Taek-gyu suddenly came to his senses, eyes wide open, and shouted.
“Friend!”
The pizza slice he was holding fell to the floor, and bits of it flew from his mouth.
In an instant, a ringing in my ears started, and my head throbbed.
“Shut up!”
As I clutched my head in pain, a flustered Taek-gyu hurried around.
“I’ll call for medical staff.”
“Wait a minute.”
Fortunately, the headache and ringing subsided quickly.
While assessing my expression, Taek-gyu asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Are you okay?”
“First, give me some water.”
Taek-gyu quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and handed it to me. I took it and had a few swigs.
Then I looked around.
“Where am I?”
“In the hospital.”
Is this really a hospital?
Aside from the medical equipment, it looked like a hotel room. The city skyline was visible through the window.
I was in a patient gown, and an IV was in my left arm.
My head felt foggy as if I had just woken up from a long sleep.
“How long have I been lying down?”
“A week.”
I was taken aback by that.
Did I really lie here for a whole week without coming to my senses?
Even more surprising was…
“You’re telling me you were passed out for a week, and you’re still eating pizza?”
Taek-gyu said it as if it were obvious.
“I couldn’t just starve for a week.”
“……”
That was true.
Taek-gyu added an excuse.
“And the doctor said there’s nothing wrong. He said you’d wake up soon, and I was worried sick waiting for you!”
It seemed he had been so worried that he was eating pizza in the patient room.
He had already devoured half a pie!
“How’s it taste?”
“Of course. M Pizza is the best. It’s no wonder it’s the highest-rated in Silicon Valley. When will this come to Korea?”
But why was I here?
As I racked my memory and recalled the moments before I lost consciousness, I jumped in shock.
“The earthquake! What happened with the earthquake?”
“Nothing happened.”
“What? I definitely felt the ground shake…”
“That’s it. It was a pretty strong earthquake, but it occurred far off shore, so it only shook a bit and that was it.”
“R-Really?”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“That’s a relief.”
I thought I would die the moment I lost consciousness.
The last thing I remembered was Ellie’s shocked expression.
“Is Ellie okay?”
“She’s completely fine. Other than you passing out, nothing happened.”
“Where is she now?”
“She’s at the hotel with my sister and your mother.”
“Huh? My mom?”
Taek-gyu explained that after I collapsed and didn’t wake up for a day, they all flew to the U.S. together.
“Don’t even get me started. Your mom’s passport expired, so we had to rush to get a new one. My sister had to force her to go to the hotel.”
“Good job.”
I could only imagine how worried they must have been since their son collapsed suddenly in the U.S.
I was definitely going to hear some scolding later.
I got out of bed to check my condition. After lying down for so long, my legs felt weak, and I wobbled.
Taek-gyu quickly supported me, alarmed.
“What if you fall again and get a concussion? Just lie down.”
“A concussion? Who says I have a concussion?”
“The doctor. You lost consciousness because you fell during the earthquake. Don’t you remember?”
I shook my head, recalling the situation.
“It’s the opposite.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t lose consciousness because I fell; I fell because I lost consciousness.”
“Huh?”
I explained, and Taek-gyu was taken aback.
“You saw a vision of the ‘San Francisco earthquake’ before you collapsed?”
“Yeah.”
He looked incredulous.
“What does it matter if it appears just before? Isn’t it the same as predicting a punch is coming just before it hits?”
“Yeah, right.”
It wasn’t that I hadn’t had similar experiences before.
The first time I saw a vision was in the army. During a mortar firing exercise, I had a vision that a new mortar would explode.
It appeared right before it happened, and thanks to that, I saved my life.
Taek-gyu suggested a hypothesis.
“Maybe the visions predicting crises only appear just before they happen?”
“That could be true.”
In the end, the San Francisco earthquake did occur, but it was a maritime quake. If the epicenter had been closer, it could have been a disaster.
I was incredibly relieved that nothing bad happened.
