117 episodes. What the hell?
Emirates Stakes Day. (Emiritz Stakes Day.)
As the day of the last game of the carnival, the keyword of family is put forward.
Unlike the previous events, everyone wears comfortable clothes and builds memories through various family programs.
While the family enjoyed the final ceremony wearing red roses, I headed to the Frederick Hollow Foundation.
The only companion was Yoohyeon, a bodyguard.
“How did you get here?”
As I entered the office, a middle-aged female employee approached me and asked.
“Hello, my name is Edward Jean. I’m here for a tour of the Foundation.”
“Ah, are you an acquaintance of Henry Bearfax?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Sit this way. I still got a call. They said that most of the donations from the Victoria Racing Club came from Mr. Jean. Welcome to the Frederick Hollow Foundation.”
She immediately brought out the drink and opened the Foundation pamphlet in front of me.
There, the foundation’s achievements in Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, and the miserable realities of underdeveloped countries were clearly presented.
At the same time, he talked about the difficulties the foundation is facing and goals for this year.
As if asking for more support.
“This is how my donations are being used.”
“Yes, this time, especially for the treatment of blind children. There are over 30 million blind children in the world. You can’t save all of them, but you can think of it this way. For just $10, you can use it to treat the blind. You can gift a child with corrective glasses, so with this $10 million donation, at least one million children will be saved from blindness.”
Something similar to what I saw on TV commercials in Korea.
An advertisement that says that your donation of 10,000 won can save the lives of African children.
Still, I was a little proud to say that less than a tenth of the $120 million I had donated would save a million children.
Moreover, since I had experienced blindness for a short time, would I say that the position of the children who will be helped is real?
“I think I’ve heard some explanations, but can I take a look inside the Foundation?”
“Okay. I’ll guide you.”
I followed her around and looked around, but as Henry said, there was nothing special enough to see.
What caught my eye was that it was like a warehouse where various relief items were collected.
There were many strange things that I saw for the first time, and the one that caught my attention was liquid glasses.
“These are also called self-correcting glasses. The wearer can adjust the power to their liking.”
She explained, fiddling with the adjusters on the frames of her glasses.
The oil in the silicone tube went through the regulator and adjusted the refractive index instead of the eyeglasses.
“Wow, this is amazing. Then you don’t have to prepare glasses for each dose, and one of these is all-around, right?”
“That’s right. It was devised by a British person named Joshua Silver, and Dr. Ben Logan, the head of research at our foundation, also helped a lot.”
“Will I be able to meet him too?”
“Doctor?”
“Yes, I’d like to ask you a favor.”
“Okay. If it’s Mr. Jean’s request, I’ll do it. Wait a minute.”
She immediately called on her cell phone.
Then he said with a smile.
“Fortunately, there are no experimental studies today, so they say it’s idle. Hoho.”
“Looks like I’m lucky.”
Ben Logan’s lab that followed her was filled with all kinds of medical books.
“Yoohyeon-ah, would you like to go out for a while? I want to talk with you just the two of you.”
“Okay. I’ll be waiting at the door.”
So I was seated alone with Ben Logan.
He was a typical scholarly old man with gray hair.
“Did you say Edward Jean?”
“Yes, Dr. Logan.”
“Mrs. Harlow called and started a fuss. You want to see me, so make sure you take some time.”
The person calling was the chairman.
It looked like it was a lie.
“You’re busy, but I’ve been rude.”
“No. I heard that you know Henry too, but if you are an acquaintance of that friend, you deserve it.”
“When did you start dating Henry?”
“It’s been twenty years. We’ve known each other since before the foundation was established.”
“And with the dead Gary Parker?”
“Hmm, does Gary know?”
“No, I’ve only heard about it. He and Henry said that he and Henry supported the foundation.”
“Yeah. Good friends. They’re also great business people who know how to spend their wealth.”
Ben Logan recalled the memory for a moment and then patted his knee.
“Oh, look at my mind. It’s been a while since I’ve had a guest, so I forgot to treat you.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“No, that’s not polite. Wait a minute. I’ll serve you my amazing coffee.”
He went to the back of his desk and started drip coffee.
I looked around the lab, smelling the rich aroma of coffee.
Suss.
‘Where is the thesis…’
I began to search for papers on corneal dystrophy, quickly erasing unnecessary books with clairvoyance.
There were dozens of papers on only related diseases on the bookshelf, but finally, a paper with the name of Dr. Ahn Kyung-hee came into view.
“Now, try it. I’m proud of it, but after decades of brewing coffee, I’ve become so famous that I can’t drink anything else.”
“Thank you. I’ll drink.”
As I took a sip, I was amazed at the aroma of coffee that filled my mouth.
“How are you? Are you okay?”
“Yes, are you a barista by any chance? It’s the best coffee I’ve ever had.”
