Lee Juyeol’s mother walked endlessly through the complex hospital corridor.
The mother and son had been waiting for nearly an hour in front of the radiology room. At first, they went to an orthopedic clinic near the school. However, as they say, if things could go wrong, they would go wrong somehow, so when they tried to get in, it ended up being a lunchtime break.
As the mother waited in silence, it seemed like her child was about to die. Eventually, Lee Juyeol’s mother hurriedly left the hospital. That’s how they ended up here, at a general hospital quite far from the school.
The doctor pulled up his glasses and opened his mouth in an indifferent tone.
‘You can see his nose is clearly lopsided. Well, I’m certain the nasal bone is fractured. But first, we need to do a detailed examination, so let’s take a chest X-ray as well.”
The mother and son staggered and bolted out of the treatment room. Lee Juyeol gritted his teeth in spite of the pain. He thought he must have hit him harder! He felt like a loser for breaking his own nose.
He did not know that the guy who had been as quiet as a mouse for days would come running in the morning. Right now, Lee Juyeol was in a subtle dilemma, wanting to know the test results as soon as possible, but at the same time not wanting to know if he really had a broken nose. He didn’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate, but the X-ray examination that he thought would be a quick procedure, was getting delayed due to the backlog of patients.
Lee Juyeol’s mother, who was nervously hovering around the radiation room, interrupted a nurse.
“Hey! How much longer do we have to wait?”
The nurse who was looking at the chart sighed. The same question has already been asked several times. It’s not like she could move them up the line, they would be called when it’s their turn, but the guardian in front of her was already fuming. The hospital was busy today. ‘I’ll call you as soon as possible,’ the nurse replied dryly, glaring.
“Um, Juyeol’s mother?”
Lee Juyeol, who was crouching in the waiting seat, raised his head. His mother, too, was about to let out her annoyance to the nurse, but turned her gaze to the voice behind her. Standing there was a strange man. Jeongju was wearing a black hat he had prepared in advance, and half of his face was covered by a disposable white mask.
“Who are you?”
She frowned and asked.
“Nice to meet you. I am Jaegyeom’s uncle.”
The mother and son paused and exchanged glances. Jeongju lowered his head and opened his mouth politely.
“I heard that Juyeol was seriously injured because of our nephew and was in the hospital. So, as Jaegyeom’s guardian, I want to formally apologize. For being so rude…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Hey. Are you kidding me?”
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“My child has a broken nose. A broken nose! How will you take responsibility? If his parents aren’t around, his uncle should take care of him. What could it be that, at this age, he’s already beating people up like this and has such bad habits with his fists? What, are you going to make him a thug when you grow up? Is he a gangster?”
“… I have no face.”
“We’re going to take an x-ray now, okay? Just wait till I look at the results. I’m not going to sit idly by. We’re going to get a diagnosis and go through the procedure right away. This is by no means an issue to end at a school level. How can he go to school with a kid like that who makes me anxious?”
“… I’m really sorry.”
Jeongju bit his lips under his mask. To a certain extent he expected it, but sure enough, the couple were very loud. The mother was rambling, frantically trying to get her point across. In the meantime, Jeongju let out a silent sigh of relief when he realized that the test results hadn’t come out yet.
“I thought it was the bare minimum to visit and check on you and see how you’re doing. As soon as the results come out, not only the cost of surgery but also mental compensation…”
At that time, Lee Juyeol, who had been slumped in the chair, jumped up from his seat with a frown on his face.
“Aish. Really.”
“Juyeol. What’s the matter! Does it hurt a lot?”
“Ugh, shh.”
Lee Juyeol became nervous when people’s eyes gathered at the unexpected uproar. Moreover, shouting in a loud voice like a child, saying that his nose was broken and that he was beaten up, would eventually lead to rumors that he was beaten up everywhere, and it was like his dignity was crushed.
“Where are you going? The nurse said she would call you soon.”
Lee Juyeol passed his mother who was grabbing him. Then, he deliberately shoved past Jeongju’s shoulder, who stood in front of him, and shouted in annoyance.
“Juyeol, uh…”
“Ah, get out of the way!”