However, since earlier, the smell of pizza had been wafting through the air. The pizza in the box was still giving off warm heat.
I hadn’t felt hungry until just now, but suddenly, hunger hit me.
Is this the power of M-pizza baked during delivery?
“But why are you eating pizza here?”
“Oh, that’s because I thought it would be reassuring to have at least one person stay in the hospital room, so I stayed…”
Everyone had been so worried about me that they didn’t sleep or eat properly. Taek-gyu also felt awkward about eating well during that time.
So, he ended up alone and ordered pizza comfortably when suddenly, I woke up.
“Did I wake up because of the pizza smell?”
“No way…”
“First, let’s call the medical staff.”
“Wait a minute.”
When the medical staff arrives, they probably won’t let us eat pizza, right?
“Let’s eat this first and then call them.”
“Good idea.”
As we were about to sit down and share the pizza, a Black man suddenly walked into the hospital room. I wondered who it was, and it turned out to be a nurse on rounds.
He was startled to see us holding the pizza.
“Whoa! What are you doing right now?”
“Well…”
I guess I can’t ask him to pretend he didn’t see us?
A moment later, the on-call doctor and nurses rushed into the room, immediately checking my heart rate and pupils, throwing questions at me.
While I was being examined, Taek-gyu called Hyun-joo.
***
As soon as Hyun-joo and her group arrived in San Francisco, they headed straight to the hospital where Jin-hoo was admitted.
A crowd of reporters had already gathered in front of the hospital. They entered through the underground parking lot and went up to the VIP room. Outside the room, Excap security personnel stood guard.
Upon entering, they found Jin-hoo lying in bed, with Ellie sitting beside him. She welcomed them looking exhausted from crying.
“J-Jin-hoo!”
Choi Mi-ja almost collapsed at the sight of her son lying there. Fortunately, Hyun-joo quickly caught her.
“Oh my, what on earth happened?”
At Hyun-joo’s question, Ellie shook her head.
“I… I don’t really know. When the earthquake happened, he fell forward and hasn’t woken up since.”
Choi Mi-ja held her son’s hand and wept.
“Oh, what are we going to do about our Jin-hoo now?”
Ellie also burst into tears again.
“Wah.”
But the one crying the hardest was someone else.
“Ugh! My friend!”
Taek-gyu was sobbing loudly, tears and mucus streaming down his face. Hyun-joo, unable to bear it, intervened.
“Stop crying already. Anyone watching would think something serious happened.”
Ellie said tearfully, “Wah, it’s because of me. I’m so sorry. I should have protected Jin-hoo…”
Even while weeping, Choi Mi-ja comforted Ellie by patting her back.
“It’s not your fault; it was the earthquake’s doing. It’s okay, stop crying.”
“Wah, I’m really so sorry.”
The two embraced and let their tears flow.
After a wave of tears passed.
The attending physician who entered the hospital room explained the patient’s condition to the group.
Both respiration and pulse are normal, and after conducting CT and MRI scans, it appears the brain is in a deep sleep. However, the reason for the inability to wake up could not be explained.
Taek-gyu asked Hyun-joo, “It really can’t be anything serious, right? What should we do now, sister?”
“First, wipe away the nasal mucus.”
In truth, Hyun-joo’s mind was also in turmoil. But since everyone was in confusion, she needed to keep herself composed.
It’s rare for a perfectly healthy person to remain unconscious like this, especially someone like Kang Jin-hoo, who is in his early twenties. No matter how hard he fell, he should have woken up relatively quickly…
“Do you have any hunch about something?”
“Huh?”
Taek-gyu instinctively thought that Jin-hoo’s ability might be related to this situation. However, he couldn’t mention that here.
“Well, I’m not sure,” he replied.
Feeling something was off, Hyun-joo stared at her brother intently.
“Really?”
Taek-gyu averted his eyes and responded, “C-could it be due to overwork or stress?”
Ellie nodded weakly. “That could be it. Since coming to America, there have been countless responsibilities.”
