Outside the Hospital Room

Someone entered the hospital room. His secretary was supposed to be waiting outside, and the doctors had forbidden entry unless it was an emergency. He couldn't think of anyone else who might come in. So, with his shirt only half on, he glanced toward the changing area. The space was far too large to be called a mere hospital room. It was a private suite recently prepared on the top floor of a skyscraper—a place of luxury, comfort, and sheer size. At the entrance stood a man with silver hair, slowly looking around. The minimalist hospital room felt unbearably lonely, and he couldn't have endured it otherwise.

Soon, his eyes caught several phrases scrawled across the wall.

"More weird stuff scribbled everywhere," he muttered, stopping there. Someone must have been messing around.

The man turned his head again, looking toward the center of the living area. There sat a portable bathtub. Water had spilled over the side, and towels and clothes were piled nearby. He glanced between it and the bathroom in the corner.

What is this? What's going on?

While he stood lost in thought, Cheon Mari approached from behind, wearing only underwear and a shirt. She moved with minimal motion, holding her breath, making no sound at all. Her playful side had kicked in—she planned to shove him into the tub. It might have been going a bit far, but since he was already here to wash up, it shouldn't matter. The opportunity had simply presented itself.

Just as she got close enough to grab him, she carefully raised her hands on the wet floor and pushed Kang Sian's back with all her strength—

"Idiot."

Kang Sian slipped away in an instant, his voice calm. He had activated his superpower to the maximum. Cheon Mari was completely caught off guard. Her hands met empty air, and her center of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gravity pitched forward. Just before she fell into the water, she turned her head to look beside her. There was Kang Sian, pulling down his lower eyelid and sticking out his tongue.

Cheon Mari spat out a string of curses as she plunged back into the tub. A loud splash echoed through the room.

Was there really a nuisance of a woman bathing in the living room? And a crazy woman who tried to shove her friend into it while getting dressed? Yet the one who ended up shoved in was the fool, the idiot, the loser?

"Told you not to mess with me."

"Agh…… Your reflexes are disgustingly fast……"

Cheon Mari had finally finished washing and changing. She wore the expression of a villain whose scheme had been foiled.

"How did you even know? I approached so quietly."

"Think about your size. How could I not notice?"

With a height like a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠telephone pole, how could anyone miss her? Especially when he had been looking at the reflective surface of the bathwater.

"Ah……"

"I caught a glimpse of your reflection in the water."

It had been crystal clear. In the end, Cheon Mari wore the face of a loser. This was the fate of a female friend who tried to prank her male friend during a hospital visit. It was all her own doing.

Having failed to carry out her clumsy scheme, Cheon Mari weakly slipped on her shoes. She stood up and stared at me. Our eye levels were perfectly matched. She frowned, then quickly took them off again.

"Wait, why are the heels so high?"

"Are you basing heel height on me?"

She pulled out a pair of low-heeled shoes from the shoe rack and put them on. Only then did her eye level drop slightly below mine.

"Ugh, I wish someone would just take five centimeters from me."

"Weren't you the one who said being taller is always better in a fight?"

"Well, yeah, I did say that. But that's that, and this is this."

She meant work and daily life were different. Unfortunately, remembering how she used to mess with me in middle school and early high school, relying on her size, made her words completely unconvincing.

"Hearing that from someone who exploited physical advantages more than anyone else in everyday life is pretty absurd."

"I never did anything like that."

"Oh really? Then who was it that picked someone up and swung them around in first year of high school, only to rip their pants?"

"That was an accident……"

"And who spent days teasing someone about their blue panties afterward?"

"……"

Nothing to say, right? She should have had nothing to say. Because of that incident, I had to change all the underwear I kept at home. Yet Cheon Mari stared at me as if she were the one wronged. It was truly wicked, the way she caused trouble and then acted like the victim.

"No, you bastard……! We had that huge fight because of it, and your clothes got torn too, so you saw my underwear!"

"Oh."

"You spent days teasing me about my red bra and panties! And today you definitely saw them when I fell into the water!"

"Now that you mention it, yeah?"

"Fuck."

I remained shamelessly defiant. If I backed down here, she'd bring it up endlessly later. Cheon Mari seemed to think she'd been hit for no reason and suffered another loss. Just before opening the door, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward her. We were close enough that our noses nearly touched. She glared at me with intense, serious eyes.

