Part IV

He stares at the pile of papers in front of him and sighs.  It is the first time a dream has bother him so much.  He does not believe that dreams carry any meaning, and makes no attempt to interpret them.  Those are for the ignorant and superstitious people out there.  But he cannot shake his dream off this time.  It is too different.  It is not because he has never have nightmares before, but the one he had last night, or this morning, is simply way too out of the ordinary.  It had left him with a cold feeling and the premonition that it somehow connects with his near future. 

            He picks up his glass of water and begins drinking, trying to clear his mind from this trivial matter.  He does not want to waste time on personal matters like this.  He has greater things waiting for him to do.  He promised himself to finish reading all the patients’ file by the end of tomorrow and to meet every single one of them by the end of the week, and it is already Wednesday.  He must concentrate hard now. 

“Kang Ta? Good, you are here.  Go to the airport immediately.  We have a new person arriving today from Canada.  She’s new to Korea, so make sure you bring her safely back here.  Here’s a placard with her name.  Hurry up now.”

“But …”

“No but, Kang Ta.  You are new here and don’t have much to do anyway.  Don’t be late; her plane should be arriving soon.”

Kang Ta puts down his glass of water silently and picks up the placard.  He walks out of the room, not even bothering to look at Hyesung.  He knows what Hyesung is trying to do.  They have been at it since high school.  Kang Ta is two years younger than Hyesung, but because he had skipped form 1 and form 2, he was in the same form as Hyesung the year they met, in form 4.  Hyesung was used to being the top student each year, nobody beat the great Hyesung.  He tasted the feeling of being the second best the year Kang Ta transferred into their secondary school.  That was the year Hyesung first experienced defeat.  He was beaten by someone two years younger than him.  The next year though, to his relief, he took first place again, but not the next.  And so, it went on like that, one year it would be Kang Ta, the next, Hyesung.  All the way up, even through med school, one would always beat the other.

 Hyesung entered Seoul City Hospital through connections after they graduated, while Kangta worked his way through from lower rate hospitals.  He was finally admitted to SCH last month as a full time sergeant, fulfilling his childhood dream.  His goal is not to beat Hyesung; indeed, he does not even want to waste his time on such a petty objective.  He simply wants to alleviate, if not completely relief, the pain and suffering of those plagued by diseases.  He knows, if no one does, what it means to watch helplessly while someone you love wastes away with disease.  His mother passed away when he was seven, an age not old enough to clearly understand what was going on, but old enough to see the horror of a virus invading a human body and destroying it little by little. 

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