo slurred the end of his words.

When she saw him doing this, she was convinced of her own thoughts. This treatment was not for her menstrual cramps.

She didn't know precisely what Gyeonhui was thinking about, but it wasn't for herself.

"... Please stop the exam."

Sun said while lying her feet down at the clinic.

"No, no..."

"Please tell him to stop playing with me." Sun finally said and left the clinic.

She went out to the hallway, leaned back against the wall, and sighed for a long time.

"... Why did I even come here? What the hell is this…"

She was angry at herself for not refusing Gyeonhui's request.

She bit her lip and walked toward the elevator.

***

"Did you say she just left?"

Gyeonhui, who was lying in the next room in the hospital, scowled and stood up.

"She hassled me and asked me if I was an oriental medical doctor... I didn't know what to say to her." Dr. Seo blurted out.

"Hah… So what's the result?"

"I really don't think this makes actual sense… but…"

Dr. Seo compared the prescription paper he checked with the paper Gyeonhui had written on.

The acupressure spots and their orders were written on the paper with a drawing of a human figure.

"I checked 27 times, and all of them matched perfectly between the two of you."

All of the pain areas matched, starting from the heel and reaching to the last clavicle.

"I already know that. What's the cause then?"

Gyeonhui looked frustrated.

"Hah… This is such an amazing thing, but in modern medical…"

"Are you repeating that again?" He said in a sinking voice while scowling.

"In fact, there are a lot of things in the world that cannot be explained by science or medicine. I think this is one of them."

"I don't think doctors are supposed to say that to anyone."

"Medicine is actually inexplicable. With the same treatment and potency, some patients get better, but some get worse."

"What the hell is the bottom line then?" He sighed, seemingly frustrated.

"When did you say the pain started?"

"I've already said that it was after that accident."

"That's so weird."

Dr. Seo continued to click on the ballpoint pen while wondering.

"What do you think is so strange?"

"Think about it. If it's because of the aftereffect of the accident, then it's understandable that Mr. Woo's body is sore. However, you're feeling her pain now, without any connection. I don't understand this." Dr. Seo scowled and thought.

"Dr. Seo. That's why I'm here to find the cause." He said, even more frustrated than before.

"Let's think about it together to find out what the cause is..."

Gyeonhui then rose from his seat.

"Let's go, Ojae..."

He turned his head out of his habit to find Ojae, but he was nowhere to be found.

He thought about it for a moment before he started speaking again.

"I would like to ask one more question."

Dr. Seo looked up at him.

"What am I supposed to say if one of my people has gone through a difficult time?"

"You mean, you want to comfort your friend?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Well," he uttered. After a moment of contemplation, Dr. Seo started to speak. "Before you comfort him, you need to know exactly why he's struggling. You have to listen to him first."

"... And then what?"

"It's meaningless if you say something too obvious or give unrealistic advice. If you do that, then it's more like you're rubbing salt on a wound."

Gyeonhui remembered what he said to Ojae.

"Yes. This is a good thing, actually. It's even worse if you're married to someone like that. So let's just go now, please."

"Hmm." A bitter sigh leaked out of his mouth.

"Then you're going to say something that can comfort him like 'I fully sympathize with your pain,' or 'I'm thinking of you. I'm always on your side.' Isn't it easy?"

"Did you major in psychology?"

"Haha. I studied psychology as a minor."

Dr. Seo didn't seem to understand Gyeonhui's sarcastic tone, so Dr. Seo just gave him a shrug.

As he shook his head, he sighed briefly.

He could memorize all of it, but he didn't understand what he really had to do. His expression was darker than it had been before he listened to Dr. Seo's advice.

***

"I have to check the doctor's license to see if that's real."

When Gyeonhui returned home, he scowled, seemingly frustrated.

There was nothing that he found more about the cause, contrary to his expectation that he might find the reason behind their shared pain.

Furthermore, the absence of Ojae, who usually did everything for Gyeonhui, was indescribably inconvenient.

"I'll just fire him."

He sighed and sighed again while remembering the words that he shouted, which something that he didn't mean sincerely.

When there was no one to talk to about his discomfort, his mood would shift even further.

After a while, he quickly picked up his phone and called Ojae.

"... What?"

After a long wait, Ojae responded with a flat tone.

"Why? How come you have nothing to say, why? You didn't even come to work; you haven't done your job all day long. Do you even realize that you're in dereliction of your duty? "

"I know."

"What?"

Ojae's confident answer overwhelmed Gyeonhui.

"If you don't have anything to say, then I'll hang up."

'Beep.'

Ojae hung up on him without waiting for Gyeonhui's answer.

"Hello, hello? Ojae!"

He called Ojae again later, but he could only hear the sound of the disconnection signal on the phone that had already been disconnected.

He breathed a long sigh of annoyance and disbelief.

After a while, Gyeonhui called Ojae again.

"Why?"

Ojae answered the phone in a deep low tone.