episode_0105

“Ahem… No, I can hear you well.”

Fortunately, the misunderstanding was easily resolved before everyone’s faces turned grim. When Lian tried to sit up, chaos erupted around him.

Lian had no choice but to engage in conversation while lying on the bed.

“Do you remember what happened before you collapsed?”

“Ah…”

Lian reflexively raised his hand to his forehead as memories flashed through his mind. His nose felt like it might explode with a sneeze.

Despite having sneezed several times before, he managed to hold back this time. Lian rolled his eyes and said, “Um, yes. I remember.”

“I see. Then…”

Mucan looked at Lily, Nero, and Noah surrounding the bed and said, “I would appreciate it if everyone could leave for a moment for treatment.”

“What?”

“But…”

“I’ll assist from the side.”

Except for Lily, who had some knowledge of medical treatment, the other two were escorted out of the medical room. Mucan calmly pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down.

It seemed like the conversation would be lengthy.

“I heard that the patient had hematemesis several times, but when did it start?”

“Uh…”

As Mucan spoke, Lily, who was standing quietly behind, stiffened her expression. Lian scratched his cheek awkwardly and said, “Um, if we have to specify a period, maybe since birth? It seems like it has been like that.”

“…So from the time memories were formed, you were already in that condition.”

“Is that so?”

Lian remembered his infancy as a reincarnator. Therefore, ‘from the time memories were formed’ and ‘since birth’ meant the same thing to him.

However, to Mucan, it sounded like ‘he was experimented on at a very young age, to the point where memories do not exist.’

“Do you often have hematemesis?”

“No, not really. It happens when I experience mental shock or stub my toe. It’s probably related to my constitution…”

“I see.”

When Mucan nodded understandingly, Lian’s expression relaxed.

‘It must be thanks to my amazing mental strength that I can control those dreadful things. Maybe I vomit blood when I stub my toe because that’s where my acupoint is.’

‘There is someone who understands me just as I am!’

Although the two were lost in thought, there was no one to point it out.

“What were the circumstances when you had hematemesis until now?”

“Um… When I unknowingly ate strange food, felt a stabbing pain in my chest, or saw unexpected scenes…”

As if entering a confessional upon entering the medical room, Lian effortlessly poured out his story.

“Why is your forehead injured? It looks like self-harm…”

“Ah.”

Mucan’s accepting demeanor made it possible for Lian to speak truthfully about everything, except for this one thing.

‘I can’t say I hit my head on the wall because I was overwhelmed by desire during that scene with Noah.’

Blushing, Lian began rolling his head frantically. There were no suitable words coming to mind. Mucan’s gaze was too intense to continue thinking deeply.

“I, uh, had some worries lately, so I did it without realizing.”

“Even if you have worries..!”

Lily, who had been silent behind them, involuntarily raised her voice, but eventually fell silent at Mucan’s gesture.

“Do you often do this?”

“No, this was the first time.”

“Hmm, can you tell me what’s bothering you? You’ll feel better if you get it off your chest.”

“Uh…”

Lian’s eyes began to roll wildly. The soft, white, and plump scene couldn’t be brought up.

‘What, what should I say!’

There was a way not to answer, but such behavior would seem strange.

‘Worries, worries… other worries…’

Suddenly, Lian recalled a new worry he had recently. Before considering whether that worry fit the situation or not, it spilled out of his mouth.

“Actually… I feel like I’ve been marked by the Demon Lord in the recent attack incident.”

“..What?”

At the unexpected words, Lily could only stare blankly without even letting out a sigh, while Mucan looked at Lian in astonishment.

As soon as he started speaking, his worries poured out. Lian didn’t know if both Mucan and Lily would still want to accompany him on this journey.

“I encountered someone called the Four Kings, and from what I heard, the Demon Lord seems to have set his sights on me and the Nest organization. It’s a situation where being attacked anytime, anywhere wouldn’t be surprising, so the stress is piling up, haha!”

Rather than saying “Boss’s new white chest scene won’t leave my mind,” which was less healthy and normal, Lian seemed satisfied as he smiled.

“I should have told them!”

“Huh?”

Lily’s exclamation interrupted Lian’s laughter. This time, even Mucan didn’t stop Lily.

After teasing Lian thoroughly, Lily brought Noah and Nero to the room. Noah looked at Lily with a serious expression.

“So… about Lian..”

“Sigh… This brother always seems to get into trouble.”