"Red."

"Blue."

"You bastard. I still thought it was blue."

A conversation full of pride. In a way, it was also a consistent one. We continued our petty competition over who could be more trivial as we opened the door and stepped out.

We headed out of the hospital room, then out of the hospital. It was Christmas Eve, and snow was falling from the sky. The same sight every year, yet it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was truly beautiful weather.

"Snow again on Christmas Eve this year."

"Yeah."

We walked under umbrellas, crunching through the snow. Before long, a guard wearing powered exoskeleton armor with a baton at his waist appeared. He looked at us briefly before giving the usual greeting. Interestingly, these guards hadn't existed a few years ago when I was brought here after the ruin incident.

"Did they hire new guards?"

"They've been expanding the security department over the years. They sent the remaining personnel here."

"Because of the guild acquisition?"

"Yeah."

It was an opportunity created by the recent incident with Lim Hana and her friends. Though I wouldn't have called it an opportunity at first, a certain guild had made a massive blunder and handed us one.

"Honestly, who would've thought they'd mess up their response that badly."

It was about the guy I'd first fought. Originally, a simple apology would've been enough to walk away without issues. But his parents had handled it in an absurd way, triggering a chain reaction. Mass lawsuits, the usual human rights violation claims, and suddenly revelations of infringing on other companies' assets. There was a lot. The guild's stock price had plummeted, and Nartika had seized the chance to push through a hostile takeover.

"Well, thanks to that, we won't have to spend a single cent and can finish it with just Nartika's reserves."

"Do we really have to acquire such a rotten ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guild? It'll cause problems down the line."

"That's why we have to be smart about it. Take the valuable parts and cut away everything unnecessary."

Though I said that, it really meant we'd extract the technology and key personnel, then discard the rest. To her, for whom Nartika was everything, other companies weren't particularly important.

"Your plan won't leak, right?"

"Well, only you and I know the real core of it. No need to worry about leaks."

"……Even if it's not the core, couldn't someone at the bottom piece it together from small details?"

"For example?"

"The hospital staff or doctors, for instance."

From what I'd seen, it was impossible not to notice the plan. It wasn't just about installing surveillance equipment. The people involved were from Nartika, which was hard to believe. Using that excuse, they'd tried to move hospitals but were forcibly held back. On top of that, it had come out that Lim Hana and her friends had been using Gwangjeungcho. Since they were hospital staff and doctors, they couldn't have missed the symptoms and test results. But the security department had taken only the evidence and silenced them. They'd even received orders to prevent any further intake of Gwangjeungcho for medical purposes.

That's why the addicts started having seizures and acting out. Except for the TS addicts whose entire bodies were reconstructed.

They could file counter-suits, but the parents already knew their children were addicts. When doctors unanimously recommended stopping the drug for treatment, what could they do? Naturally, they'd chosen silent treatment, and this was the result. Even now, one or two were probably suffering through withdrawal and aftereffects. Their children caused trouble, the guild was in chaos, their children were in pain, assault lawsuits flew in, counter-suits were held back for fear of worsening the situation, and everyone's minds were in turmoil. Every parent was leading their guild into ruin amid this terrible reality. It was also a good situation for buying up stocks of the other guilds cheaply, excluding the one being acquired. But precisely because of that, I was even more worried.

"I'm worried about whistleblowers. This isn't a small or simple matter."

After all, this was something I'd requested from Cheon Mari. As the one who gave the order, I couldn't shake the feeling of walking on a knife's edge. But whether Cheon Mari knew my thoughts or not, she simply smiled and gently patted my shoulder.

"Don't worry~ I expected something like this~ I ordered the security department to wiretap and monitor all employees a long time ago~"

She casually, almost proudly, listed facts about making all employees install company apps with hidden wiretapping functions, security programs with backdoors, and separate monitoring by the security department. It all flowed out from her pretty face in a sly, shameless manner.

"If there's someone trying to whistleblow~ I can throw them to a dungeon boss as feed before they do~ No need to be so tense~"

"……Isn't that seriously illegal?"

"But if we don't get caught, it's not a crime~"

Very reassuring. Good grief.