“You must not come out.”
At that moment, a sound like reason snapping went off in Seonwoo’s head.
He turned his body and headed to the window. He opened the closed window wide and looked down. Rain pouring diagonally instantly soaked Seonwoo’s hair.
“……”
Should he just jump down? It was only the second-floor height. It wasn’t stone ground but well-maintained grass. Seonwoo, seized by impulse, looked around the room once and then headed to the bed.
He pulled the blanket and pad down to the floor and even stripped off the mattress cover. He began binding them together. Because his right hand was in this state, strength didn’t enter properly, making it difficult to tie the knots strongly. For the parts lacking strength, he bit with his teeth to tighten the knots firmly.
After repeating several times, it roughly took shape. After binding three large cloths together, it was clearly over 5 meters long at a glance. The problem was whether this could withstand Seonwoo’s body weight or not.
Seonwoo knew this was an insane act even as he secured himself firmly to the window frame. Even so, he had no intention of stopping. He’d rather break something somewhere. Waiting obediently as the Vice Director told him to was something he couldn’t do even if he died and came back to life.
When he put his foot on the windowsill and leaned his body out, his vision spun for a moment. The length was sufficient, but because of the insanely pouring rain, the outer surface was already getting wet. It was such a shoddy appearance that anyone would shake their head.
But Seonwoo grabbed the rope without hesitation. As force naturally entered, pain was felt in his right hand. Seonwoo ignored it and supported his entire body on the rope. Snap. Just from putting his weight on it, sounds of stitches breaking could be heard here and there. At the same time, the window frame seemed to have tilted slightly. Seonwoo deliberately didn’t look up and slowly lowered his body.
That brief time felt far too long. When he looked down, about half remained. But it seemed neither the rope nor his right hand could endure any longer. Seonwoo gritted his teeth and just jumped down.
His body, which had cut through the air, crashed to the ground. Seonwoo failed to keep his balance and rolled across the lawn. Ack, urk, ngh—pathetic groaning sounds burst out one after another. The noise was buried in the sound of rain pounding the ground.
Even after his body stopped, Seonwoo couldn’t get up right away. A little later, he barely raised his upper body with his trembling arms. A stinging pain was felt throughout his back, and his knees tingled as if they’d cramped. Fortunately, his ankles were fine, so there was no problem walking.
He was barefoot, but it couldn’t be helped. Seonwoo roughly brushed off his dirty clothes and stood up. Had he walked about two steps? His body swayed greatly and he fell over helplessly.
“Huk……”
His head was too dizzy. Even dry heaving came up. Seonwoo lay face down on the lawn in exactly the same position as Taejeong had been collapsed in the study. However, he breathed in short gasps while holding his head instead of his shoulder.
Each time he exhaled, rainwater entered his mouth. He didn’t know how long he’d lain there like that. When his vision, which had briefly turned pitch black, returned to normal, it felt like he might live a little.
Seonwoo held his dizzy head and forcibly raised his body. Was it because his hair hung down limply, soaked by the rain? His head felt too heavy. He struggled to straighten his body that kept leaning to one side.
Just the thought that the men guarding the door might have already noticed made him move his legs. Before he knew it, Seonwoo, who’d reached the gate, safely escaped outside the house. Cold asphalt touched his bare feet. Rain was pouring down like a deluge on the pitch-black alley.
Seonwoo, standing by the roadside, waved his hand. Just then, a passing taxi had ‘vacant’ written on its sign. But the taxi passed by without slowing down. To other people’s eyes, Seonwoo, soaked from head to toe without even an umbrella in this downpour and barefoot, could only look like a crazy person.
When the third refusal to board continued, Seonwoo gave up and turned around. Since he knew the way, he planned to walk to the hospital. But it wasn’t easy to push through the downpour with his bare body. His mind rushed ahead, but his body, soaked and drooping from the rain, wouldn’t follow. Because he knew the way, he was more impatient. His steps gradually quickened at the thought that he’d only made it this far.
Once the speed increased, it didn’t decrease. Before he knew it, Seonwoo was running. But before long, his foot slipped on the rainwater and he fell hard. A car horn sounded several times from afar. It was a stroke of luck that an accident didn’t occur. But Seonwoo immediately got up and took another step.
His vision blurred from the rain flowing into his eyes. The rain became fiercer and fiercer, but Seonwoo didn’t stop. His gaze was directed not at what was immediately before his eyes but at somewhere far away. He was clearly standing on the ground, but because of the rain soaking his entire body, it felt like he was submerged in water. Before he knew it, water had risen to his throat, and his breathing only became more labored as if he were slowly drowning.
**ლ**
When a boy came in opening the emergency room door, the on-duty nurse thought the patient had walked in on his own and visually secured an empty bed first.
He was soaked with rain from head to toe, and his clothes were a mess as if he’d rolled over muddy water. Moreover, he was barefoot. The nurse thought he might be a drunk.
But he walked over fine and then began to pull back all the emergency room bed curtains. When the nurse, who’d hurried over, restrained him, he stopped his actions but threw out questions as if he’d been waiting.
“Did a kid with a shoulder injury come here?”
“You can’t wander around like this. Who exactly are you looking for?”
“He’s taller than me and bigger, he looks mean, and, he was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt……”
“Just a moment, could you come this way and calm down for a bit?”
Even up close, there was no smell of alcohol. If he was doing this while sober, it was more dangerous. The nurse deliberately acted nonchalant to avoid provoking him.
“Student, what’s your name? Your own name.”
“Song Seonwoo.”
“And the name of the person you’re looking for?”
“……Ju Taejeong.”
“Yes. I’ll look for him, so could you sit for a moment? It’s dangerous, so wipe off the moisture with this too.”
The nurse led Seonwoo to an empty bed and sat him down. Then she placed a dry towel in his hand and asked.
“Did you happen to fall on the way? You’re bleeding…… Would you like to receive at least simple treatment?”
Seonwoo’s palms were roughly scraped and the skin was swollen red. Rainwater and blood were mixed, making them damp, and small pebbles and dirt were embedded in the skin.
His bare feet without even socks were in similar condition. The nurse asked about his intention to receive treatment for confirmation, but Seonwoo shook his head. His mind seemed to be elsewhere, so he couldn’t feel the pain.
“At least wear these.”
The nurse left hospital slippers and returned to the counter. Seonwoo, even while sitting on the bed, continued to look around. There were no more places with curtains drawn.
Taejeong wasn’t among the people lying in beds. No matter how much he looked around the emergency room, he couldn’t see him. From the troubled expression of the nurse approaching from afar, Seonwoo instinctively sensed he would hear bad news.
“The person you’re looking for is named Ju Taejeong, correct? But there’s no patient registered under that name in the system.”
“……”
“Perhaps you mistook the name……”
Seonwoo’s eyes blinked slowly. The voice of the nurse right next to him gradually became distant. Taejeong wasn’t here. Then there was no reason to be doing this.
When his wet sole touched the rubber bottom of the slippers, a damp friction sound was heard. Seonwoo headed not toward the emergency room entrance he’d come in through, but toward the door connected to the hospital lobby.
He planned to search everywhere at random, whether it was the Vice Director’s office or whatever. Or just report to the police. Reckless impulses multiplied wildly in Seonwoo’s mind.
Literally, he couldn’t see straight. At the point where he’d jumped out the window and walked through the downpour for over an hour, he was already not in his right mind. Squeak, screech—the sound of wet slippers sliding echoed.
