This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 396

Dogun was the same as ever today.

He was still just lying there quietly, showing no signs of getting up.

The fact felt so harsh to me.

Even now, lying there as if dead, if he could just move a finger or two, my heart wouldn’t be in such a state of anxiety and turmoil…

Today marked a week already.

It wasn’t just a day or two; watching him like this for a whole week… it kept bringing up more and more bad thoughts.

What if it keeps going like this?

What if Dogun never comes back to his senses?

Things that wouldn’t normally bother me kept circling my mind, things I wouldn’t dare to approach when he was well.

Whether it was the cruel fluorescent light hanging from the ceiling that felt chillingly cold, or the fact that he had been relying on an IV for a whole week, Dogun’s face, resting on a bed that looked a bit more spacious and luxurious than your average hospital bed, was so pale that it made the situation feel even worse.

Sitting on the caregiver’s bed next to Dogun, I often found myself glancing down at his face, sometimes tilting my head towards him.

It was because Dogun’s peaceful look, as if he were just sleeping soundly, made me nervous.

What if he lies there peacefully and suddenly crosses a river he can never return from?

Such thoughts kept swirling in my mind, and that made it impossible to shake off the creeping anxiety that crawled up my body at any moment.

So, in my heart, I genuinely wanted to stay here until Dogun regained consciousness.

But it was a shame I couldn’t, due to practical reasons.

“Hah…”

By the way… I wonder if Dogun even knows this.

How many people are waiting for him?

If he knew, he probably wouldn’t have lain here for over a week.

If he had known that, wouldn’t he have gotten up already?

But after a week of absence… Chae-rim was a mess, Bora was a mess, and even Baeksulhwa was all over the place.

Maybe that’s why the atmosphere at home was a complete disaster.

Even when I bumped into someone, there wouldn’t be even the simplest conversation, like walking on thin ice.

It seemed that the absence of Dogun, who had been the lubricant in our interactions, was the source of it all.

No, it wasn’t just a feeling; it was likely the actual reason.

Thinking about it, if it weren’t for Dogun, we all would have had nothing to do with each other.

It may sound cliché, but it was truly the case.

What if Dogun had been assigned to Yeongang High instead of Haesuh High, as originally predicted?

He wouldn’t have had anything to do with Baeksulhwa.

It might have passed by just as a rumor that such a person existed at the neighboring school.

And if he hadn’t been involved with Baeksulhwa at all?

Because of that, there wouldn’t have been any clashes between him and Dogun, and Dogun wouldn’t have been swept into the rift with Chae-rim.

And if that had happened?

The Association Chairman wouldn’t have shown interest in Dogun…

“Bora wouldn’t have had to live with Dogun’s family either…”

Was it because of such thoughts that I had come to wonder how things would have turned out if Dogun had gone to Haesuh High instead of Yeongang High?

But, shaking my head, I pushed those thoughts out of my mind in an instant.

Because what was important now was not that.

What was really important now?

When would Dogun wake up?

And if… really if… Dogun never wakes up…

I felt I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself in that case.

It couldn’t be helped—

“Sister told me not to blame myself, but…”

If I had acted a bit more calmly back then, the result might have been different.

What if I hadn’t lost my rationality when I saw Dogun being dragged into the rift, looking like he would disappear at any moment?

What if I had responded more calmly?

Maybe Dogun wouldn’t have hit his head against the concrete wall after being freed from the tentacles wrapping around him…

The hospital said Dogun hadn’t regained consciousness for a week because he had fainted from asphyxiation, but…

Isn’t the head just like that?

It’s the part that can be damaged even with a small shock.

So I couldn’t stop those thoughts from creeping into my mind.

“I thought things were finally returning to normal…”

Why did it have to end up like this?

Everything was falling apart against all expectations that everything would be alright.

Starting with Dogun not waking up for a week, and extending to the chaos erupting at the Association… everything was just the same.

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As Yoonseo said, the current situation at the Association was beyond a mess.

For one, the building, which could be considered its headquarters, was in a state of disrepair and destruction, making it hard for it to function properly.

Of course, some people were loudly suggesting that now that it’s come to this, wouldn’t it be better to build something stronger and more suitable for emergency situations than the existing Association building?

But, logically, such construction couldn’t just be wrapped up in a few days.

Even fixing the building, which was practically half-destroyed, would take at least three months, according to experts in architecture and related talents, let alone anything else.

Thus, the Association had no choice but to make a decision, and the result was to scatter the existing departments and set up temporary headquarters.

However, the problem was… that such makeshift headquarters were only as effective as a temporary measure.

In fact, it was an unavoidable situation.

It could only be so because the efficiency of the Association came from having everything concentrated within the building they used as headquarters.

But with everything that was once concentrated now spread around for practical reasons, communication became an issue from the very start.

And that wasn’t all?

The fact that the Another Ones attacked on a weekday, starting their assault from inside the Association building, also contributed significantly to the Association’s inability to function.

After all, the existing operational methods of the Association meant that they had to rotate staff due to the limited number of Heroes, aiming to boost efficiency.

Yet, with the sudden emergence of ‘Monsters’ and the ‘Monsterization phenomenon’ where ordinary people instantly turned into Another Ones, a significant number of employees who were busy handling their assigned tasks inside the Association building that day were sacrificed, resulting in an enormous gap there.

Of course, the Association recognized this situation early on and took measures to fill the gap by recruiting personnel from related organizations and announcing large-scale hiring plans…

But realistically, it was nearly impossible for those hastily gathered to show the same level of efficiency as those who had honed their skills over the years.

Moreover, due to a larger number of Heroes than anticipated being either monsterized or falling victim to the monsters, that was an issue in itself.

To add to the already compounded troubles faced by the Association…

But the ‘real’ problem lay elsewhere.

And that ‘real’ problem was precisely—

“But the real issue is… how to deal with those who have monsterized.”

That was it.

“Does anyone have any opinions regarding that?”

How to treat those who have become monsters?

The atmosphere in the meeting room froze for an instant as Chae-rim threw out the topic she had been quietly observing.