49 - Shikhye
“Haaaaah... fuuuuck, why the hell isn't he picking up?!”
"Connection failed. Beep. Now transferring to voicemail."
Seo Noeul hurled his innocent phone to the floor. It had been a whole hour since his mother had gone into surgery, and there was still no word from his older brother, Seo Maru.
“Fuck... fuck...”
It was a Friday in March—an utterly ordinary day for Seo Maru, for Seo Yu-na, and for Seo Noeul himself. Maybe because it was Friday, lunch orders via delivery apps were pouring in even at midday, so Noeul had figured he was in luck. Earnings looked decent today, so he'd decided they'd all get together for Yu-na's favorite beef rib stew after ages. Sure, no matter how much he hustled, it was peanuts compared to what Maru raked in half a day, but someone had to stick by their mother's side all day for nursing duty.
No job let you pop in and out of home as conveniently as delivery work. Maybe if he ground the meat extra fine, Mom could manage some.
“Mom, I'm home! How about beef ribs for dinner? Mom...? Mom!!!”
Her belly was swollen like a pregnant woman's on the verge of bursting. Her complexion had turned an unnatural greenish hue, so pallid it was hard to believe red blood still flowed beneath the skin. Seo Noeul still couldn't shake the horrific thirty minutes from his mind.
It was a rare symptom in end-stage multiple sclerosis patients. No wonder the doctor—if the paramedics hadn't specified MS—would've mistaken it for intestinal blockage.
“We've halted the acute flare-up with corticosteroids, but we can't predict when or how the disease might strike next.”
MS wasn't curable to begin with, so no major surgery was needed. But Noeul couldn't lash out at the doctors and nurses who'd barely kept his mother breathing, right to their faces. They'd saved her life, after all.
He turned away from his mother in the hospital bed, riddled with IV lines.
“How much... how much longer does she have?”
“We can't say for sure. It could be three days, a month, a year. But as physicians, we can state with certainty it won't be longer than that... so I recommend preparing yourselves mentally.”
“A year... just a year?”
“Long-term drug treatments have built up severe steroid resistance. Any more would be lethal. The next flare-up—the second hospital visit—we can't guarantee anything.”
Noeul felt his heart sink. His mother hadn't even seen him grow into a man, repay her properly, and now this meaningless end? And Yu-na was just eight—too young. At an age craving parental love, Noeul knew he couldn't fill that void.
“A year...?”
“Seo Yu-na? How'd you get to the hospital so fast?”
“Mom only has a year left? Why...? Why's this happening to our mom! Waaaaaah!”
“Yu-na, calm down a bit.”
“I can't live without Mom! Mom, please wake up. Please, I beg you. I'll listen to you every day and study hard, just look at me!”
“Mom needs to rest now, so let's talk outside...”
“Waaaaaah!”
Judging by Yu-na's disheveled state, she hadn't walked the whole way. But her transit card pass only covered specific routes—even at the end stop, it'd be a long hike to the hospital. Too late for her to have come straight home, read the note, and rushed here.
“Who brought you to the hospital?!”
“Sniff... hic, big bro. Noeul bro, is that really important right now?”
“What if you asked some weirdo?!”
“Nami... Nami called me a taxi. My friend...”
“A friend? How'd a friend know to pick you up?”
“We went home together... no one was there. Hic... but then I saw bro's note and came right away.”
Only then did Noeul spot the girl in the same uniform as Yu-na, across the waiting room. Nami, was it? He'd heard the name before. One day, Yu-na had come home sobbing pitifully—upset that a transfer student at her academy had topped the aptitude test.
That kid, huh.
No spark in her eyes at all. That was Noeul's first impression of Nami. She seemed to live in a black-and-white filtered world, camera-like. Not gloomy, exactly—profound fit better.
“Here, you like shikhye?”
Yu-na's brother sat beside me and handed over a vending machine canned drink.
“Thank you.”
“No biggie. I'm the one who owes you.”
“What about Yu-na?”
“She wouldn't leave Mom's side, so I set up a cot. She's probably asleep by now. If you can't open it, gimme—I'll pop it.”
A crisp hiss escaped, but the ER chaos swallowed it instantly. Anyone who's been to an emergency room knows: organized chaos in one phrase. Screams and shouts erupted now and then, but staff shut them down quick, forcing everyone to hold their breath and restrain their emotions.
