Rehabilitation Therapist for the Broken Warrior – Chapter 113

“Teacher. It’s the morning bread.”

As always, Serin went to the bakery of Mrs. Baker to fetch bread.

Why does this person take care of me?

What on earth am I to her?

“Thank you, Serin. You can go back now.”

“No. Today, I’m going to watch you eat. The bread from yesterday is still here.”

The bread basket that Serin had brought yesterday still sat on the desk next to the bed, filled with bread that had gone cold and hard.

Serin picked it up and set it aside, placing new bread in front of me, holding one piece out to me.

“……”

Warm bread from her hand.

*** “It’s bread. Freshly baked morning bread from Mrs. Baker.”

Feeling the warmth of the bread, I thought I could hear Zion’s voice somewhere.

*** “Because it was warm.”

On the day Zion was first hospitalized, he had asked me, the doctor, for permission because he missed the bread we had at home.

Basking in the sunlight streaming in from the window of Room 104, with a sparkling face, he smiled…

“Serin.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Could you… please stop bringing this?”

“Is it the bread? Is it uncomfortable for you to eat?”

“It’s just that… Zion liked it.”

“……”

With a trembling voice, I barely made my request to Serin, who lowered her head and closed her eyes, wearing a somber expression.

I felt teary, but no more emotions seemed to stir in my chest.

I had cried so much and experienced so much pain over the past three months.

In the beginning, I would burst into tears at the slightest thing, or scream into the void, unable to do anything, but now, perhaps I had gotten used to handling my emotions or maybe I had dried up; either way, I was no longer easily brought to that state.

“Then, from next time on, I will prepare something suitable.”

“There’s really no need to…”

“I will prepare it.”

“Serin. Why do you take care of me? Can’t you just leave me be?”

“If I didn’t take care of you, you wouldn’t eat anything.”

“Why… do I have to eat something?”

“Because you have to live.”

“Why do I have to live?”

“Teacher!”

Serin suddenly grabbed my shoulders and turned my gaze to her.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking something weird? If you don’t live, you won’t be able to see Zion again…!”

“It’s not that different from now, is it?”

“……”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words, but anyway, Serin looked straight into my eyes and said firmly,

“Even if that’s the case, Zion wouldn’t want that. So, no matter how hard it is, you have to live. Got it?”

She was giving me a strong warning.

Zion wouldn’t want that…

Zion turned his back on me, but if I were to die, would Zion be sad?

I want to find out.

But that’s… probably impossible.

“So please eat, Teacher. Even though I don’t think my words will resonate with you, I won’t leave until you eat the bread you’re holding.”

“……”

With Serin being so insistent, I had no choice but to put the bread in my mouth.

It wasn’t that I was acquiescing to her words, but rather that if I have no reason to live, I don’t particularly have a reason to die either.

The morning bread from the bakery, just like always.

The bread that entered my mouth was damnably…

“…warm.”

It was delicious.

Soft, fluffy, warm, sweet, and melting bread.

The world is truly cruel, as no matter how sad and tormented I am, it keeps on turning, indifferent.

Just like how the same morning bread comes out of the bakery every day.

And human beings are, in fact, like machines made of cells, as when you put irresistibly delicious food in your mouth, you inadvertently feel happiness.

It’s designed to react that way.

“……”

A confusing sense of embarrassment makes my body tremble, and the unbearable guilt warms my head.

And the boiling emotions overflow as tears.

Tears that I thought would never come again were suddenly pouring down.

My body, oddly enough, cried at the moment I felt happiness, not unhappiness.

How fleeting can emotions, meaning, and life be? How powerless can a human be?

I can’t even cry freely.

What is it about this bread that makes it feel good… and even makes me feel happy…?!

“Hop, Director…”

Through my tear-filled vision, Naou appeared with a look of surprise and compassion.

She softly called my name, alerting me to her presence, but she remained silent, watching me with tears soaking the bread.

Although it was an unexpected person appearing suddenly, my mind was in such disarray that I couldn’t think clearly.

A moment of silence enveloped the room, and after releasing some tears and emotions, I wiped my face and faced her.

“I’m sorry for showing up so suddenly. Have you calmed down a bit?”

It felt like everyone in the world was asking about my feelings.

I understand it’s out of concern, but I wish they would just say what they want to say instead.

Saying ‘I’m okay’ about my feelings was incredibly hard.

So, I silently nodded.

As if to indicate that I was not okay at all, I slowly stared into space.

Why does the desire for someone else to acknowledge my feelings arise?

Serin or Naou can’t possibly not know I’m sad. Even if they do, completely empathizing with my feelings as another person seems impossible.

And knowing someone acknowledges my sorrow doesn’t comfort me or lessen the sadness.

“Yesterday, the gate opened. A little earlier than the time you mentioned, though.”

The gate has already opened.

But why are you telling me this?

After all, I…

“I can’t imagine that this news is why the Princess came here in person, so please get to the point.”

“You have to go to the gate.”

“Me? I’m just a doctor… no, I’m not a doctor anymore. But why should I go there?”

“Because Zion is waiting.”

