Chapter 87
“What? Ryu Jeong-ha?”
Even after calling out his name, I couldn’t believe it.
Why is he here?
In this grimy, raw, and messy atmosphere, Ryu Jeong-ha stood out like a foreign object.
I glared at Choi Kyung-won in front of me, as if demanding an explanation for this situation.
“Why is Jeong-ha here? Choi Kyung-won, did you bring him?”
“Yeah, he said he wanted to come, so I brought him.”
Is this what it feels like when your eyes roll back? My anger suddenly flared up at Choi Kyung-won for doing something I hadn’t asked him to do. The lies I told to hide my hospitalization instantly became meaningless.
“Damn it… Why the hell did you bring him here for no reason!”
I shouted loudly without realizing it. And I barely swallowed the harsh curses swirling in my mouth.
I wanted to curse at Choi Kyung-won to my heart’s content. I asked you to bring my stuff from the apartment, not to bring Ryu Jeong-ha!
Such a meddlesome bastard. How did they even manage to come all the way to Yongin together?
“…Why is it for no reason? Why are you deciding that, Kwon-oh…?”
Ryu Jeong-ha muttered quietly, oblivious to my burning frustration. I could feel his eyes scanning me in my hospital gown.
His gaze lingered especially long on my cast.
Shit, this is driving me crazy. Really.
All eyes in the vicinity suddenly turned towards us. I hated this situation where not only my brother and Choi Kyung-won, but also the gray-haired male patients were staring intently at Ryu Jeong-ha.
It bothered me that those guys, who spend all day in the hospital room swearing and telling dirty jokes, were now looking at Ryu Jeong-ha.
“Let’s go outside. I’ll explain.”
I hastily pulled Ryu Jeong-ha outside. After making up an excuse to my brother about talking with a friend, I strode towards the end of the corridor. There was a small terrace there.
But just as I was trying to have a quiet conversation with him, some lowlife was smoking there. And this was in a clearly marked non-smoking area.
“Mister, can’t you see the no-smoking sign?”
My mouth, already agitated from the moment I saw Ryu Jeong-ha, couldn’t produce polite words. And inevitably, an argument broke out with this stranger.
Nothing ever goes smoothly in this neighborhood. It’s full of people who disregard rules and common sense.
That’s why I didn’t want to show this side to Ryu Jeong-ha.
I was planning to pretend to be busy for a few days and then go back to Seoul. But now all my plans were ruined. Ryu Jeong-ha had come all the way to this trashy place and seen everything I was trying to hide.
I especially didn’t want to show him my pathetic injured state. I only wanted to show my best side to him, damn it.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt? Are, are you badly injured? How did you break your arm…? Huh?”
Until then, my only thought was to comfort the worried Ryu Jeong-ha and send him back to Seoul quickly.
It was obvious that staying here longer would only expose him to more unpleasant situations. There wasn’t anything he could do here anyway.
Moreover, I was in a state where my mind was half gone. Not only was I injured, which was bad enough, but I also had to deal with the drunk driver, and now I had to send away the high school classmate who suddenly visited and Choi Kyung-won.
“You see? I’m in a mess right now and can’t think straight. I can’t take care of you, so go back to Seoul first.”
I ran my hand through my hair, looking towards the hospital corridor beyond the terrace. My gestures became erratic due to unprecedented nervousness.
Ryu Jeong-ha’s gaze kept falling on my cast, which irritated me. His worried expression too.
That attitude, as if I had become a fragile being in need of protection, made me uncomfortable and embarrassed.
Ever since my parents’ divorce, I’ve extremely disliked being perceived as a weak person by anyone. After graduating from elementary school and entering an all-boys middle school, I became almost obsessively focused on appearing stronger than others.
But now, Ryu Jeong-ha was looking at me with that pitying gaze that I absolutely didn’t want to receive from others. Naturally, it wasn’t welcome. My jaw clenched tight with the unfamiliar feeling of embarrassment and shame I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I wanted to escape this situation quickly. So I think I just started blurting out whatever came to mind.
“I’ll come back as soon as I wrap things up here. I’ll buy a new phone today or tomorrow too. They told me it’s better to buy a new one when it’s damaged to this extent.”
“Your arm doesn’t hurt, right?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“It’s, it’s not serious, right?”
“I said it’s not.”
Ryu Jeong-ha checked several times if I was really okay. I didn’t want to look him directly in the eyes, so I turned my head away.
Even in this situation, some inconsiderate guy was smoking on the lower floor. Seeing Ryu Jeong-ha cough, I felt anger rising inside me again.
As always, the moment you let your guard down, these crazy people keep popping up endlessly. This is definitely not a place for Ryu Jeong-ha. It’s only suitable for someone like me.
“See? This place is far from the city center and there’s nothing but factories around, so even the people in the hospital are like this. There are many foreigners too. There’s nothing here for you to enjoy.”
After quickly chasing away the guy on the lower floor, I spoke to Ryu Jeong-ha in an admonishing tone.
“I… I didn’t come here to have fun, I came to see you.”
“You’ve seen me, so that’s enough. I’m really fine, so please go now, Jeong-ha. Okay?”
If the peach starts being stubborn again, how am I going to persuade him further here?
As my mouth went dry, not knowing what response would come.
