| Episode 138. In-Company Retaliation (4)
When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
This was a scene from a web novel I’d read not long ago.
At this rate, everyone was going to debut as idols.
……Wait, isn’t this my story?
I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious.
My last memory was of a woman passing by seeing me covered in blood and screaming.
For some reason, what had happened at Hanpyeong Industries was still in my head, too. I must have dreamed.
But…… what was I supposed to do now?
Should I call a nurse? It didn’t hurt enough to call anyone over.
Thanks to the System, I couldn’t feel any pain at all. If anything, lying here doing nothing for the first time in ages was comfortable.
I was such a simple citizen who loved his bed. How did my life end up such a mess?
As I turned my head this way and that, I got a rough grasp of the situation.
Judging from the IV stuck in my wrist and the fall-risk notice by my bedside, whether it was surgery or treatment, the urgent part seemed to be over. If it were really an emergency, everyone would have gathered around my bed.
‘I never thought I’d live to see myself hospitalized.’
How strange. Hanpyeong Industries had been a more awful company, yet I felt my life threatened more often at UA.
More importantly, there was a problem.
This…… looked like a private room.
How much did a private room cost? It was my first time being hospitalized, so I was thrown off. I’d only heard they were insanely expensive, and cold sweat ran down my back.
Would the company pay for it? I hadn’t even gotten insurance in this life yet. Was hospitalization due to injury covered?
‘That crazy bastard…… I’m billing him for every last medical expense.’
Thinking of Yu Hansu, I ground my teeth. Unless he offered a ridiculous amount, he could forget about any settlement. I’d ruin his life with both civil and criminal charges.
While I was fuming, I heard the door open at the foot of the bed. Soon after, someone approached.
“Manager?”
“Iwol! Are you conscious? Nurse, the patient here is awake!”
And in an instant, the area around me became noisy. All I’d done was answer a presence, but I felt drained.
Only after hearing a brief explanation did my hospital room become peaceful again.
“They said the surgery went well. You little punk, you were really in serious danger.”
“Was I?”
“Of course you were! Do you know how big the wound was? ……No, never mind. I shouldn’t be saying unnecessary things to a kid who just woke up. Sorry.”
It seemed the matter had grown bigger because the injury happened to be on my head. That garbage human being.
“Does it really not hurt anywhere? You got a lot of stitches.”
“I guess it’s thanks to the painkillers. I’m really fine right now.”
Even after I said that, the manager didn’t look reassured at all.
But it wasn’t like I could pretend to be in pain on purpose. There was nothing to gain from that.
When I smiled to show that I was okay, the manager finally patted his chest in relief.
“Ah, did the kids get back safely?”
I’d told them to wait in the practice room because I figured once the police or ambulance arrived, the company would make sure they got home.
“The kids? They’re sitting outside right now.”
“What?”
To my surprise, they were here.
“Did I sleep that long? Don’t tell me several days have passed or something.”
“No, no! The kids said they were worried about you.”
Even so, there’d been a whole incident. Couldn’t you have sent them back to the dorm?
“Want to sleep some more? If you’re okay with it, I’ll let the kids come in for a bit.”
“Yes, yes.”
I figured it was better to let idols into the room than leave them abandoned in the hospital corridor, so I readily agreed.
No sooner had the manager left than I heard their footsteps, as if they’d been waiting.
The faces of the guys who came straight to me were……
“Hyung!”
“Hyung, are you okay?”
……half of them were a complete mess.
“Were you guys crying?”
“Hyung, hngh, what did the doctor say? Are you okay now?”
I Cheonghyeon burst into tears.
Even when he read the rolling paper we wrote for our fifth anniversary on our own content, he hadn’t cried this much.
“They said the surgery went well, so why are you crying? I’m perfectly fine.”
At my words, I Cheonghyeon wiped his tears with trembling hands.
“As if surgery going well is everything…….”
I Cheonghyeon’s voice shook.
“Seeing as your mouth’s alive and kicking, I guess you are fine.”
Choe Jeho looked down at me like I was pathetic.
Yeah, damn it, I’m fine because I’m doped up on the System. So what.
“No…… why are you so angry?”
“You have to ask to know?”
“Stop it, hyung.”
Choe Jeho frowned. Gang Giyeon tried to stop him, but Choe Jeho didn’t back down.
“You, do you not know how you got carried in here? Your head was split open, so why are you acting so carefree?”
“It’s not like I knew this would happen.”
“You almost died, and that’s what you have to say?”
“But I didn’t die. Then it’s fine.”
And I wasn’t carefree. If I’d died over something like this, I would’ve gone straight to grabbing the System by the collar first.
“Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with me, so everyone hurry back to the dorm. And don’t go outside without the manager for a while.”
“Yeah, must be nice being perfectly fine, you bastard.”
The guy glared at me, snapped in irritation, and stormed out of the hospital room.
“I’ll step out for a bit too.”
“Uh, yeah…….”
Gang Giyeon followed Choe Jeho out.
“What’s with him? Was he like that outside the room too?”
I’d done all sorts of things all this time to prevent his personality controversy. He didn’t go and cause a scene in the short time I was unconscious, did he?
“Do you want me to be honest?”
“…….”
At Jeong Seongbin’s words, I was momentarily speechless. It felt like Pandora’s box was right in front of me.
