The □□ Hospital owned by the Endem family was a luxurious place with only one patient room per floor, a special hospital where it was difficult to receive even outpatient treatment, let alone be admitted, unless you were a family member. Cheche was hospitalized in the top-floor VIP room among them. It was a place with thorough security so that no outsiders could enter.
While riding the elevator up to the top floor, Evil adjusted his shirt collar with an indifferent expression. If James had been there, he would have gasped in shock. Adjusting his shirt collar—the man who had gone to meet Ezibidi royalty with his shirt unbuttoned because it was too bothersome.
No, even before that. A hospital visit. If James had known, he would have stopped him at the risk of his life.
Evil had firmly refused the pleas to visit the hospital just once, and if Evil, who so hated hospital visits, was heading to the hospital, there was only one reason James could deduce.
‘You’re going to the hospital where Cheche-ssi is admitted…? You’re thinking of finally taking his life for sure this time, aren’t you? Absolutely not, Director. Please…’
Since it was obvious he’d react that way, Evil came without telling James. At 10 PM, during hours when all visits were prohibited, sneaking in like a rat.
As soon as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Evil felt the nauseating smell he’d been sensing since the first floor grow even stronger.
From the moment he opened his eyes in the morning until the moment he closed them, he always… lived smelling far too many scents. So many types of scents that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine. Among them, this was a scent he particularly disliked.
He strode forward and flung open the door in the middle of the hallway.
“……”
Cheche, who had been leaning against the window, slowly turned his head. A cigarette was held between his fingers. He blinked his large golden eyes once, then tilted his head ever so slightly. So slightly that no one but Evil would have noticed.
“…Director?”
“Fuck, put it out right now. It’s disgusting.”
Evil came in spewing curses. He naturally sat on the bed as he watched Cheche stub out the cigarette on the windowsill.
“Just like an ignorant refugee bastard, you dare smoke in a hospital. Do you want to get kicked out of Alcity altogether?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You’ve hidden the smell well until now?”
“I heard that you do drugs, Director, but don’t smoke. I heard you’re sensitive to cigarette smells, so I didn’t smoke when coming to work.”
“You must have smoked to your heart’s content while hospitalized.”
“No… This was the first and last time.”
“How would I know if you’re lying?”
Evil snorted and crossed his legs. Cheche still stood there with an expressionless face. Evil didn’t tell Cheche to sit anywhere or come closer.
Wearing loose patient clothing and standing with his back to the moonlight, Cheche looked like someone from another world. Looking at the impudent refugee who met his gaze directly without avoiding it, Evil thought, ‘The refugee bastard’s eye color is pretty decent to look at.’
“You live in such fucking darkness. You’re standing there and it looks like only your eyes are floating, you idiot.”
With the hospital room lights off, it was so dark that you couldn’t see ahead unless you were Evil. As Cheche searched for the remote to turn on the lights, the room brightened on its own. Evil had raised the switch with his aura.
The spacious hospital room had not only a television, desktop computer, and movie screen, but also a kitchen where cooking was possible, yet there were no signs of any of them being used.
Two books related to computer programming were scattered on the bed. Evil picked up one of them. Opening the book, there were traces of diligent underlining with a ballpoint pen. Evil’s smile deepened.
“You need to actually do this stuff to understand it. Do you think reading books with your already ignorant head will make you understand?”
“What brings you here?”
Rather than answering, it was a refugee who impudently responded with a question, but Evil somehow wasn’t angry.
“You texted the secretary, didn’t you. ‘Since all the reporters must have gone to the Director’s house because of today’s incident, can I go outside the hospital now too?'”
Ah.
Cheche remembered the message he’d sent in the afternoon. He’d called but got no answer, so he sent a text message. While listening to and speaking Alcity language posed no problem, reading and writing it was still difficult and very hard. Since there was no reply, Cheche, who had resigned himself thinking it wasn’t allowed, asked in a still indifferent tone.
“May I go out?”
“Are you fucking kidding me—with all that chaos, the thought that comes to your mind is ‘now the reporters will be gone’? Your empathy is fucking terrible. Your boss is in a difficult situation, but you only care about your own comfort right now.”
