episode_0062

Episode.62 Bond of Dreaming Eyes (1)

A lot of time has passed since my first kiss with Jena.

It’s already the end of the second semester of the second year.

It was snowing and the season was perfect for sweet carols.

winter.

It is a season that holds great meaning to me.

After the final exams for the second semester, I started to look forward to winter vacation.

This means that there is nothing to do at school now.

I went to school today again feeling helpless.

For reference, our school does not mainly cover other humanities subjects such as Korean, English, mathematics, social studies, and science, but rather teaches specialized subjects in specialized subjects.

Therefore, classes are divided into classes.

I came here, to the Hunter Department, to branch out into the ‘Hunter’ line.

In addition to the Hunter Department, there are other medical fields, accounting, and IT fields.

Anyway, maybe that’s why the class and seat don’t change even if the grade goes up.

There are some good points, but it’s always the same class and same seat.

There is also a point of getting tired of it.

Still, I feel happy that I can always sit next to Yena when I go to school.

I was looking puzzled at the classroom door that was open in this cold weather.

‘… Is there anyone there?’

A classroom with the lights off.

A quiet hallway, as if you had gone to school too early.

Even in the bathroom, where the light was normally always on, not even a single ray of light was streaming through the crack in the door.

As I entered the classroom, I closed the classroom door and turned on the light.

– Tak.

“Turn off the light.”

– Tak.

I always heard a familiar voice near where I sat.

As soon as I heard that voice, I reflexively turned off the light again.

“What is it?”

“Well, it’s because the darker side is better. Anyway, if a lot of kids come later, won’t the vice-captain do everything?”

The person with that familiar voice was Junseok.

“That’s right, stop harassing the vice-captain.”

“What do you think? That bastard, he prides himself on each tier in the game. This level of revenge is nothing, right? Anyway, it’s the class leader’s job to do.”

“Well, since the vice-captain does all the work, there is no problem with doing a little bit of chores like this.”

“Right? Minseong, this bastard, is sucking honey alone.”

“Yes, yes.”

I roughly agreed with Junseok’s words and hung my bag on my seat.

Then, when I looked to take my seat, Yena was already at school next to me.

Yena was so tired that she looked like she was sleeping on her stomach even though I was sitting next to her.

“… Yena, when were you here?”

“Oh, I don’t know when your girlfriend came. Because you came earlier than me.”

I was staring at the doll sleeping on the blanket and pillow I didn’t know where Jena had gotten it from.

Junseok continued fiddling with his smartphone.

“Can you turn on the light? Not a child of darkness, what-”

“The hallway light is coming on because the door is open.”

Strange logic.

‘It’s cold if you leave the door open…’

Unable to express my thoughts, I took out my smartphone and started killing time.

**********

09:00.

Today again, the homeroom teacher comes in and holds assembly time.

Today’s story is nothing special.

I knew it would work, but

“Class president!”

“Yes, four!”

The president of our class was a short girl wearing square glasses.

“Today, the vice-president was absent due to illness. When teachers from other subjects ask about the reason for the vice-class president’s absence, please answer that way.”

The class president nodded several times.

The homeroom teacher cleared his throat and left the classroom.

I always thought I would be able to finish my second year without anything special.

But today Minseong did not go to school.

‘What’s going on?’

I had a question, so I left Yena sleeping and carefully went to the seat right in front of me, Minseong’s seat, and sat down next to Junseok.

I started speaking in a very low voice so that only Junseok could hear.

“Minseong, why didn’t you come today?”

“Isn’t it a feint? Or did something happen yesterday? Because we always leave school in a different direction.”

Junseok also spoke in a very low voice so that only I could hear.

I took out my smartphone and left a KoTalk message to Minseong.

>Me: Why aren’t you coming today?

“Didn’t I play a game with you yesterday?”

I next asked Junseok.

Then Junseok shook his head.

“Minseong was offline yesterday.”

“What? Is he?… I understand first of all.”

I returned to my original position.

The reason I was surprised to learn that Minseong was offline was because he was a known gaming addict even at school.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I gave up on my studies.

He is so talented that he always gets a 2nd grade in all subjects.

Although there is no level 1.

Anyway, as much as he is a bad person, he is the best at games in our school and neighborhood.

As if to prove it, the tier in the game is ‘Master’.

It is different from the mineral tier like us.

The season in the game has been reset, so he is now in the Diamond tier, but Minseong will probably be able to escape Diamond again soon and move up to the Master tier.

So, although it is well known that he is a bad person, he is also well known for his skills.

– Whoosh, whoosh.

The cell phone vibrated.

A reply came from Minseong.

His reply shocked me.

