Traffic was particularly bad, so even though Yiyoung took a taxi, it took quite a while before he arrived at the hospital.
When he got out of the car, torrential rain was pouring down. In the brief moment Yiyoung ran into the emergency room, his hair and clothes got completely soaked. Looking like a drowned rat, he looked around the emergency room.
Chahyun was nowhere to be seen. Yiyoung grabbed one of the busily moving medical staff and asked.
“The double-collision car accident at the intersection. Among the injured, is there someone named Moon Chahyun here? The police officer at the scene said he’d be transported to this hospital.”
“Are you family?”
Yiyoung’s lips moved wordlessly as he shook his head. Then the medical staff member showed a troubled expression but spoke matter-of-factly.
“Then it’s difficult to give you information. We’ll contact you as soon as the patient’s identity is confirmed, so please talk with the family members.”
Yiyoung couldn’t hold back the medical staff member who hurried back to work, and he wandered around aimlessly. He took out his phone several times, but no matter how much he thought about it, there was only one person he could call.
Yiyoung called the owner of the whiskey bar, and as soon as the call connected, he said.
“Boss. Chahyun-ssi, he was in an accident in front of the store.”
― What?
The boss asked back in a shocked voice. At that, Yiyoung felt the reality of what happened to Chahyun hit him, and tears burst forth. To the boss who seemed too surprised to speak, Yiyoung explained in a fluster.
“There was a car accident. I saw him being loaded into the ambulance, but he’s not in the emergency room. They won’t tell me where he is because I’m not family. What should I do?”
He could hear the boss calmly catching her breath over the phone.
― I’ll try contacting his family first. Don’t worry too much, just try to calm down.
The boss hung up. Yiyoung slumped into a waiting chair in the emergency room with a completely exhausted feeling. His whole body trembling, he waited for the boss’s call when a text message arrived.
[Boss Yang Hyeyoung:
I talked with Chahyun’s big sister. She says she’ll look into it. But Igyeong is also in a state of confusion, so she won’t be able to call me right away]
12:38 AM
Igyeong—would that be Chahyun-ssi’s big sister?
It was a somehow familiar name, but there was no time now to think about where he’d heard it. The boss sent another text.
[Boss Yang Hyeyoung:
You should go home for now too]
12:38 AM
However, Yiyoung couldn’t bring himself to leave the hospital.
Yiyoung lost even the energy to reply to the boss and rested his forehead on his two hands tightly gripping his phone. His head was filled only with the image of Chahyun’s bleeding face.
‘Please……’
He was too afraid to even think the thought that he hoped he was just alive.
At the same time, he also felt like Chahyun would call him at any moment. It seemed like he would speak in that characteristically low, calm voice, saying he was sorry for startling him, that he wasn’t seriously hurt.
That day, Yiyoung spent the night without receiving a call from anyone.
Then, having fallen asleep at some point, when Yiyoung opened his eyes again, it was daylight.
Half-asleep, he opened his eyes and was briefly mistaking the previous night’s events for a short nightmare. The phone Yiyoung had been gripping tightly in his hand rang.
Snapping awake, Yiyoung sat up from the long bench-style chair in the hospital lobby. As soon as he answered, he heard the voice of the whiskey bar’s owner, Yang Hyeyoung.
― He’s not seriously hurt.
In that moment, Yiyoung felt his breath open up like someone who had been submerged in water rising to the surface.
― He suffered a contusion on his head, but it was just enough to stitch up the skin. After confirming there were no major issues at the hospital he was taken to, he was moved to another place early in the morning and is apparently hospitalized there.
“Where should I go to see him?”
Yiyoung sprang up from where he was sitting, thinking to go visit right away. However, his legs suddenly gave out and he fell right to the floor, banging his knee with a thud. Ugh, he grimaced, and Hyeyoung continued speaking.
― I’ll send it to you by text. But I’m not sure if you’ll be able to see him even if you go now. I think it’d be better to contact Chahyun first.
Yiyoung sat slumped on the floor, gently rubbing his knee. Groaning sounds from the pain came out naturally, but he answered Hyeyoung in a much brighter and more energetic voice.
“I’ll do that. Thank you for calling, Boss.”
― Okay. You must have worried all night, so get some rest.
