15
Gu Wanjae said he had never caught a cold in his life. When asked if that was possible, if that was even human, he had once retorted, “If you’re born with a dick, isn’t that natural?” Then he asked, “Don’t tell me you’ve caught something like a cold,” asking that even though he knew everything. Taein had stayed quiet for a moment then said, “No, I haven’t either.” Of course, it was a lie.
Just looking at how sick he was right now, wouldn’t you know?
“Ugh…”
Even last year, the symptoms weren’t this severe. Day by day, it seemed to be getting worse. The sleepiness had lessened considerably, but the pain felt throughout his body was severe. He used to only occasionally feel stomach pain, but lately his stomach ached every day. It was the same whether he ate something or didn’t eat anything.
Today, even his headache had gotten severe, so he couldn’t leave the bed at all. He had no idea how many hours he’d been groaning. After staying like this continuously, something felt like it was rising up from his stomach, making him nauseous. Taein, who had been enduring the symptoms with his face buried deep in the blanket, groped for the nightstand with his hand as if he couldn’t take it anymore. What he took out from the small attached drawer was medicine.
He had already taken three painkillers, but there was no solution for the pain that had returned.
Taein swallowed the painkiller without water. A rough burning sensation remained in his throat, but compared to his body pain, it was nothing.
Taein just lay there and covered himself with the blanket.
Let’s sleep for even 10 minutes. At times like this, it was better to sleep. Since earlier, at best he’d only been falling into short naps. Please, at least sleep while the medicine spreads.
Taein, who had forced his eyes closed, only frowned for over 5 minutes. Then, perhaps falling asleep from the medicine’s effect, his face relaxed softly and became comfortable. The veins that had occasionally stood out on his neck had also smoothly subsided as if nothing had happened.
It was a comfortable and deep sleep after a long time.
Taein, who hadn’t slept deeply the day before or the day before that either, was deeply immersed in sleep without even dreaming.
Then he dreamed several hours later. He heard a sound from somewhere, and it was a dream where he was in the room.
Here it is, shibal!
When he opened his eyes to the sound heard from afar, a reality similar to his dream was blocking his view.
“What…?”
“Hey! Kang Taein!”
It was Gu Wanjae who had appeared leading people like a shepherd boy. Taein’s eyes reached the people standing behind Gu Wanjae. It wasn’t like he’d been struck by lightning while sleeping, so what was this about? Without time to think, he saw one of them approaching.
“Student, are you okay?”
“Yes…?”
Taein answered hazily and looked at what the people were wearing. Though he could see dimly because he was half-asleep, they were all wearing the same clothes, and he could guess where they came from. The people wearing orange clothes as a group were paramedics. The details were different, but he could distinguish that much.
When Taein looked around with a confused face, the paramedic who had approached asked, “Can you see me?”
“Yes… I can see you…?”
“Then can you walk?”
“Yes…?”
“You tell them! Properly!”
He could see Gu Wanjae loudly encouraging from the side. Gu Wanjae looked like he was about to cry. How to deal with that crazy bastard. Such a thought flashed by, but since he had no memory of Gu Wanjae waking him up, he didn’t know what had happened. Surely he hadn’t been that out of it. There’s no way he wouldn’t have woken up even when Gu Wanjae shook him awake.
“No matter how much I shook and tried to wake him, he wouldn’t wake up.”
Gu Wanjae spoke as if something unfair and sad had happened. His emotions were showing plainly on his face.
The paramedic glanced at Gu Wanjae briefly then turned his gaze back to Taein.
“Student, did you take medicine?”
“Ah… yes.”
“What, this?”
Because he had taken medicine hurriedly, the packaging was left thrown around. Gu Wanjae asked “What medicine?” by himself, but no one answered that question. The situation seemed to be getting more urgent because of Gu Wanjae.
“Student, since when have you been taking medicine? This is hospital medicine?”
“Ah… hospital…”
Even the consciousness he had barely been maintaining felt like it was scattering at those words. The paramedic asked Taein a few more questions then got up from his seat.
“I think it would be good to go.”
“Shit, I knew this would happen.”
Even though it wasn’t said toward him, Gu Wanjae reacted faithfully. Even when the paramedic carrying a stretcher from behind walked forward.
“Why are you being carried away for something like this?”
“No… I also… it’s not this serious… Hey… did you do it? Call them…?”
