Chapter 371
Chapter 371
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 371. Drop the Ranks and Fight Fair
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Listening to Song Arin explain while she groaned and sprawled out on the bed,
as soon as I brought her here, she collapsed right on the spot.
The others who saw it were shocked half to death, and when they checked us over, both she and I were in such bad shape...
"So that's how we ended up here."
"Yeah."
Song Arin nodded.
What's done is done.
Thinking about it, how many times had I been hospitalized? Once? Twice?
If I'd only been admitted that few times after all this insane crap, I must've saved a country in a past life or something.
Actually, come to think of it, I'd saved the world in this life.
What kind of amazing person was I going to be born as in the next one?
Lost in those thoughts, I reflexively reached into my pocket,
only to feel the loose fabric of the patient gown with no inner pocket.
Oh, right. No manual.
"Your friend Hoso-in is by the bedside."
Song Arin, who'd been watching my movements, said flatly, and following her words, I turned my gaze.
There was a manual sitting right by my head.
"It never helps when you actually need it."
Song Arin muttered, shaking her head.
"It's not always gone."
"If it's not there when I need it, then it is."
She crossed her arms as she said it.
Her small frame already looked fragile in the baggy patient gown...
She really seemed frail.
"What're you looking at."
"Nothing."
Song Arin glared at me with narrowed eyes, and I shook my head casually in response.
"Anyway, you made it out alive somehow."
"It would've been easier if you hadn't pulled that crazy stunt."
"If no one had used the pen there, we'd all be wiped clean and living like happy idiots."
"..."
Song Arin turned her head away with a grumpy look, then glanced back at me.
"Whatever."
"What?"
"It's over, at least."
Fatigue lingered, but she spoke with a refreshed expression.
"There's still a ton of shitty stuff ahead, but hey, we survived today."
"That's awfully optimistic coming from someone like you—ow ow! Headache! Headache!"
Song Arin narrowed her eyes and inflicted a headache on me, then crossed her arms again.
"But we did stop the play itself."
"Couldn't catch the troupe leader, though."
"That guy, huh."
Song Arin looked away with a complicated expression after hearing me.
"Can't be helped. Next time, we'll crush him for sure."
"Sure."
I replied to her mutter, and we both shook our heads as we looked at each other.
"Anyway, the job's wrapped up nicely..."
She muttered the same thing from earlier, looking at me.
"And it's just the two of us..."
"It's not just two."
Right then, the door opened, and a calm voice pierced my ears.
Song Arin and I turned toward the sound,
"I'm here to visit."
Jang Chaeyeon stood there, holding a massive lunchbox, looking at me and Song Arin.
"...We were really worried."
She smiled at me,
"..."
"...What're you staring at."
Song Arin just stared blankly without a word.
She must've read something in that gaze, because Song Arin growled and glared at Jang Chaeyeon.
"Cut it out already."
No, seriously, these two fought the moment they laid eyes on each other.
I sighed and spoke up, and both turned their gazes to me.
This was exactly when we needed a mood maker.
"Jaeheon-ssi!"
Then Yoo Daon poked her head out from behind.
"Are you okay?"
She beamed at me as our eyes met, and I couldn't help but smile back at her.
"Daon-ssi. Are you okay?"
"Of course!"
Yoo Daon grinned brightly in response to my question, and Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon's gazes shifted to us.
"How many days has it been?"
"Two days!"
I'd slept a long time.
"What's the word on our conditions?"
"Eh..."
Yoo Daon trailed off at my question,
"Yours is internal injuries. Mine's the eyes."
Song Arin answered.
She muttered flatly, pointing to her own eyes.
"...Your eyes are injured?"
Was she blind now?
"Not blind."
Song Arin read my expression and let out a hearty chuckle.
"Just gonna have blurry vision for a bit."
"Should I get you some glasses?"
"Not that bad."
She looked at me as she replied.
"You're the problem."
"..."
"Internal injuries aren't a joke. Anywhere hurt?"
"..."
At her question, I placed a hand on my abdomen and rubbed.
Couldn't really tell.
"Dunno."
"Good, then."
Song Arin opened her mouth calmly at my mutter and glanced at the other two.
"Anyway, you're both total airheads for barging in on a critical patient like this."
"Visiting hours are approved, so he's not critical."
Jang Chaeyeon shot back sharply the moment Song Arin finished, glaring at her.
