Chapter 167
He went out early in the morning to work and returned late at night. He had no days off. When he had spare time, he took Han Yi-yeon to the hospital.
The reason why Han Yi-yeon was sick was different each time. Sometimes she only came to take medicine and sometimes she had to be hospitalized for several days. Her immune system was so weak and blood circulation wasn’t good, so a mild cold turned into flu that caused a high fever or the whole body was swollen.
I thought as I watched Han Yi-gyeol bring medicine to Han Yi-yeon, who barely ate porridge.
Is it really good for Han Yi-yeon’s health to lock her up at home just because her body is weak? I didn’t know if it was midwinter or midsummer, but it was a sunny spring outside now. If she just walked around lightly, her condition would be better than it was now.
‘By the way, I don’t know how old she is. Is she not going to school? Being locked up in the house all day…’
Every time he went to the hospital, the doctor told Han Yi-gyeol to help the patient do light exercise, so he must have known, but he never let Han Yi-yeon go outside.
“Are you okay?”
“Uung…”
Han Yi-yeon, who struggled to swallow the pills, nodded her head at the question. Her pale, tired face and withered wrists caught my eyes. Han Yi-gyeol, who saw the same thing as me, had a sad face.
「My poor little sister.」
Han Yi-gyeol’s inner voice was heard.
「I have to work harder.」
Rather than feeling pity for his actions, unpleasant emotions soared.
‘No way…’
A negative guess came to my mind. I wanted to believe it wasn’t, but Han Yi-gyeol’s actions were like…
“……”
I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head. It was too early to judge. Let’s keep watching for now. What really mattered were the things that would happen in the future.
Time went on and on. Han Yi-gyeol reduced his sleep and increased his work by one more, and Han Yi-yeon stayed at home alone and dried up. Han Yi-gyeol never let Han Yi-yeon out.
Did Han Yi-yeon realize that too late… or maybe she couldn’t stand it any longer, in the end, the two fought a lot. Han Yi-yeon begged that she wanted to go out because it was okay even for a moment and Han-Yi-gyeol firmly blocked it.
From that day on, no matter how difficult it was, the smiles and friendly conversations while looking at each other disappeared. Han Yi-gyeol put a thick padlock on the door to keep Han Yi-yeon from leaving.
Seeing all of that, I was nauseous with a feeling like throwing up.
Han Yi-gyeol’s obsession with his younger sister wasn’t love. It could never be called love. Han Yi-gyeol only used Han Yi-yeon as a means to continue his hard life.
Whether I was disgusted by it or not, their time kept going on. When Han Yi-gyeol turned 24, Han Yi-yeon’s health was so bad that she couldn’t get up from lying down. She slept for more than 15 hours during the day.
Indeed. Being confined in this narrow basement studio, what else could she do other than sleep? There was nothing strange about having mental problems.
Han Yi-gyeol left her sleeping and went out early in the morning. With a lock on the door, Han Yi-gyeol hurried through a steep alleyway. As I quietly followed him, I heard a pretty familiar voice.
「Is that okay for a week or so?」
「What? But…」
「Oh man, you’re talking too long. Annoying.」
「I, I apologize.」
Han Yi-gyeol stopped his steps and turned his head. I immediately recognized the identity of the man standing in the corner of the alley. It was Kang Seung-geon.
「Who is it?」
Like me, Han Yi-gyeol, who found Kang Seung-geon, leaned close to the wall and thought.
「It’s the first time I see his face.」
Kang Seung-geon continued to speak without noticing Han Yi-gyeol’s presence, with his mind focused on something else.
「What am I doing, do you want me to keep doing this? You want to catch me again in a week. That’s okay.」 (일주일 뒤에 다시 날 잡자고)
「Still, it’s a little dangerous in a week…」
「You don’t have to manage a place like this so hard anyway. Honestly, it’s annoying. Ho?」
「Ahem, if you’re busy, it’s okay to just clear it on our own…」
「Oho! Still, it’s better for me as the Master to go. Tsk, if I don’t participate in the clear again this time, how crazy will those bastards at the management headquarters be… nevermind. After disbanding today, set up again a week later.」
「Ma, Master.」
「That’s what I thought. Damn it, I was late because I was dragging myself along.」
Kang Seung-geon left the guild member with an uncomfortable expression and hurriedly left the alley. Han Yi-gyeol turned around with a look of disgust.
“……”
I watched it all, then slowly lowered my gaze.
* * *
At dawn on the same day, a week after that, the gate exploded as expected. Apparently, the gate of the C12 Area was deep in the shantytown, so it was an instant when the monsters that ran out of the entrance took over the alleys.
「Kkyaaaak!」
「Wh, what the…! Save me!」
Keuaak! Kyaak!
In an instant, what was in front of my eyes turned into hell. To make matter worse, a gas explosion occurred and the fire began to engulf everything.
「…Yi-yeon-ah.」
Han Yi-gyeol, who realized the situation late because he was working until late, dropped the medicine bag he was holding with a pale, tired complexion and started running in a hurry. The bag that fell on the ground contained medicine and chocolate that Han Yi-yeon liked.
「Please, please.」
Han Yi-gyeol mumbled everything hastily and ran towards the house as if rolling. The old shack had already been devoured in half by fire. He flew inside, not paying attention to the hot fire and the black smoke.
Clank, clank!
Han Yi-gyeol, who released the hard lock with his trembling hands, called Han Yi-yeon like a scream.
「Yi-yeon-ah!」
The strong smell of gas spread. Han Yi-yeon’s hands, who was lying right in front of the door, were swollen and red.
