Chapter 83
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 83
Her trembling pupils swiveled toward me. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and trickled down her cheek. Anyone could see she was flustered.
Good. If she had any conscience, she’d at least have the decency to be flustered. If she’d acted brazenly here, I truly would never have forgiven her.
“Aren’t you going to say something?”
I could at least grant her some last words. As I spoke with that sentiment, she parted the lips she had kept so tightly sealed and cautiously began.
“Well…”
“Well?”
She couldn’t seem to continue, her eyes darting all over the place.
It was obvious she was searching for some excuse, but this was a hospital room, and she was a patient who couldn’t move her legs.
There was nowhere for her to run.
Dokyun watched her sweating bullets and summoned his last ounce of patience. Like an executioner awaiting a condemned man’s final testament, or a lawyer transcribing the faltering last words of a dying old man. With such a smile gracing his lips, he waited for her to speak.
The standoff continued for a long while. She fidgeted, sweating so much her bangs were plastered to her forehead, before suddenly squeezing her eyes shut and crying out.
“Ah, aaaah! My leg…!”
As she cried out, she stretched her arms out and placed them on her legs.
Watching her, Dokyun felt a dry laugh escape his lips.
“Wrong one.”
“…Huh?”
“Your injury. It’s not that one.”
Silence followed Dokyun’s words. Eun-sam, who had frozen for a moment, finally cracked open one eye and glanced down at her own legs. The one in the cast was her right leg. The one she was clutching, however, was her perfectly fine left leg.
“Um…”
Another mumble crept from her lips. Then, with a creaky movement, she lifted her head and offered Dokyun an awkward smile.
“S-Sorry, dude…?”
An apology for her last words. Not a bad choice. With that thought, Dokyun slowly nodded. Then, painting his face with a benevolent smile, he clenched his fist until the veins on the back of his hand bulged and spat out his words.
“Grit your teeth.”
The moment he finished speaking and pulled his arm back.
“W-Wait…!”
She jerked her head back, stopping him.
Dokyun’s body paused. Seeing this, she scrambled to pull her smartphone out from where she’d hidden it under her hip.
“H-Here, look at this, dude!”
Dokyun raised an eyebrow at the phone she was suddenly shoving in his face, then glanced at the screen.
Displayed on the screen was a crypto app. Specifically, it was the coin that he and Eun-sam had sunk hundreds of millions of won into.
What was this? Was she asking me to dismember her, to tear her limb from limb before I killed her? As I was checking the app with that thought in mind, her voice rang out.
“I-It’s recovering! Our baby is coming back to life, dude!”
Half-listening to her words, I looked at the app and my eyes widened at the number on the screen.
‘-48%.’
It was still in the depths of despair, but just as she’d said, the coin was definitely on an upward trend.
A little surprised, Dokyun stared at her blankly. She spoke again, her face pleading desperately.
“Y-You can hate me! That’s fine! But can’t you wait just a little longer, for our baby’s sake? D-Don’t you feel sorry for our baby, who’ll have to grow up without a mother?!”
Her attempt at persuasion. Dokyun felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck as he looked at her, her eyes shimmering as she begged. He glared and spat out a single word.
“Shut.”
“Heek…!”
What the fuck was she talking about? If this was ‘our baby,’ then didn’t that make her some vile criminal who got me drunk and knocked me up?
Her shameless words made my blood boil. But then my gaze was stolen once more by the smartphone in her hand. I stared at it for a long time, lost in thought.
To be honest, I hadn’t opened the crypto app a single time since it had plummeted into the abyss, so I had no idea it was recovering.
I’d deleted the app, thinking it would only make me sick to look at it. But it seemed the coin had been on the rise even then. The graph on the screen was drawing a gentle, upward-sloping curve.
“So…”
Had my expression softened at the glimmer of hope? After watching my face for a while, she sidled up to me and spoke in a tone that felt insidiously sly.
“How about we wait just a few more days? Huh? Don’t we have to prove to the world that we were right…!”
Utter, baseless nonsense.
At that, Dokyun, who had been stroking his chin, reached out and placed his hand on her head. Then, with all his strength, he squeezed. She flinched violently at the pressure, grabbing his wrist and starting to struggle.
“Gguoooohk!!!”
“You think you can just get away with it?”
“I-I wuz wroooong!!!”
She screamed loud enough to shake the entire hospital room.
Annoyed by her attempt to just gloss things over, Dokyun kept the pressure on his hand, savoring her pained expression for a moment longer. Then he finally let go, flicking his hand as if to brush her off, and uttered a single, icy phrase.
“Suspended sentence.”
I’ll let you live for a few more days. As I spoke with that meaning, she, who had been clutching her head and groaning, snapped her head up, her face bright.
“G-Good thinking, dude! Yeah, we gotta show ‘em!”
She straightened the shoulders she’d been hunching the whole time and shot out a fist, giving me a thumbs-up.
“Who are we?”
Oh, here we go again.
I shot her an icy glare. She flinched again, hunching her shoulders, and finished the chant by herself in a mumble, an awkward smile plastered on her face.
“Th-The Merry Pranksters~.”
I truly hate this.
My face twisted into a scowl of pure disgust. But she either pretended not to see the loathing on my face or genuinely didn’t, because she started doing a little shoulder dance with a goofy grin.
Truly, a hopeless case.