Even Yu-na's brother, Seo Noeul, was no exception.
The shikhye was cool but not very sweet.
“Seriously, thanks. My bro's not picking up at all, and I was stressing how to get Yu-na here. Was gonna tell her to stay put at home, but knowing my sister, she'd ignore it and come anyway.”
Noeul explained why he'd left the note.
“How's your mother doing?”
“Sigh, no clue... Never progressed this far before. I don't know, I just... don't know anything...”
“Must be devastating.”
What emotion underlay his voice? Resignation? Regret?
“Yu-na was gonna walk here.”
“Walk? I gave her a transit card.”
“No balance left.”
“That's why Maru bro needs to top it up ahead when he gives allowance... Must've been tough walking to school too. Up those hills.”
Noeul scolded his little sister. Did this guy really know nothing about her?
“Your name's Nami, right? Nami, how's Yu-na at the academy? Settling in okay?”
“What does Yu-na say?”
“Loves going to school every day? Great teachers, lots of friends, magic lessons are fun. Studies hard but cries under the covers sometimes—still, scores what she wants, so mostly happy.”
“...”
“Oh yeah, she mentioned you once. Topped the second-year aptitude test? Take good care of our Yu-na.”
My grip tightened unconsciously on the can. Empty, it crumpled easily under my weak strength.
“Yu-na's never taken the bus to the academy. Not once.”
Seo Yu-na... She wore masks not just at school, but at home too. Neither was a true nest for her. How had this child endured a whole school year? Despair welled up.
“To save 2,100 won a day, she walks three hours round-trip. Up and down 519 stairs.”
“Walks every day...?”
“Lots of friends? Well, outside class, I hear her talk less often than not.”
“...”
“From arrival to dismissal, she never speaks—just sits and studies. Vomited in the school bathroom after lunch multiple times. And you think she's truly adapting well?”
During the potion incident, checking her mouth for transmutation parameters, her oral pH was abnormally low. Gastric acid refluxing into her esophagus, causing inflammation. Given her frequent vomiting, likely stress-induced reflux esophagitis.
“Yu-na's hurt deeply by your secrets, even if meant to protect her. Not telling her—and not trying to know her. I think that's wrong.”
I get they're staking their lives to rebuild the family. But handing her pocket money and ignoring her until this point... Way off base. Like this shikhye—barely sweet. Hospital-supplied drinks cut sugar and salt for patients. Drinkers unaware would just call it defective. Meant well for Yu-na, but her pain was real.
Left like this, she'd see nothing despite eyes, hear nothing despite ears—wasting time meaninglessly.
“Haaaaah...”
Noeul clutched his head, sighing. Even as one of the family's two pillars alongside his brother, he looked young to me—generous guess, seventeen or eighteen. Too young to shoulder home and future. His brother was just a year older, barely adult.
Happy families are happy alike; unhappy ones, each their own way. And that unhappiness might not stem from anyone's fault. Without someone breaking the cycle, they'd spin forever on the hamster wheel.
“Yu-na adores and brags about her brothers most.”
“Didn't know she was hurting this bad... Thought she was just whiny, but she was signaling all along. And I missed it...”
“So don't blame yourself.”
Immature, sure—but Yu-na wouldn't miss their hearts.
“Basketball pro, right?”
“She told you that? No talent anyway—what pro? Just coping. Blaming family for my lacks.”
“Yu-na's still cheering that dream.”
“Forget it. With her at academy, I'm stuck home. Don't even know how long Mom has. Gotta make the most while she's here... while she's...”
He vented: Mom was practically vegetative below the neck, needing constant caregiver proximity. Flip her every two hours minimum to prevent bedsores.
“What's the diagnosis?”
“Multiple sclerosis.”
I knew it well from Mage Tower research. From old world memories: [Sloth]'s corrosion first triggered widespread 'Medusa' globally. Plants crumbled, animals and humans petrified. ALS, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis. Humans couldn't grasp their own bodies, let alone repel unknown corrosion. Thus, they shunned or slew the tainted—like zombie flicks, protagonists killing guilt-free.
“What'd the doc prescribe?”
“Huh? Some cortico-steroid or whatever. Why?”
“Corticosteroids. Speeds recovery timing, but not degree. Mind if I see your mother's room?”