novelraw Chapter 36 : Chapter 36
Chapter 36 : Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Uninvited Guest (1)
The door opened and a reliable shoulder came into view.
A nurse with bobbed hair neatly swept back, Lee Dahye.
Muscles that looked like they would burst the nursing uniform caught everyone's eyes.
She scanned the hospital room, lightly rolling her eyes, and walked straight toward Team Leader Kim.
“Visitation is not allowed after 6 PM, you know?”
Standing tall in front of Team Leader Kim, she exuded an oppressive feeling just by looking at her.
“We didn't receive a separate visitation request either.”
“Ah, haha! Excuse me. I belong to that Recovery Management Support Bureau…….”
“Belonging or whatever, even the President cannot break that rule!”
As Nurse Lee Dahye threatened with a low growl, Team Leader Kim's neck shrank.
Meanwhile, Lee Dahye's eyes shone like a beast as she glared at Team Leader Kim's tablet.
“What is that picture?”
“This? Ah.”
What was on the tablet screen was a picture of face skin.
Instantly, Team Leader Kim's face turned pale.
“Did you show such a strange picture to patients who need absolute rest? An adult doing that to students who aren't even adults yet?”
Correct arguments striking consecutively.
Afterwards, Nurse Lee Dahye's nagging continued for a long time.
Team Leader Kim just sat in a modest posture, muttering things like “Yes, that is correct.” in between.
“Anyway, come out. It's time for the patients to rest.”
Finally, as soon as Nurse Lee Dahye finished her lecture, Team Leader Kim sprang up from his seat as if he had been waiting.
“So, sorry. Cadet Seol Hayun, and Cadet Ryu Jinwoo. We, there will be a commendation award upon returning to the academy, so please prepare a brief speech. Then, goodbye!”
After delivering words like a rapid-fire gun, he kicked the hospital room door open and left immediately, leaving only silence inside.
Nurse Lee Dahye, who was glaring at the door Team Leader Kim left through, looked back at us.
“Then, rest well.”
A smile she showed toward me.
I know it's a kind smile, but still, it's scary somewhere.
“Did he go? That person, no, who is he? Is he a former hero?”
Do Haru, who had hidden her body under the bed, crawled out and asked.
“Indeed.”
I answered reflexively.
Indeed. I am curious too.
***
“Phew, that was a scary person.”
Leaving the hospital room hurriedly, Team Leader Kim lightly brushed off his shoulders.
The nurse's bulky spirit was enough to fluster him.
Team Leader Kim caught his breath, took off his horn-rimmed glasses, and took out a handkerchief from his pocket.
The fingertips wiping the sweat on his forehead were subtly delicate.
Wearing the glasses again, he looked down at the smartphone that rang with vibration.
Ttiriring-
On the screen, the name ‘Director’ was blinking.
After inhaling shortly, he answered the phone.
“Yes, Director. This is Kim Jeonghyeon.”
As soon as he answered the phone, an urgent voice burst out from over the receiver.
- Hey Team Leader Kim, where are you right now? What do we do if the manager is absent from the site?
“Ah, I apologize. Something came up briefly so I came to the hospital side. I will return soon.”
Team Leader Kim answered with a good-natured voice while letting out a hearty laugh.
“Yes, yes. I will go right away. Yes, understood. Yees, yes. Haha-.”
Ttuk-
And the moment he hung up the phone, warmth disappeared from his face.
The laughter was erased without a trace and his eyes cooled down coldly.
The generosity from just before had disappeared without a trace.
He slowly came out of the hospital.
Immediately, he moved his steps to a back alley with rare external traffic next to the building.
A gloomy space where no light entered under the sunset sky.
Settling in the middle, he slowly brought his hand to his face.
Soon the skin lifted lightly and the leather peeled off thinly like taking off a mask.
Deolkeok- teodeok-
At the same time, with the minute sound of joints twisting, the body silhouette began to change slowly.
The build shrank agilely and the shoulder line fell smoothly.
The frizzy black hair became pure white hair flowing down the nape of the neck, shining.
Smooth skin like porcelain and distinct features.
Eyes narrowed like threads.
The man who was ‘Team Leader Kim Jeonghyeon’ until just a moment ago now had a completely different face.
“Huu- a constitution with a lot of sweat is a bit uncomfortable.”
He opened his mouth quietly.
The low and elegant voice was strangely alluring.
Ppirik-!
At the sudden electronic sound, Edward's gaze moved to the smartphone in his hand.
But the screen was quiet.
A state with no notifications popping up.
“Ah, this side.”
He shrugged his shoulders and put his hand in his pocket.
When he took out a black, flat receiver and pressed the button, a child-like voice was heard from over the device.
- Edward! Did you meet Balzac?
Clear and ringing tone.
But a strange sense of incongruity flowed.
It felt like a somewhat anxious sensation was overlaid on the innocent voice.
“Yes, I met him and came back.”
Edward answered with a familiar attitude.
It was a calm voice.
“He seemed to be doing well.”
His gaze stared silently at somewhere in the air.
When he entered the hospital room, the boy was sitting on the bed eating snacks.
An appearance where no sense of incongruity was felt at all.
Looking at that appearance, Edward had to admire inwardly.
Because it was acting so perfect that it could not be seen as fake at all.
Above all, Seol Hayun and the girl named Do Haru also seemed to have no idea that Balzac occupied the boy's body.
- Is it really true that Balzac entered that kid's body? Did you perhaps mistake it?