*
Figuring any more conversation would just piss me off, I made her shut up. We both stared at our phones for a while. But I could feel Eun-sam’s eyes constantly glancing my way, so I shifted my gaze to look at her.
Her lips were twitching, as if she wanted to say something. Dokyun sighed, furrowing his brow as he spoke to her.
“What.”
As I looked up, she flinched, then began to speak in a hesitant tone.
“Um… dude?”
“What.”
Dokyun’s reply was cold. I was letting her be for now, but honestly, there was no way I could look at her favorably. Leaving aside how utterly unlikable her speech and actions were, I just couldn’t forgive what she’d done to me.
How could someone even think of picking the pocket of a person they just met? Just thinking about the money I lost because of that damn thief made my blood pressure spike.
Whether the coin was rising or not, if she weren’t a patient right now, I would have grabbed her by the hair and shaken her senseless.
As I glared at her, my mind filled with such furious thoughts, she flinched again. Then she composed her expression, put on a smile, and continued.
“So, uh, I saw that donation battle you were in… It was awesome, dude…!”
A jolt.
This time, it was Dokyun’s body that trembled.
I had just managed to erase it from my mind, but that vile creature just had to make me remember that day. The memory of that moment, which had left me with nothing but an empty void and regret, came flooding back.
“I was reading through the top posts, dude! The war for top patron of some no-name novel! A battle between money-flinging titans!”
Her voice started getting louder and louder.
“A relay of donations from the patron saints that turned the whole forum upside down!”
My hands began to tremble with shame. If I heard any more, my mind would shatter. I wished she would stop, but Eun-sam, oblivious to my state, wore a wildly excited expression and continued shouting.
“Endless new posts on the front page! A devastating climb in the rankings! Hitting the real-time best-of page!”
“Stop…”
I managed to get the words out in a pathetic, trembling voice, but my plea was buried without a trace under her shouting, which had now reached the level of a public disturbance.
Then, she, who had been half-lying down, shot upright. Her shoulders began to bob and weave to a joyous rhythm, and her continuing words shone with emotion and resolve.
She went on like that for a while, chipping away at my sanity, before finally bringing out a massive battering ram.
“As expected of Deep Sea Honeybee! No, Golden Hornet!”
Her arm shot forward. Her thumb was raised high above her comically small fist.
“As expected, a Tier 1 regular is just built different, dude!”
Snap.
The sound of something breaking echoed in Dokyun’s ears.
It wasn’t the sound of something in the hospital room physically breaking. It was the sound of my already shattered psyche being mercilessly pounded into dust by the battering ram she had just brandished.
With a creaky movement, I turned my head. There was Eun-sam, looking at me with an expression of pure, unmistakable admiration.
Thwip.
Something inside my head snapped. Half-losing my mind, I lunged at her, grabbed her by the collar, and shook her back and forth, spewing curses.
“Stop, stop, stop! Stop it, you bitch!”
“Uwaaahk!”
I could see her screaming as her body was thrown back and forth, but my reason had flown out the window. I didn’t notice, just kept shaking her by the collar.
Why? Why was she so hell-bent on tormenting me? This one. This one was the problem. Nothing ever went right when I was involved with her. Every single word she spoke sent shivers down my spine and clawed at my insides.
I resented her. I resented her and resented her.
As I vented my resentment, shaking her by the collar, her screams grew even louder.
“Gguooooooohk!!!”
Her eyes rolled back in her head as she shrieked. Startled, Dokyun let go of her collar. She began to convulse, letting out a final cry.
“M-My leeeeg…!”
Shit.
With my reason starting to return, I sucked in a sharp breath. I had gotten so worked up that I’d forgotten she was a patient. I froze for a moment at her flailing convulsions, then came to my senses, remembered what I had to do, and moved.
‘A doctor!’
I had to call a doctor. With that thought, I fumbled for the emergency call button by the head of the bed. A doctor rushed in almost immediately.
Normally, I would have applauded the speed, worthy of a VIP room, but my mind was filled with panic. I stared blankly at the doctor, then opened my mouth.
“Ah, um…”
Thump.
My mouth wouldn’t work. I think the shock from shaking her collar must have affected her leg. I tried to say that, but the words wouldn’t come out. As I stammered, Eun-sam let out another cry.
“M-My leeeeeeeg…!”
Her face was a mess as she said it.
The doctor, startled, checked her condition, administered a painkiller, and then sighed.
“It seems the pain was just from the shock. There are no other issues.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Dokyun avoided his gaze as he replied. The doctor added another comment, his tone thick with disapproval.
“…Playing too rough isn’t good for the patient.”
“Yes…”
“And that goes for you too, miss. You need to remember that you are a patient.”
“Yeees…”
Her head hung low. I didn’t have the courage to lift my head and meet the doctor’s eyes, so I just stared at the floor. I heard the doctor sigh again before opening the door and leaving the room.
I glanced at the closed door, then turned my head toward her and spoke in an embarrassed tone.
“…I’m sorry.”
I should have considered that she was a patient, but I’d lost my cool first. As I apologized, Eun-sam, who had been lying limp as a dried squid, moved her head slightly to look at me and replied.
“…It’s nothing, dude.”
Dokyun watched as she turned her head away. Her earlobes were flushed red. Amazingly, she was feeling ashamed about what had just happened.
An awkward atmosphere settled between us for a moment.
“…Let’s exercise some self-control.”
“…Got it, dude.”
The two of them had reached a dramatic truce.