Chapter 7
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 7: Dream (2)
Yoon-seo, hospitalized in a ward, swallowed the medicine Do-hyun bought and fell asleep.
And only after a full day passed could she open her eyes.
"...Good morning?"
"Can you even smile?"
"...That reaction is bitter."
Yoon-seo liked Do-hyun who always smiled despite being unfortunate.
However, having heard about Yoon-seo's fate, he could no longer smile.
Looking at his swollen eyes, Yoon-seo reached out her hand.
"Are you that sad that I'm dying?"
"...Is that even a question."
A pure white hand caressing Do-hyun's hand.
Do-hyun felt a great shock at the warmth that was cold like a corpse.
"It's warm."
"...Eat some apples. I peeled them."
"Put it in my mouth. I have no strength."
Every time Yoon-seo spat out a word.
Those words became daggers gouging Do-hyun's heart.
Do-hyun, having made up his mind, asked.
"...Is there really no way to live?"
"There is. I have to go overseas but..."
He swallowed a groan.
Even if he offered his entire fortune, it wouldn't work.
Do-hyun pondered inwardly on how to make a large sum of money in a short period.
And a decent method came to mind.
'Wouldn't that be enough to contribute?'
Seeing Do-hyun's expression brighten a little, Yoon-seo realized what he was imagining.
Because having spent a long time together, she could see through his insides clearly.
"Don't do that."
"What."
"You're trying to use loan sharks. Don't do that."
For Do-hyun, an ex-convict, the only place to borrow money is the tertiary financial sector.
And if he uses loan sharks, Do-hyun's life will be over.
How does she know?
Because her parents were ruined like that.
"You have to live your life. You have a lot of money saved up. No need to spend it on someone who will die anyway."
"So... how can I do that."
"Honestly, we aren't anything special."
Yoon-seo recited while avoiding Do-hyun's eyes.
"Not lovers, not family, just game friends. Nothing more, nothing less."
"...."
"Who in the world pours hundreds of millions into a friend?"
That is true.
We aren't that deep of a relationship.
It hasn't even been 3 years since we saw each other's faces.
In our lives, the time we haven't seen each other is much longer than the time we have.
But, but...
Do-hyun chewed his lips, then spat out words that suddenly came to mind.
"Hello, I am 'Who'." (Note: Pun on "Nu-ga" - "Who in the world" vs "Nu" as a name)
Yoon-seo stared blankly at his mouth.
"...Did you just make a pun? In this atmosphere?"
"...Just suddenly thought of it."
A lightly burst laughter.
"Pfft, pu-heup, right. That's Seo Do-hyun."
"...."
The serious atmosphere subsided slightly.
Do-hyun continued.
"I'll find out where to make money as much as possible. Just hold on a bit."
"I told you not to."
"What can you do lying in a hospital room?"
This man is trying to save her, even if it means dragging his own ruined life further into the abyss.
Like a man who went to prison for his younger sister.
The fact that his spirit of sacrifice was directed at her was quite touching, but.
"If you use loan sharks, I'm going to jump off the hospital roof."
"...What?"
"I warned you."
Yoon-seo had no intention of accepting that goodwill.
Because she likes him.
Seriously, really.
Wow.
No.
"Tsk."
Whew...
My life is amazing.
Taking the blame for a crime and becoming an orphan wasn't enough.
Now I have to send away my most precious friend.
This is worse than misery porn scribbled by a middle schooler with chuunibyou.
How can one experience only such fucking shitty things?
I clenched my fist looking at Yoon-seo who had turned away after making a suicide remark.
"You don't want to live?"
"...."
"...You want to live. But why are you being like this."
My life is already ruined, nothing changes if it gets ruined more here.
I wanted Yoon-seo to live even if I die.
"I told you there is no method other than this? But why..."
"...Remember before?"
At that moment, Yoon-seo turned her head again.
"When I asked to live together. Back then you said you couldn't because I was precious."
"...I did."
"I feel the same. Because you are precious."
I know what that feeling is, but.
"...Even so, a life depends on it."
Isn't the situation a little different?
"Did I not tell you my past history?"
"Yeah."
"I'll tell you clearly. What happens if you use loan sharks."
I heard from Yoon-seo's mouth how her parents, who had debts of hundreds of millions, were ruined.
The process was extremely cruel and shocking at the same time.
Unlike me, Yoon-seo's family was peaceful, she said.
However, due to her father's business failure, they borrowed a large amount of private loans.
And what waited at the end was catastrophe.
A family that loved each other collapsed entangled in money.
"You are trying to walk the same path as my parents."
"...."
"You know why I'm telling you not to do it, right?"
It was something that could happen to me and Yoon-seo too.
She smiles with her characteristic smirk looking at me who became silent.
"...I was terminally ill from the first time we met."
"...."
"A dying person is dying, so don't mind it too much."
My expression was still only depressed.
Yoon-seo paused for a moment and said.
"Let's talk a bit more."
"...Talk?"
