Restarting in the Infirmary
Restarting in the Infirmary
I opened my eyes and sat up, but instead of feeling refreshed, I felt dizzy.
In times like this, there was a 100% chance I hadn't fallen asleep—I'd passed out.
"I collapsed after all, huh..."
Ever since I was little, my body had been weak and I'd collapsed frequently.
Maybe that was why, when I looked up at the all-too-familiar ceiling of the school nurse's office, the only thought that came to mind was, "I passed out 'again.'"
What on earth was the vice principal thinking?
Running people ragged until they collapsed.
Sigh... It was my fault for being so weak.
With a body like mine, that is.
I was an orphan.
A complete and total orphan at that.
My parents didn't die in an accident or from illness.
I was just abandoned.
On a cold, freezing winter day, in a baby box.
I'd heard that the temperature control device inside the baby box had malfunctioned at the time.
So, right after I was born, my body grew cold, and apparently, that was why my health was never very good.
Well, it wasn't like I had some specific illness or anything.
My stamina was just weak, I caught colds easily, and in winter, I walked around with rhinitis or something along those lines, that was about it.
Not quite sickly, not quite healthy—just somewhere in between.
"Umm... but why is it so dark in here..."
I felt a slight sense of disconnect from the usual nurse's office, so I sat up abruptly.
I knew it well since I was a regular, but the nurse at our school absolutely never let a male student lie down on a curtained bed.
No matter that I was a fledgling about to graduate and step out into the world in just two days.
So whenever I'd lain down before, the fluorescent lights had always bothered me, and I'd just end up stressed out and go back to the classroom.
Maybe because of that, the male students had a low opinion of the place, saying they'd rather just lie face-down in the classroom than go to the nurse's office.
But for some reason, the bed I was lying on now had a curtain drawn around it.
That nurse did?
What on earth had gotten into her...
I got up, straightened out my rumpled clothes, and pulled back the curtain.
With a choireureuk sound, the sunlight that had been completely blocked out invaded the bedding and shone sharply into my eyes.
So this was why people bought blackout curtains.
I'd have to look into it when I got home.
For some reason, the place was packed full today—maybe there were a lot of patients. Female students from my class were even lying on the beds without curtains.
"You're awake?"
The nurse, sitting in a chair and turning this way, took a sip of coffee as she looked me over from head to toe.
She was moving a ballpoint pen with her other hand—a sight that never failed to amaze me.
It wasn't just a party trick; it was beyond acrobatic.
"Yes... I'm sorry. How did I collapse today?"
"You don't remember? Your class—both boys and girls, no exceptions—got called out for being the noisiest of all the third-years."
"No... I know that part, but I don't remember at what point I collapsed..."
"Sigh... Forget it, it's fine. The problem was the vice principal who made even the boys run around the field doing duck walks."
Apparently, I wasn't the only one who collapsed.
The curtains were drawn so I couldn't see inside, but it seemed those were my comrades who collapsed while getting punished together.
Judging by the groaning sounds, they were male voices.
By comparison, seeing the female students lying on the beds without curtains was definitely strange.
Just a few days ago, if the curtained beds were even close to full, they'd have hung up something like a tent to keep the inside hidden.
I couldn't make sense of it, so I just stopped thinking about it pointlessly.
The principal probably gave her an earful or something.
"Then, I'll be going now."
"Alright, be careful. You're weak, so take a taxi home."
Taxi fare was 2,800 won.
A price that felt like it could cover a whole meal and then some.
"I don't have money."
"What do you mean? Did you leave your wallet behind? Then I'll pay for it this time, just take a taxi home quietly."
"It's okay..."
Weak as I was, I was still a man.
I wouldn't collapse just from walking home.
But seeing the look in the nurse's eyes, it didn't seem like she'd let me go at all, so I reluctantly nodded and said I understood.
***
"Haaa..."
I arrived at the apartment where I lived.
