Gentle Giant Chapter 76
[Mother]
Juho’s face crumpled as he looked at the words displayed on his phone screen. The vibration that had continued for a long time and briefly stopped started again without giving him a moment to breathe.
With his long legs, he crossed two or three steps at once, and only after hiding his body in the gap between buildings did he answer the phone.
“Yes.”
-You never seem to learn how to answer the phone quickly. Today it seems like you called during daytime in Korean time?
A voice that seemed drowsy with fatigue flowed from the other end of the phone. However, Juho didn’t particularly care about his mother’s fatigue and kicked the ground with his toes, responding half-heartedly.
He could roughly guess the reason why someone who was busy all day had personally called at a matching time, even without listening.
“What is it?”
-I got a call from Managing Director Kim earlier. He said you asked him to look into clinics?
“Yes.”
As expected. Juho let out a snort of hollow laughter.
This was someone who never said a word to headquarters even when asking for more troublesome favors than now, but as soon as he sought some advice about clinics, she immediately reported it to headquarters.
Probably headquarters wasn’t interested in anything else about Juho either. Since it was related to secondary sexual characteristics and hormones, they must have moved quickly.
-So, how about coming back for about a week next week or so to get examined and then leave?
“What are you talking about? I have things to do here.”
-It’s not like I’m telling you to come back permanently, it would just be for a moment. There’s nowhere in Korea that can properly care for your situation.
“There’s nothing particularly problematic. It’s not to the extent that I need care.”
-Not needing care, my foot. Don’t I know you? If there were no problems at all, you wouldn’t be talking about your situation to other people.
The more rigid his mother’s voice became, the more rigid Juho’s voice became as well. The arguments they were each making were also continuously going in circles.
At this point, even without seeing each other’s faces directly, it was sufficiently unpleasant.
“Anyway, there’s a promise Mother made before I came to Korea, so just leave it alone.”
-No, what did I promise and how much…!
“If you’re done talking, I’m hanging up now.”
-Alright, alright. Let’s stop. Anyway, I sent Managing Director Kim a list of doctors I know, so you’ll be contacted soon.
“Yes.”
-Your second older brother will also be going to Korea soon, so help your brother out then.
With that last hastily added remark, Juho pressed the end button without saying goodbye.
Now that the Asian branch’s business had gotten on somewhat stable track, she was clearly becoming greedier. He had no intention of stopping the person who was coming, but it was obvious they would come and be bothersome, making his head throb.
Juho, who had been thinking about his second older brother’s face, let out a short sigh. Then, realizing that quite some time had passed, he quickly walked out from between the buildings.
“…?”
Juho, who had been looking around with a face full of regret, changed to an expression filled with puzzlement and looked around again.
By this time, Dain should have definitely arrived first and been waiting.
Because Dain was nowhere to be seen no matter how many times he looked, Juho thought about going back up and turned his steps toward the humanities building.
As he entered the humanities building, he noticed many students gathered in a circle between the lobby and the stairs.
Most of them were muttering things like “What should we do!”, “Is he badly hurt?”, “Damn, that must hurt like hell”, but no one was readily moving.
Through the commotion, Juho also realized something had happened over there, but he didn’t want to concern himself with something unrelated to Dain. He only thought that it would be difficult to go upstairs because people were crowded on the stairs.
It definitely would have ended with the thought that it was bothersome. If only he hadn’t seen a familiar back of a head among the people.
Juho approached closer among the people with a bad premonition flashing through his mind.
The moment he saw Dain sitting collapsed at the end of the stairs, his heart dropped with a thud.
“Hyung!!!”
Dain turned his head toward where he heard someone calling him.
He had been sitting collapsed for several minutes because he wanted to get up but couldn’t muster any strength. Only when his name was called loudly did Dain realize that Juho had come back looking for him when he didn’t show up.
“Oh, Juho…”
“What happened!”
Juho pushed through the gathered people and rushed to Dain in one breath. A face so pale that you couldn’t tell its original color was looking up at him.
Dain’s condition looked quite serious at first glance. Feeling his heart drop with another thud, Juho knelt down on one knee beside Dain.
“Are you okay? Can you stand up?”
At Juho’s voice full of worry, Dain barely managed to nod. It was meant to indicate he was okay, but as soon as his dazed mind returned, he felt a stabbing pain near his wrist.
Earlier, he hadn’t even had time to think about what to do. After hastily catching Youngju who was falling down the stairs, he rolled instead of her.
Though they were only three low steps, the combined weight of two people had crashed down on Dain. Because of that, considerable impact was applied to the wrist that hit the floor and his bent fingers.
