# Chapter 17
Lee Beom’s face, which usually showed as little expression as a statue, became complicated. He didn’t seem like the type to make such expressions. His face, displaying unrestrained emotions, seemed like an act.
Everything felt unfamiliar, as if fake. All of this situation surrounding me felt like a scene from a movie rather than reality.
As if this situation was all dog food, and I was an acorn that had fallen into it.
“…I.”
“Huh?”
“Ha…”
Lee Beom let out a deep sigh and kept anxiously wiping his mouth.
“Never mind. Sorry. Seong Haemin will be fine.”
“Ah…”
I looked at Lee Beom while letting out an ambiguous sigh that couldn’t even form words. Lee Beom took a long time to steady his breathing with his face buried in his hands. Remembering Seong Haemin, who had been perfectly fine until this morning, made me feel like I was walking through a dream.
From somewhere, Jeon Jehyeong, who had somehow approached without notice, handed me a plushie.
Taking it reflexively, I saw it was a Pompompurin plushie. The doll’s eyes, with acrylic buttons, were shiny and pitch black.
What’s this now?
When I looked up at Jeon Jehyeong standing beside me, he raised his large hand and covered my eyes.
“Everything will be alright…”
The world went dark. As I stood blankly in the darkness, I gradually became aware of the busy movements around me.
Suddenly, I came to my senses. I gently removed Jeon Jehyeong’s hand covering my eyes. The white fluorescent light stung my eyes.
Come to think of it, shouldn’t they at least explain what’s going on first?
‘I am, after all…’
After all, I’m Seong Haemin’s family, yet they’re not explaining the situation at all!
“Is Seong Haemin badly hurt? How injured is he? How did he get hurt?”
My head, suddenly clear as if doused with cold water, finally started working.
In response to my questions, Jeon Jehyeong avoided my gaze, and Lee Beom still didn’t remove his face from his hands. An ominous feeling enveloped my entire body.
Sometimes, silence feels more terrible than any answer. Because it seems like the answer is too tragic to put into words. All sorts of negative possibilities swirled in my mind.
I forced strength into my trembling lips.
What on earth is going on here? If you were with Seong Haemin, you should know, so explain properly. I was about to lose patience and press them coldly.
From behind, an incredibly calm voice blew in like a warm breeze.
“Haemin says he’s fine.”
I slowly turned around. Yeon Suhwan was approaching. His hair was disheveled as if he had rushed over.
“I was just talking with the doctor, and he said Haemin isn’t badly hurt. Don’t worry. These guys are just making a fuss.”
Yeon Suhwan, who had slowly approached, crouched in front of my knees. The hand that reached out to stroke my cheek wasn’t entirely warm.
“Were you very surprised?”
“Ah… yes, I was quite shocked…”
I mumbled the latter part. Even after hearing that Seong Haemin wasn’t seriously injured, my heart still beat irregularly.
I wanted to be angry at Jeon Jehyeong and Lee Beom for acting so gravely as if something terrible had happened, but I just let out a deep sigh of relief. The strength left my entire body like a machine with its power switched off. That’s when I realized how seriously tense I had been.
Yeon Suhwan brushed back my tousled bangs. I looked up at him with a sour expression after he delivered the news.
Even though I heard he was fine, my worries weren’t completely resolved. It seemed I couldn’t fully relax until I saw with my own eyes that he was truly okay. My stomach churned at the thought of Seong Haemin lying injured.
While fixing my disheveled hair, my eyes met Yeon Suhwan’s.
I instinctively became defensive. Is he going to go “kook” and laugh again?
“Kook.”
I didn’t want to be right!
Having found something amusing, Yeon Suhwan kept covering his mouth with his fist and chuckling.
“The Pompompurin plushie in your arms, did Jehyeong give it to you?”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“It suits you well.”
“What?”
That’s not a compliment, is it?
Yeon Suhwan kept chuckling while looking at the Pompompurin plushie in my hand. In a surge of annoyance, I almost threw it, but remembering it wasn’t mine, I tightened my grip on Pompompurin. Jeon Jehyeong, the owner of the plushie, was nodding in agreement with Yeon Suhwan’s words. What are you nodding for!
Soon, Min Sihu arrived after parking, and as I watched the Four Kings bickering amongst themselves, a doctor approached Yeon Suhwan and explained something.
I stood idly behind, clutching Pompompurin and observing. Even though I was Seong Haemin’s family, for some reason, I couldn’t step forward.
All I could do was secretly hold my hands together and pray to a god I had never believed in my entire life.
‘Please let Seong Haemin be safe…’
Fortunately, the news Yeon Suhwan brought us was that Seong Haemin had been moved to the recovery room.
And not long after, Seong Haemin was transferred to a private room. We followed. Seong Haemin, who had apparently regained consciousness in the recovery room, looked as if he was in a deep sleep.
