novelraw Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111: Dignity
The moment the hospital room door opened, I doubted my eyes.
[Lily]
[Tranquility, Drowsiness]
Lily was collapsed on the hallway floor.
Saliva was messy around her mouth, and the sound of snoring with a constant rhythm leaked from her nose.
It was incomprehensible.
Why on earth was she sleeping here when there was a perfectly good hospital room?
“Kuh.”
A short breath burst out from Lily’s mouth.
Soon, even the snoring stopped.
The surroundings became quiet in an instant.
My thoughts momentarily halted in front of that.
My thinking ability had not caught up with the reality before my eyes.
I stood frozen like that for a while.
Soon, a more primal impulse overtook me.
‘Restroom.’
I knew.
Passing by a collapsed person was not the right thing to do as a human being.
But right now, a crisis overwhelming all those moral duties was approaching.
The tension that felt like it would explode at any moment.
That was a type of fear different from a crisis of survival.
‘I have to go.’
If this continued, my dignity would collapse.
Right now, I had to protect the bare minimum as a human being.
I must go. To the restroom.
‘Let’s solve the urgent matter first and see.’
I made up my mind like that and took a step forward.
However, that was only for a moment.
‘Still, just going like this is a bit...'
Seeing Lily’s face naturally brought to mind the events that would happen in the future.
The future where she steps up heroically in a moment of crisis but eventually collapses due to past trauma.
“Sigh.”
Letting out a sigh once, I turned around and approached Lily.
Just then, the touch count required for mimicry appeared next to Lily’s head.
[Lily]
[Touch: 17,000]
‘It appears for Lily too.’
The popped-up touch count was enough to stimulate curiosity.
Suddenly, I became curious.
I raised my index finger.
‘By any chance... will it count even if I do this?’
Then I poked Lily’s cheek very lightly with my finger just like that.
[Touch: 16,999]
“Oh.”
Thinking if perhaps even this would work, I lightly brushed back Lily’s hair with my finger this time.
[Touch: 16,998]
‘This works too?’
It was counting as one time from the moment of the brushing action until the moment of detaching.
Then I shook my head left and right as if suddenly snapping back to reality.
‘Let’s look for other conditions later. Because it’s urgent right now, in many ways.’
Someone could see, and the restroom kept shimmering before my eyes.
I took another step closer to move Lily.
‘Huh?’
Something suddenly came into view from the side.
The corner at the end of the ward hallway.
There was nothing special there other than the light indicating the emergency exit.
Tilting my head, I felt the urgency starting to rise again.
Just as I was hiding my nervousness and agonizing for a moment.
“Ah, I don’t know anymore.”
I supported Lily’s neck with one hand, supported the back of her knees with the other, and stood up abruptly just like that.
[Heeheehee! Heehee! Heeheehee!]
‘It’s starting again. People are dying of hecticness here.’
I threw a retort internally at the Mimic and headed to an empty hospital room.
Fortunately, perhaps because it was a Hero-Exclusive Hospital, there were still many empty rooms.
***
‘Why did I hide?’
Seol Hayun, who had hidden her body behind the wall avoiding Ryu Jinwoo’s gaze just before, was struck by a question.
The collapsed Lily and Ryu Jinwoo standing in front of her.
Her body reacted first to the subtle atmosphere emanating from that scene.
‘It definitely looked like Ryu Jinwoo was caressing Lily’s cheek.’
For some reason, it felt like seeing something she shouldn’t have seen.
So she quickly hid her body.
She didn’t know why, but she felt like she had to hide.
‘Thinking about it, I don’t have to do this.’
She had only come to give a get-well gift anyway.
Seol Hayun stood up slowly again.
But she froze just like that without even being able to call Ryu Jinwoo.
It was because she saw the scene of Ryu Jinwoo brushing back Lily’s hair.
‘He stroked her hair.’
Then this time, both hands headed toward Lily’s shoulders.
‘He grabbed her shoulders.’
Seol Hayun, who had started broadcasting Ryu Jinwoo’s actions live in her head before she knew it.
Subsequently, Ryu Jinwoo began to move somewhere while holding Lily in his arms.
‘I think I’ve seen this somewhere.’
Seol Hayun, who rummaged through her head for a moment, soon recalled a word.
‘Urban Romance.’
A scene from a drama that Do Haru had shown her saying it was ‘daebak’.
- The male lead is crazy, I tell you? Approaching the female lead who collapsed drunk and secretly stroking her cheek, it’s crazy, really. It’s true love, I tell you?
At that time, she wondered what on earth was crazy about it.
But for some reason, that scene just came to mind now.
Then is Jinwoo also doing that to Lily?
‘Crazy.’
The exact same word as Do Haru popped out from inside.
Wait, then Ryu Jinwoo moving Lily to an empty room is surely.
‘Dangerous.’