“I’m sorry.”
Cheche apologized, bowing politely. Then after a brief pause, he spoke.
“May I go out now?”
“Ha…”
Evil exhaled as if dumbfounded.
“No. Absolutely not. Until my situation is resolved, you can’t go anywhere. When I have to be holed up somewhere, where does a refugee bastard think he’s going to enjoy freedom?”
“I did see it on the news, but was it such a difficult situation that you need to be holed up somewhere?”
“What?”
Evil was incredulous. From daring to use the vocabulary ‘holed up,’ to daring to ask him if it was a difficult situation.
Though he had expressed it as having to be holed up, the word ‘difficulty’ didn’t exist in his dictionary, and in reality, it wasn’t a difficult situation. It was just the daily routine he’d repeated countless times. If he just stayed still in his office playing games for a few days, the controversy would die down before he knew it. Even if it didn’t die down, it didn’t matter. They’d bow their heads first and come in anyway.
“I’m sorry for making an unreasonable request without knowing it was a difficult situation requiring you to be holed up.”
“No, fuck, it’s absolutely not difficult, okay? I’m completely unbothered by those people’s reactions, it’s just noisy because they’re loud, so, I mean, it’s bothersome…”
Evil, who had been rambling, quickly cut off what he was saying, thinking why am I making excuses to this bastard.
“Whatever, just know that you can’t go anywhere.”
“When people quiet down, may I go out? I have somewhere I need to contact.”
“Ah, the refugee bastard is fucking obsessed. Be a little patient and wait for things to quiet down. People are fucking hot-tempered. They get excited easily and cool down easily. Soon they’ll even forget the fact that you were beaten. When that time comes, go around as you please.”
“Yes…”
Though he must have been disappointed, Cheche’s face showed no emotion as he obediently answered. Evil turned his gaze to the computer programming book he was holding. Every page that fluttered open was full of ballpoint pen marks.
Imagining him studying with that expressionless face, underlining and circling, was funny but also made him feel a bit strange.
The textbook was basically written in Alcity common language, but foreign proper nouns also appeared, and each time they did, they were circled. Here and there, something was written in tiny letters, but it was a language unfamiliar to Evil. It was probably Tar language.
“Hey, refugee.”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the posts cursing me on the internet?”
“No.”
“Well, how would an ignorant refugee who can’t even log in read internet articles?”
Evil snickered and threw down the programming book. Then he used his aura to pull over the phone that had been at the head of Cheche’s pillow. The phone given by the Endem family naturally had no lock on it. He probably didn’t even know how to set one.
The internet was still in chaos. Believing in the fact that Evil wouldn’t respond to malicious comments, they were having a party. Evil thought he should file a group lawsuit, then opened an article full of malicious comments and sent the phone to Cheche, who was still standing by the window.
“Read it.”
The phone crossed through the air. While having different thoughts watching him use aura as naturally as breathing, Cheche caught the phone. Evil narrowed his brow and carefully observed Cheche’s face as he started reading.
“People who wouldn’t dare make a peep in front of me act fearless because they’re anonymous. There was talk of an internet real-name system, but it got cancelled because they threw such a fit. If it hadn’t, I would have broken all their fingers so they could never fucking say such things again.”
“……”
“I’m not anonymous but they want to be. Crazy perverted bastards who get pleasure from putting others down.”
Cheche stared at Evil, who was criticizing them harshly.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because it’s absurd that you’re the one saying that, Director.”
“Do you want to die?”
Hot-tempered and easily excited Evil immediately jumped up fuming.
“You’re climbing all over me because I’m letting you off, fuck. You think I can’t kill you?”
Unlike Evil who was yapping, Cheche’s expression remained calm. Not scared, not making excuses…
After hurling a few insults, Evil, who realized through past experience that no matter what he said, those indifferent eyes would continue, quickly calmed down due to his hot-tempered and easily cooling nature. Until now, he hadn’t known because he’d never had an opponent like this, but with someone in front of him who absorbed all his bad temper, he didn’t even feel much like getting angry.
“Fuck, I’ll let it slide this time… Just keep reading that.”
