Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: That Bitch Was Always That Annoying
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“Kugh!”
“T-Tongue... Detective!”
Seo In-hyeok, the detective collapsed on the floor after being beaten all over.
Toward Song Na-rae, who was gazing at him with eyes full of fear and worry.
She—
U.S. Army officer Helen spoke in a cold voice.
“Foolish. If you'd handed it over quietly anyway, you wouldn't have ended up like this.”
“You! What the hell is this! How can people from the U.S. military do something like this!”
Song Na-rae snapped in a voice filled with anger.
Watching her, Helen formed a chilly smile and said,
“You already know why we're going this far, don't you? Now that you've seen this footage...”
“...Tch.”
“...”
Song Na-rae frowned and clamped her mouth shut at Helen's words.
Just as she said, at this moment, she understood.
Why the U.S. military of all people.
And officers at that were stepping in personally to handle such dirty business.
“If you mess with the wrong person... shouldn't you pay the price? Even if it's the president's son!”
“Haha... Such childish nonsense that even a kid wouldn't believe... You're supposed to be a brilliant doctor, but it seems you only studied books and don't know how the world really works.”
Helen spoke in a voice laced with sarcasm.
Right after, she dropped the USB containing the CCTV footage onto the floor.
And—
Crack!!
It shattered completely under the heel of her combat boot.
As she meticulously crushed it, she continued in a chilly voice.
“The world doesn't work that way, does it? Even if the act of killing is the same, the verdict can vary endlessly depending on the situation. Especially if it's the son of the one who rules the world. There's a famous saying, isn't there? All humans are equal. But some humans are more equal than others.”
“Kuh...”
“For the sake of Korea-U.S. relations, it's best to cover this up. Isn't it a chance for patriotism, sacrificing for the national interest even for that dying man?”
With those words, Helen's subordinates thoroughly collected even the debris from the floor.
After disposing of the last piece of evidence like that, she looked at the two grinding their teeth in frustration and said,
“You'll have to stay quietly in some secluded place for a while. We can't have you bothering us any more than this.”
With that, Helen ordered her men to drag the two away.
They tried to resist somehow, but in the end, they were forcibly loaded into the car without a chance to move.
The black vehicle heading off somewhere.
A cold smile crept across Helen's lips as she watched it go.
The smile of a victor.
‘Wow... she really acts so annoyingly well...’
‘Heh... Who would've thought I'd want to smack Athena herself while watching...’
Helen, brazenly flashing that shameless smile in the coercive situation.
The audience was internally cheering—not quite praise, but praise all the same—for how infuriatingly punchable she looked.
But at this moment.
One person sitting among them harbored thoughts quite different from those around her.
‘Acting, my ass... That bitch was always that annoying.’
Amid the quiet murmurs of admiration,
she sat with her lips pursed and arms crossed.
Ha Yu-ra.
Though she proudly occupied a premium seat as the lead actress, the scene playing on screen was naturally twisting her expression into a scowl.
Elizabeth Stormwalker—once one of the actresses she'd admired, but now officially designated as "Person #2 who pisses me off just by existing" at this point.
For reference, #1 was that guy~ sitting over there, Lee Sung-min.
The annoying pests who clung to Teacher Chae Soo-jeong, whom she served first and foremost.
Especially that Elizabeth bitch, who'd gone so far as to kiss Teacher on the cheek—putting her at the absolute top of the watchlist, even surpassing Lee Sung-min.
Fortunately, the bitch had gone back across the ocean to her home, but who knew when she might return depending on circumstances.
Ha Yu-ra hoped she'd just stay put and live well in her own house like that, but
sitting here watching the movie, an ominous feeling was creeping up that things wouldn't go that way.
As much as she hated to admit it, her acting was undeniably top-notch.
Plus her flawlessly smooth Korean was a bonus.
If this movie did well, there was a high chance plenty of people in Korea would try to connect with her.
