BC | Chapter 1

The man’s face, pacing in the corridor outside the delivery room, was pale with fear. The sounds of pain coming from inside the delivery room seemed to be choking him, and he couldn’t even breathe properly. His wife was currently going through a difficult labor.

Three pregnancies and two miscarriages.

The first child left the two of them after 8 weeks of pregnancy. Lying on the obstetrician’s examination bed, when they heard the doctor say that the baby’s heart wasn’t beating, the wife burst into tears for the first time since they got married.

And then came the second pregnancy. The baby, who had safely settled in the wife’s womb, grew steadily. No abnormalities were found in any of the tests. Each day was filled with joy at the thought of finally becoming parents.

Then, one day, after 8 months of pregnancy, the wife felt premature labor pains and headed to the hospital. The baby, born before reaching full term, never breathed. It was a stillbirth. She had even felt the baby moving before she came to the hospital, just before the labor pains started.

The wife, sobbing, pleaded to see the baby, even though it was no longer alive. It became entirely the man’s responsibility to care for his wife, who was consumed by grief before the labor pains had even subsided. He devoted himself to helping her body and heart heal.

The more the man cherished his wife, the more her desire to have a child and build a complete family grew intense. However, the man was afraid of losing his wife as well. He hinted that it was okay to live without a child, which only made his wife cry again.

So, they had a third pregnancy, and now the wife was experiencing her third labor pains. The man hoped more than anyone else that this time the baby would be born safely. If sorrow were to visit the couple again, the wife might not be able to bear it.

For the sake of his beloved wife, the child had to be born into the world in perfect health.

It had already been twelve hours, and despite having previous childbirth experience, the wife was experiencing labor pains as intense as those from her first birth, even though the baby was stillborn.

“Please.” The man clasped his hands tightly and prayed to a god he had never truly believed in. If he had known he would one day care so deeply for something he wanted to protect so desperately, he regretted not having adopted a religion earlier.

“Han Joo-hee’s guardian!”

It was the time when he paced the hallway until the soles of his shoes were worn down. Finally, a nurse from the delivery room came out and called for him loudly.

“Yes, it’s me! I’m Han Joo-hee’s guardian! Han Joo-hee is my wife! I’m Han Joo-hee’s husband!”

With just a brief response, the doctor would have understood, but in his anxiety, the man repeated his wife’s name three times. Whether it was the man’s earnestness or not, a faint smile appeared on the nurse’s tired face.

“Come in. You need to cut the umbilical cord.”

“Yes? The umbilical cord?”

The man, startled as if he had been told to cut a climbing rope, asked again in disbelief, “The umbilical cord?”

“Yes, the umbilical cord. A beautiful daughter has been born. Please put on this protective gown and follow me.”

The man washed his hands thoroughly at the entrance of the delivery room, put on a protective gown, and then donned sterile gloves before entering the delivery room. Inside, he could see his wife lying on the delivery bed behind a pale blue curtain, along with the medical staff.

Someone placed a medical scissors in the man’s hand. He swiftly cut the umbilical cord, which had a color he had never seen before.

“Honey.”

His wife called him with a hoarse voice. The man slowly turned his gaze to the head of the bed. Only then did he see his wife’s face, with tears welling up in her red-rimmed eyes.

“You did well, my love.”

Tears rolled down along the corners of his wife’s eyes.

“Don’t cry. If you cry after giving birth, your eyes will swell up.”

The man was more concerned about his wife than the newborn baby. However, it seemed that his wife’s attention was entirely focused on the child.

“What about our daughter?”

It was at the moment when the man, who had been leaning over the head of the bed, slowly straightened up in response to his wife’s question.

“Hmm, the baby!”

The baby had just started crying. After the doctor removed the amniotic fluid from the baby’s mouth, it finally took its first breath. The nurse, who had wrapped the baby in a swaddling blanket, approached with a smile.

“Would you like to hold her?”

The man cautiously cradled the tiny baby, so small that it seemed almost unreal. His face momentarily turned pale.

