Seoul Korea University Hospital emergency operating room.
The smell of disinfectant stung his nose. The red [Surgery in Progress] lamp lit above the operating room door glittered under the cold fluorescent lights. With no one passing through the corridor, a cold atmosphere flowed. As it approached 3 AM, Igyeol sat alone in a chair in front of the operating room, looking down at his hands where black veins still rose.
Bloodstains had dried along the lines of his palms. Hyungil’s blood. Between the cracked bloodstains, he could see the wrinkles of his own palm. Igyeol stared down at it blankly for a long while.
The surgery had been ongoing for four hours. Excessive blood loss, abdominal laceration, two broken ribs. When the doctor asked if he was the guardian, Igyeol answered “Yes” without hesitation. When asked if he was family, he hesitated a little. But still answered “Yes.” Even if they weren’t real family, he was the legal guardian.
Then we’re family. I’m Hyungil’s guardian.
Igyeol forcibly closed his eyes against the trembling around them.
A rainy day came to mind. Lying on the old wooden bench at Jangchun Health Clinic, Madame Oksoon had held his hand. Her hands were rough and small, but warm.
‘Igyeol-ah, I’m entrusting Hyungil to you. He doesn’t have a single blood relative. You understand?’
Her voice echoed in his ears.
‘You two are family now. That kid only has you, and you only have that kid. You two have to rely on each other. Without this old woman, you have to, understand?’
And on the day of the funeral. In front of the portrait photo, Hyungil, whose eyes were swollen from crying, raised his head to look up at him.
‘Hyung… you won’t abandon me, right? You won’t leave me, right?’
What did he answer back then? He couldn’t remember exactly. He didn’t think he’d said anything profound. He just patted his head and pulled him into an embrace. Hyungil wiped his nose, stopped crying, and leaned completely on him. That’s why, that’s why he was precious. The only family he’d gained when he himself had no family. A person he had to protect.
But he’d almost failed to keep that promise.
Igyeol dry-washed his face with both hands stained with bloodstains. No tears came. The tears that had dried up over 100 years didn’t come for him today either.
‘Grandmother… I’m sorry.’
If I hadn’t been able to save Hyungil, I would have really died. But thank you for letting me save him. Grandmother. He didn’t even know to whom he should confess these surging emotions. Igyeol bowed his head.
***
How much time had passed? When he was sitting there blankly, unaware of time passing—
The sound of dress shoes came from far away. He could now identify who it was just by hearing the regular footsteps. Each step was regular but slower than usual. Igyeol didn’t raise his head.
The person who approached sat down beside Igyeol, giving off a familiar body scent.
The chair creaked softly. Igyeol slowly turned his head to look to the side. Sung Yohan’s forearm was wrapped in bandages. Over the burn marks that had been scorched by Demonic Aura earlier, the white shirt sleeve was rolled up only where parts remained from the burning.
“…Your arm.”
“It’s fine.”
“It doesn’t look fine.”
“If I say it’s fine, then it’s fine.”
“…You should have gotten treatment from a Healer.”
“It’s not to that extent.”
“What if it scars?”
“I don’t mind if it does.”
“……”
Igyeol lost his words and closed his mouth. Sung Yohan looked ahead with a calm face. The red lamp of the operating room blinked. In the indifferent silence, Sung Yohan quietly reached out and naturally clasped his hand over Igyeol’s hand resting on his knee.
Igyeol let out a hollow, deflated laugh.
“What are you doing?”
“Ordinary people call this comfort, apparently.”
“……”
Sung Yohan turned his head to look at Igyeol. His drained face was tangled with fatigue, exhaustion, and guilt, so that just looking at it revealed all his emotions. Sung Yohan gripped Igyeol’s dry hand with appropriate strength.
“If I tell you it’s not your fault, you won’t believe me.”
Through their touching skin, only a very faint warmth flowed in like water. A warmth that only slowed Igyeol’s turbulent heartbeat a little, just a very little.
“I’ll just stay by your side. Like an ordinary person.”
Sung Yohan spoke as if murmuring softly, quietly muttering. So that Igyeol could accept it comfortably.
“Though neither of us is an ordinary person.”
