When Your Pain Becomes Mine

***

The Blue Rose Veterinary Clinic sign was turned off. A short time later, the door opened, then Sun and Eunwoo came out into the street.

"Am I a little late?" Sun looked at Eunwoo apologetically.

"I didn't notice how fast time has passed since I was so preoccupied with work stuff." Eunwoo smiled and said.

Sun always loosened herself up every time she saw his caring smile.

"Oh, How's Labong doing?" Eunwoo asked.

"Well, I am leaving him alone at home for a long time, so I'll take him to the office instead."

"That's a good idea. In fact, puppies get very lonely."

She nodded slowly. "I'm always sorry for him. I want to take better care of him, but it's not an easy job."

"Then take him for a walk. It can be frustrating for him if he always stays inside."

"I should." She smiled and nodded.

Then, with a vibration, a message arrived on her cell phone.

"You have to ask Dr. Park about his van."

"It's essential to save the company's budget."

Eunyoung and Ari were sending messages at the same time.

"Argh…" She sighed in embarrassment.

"Is everything okay?"

"No, it's fine." She reluctantly started speaking again. "... Do you have an appointment next weekend?"

"No, I don't have anything special going on next weekend." Eunwoo looked at her with a curious gaze.

"... We're going to do a voluntary service next weekend, but we have so much stuff to carry…"

Sun mumbled the end of her sentence, without asking him for help.

"That's great."

"Sorry?" She replied, surprised by his sudden answer.

"You need my car. I'm fine with that." Eunwoo smiled and replied that it was no big deal.

"But if it's hard, you don't have to overdo yourself."

"It's a weekend, and if you are going to Paju, it'd be great to go on a drive down that way. I'm going with you."

"... Thank you."

He smiled and nodded upon hearing her cautious words.

Sun smiled back at him.

The next morning in the Kids Fan office.

"Yeah! I told you it's going to work!" When Ari heard Sun's story, Ari cried excitedly.

"It worked very well. Labong, do you feel good too?" Eunyoung looked at Labong and asked.

"Ruff! Ruff!" Labong barked while wagging his tail; he looked so excited.

"I'm going to pack some lunches for this," Ari said with an excited expression.

"Lunchboxes?"

"It's an afternoon of campaigning. It's nice to start early and feel like we're going on a picnic, you know. Does that sound good?"

"You've said something that I haven't heard in a long time." Eunyoung also seemed to like it.

"How have you guys worked so long without going out to play like this?"

"I work to play!"

Sun shook her head as she watched Ari answering with an expression, which indicated that a picnic was an obvious choice.

Sun sat down and began to focus again on preparing for the campaign next week.

Eunyoung and Ari exchanged glances and looked at Sun again.

"Spring will come soon."

When Ari shouted, Eunyoung pinched her side.

However, Sun was so focused on her work that she didn't notice them.

***

A week later, at the hospital.

Early in the morning, Gyeonhui and Ojae visited Dr. Seo's office.

"Hmm. Do we need to come here so early?"

Ojae asked while yawning from tiredness.

"It's been a week now, but I haven't received any news yet. I can't wait any longer."

Gyeonhui was scowling seriously.

"Oh, that's right. The pain is just getting started..."

Gyeonhui checked the date and noticed that it was about to start.

"I want to figure out the cause before the pain started."

His nerves were already sharper than ever.

Then, the door of the clinic opened. Dr. Seo stepped inside.

"What happened to the result?" Gyeonhui asked, unbearably before Dr. Seo could even sit on the chair.

"Hmm. They examined the blood closely, but they couldn't find anything strange."

"What are you talking about?" His voice soared sharply.

"Hey, Geyonhui, relax." Ojae tried to calm him down.

"It took you a week to do only one blood test, and you didn't find anything?"

"Now take it easy. It took me a while to do the epidemiological survey." Dr. Seo stopped for a moment and continued. "I found out that Sun had a regular blood transfusion every month, but no one went through the same thing that Mr. Woo experiences. That means only you, Mr. Woo, feels her pain."

"Sorry?" Gyeonhui sighed with frustration.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find any other cause other than the blood transfusion.

"There's a way to determine if a blood transfusion is a cause, but I'm not certain." Based on Dr. Seo's voice, he didn't look quite confident about his idea.

"What is it?" Gyeonhui asked urgently while grasping at straws.

Dr. Seo hesitated for a moment before quickly speaking.

"Hmm... we're going to do a blood transfusion, but conversely."

"Conversely?"

"Basically, giving your blood to her again. Think of it as returning the blood that caused you to share the pain."

"Aha…" Gyeonhui nodded as he understood Dr. Seo's thought.

"But as I said earlier, I'm not sure it will work. In fact, even the cause is unclear."

"I'd like to try it." He replied at once.

"Is this the only thing we can try for now?"

"It is, but..."

"Let's do it."

There was no reason for him to hesitate because the time of suffering was coming, and he was feeling her pain throughout his body.

"Hmm, we're going to need her permission first."

"I'll take care of it."

Gyeonhui finally acquired a small chance of getting away from this pain and was excited.

"Good. Then, let's move on. Can you confirm this checklist before the blood transfusion here?"

Dr. Seo presented a checklist to Gyeonhui. Dr. Seo's face hardened as he checked the list that Gyeonhui had written.

"Is this true?"

"Sorry? Yes, is there any problem?"

Upon hearing his question, Dr. Seo went over the checklist once again.

"Hah…" Dr. Seo exhaled a sigh of frustration and took his glasses off.

"... You've been to London recently."

"Yes, I went on a business trip last week."

Dr. Seo paused for a moment and started speaking slowly with a firm expression.

"Anyone who has been to England cannot have a blood transfusion."

"What? That's ridiculous!"

He stood up and cried while pounding the table.

The glass on the table was pushed to the floor and broke.

'Clink.'

With that sound, the glass crashed to the floor.