Ch.93Call Me Brother (10)

We took the even-numbered elevator

and pressed the button for the 4th floor where Jeong-gyu’s hospital room was.

To be precise, the button on the elevator wasn’t labeled “4th floor”

but “F floor.”

“They’ve labeled the 4th floor as ‘F’ here too. The movie theater building I went to before did the same thing.”

“Older building elevators seem to have a lot of these. In the past, many people considered 4 an unlucky number. Especially in hospitals like this where many seriously injured people come, they’d be more sensitive about it.”

“That’s right, Hamin. Most patients tend to avoid 4th floor rooms, consciously or unconsciously. Doctors understand patients’ feelings, so this hospital seems to keep the 4th floor rooms mostly vacant unless it’s for patients with very minor injuries.”

“Huh? Then why is Jeong-gyu placed in a room on the 4th floor? Being bedridden in the hospital for a month and a half doesn’t sound like a minor injury to me.”

“Were there no rooms available elsewhere…?”

“Well, about that… He was initially in another room, but he frequently got into arguments and fights with other patients, so inevitably…”

I thought he was just an unlucky guy,

but the more I heard, the more it seemed he was bringing misfortune upon himself.

“B-but on the bright side, he has a four-person room all to himself now. It’s actually better for the teacher to check on his condition when visiting. And at his age, he’s probably sensitive about other people looking at him.”

Even in this situation, Teacher Miso took Jeong-gyu’s side and defended that delinquent.

Of course, I didn’t think that was entirely wrong.

With no family to care for him, no relatives visiting,

under these dim lights, until Teacher Miso’s visit,

he had to lie on that hard hospital bed all day staring at his crushed leg.

That couldn’t have been pleasant.

In such a situation, how miserable would it be if even your homeroom teacher didn’t take your side?

I could understand Teacher Miso’s position.

Though that didn’t mean I sympathized with it.

In the end, no matter how nicely you tried to package Jeong-gyu’s story,

the conclusion was that he was an idiot who self-destructed due to his excessive pride—

even after being hospitalized with a crippled leg, he couldn’t abandon his delinquent tendencies

and got kicked out by fellow patients in similar situations, ending up in an isolated room.

-Ding

[Floor F.]

By then, the elevator announced our arrival at Floor F,

opening its heavy doors.

“Jeong-gyu’s room is 401. When you exit the elevator, go straight to the right—”

-THUD!

Before Teacher Miso could finish, a sound and vibration came from the right side of the elevator.

It sounded like something had fallen to the floor with a heavy impact.

“P-patient, are you alright?”

“Let go, damn it… I can walk by myself.”

“You just fell after barely walking a few steps. Let us help you…”

“I said don’t touch me, damn it!”

“Eek…!”

“What are you doing, young man! No matter how ill-mannered you are, throwing crutches at nurses who are trying to help you!”

“Who the hell are you to lecture me? You’re just here for the spectacle. Stop making a fuss and get lost, damn it.”

Whether it was to the left or right from the elevator,

we didn’t need directions—Dohamin and I could immediately tell where he was.

We witnessed firsthand why he had earned the enmity of other patients

and ended up on this F floor.

“Haah… everything is so fucking shitty, damn!”

-THUD!

Jeong-gyu weakly pounded the hospital floor with his trembling fist.

Meeting him again after a month and a half, we found him enjoying intimate contact with the floor in the corridor outside his room.

“Look at him humping the floor, that bastard.”

Jeong-gyu’s right leg was in a cast, making it impossible for him to bend his knee properly.

So naturally, he couldn’t even stand up, let alone walk.

But even with his body in such a broken state, was his pride still his priority?

He kicked away the help of the few nurses who offered to assist him.

That unyielding temperament of his had ultimately

created a leg that couldn’t bend even if he wanted it to.

“…Doyoung.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you hold this for a moment?”

At that moment, Dohamin suddenly handed me the bag of bread he was holding.

“He’s acting like that even to the nurse noonas who want to help him, and you still want to help? If it were me, I’d have turned around and left right away.”

“…”

Dohamin didn’t withdraw the bag he’d offered me.

It seemed he had already made up his mind.

“Haah… fine. Teacher Miso, can you hold the bread we bought?”

“Oh, sure.”

