# Chapter 124
After finishing the drink, a weak cough erupted from me. I quickly shook off Moon Seoheon’s hand and wiped my mouth.
The liquid touching my skin wasn’t as sticky as I expected, so it wasn’t unpleasant, but my clothes were soaked, which made me feel uncomfortable.
When the coughing stopped, I struggled and pushed against Byeon Seungha, who was still holding me. As if there was no reason to hold me anymore, he let go willingly, and his attitude made me laugh sarcastically.
As nausea rose up, I covered my mouth with disgust, and tears that were a physiological reaction fell with a plop. I quickly rubbed my face with my left hand and shouted loudly.
“Hey, you crazy bastards. I said let’s talk it out. This is violence! You know that?”
Despite my forceful shout, the carrot taste lingering on my tongue made me continue to retch. I wanted to drink some water and looked around, but there was none within reach, and it was too much effort to go to the refrigerator.
Still, fortunately, I didn’t throw up. The heaving in my chest gradually calmed as the symptoms improved. But I couldn’t react nonchalantly, and despite my irritated tone, they showed indifferent reactions. No, to say they showed no reaction at all wasn’t quite accurate; their expressions were subtle.
Kwak Junhee, Maeng Moa, and Jung Hyoin, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa, had already stood up and approached me. Among them, Kwak Junhee spoke first.
“Taeho. Are you okay?”
“…You’re asking that now?”
I frowned intensely in disbelief, but the other person just smiled slightly. Terrified by that, I inwardly muttered “crazy bastard” once more and shook my head.
I felt awful, but realizing that spewing curses would be of no use, I opened my mouth toward Moon Seoheon.
“So what the hell was that about? How am I supposed to react to this?”
There must be a reason for this behavior. I stared at him directly as if telling him to explain, and grumbled with bitterness due to the surging emotions.
“…You don’t like it.”
An unexpected answer flowed from him, but it wasn’t nonsense as it soon confirmed my suspicion.
So, are you telling me you forcibly fed me carrot juice to find out whether I dislike it or not? Could they have fed Yoon Taeho in the same way?
It was obvious that anyone would dislike it if fed this way, no matter how much they liked the food.
I felt a tightness in my chest as if something was weighing on it, so I placed my hand over it and patted it a few times.
Because I was restrained, I had drunk almost all of the bottled beverage, but it wasn’t enough to upset my stomach or make me vomit. My stomach was just full from the sudden influx of drink, but not bloated.
Still, they could have just talked it out rather than forcing it like this.
“Did you want to see if I would throw up after drinking that?”
“……”
“So now that you’ve confirmed I’m fine, have you found out everything you were curious about?”
The surging emotion and desire to get angry faded away. Instead, a cold fury swept through my mind. As I asked calmly but with a sharp tone, Moon Seoheon, who had been keeping his mouth shut, answered a beat late.
“…Yeah.”
Though it was a very small sound and a short answer, I did hear it.
Contrary to before, Moon Seoheon’s eyes were clear, but his expression was somewhat dazed. Even so, his face looked distorted with tears, making it hard to say anything to him.
With complicated feelings, I looked around at the other guys, and though they were different from Moon Seoheon, The Four’s expressions were all the same.
I was about to say something, but I firmly closed my mouth, thinking it would only provoke more anger.
How long had we been like that? Somewhere, the sound of a water droplet falling made a ‘plop.’ That’s how long we had been in heavy silence without anyone saying a word.
If they were being quiet because they felt sorry, it had some effect. The guys were staring at me intensely, which made me feel embarrassed and awkward, so I sighed and then unbuttoned my hospital gown.
The wet area was larger than I thought, and it didn’t seem like it would dry quickly, so it would be better to change clothes. Rather than wasting precious time, it would be better to do something practical.
At that moment, a hand shot out and grabbed my arm. It belonged to Jung Hyoin, and the other guys also had their hands extended toward me, as if they were about to grab me too.
“Why?”
“What?”
When I asked why they were doing that, the question came back at me. I thought, “Right, that was Jung Hyoin,” and shook my hand as if to shake his off. Whether the meaning that he should let go of my arm was conveyed well or not, he let go but then grabbed my top.
With two buttons already undone, my top soon became wrinkled as Jung Hyoin pulled at it. The wet part had noticeable creases and didn’t look good.
“Hyoin.”
“……”
When I furrowed my brows in displeasure, I was able to remove his hand thanks to Moon Seoheon grabbing Jung Hyoin’s arm.
