Chapter 73
I stood there, holding the slackened rope, staring blankly at Yu Hyunjae. He met my gaze without a word. I shook the rope silently, urging him to move.
“…What is it?”
“Practice.”
“Practice?”
“The sports festival practice. We haven’t done it since last time.”
Yu Hyunjae didn’t respond for a moment. Just as I was about to pull my hand back, embarrassed, he slowly stood up.
“Let’s do it. Practice.”
Since it was the day before the sports festival, the field was packed with students—some practicing, others just pretending to. Most seemed to be using the event as an excuse to flirt. Yu Hyunjae and I finally found an empty spot and tied the rope around our ankles. As I secured the knot, he stood still, watching me.
“Let’s start with the left foot.”
When I wrapped my arm around Yu Hyunjae’s waist, I felt his body tense. Hesitantly, he placed his hands on my shoulders.
“Hold me properly.”
“I am holding you.”
We took slow, careful steps. After nearly stumbling a few times, we finally managed to cover the 100 meters.
“What do we do now?”
“Why?”
“We’re going to come in last at this rate.”
“…”
“What if we secretly use mana to move a little faster?”
Yu Hyunjae let out a hollow laugh at my suggestion.
“You hate cheating, Chanhee.”
“I do. But I’m more afraid of the class president.”
“Let’s practice more.”
Yu Hyunjae gave the textbook answer. Without a word, I extended my left foot, signaling to go back the way we came.
As we practiced, I thought about how to ease Yu Hyunjae’s mind, even just a little. It was contradictory—trying to solve a problem without giving an answer—but I had no choice. I couldn’t reveal all my secrets right now.
“It’s easy, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Hyunjae.”
We sat on a bench under the pretense of resting, still bound by the rope. At my call, Yu Hyunjae turned his head to look at me.
“My personality is really messed up.”
“What’s this all of a sudden…”
“I know. I keep secrets, don’t talk, and try to solve everything alone. If you were like that, I’d be so angry. I’m really selfish.”
“…You know that, and you still act like this?”
“Yeah, I really have a terrible personality. There’s probably no one in this world—or at least in this school—as screwed up as me.”
“…”
“So even if someone with my exact skin showed up… I hope you wouldn’t be fooled.”
I swallowed involuntarily after saying this. Yu Hyunjae didn’t answer. I hadn’t expected one, so I just tried to endure and enjoy the silence.
“Yeah. There’s no one else like you.”
“That’s true, but you agreed too fast.”
“And I’m just a pathetic person for liking someone like you.”
“Are we having some kind of flaw battle?”
“Tell me.”
Yu Hyunjae’s neatly styled hair fluttered in the wind. The setting sun bathed his face in a red glow. I thought, absurdly, how pretty he looked.
“I’m ready to accept everything.”
Yu Hyunjae’s words implied he already knew my hidden secrets were deeply negative.
“Even if I can’t solve it, just tell me.”
“…Really?”
“I’ll try to solve it. I hate seeing you suffer in silence.”
“…”
“But I can’t lie.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll struggle if I hit something I can’t solve.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll feel powerless and stupid, and sometimes I might be sad or angry.”
“Okay.”
“But I still want to know.”
Yu Hyunjae smoothed his hair and looked out over the field.
“Because it’s about you. So tell me. Anytime.”
I nodded as if entranced. Only then did Yu Hyunjae smile brightly and look at me.
“I’ll wait. Just don’t make me wait too long.”
“Can you… really handle it?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
Of course, he couldn’t. I knew that. The reality was too cruel for even me to accept.
“I prepare to accept anything every day.”
Yu Hyunjae didn’t need to know that preparation wasn’t enough.
“So I’ll wait.”
But I nodded. After all, I was an irrational, illogical person.
***
“You’re earlier than expected.”
Jeon Jeongwoo looked at me with his usual emotionless, rigid expression. I placed my bag where he indicated and obediently climbed onto the bed.
“Have you had any symptoms like last time over the past few days?”
“No.”
“Hmm.”
Surprised, Jeon Jeongwoo scribbled something on the chart. Watching him write on paper in this sterile, data-driven place felt odd. I asked pointedly, my tone sharp.
“You must be a genius to claim you can fix a terminal condition.”
“Ah, your father told you, I see.”
“It would’ve been better if you’d told me directly.”
“You’re a minor. It’s safer to inform your guardian.”
Jeon Jeongwoo answered quickly, as if he understood my question perfectly. It only annoyed me more.
“And I didn’t say I could fix it. I said I’d try.”
“You’re really good at dodging, huh?”
“Let’s call it caution.”
Jeon Jeongwoo set down the chart, pulled over one of the idle machines, and turned it on.
“Could you roll up your sleeve?”
He applied gel to my wrist and began sticking patches on it like bandages. It looked like an ECG, except it was on my wrist, not my chest.
“What is this?”
“We couldn’t do this last time without your permission, but we need to measure your mana properly.”
“Can this thing really measure mana?”
“If it couldn’t, we wouldn’t use it. Remember the first screening in childhood? You just had to put your hand in the machine.”
Suddenly, the machine beeped. Jeon Jeongwoo checked the output and looked slightly surprised.
“It’s really high. I haven’t seen levels this high in a long time.”
I didn’t respond. It was natural—my original mana plus Yu Dohyun’s.
“And it’s this unstable, too. That’s a first.”
“…”
“It’s like two completely different people’s mana mixed together.”
Since I still didn’t answer, Jeon Jeongwoo began peeling off the patches one by one.
“If this doesn’t integrate properly, what happened last time will keep happening.”
“I figured.”
“Do you know how to mix water and oil?”
“…”
“You add soap. In other words, you inject another liquid entirely. So we’re going to put ‘soap’ into your body, Chanhee. Not literal soap, of course—it’s a metaphor.”
“What’s this ‘soap’?”
“This.”
What Jeon Jeongwoo brought was a sealed pack filled with red liquid. It looked like—
“No matter how I look at it, that’s blood.”
“Real blood?”
“Of course not.”
With practiced ease, Jeon Jeongwoo connected the pack to a rubber tube and attached a sterilized needle.
“Just relax like you’re getting an IV.”
“So what is this?”
“Don’t worry. It’s a drug that’s passed all clinical trials.”
With a reluctant expression, I extended my wrist again. Jeon Jeongwoo found a vein and inserted the needle, securing it with tape.
“I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Just stay like this?”
“Exactly.”
Jeon Jeongwoo paused at the door, chart in hand, and added,
“If you feel anything unusual, press the call button beside you.”
I looked over and saw a red button. The room did resemble a hospital room.
“Of course, the surveillance camera is running in real time.”
Thud. I stared blankly at the closed door. Why tell me now that I’m being watched? Not that I planned to move, but the feeling of being observed was unsettling. I thought about reaching for my phone, but sleep suddenly overwhelmed me. Had they put a sedative in it? That was my last thought before I fell into a deep sleep.
