Escape from the Iljinhoe Project 24

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# Chapter 24

“Phew… what have you guys done.”

After catching my breath, I raised my head.

Whatever this secret was that made me run out with an IV drip in hand, I needed to hear it since it was making me uneasy. Hey, are we being serious right now?

But having all these pack-like gang members’ eyes focused on me was somewhat… no, actually very burdensome. Maybe it was because they were all big, spirited guys. Damn, I could get trampled to death here. I’d die. Above all, I flinched at how serious the trio looked as they stood confidently before me among those guys.

Stay calm, Gu Haejin. You’re still the Apex, right?! Hahah. This really feels like being a coward.

“Why is the atmosphere so… wait. Jung Ion, what’s wrong with your hand?”

I had to stop mid-sentence.

What the hell? What’s wrong with his hand? Noticing the blood on Jung Ion’s hand, wondering if he’d gotten hurt somewhere, I openly frowned. I strode over, grabbed his hand, and examined the wound, cradling it in both of mine. The IV made even this annoyingly inconvenient. Argh! I really want to smash this IV stand on the ground! Ugh, I’m going crazy. Why did I bring it along…!

“…Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘oh’? Tsk, so carefree. What did you do to hurt yourself like this?”

Somehow, a scolding tone came out. I don’t understand why this guy, who usually acts so smart, is being so stupid now. His knuckles were all scraped up and bleeding. It wasn’t too serious, but it looked painful to me. Ugh… I hate blood. It must sting quite a bit, yet he’s enduring it well. No, wait, why is he enduring it? Are you still a man despite being a high schooler? Well, that’s not wrong, but still…

“Ah…!”

I suddenly opened my eyes wide. Jung Ion abruptly hugged me tight. I was helplessly embraced in his arms.

Huh? What’s this? I almost threw the IV stand. Hey, hey. Aren’t you going to let go? This is suffocating!

“You don’t have to do anything anymore.”

“What?”

Huh? What did he say?

Aha. So he’s saying he’ll be the Apex now and I should just be crushed into nothing? That’s right. This is a true coup! There’s already a faction ranked 4th, but now I see this is the real coup d’état. Such proper revolutionary attitude, very good. Is this finally Gu Haejin’s escape from the school gang world?

“We’ll protect you.”

—What?

I didn’t even expect that. What kind of character algorithm leads to someone spouting such impossible words about protecting me? I smiled bitterly at these newly incomprehensible words. Is this the familiarity of someone who has surrendered to groundless plausibility?

“APEX!!”

Fuck. Now what?!

Being embraced, I jumped at the thunderous shout that could have burst my eardrums. Jung Ion seemed startled too, pulling away from me, but then froze in that position as if shocked by something he discovered. Gu Haejin… you have that…. Unable to continue speaking, he trembled while trying to tell me something. What. Speak.

Gasp. Holy shit.

Looking at my wrist, oh…? Blood was flowing backwards.

I must have been holding the IV low without realizing when he hugged me and I nearly dropped it, causing the blood to flow upwards. Hurriedly, I raised the IV again. Shit. I should’ve just brought the stand with me. This is such a pain.

And I didn’t know. The tremendous situation this would cause.

That it would become a butterfly effect, bringing a hectopascal-level aftermath.

“No! Waaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Uwaaaaaaaah…! Apex! Apex Gu Haejin!! Huuuuuu…”

…They’re crying. Uh. They’re crying…. Haha…?

Suddenly, over 2,000 gang members started wailing in unison. I turned pale at the beast-like cries that filled the field.

Why… why are you doing that? You’re scaring me… stop it….

Honestly, I was genuinely terrified. Until then, it had been a collaboration of mental breakdown, madness, and anger, but now I was fucking terrified.

The gang members collectively sobbing.

“Ugh… Haejin…. Gu Haejin. Huuuuuuuu…”

“Apex… hic! It’s because of me…! That’s why hic! You got worse… hic hic hic…”

“Haaa… ugh… ugh…”

The trio wasn’t much different from the others. No, if anything, they were worse, not better.

Jung Ion just endlessly calling my name and hiccupping. Park Hanseo kneeling and sobbing. Shin Amin pounding his chest like in a drama while tears flowed….

I turned to stone, mouth agape, at a loss for words. Looking at them all, they seem to have been crying even before…? What is this…. What the hell happened here during the time I was late?!

“…First of all, st-stop crying… okay? Okay?”

I started patting the trio’s shoulders alternately, not knowing why they were collectively sobbing except for me. All three cry as pitifully as little children. Who knew I’d end up comforting crying boys in my lifetime. Wow, this is so awkward. Squatting down to Hanseo’s eye level, I rested my chin on my hand, sighing heavily while patting his back, which only seemed to make him wail even more sorrowfully.

“Waah! Apex! Waaah… don’t die…”

…..

“Please don’t die! We can’t live without our Apex…”

…?

“The dying thing is a lie, right? Please tell us it’s a lie…. We Devil members still can’t believe it. Hic hic…”

…Huh? I raised my trembling lips.

“Dying… that the Apex doesn’t have much time left…”

Haha… what did you say?

The hand that had been patting his back slowed down. Not noticing this, Park Hanseo sobbed even harder before he began to cry out.

“There’s no way the Apex has a terminal illness!”

Park Hanseo’s voice, filled with resentment, resonated through Shinju High School, through Seoul, through South Korea, through the world, through the Earth, through the universe…

Kya. Kya. Kya.

…Gulp. Ah… I see?

I completely wiped the smile from my face and slowly stood up from my squatting position.

Ah, so that’s what it was?

“…Sigh.”