“……”

The notion that Zion is waiting, as told by Naou, was infuriating to me.

A truly carefree comment, made without knowing anything about us.

Indeed, while people can roughly guess how others feel, they seem utterly incapable of fully understanding another person.

“That can’t be true.”

“But the gate has opened, and the Director is a Returner. You’ve never deceived Zion, right?!”

“I never expected someone of the Princess’s caliber to say such a thing. Being disappointed in the act of deception is equivalent to being disappointed in the intent to deceive. Even if the facts later align and that makes it not a lie, it doesn’t mean I haven’t deceived Zion.”

“You sacrificed everything and came back for Zion! And now you’re just going to give up?!”

“Now, Zion doesn’t believe anything I say anymore. He left after saying so. If there was something I could do, I would have done it. But this is already a done deal.”

“If you keep saying that, I will force you to…!”

“Try it.”

I manipulate space. If I said this much, she should understand what I mean.

If someone were to physically come at me, I would trap myself in space.

And with my surroundings blocked off, there would be no reopening of that space.

I’ll probably just…

“……”

Naou sulks her head down dejectedly.

Now that there’s no way, she’ll return.

I wish everyone would just leave me alone.

Whether it’s Serin, Naou, or anyone else, all they are to me is a bothersome and annoying interference.

So please…

“Director Hop. It’s hard for me to believe that Zion no longer trusts you, but I believe in you. I don’t think my faith in you will comfort you, though.”

Does she still have words left?

Maybe Naou intends not to back down until I follow her.

But that doesn’t matter.

Because regardless, I won’t move no matter what she says.

Naou will soon realize that too.

“But even if Zion doesn’t believe in what you say…”

Naou looked a little sad.

Is this the last thing she wants to say?

And her next words, said as if she had given up…

“Shouldn’t the Director believe in Zion?”

It was a statement that stirred a small wave in my heart.

“Director Hop. To you, it might sound like I’m meddling foolishly, not knowing anything, but from my perspective, I think you’re missing an important and simple truth. Even amidst the preparations for war around the world for the past three months, my thoughts have solely been on the two of you. But no matter how I think about it, and regardless of the countless possibilities I’ve considered…”

“Zion doesn’t love you anymore? There’s absolutely no way that can be true. No matter how much I think about it, I can’t fathom that being possible.”

Such a simple thought is only something one can have because they are not involved.

It can’t be that simple.

“Please stop it, Your Highness. According to you, you don’t know anything. You might think you know Zion better than me in this life, but these are things I’ve experienced over many lives. I know better than anyone how Zion has lived, what kind of person she is, what she’s obsessed with, and how I played with and betrayed her through that…!”

“You can know it without that!!”

Naou cut me off and lost her temper.

The look of her angry face was something I had never seen before.

It was an image I had never encountered in this life, nor in all the countless lives before.

“In this whole world, you’re the only one who doesn’t know how Zion feels about you! That’s why Zion left you! You still don’t realize that?!”

“……”

Feeling extremely angry, Naou took a deep breath to compose herself.

“Lastly, I’m only going to ask one thing. Just answer yes or no. It’s a really simple question.”

A brief moment of silence hung in the air before her simple question was thrown at me.

That question was,

“Do you really think Zion no longer loves you?”

It was an absurdly simple question.

“Of course…”

So simple that it brought me to tears.

“It can’t be… urk…!”

Why have I been…

“It can’t be…!”

Zion doesn’t love me. No way, that can’t be true.

The wrongs I’ve committed are unforgivable, but she said she could forgive me.

Zion left me not because I deceived, betrayed, or toyed with her but because I failed to believe in her.

So why am I making the same mistake again…?

“Ah… ugh, Zion…”

I want to see her. Suddenly, I desperately want to see Zion.

Zion, who looked at me with a broken, dazed expression as if pleading.

Zion, who smiled while speaking of love, envisioning the future with me.

Zion, who blushed with embarrassment, gazing into the campfire.

Zion, who stood proudly in front of everyone, confessing her feelings for me.

Zion, who screamed covered in blood, saying she could no longer lose someone precious.

And at the last moment, Zion, who turned away, biting back tears while getting angry at me.

My life, my meaning, my reason, my world. The only thing I found in all worlds.

The one thing I wanted to obtain with everything I had.

Everything I tried so hard to forget about her… was suddenly resurrecting within me.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Zion. I… I…!”

A desperate apology that couldn’t reach her resounds hotly in the room.

I need to see Zion. I have to tell her I’m sorry.

Then, do I need to go to the gate?

The gate… I have to go to Zion…

“?!”

As I picked up a piece of bread from the basket, Serin looked at me with a shocked expression.

And I, with that bread, said,

“Storage.”

I pushed it into the spatial storage.

If I place it inside, it won’t spoil, and the temperature won’t change.

I can store it fresh, as though it were just baked, freezing time.

“Teacher?”

“Because it was something Zion liked.”

Even if I go to find Zion, will she ever look back at me? Will she return to me?

I desperately shake off the rising anxiety and questions.

I believe in Zion.

So, I will no longer doubt, nor waver.

And I will confidently go out to the gate to meet Zion and bring her back.