Chapter 17: Chapter 17 : Troubled

 

Kai's POV. 

 

"So, you just happened to lose your prescription. You already know what the doctor gave you last time . So you want me to administer it the same as your previous doctor?" 

 

Kai mocked the obvious drug addict. However, that seemed to go over his head. 

 

Sniffling, and shivering, the drug addict who sat on the consulting chair in Kai's clinic avoided his eyes. 

 

"Ye-es, that's right. Just make it so that I can buy it at the pharmacy, you don't need to worry about it. There will be (sniff) no problem…" 

 

"I can give you the number to get some help instead, or do you want me to confirm it with your previous 'doctor' who is stupid enough to give the prescription to you? " 

 

The drug addict stood up, and cursed out loud.

"Screw you asshole!" He then quickly huffed away before Kai called the cops on him. 

 

It's a common occurrence in Hell's kitchen for cases like this. 

 

Cling-cling

 

The doorbell sounded as the addict exited the clinic. 

 

"Haaaa," Kai let out a long sigh. It's been a month since he opened the clinic. Business was slow at first as he had a reputation for being a dangerous person. It was a preposterous accusation, but he thought it was fair. 

 

But when people know that he gave a fair charge — albeit cheap, people especially in Hell's Kitchen, the poorest area in New York City, seeked him to get help instead of going to the hospital. 

 

He had many patients over the month, such as a child with a sudden fever, gunshot victims, dislocated bones, broken jaw, and more. 

 

After treating his first patient, he excitedly checked the quest progress. But to his surprise it didn't move one bit. 

 

"What's going on?Hmm…Maybe because I'm only checking the kid for fever… That didn't count as saving life huh…" 

 

The same thing has happened all the time since his first one. He thought the quest was over, but the count on his progress didn't move at all.  

 

[Save people (0/10)] 

 

He was confused, so he asked the doctor about it in the chat, but the doctor just snickered. 

 

TheDoctor: Of course those kinds of superficial things don't count, Save, not treat!

 

Kai realised that he had fallen into another trap by the doctor! 

 

"Damn it!" he cursed. "Then let me go to the hospital! Who would go to the clinic with life threatening things?! "

 

TheDoctor: Your medical licence is ambiguous in the first place. Also, where's the fun in that?~

 

Cling-Cling  The door of the clinic opened again a minute after the drug addict ran away. 

 

"Business is slow today?" A tough-looking black man with a scary  face walked inside while carrying some paper bags in his hand. 

 

"Sure. I got many customers, it seems I'm popular in the drug addict circle," He said sarcastically. Then, he asked normally, "What's special for today?" 

 

He grabbed the food bag that was handed out from Domingo, a greasy, scary dude, with an afro. 

 

He looked like a veteran gang member, but he's actually a rare kind of Hell Kitchen's person. The one who made an honest living by opening a restaurant instead of joining a gang. 

 

After Kai treated him when he was shot in the arm by his own people, he made an exception to deliver food to the clinic as he knew that Kai didn't have any helper in his practice. 

 

"You should really find someone to hire. Maybe a cute receptionist ! …You're overworking, you know that … right?" Domingo said with concern as he watched Kai eat the food he brought. 

 

Kai had opened the clinic 20 hours a day and barely took the time to go eat and rest. He has a deep eye bag on his face compared to his appearance in the previous month. 

 

"Well maybe I should. But not many people want to work in Hell's kitchen," Kai said unexpectedly. He didn't plan to get a helper in the beginning as he thought he'd finish the quest early and disappear soon. But that was highly unlikely now. 

 

Flashing a face that will become the main character of a child's nightmare, Domingo smiled scarily while flashing his missing tooth. 

 

He felt relieved inside as he had been convincing Kai to get a helper since he opened his clinic for a week here. It doesn't matter how skilled someone is to him if he doesn't know how to take care of himself. 

 

But no matter what he said, Kai will shut him down quickly. 

 

Domingo thought maybe Kai had some story about his life —  he didn't pry as a lot of people in Hell's Kitchen had baggage on them. 

