* * *
“…Hyung, Junghyun.”
While he had dozed off, he felt someone shaking his shoulder.
Finding the touch annoying, he turned to his side, but then heard whispering voices around him.
“Just leave him be. He seems tired.”
“But…”
“You still can’t wake up in the morning, Junghyun hyung. Your alarm was so loud it reached our house, but you still couldn’t get up, so hyung and I had to go to your place every day to wake you up. You even ended up living at our place for a while.”
When Junghyun suddenly opened his eyes at the familiar voice talking about him, Minjun, who was on the bed next to him, shouted with excitement.
“Wow, amazing! It’s a new record! Junghyun hyung woke up in just 10 minutes!”
As Minjun was making a fuss with his phone, saying that the previous best record was 17 minutes and that this was the first time in 10 years to break that record, Seojun, who was standing beside him, gently spoke to Junghyun.
“Can you get up? I think you should be heading back soon.”
“…Heading back?”
Junghyun blinked blankly at the familiar morning scene he used to see often until his college days.
He didn’t quite understand where he was or where he was supposed to go back to. While staring at the white ceiling, last night’s memories quickly flashed through his mind.
He had definitely returned to the hospital room, unfolded the portable bed because he was tired, and then fallen asleep.
Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had already risen.
Feeling embarrassed, he abruptly sat up from the portable bed, which made Minjun laugh heartily.
“You still sleep well anywhere, hyung. I’m really envious of that.”
Minjun, wearing a neck brace, sat there giggling, saying how glad he was that Junghyun hadn’t changed at all. Junghyun, fixing his disheveled hair, responded gruffly as always to that laugh that made him feel good when he heard it.
“I’ve always been a person of persistence.”
As he roughly combed his messy hair with his hand and checked the time, it was already almost 8 o’clock.
Since Seojun was here too, there was no reason to linger anymore.
After quickly fixing his hair, Junghyun got up from the portable bed in a hurry and asked Jiwon:
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Honestly, not really. Actually, I feel more pain after waking up. Even with the painkillers.”
“That’s muscle pain. Do you have a headache? Or nausea?”
“No, those are fine.”
“That’s a relief. What about you, Minjun?”
“Ah, I have muscle pain too. But otherwise, I’m fine.”
“Yeah, you look okay. But don’t be restless and stay still. And you, Choi Seojun, we need to talk.”
With seemingly a lot to say, Junghyun beckoned to Seojun with his finger and left the room, telling the patients that he would be back after giving “this bastard” a lesson.
Although he was smiling, Seojun seemed aware he had done something wrong, as he immediately followed Junghyun’s intimidating demeanor.
Even though it was still early, the hospital room was already bustling with preparations for rounds.
After passing through the somewhat noisy corridor and leaving the ward, Junghyun kicked Seojun’s behind ruthlessly as soon as they exited through the automatic door.
“Why weren’t you answering your phone?”
Despite the rather violent action, Seojun didn’t seem surprised at all, as if he was used to it.
“Sorry. I left my phone in the car. I was so tired yesterday that I fell asleep as soon as I got home, so I didn’t even realize I didn’t have my phone.”
At the excuse that he’d been busy lately, Junghyun stopped pressing further.
Honestly, he was still unsatisfied, but he was in no position to criticize since he himself often turned off his phone.
“Keep your phone with you. How can a lawyer not have his phone? But seeing that you came in the morning, I guess Jeonghoo delivered the message properly.”
Seojun’s expression subtly hardened at the sudden mention of that name.
“…Jeonghoo hyung?”
In response to Seojun’s question about what that meant, Junghyun tilted his head in confusion.
“Didn’t Jeonghoo tell you?”
“No.”
“Weren’t you with him yesterday?”
“I was at my officetel.”
“…Officetel?”
“I moved out two months ago. It was taking too long to commute.”
Come to think of it, at that distance, it would take over an hour just to get to work. Moving out was better.
“Good for you. Now that you’re here, I’ll be going. Ah, Auntie’s right leg and arm are broken quite badly, so she needs to see an orthopedic specialist today to decide whether to have surgery or just a cast. And keep checking her condition just in case. If you can’t stay, call for a caregiver.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Then I’m off. At this hour, I should go straight to work from here.”
“Without stopping by home?”
Immediately after Junghyun’s casual remark, Seojun’s question followed. He realized his slip-up.
