The hearing room on the second floor of the National Assembly annex was restless from early morning.Camera shutters clicked. Reporters whispered. Aides with name tags moved quickly, documents in hand.On the wall hung a banner in bold letters:
"Public Hearing on the Legal Status of Mobile Emergency Medical Systems"
The wording was neutral.The air in the room was not.It felt as if the conclusion had already been decided.
Representatives of the Korean Medical Association sat in the front row.Badges pinned neatly to their suit lapels. Faces set and rigid.Behind them were officials from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Land, and the Ministry of Justice.And in the very last row, seated quietly and almost unnoticed,were a few members of the Truck City TF team.
Song Jaemin sat without a microphone, fingers loosely interlaced.His eyes were not on the screen, but on the people.
Who was angry.Who was afraid.
After thirty years as a trauma surgeon,those were the things he had learned to read first.
The opening statement went as expected.
"Doctor Trucks are in clear violation of Article 33 of the Medical Act,"a professor said firmly."Medical procedures must be performed only in licensed medical institutions.Emergency surgery inside a mobile truck undermines the foundation of our medical system."
The next statement was even more blunt.
"Free medical care distorts the healthcare market.Good intentions cannot be allowed to destroy institutions."
A low laugh escaped somewhere in the audience.It was a reporter.He bowed his head immediately.
Song Jaemin lifted his gaze.
A microphone was placed in front of him.
"I have just one question,"he said. His voice was low, but clear.
"The average time for an ambulance carrying a cardiac-arrest patientto reach a hospital is eighteen minutes."
He paused.
"How many minutes can the brain survive in that time?"
No one answered right away.
"Four minutes,"Song said himself."Within those four minutes, the Doctor Truck arrived on siteand restarted the heart—right there."
He stopped briefly.
"We did not charge money.""We did not bill later.""We did not do what emergency rooms often do—save first, then present the invoice."
The room stirred.
"We did not ignore the system," Song continued."We simply went where the system could not arrive."
That afternoon, breaking news flashed.
"Doctor Trucks Face Legality Controversy—Can Good Intentions Stand Above the Law?"
"Free Healthcare: Innovation or Market Disruption?"
Comments exploded.
"If saving my father is illegal, then change the law.""Isn't this just doctors protecting their turf?""Is this really a country where saving lives for free is wrong?"
Foreign media moved quickly.
The BBC ran the headline:"A Truck That Saves Lives—But Breaks the Rules?"
Interview requests poured in.Song Jaemin responded with a single line.
"Medicine is not a service.It is the last safety net."
Meanwhile, inside Truck City,a very different scene unfolded.
A small sign was taped to the side of a Doctor Truck.
"Still free today. Don't hesitate."
Some people cried and said thank you.Some said nothing, only lowered their heads.
No one asked about money.
Only the fact of being alive remained.
That night, a message arrived on Doyoon's phone.
[National Assembly Judiciary Committee to review possible unconstitutionality of Doctor Trucks]
Doyoon looked out the window.
Trucks with their lights on stood quietly in place.The city was breathing.
He murmured,
"So this is the momentwhen saving a life becomes illegal."
The screen fades to black.
"The law is arriving later than the people—again."