 

"Can you afford hiring people though?" the black man asked playfully. 

 

Kai was giving the people here very cheap medical services and he worked very efficiently. Many thought Kai was running an illegal shop, even some cops came to check his clinic for any problems. All they found was that his licence to practice medicine is legal. 

 

There's no problem at all with him opening a store there. Domingo was confused by that when he heard the incident details. He sometimes wondered why Kai doesn't work in a hospital as he was clearly a trained professional, but opened a tiny clinic in the poorest region in the city? 

 

He didn't voice it out as he was afraid Kai would come to his senses and walked away from Hell's Kitchen. 

 

"There's no problem hiring one or two people," Kai opened the food bag, unwrapped the burger inside, and took a bite of the barely palatable food while talking to Domingo. 

 

"Ugh. Your food keeps getting worse and worse…" Kai teased. 

 

Domingo had been coming to the clinic for a while and Kai had gradually gotten used to his presence. Now he could even joke around with him. 

 

"You know I miss the day when you call me Mister," Domingo retorted and didn't back down from the insult. 

 

"I called you 'Mista', but you don't understand me." 

 

They insulted each other for a while before Domingo left as he still needed to manage his restaurant. 

 

Kai put up some notice on his window panel in front of the clinic before closing for the clinic for the day. The notice he put up is a [Help Wanted] ad. 

 

The next day, several women came and interviewed for the job. 

 

He hired two helpers after some contemplation. Nina, a 45 years old Latino with some experience in the medical field. She has a fiery temperament and is a little boisterous, but skilled nonetheless. 

 

The other one is Lana, a 30 year old black woman who's a single mom and was working two jobs. She has a calm demeanour and has a great observational skill that she learned from her late husband who was a police officer and died on the job. 

 

Lana resigned from the jobs she had before this as the clinic offered a higher salary than both her previous jobs combined. 

 

The main body didn't forget to check their background first before hiring them. Their prior relationships, medical history, legitimacy of their resume and so on. He didn't want someone with ulterior motives working there. 

 

He needed to ensure his clinic's safety as he noticed some interviewee had their own motive to get close to him. Some needed drugs while some blatantly wanted to take over his clinic for their gang operations. 

 

It gets a little easier at the clinic from now onwards with the extra help. It has been a few days since, and his customers seemed to have doubled. Nina and Lana have great people skills that make people comfortable with them, thus increasing the customer's traffic. 

 

A week later. 

 

"You know that Knight's kid or whatever. Started to plant trees now. If ya have extra money why don't you do something for the poor instead of hugging some trees! Hmph, Rich People! " Domingo mocked as he read the newspaper. 

 

Kai scratched his cheeks as he listened to the complaint. 

 

Today, he came to Domingo's restaurant to pick up his dinner instead of the owner delivering it. He had to close the clinic early today as he needed to settle a few documents — item procurement and insurance settlement. 

 

This was also because he was nagged by Nina who knew afterwards that Kai didn't give himself. a day off. He gave Nina and Lana the basic employee's benefit, but he's hard on himself. After being chewed out for a long time, finally he decided to rest. 

 

Sipping his coffee as he sat across from the owner, Kai had a wry smile on his face as he heard Domingo talk about the issue. 

 

His main body — Ryan, had already started his effort in planting trees. When Ryan conveyed to Hiddle about his plan, the butler then made it into a campaign and involved the entire company in it. 

 

The media started to make jokes about his effort, causing a lot of people to laugh at him. But for Ryan, he already saw this type of effort in his previous life when people started to realize the importance of nature. 'But, it's too late by then…'

 

In the early 2000s people didn't care much about global warming as none of the people in power wanted to acknowledge there are consequences for their actions.

 

But those who had already experienced it knew that early steps may avoid the disaster that will soon come. A lot of scientists volunteered in the efforts and raised their impression on Ryan from just a lucky rich kid to a fellow scientist… but with money. 

 

He used his own funding for the movement instead of using the company's money. Also, he has set up some foundations, scholarships, refugee centres in war torn countries and many more humanitarian aid using the profits he got. 

