The Girl Who Received Help
The first thing Chaerin saw when she woke from her deep sleep was an unfamiliar ceiling.
The only ceiling she could clearly remember was one yellowed from her father smoking indoors every day.
But the ceiling now?
It was so pure white it felt like it wouldn't yield even a single speck of dust.
H-hos... pital...?
The last memory Chaerin had was of a girl with a beauty surpassing any other girl she'd ever seen, who had spotted her and rushed over with a face full of alarm.
Turning her head to the side, she spotted an IV drip hanging from a stand.
"Hos... Cough, cough!"
A violent cough erupted from her cracked voice.
She coughed so hard it felt like she was going to spit up blood, but once she finally got it all out, she calmed down enough to look around again.
No matter how she looked at it, this was...
"I guess it's a hospital..."
It was a hospital.
She guessed that girl must have brought her here.
Even as she felt grateful, a tremendous wave of anxiety washed over her.
That was because there wasn't a single bit of money, not even anything you could call money, in her pockets.
Above all, if she was at a hospital, they would have contacted the man who was once her father.
The thought of him bursting through that door at any moment made her body tremble with fear.
When that happened, Chaerin would definitely be violated by that man she was connected to by blood, and lose her virginity.
"Haaah..."
She let out a deep sigh.
It would have been so much better if she had just let her die instead of saving her.
In her own way, she must have saved Chaerin because she couldn't just walk past a dying girl, but the recipient of that favor was harboring thoughts she shouldn't have.
She hated herself for thinking negatively when she should be endlessly grateful for the rest of her life for a favor that had saved her very life.
She didn't understand why her life had to scrape the bottom like this.
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
Tears welled up in her eyes.
She hadn't wished for much.
All she wanted was an ordinary life—living in a normal family with normal parents, laughing together at happy things and crying together at sad things.
Was that really too much to ask for?
"Gnnnnh..."
As she struggled to sit up, a sharp pain shot through her stomach, drawing a groan from her lips.
"Haaah... haaah..."
She gasped for breath as she examined her frail body.
Not wanting to be raped, she had resisted violently. Under the pretense of making her compliant, she had been brutally beaten in a way that was too horrible to even put into words, so her entire body was covered in wounds.
Her stomach, which had ached when she tried to sit up, was covered in bruises.
There were bruises on her arms, bruises, and her face was surely covered in bruises too, even without looking in a mirror, along with torn skin.
Seeing herself looking so pathetic and miserable, she hugged her legs and buried her face in them.
She hated it.
She hated her father... that man who wasn't even her father anymore, and she hated the woman who fought with him every day.
She hated the whole world.
As if betraying the kindness of the girl who had fanned the faint embers of her dying life back into a small flame, she even started thinking the most extreme thoughts—like trying to kill herself right now.
No, it didn't stop at just thoughts.
Chaerin pulled the IV needle out of her arm, which looked like nothing but skin and bone.
A round droplet of blood formed on her skin where the needle had been.
Even though her body was in terrible condition, the blood that came out of it was a vibrant red, as if signaling health.
She swung her legs, which had barely any strength left, over the edge of the bed.
Her feet touched the floor. The moment she completely got off the bed, her body immediately crumpled.
"Ngh...!"
With a faint groan, Chaerin collapsed weakly to the floor, her face contorting in pain.
She tried to force herself up by putting her hands on the bed, but it was incredibly difficult.
Still, she managed to get up somehow, but she felt like she wouldn't even be able to attempt suicide like this.
She couldn't even die as she pleased. It was completely pathetic.
"Ha, haha..."
She let out a hollow laugh and collapsed back onto the floor.
Her legs hit the hard ground, sending a jolt of pain through her, but she didn't care and kept laughing.
How long had she been like that?
"A-are you okay?!"
A girl burst through the door and was shocked to find Chaerin sitting on the floor, laughing.
She rushed over quickly and helped Chaerin back onto the bed.
"Don't get up, just lie down. The doctor said stability is the most important thing."
"..."
Lying back down, covered with the blanket by the girl whose beauty was just as stunning as she remembered, Chaerin stared at her blankly with completely dead eyes.
"Is there something you want to say...?"
When Chaerin just kept staring without speaking, the girl tilted her head and asked.
Her lips stayed sealed for a long time.
Then, slowly, they parted and a voice came out.
"Why... why did you save me...?"
She was curious.
Why had she, unlike all the others, not simply stood by in a circle and watched her without offering any help?
"Do you need a reason to save someone...?"
The response was as if she couldn't understand the question.
Right... saving someone doesn't really need a reason.
But she didn't understand why everyone around her had failed to do even that simple thing for her.