Photo and location address link sent by Minseong.

And a text message saying he was hospitalized here.

A text telling you not to worry too much.

It came as a shock to me that a friend with whom I had a deeper friendship than other friends was hospitalized.

Friends I met in high school. They were bound to end up as just classmates.

Friends I met in middle school. Junseok belongs to this category.

And Minseong has been with me since elementary school… No, he has been with me since kindergarten.

Even when he was in kindergarten, he was already immersed in games.

I’ve been friends with him since kindergarten to the point where I know that.

Not just to the extent that they appear to be friends on the outside, but also to the extent of their unseen hearts.

I replied to him.

It diverges here.

A real friend just smiles.

If it’s a friend, ask if it’s okay.

Best friend, if you are.

>Me: I’ll go now.

**********

I went to my homeroom teacher’s office and was asked to leave school early due to illness, saying I had a headache.

Of course, I told the class leader in advance and left the classroom so as not to cause trouble.

Anyway, I went back to the classroom and packed my bags.

I roughly relayed the work to Junseok.

And I left my situation on Jena’s desk with a yellow post-it note that I kept in the space under my desk.

At the end of conveying the situation, I wrote down, “If anything happens, please leave a message.”

Anyway, I was now in front of the university hospital.

As I entered the hospital, the unique, soothing smell of medicine calmed my mind.

As soon as I entered the hospital, I was greeted by a robot that came up to my chest.

‘What is this?’

I lightly shook the snow off my shoulders and looked at the monitor attached to the robot’s body.

It said, ‘How can I help you?’

‘Is it just a simple helper robot? The world has become more convenient.’

I clicked ‘Visit in the hospital’ on the interface.

After going through various procedures, the permit was issued in about an hour.

And the paper the hospital robot printed for me said, ‘The patient you are looking for is on the 10th floor, room 103.’ It was written:

There was a small robot character drawn on it, as if it could be the hospital’s mascot.

I hung the temporarily issued ward pass around my neck and took the ward building elevator to the 10th floor.

There was a large mirror in the elevator, and someone had written an indelible permanent marker on the mirror.

With a name pen, ‘Always, always be humble.’ It was written at the very bottom.

‘I wonder if someone wrote it in a wheelchair…’

The location was written in small letters at the very bottom and in the corner, so if you were standing, there would have been no reason to write in that area.

‘Even so, you can’t believe you’re doing such a bad thing.’

For a moment, I almost thought, ‘This guy who did this might have deserved to be hospitalized.’

Arriving at the 10th floor, the elevator doors open.

Unlike other elevators, I saw doors that swung open in one direction, from right to left.

Perhaps because it was a hospital, there were some things that were slightly different from what I always used in my daily life.

I took the pass hanging around my neck and opened the door to the hallway lined with hospital rooms.

The automatic doors weren’t even fully open, but I was in a hurry so I passed through them quickly.

I passed through that door and immediately started looking for the hospital room where Minseong was.

And not long after, I finally found the hospital room where Minseong was.

Room 103.

I was so anxious that I was in a circular shape, so I only had to pass the hospital room twice from the door to get to room 103, but I stupidly turned it upside down.

Is this why there is a saying, “The more urgent you are, the better you should go back?”

‘No… I guess that’s not the case. Why are you going back when you’re in a hurry? ‘I have to find a shortcut.’

I stood in front of the hospital room and used my pass again.

– Dang.

The door to the hospital room opened with a cheerful alarm sound.

Minseong was lucky enough to have the room to himself even though it was a 6-person room.

As if to indicate that Minseong was the only patient hospitalized in room 103, only Minseong’s name appeared on the monitor placed in front of the door of room 103.

I opened the door to the hospital room.

“Brother is here.”

“Who is your brother? As soon as he arrived, he started talking like a dog.”

Minseong was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking out the window, unable to look at me.

The windows in the hospital room are large.

It was as if some company had installed glass-sized windows, so I was able to see an amazing view.

He was looking at the snow falling in the morning.

“So, why were you hospitalized?”

“Did you come right away without knowing that? Honestly, I didn’t know you would really come.”

“Did I look like a liar like that?”

Minseong still couldn’t look at me and was just looking out the window.

“… Look at this, it keeps snowing… Just like that day.”

“That’s okay, I didn’t come here to talk about trivial old times.”

Surprisingly, I noticed that there was no topic to talk about, so I turned to the topic that Minseong was most comfortable talking about.

“You mean that game tier-”

“Shut up!… No, I’m sorry… I’m sorry, but I don’t want you to talk about the game in front of me.”

That bastard hates talking about games?

“It’s just such an abomination in my life. The game is.”