「Yi, Yi-yeon-ah. Wake up.」
Han Yi-gyeol, who wrapped up the faint Han Yi-yeon’s body, staggered out of the flames. However, he didn’t go far before he faced a monster with bat wings head-on.
Kieeek!
「Gasp…!」
Han Yi-gyeol, who had faced a monster for the first time in his life, stiffened with fear and stepped back. Within that short time, the monster, who realized that the opponent was weaker than it, rushed in without delay.
「Hu, aah!」
Han Yi-gyeol’s side was pierced by the monster’s tail, which was studded with sharp things like thorns.
When Han Yi-gyeol couldn’t withstand the attack and collapsed, Han Yi-yeon’s body, which was on his back, also rolled roughly on the ground. Blood was dripping from her forehead as if she had been hit by something wrong.
「Huu…」
Crack.
Excited by the strong smell of blood, the monster roared and growled. The monster wandered around as if contemplating which of the two to eat first, Han Yi-gyeol and Han Yi-yeon.
「Yeo, Yeon-ah… huk, Yeon-ah…」
Han Yi-gyeol crawled hard toward Han Yi-yeon in front of him.
「If I had the power…」
Even after leaving behind a monster that was about to devour him at any moment, Han Yi-gyeol didn’t take his eyes off Han Yi-yeon.
「If only I could put away all the hot fire and smoke and go to you…」
Kiaaak!
Just before the monster with its huge mouth wide open swallowed Han Yi-gyeol, a sharp sword blew its neck. Red blood splattered on the face of the person who killed the monster.
Kuung, the monster’s corpse fell to the ground and a man with a sword appeared. Cheon Sa-yeon approached Han Yi-gyeol, wiping the blood from his cheek with a relaxed gesture, and made eye contact with him.
「S, save us please… Please save us…」
「……」
「Sis, sister. E, even just, just my sister… please…」
Cheon Sa-yeon, who was looking at Han Yi-gyeol with an unknown expression, immediately smelled the blood and killed the rushing monster.
Nothing had changed from the past I had seen in C12 Area. Han Yi-gyeol and Han Yi-yeon, who were saved by Cheon Sa-yeon, immediately left the shantytown.
The landscape in front of me suddenly changed and a white hospital appeared. Han Yi-yeon, who hadn’t yet woken up, was lying on the white bed, and Cheon Sa-yeon was standing in front of her.
「She inhaled gas and smoke for too long, and hurt her head… Above all, I think it will be difficult to recover because her body is very weak.」
「Hm.」
「I don’t think she will be able to last a few days at this rate…」
The healer’s words reminded him of Han Yi-gyeol when he begged for his sister’s life for a moment to Cheon Sa-yeon. But he quickly replied indifferently.
「Other than this one, there’s no problem with the injured person?」
「Yes.」
「If she die while you’re watching, tell her family.」
At that time, the attendant entered the hospital room and called for Cheon Sa-yeon.
「Master. I have received a call from the Guild Management Headquarters.」
「Let’s go now.」
Cheon Sa-yeon left without any regrets. Soon after, the remaining healer also wrote something on the chart he was holding and left the room, only to hear the sound of a machine beeping in time with the beating of her heart in the hospital room.
Han Yi-gyeol was in the hospital room right next to Han Yi-yeon. The part that had been pierced by the monster’s tail was cured quickly with the healing of the healer, but he also inhaled quite a bit of gas and smoke, so he couldn’t wake up right away.
It took two days for Han Yi-gyeol to come to his senses. And Han Yi-yeon didn’t wait for those two days for him as if taking revenge. As soon as Han Yi-gyeol woke up, he asked the nurse who came to the room about his younger sister…
「It’s a terrible nightmare.」
Han Yi-gyeol cried constantly with eyes that were out of focus. The wind fluttered over his trembling, white hands.
「I can’t afford to live without that child.」
The weakly gathered wind gradually grew stronger. The aggressive wind swayed dangerously as if it was about to burst.
「Yi-yeon-ah, I…」
Crack!
As Han Yi-gyeol swung his hand without hesitation, the wooden table next to the bed shattered. Han Yi-gyeol, who picked up the hardest and largest shard among them, smiled faintly.
「I’m coming.」
The pointed shard tip pierced his neck. Kkeureuk, blood spurted out with the sound of boiling phlegm dripping and soaking the white hospital bed. Han Yi-gyeol’s trembling body fell to the side.
As I quietly watched Han Yi-gyeol’s death, I soon noticed that everything in front of me had stopped. I was bewildered by the phenomenon I saw for the first time for a while, and soon after, as if rewinding the video, Han Yi-gyeol appeared again.
And then.
「It’s a terrible nightmare.」
The scene I just watched has started again.
“…what?”
With a frown on my forehead, Han Yi-gyeol committed suicide in front of me once again. When he lost his breath and collapsed, he went back to his previous life and commits suicide.
Suicide, suicide, suicide. It was constantly repeated.
‘Why on earth…’
Is there something wrong with the book? I wanted to check with Elohim right away, but I didn’t know how to get out of here.
Even while I was panicking, Han Yi-gyeol didn’t stop and died. I couldn’t count how many times he died.
What should I do? I couldn’t keep going like this.
Han Yi-gyeol broke the table again. I sighed because I wanted to see the death scene again, but someone gently opened the door to the hospital room and entered.
Han Yi-gyeol, who grabbed the shard to die, was surprised, and so was I. The interrupter who suddenly intervened opened his mouth with a relaxed smile.
「Are you going to die?」
「……」
Han Yi-gyeol flinched at Cheon Sa-yeon’s outspoken words. Han Yi-gyeol’s eyes, who met his gaze, turned for the first time.