Midnight Miracle

Midnight. Before heading to the hospital, I finished registering my Twitch payout info. Since Twitch settles on the 1st of every month, I'd get paid soon enough.

"...Is this for real?"

I chuckled, feeling my sense of money warping already, and started thinking about where to spend it right away.

"First off, I'm doing a booze mukbang on Sunday, so I need to stock up on drinks... Oh, no cam."

The capsule had a built-in camera for recording, but I couldn't do a booze mukbang inside it, so I needed a separate webcam that could connect to my computer.

"If I order today, will it arrive by Sunday?" Thankfully, it was rocket delivery, so it said it'd come by Saturday at the latest.

I only planned to show my hands and booze anyway, so I didn't need anything fancy. I bought a 30,000-won budget cam that tons of people recommended online.

"That covers everything I can do right now."

I let out a big sigh, took a quick shower, and...

"...I hardly use Clean magic anymore except for room cleaning."

Clean magic definitely cleaned my body perfectly, but psychologically, it never felt like a real wash, so I'd been showering lately.

"Dry."

My hair dried in an instant. I checked my phone briefly, finished getting ready to head out, and stood in front of the mirror before leaving. I toyed around with Shape Shift.

I changed my eyes to red, yellow, blue, black. Dyed my hair yellow, black, blue, red.

As my Shape Shift proficiency rose, I could now maintain hair color changes too.

"...Is this that gaming hair and gaming eyes thing..?"

I muttered something silly, smirked at my shifting hair and eyes, then headed to the hospital with silver hair and golden eyes.

Ye-won stared blankly at the dark hospital ceiling.

According to the doctor, her mid-stage CRPS had regressed to early-stage. It was the first case in medical history, and they were making a huge fuss, but Ye-won had nothing to say about it.

She was just waiting for that person from last dawn to come again.

She hadn't seen their face clearly in her half-asleep daze, but she'd caught the glowing silver hair and golden eyes.

"...What, like Santa? Only comes when you're asleep?"

Time had passed 3 a.m. already, and Ye-won was starting to doubt last night's encounter.

Then.

Creak—

"Huh..?"

A silver-haired beauty slipped quietly into Ye-won's room. With her came an indescribably fragrant scent that tickled her nose.

'Lavender? No... not quite...'

Ye-won definitely recognized ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that face somewhere. The eyes were different, but she couldn't forget it.

"...Juwon unnie..?"

I used Perception Impairment magic again and snuck past the night shift nurses to reach Ye-won's room safely.

But when I opened the door and saw her wide awake, staring right at me, I flinched. Still, it was within expectations, so I smiled and approached.

"...Juwon unnie..?"

'Huh. That's outside expectations.'

I figured she'd sense something familiar, but not get it this fast. Keeping my cool, I walked over to Ye-won.

"Juwon... unnie? Right?"

Her tone shifted to certainty. Speaking here would give me away 100%. My voice was distinctly unique—way better than average.

I just smiled silently and took her hand.

Only then did Ye-won's body slump onto the bed, falling asleep.

I considered erasing her memory too, but decided it'd be more fun not to.

I numbed Ye-won's pain sense and placed my hand on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her wound.

"Heal."

The swelling visibly subsided.

"Heal."

Her red, swollen thigh started returning to its normal color.

"Heal!"

After three more Heals, her thigh looked perfectly healed. I smiled in satisfaction.

"...Congrats. You've got your normal life back."

My mana was down to about 10% thanks to it, though.

Creak—

Imagining Ye-rim's shock and joy if she saw this, I slowly left the room.

The next morning, Ye-won slowly opened her eyes.

"...Huh?"

The usual swelling sensation in her left thigh was completely gone. She looked down at it.

"...Eh?"

She dumbly muttered, staring at her left thigh—swelling perfectly gone, skin clean.

Ye-won tentatively moved her leg. It felt a bit off from disuse, but there was no pain, and it moved perfectly—like it was fully cured.

For the first time in years, she stood from the bed on both feet.

She got out, stood, bent and straightened her knee, sat and stood again.

Then.

Creak—Crash!

The nurse stared, dumbfounded, having dropped breakfast, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at Ye-won standing there lost in awe.

Ye-won instinctively knew she was truly cured.

"Nurse unnie... I think I'm all better... Sniff..."

"Aigoo... This is such a relief... Ye-won ah..."

Ye-won and the nurse hugged, tears flowing.

Even crying, Ye-won thought inwardly,

'...I need to see Juwon unnie.'

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Heh... This is astonishing. No abnormalities at all. Keep monitoring symptoms, and if it's stable, you can be discharged."

Ye-won's doctor chuckled wryly while checking her records.

'Can it really improve this suddenly..? This is practically a miracle...'

And the most shocked at the news was, naturally, Ye-rim.

Already sobbing into Ye-won's chest, Ye-rim mumbled incoherently.

"Huuuh... It's betterrr... all betterrr..."

Ye-won held and patted her sister, but her mind was elsewhere.

'It's certain... That was Juwon unnie. But how? Is she a real witch..?'

"Hngguh..."

Ye-won pulled Ye-rim away. Her patient gown was soaked from the tears.

'Didn't know my unnie could cry like this...'

"Unnie. Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah! Anything... I'll do it all..."

"Can you call Juwon unnie? I wanna tell her I'm better..."

"Yeah..! Of course! Juwon will be thrilled too!"

Noon, peacefully resting.

'...'

I smirked and replied.

Maybe today, someone would learn about my powers for the first time.

'Deny as much as possible first. If that fails, tell only Ye-won.'

I started getting ready to go out.

"...They sure have a lot of visitors here."

Glancing up at the big hospital—fourth time in three days—I entered slowly.

Pressed 12 for Ye-won's floor, rode the elevator up.

Finally at her door, I knocked lightly.

"Unnie. It's me."

Creak—

"Oh, you're here? Come in!"

As expected, Ye-won stood fine on both feet, eyeing me suspiciously.

'She suspects. In that case...'

"...Huh? Ye-won... how..?"

I widened my eyes, acting shocked. Mouth agape behind my hand, utter disbelief.

"...Yeah. Ye-won's all better!"

Ye-rim beamed happily beside me. I felt proud inside but kept acting.

"H-how..."

Ye-won frowned slightly, displeased, and approached me.

"...Unnie. Mind if I...?"

Whoosh—

Ye-won suddenly hugged me tight.

"H-hey... what's this all of a sudden..."

Due to our height difference, her face buried in my neck. I flailed my eyes in confusion.

"You said I could hug you back then. Just keeping that promise. Hehe."

If that's the reason, I smiled and hugged her back.

Ye-rim watched warmly and said,

"Gonna hit the bathroom. Forgot to wipe my tear tracks from crying so much earlier."

Her face was indeed a bit messed up from tears.

Creak—

As soon as the door shut, Ye-won inhaled deeply in my arms and asked,

"This scent... It's you, unnie. The one who came at dawn."

She hugged tighter, breathing in, her tone fully convinced.

...Looks like hiding my identity completely was a bust.