Zero prohibited impure heterosexual relationships by school regulations. Seol Hayun’s footsteps moved instinctively.
***
I entered the empty hospital room and laid Lily on the bed.
Then I rotated my shoulders.
“She’s not heavy because she’s tiny. Fortunately.”
I casually delivered a line that, if Lily had heard it, would have resulted in me being wrung out by psychokinesis like a rag being wrung.
Just as I finished my task and tried to turn around to leave the hospital room.
“Unni... I was wrong... Don’t... go.”
I looked back at her at the words Lily spat out.
My expression looking at Lily became bitter for some reason.
“Tsk.”
Smacking my lips as if feeling awkward, I lifted the blanket organized on one side of the bed and covered Lily with it.
Well, this is this.
Now it is time to solve the real urgent matter.
‘Restroom, let’s really go.’
It really feels like it will explode any moment. A situation on the brink.
The moment I flung the hospital room door open.
A pair of black and neat shoes were caught in my downward gaze.
Naturally, to check the owner of the shoes, my gaze gradually went up.
“...Seol Hayun?”
The owner’s name naturally burst out from my mouth upon checking the shoes’ owner.
But something was a bit strange.
Perhaps because she lowered her chin slightly, the feeling of shading under her bangs gave me mild goosebumps.
“Jinwoo?”
A somehow low tone.
My body stiffened reflexively.
Seol Hayun’s red eyes were staring this way.
For some reason, her gaze looked particularly cold.
“I think an explanation is needed.”
A short single phrase.
Suspicion and wariness were mixed within it.
I looked at Lily and Seol Hayun alternately.
‘Wait, surely.’
Did she perhaps see the actions I did earlier?
My eyes widened as if I was dumbfounded.
“What explanation?”
“Just, the current situation.”
Damn it, I’m dying of urgency, what is this.
A clamor boiled up in my heart.
“I don’t know what you mean. I’ll go out for a bit first.”
“Why are you so anxious?”
Seol Hayun’s brow narrowed slowly.
[Seol Hayun]
[Suspicion, Wariness]
‘Damn it.’
Surely she isn’t thinking I’m going to do something to Lily?
If she made such a misunderstanding, she naturally won’t let it pass simply.
Tension kept tightening, mainly around the lower body.
Following that, my brain shouted desperately.
‘I can’t hold it anymore.’
I was on the verge of throwing away human dignity right now.
It is an emergency, and on top of that, Seol Hayun was watching openly right now.
‘This is damn it.’
Cold sweat covered my forehead.
All judgment inside my body was rapidly becoming paralyzed.
Normally, I would have explained the situation calmly.
I could have even given a briefing summarizing only the key points.
But I could not do that right now.
When is the number one moment human thinking slows down the most?
It is precisely when the restroom is urgent.
Plus, whatever I say right now, for example, even if I say Lily is just sleeping, Seol Hayun would try to verify it first.
At the very least, she will hold me until the verification is over.
If that happens, it will be after everything is already over.
I thought.
“Kuh.”
My gaze headed over Seol Hayun’s shoulder.
The restroom was around the corner and past two hallways.
A moment requiring a decision.
I gasped for breath briefly.
And instead of the best choice, I made the choice that came to mind right away.
“I’ll explain later.”
As soon as I threw the words, I passed by Seol Hayun just like that.
Naturally, Seol Hayun did not meekly accept those words.
[Seol Hayun]
[Doubt, Wariness, Suspicion]
‘Damn it, she’s suspecting hugely.’
I gritted my teeth inwardly.
‘I need to go to the restroom!’
But that was a word that could not possibly be spoken out of my mouth.
It is not something to say openly to the opposite sex.
It was something that would deal a massive blow to my image so far.
I took a deep breath once, looked back, and opened my mouth with difficulty.
“Wait a moment. I'll be back soon.”
Before those words even finished, I ran down the hallway.
But Seol Hayun’s eyes widened at the movement as if to avoid her.
She chased me without hesitation.
“Stop right there!”
Magic power fluctuated behind my back.
CRASH-!
Soon, flames burst out from under my feet.
In an instant, crimson vines crawled up the floor.
[Flower of Flames: Proliferation]
The flames rippled as if they were alive and moving.
Crimson vines stretched along the walls and ceiling, storming toward me.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, no, whatever you’re thinking! It’s not like that!”
I shouted.
But the vines did not stop.
WHOOSH-!
A burning momentum surged from behind my back.
The flames began to roughly heat the air.
The moment that heat touched my skin, my body reacted instinctively.
I kicked off the ground while climbing the right wall.
My body traced the shape of an inverted crescent moon.
While the smooth rotation took place, the vines made of flames brushed past my surroundings.
SWISH-!
The flame vines scattered in the air without being able to catch me.
Watching that spectacle, Seol Hayun groaned.
“Fast...!”