It was dark beyond measure—a hallway-style apartment old both inside and out.
As part of a self-reliance support program, the monthly rent was a whopping 120,000 won, and the regular rate was only 250,000 won, so people like me with nowhere to go lived here.
It even had two rooms, so it was pretty spacious.
One for sleeping and one for a walk-in closet—just perfect.
"Still, it's lonely..."
When I'd been at the orphanage, it had bustled with people, so I'd never felt lonely.
Sometimes, I even regretted having become self-reliant so early for no reason.
Trudging along with those thoughts, I found myself in front of my door before I knew it.
The large door that guarded my little nest, where I'd already lived for two years since moving in, felt strange somehow.
There were stickers I'd never seen before on it—who the hell put those there?
I let out a sigh and entered the passcode on the door lock.
-Ppii— Ppii—
"What the?"
The door wouldn't open.
Maybe I'd just entered it wrong.
I carefully entered it once more.
-Ppii— Ppii—
"Haa... What is this? Is it broken?"
When door locks break, don't they usually just refuse to open?
A lock reading a correct passcode as wrong—
I'd never heard of that error in my life.
Growing frustrated, I raised my hand to knock on the door.
"Seong-hwan, what are you doing there?"
"A-ra noona?"
At that moment, a woman with long, straight hair came out of the apartment next door.
Her name was Song A-ra.
She was an idol, a superstar whose hits were huge not just domestically but abroad as well, on Billboard, Oricon—you name it.
I didn't know what a rich person like her was missing that she lived in a place like this, but she was the noona next door who'd helped me a lot when I'd been wandering around with nothing.
"Well... the door lock's broken, so the door won't open."
"What are you talking about? Are you hurt somewhere?"
"I did collapse at school today, but I'm not especially..."
"What!? You collapsed again!?"
Suddenly, A-ra pulled me into an embrace and placed her hand on my forehead, checking for a fever.
What was this—why was she initiating physical contact all of a sudden?
And 'collapsed again'—A-ra noona shouldn't have known that I was physically weak.
"N-noona, step back."
"Don't wanna."
"You're an idol, what if there's a scandal."
"....? Seong-hwan, I think you're really sick? We should go to the hospital."
"I told you I'm not sick."
Seeing A-ra not just hugging me but pulling on my arm and shoving me into her own house—it was so unlike her usual self that it was almost frightening.
Normally, A-ra never initiated physical contact with me.
She'd probably just thought of me as the kid next door she got along with reasonably well.
And I felt the same way.
No matter that we lived next door to each other, A-ra was someone harder to get close to than a star in the sky.
If I got sued for sexual harassment or something, my life in the Republic of Korea would be over.
In the end, I was dragged—pulled right into A-ra's home.
As I came in, I glanced around briefly, and the place felt more lived-in than I'd expected.
I sat down properly on the sofa in a formal kneeling posture.
It was my first time being invited to a woman's home, and more than that, it was my first time entering anyone else's home at all, so I had no idea how to act.
A-ra looked puzzled seeing me like that, but then she quickly went pfft and laughed.
A truly beautiful smile.
Fans around the world spent money just to see that smile, and here I was, able to see it exclusively just because I happened to live next door.
Somehow, I seemed to be a lucky guy.
"I'm going to wash up and change, so go into the bedroom and rest."
"S-seriously, go in there?"
"Have I ever lied to you? Hurry up and go lie down for a bit."
"Y...yeah. Alright..."
A-ra pushed me again, and once more, I had no choice—I entered what I guessed was the master bedroom.
Bringing a man into a place like this so carelessly.
It was dangerous beyond belief.
I sat quietly on the bed and looked around the room when I discovered something strange.
A thing that should have been absolutely impossible to exist in this world was right before my eyes.
"....What is this..."
On top of what I assumed was A-ra's vanity table, there was a framed photo of me and A-ra kissing.
They were faces that looked truly happy.