episode_0005

Everyone may have different values ​​regarding weekends, but I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about them.

It’s not like I find it bothersome to go to church every week. I’ve never been to one in my life, nor do I plan to believe in anything. Even if there really is a god in this world─ without intervening to save me and Jin at the right moment, I have no right to claim superiority over the human race.

“Ugh… Haha.”

“Alright. Come on, hold my hand.”

“…I don’t want to go.”

“If you don’t take your medicine, it will hurt. Just bear with it a little. We’ll play together after it’s done.”

“Sigh.”

So, what’s the problem, you ask? It’s because there’s a high chance of Aunt’s summons on weekends.

Aunt is the top-ranked girl within our small family, just the two of us. Although she’s a year younger than me, the status she holds as my grandmother’s daughter and my mother’s sister is undeniable. Respect for departed relatives, separate from religious beliefs? That’s what it encapsulates.

Actually, this could be easily overlooked.

Despite her prickly nature, Aunt cares for me in various ways. My living expenses, especially since I don’t even go to school, all come straight from Aunt’s wallet. Considering it’s not a negligible cost, it’s even more unavoidable. Besides, growing up under the same roof practically makes us siblings, so our relationship with that child couldn’t be bad.

“Why is the liar here?”

“W-what… where’s the teacher… uhh…”

“I want to go home.”

“Just a moment!?”

“It’s dangerous. I need a knife.”

Jin’s marble-like expression twisted like a volcano on the verge of eruption in an instant.

Aunt, who was lying somewhat carelessly on the car hood, didn’t look much different. Specifically, irritation, annoyance, and a strong determination to chew out her troublesome nephew overflowed. The main victim of her wrath was the Volkswagen CC being thumped down by her heel. That car… I remember the teacher saying he bought it as soon as it came out in the market last time, but it seemed like it wouldn’t last long again.

“Aunt isn’t a bad person, right? You know that too, right? Hmm?”

“She’s a liar. She only tells lies. Bad.”

“Her tone may be harsh, but it’s not like she’s… that way.”

“Why are you taking her side? Aren’t you already deceived? Look. It’s dangerous. Let’s go back.”

As you can see, Jin and Aunt’s relationship was extremely strained.

We used to play soccer together, but now we just growled at each other with a mere glance.

That’s why usually the ‘teacher’ would drive us to the hospital and I would receive treatment separately… but today, for some reason, Aunt appeared out of the blue from the beginning. The start of the day was headache-inducing in many ways.

Oh, of course, that doesn’t mean Jin did anything wrong.

Just like yesterday, he always presents his own logical reasons first rather than resorting to violence straight away, right?

Jin is simply overly concerned about me. His nature is inherently pure and kind. But blindly following everything Jin says would put me in a position where I can’t get my medicine, so it’s my job to figure things out somehow.

“If it’s a knife you want, here it is!”

“Then give it.”

“I’ll give it if you get in the car.”

“Uh… um… okay…”

Screech screech, the sound of Jin’s mind swirling in confusion reached me.

The conflicting commands of ‘To protect me from the dangerous car, you need a knife’ and ‘To get the knife, you have to ride in the dangerous car’ must be clashing inside his head. At this point, the option of ignoring me and going home has long flown away.

“How about it? I’ll make sure to stay close to you as Jin wants.”

“Um… okay.”

“Phew… Ugh!?”

“Absolutely, don’t let go.”

“Oh, hahaha… Of course, I won’t…”

I repeat, Jini isn’t such a bad kid. She just has a poor memory and tends to worry a bit too much.

Of course, her aunt casually made comments that could have made even her already ashen hair turn whiter. Nevertheless, she stopped short of crossing that line. Perhaps the effects of yesterday’s medicine were still lingering, as she didn’t push further than that. She was gripping my hand joint so tightly that it felt like it might pop, but I could bear that level of pain.

“It’s all burnt.”

“Hmph.”

Reflected in the rearview mirror, her aunt’s face seemed full of words she wanted to say. Despite this, Jini stared back without even blinking, prompting me to start the car immediately.

Passing by the empty shops near the upscale mansion, we entered a tree-lined street overgrown with weeds. Familiar sights greeted us. The construction site with its clanking machinery, the ash-gray fog filling the sky, and even the neglected fire scene where steel beams were exposed due to budget constraints. Nothing had changed between seven years ago and now.

