Chapter 277
Chapter 277
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Branch Manager's Funny Box
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When Eileen said she wanted to stay here, I naturally tried to talk her out of it.
Partly because there was no need for her to do that, and partly because I felt bad.
But she wouldn't listen to me at all, so in the end, she decided to stay by my side to check on me and assist.
She commutes to work but "commutes" back here at the end of the day.
She even sleeps in the caregiver's spot. Her back must be killing her.
But telling her not to come wouldn't work either, since there were no worried parents around, and I didn't have the right to say much.
So for nearly four days now, she's been occupying the caregiver's spot in my room, eating, sleeping, and drinking here.
The scarier part is that since I'm eating hospital food, she's not going out to eat but sharing the hospital meals with me.
Even if hospital food has gotten better these days, it's still pretty bland. Especially the namul and stuff like that.
I push aside thoughts of when she'll leave and look at Yoo Daon and Eileen.
Yoo Daon is staring blankly at Eileen, like she can't make sense of the situation, while Eileen, facing her, has her brow deeply furrowed.
Yoo Daon blinks, her face saying she has no idea what to say, then hesitantly opens her mouth.
"Why are you here?"
"Because I want to be."
Eileen replies to Yoo Daon's question with a look that says she's asking something obvious.
Eileen raises one eyebrow.
"To begin with, whether I'm here or not, what's it to you?"
Eileen looks at Yoo Daon with a genuinely puzzled expression, and Yoo Daon closes her mouth.
"Honestly, everyone else came and went. What do you mean came and went? They're coming every day."
Eileen continues, gazing at a glass bottle with green pineapple skin grated into it.
"There's no need to care about who didn't come."
Yoo Daon shuts her mouth, and Eileen glares at her with arms crossed.
"Well, sure, someone might not come."
She'd opened her mouth meaning not to fight, but the moment she says that, Eileen glares at Yoo Daon with wide eyes.
"Yeah. They might not come. So why didn't you just not come? Don't you have any pride? If you decided not to come once, you should've kept your face away until you died."
"..."
"Just waiting for a chance while making it obvious you're sad and mad all by yourself, hoping I'll look at you—that disgusting—"
"Enough."
I cut off Eileen and look at both of them.
"Eileen, I'll step out for a bit."
"No. I'll go."
She stands up from her seat.
"At least you shouldn't have to worry about me."
"..."
Then she strides quickly out the door.
Silence returns.
They're not kids, so why do they fight every other day?
"..."
No, they are kids. Considering the age difference.
I remind myself to have a generous mindset as the relatively older one and look at Yoo Daon.
"Daon, Eileen's just grumpy from sleeping on that uncomfortable bed for so long. People get prickly when their back hurts."
Even I thought it was a ridiculous excuse, but I had to say something.
Fortunately, Yoo Daon doesn't seem too bothered by my excuse. She stays quiet for a moment, then lowers her head.
"I'm sorry, Jaeheon. I... I didn't mean to. Really. It's not like what Eileen said, really."
She stammers on.
"Really, I—"
"What's there to be sorry about? I'm not blackmailing you by not coming, and I'm not disappointed."
Of course, I was a little bummed. But I didn't say that out loud.
Yoo Daon lifts her head to look at me.
"Jaeheon."
"Yeah."
"If... um, I mean..."
"It's a follow-up to your earlier question."
"...Yeah. If it was someone else—not me—who saved you, what would you do?"
"Someone else?"
"That... someone from a country that's already gone..."
I look at Yoo Daon as she trails off, instantly grasping what she's trying to ask.
"You saw it."
At my words, Yoo Daon just nods silently without saying anything.
"...Daon."
"Yeah."
Yoo Daon looks up at me.
"If that situation happened to you, what would you do?"
"Yeah..."
"So, say the world ends up ruined again somehow, and something like that happens."
Which is totally plausible.
"Anyway, suppose it turns out that way, and only me and you are left."
"Yeah."
"Then would you abandon me to save yourself right now?"
"No!"
Yoo Daon shakes her head right as my question ends.
"I'd never do that! No matter what, not you, Jaeheon...!"
"Then we're the same."
You can't divide people forever.
Especially in my case, reading the manuals, I see remnants of my past selves or other versions of me all the time.
But what matters is what choice they made back then. That's it.
If I'd been in the same situation as the Kim Jaeheon who met the Observer, I probably would've made the same choice.
Struggling for any better outcome since my death was certain.
