Chapter 239

*

I must have overdone it; my mouth felt all dry and scratchy.

Chewing on a sandwich like it was a rock, I wandered around the medical center like a tourist.

Sein Medical Center was nestled in a basin on the way from Taeyang County to Beomsan City, boasting the best facilities and scale in Asia.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—*

Even now, in the distant helipad, a helicopter carrying an emergency patient was slowly descending, and an ambulance was waiting near the emergency room at the main entrance to transport the patient.

Yoo Jun-sik initially planned to build it on a small scale for Yoo Myung-sun, but when Yoo Myung-sun, who was retiring to the countryside, insisted on giving the new neighbors the best as a gift, the project grew bigger.

Thanks to that, the basin, which used to be home to a junk shop, a dog kennel, weeds, and landscaping saplings, had transformed into something magnificent.

The rocky mountain supporting the west side of the medical center also exuded a certain charm.

Looking at the wide, open rocky mountain, someone came to mind.

‘Ah, the head of the public health center.’

I should also thank Yoo Jae-woon.

They call it the golden hour, don’t they? If it weren’t for his advice, I might have panicked and left the patients in a room filled with carbon monoxide.

If that had happened, even the shadows wouldn’t have had time to intervene.

– No, you made the right call. Really, thank goodness. I hope they recover soon.

There were no words like, “It’ll be fine, they’ll recover quickly.”

I guess that’s what makes him a doctor. I actually liked that he didn’t speak without certainty.

Back then, I used to think, “What’s the big deal about coal gas? It’s just coal gas.” Every winter, news about coal gas poisoning would dominate the headlines, but since I’d never lived in a house heated by coal briquettes, it didn’t really hit home.

But later, when I saw people ending their lives using lightning rods, I was shocked to realize just how dangerous carbon monoxide could be.

– Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.

“Thank you.”

Well, is there really anything more you can do?

If anything, I should be the one helping. I muttered to myself, tapping my chest, which felt heavy from the sandwich stuck in my throat.

If he’s that kind of doctor, maybe he’d fit right in at Sein Medical Center. That is, if Yoo Jae-woon wants a position there.

Despite its geographical inconvenience, Sein Medical Center offered learning opportunities for doctors and excellent welfare benefits for staff, so surprisingly, there were many applicants. The preconception that doctors prefer Seoul and the Gyeonggi area was proven wrong.

‘A large scale can also serve as a name card for recognition.’

The inconvenience of professors commuting to medical school lectures would be resolved within a few years with the completion of the West Coast Expressway. Hong Ki-jun’s influence even extended to the construction of the expressway, and a toll gate, not originally planned, was set to be built facing the medical center.

What changed Jin-hyeok’s mind, who had doubted the feasibility due to accessibility, was a single remark Yoo Jun-sik made to Son Kwang-yeon.

– “Isn’t it true that there are recluses everywhere?”

In the end, it turned out just as Yoo Jun-sik said.

– “It’s not that there are hidden eccentric geniuses. It’s just that people hesitate to use them because they’re eccentric, even though they’re outstanding.”

Although Hong Ki-jun said that, not all doctors working in rural areas were eccentric oddballs. Most of them were ordinary, kind-looking people. Though, about two out of ten did seem a bit strange.

“Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”

A perfectly normal-looking doctor passed by, laughing like a ghost.

Alright, correction. About three or four out of ten seemed strange.

– “If the mountain is there, people will climb it, right? If there’s a job, it suits their aptitude, and the treatment is good, people will come. Look at Dad’s company. Other companies weren’t hiring female graduates, so even someone from Yoo Myung University’s chemical engineering department applied.”

My practical dad’s opinion also hit home.

I contacted both my mom and dad. If someone else relayed the message, the situation could get distorted.

Next, I reached out to Moon Seok-il.

“I need your help. It’d be great if all four of you could come.”

– Alright. I’ll be right there.

Seeing him comply so readily, I was sure.

Who the shadow’s minion was.

***

When I got into the ambulance, Jin-hyeok recalled the day Yook Seong-chan had his accident.

