Chapter 28
"Do whatever you want."
Yeonok slowly extended her hand.
A pale, slender hand gently held her wrinkled, rough one.
It was warm.
Kind.
It had been a long time since someone held her hand.
Come to think of it...
She couldn't remember holding her granddaughter's or Misuk's hand for more than ten years.
While Yeonok blinked blankly, Gain spoke gently.
"You've become anemic from the long bleeding. You must've been exhausted."
Normally, anemia couldn't be diagnosed simply by holding someone's hand.
But Yeonok didn't know medicine.
She naturally assumed doctors could tell such things.
"Yes. I was tired."
Yeonok answered immediately.
It was true.
Her husband was gone.
Her son was gone.
The only blood relative left was one granddaughter she barely saw.
Even when Yeonok farmed vegetables and sent them to Misuk, the daughter-in-law never seemed especially grateful.
Her health had been declining.
She had been tired.
"I'd like to find out why you're bleeding. Would that be okay?"
"You going to draw blood?"
Gain shook her head.
"We need to look inside the uterus. The test takes about five minutes. First we'll do an ultrasound. Then I'll take a very small sample of tissue from inside the uterus."
Yeonok adjusted her reading glasses and frowned.
Then shook her head.
"Can't I just take iron pills?"
"Of course you can."
Surprisingly, Gain didn't force her.
Yeonok began gathering the seal and ink pad as if preparing to stand.
Then she felt wetness between her thighs.
It was spreading into her pants.
The menstrual pad she'd worn hadn't been enough.
Her face suddenly turned red.
She froze.
"Wait a moment, Mother. Come this way. I'll help you."
While Yeonok trembled from humiliation, Gain supported her into the bathroom.
Yeonok didn't know what to do.
Gain turned on the shower.
Adjusted the temperature.
Then left Yeonok alone.
Oh my... Thank you.
Leaving her alone was what Yeonok appreciated most.
She hurriedly cleaned herself.
Fortunately, she'd worn dark work pants.
The blood wasn't very visible.
A basket appeared through the open service area outside.
Clean socks.
Underwear.
A spare adult diaper.
Loose black sweatpants.
They looked like the doctor's own clothes.
Tears that hadn't flowed since her son's funeral streamed down Yeonok's face.
Gratitude.
Sorrow.
She didn't know where the emotion came from.
Something locked deep inside had suddenly burst open.
She wiped her tears quickly.
Then washed her face and legs.
As the tears and blood disappeared into clean water, her emotions settled slightly.
"Thank you."
After washing and changing, she felt refreshed.
But the thought that she'd start bleeding again made her reconsider the test.
"That test you mentioned... Do I have to get on that horrible chair and spread my legs?"
"Yes. But only for as long as necessary. You'll come down immediately afterward."
"Fine. I'll do it. This way?"
"Yes."
It felt better that no nurse was present.
Gain hurried around preparing the room herself.
She also gave Yeonok a clean examination skirt to change into.
The old woman lay on the procedure table.
Gain spoke gently.
"Mother, the ultrasound showed that the uterine lining is somewhat thin. Now you'll feel a cold instrument. Take a deep breath."
"Huuuu..."
Choi Yeonok exhaled.
Gain moved at exactly that moment.
It made the procedure less painful.
Pipelle.
A tool thinner than a drinking straw used to collect cells from the uterine lining.
Yeonok slowly opened her eyes.
"...It doesn't hurt."
Her expression clearly said:
I thought OB-GYN doctors existed to poke and stab people and make them suffer.
Gain smiled while disinfecting the area and helping her down.
"Yes. I made sure it didn't hurt."
"The result comes in three days, right? Then this bleeding stops? It isn't... cancer, is it? Someone I knew just died from cancer."
Gain answered slowly.
"Many women have bleeding after menopause. Often, the lining inside the uterus becomes thin and causes small amounts of prolonged bleeding. If that's the case, medication alone can treat it and it should stop within a couple of months."
She continued carefully.
"There are other possibilities too. We'll look at the results together and decide the next step based on what they show."
She didn't say it's cancer.
Thank goodness.
Yeonok slowly nodded.
Gain personally drew blood for anemia testing as well.
"Start taking iron today. We'll review the results in three days and decide on medication. Until then, don't overwork. Rest from farming for a little while."
"...Then who's going to water everything?"
"Could you ask someone in the village?"
Yeonok went silent.
She had asked villagers for help many times before.
But asking them to water her field while she was home and apparently healthy?
The whole neighborhood would start saying Miser Yeonok must truly be sick.
"I suppose I'll stay here until the results come out in three days."
"That would be fine."
