He’d made a serious mistake. This person wasn’t someone who could help Taejeong but someone who would worsen the situation further. Seonwoo instinctively stepped back to distance himself from the doctor.
“Hey, wait.”
A strong hand grabbed Seonwoo’s forearm. His body, unable to keep balance with one foot lifted, swayed greatly. The doctor didn’t care about that and pulled Seonwoo.
“We haven’t even finished talking yet, where are you trying to go?”
The doctor was clearly larger in build than an average physique. His grip was so strong that it wasn’t easy even when Seonwoo tried to escape. The place he was dragged to while struggling was a location a bit away from the operating room.
When the doctor released the door lock and entered, the inside was full of lockers. The doctor, who took out his phone from the locker closest to the door, made a call with one hand. With the opposite hand, he still held Seonwoo’s forearm.
“Yes, Society Chairman. The surgery is finished, so I’m calling to confirm. You must have been very worried.”
It was a completely different, simpering voice from when he’d been dealing with Seonwoo just before. He bowed his head and groveled to someone who wasn’t even in front of him right now.
The following conversation was all medical terms Seonwoo was hearing for the first time, making it hard to understand precisely. But he could grasp the context that the surgery had ended safely and well.
“Yes. And it’s not for any other reason, but there’s a male student here……”
The doctor glanced at Seonwoo beside him. His eyes were full of distrust.
“The kid is saying some strange things. So I was wondering if he’s really your son’s friend…… Ah…… Oh, I see. Yes, yes, I understand. Not at all. Of course, I should do that.”
The doctor suddenly seemed troubled and didn’t know what to do. He even scratched his head and moved noisily. Then with a sour face, he let go of Seonwoo’s arm and handed over his phone.
“He says to take it.”
“……”
“I’ll wait outside, so feel free to talk. No one comes at this hour, so don’t feel burdened.”
Seonwoo didn’t react at all. Still, the doctor smiled broadly and personally placed the phone in his hand. Suddenly his manner of speaking became polite and his attitude changed to be favorable.
Even after the doctor left, Seonwoo remained silent. He just looked down at the phone expressionlessly and quietly. That stillness was rather eerie. A heavy tension circled as if everything would explode with even the slightest stimulus.
— Did you answer the phone?
The Vice Director’s voice was heard from the speaker. It was a perfect confirmation kill. The hope that was no different from delusion—that the doctor might have mistaken Taejeong for someone else’s child, that the person called Society Chairman was someone separate from the Vice Director—disappeared like foam.
— Where did you learn how to escape out the window? You’re amazing.
The Vice Director already knew the entire situation. Seonwoo, who’d been motionless, finally brought the phone to his ear.
“Are you acquainted with the phone’s owner?”
— We’re in the same industry, so we know each other’s faces. Ahjussi was also surprised to suddenly get a call. How did you happen to go there of all the many hospitals?
Those words sounded exactly like the current situation was a result you chose yourself.
— What will you do now? Are you going to try going to the police station this time?
“……”
— If that’s what Seonwoo wants to do, go ahead. I won’t stop you.
There wasn’t a trace of mockery in the Vice Director’s voice. It contained only the sincerity of telling him to struggle however he wanted. He wanted Seonwoo to hit his limits and realize reality on his own.
But Seonwoo already knew. That going to the police station would be no different from now. It would have been the same even if he’d gone to a different hospital instead of here. The Vice Director was someone who could crush hope by any means.
In the end, from beginning to end, he’d been playing in the Vice Director’s palm. Even being able to take Taejeong out of the Vice Director’s hospital wasn’t a miracle Seonwoo had completely created himself.
Then why go this far? Those words rose to the tip of his throat, but Seonwoo gritted his teeth and swallowed them. There was no malice in the Vice Director’s voice. So there was no point in asking.
— If you don’t feel like it, you can come back together with Taejeong.
“……”
— You’re worried he’ll be tormented, right? Seonwoo should monitor from the side.
This time it was easy to understand. It meant that once he was done grasping reality, he should return to the hospital now. Seonwoo also said only the necessary words without weighing anything.
“Don’t hit him ever again.”
— …….
“If you just keep that, I have no intention of being troublesome either.”
He thought it wasn’t a difficult request. But suddenly a small voice of admiration was heard from the speaker. Even after that, there was no answer, so silence fell for a moment.
— Seonwoo-ya.
For a moment, Seonwoo frowned and moved the phone far from his ear. The Vice Director’s voice calling his name contained some inexplicable emotion that gave him chills.
— There’s something Ahjussi has been thinking about since the old days.
“……”
— I believed that you could become family even if blood isn’t connected.
“I can’t understand when you talk like that. You know my head got messed up from the accident.”
Even in this situation, the Vice Director spoke nonsense about grasping at clouds. Seonwoo, who had no intention of listening to the end, so asked outright what he was trying to say.
— What Ahjussi wants is one thing. I hope you’ll continue to get along well with Taejeong like brothers from now on.
“……”
— It’s raining a lot. Come back carefully.
With those words as the last, the call ended. The Vice Director was completely certain Seonwoo would return together. He irritably threw the phone into the locker. It was as the Vice Director said. Seonwoo couldn’t send Taejeong back alone. Knowing what kind of things he’d suffer if he went.
“Hey, hey. Are you done with the call?”
“……”
“I heard you’re well acquainted with the Society Chairman too? Ah, if that’s the case, you should’ve told me beforehand. Student, really……”
When he left the locker room, the doctor greeted Seonwoo with greatly exaggerated gestures. He even grabbed his shoulder and spoke, but Seonwoo gave no response at all. The doctor’s very existence wasn’t in his mind.
“Uh, student? When an adult is speaking, you should at least answer……”
Then from far away, the operating room door opened. This time, a bed actually came out. Several medical staff were holding the railings on both sides and pushing. Seonwoo batted away the hand still rubbing his shoulder and approached that direction.
Through the gaps between people, Taejeong’s figure seemed to appear and not appear, flickering. It was hard to approach closely because he was in the way of passage. Instead of forcibly squeezing in, Seonwoo glanced at the doctor who’d quickly followed beside him and was endlessly chattering.
“Actually, this may seem like nothing when spoken about, but when you actually open it up, it’s a very tricky surgery. It’s fortunate I entered the operating room. If I’d left it to the fellows, oh my…… They couldn’t have even touched it. Anyway, so when he wakes up later, you should speak well of me, student. Since you’re friends, you’ll meet often, won’t you?”
“Why go through the trouble? I’ll tell his dad directly.”
“Huh? How?”
“When we talked earlier, he told me to come along too.”
“Ah, really? If the Society Chairman said so, of course you should do that! Hey there, take this friend along when you go. He’s the guardian.”
The commanding gesture was so arrogant. The medical staff seemed accustomed to that attitude and accepted it casually. The elevator was so packed with just the bed and medical staff that he couldn’t ride together. When Seonwoo lingered in front of it, the nurse closest to the entrance spoke.
“Guardian, please take the next elevator and come to the first floor. You know the emergency room entrance, right? If you come out that way, you’ll see the ambulance right away.”
The moment the elevator door closed, Seonwoo looked around. One door right nearby caught his eye. An emergency exit sticker was attached there. Seonwoo didn’t wait for the elevator and headed that way.
He heard the doctor’s flustered interjection from behind him, but that was it. He didn’t annoyingly follow behind Seonwoo. Each time he descended the stairs two or three steps at a time with long strides, his soles stung and his knees ached.
Seonwoo bit down hard on the flesh inside his cheek and went down the stairs almost at a run. He was concentrating all his nerves not to fall stupidly rather than because of the pain felt from all over his body.
