<Chapter 84>
#9. Each One’s Role (8)
Johaim’s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected situation. Melty, equally startled, blinked repeatedly while quietly hiding behind Pel’s protection.
“What is the matter?”
“I’ll, I’ll do anything. Please, please…”
Despite Johaim’s calm question, the boy seemed incapable of coherent thought. Melty, who had been blinking intently from behind Pel’s protection, slowly moved toward Johaim and the boy. After alternating glances between the boy, who was desperately clutching Johaim’s clothes while shaking his head vigorously, and Johaim’s visibly perplexed expression, Melty carefully opened his mouth.
“Excuse me…”
Melty cautiously spoke up and lightly touched the boy’s shoulder. Only then did the boy’s eyes, which had been desperately pleading with Johaim, turn to Melty. His eyes were severely swollen, as if he had been crying for a long time even before coming here, and tears were still streaming down.
“It’s okay, so why don’t you tell us slowly? What’s wrong?”
At Melty’s concerned question, the boy blinked slowly. Whether his legs had given out or he had been hanging his weight on Johaim from the beginning, his body easily slid downward. Now kneeling before Johaim, he still wouldn’t let go of Johaim’s clothes with one hand as he stammered:
“My, my father is, very, sick. And… I heard that… if someone from the Sarvie family was here… they might be able to, heal my father…”
He struggled to continue speaking with his hoarse voice. The reason for his direct approach to Johaim was easily understood. Melty’s gaze naturally fell on Johaim. Round horns characteristic of sheep beastmen sat on his head. Meeting Melty’s gaze, Johaim pushed up his glasses with an uncomfortable expression.
“Has he not received medical treatment?”
“He, he has! But… everyone, says there’s no hope…”
The boy’s voice became wet with emotion. Despite wiping his eyes with his sleeve, it was already soaked through. Melty looked at him with pity and then glanced up at Johaim. Unfortunately, the decision to help was not Melty’s to make.
“I did treat villagers, but as you can see, I’m on a schedule now, so it’s difficult.”
“Please help just this once! I’m, I’m begging you like this!”
Johaim’s eyes sank heavily as he watched the boy desperately rubbing his hands together in supplication. The small commotion caused by the boy kneeling and pleading desperately was drawing attention to them. Finding the situation awkward in many ways, Johaim rubbed the back of his neck and sighed softly.
“Let’s move somewhere else first.”
Johaim grabbed the arm of the boy, who was still earnestly rubbing his hands together, and helped him up, then walked toward a more secluded corner. Melty, having caught Johaim’s signal, carefully followed behind while checking their surroundings.
Leaning his back against the outer wall of the temple, Johaim touched his forehead with a tired expression. The boy standing in front of him was anxiously explaining his situation. Melty, who had quietly joined their conversation, couldn’t help but notice the boy’s clothes, which were worn and tattered to a pitiful degree.
“I’m not sure if you’ve already heard, but… I was seeing patients in the village only until yesterday.”
“Yes, I know. I also know you’re leaving tomorrow… But, but still… just once, please help just once…”
The sound of sniffling spread quietly again. Johaim, still wearing a troubled expression, looked at Melty. Thinking that Johaim was seeking his permission to attend to this matter today, Melty quickly approached Johaim’s side.
“If it’s because of me, it’s fine.”
“But…”
“We’ve already finished touring the temple, haven’t we?”
“…”
Johaim stared at Melty’s beaming face and let out a short sigh. Looking at the boy who was gazing at him with desperate eyes, Johaim nodded lightly.
“So where is the patient?”
“At, at home! It’s not far from here!”
The boy, perhaps worried that Johaim might change his mind, quickly blurted out his response and repeatedly said “Thank you.” Melty could feel his heart stirring at the sight of the boy’s flushed face as he deeply bowed his head.
A sick family member… It didn’t feel like someone else’s problem at all.
Judging from the boy’s shabby appearance, it seemed clear that his family couldn’t afford timely treatment due to financial difficulties. Melty’s suspicion became certainty when he glimpsed the boy’s skinny arms exposed through his clothes.
“Melty-nim. Shall we return to the mansion now?”
“Ah, that… If it’s not rude, could I come along too?”
“You may act as you wish, Melty-nim.”
Melty smiled brightly at Pel’s words and approached Johaim and the boy with quick steps to get permission to visit. With both their consent, Melty returned to Pel and extended his clenched fist toward him.
Pel looked bewildered at the hand suddenly extended before him, and instinctively reached out when Melty pushed his fist forward again. Melty placed his clenched fist on Pel’s palm and slowly opened it.
Pel blinked at the coin that remained in his hand after Melty removed his. Melty personally folded Pel’s fingers to make him grasp the money and spoke with a chuckle.
“Pel-ssi. Please do me one favor.”
***
Johaim looked at the man lying on the bed with a troubled expression. The man was so emaciated he could be mistaken for a skeleton, barely breathing. His swollen neck and lifeless eyes, visible even to the naked eye, spoke volumes about his serious condition.