After leaving the examination room, Choi Yeonok gestured for Misuk to come over at reception.
"Give me the contract."
"Huh? Mother? Right now?"
Instead of answering, Yeonok pulled her seal pouch from her waistband.
She applied ink.
Then added,
"And I'll cut the monthly rent of 3.5 million in half."
"...What? Mother, you don't need to go that far."
Misuk's mouth fell open.
Her mother-in-law had never reduced rent for anyone.
Not once.
"It's payment for treatment. I should pay for what I received."
"Then... Mother... what about the other..."
Misuk silently mouthed,
Fifty million?
Yeonok snorted.
"Is that how you learned business?"
She glared.
"A man who covets someone else's place and immediately throws extra money around? Rent to a man like that and he'll cause trouble within three years."
Then Choi Yeonok glanced back toward the consultation-room door.
The results would come in three days.
She didn't know what they'd show.
Still...
For the first time in fifty years, she'd spoken to another person about bleeding from below and hadn't felt ashamed.
That young doctor had listened until the end.
Without even looking at the clock.
That's the kind of person who lasts.
Choi Yeonok pressed her seal firmly into the landlord box.
The motion was forceful enough to sound like a hammer strike.
Deposit: 150 million won.
Monthly rent: 1.75 million won.
Gain stamped the tenant section as well.
"Thank you, Mother."
"Enough. Just keep doing your work properly."
Yeonok waved one hand.
Gain smiled.
"I'll see you again in three days."
"All right."
"Three days? Mother, is something wrong?"
"It's none of your business."
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law left with their arms linked.
They looked slightly closer than before.
Gain smiled faintly while watching them.
That same afternoon.
Director's office, Seohwa Women's Hospital.
"Director. The Somang City property... has been contracted to someone else."
The manager carefully reported from the doorway.
Seo Pilju didn't look up from the approval paperwork.
"Really?"
Only then did he put down his fountain pen.
They'd chosen someone else despite his additional fifty-million-won deposit and extra rent.
People who couldn't calculate.
Seo Pilju hated such people.
"Some country old woman. What does she know?"
Seo Pilju walked to the window and separated the blinds with one finger.
Light entered sharply.
The manager nearly frowned.
He stopped himself.
Seo Pilju would complain.
"Manager. There was another listing near the entrance to that alley, wasn't there? Two floors."
"The building across from the jewelry shop? The floor area is a little..."
"Keep it on hold for now. And continue checking for any other available space near that building."
The manager took out a notebook and wrote.
Seo Pilju released the blinds.
Light spilled across the room.
"Anyone going to that OB-GYN has to pass the alley entrance anyway. Put up a big sign in the path. Secure a wide parking lot. Hang banners."
That clinic had terrible parking.
Parking mattered to people coming from far away.
Standing in line was difficult for pregnant women too.
Once the weather became hotter, patients would choose the place where they didn't need to stand outside.
"I'll contact the property owners immediately."
After the manager left, Seo Pilju looked down at a map of Somang City.
He drew a red circle around the market-alley entrance.
This wasn't his first time doing something like this.
It would be easy.
At the same time, inside Happiness Rice Cake Shop.
Owner Park Mansu moved freshly steamed white rice cake from the steamer to a cutting board.
He had served as vice chairman of the merchants' association for two years.
Between association work and running the rice-cake shop, he was always busy.
"Mansu!"
Song Yeonggon, who owned the rice store next door, violently slid open the door.
His face was red.
"What?"
"What do you mean, what? The bakery and café are making record sales while our road is blocked and customers can't even come in. Because of that place!"
Song Yeonggon pushed farther inside and pointed down the alley.
A long line stretched in front of the clinic building.
It blocked nearly half the narrow alley.
The entrances of the rice store and rice-cake shop were both difficult to see.
At the front, a taffy seller snapped his scissors.
A customer laughed and bought some for nostalgia.
The snack shop next door happily sold hot dogs and popcorn chicken.
"Our rice-store sales are down by half this week. Even when customers come, they can't get inside because of the line. One of my regular old women almost fell after being pushed by clinic patients."
Park Mansu nodded.
Song Yeonggon raised his voice.
"The bakery gets extra customers because patients buy food while waiting. The café doubled sales because guardians sit there killing time. What about us? Are we supposed to stand guard in the middle of the market and clear a path for clinic patients?"
"...I'll formally raise the issue with the merchants' association."
Mansu looked uncomfortable as he lowered a steaming rice-cake tray.
"Raise the issue? What's that going to do? We need compensation! Compensation!"
Song Yeonggon shouted.
Mansu frowned.
He delayed by staring at the rice cakes.
Then reluctantly nodded.
"All right. I'll bring it up."
