He reached out his hand and groped around. He needed to find the dropped nameplate. But something other than the nameplate touched his fingertips. Seonwoo didn’t miss it and grabbed it.
Then it also grabbed Seonwoo’s hand in return. His consciousness was drawn to that vivid sensation. He couldn’t distinguish whether his eyes were open or closed.
At some point, Taejeong was visible. He was looking down with the white curtain behind him.
Seonwoo said while tightly gripping what they held together. I’m going to kill your dad.
He couldn’t tell whether this was also a memory or a dream. His ears were muffled, so he couldn’t be certain whether he had really uttered it aloud.
His vision went dark again, and when he came to his senses, Seonwoo was on an emergency room bed and Taejeong was nowhere.
**ლ**
All sides were blocked by curtains. With the outside scenery blocked, only sounds could be heard.
The sound of wheels rolling, a nurse’s voice explaining concisely, guardians’ voices whispering softly. All of it was heard mixed together, but completely isolated, no one was visible.
All sides were blocked and no one was by his side. Suddenly he saw the needle stuck in the back of his hand. After seeing it with his eyes, he could feel the sensation of IV fluid entering his body through his blood vessels.
It was the moment he reached out to tear off the tape just like that. The curtain opened.
What suddenly appeared was an unfamiliar woman. She had her hair neatly tied in one strand and was wearing comfortable training clothes. Seeing Seonwoo, she immediately stuck her body outside the curtain and looked for a nurse.
“I’m Taejeong’s aunt. You don’t need to worry.”
“……”
She quickly introduced herself as if to reassure him. The nurse who appeared afterward examined Seonwoo. She checked the IV and took his pulse, checking his condition, but Seonwoo had a blank expression with no answer.
The nurse asked a few more questions, then thinking communication was impossible, explained to Taejeong’s aunt.
“The doctor will come to see him soon. Please wait a moment.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The nurse moved away, leaving the curtain open. Seonwoo tried to look outside, but Taejeong’s aunt was sitting in a chair blocking the view.
“Taejeong went to the bathroom for a moment.”
“……”
“I’m sorry right after you woke up, but can we talk a bit? If you’re dizzy, you can speak while lying down.”
It seemed Seonwoo had no right to refuse. The apology also seemed just thrown out as a courtesy.
“I need to know how the current situation is going, but Taejeong won’t open his mouth at all. Can you tell me what happened?”
“……”
Seonwoo said nothing. His mind seemed to have gone somewhere else.
“Yes. Let me check your condition.”
Just then, a doctor appeared, completely pulling back the curtain. After examining Seonwoo’s condition, he wrote something on the chart and said indifferently.
“Nothing majorly wrong. Your head isn’t dizzy, right? If you’re really anxious, we can do tests, but there’s a long wait right now, so you’ll have to wait a long time. For now, let’s have the guardian watch from the side until all this is administered to see if there are any abnormalities.”
The doctor adjusted the IV rate and went to make the rest of the rounds. Seonwoo was watching the water droplets falling rapidly. It seemed the IV amount had decreased since he woke up.
“What I asked earlier……”
“How many minutes have passed?”
“What?”
“I’m asking how long it’s been since he went to the bathroom.”
Seonwoo’s gaze was directed outside the curtain. At that moment, Taejeong’s aunt’s expression hardened and she abruptly stood up from the chair. When Seonwoo also reflexively sat up, the IV line became taut.
While his feet were caught as the IV stand swayed, Taejeong’s aunt had already disappeared somewhere. He immediately tore off the tape stuck to the back of his hand. He brutishly pulled out the needle along with the tape.
Along with a stinging pain, blood showed on the back of his hand. Seonwoo, whose movement became free, followed where Taejeong’s aunt had disappeared. Each step he took, he felt a tingling pain in his right foot, but didn’t care.
“Patient! Where are you going!”
A nurse who saw that sight widened her eyes and rushed over urgently. Seonwoo didn’t even pretend to listen and left the emergency room. A wide lobby was visible. The interior wasn’t familiar to his eyes. This was a different hospital.