Seeing Lily glaring at Lian, countless question marks popped up in Noah’s mind. When Lian stumbled through what he had said before, Noah and Nero couldn’t help but be angry.

“Really!”

“What good does it do if you keep it to yourself!”

“Well… I was going to tell you after the congratulatory party. Ah! More importantly, the party! Let’s go quickly!”

“Is that really more important right now..”

“I’m feeling great now! Right, teacher?”

When Lian earnestly looked at Mucan, Mucan, with his arms crossed, glanced at Lian’s stomach.

‘Well, he doesn’t look too bad.’

A treatment method still didn’t come to mind, and it couldn’t be examined closely as if blurred, but it could be understood that the condition wasn’t bad.

‘Above all, he doesn’t seem like he’s about to die right away.’

In the cruel Demon Lord’s land, unless one was in a situation where they felt like they were about to collapse and die, there were hardly any cases of lying in a sickbed. For this reason, Mucan readily agreed to Lian’s request.

“Well, you could say that.”

“Look! Come on, let’s go!”

Although the three wanted to lay Lian down in bed, they had no choice but to head to the party venue together as Mucan, who treated him, said it was fine.

“We were planning a surprise party..”

“Brother, that’s not important right now, is it?”

Seeing Lian reluctantly change the subject, Lily spoke in an incredulous voice. Noah felt the atmosphere had lightened considerably.

‘Yes, that’s the problem.’

Lian has a strange power. Being near him made all problems seem trivial. Even issues that were bleeding problems or the fact that the Demon Lord was targeting Nest all felt like nothing.

Due to the relaxed atmosphere created by the comedy filter and Lian, Noah had no way of knowing this.

Lian changed into clothes stained with blood halfway through and headed to the restaurant with three people.

“Congratulations, Boss!”

As they entered the noisy party venue, the heavy atmosphere they had experienced a while ago flew away as lightly as a feather. Despite feeling embarrassed by this fact, Noah’s mind cleared up as they faced everyone’s laughter.

“I said I wouldn’t make the same mistakes as before.”

Recalling their past self who had been engulfed in emotions and couldn’t keep anything in check, Noah firmly grasped their mind. They found themselves looking at Lian with newly hardened eyes.

“Let’s face each other properly and talk. If there’s something you don’t know, just ask.”

Noah couldn’t continue to wallow in sadness without knowing anything forever. As Noah was firming up their resolve, Lian was clinging to Jess.

“Joon, this is delicious!”

Like bringing back prey, Jess brought all the delicious food they had tried and placed it on Lian’s plate.

“You got some on your mouth.”

“Huh?”

When Lian lifted the napkin on the table, Jess instinctively leaned towards Lian’s face. Looking at the approaching face with lowered eyes, Lian thought to themselves, “Long eyelashes.”

As Jess wiped around their mouth, their soft lips puckered. Due to eating oily food, their lips glistened. Unintentionally, Lian stared intently at Jess’s lips. Quietly closing their mouth and lowering their eyes, Jess, matured as they were becoming, looked very sexy -…

Pfft!

“Eek?! Joon?!”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Lian touched their face with their right hand and lightly waved their left hand to indicate that everything was fine. Astonished, Jess perked up their ears and asked, “Joon, why? Why did you hit me?”

Seeing Lian’s face turning red, Jess quickly grabbed Lian’s face to check.

“Huh? Wait, Jess!”

“Your cheeks are red!”

“No, it’s… Could you step back a bit?”

As Lian gradually moved back, Jess’s face rapidly approached. When Lian met Jess’s animal-like pupils, their body stiffened like prey caught by the neck. The moment when their breath felt distinctly close.

“Move.”

“Ugh!”

With a familiar voice, Jess’s body flew backward. Jess gracefully rotated in the air and landed on the ground.

“Wow!”

“Jess pulled a stunt?”

“Impressive!”

People clapped at Jess’s sudden stunt. Meanwhile, Iris approached Lian and naturally sat on Lian’s lap.

“Hey, Iris?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

Looking up at Lian with a gentle and serene face, even with an expressionless face, Iris’s lovely smile was so captivating that it almost blinded the eyes.

“…It’s nothing.”

“Yeah.”

Even though the words about Iris being grown up now and not sitting on laps anymore almost came out, when faced with her sparkling eyes, all words faded away.

“Oppa, ah-.”

“Ah…”

While eating the food Iris fed them, Lian showed a hint of tears.

“Just the other day, I was the one feeding her…”

Overwhelmed with gratitude for receiving filial piety from Iris, Lian was deeply moved.