Her eyes shook roughly.
Lightly landing on the floor, I naturally stood facing Seol Hayun.
A bizarre confrontation, a tension weighing down heavily filled the air.
Seol Hayun quietly raised her magic power and observed my movements.
However, I actually had no concern for Seol Hayun in front of me.
My own desperation was hovering in my head.
‘I’m screwed.’
I sensed it.
It’s releasing soon.
The image of a faucet turning appeared in my head.
The scene of a rough stream of water spewing out followed.
It’s over.
Tension began to unravel.
The moment I was about to give up everything.
‘There is a way.’
One possibility flashed in my mind.
Soon, I stood still without any movement.
The silence and stalemate that continued for quite a while like that.
It was Seol Hayun’s side that broke the silence first.
“I don’t know why the situation turned out like this. I was just curious about what happened.”
Seol Hayun asked with an awkward voice.
And responding to that, a calm voice flowed from my mouth, unlike just before.
“I don’t know what misunderstanding you made, but nothing happened. Since I just moved a kid who collapsed and was sleeping in the hallway to an empty hospital room.”
“Lily was sleeping in front of the hallway?”
“Yeah, I don’t know why she was sleeping there either. Rather, I was surprised too.”
I continued speaking with a somewhat detached attitude.
“Ask Lily when she wakes up. I simply checked her consciousness, and since there didn’t seem to be any particular abnormalities, I moved her. That’s all.”
“...If that’s true, why did you try to run away without explaining properly?”
“That is.”
My gaze sank lightly.
Soon my mouth opened slowly.
“Because the restroom was urgent. I felt like pee was going to burst out right now.”
I thought.
Why didn’t I explain this calmly earlier?
[Mimicking ‘Rock’.]
A message had floated in my vision.
[Rock (Mimicry)]
[Passive: Hardening, Natural State]
[Partial Body Transformation]
I ‘transformed’ a part of my body so that the thing that should not be shed, just like tears, would not leak.
Thanks to that, a catastrophe did not occur.
‘Why didn’t I say I was going to the restroom, that pee was going to burst out.’
I felt myself foolish until just before.
[Natural State: Entrusts oneself to the natural flow, maintaining a detached and indifferent state.]
It was probably thanks to the passive.
It was excellent.
A strange comfort filled my whole body.
“Restroom?”
Seol Hayun stared at me with her mouth open blankly.
Seol Hayun looked into my eyes.
For some reason, they were serious, and a strange conviction dwelt in them.
A while later, she turned her body quietly.
The tips of her ears were flushed red.
“Go, quickly.”
It was a short and firm single phrase.
She moved her steps toward Lily just like that.
I stopped for a moment watching her back, then sighed quietly.
Then I silently passed the hallway and headed to the restroom.
As I moved my steps, I thought.
To achieve something that could be easily solved by going around in circles like this, it couldn't be anything but foolish.
Human dignity?
Was that such an important issue?
Physiological processes are natural things, not shameful at all.
I stood in front of the urinal shaking my head.
Ding-
[‘Mimicry’ is deactivated.]
The faucet that had been stopped began to turn again.
Along with that, something inside my heart also moved together.
‘My dignity...'
It had been ruthlessly damaged.
[Tears are not the only thing a man should not shed. -From the Toilet-]
The phrase engraved in front of the urinal approached me particularly intensely.
Was it just my mood?
Somehow, my vision seemed to blur mistily.
‘Damn it.’
[Heeheeheeheet! Splish splash! Slap smack! Yeaaaaah!]
A familiar voice was heard.
“Please shut up.”
The words popped out immediately, but naturally, the Mimic did not listen.
The laughter continued for quite a long time like that.
When I returned to the hospital room, Lily was gone before I knew it.
Instead, a mobile cart was placed in front of the door.
On top of it, various health supplements, mineral sets, and even nutritional ampoules were contained in full.
“How much is all this. Crazy.”
I muttered as I scanned the cart.
‘Did Seol Hayun leave this?’
Did she come here to give this?
While Lily was sleeping lying in front of the door of all things?
And among them, there was one object that stood out particularly.
It was a pair of hospital patient trousers placed on top of other items.
Vzzzt-
Smartphone vibration rang.
[Seol Hayun: I left a get-well gift in front. I organized the usage for each too, so please use them properly.]
I pressed the reply just like that.
[Ryu Jinwoo: I didn’t wet myself]
[Seol Hayun: Huh?]
[Ryu Jinwoo: I said I didn’t wet myself. There was no need to give pants]
[Seol Hayun: I’m sorry]
[Ryu Jinwoo: For what?]
[Seol Hayun: ......Everything]
The message ended with a cat emoticon with a sullen expression sent by Seol Hayun.
I put down the smartphone with a subtle expression.
“...Let’s go to the roof.”
Trudge trudge, my footsteps headed to the elevator.