Old Ties (3)
Old Ties (3)
After that night, Lee Ha-sol began to look after Lee Ha-yul in earnest.
"Huh? Ha-sol, why is he..."
After that night.
Lee Ha-sol began to actively look after Lee Ha-yul.
Of course, she had been the one mainly helping him before, too.
It had been an obligation.
Deep down, she'd found it bothersome, and with so many worries festering inside her, she hadn't been able to pay him proper attention.
"If you're cold, don't just stay quiet. You have to... mm... tell me something's wrong. That way I can throw a blanket over you or do something to help."
Now it was different.
Instead of treating it like a chore, she wanted to.
She'd go out of her way to check on Lee Ha-yul when he was sitting quietly, bringing him to her side to see how he was doing and start a conversation.
People around them gave her puzzled looks, but Lee Ha-sol paid them little mind.
Amid her fears about a distant, bleak future, an unexpected thank-you from someone she'd never anticipated had shifted something inside her and sparked her curiosity.
As a result, she came to know more about Lee Ha-yul.
"All right, what part is this?"
- Forearm
"And below that... what's this?"
- Wrist
The most fundamental trait: he was like a machine.
Never mind that he was expressionless as a doll—once you taught him something, he remembered it. His memory was good enough that he never forgot.
And he performed those instructions without fail.
"What do you mean, a fever...! Ha-yul! Why didn't you say something!"
Lee Ha-yul was frail. He couldn't even run properly and couldn't carry anything the slightest bit heavy.
He suffered from minor illnesses on a regular basis. A weak body plagued by constant sickness—it was truly agonizing to watch.
- I'm fine.
"What do you mean, fine! First, we're going to the Director...!"
The problem was that he never told anyone.
That was what she realized one day when Lee Ha-yul was quieter than usual.
She'd touched his forehead, hot as a fireball, and nearly screamed. She'd snatched away the note where he'd written 'I'm fine' and it hit her.
He'd planned to just sit there quietly until the illness ran its course.
"You absolutely cannot hide it when you're in pain! Ever! The moment something feels off, you have to show it! If your body feels hot, or cold, or stings, or your stomach hurts!"
- Understood.
The memory still chilled her. A neglected minor illness could turn into a chronic condition.
This was Lee Ha-yul, whose body was already terribly frail. The thought that a simple sickness could spiral into something severe made her skin crawl.
- Thank you.
- I'm fine.
- Understood.
"......"
On the day she found herself holding three notes, and in the time that followed, she learned many more things about Lee Ha-yul.
"Ha-yul, does it hurt if I touch this?"
- I'm fine.
"...More detail. Is there any pain?"
- There is no pain.
His right arm was covered in horrific burn scars up to the forearm. Yet even during daily life, or when changing his bandages, the unavoidable contact caused him no pain.
"Can't you speak at all? Or does something go wrong when you try?"
- There is pain.
Lee Ha-yul felt pain when he used his throat. Eating and breathing were fine, but if he tried to speak, it felt like his throat would be torn apart.
"What's your vision like?"
- I don't know.
- I see fog, clouds, vapor.
It wasn't the kind of blindness where everything was black or blurry. He'd said his vision was obscured by fog or clouds.
"How is it? It's good, right?"
- I don't know.
"...Huh?"
He had no sense of taste. On top of that, he also had problems with his sense of smell, which is closely linked to taste. No wonder he'd always quietly choked down that bland porridge.
But the issues weren't only physical.
'Ah, again...'
Late at night, when everyone else was asleep, Lee Ha-sol, lying in her bedroll, frowned at the noise coming from outside.
The outer district where the orphanage was located was a place where minor incidents were common.
Since the Korean Peninsula district had relatively good public safety, accidents involving monsters and dungeons were rare.
But disturbances caused by drunkards spilling over from the nearby entertainment district were frequent.
That night, the commotion was especially close. It woke her up and left her irritated. That was all.
"......."
"...Ha-yul?"
Lee Ha-yul's reaction, as he lay sleeping beside her, was anything but minor.
His body trembled violently. Cold sweat beaded on his face, which was frozen as always.
Lee Ha-sol's eyes went wide at the violent reaction, so unlike the doll-like Lee Ha-yul she knew.
"Ha-yul, Ha-yul...! What's wrong? Are you hurting...?"
Startled, she pulled him into her arms, and Lee Ha-yul remained huddled against her, shivering as if terrified.
At the time, she didn't know why, but as time passed, she naturally came to understand.
Lee Ha-yul hated alcohol and cigarettes. It wasn't just dislike; he felt a visceral hatred toward them.
She didn't know the reason. She couldn't ask Lee Ha-yul directly either.
But whatever the reason, he hated them to the point of having a seizure.
'......'
These were just the problems she'd been able to calmly identify. Even without expertise, it was clear his condition was severe.
Occasionally, Lee Ha-sol recalled the way the adults had looked at Lee Ha-yul.
Pity, regret, and a sense of shame had flickered in their eyes.
She'd seen no expectation or hope. The meaning of that was something young Lee Ha-sol could infer well enough.
Even for Lee Ha-sol, who had no health issues, reality felt impossibly distant.
For Lee Ha-yul, whose body and mind were both riddled with problems, it would be far more arduous.
'Ah.'
Lee Ha-sol was afraid of the future. She didn't know much yet, but that ignorance and the unknown only made the fear worse.