I shouldn’t have come. I should’ve just shut up, stayed in the hospital room, gotten my IV, and gone home. Human greed is endless, and we always repeat the same mistakes. Damn it. Why did I come here? What was I hoping for anyway?

“Apex…?”

Noticing my ominous reaction, like the calm before a storm, they stopped crying and looked at me. But those damn hiccups from crying wouldn’t stop.

Ah, fuck. What? I’m dying? Me? Terminal illness??

…Such. Such…. Where did this fucking bullshit come from like some kind of horrendous sea anemone skeleton?! AAAAAAARGH! It was like a nuclear-level rage, like magma erupting from a volcano with a BOOM.

I called for Jung Ion.

“Jung Ion.”

“Yes?”

“Am I dying?”

“…Yes.”

Fuck. How do you know better about my own death that even I don’t know about? Are you fucking God? Seeing Jung Ion answering with such a painful expression like he’d committed a sin, I was dumbfounded.

“You probably tried to hide it, but you couldn’t deceive us forever. We started noticing your changes little by little, and eventually found out you were diagnosed with a terminal illness. And before you arrived, we announced that fact to the Devil gang. I’m sorry for acting on my own. …But.”

But?

“Because we couldn’t pretend not to know about your pain. Hic… Because we’ve decided to protect you now…”

Don’t tear up, you stupid idiot!!

Wahahahaha… Woah… This is insane….

It felt like all the puzzle pieces finally fit together.

That unsettling memory of everyone looking at me with bitter, pitiful gazes and smiling since the rooftop executive meeting until now. Those inexplicable words on the phone at the hospital about things I’d supposedly desperately hidden and things that couldn’t be kept secret anymore. And Jung Ion’s random comment about protecting me when he hugged me after I arrived here. Finally, the mass hysteria that broke out when they saw the blood flowing backwards in my IV drip.

…So all of this happened because they mistakenly thought I had a terminal illness…?

My completely frozen expression said it all. How could anyone possibly think I’m dying? My vision became distant. Where… where do I even begin to address this?

Ha. Gu Haejin. Stay calm. Even in a tiger’s den, if you keep your wits about you…! Ugh. I mean, what is all this!

“I’m sorry, but that’s a misunderstanding.”

“What?”

“I’m not dying.”

“Don’t lie…”

Park Hanseo sniffled. Geez, and at other times he’s asked me to lie!

“We all know. We’re not saying this without evidence…”

“Huh?”

“When the Choigang Apex attacked last time, you suddenly collapsed, right? After that, you kept going to the health room and avoided talking to us. Then on the day of the executive meeting! Amin found a medicine packet in the Apex’s uniform pocket at the health room.”

“Hey, that was…”

“So! I apologize, but we secretly searched your desk and bag… and there… there were more than a whole row of those medicine packets. Not only that! A medicine bottle… A white medicine bottle full of yellow pills. We found out they were narcotic painkillers. Isn’t the answer obvious just from this? Those pills are…”

He clenched both fists and cried out in a highly agitated voice.

“They’re what people with cancer take to suppress the pain!!”

No! That’s not it!

A cold, heavy silence settled around us after that shout. I had to hold my forehead with my hand.

Insane….

I never thought all those incidents would pile up and lead to such a ridiculous misunderstanding. Is this my fault? But it feels unfair? I mean, who would normally think people would misunderstand like this…? I’m being wronged! No matter how I look at it, this is unfair! Even if there was a misunderstanding, couldn’t they just ask the person involved first? They thought about it themselves, drew their own conclusions, and now what am I supposed to do? Waaah… if anyone should be crying, it should be me.

So does that mean even my three days with the flu…?

“We Devil members never thought the Apex would lose to Kim Pyeonghwa. But your body must have weakened further from getting caught in the rain and fighting Kim Pyeonghwa. Of course, since you were hiding your illness, we now understand why you couldn’t contact us.”

Damn. I knew they’d think that.

At Shin Amin’s additional comment, I genuinely felt like I might actually get sick with a non-existent disease. Please, I’m begging you, don’t interpret things on your own. Okay?

“That’s not it! I’ll say it again, this is really a misunderstanding! It’s all a misconception! I don’t have a terminal illness.”

“Haejin. You don’t have to say that, I understand how you feel. It’s okay. Leave it to us now.”

No. You don’t seem to understand my feelings at all. Jung Ion, you’re going to fail Korean language class!

“Those medicine packets were for my indigestion, and the bottle, though it’s called a painkiller, is just a vitamin supplement, and I disappeared for three days because—I couldn’t explain—it was just because of the flu!”

“Yes. We know you’re trying to reassure us. You pretend otherwise, but the Apex is kind…”

“So please don’t worry.”

That’s not it! I’m telling you it’s not! I’m fucking fine!! I’m so fucking healthy there’s no one healthier! I’m not! weak! Stop making those unnecessarily sympathetic and pitiful expressions! Aaargh! I’m going to explode.

“Please believe me. Okay? Believe me…”

I’m exhausted now.

Haah… just believe me, you stubborn brats…. Are your ears blocked? Or are you all some kind of wall? I’m the Apex, what kind of insubordination is this? But for the trio, those words seemed to serve as a catalyst igniting their determination to protect me.

“Everyone, listen up!”

Don’t. Jung Ion… please don’t talk shit.

YEEEES!!

Damn it all, 2,000 Devil gang members responding in unison.

“From now on, for Apex Gu Haejin!”

For Apex Gu Haejin!!

Don’t do this, you bastards! Don’t!!

“We Devil gang members will stake our lives!”

THUD-!!

Ah… This feels like… déjà vu….

In front of me, standing alone in the middle of the field, more than 2,000 members of the second-ranked Devil gang…

We stake our lives!!