From union issues to share-exchange negotiations with Chairman Im Jin-yong, and technology presentations, although not expressed outwardly, she must have been under significant stress.
For now, there seemed to be no best course of action other than to monitor the situation.
“Let’s just wait for him to wake up.”
However, days went by without any sign of awakening, and speculative articles continued to pour in.
[OTK Company CEO in Coma]
[Kang Jin-hoo still hasn’t woken up]
[Is there no other treatment?]
[Some are raising the possibility of brain death… ]
Yellow journalism used terms like ‘vegetative state’ and ‘brain death,’ while the Joongilbo speculated on how OTK Company’s shares and management rights would be inherited if Kang Jin-hoo never wakes up.
The internet was buzzing.
– Haha, it seems like Joongilbo wants Kang Jin-hoo to just die.
– Is that an article or just wishful thinking?
– I’m sure the president is also praying that Kang Jin-hoo doesn’t wake up.
– But isn’t he practically in a vegetative state by now?
– I’ve heard talk of brain death too.
– I think he’s just faking it.
– It could be a feigned hospitalization to collect insurance money. We should investigate thoroughly to see if he secretly has insurance.
– I support the investigation into Kang Jin-hoo!
– Yes, next up is the fake patient.
– Is an earthquake considered a natural disaster for insurance?
Even if a person collapses, the company must keep running.
Fortunately, OTK Company mainly managed subsidiaries and had no other significant operations. While new investments and collaborations among subsidiaries would come to a halt, it wasn’t an immediate concern.
On the other hand, Golden Gate, as an investment bank, was bombarded with daily tasks. Therefore, Hyun-joo shuttled between the hospital and hotel, handling work and giving instructions via her smartphone and laptop.
In the meantime, Choi Mi-ja and Ellie stood by Jin-hoo’s side, neither eating nor sleeping properly.
Hyun-joo forcibly took both to a nearby hotel, fearing they would collapse before Jin-hoo woke up if left to their own devices.
She then ordered room service. When the staff brought the food, the two didn’t even think of picking up their forks.
“Even if you don’t want to eat, you should. That way, you’ll have the strength to take care of him.”
That’s true.
Choi Mi-ja handed a fork to Ellie’s hand.
“I’ll eat too, so you eat as well.”
At that moment, Hyun-joo’s phone rang. The caller was her younger brother.
Taek-gyu exclaimed.
[Jin-hoo just woke up, noona!]
“Got it. I’m on my way.”
The call ended briefly.
Hyun-joo put down her phone and shared the news.
“Jin-hoo just woke up.”
Immediately, both jumped up from their seats without checking who moved first.
***
As I sat on the edge of the bed talking to Taek-gyu, three people burst into the hospital room.
It was Hyun-joo noona, my mother, and Ellie.
My mother hugged me, crying.
“Are you okay? Are you really okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine. The doctor said there’s nothing wrong.”
Hyun-joo noona looked at me and smiled wanly.
“I was really worried, thinking something serious happened.”
While comforting my crying mother, I noticed Ellie standing blankly in the back. Unlike her usual vibrant self, her face looked pale and drawn. Still beautiful, though.
I smiled and asked, “Are you okay?”
Ellie couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.
“Wahh! Do you know how worried I was? I thought something happened to Jin-hoo… sniff!”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry for making you worry.”
My mother had a face that was hard to decipher as to whether she was crying or angry, and she kept slapping my back with her palm.
“Why do you always get into trouble and make me worry? You haven’t even taken me on a trip abroad, and now you make me come all the way to America for this. Because of you, I’m not living my life properly! You never listen when I tell you to be careful…”
Her nagging showed no signs of stopping.
Ellie was crying in Hyun-joo noona’s arms. When I looked at Taek-gyu with a pleading expression, he subtly averted his gaze and muttered.
“Where was that leftover pizza from earlier?”
I had to endure my mother’s nagging for a long time.
Hahah