episode_0085

“Did the kids move me?”

The last memory that came to mind was the memory of the floor being swayed, so it seemed like someone had found me and moved me to the bed.

“Ugh… I need to drink some water.”

Today, for some reason, I pulled my heavy legs out of the bed and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Haah, cough!”

As I yawned, I felt a tickle in my throat and quickly closed my mouth. Just as I was about to get up from the bed to find some water…

Click.

The firmly closed door gently opened, and Iris, who was making a pained expression, entered the room.

“Ah, cough… Iris -…”

Reflexively grabbing my throat, I barely managed to say Iris’s name. Iris, who had been bowing her head, suddenly looked up at me.

“Oh…!”

With a short gasp, in the blink of an eye, Iris ran up to me. It was an incredible speed.

“Oppa!”

“Ugh!”

Iris hugged me tightly, causing my body to fall backward. I ended up embracing Iris and sprawling on the bed.

“Oppa, oppa…”

“Ugh…”

I raised my hand to comfort her sobbing, but only the sound of dying breaths, as if my thin arms were being crushed, came out. I gently patted Iris’s back and said,

“Surrender…”

Whether my intention was well conveyed or not, Iris was startled and fell away from me.

“Oh -… Oppa.”

Iris’s voice echoed, and my vision became dark.

“Wait, am I passing out right now?”

With this absurd thought, my consciousness abruptly faded away.

***

How much time had passed since then? I regained consciousness as if waking up from sleep.

“Ugh…”

“..! Lian!”

“Oppa!”

“Everyone, be quiet! Oppa is a patient!”

As I slowly opened my eyes to the buzzing sounds around me, worried eyes met mine.

“Cough, um… thirsty…”

As I spoke with a voice that was dying from thirst, someone supported my shoulders and back, half-raising my upper body, and someone else brought a cup to my lips.

Gulp, gulp.

“I feel alive!”

When my thirst was quenched, I felt a surge of energy. My exhausted body regained some strength.

Slosh, slosh.

If I could just fill my rumbling stomach like the crashing waves, I might be able to recover my original condition.

“Ah, I’m hungry.”

Reflexively muttering, Noah suddenly got up and dashed out of the room. Beyond the open door, I could see red hair flickering.

“Joo-in-nim…? Joo-in-nim…?”

Unable to enter the room, Jess’s voice lingered outside as she spoke with a vacant expression.

“Why is Jess… acting like that over there?”

“I told her not to come in because if she knew you were awake, she’d rush in without hesitation.”

As if waking up after sleeping all day, Lily answered as I muttered my thoughts aloud.

“Even so, shouldn’t I let her in? She looks so pitiful…”

“No, you can’t. You’ve been asleep for a whole week. You haven’t had a proper meal, so your body has become extremely weak. If Jess rushes in, it won’t end with just fainting.”

“A week…? Me?”

As I muttered with a vacant expression, someone urgently entered from outside the door. It was Nero and Noah.

“Hyung! You’re awake!”

Nero quickly approached the bed and examined my complexion, while Noah approached with a tray in hand.

“Snnrk…”

From outside the door, Jess’s whimpering could be heard. I looked at Lily and said,

“I’m fine, so just let her in.”

“You’re definitely not fine!”

Startled by the sudden sound of footsteps, I turned my head to find Noah looking at me with a deeply wrinkled face. Handing the tray to Nero, he came close to me and began pouring out his words.

“Do you know what state we found you in? You collapsed on the floor and didn’t even stir when we tried to wake you up! You stayed like that, collapsed, for a day… two days… Do you know how worried we were? Afraid that you might… leave us like this…”

Noah’s eyes began to fill with tears, and his body stiffened. Noah looked down and bit his lip for a moment before asking in a trembling voice.

“Why didn’t you tell me how bad your condition was? Why?”

I rolled my eyes and broke out in a cold sweat.