Even Lee Ha-sol felt that way.
"For Ha-yul..."
How would the future look to Lee Ha-yul, who faced far worse circumstances than she did?
Where Lee Ha-sol experienced difficulty, Lee Ha-yul had to first confront impossibility.
Thinking about Lee Ha-yul's situation made her chest tighten.
A sense of helplessness weighed on her heart. Her own situation was what it was, but seeing Lee Ha-yul in front of her made her own worries feel almost trivial.
"...Awakening phenomenon?"
But perhaps the heavens hadn't abandoned her, because fortune smiled on her.
"W-Wait! Ha-sol! Don't move and stay right there! I'll call the Association immediately, so just stay calm..."
The Awakening Phenomenon. The transformation into a superhuman that comes to a select few.
For those on the path of a superhuman, it was a given, but for an ordinary person like Lee Ha-sol, with no real connection to such powers, it was a miracle that required luck.
'No ties to it?'
Lee Ha-sol didn't even know her parents' faces. Naturally, she knew nothing about what kind of people they were. As it turned out, one of them might have been a superhuman—though she had no way of knowing that.
'It doesn't matter.'
In the moment of awakening, Lee Ha-sol didn't dwell on those questions.
A superhuman. She still didn't know what qualities she possessed or how far she could go.
But she had become a superhuman. That alone could resolve the vast majority of the worries an ordinary person would face.
'If it's this...'
Even problems unsolvable for an ordinary person might now be within her reach.
The boulder she'd been absentmindedly stroking suddenly lifted into the air.
Just as shocked as the people around her, Lee Ha-sol quivered at the giant strength she felt in her arms and calmly lowered the boulder back down.
Thud! The tremor that shook the ground made everyone flinch.
In the midst of the shock at Lee Ha-sol's sudden awakening, with eyes wide and people backing away in fright, Lee Ha-yul was still looking up at her from beside her, his face as expressionless as ever.
"Ah."
Reflexively, she reached for Lee Ha-yul's hand, but stopped short at the power surging in her arms.
If she grabbed that thin hand with the strength that had just hoisted a boulder, it felt like it would snap like a reed.
But she wasn't afraid of that strength. If anything, she was glad.
'...Could it fix him?'
The burns on his arm. His voice, his eyes, his frail body. His troubled mind.
She didn't know. Nothing was certain.
Impossibility was no longer the first thing that came to mind.
That alone filled Lee Ha-sol with overwhelming emotion.
.
.
.
'I did think that, but...'
The past flickered through her mind in a flash.
She blinked, and the orphanage gave way to the private booth of a café.
[?]
Lee Ha-yul was still the same person in her eyes, but his appearance had changed drastically.
The memories of the past had just surfaced, making the contrast vividly clear. She traced the rim of her glass and took in Lee Ha-yul's appearance.
'...You've changed a lot.'
His hair had turned white, as if he'd molted. The burn scars on his right arm were gone. He'd grown quite a bit, though his frame was still smaller than hers.
Just what had he been through all this time? And his looks, which had already been pretty, had become even more so...
[...Why are you looking at me like that? Did I get something on my face?]
"No. I was just looking."
[Were you?]
But the biggest change, of course, was unmistakable: life.
The faint twitching of his facial muscles, the pursing of his lips. The way he fidgeted his fingers as if reading the room, and even spoke to her first.
Every little action had emotion seeping out of it.
'...Had it all healed?'
Still, looking at him, the joy was undeniable. All the worry and concern she'd held in her heart until now had vanished in an instant, so she couldn't help but be happy.
...It was a very petty thought, but there was also a touch of deflation.
Lee Ha-sol's expression faltered slightly as she recalled the various elixirs, medicinal ingredients, and artifacts she'd set aside for him.
[But, Miss Lee Ha-sol, are you sure you don't want any drinks or snacks?]
The question came from across the table.
Was he deliberately tilting his head in that cute way? A small question flickered through Lee Ha-sol's mind before she shook her head.
"When I'm with Ha-yul, I don't usually eat snacks."
[No? Why not?]
"You can't taste anything, Ha-yul. It makes me feel uncomfortable if I'm the only one eating in front of you."
[Hic.]
"...Ah, you must have forgotten that too. I knew about it from the old days."
Lee Ha-yul's breath caught. So he'd forgotten the memories of the past and didn't know about this, either.
With a bitter smile, Lee Ha-sol shook her head.
- Ding!
[Hm?]
That was the moment. An alarm sounded on Lee Ha-yul's smartwatch.
[Ah...]
"What is it?"
Lee Ha-yul's face brightened in an instant.
It was a shift in emotion she still found wondrous and astonishing. At Lee Ha-sol's wide-eyed question, Lee Ha-yul subtly pointed toward the door.
.
.
.
A moment later.
"Ah...! So you're the one who looked after our Ha-yul!"
Our Ha-yul.
"It's lovely to meet you. I'm called Ellia Srade. I've heard your name, Miss Lee Ha-sol, many times before. The Top Seat of the 122nd Cohort."
Ellia smiled brightly as they clasped hands.
Shining golden hair. A radiant, beautiful smile, and a voluptuous figure.
Ellia Srade.
One of the women linked to Lee Ha-yul.
"...Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Miss Srade. I'm Lee Ha-sol."
Lee Ha-sol, who had been silent, replied with a smile.