There was a time when I desperately prayed while pressing gauze to Yook Seong-chan’s ear in place of Yook Young-gu. I prayed that the injury wouldn’t be severe and that he would recover quickly.

When I heard that his condition wasn’t serious, I thought it might have been because of the energy I possessed.

It was a serious delusion.

Jin-hyeok couldn’t control his power.

The first time I met Moon Seok-il and his group, I remember Moon Seok-il looking dazed. His pupils were shaking as if looking at something in the void, and his limbs, gripped by fear, trembled uncontrollably.

I seriously misjudged it as him being scared of his own powerlessness.

I also felt ashamed for thinking I had won their hearts by showing them kindness.

‘It was that shadow guy’s doing.’

He must have put some kind of restriction on them, just like he did with Chairman Hong Ki-jun.

I saw Jo Seol-chan sleeping with an oxygen mask on.

The doctor told me that the level of poisoning was so severe that he needed the oxygen mask even inside the capsule.

‘How hard has your life been?’

In my past life, Jin-hyeok was freer compared to Jo Seol-chan.

I had no family to take responsibility for, and I lived accepting the reality that I couldn’t see the people I missed. Not just that. I had a body and mind capable of doing anything. I scoffed at universities, which were no better than job placement agencies, and strutted out, only to become a successful salaryman.

‘Your life must be harder than mine. It won’t get easier from here on out.’

I’ll help you.

I placed my hand on the thick glass where my friend’s hand was visible.

In response, Jo Seol-chan’s mask fogged up with his breath.

Yes, breathe.

That’s how you survive.

*

The medical services at Sein Medical Center were astonishing.

Immediately after the seamless emergency treatment, the patient was moved to the hyperbaric oxygen therapy room, and various tests, including blood tests, were smoothly completed in less than five minutes. No one approached the oxygen therapy room, as it was a space requiring absolute rest.

‘School must have started by now.’

It had already been two hours since I started pacing restlessly in the hallway.

Jo Seol-chan and his grandmother, lying in the cylindrical capsules receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy, looked comfortable. Jo Seol-chan seemed to be regaining consciousness, half-opening and closing his eyes as if trying to grasp the situation, while his grandmother, though still unconscious, had a peaceful expression.

“We plan to continue the oxygen therapy for about two more hours.”

The doctor who approached Jin-hyeok explained.

Jin-hyeok, who had been peering into the room through the transparent window, slowly nodded.

The timer on the panel labeled HBOT indicated two hours remaining.

“Will he be okay?”

“Yes. Although the carbon monoxide level in his blood just now was unusual, since he entered the treatment machine while maintaining his breathing, you can consider the poisoning symptoms to be curable.”

“What do you mean by unusual? Could you explain in more detail?”

The doctor adjusted his black horn-rimmed glasses and frowned slightly, as if hesitating.

Jin-hyeok worried if he had asked an inappropriate question, but it didn’t seem so.

“Is it okay if I tell you this…?”

“Please go ahead.”

The doctor clenched his teeth, his jaw muscles twitching once, then stepped closer as if making a decision. He lowered his voice to a whisper, his mouth almost touching Jin-hyeok’s ear.

“It was a level far exceeding the lethal dose.”

I knew. I had already witnessed it.

But the doctor’s thoughts seemed slightly different.

“I can tell you this because it’s my area of expertise. Unless someone intentionally took sleeping pills or alcohol to become unconscious, it’s impossible to inhale such a concentration in a normal household.”

Jin-hyeok pondered what the doctor’s words implied.

‘Is he saying someone fed it to him?’

Frozen like a statue, Jin-hyeok’s mind raced, but the doctor’s words pierced his eardrums like a needle.

“No sleeping pills or alcohol were detected. Yet, in such a short time, at such a high concentration… It’s only possible in a sealed environment.”

Jin-hyeok’s eyes, which had almost closed, shot open.

Jo Seol-chan’s house, which had been renovated from an old home, was quite open. There were three windows in the room, and a small window on the wall facing the backyard. Given the structure and the limits of its durability, it seemed unlikely that ordinary coal gas could cause such severe poisoning.