Hearing the ‘crack’ sound from his fingers, Dain only thought ‘This is bad!’
It had happened in an instant. Before he had time to feel pain, when he looked around, he was sitting collapsed at the end of the stairs, and the female student was hurriedly getting down from on top of him.
Fortunately, the female student seemed to have gotten up fine without any injuries. Dain was relieved by that fact first.
The female student said something to Dain after seeing him, but because he was dazed from the severe fall, he couldn’t hear properly. Then he had barely come to his senses after seeing Juho.
“A-are you badly hurt? What should I do…!”
Juho, who had been supporting Dain by putting his hands under his armpits, raised his gaze to the woman’s voice coming from above. At the end of his gaze was a woman full of troubled expression, covering her mouth with her hand and fidgeting restlessly.
Juho instinctively realized that this woman was the culprit. Naturally, there was no value in responding nicely to her.
“What?”
“Um, well. So…”
At Juho’s voice that spoke like a growl, Youngju stepped back again. It had been scary when he passed by briefly earlier too, but seeing his fierce expression right in front of her made her knees weak.
Moreover, even though it wasn’t intentional, Dain, who was her boyfriend, got hurt because of her. Forget about casting or whatever, she’d be lucky if she didn’t get hit.
“I’m Lee Youngju from the broadcasting club…”
“Excuse me! It’s okay! I’m fine, so p-please go ahead first!”
When Youngju was trying to continue her stuttering explanation, Dain quickly interrupted her words.
Dain repeatedly said he was okay while sending signals with his eyes to get out of this situation.
Seeing Dain’s gesture, Youngju soon closed her mouth. However, her conscience was pricking her to leave the scene with an injured person in front of her because of herself.
Watching the silent exchange between the two, Juho looked at the woman’s face.
Hearing the name she had just mentioned in passing, he recalled the name written on a business card he had seen a few days ago.
‘Lee Youngju’.
She was definitely the owner of the business card Dain had.
Why is this woman here again? White flames blazed in Juho’s eyes.
“…!!”
Youngju was about to suggest going to the hospital together but hastily swallowed her breath. Juho’s gaze looking at her was fierce beyond measure, flashing with anger.
Dain also took in a sharp, dry breath at Juho’s murderous aura that he could feel intensely from beside him.
He had been practically glued to him every day until now, but this was the first time seeing him openly angry like this.
“Ahem, hic! *gasp* Hic!”
The painful wrist and fingers, the pouring gazes of people, Lee Youngju standing there obliviously, Juho’s anger that he could feel intensely. Everything combined was pressuring Dain.
Facing such an awkward situation for the first time in his life, eventually large hiccups began pouring out of Dain’s mouth.
Hic, hic.
Every time his shoulders jerked from the hiccups, the reaction was transmitted to his hands, intensifying the pain.
At the sound Dain was making, Juho’s gaze that had been glaring at Youngju turned to Dain. As if he had never been angry, he instantly embraced Dain’s shoulders while filled with worry. Seeing Dain frowning while hiccupping, he frowned as if he was in pain too.
“Hyung, let’s go to the hospital first. It hurts a lot, doesn’t it? Lean on my shoulder. Okay?”
“Hic! Mm-hmm.”
“Hyung, do you know a hospital nearby? Orthopedics? Or should I go get the car?”
“There’s an orthopedics clinic near the main gate. Hic!”
Dain answered quietly while leaning his head against Juho’s shoulder. As time passed, his hands felt like they were burning hot.
“Um, if I could also come along…”
Youngju blocked the path of the two people who were trying to move. In her own way, it was meant to take responsibility for this incident, but neither Dain nor Juho was willing to hear those words kindly.
Eventually, a sigh flowed from Dain’s mouth.
“I’ve told you several times that I’m okay. You can go ahead. Really.”
“Still…”
“Let’s stop here and just go. If there’s something to talk about, I’ll come find you later.”
“Ah. Oh, I understand… Yes.”
While Youngju had refused Dain’s words several times, she couldn’t bring herself to say no to Juho’s low, pressed voice.
Pushed back by the momentum, Youngju looked at Dain’s hands, who had fallen severely instead of her. The wrist and fingers that were already turning black and blue with bruises hurt just to look at.
The gathered people dispersed, and until the two people left the humanities building, Youngju couldn’t move from that spot. The look in Juho’s eyes when he had glared back at her at the end was burned into her mind, and the goosebumps that had risen all over her body wouldn’t subside.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