“Jeho hyung was yelling in the car, sniff, that he was going to kill Yu Hansu until thirty minutes ago.”
I Cheonghyeon said, hiccuping.
That damn bastard. I told him so many times not to get worked up in front of the kids.
Wait. Then did Gang Giyeon just go to stop him?
“Choe Jeho, I swear I’ll……”
“Hyung! Don’t get up!”
“You can’t get up, hyung!”
For a moment, I almost sprang out of bed. I Cheonghyeon and Jeong Seongbin freaked out and stopped me from trying to leap out.
The pain should have been suppressed, but the back of my head throbbed. I clutched the nape of my neck and lay back down on the bed.
“Why does he only do things that piss me off like that? Forget my injury, I’m going to die of rage.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
Bak Juu’s voice came from behind I Cheonghyeon and Jeong Seongbin.
I hadn’t noticed because he’d been hidden, but Bak Juu looked terrible too. Tear tracks remained on both of Bak Juu’s cheeks.
“I thought, hyung, you were really going to die…….”
Bak Juu spoke with difficulty, word by word. Then tears like round beads fell from his eyes.
“……Sorry.”
I apologized briefly. But Bak Juu’s tears didn’t stop.
After silently sobbing for a long while, Bak Juu said,
“I’m sorry I said I wanted a drink…….”
Tears fell onto the blanket.
It was such a trivial thing to say, and it wasn’t Bak Juu’s fault things turned out like this.
But it felt like my heart sank. I felt uneasy.
“It’s not your fault, so why are you apologizing for that?”
At my words, Bak Juu roughly wiped his tears with his sleeve.
‘……He must have been really scared.’
Even when I first got hit, I couldn’t think of anything except that I had to take the weapon away.
So how much worse would it have been for these guys, who weren’t even twenty yet? I patted the shoulder of the sniffling guy a few times.
“Are you really okay? They said it might hurt a lot once the anesthesia wears off.”
Jeong Seongbin said with a worried expression.
“I’m really okay. I guess the anesthesia hasn’t fully worn off yet.”
If I followed my heart, I wanted to chase after Choe Jeho, but calming these guys down came first.
Look at I Cheonghyeon’s face. If he’d cried a reasonable amount, he would’ve become “Weeping Statue—20XX,” but right now he’d turned completely into a puffed-up bun.
Looking closely, Jeong Seongbin’s eyes were red too. Since every one of them was crying, that must have been why Gang Giyeon had taken charge of Choe Jeho. My heart felt heavy, as if I’d burdened the youngest with a heavy load.
“Seongbin, could you bring Choe Jeho and Giyeon back? I’m worried Giyeon might be having a hard time.”
“……Okay.”
First, I decided to call back Gang Giyeon, who was probably struggling alone.
Then I spoke to Bak Juu and I Cheonghyeon, who were left with me.
“When you get back to the dorm, all of you take one Cheongsimhwan each. I bought the drinkable kind before. You know where the first-aid kit is, right?”
“Isn’t the person who needs Cheongsimhwan the most right now you, hyung?”
“I don’t have the energy, so don’t make me repeat myself.”
There was something else I wanted to say too.
Looking at their faces, which had become a mess from being rubbed so roughly, I smiled awkwardly.
“I’m sorry I worried you.”
“…….”
Since I wasn’t in pain right now, I’d treated all of their concern as overprotectiveness. It was rude to the guys who’d come because they were thinking of me.
I sincerely apologized for that part.
“I’m not lying when I say I’m okay, so you can believe me. Just listening to me talk, don’t I seem like my usual self?”
“That’s because you can’t see your own face, hyung…….”
Bak Juu reproached me.
But it really didn’t hurt at all. To the point that I felt guilty seeing you all worry this much. Though I couldn’t explain that.
“I’m also sorry I pointlessly asked if you were scared. You must have already been really shocked, but I wasn’t thinking.”
“What are you talking about? No matter how shocked we were, could it compare to how shocked you were, hyung?”
Even as he grumbled, I Cheonghyeon gradually stopped crying.
“Apologize to the hyungs and Gang Gyeon too for speaking so thoughtlessly. Don’t needlessly provoke Jeho hyung. What kind of person tells someone who’s worried that it’s fine because they didn’t die?”
“Choe Jeho needs a private meeting. How dare he get angry in front of the younger ones…….”
“Jeho hyung hasn’t been like that lately. He was like that because he was worried about you.”
“Cheonghyeon, whose side are you on?”
“Today, I’m on Jeho hyung’s side, you hopeless case.”
I Cheonghyeon’s fierce criticism poured down on me. Bak Juu didn’t seem inclined to stop him either.
Once I’d plugged up the two guys’ tear glands, Jeong Seongbin returned with the abrasive ones in tow.
I gave the same apology to the three of them. Jeong Seongbin accepted my apology with a face that looked a little less worried, and Gang Giyeon accepted it with a face that said he was dissatisfied but had no choice.
As for Choe Jeho……
“…….”
“…….”
“I’m sorry I spoke insensitively, but you shouldn’t swear or get angry in front of the kids either.”
“Jeong Seongbin, can I go back to the dorm first?”
……It didn’t go smoothly, but somehow or other, we reconciled.
I was only able to hear about Yu Hansu, the perpetrator, after that.