“I-I didn’t faint because of that. I just fainted while examining the jewel that fell on the floor.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say those words, as it would make me look like someone who thoughtlessly picked up food off the ground and ended up in the hospital. The worry-filled eyes staring at me made me feel as if I were being looked down upon, and my body felt frozen at the thought.

I didn’t know my brother was that kind of person. How old are you to pick up something that fell on the ground and play with it? I worried for nothing. What a waste of time.

As I sat there under the spotlight, shouting “Hey, don’t go!” like a tragic heroine, the clear image of the children leaving with cold expressions was vividly depicted.

It became even more difficult to speak when I imagined that far.

“U-um… that’s…”

Desperately searching for a plausible answer, I rolled my eyes.

“L-Lian!”

“Oh my goodness…!”

“….?”

Noah seemed flustered, and Lily, who had been quietly watching us, came close to me and began to examine my face.

“Why is there so much sweat…”

“Oh.”

While frantically turning my head to avoid being ignored by the children, I was sweating profusely, drenching my clothes.

“Sorry, my clothes and the bed got dirty.”

“What are you talking about right now!”

When I apologized for making the bed dirty after thinking for a moment, Lily poked me with a stern face. I started to watch her like a guilty puppy.

“It’s not important that your clothes got dirty – … No, this is not the time!”

Lily rushed out of the room and ran somewhere. I blinked my eyes and looked in the direction where Lily disappeared. Nero put the tray on the bedside table and said, “Lily went to get the tools used for treatment because she’s studying to be a therapist.”

“Oh… but I’m not feeling sick, though? I think I’ll be fine if I just eat something.”

I just spoke sincerely, but all I got in return was a stern look. Nero spoke with a firm expression resembling Lily’s.

“First, get treated, then eat. We don’t know if it’s okay to eat yet.”

With those firm words, I could only lie down on the bed, feeling despondent.

“If I just eat, I’ll feel better…”

As I sulked with such thoughts, I felt someone gently taking hold of my right hand. When I turned, Iris was holding the tip of my finger with a very worried look on her face.

Feeling her fingers tickling my hand as if checking my reaction, I firmly held her hand, and Iris looked at me with wide eyes, surprised. I tried to smile as gently as possible to reassure her.

“Sob…”

“Huh?”

Then Iris began to shed tears. I immediately tried to sit up to hug her, but her firm grip pressed my shoulder back onto the bed.

“Lie still.”

“Yes…”

Noah said in a low, commanding voice. Under Noah’s charisma, I became submissive again, placing both hands on my chest. How long did that last?

“Joo-in!”

Lily and Jess came into the room together. They must have been told to be quiet, as they approached cautiously, which was adorable.

“What’s all this about..?”

My gaze toward the cute Jess soon turned to the objects Lily was carrying.

“I got a lot of good stuff by raiding several places this time.”

Lily said so and spread out the unknown items on the bed, then boldly lifted my clothes up.

“Eek!”

“…?”

Unexpectedly, a feminine scream erupted from an unexpected place. Noah, whose face was flushed red, stepped back with both hands covering her face.

“Jjuin-nim… Does it hurt a lot? Should I lick it?”

Jess sniffed and extended his tongue with a sullen face. Lily pushed Jess away, holding up an object the size of an adult man’s fist.

Twisting the round-shaped object up and down, the middle opened up. The outer appearance of the round object seemed to be a case, but something like a medical band emerged from inside. Lily stuck it near my neck.

She took out three more bands and attached one to my forehead and one to each calf. Then, she started fiddling with other tools and began doing something.

“It feels like watching a mad scientist.”

Lily watched me move as if observing some strange mechanism of scientists that made a (ding!) sound when the microwave finished, creating something.

As time passed, just like a receipt being spat out from a card machine, something resembling a result paper was printed from the square machine.

“It should come out healthy, right?”

Apart from being hungry, there shouldn’t be any problems, so it should come out very healthy.

“…Why?”

It should be like that… Lily’s face, pale, as she read the result paper.