Chapter 5
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Chapter 5
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Deal
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"...Ah."
I opened my eyes, and that damn white ceiling greeted me once again. Come to think of it... Mom. What about Mom?
Oh! You're awake?
"...What is this?"
Um, I know it's startling, but please calm down first.
"...Who are you?"
A nauseatingly white room just by looking at it. Familiar machines and IV drips. And a woman's voice I'd never heard before coming from the speaker in the corner of the ceiling. No, there was only one thing that mattered right now.
"My mom! What about Mom?"
Fortunately, her life is not in danger.
"Ha... That's a relief... But why am I here?"
Well, this situation is completely unprecedented... Someone died and came back to life—a first-of-its-kind event. And their gender changed too.
"...Yes?"
Seol Ha-jin's body is now completely 'female.' The tests confirm it's identical to Seol Ha-jin, but the chromosomes that distinguish male from female have changed.
"...?"
Does that even make sense? But then I remembered my reflection in my sister's phone. That was me? It didn't make any sense.
So, we can't rule out the possibility of an unknown virus, which is why we've placed you in an isolation room.
"Got it for now..."
The director will be here shortly. Please wait just a bit. I've notified him that you're conscious.
"Hey, can I be discharged?"
Er... I'm not sure about the details. But there's an issue with your heart right now...
"...My heart?"
Yes. Your other organs and bones have shrunk to fit the smaller body, but your heart size remained the same. You're on medication to deliberately regulate heart function. No getting excited or moving vigorously. You need to keep your heart rate stable.
"...Ha."
This is really messing with my head. How could something like this happen in the world...
-Slide.
After the conversation ended, I slowly looked around the room. Nothing but white. White. It was truly repulsive.
"Who's there!?"
Is there... a problem?
"Ah, no. Nothing..."
Lying there quietly by myself, the heavy door slid open.
"Hello, patient."
The man who entered was wearing a hazmat suit and safety goggles like those from the height of the COVID outbreak. His voice sounded a bit muffled because of the suit.
Ha, treating me like I have some virus. But looking at myself, it kind of made sense. A virus that forcibly shrinks the body and changes gender? Yeah, that tracked.
"I'm Yu Won-jun, the hospital director."
"...Hello."
"...Your condition is astonishingly normal, aside from the heart function. Your body shrank, but your heart size didn't, so it's dangerous without medication to control it."
"So, if I just take the meds, can I be discharged? Honestly, I've already given up on living. I just want out of this white space."
"Discharge is difficult because you need periodic medication, but... hmm..."
The director trailed off, frowning.
"I might die anytime anyway."
"That doesn't matter."
"Hmm, how about I propose a deal?"
"...A deal?"
"You remember your mother collapsing at the funeral home, right?"
"...Yes."
"Do you know why she slit her wrists?"
I bit my lip at the director's indifferent words.
"...No idea."
"She borrowed money from everywhere, saying she'd pay the hospital bills. The insurance company kept refusing because it's an unknown illness with no disease code."
"Ah..."
"But now, Seol Ha-jin died from a disease never seen anywhere in the world... and came back to life. With a gender change, no less."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
My words came out colder than intended, but the director's eyes in the suit curved gently.
"We can guarantee your identity. We'll announce it like this: Patient A endured symptoms with unknown cause, died, then revived. But their gender changed."
"So, you're going to... use me as a case study right now?"
"...It's all for advancing medicine. No need to feel too repulsed. You're the world's first case now, but this illness could strike again."
"...You mentioned a deal earlier?"
"Yes. We'll cover all past and future hospital bills. For you and your mother."
Could I refuse this? No way. It was a perfect checkmate. I averted my gaze.
"The debts from borrowing for hospital bills so far? We'll repay them all. In exchange, we want to collect data while you're alive. Provide data until discharge, and we'll give you 1 billion won. But after discharge, you'll need to come back for periodic admissions. We'll guarantee 100 million won per year. However, if you die before discharge midway, no money. We won't inject any weird drugs. We're doctors. We'll do our best to treat you."
"Locked in this room until discharge? In this white solitary cell?"
"You can leave isolation after tests. But you'll go to the PICU. It's not all white like here."
"Fine, then."
"But you'll have to change your identity. Seol Ha-jin has officially been declared dead. Funeral's done. Ashes already placed."
"...Hm. But you said you'd treat me? Find a way to go back?"
"No, no hospital in the world could do that. What we can treat is the heart issue. We don't even understand the phenomenon ourselves. We'll discuss identity with your mother when she wakes up."
"Wait, Mom still hasn't woken up?"
"No issue with her life. I guarantee it."
"Can I see Mom...?"
"Please hold off a bit. She's in ICU, no visits. Instead, I'll bring your father and sister. Contract is established, then. We'll inform your guardians, and my discreet lawyer acquaintance will witness the paperwork."