 

If the media knows about this,Ryan fears the consequences about it. 'I can only watch while people were trying to get the rich to contribute in my previous life. But now? I am the Rich.'

 

His efforts caused his billionaire's status to fluctuate back into a millionaire. Luckily for him, his smartphone was the most desired item on the markets nowadays. 

 

Although he knew some people do give their best effort for the benefits in his previous life, others could be very selfish and a profiteering capitalist. 

 

It is the norm for the poor to criticise the rich, so Kai joined Domingo in making fun of his own company. 

 

"Who knows, maybe trees are more important for them than us," he said while shrugging his shoulders.

 

"Maybe. But the kid is actually one of the good ones," Domingo suddenly backtracked, causing Kai to be confused. 

 

"Haha, my nature loving brothers actually got a job in his campaign. It paid well too. Better than what I make here in this dump!" Domingo said and explained his dissatisfaction with his restaurant business. 

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"Maybe if you cook better-" 

 

"Get out of here. Get!" 

 

Kai was chased away from the restaurant as it was closing time. 

 

On his walk home two blocks away, Kai heard a loud clunking sound and a curious sound coming from the alley he passed. 'Is that?' He took a look but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

 

"Maybe it was some cats," he mumbled. He swore he heard a shriek coming with the clanking sound but he thought it was only his imagination. 

 

He moved away from the alley but he took one last glance before he completely turned his head. 

 

It was then he saw a pair of small legs almost hidden by the numerous trash bags. 'I almost miss it if I don't look closely.'

 

Kai hurried to check out the situation and saw an unconscious small girl with a pale complexion and drops of sweat beading out from her forehead. 

 

He contemplated for a split second whether to call the ambulance or do anything else. 

 

As he observed the clothing on the girl and a small bag she carried, he muttered in a low voice, "A runaway." 

 

In Hell's kitchen, people have a complicated everyday life. He carried the girl in a princess carry and he took the girl back to his clinic. 

 

He laid her down on the surgical bed. Quickly, he uses the x-ray glasses from TheDoctor to check the girl's condition.

 

'Her appendix had burst.' 

 

He grabbed a pair of scissors and started to cut off her clothes. 

 

Usually, he will use the normal x-ray machine and follow the normal check-up routine. But there's no formal patient and only an unconscious person here so he could use advanced equipment from the system. 

 

He noticed the little girl was also malnourished and had some parasites in her body. 'Probably from eating food from the trash.' 

 

Using a scalpel, he made a cut on the lower left side of her stomach. Kai did a simple surgery on her to remove her appendix and saving her. He placed her on a nutrient solution that was injected directly into her body and antibiotics for the parasites. 

 

"Phew. It's okay now." He sighed in relief as he sat on the chair next to the girl in recovery. 

 

The girl is still unconscious for now. He rested on the chair observing her condition for the rest of the night to ensure her safety. He didn't go home and continued monitoring her until her conditions stabilized. 

 

The morning sun came up and Lana came in for her shift. 

 

She saw that Kai was sleeping on the chair in the monitoring room when she walked in to prepare the clinic for its business hours. She also noticed that there is a girl on the bed with IV drops connected to her. 

 

"Hey Doctor. Wake up." 

 

Kai wakes up sluggishly from Lana's gentle wake up call. 

 

"What time is it?" Kai asked as he saw the sun was up. 

 

"Only 7.30 in the morning," Lana replied. "Who's she?" 

 

"I saw her collapsed in the alley yesterday. I brought her in to check on her. Her appendix had bursted out. She may have died last night if I didn't do anything," he explained while rummaging his hair. 

 

She nodded and decided to help take care of the kid. 

 

He went to the sink and brushed his teeth. He had kept a spare toothbrush in the clinic as he used to stay there all the time. Kai asked the assistant to monitor the girl while he went and got breakfast. 

 

By the way, he could use the system while the main body is sleeping. A perk he notices after being Kai for a while. He noticed the quest notification has changed after last night's incident. 

 

[Quest : Save 10 people (1/10)] 

 

"The number finally moves up!" He said happily. He then realized something, "I need to save near death or critical injury. Being a clinic, it'll be hard to do." 