From the police, who should have been the people's shield, to the nosy neighbors who knew everything about her family situation, to the people who were too busy filming videos to lend a hand, even though it wouldn't have been strange if she died on the spot.
Everyone she had met so far had been the same.
No one helped her.
No one even thought about helping her.
But today, for the first time, she had received help.
"That's right... it's only natural... it's only natural..."
But that natural kindness was no different from pushing Chaerin, who was finally about to escape hell, right back into the pit of fire.
Her eyes suddenly became wet.
Tears welled up and rolled down her cheeks.
Seeing her burst into tears so suddenly, the girl looked flustered and didn't know what to do.
"...?"
Slowly, gently, she pulled Chaerin into an embrace.
The unexpected action made Chaerin's eyes widen in surprise, but only for a moment.
She felt a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time, and her heart finally calmed down.
It was so warm, so incredibly warm, that she felt she wanted to stay like this forever, and the tears streaming down her cheeks grew heavier.
"It's okay. If you want to cry, you can cry it all out. Because I understand. Okay?"
As if she knew all about this pain that no one else could ever understand.
She told Chaerin she had been through something like this too, and said it was alright to cry all she wanted right now, offering words of comfort.
The precarious dam inside Chaerin, which could have burst at any moment, finally collapsed.
Tears streamed down like a waterfall, and a heartbreaking wail filled the hospital room.
"Yeah... keep crying. You can cry."
"Hnng... hnnnh... waaaahhh!"
The sorrowful cries spread beyond the room and out into the hallway.
"Feeling a little better now?"
"Hng... sniff... Yeah... th-thank you..."
Embarrassed at having cried so sincerely for the first time since she was a child, Chaerin nodded, her face beet red.
"Then I'm glad. Hehe."
The girl who had held her and told her to cry as much as she wanted smiled brightly.
"Your name is Chaerin. Kang Chaerin, right?"
"Yeah... how did you know?"
"Because Jihoon knows everything!"
"Jihoon?"
"Yeah! Jihoon!"
Her expression brightened noticeably at the name Jihoon.
"He's my boyfriend."
"Ah..."
A boyfriend. Of course, with looks like hers, no man would ever leave her alone.
If Chaerin were a man, she herself would have done everything in her power to win her over.
"Han Nayoung. That's my name."
"Nayoung... it's as pretty as your face."
"Hehe. I think Chaerin is a really pretty name too!"
"You think so...?"
To be honest, Chaerin hated her own name.
Because it was a name given to her by the trash she didn't even want to look at or talk to anymore.
Anyway.
"What's wrong?"
Nayoung wondered at the sudden darkness that clouded Chaerin's face.
"It's nothing... it's nothing."
She shook her head, saying it was nothing, but the darkness on her face didn't fade.
"Is it... because you're worried about having to go back home?"
"..."
She hit the nail on the head.
Chaerin silently nodded.
"It's okay. Jihoon said he would take care of it!"
"Take care of it... okay... thank you..."
She said the words, but she didn't really have any expectations.
Even the police had only given a slap on the wrist, saying they were helping but never actually taking Chaerin out of that house, so she had no strength left to hope.
But.
"Huh? You're awake. You haven't even been unconscious for two hours."
A boy entered the hospital room.
"Jihoon!"
Nayoung ran over and threw herself into his arms.
She buried her face in his chest and rubbed it around.
He looked down at Nayoung with affectionate eyes, stroked her hair, and then his gaze turned to Chaerin.
He was probably the boyfriend Nayoung had talked about.
But something was a little strange.
Even for Chaerin, who couldn't attend school and only lived at home, there was no way she didn't know how incredibly pretty Nayoung was.
In contrast, the guy was rather average-looking, so she couldn't understand how the two of them could be lovers.
"Are you tired?"
Nod, nod.
He asked if she wasn't tired, and she immediately nodded.
"Then that's good. You should still lie down, though. Oh, and Chaerin."
"Yeah...?"
"We took away your parents' custody rights, so you can just live at our place now."
"..."
Hearing that without any warning, she just stared at him blankly with her mouth hanging open.
Her mind stopped for a moment at the unbelievable reality, but he just smiled and said it again.
"You're free from those trash, so you can just relax and recover."
"R-really...?"
"Of course. Really. Well, I know it's hard to believe, but as time passes, you'll have no choice but to believe it."
Really... was she really free from that hell? Just like that? Without even doing anything?
"Jihoon doesn't lie, so you can trust him!"
Nayoung added with her trademark bright smile.
Even if these words were a lie, for the last time, truly the last time, she wanted to believe him.
Chaerin cried again, but this time she smiled brightly.
"Okay...!"
No. Maybe Chaerin was already starting to believe him.