Under the hand covering his, Sung Yohan interlaced their fingers. His warm hand tightly interlocked and grasped Igyeol’s endlessly cold hand.
“It should be okay to imitate comfort at least.”
Igyeol didn’t answer. He didn’t shake off Sung Yohan’s hand either. Just like that, the two sat side by side in front of the operating room. In the empty hospital corridor at 3 AM, only the whirr of fluorescent lights and the breathing of the two people echoed.
***
The surgery ended at 5:30 AM.
“Guardian? The surgery went well. The bleeding was severe, but there’s no organ damage. He’ll be fine if he rests for a few days.”
Igyeol repeatedly bowed his head to the doctor in gratitude. His voice wouldn’t come out, so he had to say it twice. After the doctor nodded and left, Igyeol stood there for a long while with his forehead pressed against the corridor wall.
It was 8 AM when Hyungil was moved from the recovery room to a hospital room. Igyeol stood in front of the hospital room door, hesitating briefly before opening it.
Hyungil was lying in the bed. His face was pale as wax. Thick bandages were wrapped around his abdomen, head, and chest, and an IV line was inserted. His closed eyes looked peaceful.
Igyeol sat in the chair beside the bed. He looked down at Hyungil’s face. Pale, but breathing. His chest was rising and falling regularly. It wasn’t faint like what he’d seen at the abandoned factory last night. He was stably alive.
Igyeol pressed his lips tightly shut and sat still, looking at Hyungil. Only now did he feel a little relieved. Even so, his insides still burned, and his heart ached.
How much time had passed? Hyungil’s eyelids trembled faintly. Then slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes.
“…Igyeol hyung?”
“Yeah, Hyungil-ah. Hyung is here…”
A completely cracked voice called for Igyeol first. Igyeol shot up and stood close to the bedside. When their eyes met, Hyungil’s eyes reddened as if welling up with emotion. Tears immediately pooled glistening in his eyes.
Hyungil reached out his hand toward Igyeol. Igyeol bit his lip and embraced the lying Hyungil in his arms, comforting him.
“Hyuuung… I was so scared…”
“Yeah. Hyung, hyung was a bit late. I’m sorry.”
“But hyung saved me, right?”
“Of course, naturally. Hyung rushed over.”
“I believed in you, hyung. I waited for you.”
“You did well. You did well.”
“Hyuuung… I thought I was going to die, really….”
He reached out his hand to Hyungil’s forehead. He lightly tapped Hyungil’s forehead with his index finger. Not painfully. Very gently.
“Why would you die, you punk.”
“Hyuuung….”
“It’s okay now.”
“Is hyung okay too?”
Hyungil worried about Igyeol. Igyeol smiled bitterly. The young kid had such a deep heart. Worry about yourself. When he muttered quietly, Hyungil grinned. Our hyung must have suffered emotionally, because I got hurt. Igyeol smiled softly. No. No way, I can see it all. Did you cry calling for grandmother? I didn’t cry. What did grandmother say? She told me to apologize to you.
“Stupid Moon Igyeol.”
Hyungil giggled and laughed. Only then could Igyeol laugh a little, truly. After talking for quite a while, when Hyungil yawned as if drowsy from medication, Igyeol put him to sleep and left the hospital room.
He came out into the corridor and walked about halfway before stopping and bowing his head deeply. His lips trembled violently. If he were a human who knew how to cry, he would have cried now. But since tears didn’t come out, he squeezed out just one phrase instead.
“…He’s alive.”
That was enough. Because he was someone who only knew how to do that.
At the end of the corridor, Sung Yohan was standing with his shoulder leaning against the wall. It seemed he’d been waiting for Igyeol to come out. Sung Yohan quietly examined Igyeol’s face as he stopped. Igyeol suddenly felt the gaze watching him and looked at Sung Yohan.
“……”
Sung Yohan didn’t ask anything. He didn’t approach either. He just stood there. At a distance where he could go if Igyeol needed him.
Igyeol glanced at Sung Yohan and sniffed, then walked in the opposite direction and said:
“…I’ll buy you coffee, so follow me.”
Sung Yohan smirked and peeled himself from the wall, leisurely following behind Igyeol.
