Chapter 198
Hyeon-woo stared persistently at that figure without even blinking. The figure that had been approaching little by little finally revealed itself through the flames. At the moment Tae-geon, tightly wrapping Jerome in his arms with his wet robe, escaped from the flames.
BOOM!!
As if it had been waiting, the cabin completely collapsed with a thunderous sound. Red sparks and ashes spewed out in all directions, emitting a fierce heat.
“…Je… rome, Jerome…!!”
“Ah!”
Hyeon-woo, who had broken free from Scott in a moment of carelessness, ran desperately towards Tae-geon. At the same time, Tae-geon, seemingly at his limit, collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
“Jerome! Jerome, Jerome…!!”
Hyeon-woo’s voice, calling out Jerome’s name anxiously with screams mixed with tears, penetrated Tae-geon’s gradually fading consciousness. Tae-geon stared blankly at Hyeon-woo with blurring vision.
Jerome, Jerome, Jerome, Jerome….
Hyeon-woo’s unfocused eyes, endlessly repeating Jerome’s name, seemed to be looking at something beyond time and space.
Tae-geon alone could clearly understand where that desperate cry was directed – the one that had transmitted a great resonance with movements as insignificant as the flapping of wings, the one he couldn’t even call out to because he hadn’t been able to give it a name, the one that had vanished without a trace like ashes in the flames. The cry that would always scatter like fragments in the air, unable to reach no matter how much it was called out.
“Jerome, Jerome…!”
Hyeon-woo’s face was covered in tears as he pulled Jerome out from the wet robe and checked for any injuries. Tae-geon reached out his hand towards Hyeon-woo’s wet face as he checked Jerome’s condition down to his toes.
Startled, Hyeon-woo shifted his gaze from Jerome to look at Tae-geon.
Tae-geon’s hand, caressing Hyeon-woo’s wet cheek, was trembling. Only then did Tae-geon’s condition become apparent.
“……!”
For a moment, Hyeon-woo’s breath stopped at Tae-geon’s miserable appearance. The arm Tae-geon had stretched out towards him was red and raw in several places, with skin peeled off. Tae-geon’s eyes, barely focused on him while gasping for breath, were half-glazed over.
Tae-geon carefully caressed Hyeon-woo’s wet cheek with his trembling hand. Hyeon-woo couldn’t even breathe under Tae-geon’s gaze.
Tae-geon was looking at him with eyes he had never seen before. Intense regret, hurt, pain, and suffering seemed to spread through his gaze, piercing Hyeon-woo’s heart. Unknowingly clutching his chest, Hyeon-woo gasped painfully.
Tae-geon’s lips moved as if he wanted to say something. However, only a harsh wheezing sound escaped his throat instead of words. Hyeon-woo put his ear close to Tae-geon’s mouth, but it was the same.
“Hm…? What… are you saying…?”
Hyeon-woo urged Tae-geon, unable to hide his anxiety.
“…Can’t… hear, hm…?”
He wanted to understand what Tae-geon was saying, but he couldn’t hear anything. As Hyeon-woo asked again, whimpering, Tae-geon exerted all his strength to mouth each syllable silently, exaggerating his lip movements.
Then, with a thud, Tae-geon’s hand fell to the ground after wiping away Hyeon-woo’s tears as it swept across his wet cheek.
“Huk!”
Suddenly taking a deep breath, Hyeon-woo began to shake the unconscious Tae-geon.
“…Tae-geon…! Choi, Tae-geon…!!”
A strong gust of wind rose around Hyeon-woo as he clung to Tae-geon, repeatedly calling out his name like a scream. The loud sound of a fire helicopter’s propellers grew closer. The hurried footsteps and shouting voices of several people could be heard chaotically around them, but as if submerged in deep water, Hyeon-woo’s mind became hazy and his senses dulled. Soon, he couldn’t hear anything at all.
Through his blurred vision, only Tae-geon’s lips appeared clearly.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t cry.’
Tae-geon’s lips, barely managing to say those words to him, gradually slowed down like slow motion, and soon disappeared completely into the pitch-black darkness.
*
Drip, drip. Hyeon-woo opened his eyes to the sound of IV drops falling. Looking around blankly with blurry vision, he suddenly sat up.
Jerome…!
Sensing Hyeon-woo’s movement, Okhee, who had been dozing off at the edge of the bed, rubbed her eyes and asked in a sleepy voice.
“Ian, are you feeling better?”
“Jerome?! Where’s Jerome?!”
“He’s in the next room. They say he’s fine except for a mild concussion. They said he can be discharged as soon as he wakes up, so don’t worry too much.”