When he spoke while lying diagonally on the stretcher, Gu Wanjae said “Yeah, shibal” with a completely crumbling face. It seemed like Gu Wanjae’s weight would be transmitted to the paramedic silently carrying the stretcher beside him. Because he was gripping the edge of the stretcher with his hands. It wasn’t the concept of helping, but seemed like he was unconsciously putting strength into it.
“Shibal… I even slapped your cheek.”
Gu Wanjae’s words continued until he was loaded into the shining ambulance in front of the first floor officetel.
Taein had been blankly looking upward but frowned at the mention of being slapped on the cheek.
“You slapped my cheek…?”
“Yeah, shibal. But you still wouldn’t wake up, so I…”
Gu Wanjae, explaining the whole story as he entered the ambulance, sat right next to Taein in the guardian’s seat. Since this was Taein’s first time experiencing something like this, it felt like he was constantly dreaming. His consciousness hadn’t fully returned, so it didn’t feel real.
“Doctor, why is this guy acting like this?”
After talking about his situation for a while, perhaps wanting to know the reason belatedly, Gu Wanjae suddenly asked the paramedic who was taking blood pressure beside him.
“Ah, we can’t know right now. It doesn’t… seem like a big deal.”
“If it’s not a big deal, why didn’t he wake up even when I slapped his cheek hard?”
“I’m thinking it might be a side effect of medicine, so for now… yes.”
“Yeah, what do you mean by this?”
Looking at Gu Wanjae who was talking a lot above, Taein quietly murmured, “What is.”
“What do you mean by medicine?”
“Medicine… what do you mean what… it’s medicine.”
“Guardian, we’re… almost at the hospital now. Please wait until he finds stability.”
Watching Taein speak drowsily, the paramedic restrained Gu Wanjae. The patient’s condition wasn’t at an urgent level, so they usually wouldn’t say such things to guardians, but Gu Wanjae kept talking to the dazed Taein. He seemed okay now, but if this continued, his condition might worsen. Gu Wanjae stepped back with a “Tsk” and looked out the window. He seemed to be checking how close the hospital had gotten.
Soon the ambulance stopped, and Taein’s stretcher was brought out of the car. Being transferred to a bed was also quick.
“No… in all my life… the emergency room, me…”
Even while muttering like an idiot, people were busily coming and going. Taein met the doctors with Gu Wanjae standing beside him. More precisely, it seemed to be doctors and nurses. Usually it wasn’t like this, but the emergency room seemed quieter than usual, so he could receive examinations right away.
“Where and how did you say you felt unwell?”
“Ah… my head…”
“Your head hurt?”
“Yes…”
“Is it difficult to speak right now?”
“Uh… no…”
“Student, do you have any chronic illness? Any medicine you take?”
“There is hospital medicine I take…”
“What kind of medicine?”
“For headaches and indigestion… Since it’s hospital medicine, I don’t know well either…”
“Do you have that medicine now?”
“…No.”
“Uh, just in case, let’s do basic tests. Later, please consent to information access in writing.”
“Ah, yes…”
The doctor who seemed to be checking something said something to a nurse and left. In the spot next to where the medical staff had left, Gu Wanjae was looking at him with an angry face. Earlier he had looked urgent, then sad, and now he was angry. Thinking that, Taein called out “Hey” to Gu Wanjae.
“Hey, Gu Wanjae.”
“Shibal, what medicine are you taking? I’ve been asking since earlier.”
“No, the medicine… it’s not like that… it’s like painkillers.”
“Why are you taking painkillers?”
“Because it hurts, I take them… Don’t you know too? That my physical condition hasn’t been good lately…”
“Why are you getting painkillers from the hospital?”
“No, when I told them my symptoms… they gave me medicine like that.”
“Ah, this is frustrating. Shit.”
Though not as excited as earlier, his face was gradually flushing. In front of Gu Wanjae, who said he’d never caught a cold in his life, it was difficult for Taein to express his simple stomach aches and headaches. What could he say to someone who didn’t understand the use of painkillers?
Just then, a nurse approached and said, “Kang Taein-ssi, we’ll just do basic tests.”
Taein nodded while lifting his heavy body.
“I’ll go get tested first.”
Leaving Gu Wanjae frozen like a statue, Taein had his blood drawn and sugar tested in the examination room. X-ray imaging had to be done upstairs, so he briefly left and returned to the emergency room.
“……”
When he finished all the tests and passed through the large emergency room door, what Taein saw was Gu Wanjae’s back. There was no change in his movement, as if he had been standing like that continuously since the moment he left.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