Yoo Daon is the same.
"The current you wouldn't suddenly abandon me. As long as that's true, I think you're the same."
That's why, even though I see her turning to sand and crying when I look at Yoo Daon, I don't think it's someone else.
Even if the same thing happened, she'd do the same.
"You think so...?"
Yoo Daon looks up at me.
"Of course."
"Jaeheon..."
Yoo Daon gazes at me with a moved expression.
I look back at her and organize my thoughts.
And I'm the same.
This time, I'll make absolutely sure nothing like that happens.
If it ever did...
I steel my resolve watching Yoo Daon smile in gradual relief.
*
Not long after Yoo Daon left, Eileen returned.
"I just told her to go home and get some sleep."
"If I go home, there's no family, no friends—I'll just lie there alone. I don't even remember things."
"..."
"That's why I'm in your room. I need someone to talk to, or I get depressed."
She blocks any rebuttal from me and groans as she lies on the hard caregiver bed.
"Just sleep in someone from another department's room."
"Do you sleep in a coworker from work's room?"
Aren't we coworkers? The thought crosses my mind, but since it probably doesn't count for her, I can't say it out loud.
And since she trusts me that much, I think I should live up to her expectations.
"Well, in that sense, we're friends."
"Friends?"
Eileen narrows her eyes at me.
"Hey, give me your smartphone."
"Oh, sure."
What for?
I hand her the smartphone, and she squints, fiddling with it while looking at me.
"Coworker Yoo Daon, coworker Jang Chaeyeon, coworker Song Arin, coworker Team Leader, coworker Park Ye-eun, coworker Branch Manager... all coworkers?"
"Uh..."
"I don't care how you label others—that's your business."
She cuts me off and speaks.
They're coworkers, after all. Even my mom is listed as [Family Mom].
"Coworker Eileen."
"..."
Eileen shows me the screen.
[Coworker Eileen] is written there, plain as day.
"I'm changing this."
She says casually while looking at the screen and glances at me.
"Sure, whatever."
I search by name anyway, not by label.
Hearing that, Eileen smiles, changes the screen on the phone, and shows it to me again.
[One and Only Friend Eileen]
"Better?"
"You're not my one and only friend."
"To me, you are, so it's fine. And anyway, you don't have that many friends."
"Life at the Management Bureau did that to me."
"Good thing you work at the Management Bureau, huh?"
She grins mischievously, then starts fiddling with her own smartphone.
Then she shows me her phone screen.
[One and Only Friend Kim Jaeheon]
"There, I matched it. What do you think?"
"..."
She sacrificed so much to escape the church—it'd be petty to nitpick over something like this.
"I like it."
I had no choice but to nod.
"Good."
She beams and lies down on the nearby guardian bed.
"Still, discharge is coming up fast. Tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah."
Can't they use this tech somewhere else more useful?
Eileen nods.
"The Management Bureau is amazing. The more I see, the more wondrous it is."
"If this were a regular hospital, wouldn't it take a few more weeks?"
My arm was literally shattered, after all.
"It's their way of saying they'll fix you up nice, so work yourself to death."
Eileen replies nonchalantly and stretches fully.
"Anyway, rest tomorrow—see you then."
"Yeah."
I close my eyes, gazing at the setting sun.
Hospital beds are uncomfortable no matter what.
*
Two days pass, and thanks to Team Leader's consideration, I'm just killing time sitting up when another package arrives for the Branch Manager.
I try to work,
"Oh, it's a Funny Box."
"Funny... what?"
Park Ye-eun points at the package with her finger upon seeing it.
"Funny Box. The Branch Manager sends these weird containment objects like toys or something?"
"Oh, that."
She must still be trying to prove that deduction I mentioned last time.
Park Ye-eun happily runs over, rips open the package, and holds up a flashlight.
"Flashlight!"
"No manual?"
Song Arin, peering curiously into the package beside her.
"There is!"
Park Ye-eun answers Song Arin innocently, shines the flashlight on her,
<23>
And a number appears.
"What is it?"
Park Ye-eun blinks at the flashlight, and Song Arin starts reading the manual aloud.
"Um... This is a flashlight that shows minds."
"Ooh."
"A flashlight that reveals how much a person shone on feels toward themselves."
"Wow, that's—"
-Click!
Before I can finish, Song Arin shines it on me.
Bright light hits my eyes, and Song Arin blinks, muttering in a bewildered voice.
"Is this it?"