Chapter 22
Jeong Eunwoo was transported by ambulance to a large women's hospital.
When her father arrived late, he received devastating news.
"...Cancer?"
"It isn't confirmed. However, a pelvic mass of this size is unusual in a seventeen-year-old. CT shows a twelve-centimeter cystic lesion. She needs a detailed OB-GYN examination. Emergency surgery may even be necessary. The formal radiology report will be available in the morning."
Her father collapsed into a hallway chair.
His hands trembled slightly over his knees.
He'd heard words like this before.
Twelve years ago.
We need a biopsy.
His wife had cried after hearing those words.
Over the next few years, his wife's hair became short.
Then shorter.
Then disappeared completely.
In her final hospital room, she'd held his hand and said,
Please raise Eunwoo well.
No.
I can't lose Eunwoo too.
The shock, pain, and grief from the past came rushing back.
Breast cancer.
That was how his wife had died.
In her early thirties.
And now his seventeen-year-old daughter was being told she had a 'pelvic tumor.'
Eunwoo heard their conversation from the emergency-room bed.
The words refused to organize themselves inside her mind.
Tumor.
Twelve centimeters.
Emergency surgery.
Everything that had seemed important until yesterday suddenly became distant.
Hanguk University.
Student council.
Menstrual cramps.
Embarrassment.
Am I going to end up like Mom...?
She was terrified.
Her entire body trembled.
Then the next thought wasn't about herself.
It was her father's face.
If I die too, what happens to Dad?
Eunwoo suddenly wrapped both arms around her shoulders.
"Dad..."
Her father hurried from the hallway chair to her bedside.
His hands were still shaking.
"Eunwoo, Dad's here. Don't worry. The emergency doctor probably read it wrong."
He was making up reassuring words because he felt like he might collapse.
Eunwoo knew that.
Still, she nodded and pretended to believe him.
Otherwise, they might both break at the same time.
Before dawn, her father took Eunwoo out of the emergency department without completing admission.
He only took the CT image CD, copies of the chart, and transfer request.
He didn't mention the word 'tumor' to anyone.
Jeong Eunwoo remained silent.
She almost said something.
Then she glanced over.
Her father's hands were trembling on the steering wheel.
"...No. Our Eunwoo doesn't have cancer."
"Dad."
"That doctor isn't an OB-GYN. He works in emergency medicine. An OB-GYN doctor needs to look at it again."
Twelve years ago, he'd never doubted the doctors.
After treatment, his wife suffered terribly from chemotherapy side effects.
Then she died.
All that remained was a framed funeral photograph.
He would not let that happen again.
Eunwoo swallowed.
Dad... I'm sorry.
She was startled that those words had formed in her mind.
Until yesterday, all she'd thought was,
I'm embarrassed because I still haven't had my first period.
Now that meant nothing.
Being alive came first.
The car entered the road leading toward the edge of the city.
As they passed the familiar market entrance, Eunwoo noticed something.
Hyundai OB-GYN...?
A sign hung inside the alley beside the market.
A banner fluttered beneath it.
The sign had still been lit when the ambulance passed earlier.
[24-Hour Emergency Treatment Available]
"Dad, I want to go there."
"...Huh?"
"The emergency doctor could've been wrong, right? Let's have an OB-GYN doctor look at me again before we go to another big hospital."
"Okay. Whatever Eunwoo wants."
Her father immediately turned on the signal.
While he parked in front of the clinic, Eunwoo called the mobile number listed for emergencies.
"Hello. Can I be seen right now? It's urgent."
"Yes. I'll open the door. Come upstairs."
Perhaps because it was nighttime, there were no nurses or receptionists.
Only one young woman in a doctor's coat came out to register her.
Her hair was slightly messy, as though she'd just woken up.
Gain put on her coat and received the patient who had arrived before dawn.
The girl was tall.
Her hair was cut short.
Her school uniform was neat, but her shoulders were stiff.
Traces of cold sweat remained around her temples.
Her father stood beside her, looking as though he hadn't slept at all.
He held a large hospital envelope.
Supporting her slightly swollen lower abdomen with one hand, the schoolgirl spoke.
"Please examine me."
Gain could guess what the envelope contained from that alone.
She didn't ask.
For a moment, she remembered a young trainee knight in the corner of a temple whose armor had always been one size too large.
"Come in and sit down. Slowly. Let's examine you first."
Eunwoo carefully sat on the edge of the consultation chair.
Her father pulled the CT CD and preliminary report from the envelope with trembling hands.
"Doctor... another hospital said it might be a tumor... They said she may need emergency surgery..."
Gain took the report and quickly scanned it.
[Pelvic mass, cystic, 12 cm.]
In one corner was the word:
[Preliminary]
It wasn't a formal interpretation by a radiologist.
It was an overnight emergency-department impression.
So this isn't the official reading.
Then Gain looked at the patient again.
Around seventeen.
Slim.
Short hair.
Traces of cold sweat.
Slight swelling in the lower abdomen.
"Could your father step outside for a moment? I need to ask some sensitive questions."
When the lower abdomen was enlarged, pregnancy naturally needed to be considered.
"My dad can stay."
But there were other possibilities.