Even though it was quite a serious accident, hearing that he was safe was a tremendous relief.
When he hung up feeling a bit reassured, his surroundings came into view. The hospital lobby, which had been quiet just last night, was now filled with people waiting to register for appointments or pay bills.
Feeling people’s glances at him, Yiyoung lowered his head and looked down at his thoroughly wrinkled clothes and shoes dirtied with muddy water.
‘I should go home and wash up first.’
Seeing that he still hadn’t contacted him, Chahyun was clearly either not fully conscious yet or needed to rest and stabilize. As soon as he had the energy, he would call Yiyoung, so it seemed better to wait at home. Moreover, his phone battery was so drained it was on the verge of dying.
Yiyoung, who had been completely drained since the previous day, grabbed the chair and groaned as he stood up.
***
However, Chahyun didn’t contact him the next day either, not until Sunday morning.
Of course, Yiyoung had also tried calling Chahyun, but there was no response. Yiyoung was barely restraining the urge to persistently call Hyeyoung and ask about Chahyun’s news.
Yiyoung sat leaning against the wall of his shabby detached house, endlessly staring at his phone.
‘Is there anyone else who could tell me news of Chahyun-ssi? A friend, or even a coworker?’
There wasn’t a single person. Come to think of it, Chahyun strangely didn’t talk about himself.
Yiyoung had only learned about his company from seeing Chahyun’s business card, and even about his siblings, he’d heard from Hyeyoung. He’d never actually heard from Chahyun himself about where he lived now or what he did for work.
Looking at it now, Chahyun wasn’t simply taciturn but quite secretive. Only after communication was cut off like this did that fact really hit home. Perhaps it was natural since they hadn’t known each other very long.
‘But still, is it possible to know this little?’
Unable to bear the frustration, Yiyoung called Chahyun again. This time too, the ringtone led to the following message.
― The phone is turned off and will be connected to voicemail. After the beep…….
Yiyoung pressed the end call button and then opened his text message thread with Hyeyoung.
[Boss Yang Hyeyoung:
Moongang Medical Center, S Ward 21st floor]
9:47 AM
This was a text he’d only been able to check after arriving home the previous day because his phone battery had died and the power went out. If he’d seen it on the bus, he would have run straight to the hospital, but Yiyoung had passed out as soon as he got home, and when he woke up, it was late at night.
Since that’s how things turned out, as Hyeyoung had advised, he’d decided to wait until he could contact Chahyun first.
‘But I really should go.’
It was okay if he couldn’t meet him right away. It was just too hard to sit still and only wait for news. At least if he was at the hospital, he might be able to see Chahyun as soon as he got his call.
Yiyoung got up and prepared to go to the hospital.
***
Still, Moongang Medical Center—Chahyun really must be a rich young master.
Even Yiyoung, who had never been particularly ill, knew about Moongang Medical Center. It was a place frequently mentioned as ‘M Medical Center’ in articles about famous people being hospitalized, and each time Yiyoung had naturally thought, ‘Rich people all get treated at Moongang Medical Center, huh?’
The fact that only VIPs were hospitalized in S Ward was something he learned while searching for the hospital’s location. Though he’d guessed from seeing him drive a particularly expensive car and maintain high-class attire despite having a good job, it seemed Chahyun’s family was also well-off.
Yiyoung unconsciously hesitated in front of the massive white building located in the center of the metropolis.
This place, and Chahyun who was said to be here, both felt unfamiliar. Feeling a sense of alienation growing beyond control, Yiyoung still entered looking for S Ward. Standing in the unrealistically white lobby, looking around for the elevator, a man who appeared to be a security guard approached and asked.
“How may I help you?”
His attitude was more guarded than helpful. Yiyoung stiffened his expression, feeling unnecessarily nervous, and answered.
“I came to visit a patient. A patient named Moon Chahyun hospitalized on the 21st floor.”
“You can’t go in there.”
Whether it was because of the intimidating atmosphere of the place or the security guard’s attitude, it didn’t sound like a simple statement that he couldn’t meet the patient because they needed to rest and stabilize.
Somehow it felt like he would let him in depending on his identity. In the brief moment he was pondering what to answer, a relatively familiar voice was heard from behind him.
“Bae Yiyoung-ssi?”
