He turned his gaze to Han Min-jae, who stood waiting at attention with his back against the closed clinic door. Doctor Jang hadn’t been asking Yi-won that question to begin with — he’d apparently already known that Yi-won would tire himself out and fall asleep.
“By the way, why is Executive Director Choi suddenly doing something so out of character? Is he about to die? Maybe my long-awaited retirement will come sooner than I thought.”
“I don’t know anything about that either.”
“If even Min-jae doesn’t know, then it can’t be someone he’s close with.”
“……”
“Then there’s only one thing left to suspect.”
“……”
“Organ trafficking.”
He tossed out the chilling words with a perfectly dry expression, as if it were nothing. Across from him, Secretary Han offered a faint smile. Fortunately, it was one of denial.
“There are absolutely no plans in that direction.”
“Right? I thought so. I mean, I’m fine stitching back severed limbs, but gutting someone alive is something I’d rather die than do. Especially if they’re young and pretty.”
Wordplay and sarcasm. The conversation hovered somewhere between the two. Anyone else listening would have been horrified — it was the kind of joke that could make a person’s blood run cold. Doctor Jang straightened up from the relaxed slouch he’d settled into against the back of his chair.
“Leave this one here. He probably won’t be able to get up easily. If you force him awake and move him around, he might collapse and end up right back here — so if you don’t want to make the trip twice, just leave him. I’ll contact Executive Director Choi myself.”
“……”
“Surely it wasn’t Choi Woo-hyuk who beat him up like this?”
“It wasn’t.”
“Then this is even stranger.”
Doctor Jang and Secretary Han. Both of their gazes drifted toward the sleeping Yi-won.
Strange… when did I lose it.
Yi-won, dressed in a hospital gown, rummaged thoroughly through the pockets of his clothes stored in the cabinet.
When the weather turned cold, his lips chapped easily, so he always kept a lip balm in his pocket. Since he transferred it from pocket to pocket every time he changed clothes, he’d naturally assumed it would be there — but there was nothing to grab onto.
“Aunt Mi-sun bought that for me……”
He didn’t want to accept that he’d lost the strawberry-scented lip balm he’d barely even used. He’d already dug through his pockets more than a dozen times, but still nothing turned up.
It hadn’t fallen to the bottom of the cabinet either. Maybe I lost it at Shizunami. Disappointment was written plainly across Yi-won’s face. With a fleeting resolve to go to Shizunami first thing after leaving the hospital, he reluctantly closed the cabinet door.
Yi-won was now on his fourth day of hospitalization. He couldn’t speak for what hospital life was like for others, but he could honestly say that these past three days had been nothing short of the best time of his life.
The hospital room was bigger and more comfortable than his dormitory. Thanks to the firm mattress, he didn’t have to feel the dampness that seeped up through the floor all year round. The heating, warm enough that he wasn’t cold even with the blanket only half pulled over him, was simply bliss.
When he drew back the blinds covering the entire wall, a clear sky — autumn having already given way to winter — filled the window beyond.
The meals provided at every mealtime left no room for hunger. He didn’t have to think about what to eat between tasks, or how to scrape together something today just to fill his stomach — worries he’d had to carry every single time before.
That was even more true after eating. He no longer had to crouch in some out-of-the-way corner where no one would notice him, snatching whatever sleep he could.
Even when he briefly opened his eyes for a nurse’s visit to change his IV or remind him of scheduled tests, Yi-won would slip back into deep sleep as if running away from the world.
But the longer the peace stretched on, the more the reality he’d briefly pushed aside began to lift its head. The anxiety that had settled quietly began to rise slowly back to the surface.
Knock knock.
The door opened with a knock. Doctor Jang stepped into the room wearing a white coat, both hands tucked in his pockets.
“Jeong Yi-won.”
“Hello.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Good. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Doctor Jang nodded as if that was good to hear.
“When was your first heat after your secondary trait presentation?”
“……I haven’t had one yet.”
“Not yet?”
“Yes. I presented at the start of this year.”
“And you’ve been tested?”
Doctor Jang tilted his head slightly, as if surprised by Yi-won’s response, and answered.
“Most of the island’s visitors are alphas, so there would have been some degree of exposure — and yet it’s been just over a year since presentation. That’s quite late. This must be your first visit for medical care since presenting? There’s no data on file.”
Yi-won nodded.
It was said that the only trait that could be confirmed while still in the womb was alpha. Most people were born as betas and stayed that way, or else presented as omegas later on. Secondary trait manifestation typically coincided with the onset of secondary sex characteristics. Yi-won, whose growth and development had been stunted by a difficult environment, had presented late as well.
“The pheromone levels from yesterday’s test came back abnormally low, so I was considering running additional tests — but it sounds like we don’t need to go that far.”
“……”
“Prescribing suppressants now wouldn’t mean much then, either. You’ve probably heard about it in theory, but symptoms usually start out feeling similar to body aches. However — the scent. Instinctively, you’ll start seeking out alpha pheromones. After that happens, don’t forget to come in. You’ll need to have gone through a heat cycle before suppressants become an option.”
Doctor Jang spoke quickly, and Yi-won couldn’t hold all of it in his head at once — but he nodded anyway. Scent. Alpha pheromones. Suppressants after the first heat cycle. He broke it into pieces and turned each one over in his mind. That’ll cost money too. Once again, Yi-won’s conclusions circled back to money.
“It’ll be another three to four days before the bruising fully clears. Let’s aim for discharge around then.”
“What? No, why……”
Yi-won couldn’t make sense of what Doctor Jang was saying. His body had recovered, and the bruising that was steadily fading would disappear on its own within a few days. There didn’t seem to be any tests left to run. There was no reason to delay discharge. The sooner he got out, the more hospital bills he could save — even if only by a fraction.
Yi-won grabbed Doctor Jang’s arm and stepped off the bed. His bare, thin feet touched the cold marble floor.
“No, Doctor, if there’s nothing wrong with me, I’ll discharge myself. I’m not in pain anymore. There’ll be plenty of things that need doing… and I’m not in bad enough shape that I need to rest.”
“Since you’re already resting, just rest a little longer.”
His meager wages were already a heavy burden against the hospital fees that were, for some reason, especially steep for islanders. Wanting to show that his condition had recovered, Yi-won moved his body more forcefully than he needed to.
“I really am fine.”
“You still have bruises, Jeong Yi-won. And your lip is still split.”
Doctor Jang’s gaze rested on Yi-won with a look of detachment as he shrugged and spoke. A small jerk of his chin accompanied it for good measure.
“These will disappear on their own if I just leave them, so there’s really no reason to stay in the hospital……”
“Someone told me to keep you here.”
“……Pardon?”
Doctor Jang turned the question back on Yi-won with a look that said, don’t ask me.
Surely not.
“You don’t need to worry about the cost. If you’re frustrated, just bear with it for a few days and pretend you had no choice.”
“……”
“I don’t know the reason. I was just told to keep Jeong Yi-won here until the bruising’s gone, and then send him on his way. I’m just running an errand — and I get praised when I follow orders.”
He called it an errand to soften it, but it was essentially a command, and Doctor Jang made a show of fussing dramatically in front of Yi-won about how he had no idea what would happen to him if he let Yi-won discharge early.
“That tall one with the eyes like this, who just smokes cigarette after cigarette. The one who looks like trouble. You know who I mean, right?”
Doctor Jang stretched one hand high above his own head. With both hands, he pulled the outer corners of his own eyes wide apart. Yi-won recognized immediately who Doctor Jang was imitating — but he didn’t want to acknowledge the sight of him deliberately contorting his face into something mean.