Perhaps because the tension had eased, I started to feel fatigue creeping in. While watching over Seong Haemin, who lay pale with his leg heavily bandaged, I fell asleep at some point without realizing it. The rustling movements around me from the Four Kings and Yeon Suhwan faded into the distance.
***
“Seong Haejun. Wake up.”
I woke to someone calling my name. I could smell the distinctive disinfectant odor from the meticulously cleaned hospital tiles. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was on a cot next to Seong Haemin.
‘What time is it?’
As I rubbed my face trying to clear my head, Lee Beom, crouched beside me, ruffled my tousled hair.
Pft, a sound of stifled laughter was heard.
“Like a carp.”
“…?”
“Let’s go eat.”
“Huh?”
“Come on. Get up.”
Without giving me time to gather my thoughts, Lee Beom grabbed my wrist. I hurriedly slipped my feet into the slippers someone had placed nearby.
With sleep still clouding my mind and my eyelids swollen, the world seemed to crumble dizzily even though I was awake and looking ahead. I couldn’t tell if I was facing forward or backward. Due to my low blood pressure, the world repeatedly darkened and brightened.
Eventually, with my wrist still in Lee Beom’s grip, I collapsed in the hospital corridor.
“Seong Haejun!”
“Ugh…”
“Are you okay?”
“Huh? Uh…”
“…Does it hurt?”
Lee Beom crouched down urgently, lifted my face, and turned it this way and that to check. The position with my neck awkwardly bent caused my head to ache. Lee Beom looked uncommonly flustered.
I mean, who drags someone who just woke up like that? Fatigue and irritation surged.
“What are you doing, you Beom bastard!”
Just as I was about to shake off his hand, Min Sihu appeared and delivered an impressive roundhouse kick to Lee Beom. Struck in the shoulder, Lee Beom tumbled backward.
“Min Sihu, you bastard…!”
“Na~na~na~!”
“Sigh…”
Jeon Jehyeong, who had quietly approached, helped me to my feet. Perhaps it was better to have someone like him who hardly spoke at all. Even if he did like things like Pompompurin plushies that didn’t suit his age or size.
“I need to use the bathroom…”
Jeon Jehyeong nodded slowly at my mumbling. Leaving behind Min Sihu yapping like a beagle and Lee Beom squinting his eyebrows while trying to lower his blood pressure, I headed to the bathroom at the end of the corridor, steadying my swaying body.
‘It’s chaotic.’
I wanted to wash my parched face first.
When I got to the bathroom and checked the mirror, my appearance was a sight to behold. The first problem was being dragged here in pajamas with a stretched-out neck, but my face was also puffy from fatigue, and my unwashed, dry face looked shabby. Lee Beom must have had an incredible stomach to try to take someone with such a face out to eat.
I splashed cold water on my face to cool down the heat and slapped my cheeks to try to wake up. I looked at the person reflected in the mirror. The familiar face somehow looked a bit like Seong Haemin.
‘I wonder how Seong Haemin got injured.’
I think he might have been injured in the novel too, but I couldn’t clearly remember such narratives anymore. I clenched my hand that was resting on the sink. Water droplets that I hadn’t wiped from my face fell drop by drop.
Just…
When I thought Seong Haemin might die, everything seemed bleak.
‘Yes, bleakness.’
That was the most accurate expression.
The past me who thought I’d just live my own life regardless of whether Seong Haemin lived or died now seemed like an animal puffing up its fur in bravado. I now realized that it had all been hollow words.
As time passes, am I becoming more and more identified with the Seong Haejun from the novel? Back then, I could be cold to the characters because it was a novel, but I can’t do that anymore. Maybe it means this place is closer to reality than fiction now…
My head throbbed. While blankly thinking about this and that, my thoughts eventually reached my Seoul National University acceptance letter that I would never get back. Although it was time to let go, I couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh tinged with melancholy. I even wondered what it all meant. At the same time, I felt I couldn’t lose it.
‘I need to pull myself together.’
Although I really don’t want to make such assumptions, if this is my real life, I need to live it properly. Maybe it’s better to ignore everyone now and focus solely on studying, regardless of whether Ban Pyoran and Lee Beom date or whether the villainess Ban Seo-i bullies Ban Pyoran.
‘But…’
And prevent Seong Haemin’s death as much as possible.
With nothing particular to wipe my face with, I shook off the moisture and left the bathroom with a face still damp. I figured it would dry on the way.
At the end of the corridor, Min Sihu and Lee Beom were bickering.
‘Hmm. I don’t want to go there.’
My steps slowed.
“Excuse me.”
As I was trying to move my feet that wouldn’t budge, someone tapped my arm.
A female student with kind eyes and a warm, pretty smile was looking up at me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