“How is it, dear?”

The anxious question from his wife followed. To the man, the baby’s face was so red it looked like it might burst, and the wrinkled, scrunched-up face was so unappealing that it was almost awkward. He couldn’t bring himself to say the baby was beautiful, even if it was the last thing he had to say.

The wife had been so stunning during college that her beauty was even talked about at other schools. She would often joke with her husband, saying, “I married you just for your looks!” The husband had never heard anyone say he was unattractive.

Yet, their child looked like a red, wrinkled alien! The man, stunned and in shock, stared at his wife with a dazed expression.

Is it really possible for humans to be so deceitful?

After finally having a healthy baby, to be troubled by the baby’s appearance is truly disheartening!

“I want to hold her too.”

The wife, with her eyes wide open, urged him to hand over the baby, as if she was impatient to hold her.

“Uh? Uh.”

The man handed the tiny, red, wrinkled bundle of life to his wife.

“Oh my! She’s so beautiful!”

What had happened to his wife’s eyes?

Seeing the newborn baby moving her lips, the wife wiped away tears of emotion. The man called over the nurse, who was busy with the final tasks.

“Excuse me. The baby is very red…”

It was a question that implied he was concerned there might be some issue.

“Newborn babies are usually like that, sir.”

The nurse, with a casual remark about how it’s normal, gave a brief, professional smile before turning away.

The fact that newborns are so red was not mentioned in any pregnancy or parenting information.

So, when exactly do they start looking like a typical baby?

Just as he was about to be engulfed by a sudden shock and go into a daze.

“Is it okay if I choose our daughter’s name?”

The wife seemed to have already thought of a name for their daughter. She had been careful not to get too excited or make any premature plans until the baby was safely born. The man could fully understand the wife’s feelings, as she must have been quietly agonizing over various scenarios in her mind.

“Of course!”

“I hope she will have a life full of gentle grace.”

The wife beamed with a radiant smile and kissed the baby’s forehead.

“So, the baby’s name will be…”

＊＊＊

     “Our daughter is a baby who was born with such difficulty.”

The taxi driver’s voice brimmed with pride.

“Yes, I see.”

Beom-woo responded in a tone similar to how he would address a patient, showing that he was attentively listening and empathizing with the driver’s feelings. As a result, the taxi driver’s stories about his daughter became even more detailed.

“But our daughter is exceptionally good at her studies. When she scored 100 on a spelling test, we just thought it was a fluke. But then, in middle school, the teacher called us and said that our daughter might actually be a genius!”

From Beom-woo’s experience of frequently taking taxis during his commutes, he noticed that many taxi drivers felt they had succeeded in raising their children. Their children were all gifted and talented. The range of professions among the drivers was diverse, from specialists to corporate employees.

“She’s our daughter after two miscarriages, so you can imagine how precious we’ve raised her. My wife was so troubled, and the day after she went for a school counseling session…”

The taxi driver seemed to be dragging out the story, perhaps intending to build curiosity.

“What happened the next day?”

The quick-witted Beom-woo subtly asked, “What happened the next day?”

“Well, my wife went to have her fortune told!”

The taxi driver mentioned that there are two types of places he highly recommends: excellent restaurants and fortune-telling shops. He claimed to know some amazing spots for both. However, neither restaurants nor fortune-telling was of particular interest to Beom-woo.

He simply listened to the taxi driver’s stories like background radio until they arrived at the hospital, responding only with the occasional appropriate remark.

“Can you believe it? The fortune teller said my daughter has some kind of bad spirit attached to her and that she’s destined to suffer misfortune in life.”

Beom-woo let out a deflated chuckle, and for a moment, his eyes narrowed slightly. He recalled hearing a similar story once before.

“Why did you come to med school?”

“I was told that my fortune has certain harmful influences and ominous signs, and that becoming a doctor was the only way to avoid them…”

It was a question typically asked of new med students, but the answer was anything but ordinary.

“Who was it that answered like that?”