Of course, pulling in a Hollywood actress wouldn't be easy, but there was a clear difference between not considering it at all and having some possibility to attempt it.
In this lingering unease, Ha Yu-ra steeled her resolve while watching Helen—no, Elizabeth—gaze at the departing vehicle with that infuriating smile.
‘Hollywood actress means everything? Just watch... Soon I'll catch up and surpass her!’
And so, Ha Yu-ra ignited her ambition as an actress for somewhat petty reasons.
At that moment, her eyes sharpened instantly at the very next scene.
‘Ah... Teacher's on screen.’
-Beep, beep, beep, beep
Pitch-black darkness blanketing the room.
And the rhythmic mechanical beeps.
Within it, she—
Hospital Director Chae Mi-ri was carefully checking one patient's condition.
Kim Kyung-soo.
The man at the root of this incident.
Of course, there was no need for Director Chae Mi-ri herself to check on him personally.
But despite that, amid her busy schedule, she came by once a day to check his status herself.
Worried that someone might secretly tamper with him.
And to prepare thoroughly in case of any unforeseen events.
However, even as she did her utmost to protect the patient's life,
anxiety was gradually deepening on her face.
“...This isn't good...”
The patient's condition was worsening day by day.
Blood pressure dropping, inflammation markers rising.
Given the severity of the gunshot wound, this was inevitable.
In fact, as a doctor, her judgment was that it was a miracle he was even alive now,
and that was precisely why Doctor Chae Mi-ri was striving to keep him going amid the endless pressure.
In her eyes as a doctor, this man's struggle—
was like a desperate thrashing scream of not wanting to die like this.
But even that place was nearing its limit.
The patient's deteriorating physical state signaled that their efforts were approaching the end.
Sadness at that fact...
And at the same time, a thread of relief that the situation she'd inwardly feared wouldn't come to pass.
Chae Mi-ri spoke in a quiet voice tinged with bitterness.
“...I'm sorry. This seems to be all I can do.”
There were no regrets.
Her goal from the start had been to cover up the truth of this man's death,
and while she hadn't crossed the final line, the fact that she'd made a dirty choice remained unchanged.
But if this achieved her purpose,
if it saved the hospital and let her survive too, that was enough, she thought.
With her thoughts sorted, Hospital Director Chae Mi-ri turned to leave.
At that moment—
“!”
“...”
The next instant, something grabbed her wrist as she tried to go.
A grip so frail it seemed it would slip away if pulled, yet unmistakably holding her.
Chae Mi-ri whipped her gaze around in shock, and in her eyes,
that man's form...
His figure, eyes faintly but clearly open, gazing at her.
“Ki... Kim... Kyung-soo patient?”
“...”
His consciousness returning so unexpectedly.
Watching Chae Mi-ri's face fill with bewilderment,
he laboriously raised his other hand.
A gesture beckoning her closer.
A clear sign he had something to say.
A thread of fear began to bloom in Chae Mi-ri's heart.
No matter how much it was for her goals,
she knew full well she'd done unforgivable things to the man before her.
But...
“Gulp...”
Even so, she swallowed dryly and cautiously approached him.
Braced to take any curses he threw.
Ready to hear out any despair he poured forth.
Then, a voice reached the ears of Chae Mi-ri, who'd steeled herself in her own way.
It was—
“...Thank... you.”
“!”
That small but clear word.
What it contained, in a voice that seemed about to flicker out...
Was neither
condemnation,
nor despair,
just the simplest gratitude imaginable.
Hearing it, Chae Mi-ri stared at him in a daze, struck as if by a hammer's blow.
And—
-Beeeeep...
“! Oh... no...”
Right after, the dangerous sound with his eyes closing.
Chae Mi-ri slammed the emergency button and sprang into action.
Chae Mi-ri performed CPR frantically, like a soul possessed.
Watching him lie still with a faint smile on his lips,
tears began welling in Chae Mi-ri's eyes at some point.
Tears vividly imbued
with the emotion of
‘regret’...