Chapter 9: The Car Crash
As Joon-ho was walking out, Ji-eun was astonished, seeing him carry Soo-jin without hesitation. She tried to stop him, worried about Soo-jin's health.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?"
But Joon-ho, unable to hear anything, did not stop. Even if he had heard Ji-eun, nothing in this world could ever stop him except Soo-jin from doing what he wanted to do, especially when it came to Soo-jin's life and death. Not even she could stop Joon-ho, not to mention outsiders.
Behind her, Min-su stopped her. Seeing Joon-ho's determined eyes, he said to Ji-eun,
"Don't stop him, let's follow him."
Ji-eun, again seeing Joon-ho's determination, nodded, and they both followed him.
In the sky, dark clouds formed, and in no time, heavy rain started to fall—a testament to the sheer madness Joon-ho was about to commit.
Outside, neither doctors nor the media could stop Joon-ho as he boarded his wrecked car. Every netizen watching online, hearing the car's engine roar once again, felt adrenaline rush through their veins, blood boiling with indescribable excitement.
As he was driving, reporters in their vans and Ji-eun, in Min-su's car, followed him. Seeing the first signal ahead, Joon-ho's mind raced rapidly.
Not wanting to stop for even a moment at any signal and waste precious time, he never liked asking for favors, but having no choice, he called his so-called acquaintance.
As the phone rang, the person on the other side immediately picked up, saying, "Hey, Joon-ho, I assume you're heading to Busan?"
Hearing him, Joon-ho wasn't astonished. Glancing in the rearview mirror at the media vans following him, he thought, These annoying bunch are being helpful for the first time.
As he was thinking this, he replied, "Yes."
"And I think you want to get to Busan without stopping, right?"
"Yes."
Sigh "Consider it done, my friend."
As the call ended, Joon-ho, driving his car, didn't notice his fuel tank indicating low fuel. He was solely focused on reaching his destination: the hospital he had made just for Soo-jin.
In the past, after finding out about Soo-jin's heart illness, Joon-ho spent days and nights searching for a cure, calling every cancer center in the world, hoping they could somehow save her.
But with no results, he had to create JinSeong Medical Center—the hospital created solely for Soo-jin—after every cancer center in the world rejected him, saying there was no cure for her illness. The only way to save her was if someone donated their heart.
That's why Joon-ho created this hospital—to research and develop an artificial heart for Soo-jin. He poured all his fortune into it, inviting renowned doctors from around the world, giving everything for a way to extend her life much longer.
And now, he was rushing to Busan, to JinSeong Medical Center. As he drove in the heavy rain, within mere moments, no signal, no traffic hindered his path.
The person Joon-ho called before was not an ordinary person; he was the most powerful person in South Korea: President Han Min-jae.
In the car, unconscious, Soo-jin was dreaming of the moment when Kim Tae-hyun betrayed her. Her mind was constantly replaying the scene in a loop.
As her tears started to pour, drop by drop, Joon-ho, seeing it, felt blood again start to come from his eyes. Thinking she was in pain, he increased his car's speed, taking it to full gear, breaking the speed limit again.
Never in his life could Joon-ho bear to see Soo-jin in pain or suffering. As time ticked by, Joon-ho was getting nervous. He was praying that Soo-jin could live just for three more hours—no, even two hours would be fine. Never in his life had he been this nervous and desperate.
As his car zoomed, reaching a speed of 380 km/h, no one behind him could follow in the harsh weather.
Joon-ho's mind was only focused on reaching Busan as soon as possible. He did not see his fuel tank indicator now showing zero.
Even with no fuel, the car did not stop moving forward. The car, too, seeing its master's desperate state, was giving its all. With its last breath, it moved to its final destination—JinSeong Medical Center—determined to reach as soon as possible.
After one hour, Joon-ho crossed the Busan border. Not even a helicopter could reach this fast—from Seoul to Busan within one hour.
In no time, Joon-ho could see the JinSeong Medical Center sign. Wanting to slow his car, he tried to apply the brakes, but they didn't work. The brakes were not responding, and the car was still moving forward at high speed.
In this desperate situation, Joon-ho did everything he could to stop the car but was unable to. Despair filled his heart. He had only one thought: I am sorry I was not able to save you.
Leaving the steering wheel, he moved to the back seat, trying to protect Soo-jin with his body as the car crashed with a loud thud.
Soo-jin was in Joon-ho's arms, and Joon-ho was hugging her as tightly as he could. After the car stopped, Joon-ho, on the brink of fainting, could see the JinSeong Medical Center sign a mere hundred meters away from him.
The car was fully upside down as Joon-ho struggled to send Soo-jin out, feeling the car catch fire.
At the time when Joon-ho called JinSeong Medical Center, saying he was coming and to prepare for the heart donation, the doctors had prepared everything, only waiting for him to arrive.
All the doctors present were world-renowned surgeons and heart specialists, but on this day, they were all nervous.
They all knew the patient they had been preparing for all this time—and the one who had made a technical and medical breakthrough by creating an artificial heart—was going to be here.
If this surgery succeeded, many more lives would be saved in the future.
Inside the surgical room, a doctor burst in. Seeing the lead doctor, he said, panting:
"Doctor, Sir! Kim Joon-ho has arrived, but he is in critical condition."
"Take me there."
As the leading doctor said this, they all followed him out.