 

He bought some extra breakfast in case the little girl woke up. 

 

Coincidentally, when he returned the girl just happened to be opening her eyes. She was speaking to Lana when he walked in. 

 

"You up kid?" He said as he saw her already awake. The girl widened her eyes when she saw the scary man, causing Lana to stifle her laughs. 

 

Kai's speech pattern turned to how he imagined TheDoctor's style of talking. It happens whenever he's with a patient, but he did that unconsciously. 

 

The little girl stared at Kai and said shyly, "Thank you for saving me, but I have no money. I'll… find some money to pay you later!" 

 

She was trying to get up from the bed and leave but Kai placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, keeping her on the bed. 

 

"A-Are you keeping me here? Please let me GO. I'll pay you later! " she begged. 

 

She had just run away from her foster family and she was planning to live on her own. But living by herself only for a week, she almost died without anyone noticing.

 

" What's your name?" Kai ignored the kids begging and asked calmly. 

 

"I'm… Skye… " The girl replied while calming down as she noticed the doctor had no bad intention. 

 

Kai was shocked. He took a closer look at her, causing her to flinch. 'Isn't this the future earthquake girl?' 

 

"A single word, like Beyonce, Adele, Rihanna?" he teased. He knew that the name was not her given name. Instead it is a name she made up on her own as she hated her given name. 

 

Kai saw that the girl was tearing up from his teasing. She was afraid that he might find out who she was. Even if she is the future tremor girl and world destroyer, she's just a little kid now. 

 

"How old are you?"

 

 "... I'm fourteen."

 

Kai widened his eyes in surprise when he heard that. 

 

Skye's body is smaller than kids her age. He thought she was about 10 in age. He asked the basic question about her parents and learned her situation. 

 

Skye was nervous and almost cried the entire time during the questioning that she replied with a lot of fake answers. 

 

'I don't want to go back to the orphanage again.' 

 

It wasn't the first time she ran away from her foster family. It's just bad luck that she kept getting foster parents who were exploiting her for government stipend. 

 

She is smart enough to understand their schemes. She wanted to find her parents and asked them why they threw her away.

 

Kai released his hand and said calmly, "You can go if you have a guardian. Right now, you need to pass gas first as you just finished your surgery." 

 

Skye's face reddened when she heard about passing gas. She needed to tell him when she farted! If Kai wasn't wearing a doctor's coat, she might think he was a creep who targeted little girls instead. 

 

"You also need to take some antibiotics for 4 weeks. I don't know what you ate but your body is filled with parasites." 

 

Skye was shocked when Kai showed her the parasite pictures.

 

"I… don't have money for medicine… " she emphasised that again. 

 

Kai decided something that he is thinking about at the moment. 

 

"If you don't have a guardian, I will be your guardian for now. After you're healthy, you can go, but now you're staying with me." 

 

Kai did this not for the sake of a quest or to get benefits. He sincerely did it for the sake of it. For him, leaving the girl alone after he saved her was just irresponsible. 

 

" If you feel that you need to pay me or don't want to stay under my wing, I can hire you as a helper at my clinic. 100 bucks a week. What do you think?" 

 

He noticed the hesitation on Skye's face and made an offer. It's easier to make her stay with this as she wanted to be independent. 

 

Skye's eyes brightened up when she heard about the money and she decided quickly. " I'll do it!"

 

"Okay, now rest, I'll give you breakfast later, tell Lana if you've done the deed." 

 

Kai has some tact. It'll be embarrassing for the girl to tell him about farting, but it's okay to tell Lana about it. 

 

He opened the clinic as usual. 

 

Lana asked him in concern, "Don't you need to rest? Until what time last night did you take care of her?" 

 

"It didn't matter much. I got some rest at the clinic. It's enough for me." 

 

She shook her head when she heard his reply. She will tattle his behavior to Nina later on. 

 

Today is a happy day for Kai. Finally, the quest is progressing. And also, his quest for planting 10 million trees was done on the same day!

 

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