He couldn’t even make the excuse of being late for work, not to this guy.
Because he knew too well that their company had flexible working hours and that Junghyun never adhered to the official working hours anyway.
So as he hesitated to answer, avoiding the question, Seojun asked again:
“Did you tell Cha Jaehyuk about this?”
“…I’ve contacted him.”
“No, I mean, did you explain properly?”
“I don’t think there’s a need to explain that much.”
“Go and explain properly. He’ll be upset if he finds out later.”
“I’ll handle it. Let’s go back in.”
Wanting to avoid this topic at all costs, Junghyun hastily wrapped up the conversation and headed back to the hospital room. As he was just putting on his coat to leave after arriving at the busy corridor, a nurse entered the room.
“The attending doctor will be doing rounds at 8:40. And you’ll be moving to a different room at 9 o’clock today, so please let me know if you need more time.”
At this unexpected news, all four people in the room looked at each other simultaneously.
Their gazes seemed to ask, “Did you request a room change?”
But everyone looked like they were hearing this for the first time.
“We didn’t request a room change,” Junghyun, who had been there since last night, asked the nurse, who checked her documents and then tilted her head in confusion.
“I was informed that you should move to the VIP ward.”
“The VIP ward?”
As Junghyun expressed his disbelief, wondering why not just a private room but the VIP ward, she also looked perplexed.
“Those were the instructions that came down. Directly from Administration.”
“From Administration?”
“Yes. To move to the VIP ward.”
“I never requested that… Seojun, did you do this?”
He asked just in case, but Seojun immediately shook his head.
“No. I just got here…”
As if to say he hadn’t had time for that, Junghyun turned to Jiwon and Minjun again.
The two of them had been sleeping restlessly at dawn, so they couldn’t have requested such a thing.
Finding the situation strange, he looked back at the nurse standing in front of him, who immediately took a step back.
“There might have been an error in the communication process. I’ll double-check.”
“Yes, please do that.”
As he watched her quietly leave the room, something bothered him.
She said the call came from Administration, but Administration wouldn’t even have started work at this hour.
For Administration to order a room change at this time meant that someone had made the request overnight.
But it wasn’t from their side.
The nurse had also said that instructions had come down. Not a request.
Suddenly, he had a thought.
What if…
“It is confirmed that patients Lee Jiwon and Choi Minjun are to be moved to the VIP ward. I was told there was a separate request.”
His heart sank at the nurse’s explanation, who had returned to the room.
Still, until the end, he asked with disbelief.
“…By whom?”
“Director Cha Jaehyuk from Hanju Corporation requested the move.”
When the name he had somewhat expected came up, Junghyun closed his eyes tightly and then opened them, thinking “as expected.”
He had already found out this much by now.
No, it would be more strange if that person hadn’t found out.
Given the clue about a traffic accident, someone like him could easily find out everything from the victims’ identities to the hospital they were admitted to with just one phone call.
So this was a signal he was sending to Junghyun.
That he already knew everything.
And that there was nowhere left to run.
“…Junghyun?”
To Seojun’s questioning look that seemed to ask if this was okay, Junghyun pretended not to notice and turned away.
“If they say move to the VIP ward, then move. It’s his kindness.”
Trying to appear as if everything was normal, as if it was Jaehyuk showing kindness to people who had helped his partner, Seojun looked troubled.
“But…”
“Accept kindness as kindness. Well, I should get going. Auntie, I’m leaving now. Take care. Minjun, don’t wander around too much.”
“Okay. Go ahead.”
After saying his final goodbyes to his auntie, Junghyun hurriedly put on his coat and left the room, walking quickly toward the elevator.
If he was sending signals to this extent, there was no more avoiding him.
He had wanted to avoid facing him one-on-one until his thoughts were completely sorted out, but that was no longer possible.
Just as he was about to head home after getting off at the first floor, there was a familiar car parked in front of the main entrance.
The sight of the familiar vehicle in front of the hospital’s main entrance, which wasn’t very busy at this early hour, sent a chill down his spine.
As he stood there in a daze, looking at the car with an eerie feeling, the passenger window rolled down, and Jaehyuk, who was in the driver’s seat, spoke.
“Get in.”
Junghyun didn’t ask how he had come here.
That would be a waste of time.
So he silently opened the passenger door and got into the car.
He could already see the end of this game approaching.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
