Naturally thinking he was injecting his mom, the Vice Director brought the syringe toward Seonwoo instead. As Seonwoo widened his eyes and tried to pull out the caught hand, it didn’t budge. It happened to be the injured hand, so he couldn’t put proper strength into it.
“What’s wrong? Are you afraid of syringes perhaps?”
Where would there be a person who wouldn’t be surprised when about to be injected with an unidentified drug? Seonwoo’s reaction was extremely normal, but the Vice Director looked at him like a patient who needed to be handled carefully.
“What is this?”
“A sedative. Are you worried Uncle might inject you with some strange drug?”
The Vice Director gently rubbed the inside of Seonwoo’s arm as if soothing a frightened child. It was where the blood vessels ran.
“It’ll be over quickly, so close your eyes.”
He knew the man in front of him was a doctor and had even calmed his mom’s seizure just moments ago, but an instinctive rejection arose.
Without realizing it, strength entered his elbow, but he couldn’t escape from the Vice Director’s soft palm. Instead of closing his eyes, Seonwoo stared straight at the needle piercing his skin.
After a stinging pain, the needle stayed in his body for only a very brief moment. Just a slight push of the end of the syringe and it was over. There wasn’t even a feeling of something entering.
“It’s to let Seonwoo sleep soundly.”
The syringe went back into the case and disappeared beyond the inner pocket in an instant. The Vice Director, who finished everything in a flash, stroked Seonwoo’s head. As if nothing had happened.
A car was prepared right in front of the main gate. The moment he saw it, he could tell it was the car the Vice Director had called. It was a different kind from what the Vice Director drove, but even at a glance it looked expensive.
The driver who got out of the luxury sedan opened the back door and welcomed him. Seonwoo led his limp body and got in. The car instantly left the hospital.
Seonwoo was looking outside the window with a dazed expression as if intoxicated by drugs. He wasn’t even conscious that the man in the driver’s seat was the person who had dragged him to the second floor.
Whether it was because of the plush seat or the ride quality that moved forward with almost no vibration, it felt like being transported while floating in the air. His mind was hazy and something kept seeming about to surface in his head but didn’t quite.
Even after arriving home, Seonwoo showed no sign of getting out of the car with that same dazed expression. The driver, who had exchanged contact with somewhere, supported Seonwoo up to his second-floor room.
His legs were limp and both arms hung down weakly, making him easy to move. The room was just as Seonwoo had left it in disarray. The driver moved the mattress back to its original place, and as soon as he confirmed Seonwoo was lying on the bed, he left.
“…”
Seonwoo, who had looked up at the ceiling, blinked. The room was too dazzling. It wasn’t even noon yet, so the sunlight coming through the window was merciless.
There were no curtains, so there was no way to block it. Even with his eyes closed, it felt like light was piercing through his skin. Seonwoo curled up his body with his back to the window.
From the blanket touching the tip of his nose, he could smell fabric softener. His scarred hand tore at the soft blanket. It wasn’t this smell.
He wriggled his body and went under the blanket. He pulled the blanket up to the top of his head. Even so, the light wasn’t completely blocked. Seonwoo tossed and turned his body this way and that.
Then when he lay down in a proper position and the fabric pressed close, his entire face was blocked. It was just an ordinary blanket, but his chest felt stuffy as if choking his breath.
There was a scene that suddenly came to mind. A bed being quietly moved while covered by white cloth.
The moment he recalled that, it felt like his breath was being choked. The blanket that had settled over his face felt unbearably heavy. Seonwoo jerked his body up as if having a seizure. He even struggled as if trying to escape from under the blanket immediately. When he hastily tore off the blanket with both hands, air finally rushed into his nose and mouth.
“…”
In an awkward position, he caught his breath while clutching the blanket tightly. He was right before rolling off the bed from struggling. His hazy mind snapped awake, and he didn’t feel like he could fall asleep at all.
The image that had just surfaced in his head still flickered like an afterimage. Seonwoo scratched his neck with his head lowered. It still felt like he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to fall asleep somehow. He didn’t want to think about anything.
He left the room with staggering steps. His center of gravity swayed precariously, so his footsteps were heard irregularly. Seonwoo was walking across the second-floor living room when he suddenly fumbled in his pockets.
Even after stopping abruptly and fumbling for a while, there was nothing to grab. Even when he approached the sofa and opened the side table, the inside was only empty.
Though it was morning and sunlight permeated everywhere in the house, the corridor leading to Taejeong’s room was an exception. As if having nothing to do with the time outside, it was always in shadow.
He pulled the doorknob but it was blocked with a thud. The door was locked. Knock, knock. Even when he knocked, no sound was heard.
“Open the door.”
The entire house was quiet. Quiet enough that footsteps approaching from beyond the door could be heard immediately.
“…What?”
Taejeong, who appeared opening the door, had a slightly surprised face. It seemed like he was asking why he’d come at this hour.
Without even looking at Taejeong, Seonwoo smoothly passed by. He walked steadily to the window, closed the half-open window, and drew the blackout curtains.
The room instantly darkened. Still, compared to when he and Taejeong did that thing every night, it was endlessly bright. Seonwoo threw his body onto Taejeong’s bed.
“I need to sleep.”
His arms and legs were sprawled out carelessly like a robot whose battery had run out. Lying face-down stretched out on the bed, Seonwoo muttered with his face buried. It was neither a request nor an order.
“But my room is too bright. There are no curtains. So I covered myself with the blanket but I felt too suffocated. Why do I keep thinking of that? I need to sleep, I need to hurry and sleep. So, it’s dark here…”
He was letting words spill out however they came with his consciousness released. With his nose crushed making his voice nasal and his pronunciation mangled, sentences didn’t connect properly. It was no different from muttering, making it difficult to understand what he was saying.
It was a completely different appearance from his usual shameless behavior to the point of thinking ‘is he crazy’. There were often moments when he acted dazed as if screws had come loose after hearing news about his mother. But he’d never muttered nonsense to the point where sentences weren’t properly organized like now.
“…”
Taejeong just sat perched at the edge of the bed watching such a Seonwoo.
At some point, Seonwoo’s muttering had stopped. Only raspy breathing sounds were heard. Taejeong’s scent that had permeated the blanket filled the air abundantly. Drowsiness rushed in so quickly it was amazing, and Seonwoo opened his mouth.
“Wake me up later. I need to pack.”
The tip of his nose was still crushed against the bed. Seonwoo barely moved his lips and mumbled. His pronunciation was just as terrible as before.
“Where are you going?”
But Taejeong reacted immediately. He even narrowed the distance. Seonwoo’s body tilted slightly toward Taejeong’s direction.
“They said to be hospitalized.”
“What? Why? What’s wrong with you?”
Taejeong grabbed Seonwoo’s shoulder and flipped his body over. He checked the injured hand first, then examined here and there on his body. Seonwoo, whose sleep had completely fled, looked at what Taejeong was doing with an absurd face, then raised his hand.
“Not there, here.”
What Seonwoo pointed to was his own head.
“You always said it. That I’m a crazy bastard. Turns out it’s true. So they said to be hospitalized.”
“So what does that mean? Suddenly what…”
Though the person in question had already accepted it, Taejeong couldn’t comprehend. Seonwoo spoke calmly as if it were someone else’s business.
“My mom went into shock so I was a bit startled. I banged my forehead against the wall to calm down.”
“…”
“But apparently normal people don’t do that.”
“…”
Taejeong seemed to have lost his words, frozen stiffly and unable to say anything. Whether he did or not, Seonwoo removed the hand gripping his side.