"What happened in the past. What we like. Actually had complaints like this. Points like this were good."
As if she wants to know a bit about me before she dies.
"Let's talk together."
She held my hand tight and didn't think of letting go.
Seasons passed and Yoon-seo's condition worsened further.
Now unable to even play games, she was barely sustaining a bit of life relying solely on medicine bought with the money I saved.
"Cough, cough."
"...Are you okay?"
"Yeah, today isn't bad."
During that time, we really talked a lot.
And I could understand the meaning of the actions Yoon-seo did.
For example, she said Fantastia was just a hobby.
It became a means of making money solely because of me.
And trying to live together was indeed to save money as expected.
The reason she canceled later was that she didn't want to be caught with the medicines piled up in the drawer.
The most absurd thing was the reason she fell into a cold war when I didn't lend money a while ago.
In her own way, she said it was to erase herself from me.
If she made me completely lose affection so I would leave.
Even if the funeral hall is empty, there would be no one to get hurt.
Isn't it such a foolish thought?
If the relationship would break because of that, it wouldn't have lasted over 2 years in the first place.
"Running out of topics slowly."
"I know. What should we talk about?"
Now I know a lot about Yoon-seo.
Past history.
The name of the bastard who bullied her.
Which National Assembly member that bastard's parent is.
Where she came from orphanage.
"For reference, it's white today."
Even down to what color panties she is wearing today.
"...You don't need to tell me that."
"Puh-huhu..."
At the strange atmosphere suddenly created, I cleared my throat, Ahem.
Then a curiosity that came to mind.
"...About that day."
"That day?"
"The day we drank for the first time."
The day I got drunk for the first and last time in my life.
I drank with Yoon-seo and blabbered about my past.
And that day.
"Back then, honestly, I had a bit of an erotic dream."
The dream I had back then.
I still remember the content clearly.
Usually, no matter how shocking a dream is, you forget it all after a day.
I felt like I could even publish the dream I had that day as a novel.
"Yeah."
"Was that... really a dream?"
That's why I'm confused.
Thinking maybe we rubbed flesh against each other.
Yoon-seo stared piercingly at my serious face, then soon laughed Pu-hat.
"Geez, were you still worrying about that time?"
"I'm serious."
"There's no way. How could we do that just because we drank a bit when we met for the first time?"
Right? It was just a dream, right?
Just as I was about to feel relieved at the truth finally revealed.
"But do you know that?"
Yoon-seo added words.
"I also had a dream that day?"
"What dream?"
"Want to know?"
Saying it like that makes me curious?
As I nodded, Yoon-seo looked around.
A ward with other people besides us.
Although she was speaking a bit quietly, as if she intended to speak even more quietly than that, Yoon-seo brought her mouth to my ear.
"In that dream, you see."
"...Wait, do I have to listen like this?"
My ear tickles and I get goosebumps.
But a stubborn attitude as if she can't say it unless it's like this.
"Just listen. In that dream, you and I were drinking."
I had no choice but to listen to Yoon-seo's whisper.
"I took your past history as a side dish."
"But you said something like this."
"I will never lose my virginity in my life. Who would like a man like me, waaah. Like that."
...What story is she trying to tell?
"...I said that?"
"I told you it's just a dream story? Listen to the end."
Yoon-seo whispered into my ear again.
"I thought inwardly. This person says all sorts of things when drunk. Is dying a virgin a big deal?"
"But huh? I'm dying a virgin too?"
"I have a pretty face, but because of loan sharks and bullies, I never received a confession or dated once."
"But I became terminally ill, right? It wasn't the time to pity that man?"
For some reason, saliva was swallowed automatically.
Yoon-seo's words continued.
"What is sex like? Just how good does it feel that people go crazy over it? After all, you and I were born through that too, right?"
"I, who wasn't in my right mind from drinking, was curious. So."
Yoon-seo's voice became one notch lower.
A voice whispering so quietly that I would miss parts if I didn't concentrate.
"I took off your clothes."
"...."
"And."
And the story that followed was explicit and graphic enough to understand why Yoon-seo was whispering.
"...."
My ear tickles like listening to erotic ASMR.
"...Like that, I sobered up and returned to my senses... and after finishing the cleanup..."
Yoon-seo laughing as if enjoying looking at my face which turned extremely red.
"...Morning came."
Finally, when the whole story ended, only then did she take her mouth off my ear.
"...."
"How is it, the dream I had was super erotic, right?"
It certainly is.
It was a dream too erotic to tell anyone.
"That..."
But that erotic dream.
It's exactly the same as my dream.
"Really, the dream..."
"It was a dream."
Yoon-seo cut me off sharply.
"...."
"A dream dreamt on a midsummer night."
A bitter smile she makes looking at me.
"It was sweet so I want to dream it one more time, but I can't, and it's a dream that shouldn't happen."
"...."
After a while of silence, I asked quietly.
"...Can I believe it like that?"
Yoon-seo nodded silently.