Hospitalization (2)
Hospitalization (2)
The nurse opened the door and came in, pressing the light switch on the wall to brighten the room.
"Patient Yoo Seong-hwan? You have ENT and neurology appointments tomorrow."
I wasn't sure if she was busy, but she replaced the IV at a rapid pace
and informed me of tomorrow's examination schedule.
So they do consultations on Saturdays too.
I didn't really reply, just nodded and took the paper the nurse handed me.
Written on it were the names of the departments and the times.
At a university hospital, there must be plenty of residents and specialists.
Headaches are neurology, tinnitus is ENT, then?
That was about what I'd expected, so I nodded as I looked at the paper.
And the nurse, probably busy, hurriedly left the hospital room.
I'd heard this hospital has over 2,600 beds,
so the number of patients a single nurse has to look after must be high.
It really is an extreme profession...
"Well then, shall I go to the convenience store?"
There didn't seem to be any additional tests or anything,
and it felt like I could quickly go and come back.
I turned on the TV, which I'd heard was attached to each patient's bed these days, and checked the hospital guide map.
Fortunately, it was in the same building as the ward where I was hospitalized.
There's probably nothing as painful as not being able to use your phone in the hospital.
I pulled the IV stand along and left the hospital room,
walked down the slightly cold and dark hallway, and headed to the convenience store.
***
"That's 7,000 won."
I opened the phone's payment app and handed it over to the staff member.
Since I had an IV in one hand,
it was hard to get my wallet out,
and that's when phone payments really shine.
Along with the characteristic withdrawal notification sound of the banking app,
there was a beep, the payment went through,
and I got my phone back.
"Um... you're Yoo Seong-hwan from Seong-hwanTube, right? I'm a fan."
"Ah, thank you."
I gave a light thanks and stepped outside.
Fans like that, who are polite and know how to mind their manners, are always welcome.
Earlier, before coming to the convenience store, a few girls had followed me around saying they were fans,
and it was a nuisance of the highest order.
When I told them not to follow me,
they'd nodded as if that was fine and didn't follow after all,
so they weren't bad kids, really.
So this is why A-ra always disguised herself in places like hospitals.
If I don't learn to be as careful as A-ra, I'll have a hard time too.
I came out of the convenience store and sat in the waiting room near the administration office.
Normally, places like this belong to outpatients during consultation hours,
but after business hours, they belong to hospitalized patients.
Maybe because a large TV was installed, along with vending machines and a water purifier,
it seemed to be used as a kind of meeting place.
Seeing people of various ages gathered and chatting away,
I felt a strong urge to join in.
There were about three groups of people around my age—
two groups of girls gathered together and one group of boys gathered together.
Naturally, the place I headed was where the boys were gathered.
I quietly approached and spoke to them.
"Hey..."
Maybe it was because a stranger had spoken to them.
I sensed a hint of wariness.
No, I had sensed it.
They looked at my face, their wariness shattered,
and spoke to me in a friendly manner.
"Oh...! You look really familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?"
"By any chance... aren't you Yoo Seong-hwan?"
The patient who recognized me in an instant held out his hand.
Offering a handshake to the side with the IV in...
He must be very used to this.
"Yes, that's right."
"Wow... I'm really a fan. Please just one handshake."
I nearly felt dazed from the sudden flood of handshakes,
but I shook hands one by one with the other hand, the one without the IV.
Rather than handshakes because they're fans,
let's think of these as handshakes for the connection of meeting for the first time.
"I saw you all having a good time talking, and I wanted to join in too."
"Aha! But what are you hospitalized for, Seong-hwan-ssi? Are you unwell somewhere...?"
"Ahaha... no, it's not that. Today after finals ended, I was in a taxi heading home and there was a minor accident..."
Maybe it was because I was somewhat well-known.
Normally, I'm shy around strangers and wouldn't have approached,
but maybe because of a bit of confidence I'd built up and the shared understanding of being patients,
it was very easy to blend into their group.
I was chatting with them about fashion and games
when, though I'm not sure how it got off track,
at some point the topic began shifting to marriage.
And since I was the only married person there,
I had become easy prey to be picked apart.
"Seong-hwan-ssi, you're married to A-ra-nim, right?"
"A-ra-nim? Ah, you must be in the fanclub."
"Even though I look like this, I was the vice-president of the fanclub until I was hospitalized."
"Ohh..."
If he was high enough to be vice-president,
that means he's a superfan among A-ra's fans.
Lee Min-ho also seemed to worship A-ra like a god,
but I'd heard he was at the bottom of the fanclub.
But to be the vice-president of that fanclub—
my head automatically bowed.
"It's a bit funny for me to say this as a fan, but what about A-ra-nim did you like that made you marry her?"
"Umm..."
I fainted and when I opened my eyes I was married.
That wasn't something I could say.
I gave the most diplomatic answer: 'I liked everything about her.'
Back when I first found out I was married to A-ra, I'm not sure I could have said it,
but now it was a statement that came 100% from my heart.
"The thing I'm most curious about! Who confessed and proposed?"
"That was A-ra Noona."
"Ohh... No matter how much of an idol she is, the proposal should be done by the woman, after all."
They nodded simultaneously.
As expected, the ratio of men who propose is heavily skewed.
"I'd like to receive a proper proposal from a girlfriend too."
"Hyung, you should start by getting a girlfriend before saying things like that."
"Oh, snap..."
Seeing them joke around cheerfully and laugh with each other,
they didn't seem like people who'd only known each other for a day or two.
How long had the two of them been here?