Jeongju, who suddenly got his shoulder pushed, bit his lip.
What a coarse guy.
From the moment he saw his parents’ personalities, he roughly guessed, but they were like peas in a pod. Looking at his prospects, he seemed like a cheap guy even if he was beaten. Jeongju’s heart was heavy because he seemed to have taken out his anger on Jaegyeom. It made him regret once again scolding Jaegyeom, saying that such a guy is also a weak ordinary human.
Lee Juyeol stomped his feet proudly and turned the corner of his hallway. The place he took a disapproving step was the men’s bathroom. He wanted to get away for a while, and to rinse his nose, which had dried up and was sticky with blood. He turned on the cold water and washed his hands thoroughly. He grumbled, washed his face roughly, and pulled out a paper towel to dry himself.
“Excuse me, yoho-o-o…”
Lee Juyeol, who was gently wiping the tip of his tingling nose, turned his head. A small child was sticking his head out at the entrance to the bathroom. The small child was wearing a large hood that was several times his size. After staring at the child for a while, Lee Juyeol looked in the mirror again and wiped his face.
“Excuse, yoho-o, oh…”
What? Hearing the voice again, Lee Juyeol turned his head again. He was avoiding his gaze, but it seemed that he was calling me. The child’s voice was almost like a goat’s bleating. It was even hard to imitate how shaky it was.
Who was this kid now?
“What? Me?”
“Yeess…”
Lee Juyeol, who was looking around, asked with a frown, and the child nodded. The child gulped down and eyed him. Then, on his tiptoe, he began to approach Lee Juyeol. He was annoyed to see a kid he didn’t even know wandering around nearby, about to lose his temper. The child walked very slowly like a tortise.
“Ah. What is it!”
“Th- th- th- this… he- here…”
The child held out both hands that had been hidden behind his back. What he held in his hand was a paper cup filled with liquid. Lee Juyeol looked at the child with an expression asking what it was. Then the child was startled again and averted his gaze. Hah. Lee Juyeol snorted at him as if he was dumbfounded. What was he so afraid of?
“Uh, uh… young mast- n- no…”
“What?”
“H- hyung… hyung’s mother told me to bring it…”
“My mother?”
“Yeess…”
Lee Juyeol looked at the contents of the paper cup once and then at the child.
“What is this?”
“Hyung… afraid you’ll get thirsty… Hyung’s mother told to drink…”
They were going to be leaving soon, and she was sending a kid he didn’t even recognize on an errand. Lee Juyeol accepted the paper cup with a disapproving look. What was contained in the paper cup was a clear liquid. It was probably water. Since he was still thirsty, Lee Juyeol took the water from the paper cup to his mouth without any doubt. He drank half of the water in one gulp.
“C- Cough. Cough!”
Lee Juyeol, who had been gulping water without much thought, suddenly let out a strong cough.
“Aish. Cough, what is this? This water tastes like, cough.”
The liquid he poured into his mouth was unexpectedly incredibly sweet. It was just like sugar water. Surprised by the unexpected sweetness, Lee Juyeol clenched his sides for a while. Every time he coughed, his eyes flashed with pain in his throbbing, thumping ribs. Lee Juyeol, who had been hunched over the sink for a long time, barely lifted his head after the pain had subsided.
“Ugh, hey. This water…”
Lee Juyeol was about to ask, “Is this water?” but then furrowed his eyebrows. The young child who had been trembling before his eyes just before had already disappeared. Lee Juyeol came out of the bathroom and looked around the hallway. He was as slow as a turtle as he approached, but as soon as he handed over the paper cup, the child quickly disappeared. Lee Juyeol muttered a disgruntled, “What?” and slowly walked away.
Unlike when heading to the bathroom, his footsteps through the corridor were strangely light, but Lee Juyeol did not realize it.
T/N: might delete this note later but btw I just wrote a review on nu in case anyone wants to read a review/my non-spoilery overall thoughts on the book~
Thank you!
Mesani is adorable
Thank you for update
Thanx u
I’d cut his head off just so he could shut up so… Jaegyeom was kinda merciful