Seonwoo looked around searching for the bathroom. As soon as he found a sign that said ‘Restroom,’ he headed there. The moment he reached the entrance, Taejeong’s aunt came out from the side with the men’s restroom sign. Her expression was stiff and no one followed her out.
Seonwoo immediately realized. That Taejeong wasn’t inside there.
“There’s no one.”
Where did he go? Seonwoo had a conviction that wherever that place was, the Vice Director would be by his side.
But he couldn’t know where that might be. Whether it was the hospital, the house, or a completely unknown place… He couldn’t get a grasp on it at all.
“Here, where is this? Is it far from the hospital?”
Which hospital Seonwoo meant—Taejeong’s aunt understood at once and said.
“About 15 minutes by taxi. It’s not close. Why? Do you think Taejeong went there?”
“I don’t know. Whether it’s the hospital or the house. Anywhere that bastard is…”
“You’re saying he went to look for his dad? What’s the reason?”
“…”
Seonwoo couldn’t answer. Taejeong had perhaps—no, definitely—heard the words he’d muttered without being able to distinguish whether it was a dream or reality. Seonwoo could be certain.
No one knew what Taejeong, who had suddenly disappeared, might do. But one imagination kept surfacing in his head.
“…”
As Seonwoo’s silence lengthened, Taejeong’s aunt realized the situation was unusual.
“…Okay. Then I’ll go check the hospital, so you go to the house first. Go and if by any chance Taejeong is at the house, contact his uncle right away.”
She didn’t even wait for an answer. As soon as she finished assessing the situation, she immediately caught a taxi and put Seonwoo in the back seat. Then she opened the front seat door and told the taxi driver the house address. The driver, who entered the address as is, stated the estimated time.
“Right now traffic is backed up, so it’ll take about 40 minutes. Are you in a big hurry?”
Taejeong’s aunt immediately took out her wallet and handed over four 50,000 won bills.
“Please go as fast as possible. I’m asking you.”
When she suddenly presented 200,000 won in cash, the driver’s expression changed too. He immediately changed gears.
The taxi instantly left the hospital. The driver didn’t drive the route the navigation guided but drove the shortest route, slipping out through back roads here and there. He didn’t even strike up conversation with Seonwoo asking what was going on. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and only watched ahead.
The scenery outside the window passed quickly. Nothing entered Seonwoo’s eyes.
What if he’s not there when I get home? What if he’s not at the hospital either? Then where should I look for him? Thoughts stretched out in a chain. If he’s nowhere, if I can’t find him before something happens…
His head was noisy. His heart had already arrived in front of the house, but the taxi was still on the road.
Seonwoo had the image of Taejeong calling out his name flickering before his eyes. How did Taejeong know? That I was there. Had Taejeong also been pushed by anxiety and impatience, rushing over with the mindset of grasping at straws? When he saw the nameplate being swung. What had Taejeong thought?
He couldn’t know any of it. The only thing certain was Taejeong’s urgent voice heard by his ear. The desperation to somehow stop it was mixed in. Not for himself, not for the Vice Director, but solely for me.
“…”
Seonwoo clenched his hands tightly on his lap. He no longer looked outside the window. Seeing things passing by around him would only burn him up inside. Seonwoo caught his breath with his head deeply lowered. Hoping to arrive home quickly, even a little faster. He only thought of that.
He jumped out before the taxi had completely stopped.
Seonwoo ran to the main gate and put his hand to the door lock. Instead of a mechanical voice saying it was blocked, lights came on the number pad. He opened the door as is and entered the house. The house visible before his eyes was submerged in darkness far deeper than the night sky full of clouds.
The entrance door also opened without problems. The moment he set foot inside, an unpleasant smell pierced through.
Because of that smell, it felt like even the air had settled heavily. Though Seonwoo frowned, unable to identify what this smell was, he stepped into the corridor.