“Jina, you’re crying.”

“Yeah.”

“Should I wipe them?”

“Yeah.”

As I gazed out the window lost in my own thoughts, Jini was busy giving her aunt suspicious glances.

Though we had met at the hospital many times before and should have been used to each other by now, she seemed so wary that she even forgot to close her eyes. How long had we continued this awkward companionship? The view of the large hospital, starkly different from the upscale mansion we lived in, gradually came into sight.

“Welcome to Hana Pharmacy Comprehensive Medical Welfare Support Center. Please state your reason for visiting and your identity…”

“It’s me.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m Professor Park from the Psychiatry Department. If you don’t want to see a woman break down a door and run out screaming, holding someone’s tongue, open the gate quickly.”

“Oh, yes, yes!”

Her aunt quickly blurted out, her face creased with concern, prompting the guard to step aside and immediately press the remote control.

It wasn’t just that. Jini’s face, which had been overly sensitive, suddenly relaxed from the moment a stranger started talking, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Darn it, coming at a time when there’s hardly anyone around… What are you doing? We’ve arrived, so get out.”

“Oh, okay…”

“…”.

The parking lot was deserted, likely because it was well before the hospital’s opening hours.

Perhaps there were no reporters around, or maybe it was her aunt’s way of showing consideration.

“I don’t like it here.”

“It’s okay, Jina, it’ll be over soon.”

“There are only liars here. It makes me feel bad.”

“Haha…”

“They’re the ones who are bad, saying weird things about us instead of themselves.”

“We promised, remember? Once this is over, we’ll go play right away.”

“Yeah, I remember. You don’t lie.”

With those words, Jini, with a cold and stoic expression, took my hand and walked out the door.

In her other hand, clutching a picture book tightly, she maintained a dangerous gaze that seemed ready to strike her aunt at any moment with the book.

“Ohhh, seriously, this is the worst…”

After reluctantly bringing Jini along, her aunt asked me to wait in the waiting room for a while. As soon as she entered the examination room, she threw the car keys in frustration, venting her exasperation. Unfortunately, I was the target, and she threw them so naturally that I couldn’t react in time and got hit square on the forehead.

“Why do I have to watch these damn couples bicker from dawn till dusk in real-time, enduring the curse words they spew on the streets? Even getting smacked in the face.”

“But she’s gotten a lot better… Please don’t be so harsh.”

“Acting all high and mighty. It’s fine if the prince boasts about his lover, but please have a seat quickly. I didn’t come here to chit-chat.”

As mentioned before, this person is our aunt, Park Hee.

At first glance, she seems like a genius girl who has written several papers recognized by international academic conferences… She could be considered a bad-tempered doctor who took office here after the Red Devil Incident and the subsequent fire. Although she holds a position similar to that of a guardian, there isn’t much room for complaints.

“Normally, you should examine her in person and talk to her, but… if you do that, even ten throats won’t be enough for me, so just give a rough overview, Your Highness.”

“Um… What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly that. If something has improved, tell me what has improved, and if something has worsened, tell me what has worsened. That way, whether I prescribe medicine or not, it’ll be based on facts.”

“There wasn’t anything particularly special…”

“If you lie, you might end up leaving with a cast on.”

“Oh, I can try to bathe alone now.”

“‘Oh, I can try to bathe alone now.’ Hmph, are you trying to impress us like a kindergartener? So did you bathe alone?”

“Well, I’m still clumsy at some things… And Jini also wanted to help me bathe.”

“Oh, really? Must have been nice, playing around naked with a high school girl. What’s so great about fondling those oversized breasts for no reason… Are you a puberty-stricken boy or what?”

“No, I haven’t done anything like that. We just help each other bathe in a healthy way… Ouch!?”

“Enough nonsense. If you have time to joke around, let’s have a productive conversation. Is your depth perception or sense of balance still abnormal, have your dyslexia or insomnia improved? I’m talking about symptoms getting better or worse.”

So, what she mentioned earlier was about bathing, but our aunt was still grumbling harshly with her eyes bloodshot and fierce.

She wasn’t exactly known for having a pleasant personality even on regular days, but today seemed worse than usual. I wonder what’s going on. I was a bit worried.