"And the Management Bureau has top-notch medical systems."
"Yeah, gotta keep the maintenance up to milk it for all it's worth."
Song Arin sighed in response to Jang Chaeyeon's mutter and stretched.
My gaze drifted to Song Arin for a moment at her unguarded posture,
"...Yaaawn..."
She caught my eye and stretched even bigger, causing the loose gown to lift and reveal all sorts of things.
Nowhere safe to look.
I averted my eyes, thinking that.
If she'd noticed my gaze, shouldn't she cover up a bit?
"Wow, Arin-ssi, you really have such a youthful body for your age."
"Shut your mouth."
I tuned out Yoo Daon and Song Arin's friendly banter and looked out the window.
We'd managed to scrape through this one too, somehow.
From aestheticism to the troupe leader. One crisis after another, non-stop.
Lost in those thoughts, I shifted my gaze, and Jang Chaeyeon spoke up.
"Wanna crash here again tonight?"
"Someone might think we sleep together all the time."
"Ever had a girlfriend?"
"Nope."
"Then out of all the opposite sex, I've slept with you the most?"
"..."
She was getting bolder by the minute.
Look at that. Yoo Daon and Song Arin had stopped their chit-chat to stare at us.
I pondered Jang Chaeyeon's words for a moment.
Back with the Cube, sure.
"Something might come up."
"What're you worried about with Arin-ssi here?"
I was here too, to begin with.
As someone else might put it, who in their right mind would come at the HR Team, the branch head's hidden wild card?
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me after my reply, then set down the lunchbox.
It hit with a heavier thud than expected,
"Eat this, at least."
"You brought more than just mine, right?"
"Brought enough for both of you."
She smiled softly at my question.
"Won't sleep over tonight—just hang out and head back."
She sat down demurely as she said it.
"...Where were we? Right, you think you're hot shit just 'cause you've got black hair?"
"Me?"
Song Arin and Yoo Daon's friendly voices rang out again.
*
Had it been about an hour?
The four of us were chatting about nothing in particular, like old times.
Pointless joke battles, teasing each other, occasionally bickering so fiercely it was hard to tell if it was real or fake.
Times like this felt rarer than I thought, making it all the more enjoyable.
How long had we been talking?
"Hey, time's up—get out."
Song Arin waved them off, issuing an eviction notice to Jang Chaeyeon and Yoo Daon.
"You're so strict, Arin-ssi..."
"We could stay a bit longer."
The two shook their heads as if it were only natural.
"Come on, out. Let me rest too."
"Should I go too?"
"Where you gonna rest if you leave?"
Song Arin replied incredulously to my question, and Yoo Daon spoke up as she looked at us.
"But you two... no, actually, Arin-ssi..."
"What."
Song Arin muttered irritably at Yoo Daon's words, and Yoo Daon continued.
"How to put it—you seem... um, closer to Jaeheon-ssi? Like, more intimate?"
"..."
"..."
Song Arin shut her mouth, and quick-on-the-uptake me did the same.
"Yeah."
Jang Chaeyeon, who'd been watching us, spoke slowly.
"I mean, yeah."
"..."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon looked at me, then at Song Arin.
Song Arin avoided Jang Chaeyeon's gaze like she'd done something wrong.
But I hadn't, so I met it head-on.
"...Just like me."
Jang Chaeyeon muttered flatly, then looked at Song Arin.
"I get what you said."
"..."
Song Arin dodged Jang Chaeyeon's gaze, and Yoo Daon tilted her head.
"What'd you say?"
"..."
"..."
But neither answered Yoo Daon's question, just staring at each other,
and Song Arin spoke first.
"Don't get the wrong idea."
She lifted her head and looked up at Jang Chaeyeon.
"Just 'cause you confessed first doesn't mean you've got the upper hand."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon looked away after hearing her, and Song Arin bit her lower lip while staring at Jang Chaeyeon.
"Don't give me that lame pressure when you don't even have the guts to hear an answer."
"...And you?"
Jang Chaeyeon listened quietly, then spoke.
"Did you get your answer?"
"...No."
Song Arin shook her head at the question and looked at me.
"...That's why I'm not saying I have the upper hand."
She looked at Jang Chaeyeon and Yoo Daon.
"If you're pissed, come fight for it. You, me, her."
"..."
"..."
The three looked at each other,
and I quietly stepped out the door.