Jo Seol-chan often complained about drafts in winter, saying it made it hard to sleep, and there were days when he awkwardly laughed, saying he was late because he drank radish water soup after inhaling coal gas. Every time, Yeom Byeong-taek would scold him, saying radish water soup had no effect and he should just take medicine.

“What if it wasn’t a sealed environment? What could cause that in a well-ventilated place?”

“If you connected a car muffler inside the house, for example, it could happen. Direct exposure to a large amount of harmful substances could cause it. Of course, this is just a hypothetical scenario.”

I was already planning to visit Jo Seol-chan’s house again when Moon Seok-il arrived, and now I had a clearer idea of what to focus on.

But before that, there was something else to take care of.

“That friend and his grandmother are family. Is there a double room available?”

“I’ll arrange an additional bed in the VIP room.”

The doctor nodded lightly and left.

“Phew—”

Left alone in the quiet hallway, I felt the exhaustion of my physical strength.

The fatigue from sprinting through the winter wind washed over my body.

I was frustrated by the despair I faced, and the mental strain from conversing with the shadow, who, though invisible, exuded an overwhelming presence, was immense.

Lost in thought while looking inside the treatment room, I leaned against the wall and crouched down, then finally sat on the floor.

‘Maybe I’ll close my eyes for a bit…’

It would be nice if there were chairs, but they said the comfortable waiting room for guardians was separate, so nothing was placed in the hallway.

Before I could even regret the lack of a chair, my head dropped heavily.

***

In the past, Son Jin-hyeok wished that everything in the world was an illusion.

He would fall asleep hoping to wake up to his mother’s bright smile, stroking his head, and when he woke from his dreams, he wished the life he had lived alone would become a sad dream and be forgotten.

But even the narrow connections he had formed became a lifeline, and his past life remained as part of his history. A life recorded as Jin-hyeok’s history, a fact he had no choice but to accept. Because of them, Jin-hyeok existed.

Thus, even after starting life anew after the accident, he couldn’t treat his past life as just a nightmare.

He knew that this life wasn’t a dream either.

The connections from the past and the new connections, which could be said to be vast compared to the past. They spoke to Jin-hyeok with clear consciousness and distinct purpose at every moment.

‘It’s not a dream.’

【That’s right. It’s not a dream.】

Even that shadow guy is like that.

He appears regardless of dreams or reality. As if insisting that it’s not an illusion.

There’s definitely a key, a condition for his appearance, that Jin-hyeok doesn’t know.

‘Did he appear first because I fell asleep?’

【Fainting or sleeping is the closest to the unconscious.】

‘Are you in the mood to talk now?’

【That’s a misunderstanding. I haven’t been avoiding you.】

‘Can I ask you something?’

【I won’t stop you.】

‘Are there any restrictions on the questions?’

【You’re unusual. Humans like games, but you were different.】

‘I don’t understand what you mean.’

【I’ve observed this world. I know the games humans play, setting limits on questions and answers. Defining themselves as Homo Ludens and creating trivial amusements they call culture. I’m not human. I have no interest in games.】

Jin-hyeok, with his head bowed deeply in sleep, twitched his eyelids.

The guy who used to give short, frustrating answers was now speaking at length. Though his words were like puzzle pieces, they weren’t hard to understand if you thought about them.

‘Do you know me?’

【Let’s say I know you best.】

‘What happened to me?’

【I can’t tell you. Not yet.】

‘What do you mean?’

【You’re not ready.】

‘What preparation? Can’t you just explain it all at once? You could even show me.’

【You’ve placed restrictions on yourself.】

‘Even in my sleep, this is infuriating. I can’t breathe.’

【The posture of bending your legs and hunching your upper body compresses your lungs and other organs, hindering proper breathing.】

‘……’

I think the reason it’s hard to have a long conversation with this guy isn’t because of his presence. I thought that in my dream.

If I die like this, my tombstone could read, “Son Jin-hyeok, died of frustration.”