I was roughly straightening out the stretched top, but since I was going to change anyway, I stopped and sent glances to each of them one by one.
“Leave if you have nothing else to do. I’m going to change clothes.”
At school, we changed into gym clothes without any concern, so you might think what’s the issue with changing clothes here, but when I said to leave, I literally meant go back home.
And my words were only half fulfilled.
The guys who had been stubborn about not leaving finally went outside the hospital room when I got irritable. I couldn’t stand watching them engage in what seemed like a tense battle of wits, with them eyeing each other, and I burst out in anger.
“Seriously… why are they acting like that? It doesn’t seem like they’re trying to mess with me.”
If Yoon Taeho had made a mistake and they were angry about it, I could somewhat understand, but their way of resolving it was strange, and even if this was just to check if I had changed, it was too extreme.
“What can you expect from those guys? Sigh…”
Still, because of this crazy method, I strongly felt the reality of being Yoon Taeho again and coming back to this place.
Indeed, seeing and experiencing it directly, this place seemed too real to be inside an animation. Of course, those guys had somewhat different tendencies from normal people, but even in the place I lived, there were plenty of crazy people who made you wonder if they were actually human.
Then I suddenly thought of Jeon Seohan, who was likely to be directly related to this incident. To understand what happened properly, it seemed I needed to talk with him.
At that moment, there was a small noise as the door rattled. I could faintly hear the voices of the guys who had gone outside.
When I concentrated and listened, it was nonsensical talk about having to move hospitals or get treatment. That sounds like they’re talking about me… how do they come up with such ideas?
Changing just the top took a long time due to my uncomfortable body, and the guys who had been waiting outside couldn’t wait anymore and opened the door.
The top that I hadn’t yet put on my injured arm was flapping. Moon Seoheon, who came in first, grabbed the sleeve and spread it out to make it easier for me to put on.
Instead of saying thank you, I slipped my arm into it. When he began buttoning it up right away, I stayed still, and Moon Seoheon, who glanced at me, soon lowered his eyes and said.
“Tell me honestly.”
“What?”
His voice, deeper than usual, resonated vividly throughout the hospital room. So I couldn’t immediately respond to what followed.
“Could it be, you have dissociative identity disorder?”
“…What?”
It wasn’t a word I couldn’t understand, nor did I fail to hear it, but I genuinely asked back because the meaning of his words was completely incomprehensible to me.
Moon Seoheon’s hands, which were buttoning up without giving me a glance, were so cold that I flinched whenever they touched my skin. When I twitched, Moon Seoheon raised his head and lifted one hand to stroke my cheek.
Though he withdrew his hand quickly, he looked at his own palm as if it was fascinating, and then looked at me.
“…Interesting.”
“……”
“One dislikes even being touched, while the other doesn’t mind at all.”
Contrary to his intrigued expression, his self-deprecating tone made me come to my senses, and I grabbed his clothes with my uninjured hand.
“Hey… I think there’s some misunderstanding, but it’s not like that.”
I was going to correct him thinking he was seriously mistaken, but Moon Seoheon’s gentle touch made me swallow my words.
“It’s better to sleep now. I’m sorry for coming so late at night.”
With a nonchalant yet deeply emotional voice, Kwak Junhee said that and turned to the others, saying it was time to leave.
It was just that I was momentarily flustered and couldn’t speak, but Kwak Junhee’s eyes flickered slightly after seeing my expression. Soon, he supported my body and led me to the bed, and before I could stop him, I was lying down again.
The guys, who were looking at me with complicated gazes, turned toward the door with what seemed like heavy steps.
“No! It’s a misunderstanding! It’s not dissociative identity disorder… I’m… um.”
I stammered and couldn’t continue, but I quickly shouted to stop them from really leaving, yet I hesitated for a moment, wondering how to explain to make these guys understand well.
The door opened, and Kwak Junhee, who had stopped and turned back as they were leaving, smiled faintly.
“I know. They say sometimes the person doesn’t even realize it themselves. …But don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”
What is he saying now? I was dumbfounded and my mouth fell open as the guy who understood the least was trying to reassure me as if he knew everything.
For a moment, I was about to shout that I came from another world, but I decided against it, fearing it would add another misunderstanding of me being crazy. Yet I didn’t have enough time to catch them with legs that could barely walk.
Soon, the hospital room door closed, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded away. I clutched my head as if tearing at it, feeling a headache coming on.
“This is driving me crazy, really…”
