“Mom.”
“Just what happened in there? You’re a Guide. What kind of Esper just watches a Guide get hurt? No, let’s say they didn’t know you were a Guide. Even so, you have your position. Good grief. It’s not like you’re a mute who ate honey—do you think staying silent will solve everything? ‘I’m sorry. It’s all my fault’—sure, you say that. It’s fortunate it’s only this much, but if something had happened… Why on earth did you enter the dungeon…”
“Mom, did you meet Jaehwi?”
Raon, who had been trying to interrupt her words appropriately and move past the situation, ended up raising his voice without realizing it. Although he’d drunk a little water, his voice, which had been completely locked up, came out much rougher than usual. Leaving aside entering the dungeon, he was injured and couldn’t even go to work, so it was clear they couldn’t have hushed it up and covered it. His parents must have found out through Jay, and they surely would have told him to bring him over. So he’d thought he’d opened his eyes at the main house…
The moment the word Esper came from his mother’s mouth along with words reproaching him, his head went blank. Mom moved directly? So what did she say to Jaehwi? Jay, standing there like a folding screen, would know the whole situation, but he couldn’t readily speak to him.
What did she say to Jaehwi? Judging from Mom’s words, that stupid bastard had clearly said the same thing he’d told Hyukjin. Those words no one would believe. But why does everyone believe those words? The person who saved him when he’d entered alone on his own whim and was on the verge of death was Jaehwi.
“We didn’t go in together. I went in alone.”
There was a need to set the situation straight. No matter what, Jaehwi shouldn’t suffer unfairly.
“Anyway, take this opportunity to organize your place and come home. I’ve never liked you living alone, so this works out well. You’re not young anymore, so meet a stable person and get married…”
Mom’s story, as she swept back her hair and touched his face avoiding the gauze still stuck to his injured forehead, was gradually heading off track. When it continued with words about never entering a dungeon again and needing to get married for a stable life, Raon shook his head.
“Mom. I entered the dungeon alone.”
Normally he would have slipped out smoothly or refuted her words point by point, but words came out haphazardly due to the oncoming headache and urgency.
“Okay. Don’t get excited. You’re going to say Mom is getting ahead of herself again, right? Let’s talk about this again when you’re okay. Aren’t you hungry?”
“No. That’s not it. The person who saved me when I entered the dungeon alone and nearly died was…”
Wetting his dry lips with his tongue and taking a deep breath in and out, Raon was about to calmly explain the situation when he looked at the door at the sound of a knock.
“I heard Raon woke up.”
As the door opened, Raon’s eyes met those of the person entering, and he raised his left hand slightly as a greeting.
“Seeing you sitting up fine, drinking water and waving hello, you seem to be in better condition than your mother was worried about?”
When Hajun, who smiled gently upon making eye contact with him, continued speaking, Mom, who had been sitting close beside him all this time, stood up from her seat.
“What would I say? It would be nice if you’d gone to the hospital where you are right away after coming out of the dungeon. Does it make sense that you were treated at the center? On top of that, you were at the house of the Esper who did this to you. Jay too. Do you all think this can be covered up by hushing it up?”
“The teachers at the center are all skilled too. They treated Raon appropriately according to his condition. Raon’s injured areas all need time to heal anyway, so you don’t need to worry too much. If he eats well and rests well, he’ll get better. If there’s a place where both body and mind are more comfortable than the hospital, it’s best to rest there.”
“Where could be more comfortable than here? Family is the best.”
At the conversation between Hajun and Mom going back and forth without giving him a chance to speak, Raon asked Jay for his cell phone.
“You don’t have it.”
“What?”
“It seems you lost it in the dungeon. The dungeon has disappeared.”
“…Buy me a new one.”
“Yes.”
When Jay was about to leave at his words to buy a cell phone right away, Mom also followed, saying she should check on the meal preparations. Naturally, only Hajun and Raon were left alone in the room.
He would have liked to send out even Hajun who had just entered, but he couldn’t because of Mom who had asked Hajun to watch over him while she was gone.
“You’re really something, really something.”
“If even hyung is going to nag, please just leave.”