"...Okay."
The director left, and I was locked back in this white solitary cell. Mom will be okay, right? Still, think positive. No more pain, debts cleared. Just endure. Like a zoo animal for a year. No, heart problem anyway. Hospitalized for treatment. Yeah, that'll...
A voice completely different from the earlier one echoed.
/
-Slide.
"Ha-jin! How's... your body feeling?"
Ha-jin's father and sister, in hazmat suits, opened the door and entered. It was absurd, but even just the CCTV showed the girl before them emerging from the casket. They'd all seen him enter the casket. Conclusion: this girl was their son... or so it seemed.
"Hey, Seol Ha-jin. Why are you scaring us again? You're not hurt anywhere, right? No joking."
Ha-jin, staring motionlessly at the opposite wall, suddenly whipped her head around.
"...Huh?"
-Rip!
-Spray!
-Crash!
"Eek! Hey! What are you doing!?"
"Ha-jin!"
Ha-yeon cried out in shock. Ha-jin had roughly yanked out the IV needle meant for infusion with her hand, then shoved the nearby machine aside. She bolted upright from the bed.
"Move. I'm leaving."
"What... is this?"
The voice wasn't the one from the funeral home. That one had been slightly husky, but this was... sharp, high-pitched, dripping with irritation—anyone could hear it.
"Can't stay in this room anymore. Move."
-Hey, block her! Please!
The two blocked the entrance together, and only then did Ha-jin look at them. Her pupils were blood-red. No, crimson.
Definitely, the pupils at the funeral had been a gray close to white. Could human eyes change like that?
'No, wait—is this really Ha-jin to begin with?'
"Who... are you?"
"Sadly, I know nothing. So, who are you? Rude. Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking who I am? Or is that right? Not sure. I was just born not long ago."
"What does... that even mean?"
"Deaf? I said introduce yourself first. And now. Right now. Move! Before I stab you with this."
"Ha-jin, what..."
The father, unable to keep up, trailed off. Ignoring him, Ha-jin just kept repeating to move.
"They say that person's already dead? And you're not moving? Guess no choice."
-Stab!
"Kyaaak! Are you insane!?"
Ha-yeon let out a scream of horror at Ha-jin stabbing her own forearm with the yanked needle. Regardless, Ha-jin was laughing.
A laugh so refreshingly perfect, yet utterly alien. Goosebumps prickled across Ha-yeon's entire body.
Eerie. She'd jammed an IV needle straight into her own forearm. Not a small one—pretty thick. It had to hurt like hell. Yet she was laughing like that?
"So this is pain! Amazing. Fun. Where next? Eyes are good. Ah, heart's bad, right?"
"What are you... who are you exactly? Wait, stop a second. I'm your sister."
"Okay, stop there. Move quick~ I have no patience. Next is here."
"Wait! We'll move. Just please stop. I don't know who you are, but don't harm my son's body anymore."
Ha-jin's father urgently sidestepped, shouting. The needle tip was aimed right at her eye. Ha-yeon glanced once, then moved aside.
"Hmph, should have done that sooner."
-Slide.
As the two moved, Ha-jin exited the isolation room. Then her movements halted.
"Huh?"
Her voice had changed back too, and her pupils returned to that gray close to white.
"Why am I out? When did Dad and Sis get here?"
The menacing needle threat from moments ago vanished, leaving the two—and the professor watching—speechless for a moment.
The atmosphere, voice, actions were completely different. Hard to call it the same person.
"...Please go back in for now."
"? Did I come out on my own?"
"No. Rest, please."
Ha-jin reentered the isolation room, and the two discussed unfinished matters with her. Of course, omitting what just happened.
-Visiting hours are over. Hungry, right? I'll bring food.
"Ah, sounds good. Not that TPN stuff, right? Something I can eat?"
-Yes. Porridge only for the time being.
"Still good... How long since I last ate?"
"..."
"..."
The two, chatting with Ha-jin, exchanged quiet glances. No matter how they looked, Ha-jin didn't seem to remember the incident.
"We'll head out, then."
"Rest well, little sis."
"Yeah! Feels like no pain anywhere now! Breathing's easy too! Don't worry too much! Make sure to tell Mom when she wakes up!"
-Slide.
"...We'll request a psych consult for now. Don't worry too much. High chance it's a momentary phenomenon from excessive stress."
"...Thank you."
"...Yes, got it. Could you maybe swap the blanket for a different color? Sis seems extremely stressed by white... She's hated white for quite a while, kept saying so."
"Hm, we'll see. Can we give her the prayer beads she always carried?"
"Ah! Yes, great idea. We'll go. Thanks."
With that, the conversation ended, and Ha-jin, receiving her first real food in ages, inhaled the porridge and fell right asleep.
'...What happens from here?'
But a strange, inescapable anxiety lingered in her chest.
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