As Hyeon-woo sighed deeply in relief at those words, Okhee’s voice continued.
“But I’m more worried about the young master…”
“…The young master, why?”
Hyeon-woo’s face, which had relaxed, immediately tensed up again.
Although his right arm had been burned, it seemed like he hadn’t been seriously injured elsewhere. He had even recognized Hyeon-woo with a clear consciousness, albeit briefly. Tae-geon had conveyed his thoughts, caressing Hyeon-woo’s wet cheek, saying he was sorry and not to cry.
But why… why Tae-geon…?
Seeing Ian’s face turning pale, Okhee’s lips trembled. After hesitating, she carefully began to speak.
“…At the time of rescue, they say his blood oxygen saturation was very low due to toxic gas…”
“……”
“So they say we need to consider the possibility of brain damage…”
Brain damage…?
“That’s impossible!”
Hyeon-woo firmly denied it with a confident voice.
“That’s impossible. He definitely recognized me. Brain damage, there’s no way…”
This was Tae-geon, who had safely rescued Jerome from that fiery pit and brought him to Hyeon-woo. Tae-geon, who had recognized him, wiped his tears, and even told him not to cry. How could such a Tae-geon have brain damage?
Okhee tried to calm Hyeon-woo, who kept repeating that it was impossible.
“Of course, we won’t know for sure until he wakes up, so for now, we should hope for his consciousness to return safely.”
Forcibly suppressing his unsettled heart, Hyeon-woo spoke with difficulty.
“…What happens if there’s brain damage?”
“In the worst case, he might never wake up, or even if he does wake up, he might experience memory loss…”
“…What… did you say?”
“……”
“…Never wake up…?”
Hyeon-woo muttered with a dumbfounded expression, as if he had heard something absurd.
“…That’s… impossible.”
It’s impossible, it’s impossible. Who decides…!
Who decides he can’t wake up?! Is it enough to just say sorry and not to cry?! Is it that easy, you get to be comfortable alone, you end it alone?! You think you can just leave me behind and fall into eternal sleep?!
Hyeon-woo pulled out the IV needle stuck in his arm.
Psht-!
Blood spurted from where the sharp needle had torn through the skin. Okhee screamed and jumped up from her seat.
“Ian?! What are you doing!”
Ignoring Okhee’s shouts, Hyeon-woo got off the bed and staggered into the hallway. Checking the nameplates of the lined-up hospital rooms one by one, Hyeon-woo’s eyes finally caught sight of the name [Choi Tae-geon]. He roughly opened the door and entered.
The butler and Kwon Hak-gyu, who were in the room, were startled and stood up to check the intruder. Hyeon-woo, with his pale face and disheveled hair, looked like a ghost. He immediately approached Tae-geon’s bed and shook him with a highly agitated voice.
“Wake up…! Wake up!!”
Sensing that Hyeon-woo’s state, gasping and unable to calm down, was not normal, Hak-gyu quickly approached to stop him. Despite Hak-gyu’s restraint, Hyeon-woo couldn’t calm down.
“Who decides? Who decides you can’t wake up? Leaving me alone again, just me alone, leaving me stranded here…!!”
His voice, blocked by gasping breaths, came out disjointed and messy. Finally understanding the cause of this commotion, Hak-gyu tried to soothe Hyeon-woo in a calm voice.
“We don’t know what will happen at this stage. It’s just a possibility, so please calm down.”
“A possibility? What kind of possibility…?”
Hyeon-woo asked, looking at Hak-gyu. His hand, gripping Hak-gyu’s collar, was trembling.
“The possibility that Choi Tae-geon might never wake up, leaving me behind? How… how can Tae-geon not wake up, leaving me behind? How can there be such a possibility…? Huh?”
Hyeon-woo’s eyes were heartbreaking. Hak-gyu, at a loss for words with a breaking heart, looked at Hyeon-woo with a sorrowful face.
“…Just try it, I won’t let you off easy.”
Hyeon-woo shouted at Tae-geon as if cursing.
“I really won’t let you off easy! Wake up! Wake up right now…!!”
But no matter how much he shouted, Tae-geon remained unresponsive.
*
The police who had visited to investigate the accident scene finally left late at night. The chaotic hospital room was now quiet.
Jerome, who had regained consciousness early, received a final diagnosis that he was fine except for a mild concussion, just as Okhee had said.
“Dad.”
“……”
“Dad…!”
Jerome shook Hyeon-woo, who was sitting blankly in a daze. Finally coming to his senses, Hyeon-woo looked at Jerome lying on the hospital bed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