“Heh heh, thanks for the compliment.”
Ben Logan asked me over a cup of coffee with a warm smile.
“But what do you do? Is it something related to medicine?”
“No. I’m in the mining industry.”
“Hmm, then why did you want to meet me? An old man who spent his whole life studying in a closet.”
“I wanted to meet you because I have a question for you.”
“……?”
I got up and went to the bookshelf.
And I pulled out a thesis written based on my condition.
“Do you remember this paper?”
“Aldamada. It was published as a co-author with professors from the US and Korea at the end of last year. It is a very meaningful thesis to me.”
“This is a thesis that is very meaningful to me.”
“What do you mean? Does it mean anything to you?”
“Because I was the subject of this paper.”
“……!”
Ben Logan’s pupils widened, revealing a look of surprise.
I put my thesis in front of him and said,
“Actually, I came here knowing that the doctor sent the donated cornea to Korea.”
“……”
“I heard from Professor Ahn Kyung-hee. The guardian said that he did not want the identity of the corneal donor to be disclosed.”
“Hey, do you want to know who the donor is?”
“Yes. That’s why I came all the way here.”
I looked at Ben Logan with a nervous expression.
He thoughtfully said nothing until the cup was completely empty.
Has 10 minutes passed?
Putting down the glass, Ben Logan opened his mouth.
“There was a person who had the same disease as you in the past. That person was also blind, but he said that his eyesight gradually recovered from when, miraculously.”
I quietly listened to him.
“They said they didn’t know why. Even if they went to the hospital, all they had to do was check the results of the improvement. And before he died, he donated his cornea after death, on condition that he donate it to a patient with the same condition as his own. I mean.”
“That was me.”
“Yeah, you and the donor had the same disease, but the only difference was whether they did self-healing or not. That’s what I think. I mean, I wanted to make that patient experience a miracle.”
So who the hell is that?
I suppressed my frustration and waited.
“At first, I thought it was a nonsensical condition. Do you know why?”
“Isn’t that because a donor who meets the criteria cannot appear right away?”
“That’s right. The number of cells in the cornea is supposed to decrease as soon as it is removed. We can’t wait forever according to the donor’s will.”
“……”
“However, surprisingly, even after a week, a month, or a year, the number of cells did not change at all. It was as if they were alive. I believed that such a miracle occurred because I wanted the donor to keep his will even when he died. So, the Society Network I posted it on the . and waited for 4 years.”
“Then you mean that the cornea I had transplanted was the cornea 5 years ago?”
“But it’s numerically better than a freshly excised A-grade cornea. If I had to rate it, I’d say it’s an S-grade.”
It’s an S-class cornea…
Since it has clairvoyance as an added bonus, shouldn’t it be called SS?
Something like a game level.
“And he left me one more word.”
“……?”
“I told you that maybe someone with a cornea transplant would come to see me. It’s as if he foresaw today’s meeting.”
“……!”
The owner of the cornea also had clairvoyance.
At that moment, a name popped into my head, and it came out of Ben Logan’s mouth.
“Gary Parker. This is the name of an old friend of mine and your benefactor. He told me to let you know when he found me.”
“……”
“I wonder if this is fate, yes. You, who received Gary’s cornea, came all the way here through Henry’s introduction.”
“Does Henry know all this?”
Ben Logan shook his head.
“I know that Gary donated corneas and organs before he died, but I don’t know that there were such conditions.
“Keep it a secret from Henry, that I have Gary’s cornea transplant.”
“I can’t tell anyone because of my oath of secrecy. If it weren’t for Gary, I wouldn’t have told you either.”
“Thank you. And thank you, for keeping his will.”
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to live this life.
“You say nothing. I was just doing what I was supposed to do as a doctor. Saying that you saved yourself from blindness with Gary’s cornea, and that you donated a huge amount to the foundation? no.”
“Still, if it wasn’t for you, my life would have been very different. Of course, I am grateful.”
“Heh heh heh, then give me some more donations. Do you know how much Ms. Harlow was so angry that she asked you to please your stomach?”
“Okay. We will support you every year so that you don’t feel dismayed.”
Ben Logan nodded with a satisfied smile.
Then he clapped his hands as if he remembered something.
“Hey, hey. I forgot this too. As I get older, my memory is getting worse.”
“Yes? What else?”
“Gary has left you with something.”
“…..?”
“Wait a minute. I’ll find you right away.”
Ben Logan lowered the dusty box from the bookshelf and began to rummage through it.
All sorts of rubbish came out endlessly, and the lab, which was otherwise cluttered, was getting messier.
“If you can’t remember where you left it, find it and give it to me slowly.”
“Where was this? It must have been put in the storage box…”
What the hell?
‘If I knew what it was, I would be able to find out quickly with my clairvoyance. Whoa…’