When he tried to lie down, his body naturally tensed up. As pain arose from that, Raon groaned softly and wrapped his arms around his upper body.
“She’s saying it out of worry. Do you know how shocked I was when I heard about your accident?”
“Why is everyone making such a fuss over a few broken and cracked ribs? Take out the IV. There’s no need to keep getting something that’s just full of glucose.”
Raon, who had been sullenly sticking out his lips while waiting for the pain to subside, let out a short breath once the wave of pain passed.
“If it were one broken arm or leg, I’d think that could happen too, but looking at your current state, it’s definitely clear this wasn’t such a light accident.”
As Hajun, who had sat on the edge of the bed, pulled the hand with the IV needle stuck in it, Raon obediently gave him his hand.
“You heard everything Mom said earlier, right?”
Raon, who had been watching Hajun’s hand as the IV needle was removed and he pressed down firmly on the spot where the needle came out with an alcohol swab, quickly opened his mouth at a thought that flashed through his head.
“What words? Rest well at home for about a month. If you run around restlessly, you won’t heal well, so eat well and sleep well.”
At his words pretending not to know even though he’d clearly heard, Raon, with his lips stuck out sullenly, snatched his hand away from Hajun’s hand with a whoosh.
“Hey, stop the bleeding…”
“No. She’s telling me to come home. And it started again. That damn marriage nagging. I’m only just twenty-six. Hyung, please say something.”
Raon, who had intercepted his words that were about to follow with nagging, snatched the alcohol swab that had been awkwardly held in his hand and pressed down firmly on the bleeding spot as if to show him.
“Then marry me.”
At Hajun’s words proposing marriage to him nonchalantly without showing any sign of teasing, a hollow laugh escaped. It hadn’t even been long since he’d woken up, but it felt like extreme fatigue was washing over him.
Hajun was his second older brother’s friend and someone he’d been entangled with like family since childhood. They’d first met in early childhood when they had runny noses, and it had already been 20 years of seeing each other as hyung and dongsaeng. Unlike himself who lived thoughtlessly as if there was no tomorrow and who simmered around the edges, Hajun was someone who had walked the exact elite course of someone from a distinguished family. You could say he was like a novel protagonist—being good at studying was basic, and he had monopolized being student council president in elementary, middle, and high school.
On top of that, now he was even a surgeon at a university hospital, so it might be natural that Mom trusted Hajun’s words more than his own. Anyway, in the current situation, he was the most suitable person to appropriately cajole Mom.
They were also close enough to make silly jokes.
“You’re joking right now?”
“Not a joke, I’m serious.”
“Hyung. Never say things like that in front of my mom. Both your and my lives will be over in an instant. And I need to go to work. Please speak well to Mom. Even if our mom doesn’t believe my words, she believes everything you say.”
Raon spoke honestly while confirming that the spot where the IV needle had been removed was no longer bleeding.
“Kang Raon. Do I look like someone who would joke about proposing marriage?”
Words he couldn’t understand entered the ears of Raon, who had hesitated due to the heavy pain washing over him as he tried to throw the alcohol swab in the trash can next to the bed himself.
“Don’t move carelessly, and though I’d like to tell you to stay stuck at home for a month, even if I say that, you won’t listen anyway. Two weeks. Think about resting at home for at least two weeks. Don’t think about wandering around. Going to work starts after two weeks too—I’ll tell your mother that as well.”
Raon stared blankly at Hajun, who continued speaking without even giving him time to ask about what he’d just heard and took away the alcohol swab he’d been holding awkwardly.
“Of course it’ll hurt when you move suddenly, and right now even just breathing deeply will hurt. Take your painkillers on time, and when you sleep, don’t toss and turn carelessly or sleep on your side—for now, sleep straight. For a while you won’t be able to move as you please, so you’ll inevitably end up sleeping straight. What else do you need to be careful of…”
At his appearance that was no different from usual for having brought up such a tremendous thing, Raon kept doubting his own ears. At the sight of Hajun listing out the things doctors routinely say to patients, it seemed like what he’d heard earlier had been an auditory hallucination.
“Hyung. What you said earlier.”
But because they were words he couldn’t let pass carelessly, Raon tried to bring it up again.
