Chapter 9
At the same time, on the fourteenth floor of the Seoul Central District Court.
Judge Kwon Taeseong was busy.
He had just finished the final trial of the day.
The witness examination had ended.
Closing arguments were complete.
Just as he was about to begin reviewing documents, his phone rang.
He frowned.
"Again over something unimportant..."
It was his wife.
His wife, who had stopped working after becoming pregnant, had become increasingly anxious as she approached full term.
She called more often now.
Even though she knew he couldn't answer while court was in session, she still left missed calls.
Honestly, things had been easier when she was still working as an accountant.
For a moment, Kwon Taeseong considered not answering.
"Tsk."
But the phone kept ringing.
He had already ignored one call.
Now it was ringing again.
At this rate, she would keep calling until he answered.
Part of him wanted to shut the phone off completely.
He loved his wife.
They had met at school and had been together for many years.
But after starting IVF treatment, she had changed.
She became more irritable.
More anxious.
No matter how many times he told her that they didn't need a child and could live happily as just the two of them, she refused to listen.
She insisted that she wanted a baby.
So she continued the treatments.
She gained weight.
She couldn't sleep at night.
Even working became difficult.
After the tenth attempt, she finally became pregnant.
Both she and Taeseong had been happy.
He thought his wife would finally become happy too.
But pregnancy had become another journey filled with fear.
His wife imagined dozens of possible things that could go wrong with the baby.
She couldn't eat properly.
She couldn't sleep.
Kwon Taeseong thought she would improve once medical tests confirmed that the baby was healthy.
It'll get better with time.
But even after prenatal screening showed no abnormalities, her anxiety didn't disappear.
Late in pregnancy, she complained that she couldn't breathe properly.
She struggled with strong fetal movement.
If anything, her anxiety only became worse.
"Honey, what if I die while giving birth? How will you raise the baby alone?"
"Stop worrying about things that won't happen."
His wife became more depressed every day.
She no longer looked like the woman who had once wanted pregnancy more than anyone.
And watching her become that way was exhausting for Taeseong too.
Still...
He needed to answer the phone.
He didn't want to.
But he did.
"Hello."
He hadn't meant to sound cold.
But because he'd assumed it was his wife again, his voice came out hard and distant.
"This is the emergency room at Hanguk University Hospital. We found your number in patient Jeong Yeseo's maternity record. Are you her spouse?"
"What?"
The instant he heard those words, his chest dropped.
Kwon Taeseong's heart began racing.
"What happened to my wife?"
He had read hundreds of medical malpractice cases while writing judgments.
"She's currently undergoing emergency surgery."
Hearing those words from the hospital shocked him.
He understood the Emergency Medical Service Act and Medical Service Act very well.
He knew exactly when surgery could legally be performed without guardian consent.
He even knew the procedures for determining cause of death.
Because he understood those things so well...
He was even more frightened.
They started emergency surgery without a guardian.
That's not good.
"Judge Kwon?"
His secretary stared at him in surprise.
"You need to go to the meeting now..."
"Yes. Yes!"
He repeatedly pressed the elevator button, heading toward the underground parking lot.
In the mirror inside the elevator, his face looked completely pale.
My car key...
He had left it in the office.
Kwon Taeseong glanced at the elevator.
Then he got off on the first floor and ran.
A line of taxis waited outside.
"Hanguk University Hospital emergency room, please."
The driver immediately pulled away.
Roughly thirty minutes later, the taxi stopped outside the emergency room.
Kwon Taeseong rushed to the reception desk and introduced himself as Jeong Yeseo's guardian.
"I'm Jeong Yeseo's husband. I'm Jud—... her husband, Kwon Taeseong."
The nurse briefly explained that emergency surgery had already begun and gave him instructions.
"Please show me your ID. We'll make a copy. Send us a copy of your family registry by fax today."
Once his identity was confirmed, another employee handed him a blue bracelet.
"Please wear this guardian bracelet. You can handle the payment later. First, speak with the attending doctor."
"I'd like copies of the medical records first."
He wanted to understand what had happened before meeting the doctor.
When Kwon Taeseong spoke firmly, the employee frowned awkwardly.
"You'll need to meet the attending doctor before we can issue the medical records too. Please wait in the consultation area first."
The employee led him to a shabby consultation area.
It was little more than a corner of the emergency room hidden behind a curtain.
The smell of disinfectant was strong.
Someone in the bed beside him groaned.
Whenever the groaning stopped, the second hand of a wall clock became painfully loud.
Tick.
Tick.
"Mr. Kwon Taeseong. I'm OB-GYN specialist Kang Taehun."
Taeseong unconsciously straightened his back.
"Is my wife... alive?"
"The patient arrived in cardiac arrest. We performed surgery while continuing CPR, and we confirmed return of spontaneous circulation. She's been transferred to the ICU."
Kwon Taeseong's lips trembled.
"And... the possibility of brain damage?"
"Her cardiac arrest lasted a long time. We need to maintain her blood pressure and observe her condition. Tonight may be critical."
Kwon Taeseong opened his mouth.
His head went blank.
The first emotion he felt was guilt.
He should've treated his wife better.
"..."
"We delivered the baby by emergency C-section. The baby has been transferred to the NICU."