“To say that, I saw it myself. The scene where Mr. Balzac's main body seeped into the boy's body.”
He raised his fingertips and rubbed near his ear.
As if tracing a memory.
“Furthermore-.”
Edward recalled one more time.
The boy's right hand wrapped in bandages.
That looked more like a shape to hide something rather than an injury.
Moreover, the palm rising minutely bulging.
Riding that curve, a squirming movement was felt.
A very subtle movement, someone who doesn't know the inside story wouldn't think much of it, but.
Edward, being in a position of knowing, could grasp it at once.
There is an eye inside the bandage.
Balzac's original eye.
“It seems he hasn't completely adapted to that body yet. An eye was floating on his palm.”
- Ah really? Then it is Balzac. He certainly shows unexpected moves. Should I say it's like the Black Mage of Deception.
“He is an interesting person.”
Edward responded with a broad smile.
- So? What are you going to do from now on? Did you try talking to Balzac?
To the questions heard consecutively over the receiver, Edward answered catching his breath for a beat.
“I couldn't do that because there were other people in the hospital room. I plan to contact him later. Hm, for the time being, I should act separately.”
- Uwa, I envy Balzac. Then he's attending the academy? I want to attend too. It must be super fun! I'm envious.
“Certainly, it would be fun.”
Edward answered lowly stroking his chin.
- Is Edward coming back right now? I'm so bored because I'm the only one here right now.
“Well.”
He slowly looked down at the smartphone in his hand.
Work messages and accumulated support request notifications were floating in rows on the screen.
“Public servants are busy, you see. It seems it won't be possible right now. There is still some work left to do with this body too.”
- Eh? Then who am I supposed to play with!
“Please play with Mr. Larry's demonic beasts. Though you have to be prepared to be scolded later.”
- Ah! Shall I? Hihi, good! The breeding ground password, is it that one you told me last time?
“That is correct. Then, see you next time.”
Ttuk-
Edward let out a short breath closing the receiver.
At that moment, a new message arrived on the smartphone screen.
- Kim Hanyoung's left hand. Found in an abandoned building in Jungnang-gu. DNA match. Missing verdict maintained. Person presumed to be Balzac, captured on nearby CCTV.
He read through the sentences and wore a flat smile.
“With this, Mr. Balzac will be able to act comfortably for a while.”
Slowly swiping the smartphone, he opened his mouth.
“The government will continue tracking in the wrong direction now. It is a small gift, Mr. Balzac.”
Inside the alley where the red sunset settled silently, he muttered like a soliloquy.
“Ah- now I should call you ‘Mr. Ryu Jinwoo’.”
Edward took out the thin skin again from the inner pocket.
Adhering it to his face line, he overlaid the skin as is.
Moving his fingers delicately, he organized from eyebrows to contours.
In no time, his face had returned to ‘Team Leader Kim Jeonghyeon’ again.
Even the body type, gestures, and that peculiar atmosphere.
Ttik-
He picked up the smartphone and made a call.
“Yeah, Assistant Manager Jo! I'm on my way after finishing up some work briefly. How is the situation?”
A warm middle-aged man's voice.
Leaving the back alley, he started walking on the street with a good-natured face, as if nothing had happened.
***
Peaceful morning at Zero Academy.
I returned to the classroom after a few days.
Nothing much has changed.
The academy was still the academy as is.
The excitement of the new semester hadn't completely faded yet either.
However, as much as the expo hall attack incident heated up the media, the aftermath was definitely felt.
“They say Seol Hayun and he were at that spot.”
“Did you see Hayun's interview? It was amazing.”
“Ah, I wish I had been there too.”
“Puhat, if it were you, you would have only been a hindrance.”
Sounds of conversation from afar were heard sporadically.
They probably didn't mean for me to hear, but I hear it anyway.
Roughly this kind of atmosphere.
This is an academy nurturing heroes after all.
There are not a few kids interested in the incident, and it seems there are often cases of envy or jealousy regarding it.
Anyway, it seems Seol Hayun and I are being accepted as having gone ahead for now.
Surprise, admiration, check, subtle distance.
Somewhat tiring emotions were conveyed intermittently.
‘Still, I wrote almost all the articles while in the hospital.’
Zero Times' [Coverage Quest] is basically completed after the article writing is finished.
In the game, the article was written automatically when the event ended, but now that it's reality, I had to write it one by one myself.
That was sweating work in its own way.
Not long after, the notification announcing 10 minutes before class rang.
“Hey, Jinwoo.”
Do Haru in the right seat leaned her body and called me.
Hazelnut-colored eyes under the brown bobbed hair shone with interest.
“That hand, is it still not fully healed?”
Her gaze fixed straight on my right hand.
Hand tightly wrapped in bandages.
It was the result of effort not to have the inside discovered.
“Slightly.”
I answered shortly.
I hoped she wouldn't take interest if possible, but it seems it stood out.
Actually, if I wore gloves, I might not have attracted particular attention.
The problem was that wearing gloves made it more obvious instead.
Because that ‘eye’ rising on the palm bulges out beyond the glove.
At least pressing it down with bandages made it look ordinary. At least until now.
“Because the wound on the hand hasn't healed yet.”
When I made a simple excuse, Do Haru tilted her head and glanced at my hand again.
“Even so, if you wrap it that tight, it will hurt more instead, won't it?”
Correct argument coming in casually.
Actually, it does hurt.