“Hey, come with me. If I go alone, he’ll make a scene.”

In the end, I also handed my bags to Teacher Miso,

and went with Dohamin toward Jeong-gyu, who was struggling on the floor without his crutches.

“Focus your weight on your left leg. I’ll support you.”

Dohamin put Jeong-gyu’s right arm over his shoulder and slowly lifted him from the floor.

“Damn it, I told you not to touch me. Who the hell… wait.”

Jeong-gyu seemed to sense something odd

and stopped speaking, his gaze fixed on Dohamin’s legs.

“Why is someone wearing our school uniform next to me…”

It was bound to feel strange.

Someone who absolutely shouldn’t be there,

or more precisely, someone he wished wasn’t there—the familiar school uniform pants had entered his field of vision.

Jeong-gyu turned his head to the right with a puzzled expression.

“Shit, why is this loser next to me?”

“…It’s Dohamin.”

“What?”

“Not ‘loser’—my name is Dohamin.”

“Who the fuck asked for your name? I asked why you’re here. How did you know I was here?”

“What does that matter? Just get up already. Are you going to keep lying on the floor when you can’t even stand up by yourself?”

“When did I ask for your help? This bastard, that bastard… why can’t you all just leave me alone when I ask!”

Jeong-gyu swung his left hand at Dohamin who was supporting him.

He should have known that if Dohamin fell or let go of him in his current state, the consequences would fall entirely on himself.

“You’re the one who needs to stay still, asshole.”

-Thwack

To stop Jeong-gyu from hitting Dohamin even in that situation,

I kicked the knee where his cast was with my toe.

“Aaaagh… my leg…!”

As soon as the vibration reached the area in the cast,

Jeong-gyu lost what little strength he had left and slumped down in that spot.

“F-fuck… Ban Doyoung…”

Jeong-gyu shot a glare at me from his position on the floor.

“What’s this? You remember my name but not Dohamin’s? That’s even more offensive.”

“Fuck, what are you doing…!”

“I said stay still.”

-Thwack!

“Aaagh…!”

Jeong-gyu was about to lunge at me with gritted teeth as soon as he saw me,

but when I kicked the same spot once more, he had no choice but to press his knees to the floor again.

“W-why are you kicking the patient’s cast! The broken bones are just barely starting to heal! If something goes wrong, they might have to amputate the leg…!”

“It’s okay, we brought baguettes.”

“W-what does that have to do with anything!”

“Tsk… why are Ban Doyoung and this loser here….”

Even collapsed on the floor, Jeong-gyu’s eyes still held a fierce glare as they met Teacher Miso’s, who was standing behind us with both hands full of bread bags.

“Haah… I told you not to tell… You ended up telling those bastards at school?”

“Jeong-gyu…”

“Seriously, fuck… whether it’s mothers, teachers, or girls in my class… every single woman in my life is absolutely useless…”

“…What?”

“How desperately you must have been waiting to tell the school about me becoming a cripple. Not only telling them but bringing them here too. And of all people, these two bastards.”

“Jeong-gyu, please stop…! Doyoung and Hamin here have both been hurt by you before, yet they willingly came to help when you were down. How can you speak to them like that…!”

“Who asked you to bring these bastards here! How many times do I have to tell you not to lecture me when you’re not even helping!”

Jeong-gyu picked up one of the crutches lying nearby and raised it high, about to throw it at Teacher Miso.

“Hey, hey…!”

“If you can’t even keep that simple promise, what kind of teacher—”

-THUD!

Jeong-gyu, who was about to throw the crutch at Teacher Miso, suddenly slammed his head back down onto the floor.

“Ugh…”

With a nosebleed flowing from both nostrils, Jeong-gyu made gurgling sounds with faint consciousness.

“Haa… haa…”

“D-Dohamin… did you do that just now?”

“Huh? Uh, I-I must have pushed him too hard without realizing it!”

Above Jeong-gyu’s unconscious head was Dohamin’s left hand, which had been supporting him until just a moment ago.

.

.

.

“…So why did you come here anyway?”

“This guy’s finally willing to talk now.”

Having realized that he had been knocked unconscious by Dohamin despite his weakened state from the accident,

Jeong-gyu seemed to have become more docile and willing to listen to what we had to say.