"Us? Umm... it's been about a year now, I guess?"
"About that."
They'd been in the hospital for a year?
I asked them as carefully as possible.
"Are you very unwell?"
"Not very unwell. It's a case where our bodies suddenly got worse, so we've been hospitalized for a long time."
"Me too, me too. So don't worry, we're not about to die or anything."
And they laughed cheerfully.
At that, I couldn't help but give a bitter smile.
I have a weak body too,
but it's by no means to the extent of being hospitalized and having to live in a hospital.
I was weak from birth, so I just accept it as something that can't be helped.
But how must they feel, those whose healthy bodies suddenly became unwell?
Was even their laughter now something forced?
Maybe my bitter smile was a little burdensome for them,
as the two laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
"Rather than gloomy talk like this, let's talk about food."
"Oh right, Seong-hwan-ssi, that sandwich you made before. Was it banh mi? I was a little curious about that..."
To the questions they poured out like a storm,
I answered and conversed one by one.
When I'm talking with these guys, I don't even notice the time passing.
I looked at my phone and it was already pointing to 11 o'clock.
"I'll be going now. Today was really fun."
"If the opportunity comes, let's meet again next time."
"Hyung, you're not supposed to say things like that in a hospital..."
"Ah, really? Well then, if we're lucky, we'll see each other outside the hospital sometime."
I burst out laughing at their skit-like conversation.
Probably, it'll be hard to meet again,
but if fate brings us together someday, we'll meet again.
I exchanged final goodbyes and went back up to the hospital room.
The nurse sitting at the desk,
as soon as she saw me pulling the IV stand and heading this way,
spoke to me.
"Patient? Did you go somewhere?"
"I went to the convenience store to buy a phone charger too."
Phones are a matter of critical importance.
I believe the nurse will understand too.
"I see. Next time you go, please let the nurses at the desk know before you go."
"Yep."
The male nurse, probably busy even at this hour,
was going around here and there carrying a basket containing a thermometer, blood pressure monitor, and blood sugar tester.
Nurses truly don't seem to have a moment to rest.
***
"Seong-hwan-a! Let's go home!"
Three days after I was hospitalized.
I had been told I needed to stay hospitalized
until they took CT and MRI scans and the results came out,
so I spent my time in the hospital feeling a bit stifled.
The conclusion was that there was nothing wrong anywhere.
Should I say the time I was held for nothing felt wasteful.
Or should I say it was a relief to be able to leave on a Monday, which was basically the first day of vacation.
A-ra smiled brightly as she took out the clothes she had put in the wardrobe
and handed them to me.
Seeing her with a radiant smile as if she were eating something delicious,
I felt a sense of guilt for not having been able to cook for her for three days.
Today, I'd make everything she said she wanted to eat
and win over A-ra's stomach once again.
"Is there anything you'd like to eat today?"
"What I want to eat?"
A-ra thought carefully for a moment,
then pointed at me.
Seeing A-ra licking her lips with her tongue and making a very sensual expression,
it felt like that place was about to pitch a tent.
"I want to eat Seong-hwan-ie."
Seeing A-ra deliver an unbearably embarrassing line without any change in expression,
I ended up smacking my forehead with my palm.
She couldn't even say that in front of other people.
"You can have that later as dessert."
When I shot back at her in retaliation,
her expression showed she liked it more than I thought, so it was a bit deflating.
Maybe because she's a woman, she actually seems to like lines like this.
"Hmm... then... never mind, let's go home first."
"Yes, take your time thinking about it."
I roughly finished tidying up and went outside.
I gave my regards to the nurses
to whom I'd been indebted, even if briefly,
and boarded A-ra's gleaming fancy car.
*
"We're back~"
The home I returned to after three days had the curtains fully drawn,
so it was a dark continent unto itself, with no light coming in.
If we did this at school,
as soon as the teachers came in,
they'd shout, 'Are you children of darkness!?'—
remembering that made a chuckle escape.
To draw back the automatic curtains, I started walking toward
the tablet PC that allowed central control,
when suddenly A-ra blocked my way.
I was flustered for a moment, but A-ra's eyes looked somehow strange,
so I ended up stepping backward.
"Noo... Noona?"
"Seong-hwan-a.. I held back for three days, so it's okay today, right?"
"Let's wash... let's wash first! I haven't washed for three days."
"It's been aged, hasn't it? Noona likes that Seong-hwan-ie too."
"No, this time it really won't... I said it won't do...!"
As if she had no intention of letting go, A-ra pressed down firmly on my shoulders and I couldn't escape.
Just as a mortal cannot defeat an absolute being,
it was the natural order of a perfectly obvious principle.
By A-ra's touch, my top and bottom were removed,
and in the end even my underwear was stripped off, and I was tossed onto the bed in the master bedroom.
A musty smell was coming from my body
that even I could notice,
but A-ra didn't seem to mind at all.
No, she was actually liking it.
"Haa... haa... huuuup... haa.. how is this a bad smell..."
It was impossible to stop A-ra, who had already started her engine and was excited.
In that state, A-ra doesn't listen to a word I say.
At times like this, A-ra's strength to dominate and overpower me was overwhelming.
Does she lose control of her strength when she's excited?
My wrists, which she was holding, began to hurt more and more.
It's not that I'm a masochist, exactly, but I don't dislike this atmosphere itself.
Or maybe I like being handled roughly...
Either way, I guess that confirms I'm a pervert.
A-ra, who had begun caressing my whole body with her tongue, showed no sign of stopping,
and I let out a small sigh.
Since I rested for three days...
I wonder how much I'll be drained...