“…Alright.”
Unexpectedly, Ryu Jeong-ha agreed to my wishes. His voice was so low I almost couldn’t hear it, but he didn’t seem angry. That’s a relief.
While I was secretly feeling relieved, Ryu Jeong-ha suddenly started fumbling for something in his pocket.
“I’ll give you this before I go.”
“What’s that?”
“Coffee and tea… I bought them at the convenience store on the way here.”
I thought he was just taking out one or two items, but suddenly Ryu Jeong-ha’s hands were full of various snacks. He must have bought them in such a hurry that some were in convenience store bags and some weren’t.
“These are jellies, gum, and candy. Eat them as snacks.”
“Ah.”
“Since your phone is broken too, I thought you might get bored, so I grabbed a few books from your house. They should be in the bag Kyung-won brought.”
I stared blankly at the things Ryu Jeong-ha was holding out. Even though I knew I should take them quickly and send him off, my body felt frozen and wouldn’t move easily.
Seeing me standing still, Ryu Jeong-ha carefully put the snacks into the pockets of my hospital gown.
“…”
What is this feeling? Ryu Jeong-ha agreed to leave as I wanted, but it doesn’t feel good at all.
Suddenly, my chest feels so tight. It even throbs and aches with every breath. What’s wrong with me? Is this some kind of accident aftereffect?
“Uh… thanks.”
“Mm-hmm. Then… I’ll go.”
My head feels fuzzy. Something seems very wrong, but I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is.
“I’ll call a taxi for you.”
Seeing Ryu Jeong-ha about to turn and leave, I finally came to my senses.
“No, I can call one with an app.”
Ryu Jeong-ha shook his head and refused. His voice wasn’t angry, just a little less energetic than usual, but it felt like my heart was sinking to the floor.
“They don’t come easily here.”
“Hey, Joo Kwon-oh!”
At that moment, my brother urgently called me from inside the building. I frowned and turned my head. Something must have happened again. Nothing seems to go as planned today.
Suppressing a wave of irritation, I looked towards my brother and then back at Ryu Jeong-ha.
“Jeong-ha, wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back to get you a taxi. Okay?”
Even as I went to answer the phone call for my brother, I was still worried about Ryu Jeong-ha and reminded him again.
“Don’t go anywhere, it’s dangerous. I’ll be right back!”
Only after confirming that Ryu Jeong-ha nodded did I completely turn away.
“What’s all that? A guy with an injured arm shouldn’t be carrying so much stuff. Give it here.”
As soon as I returned to the hospital room, my brother took the snacks from me. Since I couldn’t hold all of this right now anyway, I handed them over nicely but didn’t forget to warn him.
“Don’t eat them. Leave them in the hospital room.”
I’m worried my brother might thoughtlessly eat them. Ryu Jeong-ha gave these to me to eat.
“I won’t eat them, that’d be petty.”
“Did that bastard call? Call him back for me.”
But the forklift driver was an unreasonable bastard. It was foolish of me to even try to have a conversation with him for a moment.
The crazy guy drove drunk, hit someone, and now he wants workers’ compensation because he got hurt too. The problem with these insane people is that they don’t realize how messed up they are.
In the end, I gave up on talking and decided to proceed legally. The other party hung up first, cursing, and I returned the phone to my brother.
After quickly concluding with my brother on how to respond, I immediately returned to where Ryu Jeong-ha was.
But Ryu Jeong-ha, who had been standing here until just now, was nowhere to be seen. The terrace was empty too.
Just in case, I thoroughly searched the bathroom and walked around the corridor, but couldn’t find him.
“Bro, where did the kid who was here earlier go?”
I finally returned to where my brother was and asked.
“Oh, that cute friend? He left already.”
“What? Why didn’t you stop him? When did he leave?”
“He left when you were on the phone earlier.”
“You should have told me!”
Are you kidding me? You just let the kid go alone?
I immediately shouted at my brother’s frustrating answer.
“What are you saying? You told him to leave first, and now you’re complaining?”
My brother retorted, seemingly dumbfounded. I was about to say something more but found myself at a loss for words and closed my mouth. Then I tried calling Ryu Jeong-ha with my brother’s phone. But there was only a long dial tone with no response.
I clearly told him to wait here for a bit. Did he really leave? Because he was angry?
Thinking about it, it made sense. He came all the way here, only to be lied to and then pushed to go back to Seoul immediately.
My brother was right. I was the one who told him to leave first. It was ridiculous for me to get angry at why they let him go quietly.
I exhaled a long breath while rubbing my face with my uninjured hand.
Ah, I should have spoken more kindly. It’s a situation where even I would have felt bad. I belatedly realized that I had pushed Ryu Jeong-ha away too hastily. Honestly, it was almost forceful.
As I realized that Ryu Jeong-ha was no longer in the hospital, I became anxious.
So what if there are some weirdos around? So what if I’m a bit embarrassed? Does that mean I should just chase him away? Well done, Joo Kwon-oh.
Still, I didn’t mean for him to leave without even saying goodbye…
No matter how I think about it, letting him go alone isn’t right. If he just left, he couldn’t have gone far. I should follow him, properly apologize, and personally see him off. That’s the only way I’ll feel at ease.