“Doctor. Will my father be okay?”
“…”
Johaim remained silent in response to the desperate question. The boy’s eyes trembled anxiously as he watched Johaim, who couldn’t bring himself to speak. The heavy silence was broken by the appetizing smell of food. Both of them naturally turned their heads toward the door. Melty, who was carefully entering with dishes on a large tray, smiled gently when he noticed their gazes upon him.
“It seems like it’s time to eat! I made some warm soup.”
“Oh, oh…”
The boy, who hurriedly received the tray from Melty’s hands, was visibly flustered. Easily recognizing what his confused eyes were trying to ask, Melty smiled brightly, lifting the corners of his mouth.
“I’m good at cooking. I bought some ingredients because it seemed like we’d be here for a while.”
“…Thank you…”
Melty comforted him by stroking his back at the muffled sound of swallowed tears. Melty’s gaze naturally turned toward the bed. The man, whose dry and cracked lips quivered slightly, clearly looked in terrible condition to anyone who saw him.
“Father. Soup. It’s soup.”
The boy, who had regained his composure from Melty’s comfort, approached the bed with tear-filled eyes and a smile. Despite his excited tone, the person lying on the bed showed no reaction at all. As Melty watched the back of the boy, who was cooling the soup by blowing on it gently, he approached Johaim’s side.
“Um, Johaim-ssi.”
Without needing to continue, Johaim could understand what Melty wanted to ask. The words he couldn’t bring himself to tell the boy weighed heavily on Johaim’s throat. Sighing as he pushed up his glasses, Johaim shook his head slightly from side to side.
“His condition is too serious.”
“…Is it a very grave illness?”
“It’s not a grave illness. He might have survived if treatment had been prompt. The medicine isn’t difficult to obtain.”
“Couldn’t he take the medicine even now?”
To Melty’s careful question, Johaim shook his head. The food that the boy had carefully cooled by blowing on it was cautiously slipped between the patient’s parted lips. And not long after, the patient turned his head to the side and vomited everything that had just gone in. The boy’s eyes, which had widened in surprise, trembled with tears again. Looking at his back as he hung his head low and shook his shoulders, Johaim sighed deeply.
“Medicine isn’t made solely of beneficial components. All medicines contain harsh elements, and in the patient’s current state of health, he won’t be able to withstand them.”
“…I see…”
Although they had spoken in hushed voices, the room was so small that there was no way the boy by the bed hadn’t heard this conversation. Melty’s eyes reddened involuntarily at the sight of the boy bursting into tears while clutching the hand of the man who resembled an old, withered tree.
– It’s okay, little one. Big brother is here.
– Does it hurt a lot? Eldest sister says she’s caught what you like best. Should we sleep a bit before eating something delicious?
– Melty! Sister is here!!
Melty’s gaze dropped. Perhaps because his family members had always taken turns holding his hand whenever he was sick, he could feel warmth in his hand. They were family members who always guarded the bedside with puffy eyes whenever he cried from pain. Sniffling, Melty took a deep breath. Strangely, he could see his family superimposed on the boy’s hunched shoulders.
“Really, isn’t there any way?”
“Medicine is not omnipotent.”
Johaim slowly shook his head with a sunken face. Melty understood his feelings, but he also empathized with the back of the boy who was trying hard to hold back his tears.
Melty moved his steps slowly and approached where the boy was. It felt even more pitiful because he was forcibly trying to raise the corners of his mouth while holding back tears.
“It’s, it’s okay. Father. Father will get better soon.”
“…”
Shhhh, shh.
The man, who had been struggling to keep his eyes open while exhaling roughly, slowly lowered his eyelids. At the sight of him clearly falling asleep, the boy burst into tears he had been holding back. Though he gritted his teeth to avoid making noise, his wet shoulders and the moisture soaking the bedcover expressed the sounds he couldn’t make.
Melty carefully extended his hand and stroked the boy’s back to comfort him. Despite the gentle pats, the boy who had been swallowing his sobs with “ugh, hic” finally broke down, expressing his sorrow with a cracked voice.
“My, my father… I feel so sorry for him… He, he’s only suffered all his life.”
Melty, who had opened his mouth to offer words of comfort, had to close it again without making any sound.
“If, if I had known this would happen… I would have at least gotten him all the food he wanted to eat.”
The boy’s trembling hand firmly grasped the weak hand of the man. Seeing the boy unable to lift his downcast gaze, Melty slowly turned to look at the person lying on the bed.
While using this house’s kitchen for cooking, Melty could roughly guess the family’s circumstances. The man in the bed was in no financial position to afford whatever food he might have wanted. Though the ingredients Melty had asked Pel to obtain might help them survive for a few days, without those, even the boy’s daily life would have been too difficult to manage.
‘Wait. Food he wanted to eat…?’
At the thought crossing his mind, Melty’s eyes widened significantly.
