Chapter 378
Chapter 378
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: 378. In the Prime of Youth
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A nurse with a gun barrel shoved in front of her face stares blankly at me,
and soon the others turn their gazes toward me as well.
A sigh escapes me on its own, a sigh slips out naturally.
"I'm... really..."
And I had to say my piece too.
"I'd like to rest when it's time to rest."
The world won't let me rest.
Sighing, I turn my gaze to the nurse.
Why the nurse, of all people.
I didn't realize it when only Jang Chaeyeon and Eirin had swapped, but after hearing from Eirin, I think I get it.
She said Yoo Daon and Song Arin had fought.
"I had no idea, that Yoo Daon and Song Arin had fought."
"..."
"..."
Yoo Daon and Song Arin, having heard me, look away, and I continue speaking.
"Anyway, the point is, until I talked to you folks, no one gave a damn what we were up to."
That was really the case.
Whether I was banging on a drum or a gong, or even while Eirin was smashing the clock with telekinesis, no one came to stop us.
"These people are probably fine, physically..."
The nurse still hasn't lost her smile.
I keep talking.
"That's not all."
After the fight, the two of you didn't swap bodies, right?
If I think about the reason why...
"...Did you two see them as patients?"
At my question, the nurse smiles and slowly opens her mouth.
"The body isn't the only measure of illness, after all."
"Did she just call me a nutcase?"
"Seems like it?"
Ignoring Song Arin and Yoo Daon's words, I don't take my eyes off the nurse.
Soon, she opens her mouth again.
"I wasn't really planning to hide it. Plenty of people have come asking outright."
"..."
"It's not just once or twice—every dawn at four, people are running around all happy. Anyone would think that's weird."
True enough.
"But in the end, everyone chooses to just let it be. Even the Containment Team folks."
The nurse gives a wry smile.
"Because they're pitiful."
"..."
Her gaze turns to the others.
It was pure sympathy.
"They suffer for humanity, their bodies wrecked in the process, and in the end, they can't even be fixed. People like that are pitiful."
"..."
I follow her gaze to the others.
People living as if in a dream, reveling in their healthy selves.
"...She's half-crazy, Management Bureau style."
"Yeah."
And then Song Arin and Jang Chaeyeon's conversation drifts into my ears.
What's a Management Bureau style person?
Anyway.
"I think there's some truth to what you're saying."
The nurse nods with a smile at my words.
"Right?"
"But you overlooked one thing."
"Yes?"
She tilts her head at my words.
"From what I see, Song Arin and Yoo Daon are perfectly fine."
The two are fine.
Really.
They get a bit down sometimes, have emotional ups and downs, but that's just normal human stuff.
How can a person always be the same? Then they'd be robots, not humans—robots.
"You just heard them fighting and arbitrarily decided Yoo Daon and Song Arin were sick."
"In my eyes, they are sick."
"Eirin, please be quiet."
Not helping at all.
The nurse, hearing me, closes her mouth for a moment before opening it again.
"Still, I have some experience myse—"
"No, it's not about wanting to know your credentials."
I continue calmly.
"The problem is you shouldn't be the one making those judgments."
Not because she's a nurse or a doctor—beyond that, the issue starts with an individual arbitrarily labeling someone's illness, slapping on tags like "you're healthy" or "you're not."
"If everyone in the hospital had agreed, that'd be one thing."
I'll grant her that.
For some reason, she says there's ink in her stomach right now.
But Song Arin and Yoo Daon aren't.
She just heard snippets of conversation and judged them abnormal.
That's where it goes wrong.
"..."
The nurse falls silent at my words, and I soften my voice to persuade her.
"So, for now, let's just drop it."
"..."
Even as I say that, I tense up my body.
I've dealt with media a time or two.
Any second now,
she'll say no and attack me.
I watch her in full tension like that, but
"..."
"..."
Everyone except me. No, precisely everyone except me and Yoo Daon is looking at the nurse like it's no big deal.
You people, get ready to subdue her—
"Got it."
"...Pardon?"
"I said I got it."
A completely unexpected response leaves me staring at the nurse in bewilderment, and she looks back at me like I'm asking something obvious.
"It's not wrong, after all."
"No, but..."
"...Why?"
"...Nothing."
I'd braced my whole body for a fight?
Now I just feel awkward.
She holsters the gun again, and seeing that, Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin chuckle like it's amusing.
"Half-crazy, but still Management Bureau material."
"Yeah."
"What's this Management Bureau type anyway?"
"..."
"..."
Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin look at each other and shake their heads.
"Live your life not knowing."
"Yeah."
"Unbelievable, really."
Making me mad.
And with that, the hospital commotion came to an end.
"..."
"...Yoo Daon?"
The next day.
In the end, the Containment Team came and retrieved the grandfather clock.
Yoo Daon was staring intently at the Containment Team carrying the clock away.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. It's just..."
She trails off, gazing at the clock.
"How to put it."
Frowning slightly as if uncertain, she mutters.
"Just... this weird... sense of incongruity or something."
"..."
"Everyone in! Heave-ho!"
The people carry the grandfather clock off into the distance,
and
"..."
Yoo Daon watches the clock until the end.
*
"How does she cause an incident even while hospitalized?"
"The incident started before she was even admitted."
"Anyway."
The branch chief sighs and looks at me.
"Who'd take a guy like you? Wait, no—plenty would."
"Worry about yourself."
After two hundred years, and still no one to take her.
I look at the branch chief with that thought, and she raises a fist with a grin.
"Keep sassing me and you're dead?"
"You started it, Branch Chief."
"How are you so unflappable? Even Ahn Sanghyeon shakes when I talk like this."
The branch chief sighs and leans back in her chair.
"Anyway, the reason I called you..."
"Yes."
What job is she handing me this time.
I literally just got discharged. Right after discharge.
I look at her pointedly, and she waves it off with a laugh.
"You think I'm crazy enough to give work to someone who just got discharged?"
"...Then what is it?"
"Well, um..."
Hearing me, the branch chief opens and closes her mouth repeatedly, like she's trying to say something.
No clue what she's getting at.
"Th-the thing is, we have a family home."
"A family home?"
Does her whole family live long lives?
"More precisely, the site of the family home... I guess?"
"Ah."
So her family isn't all indestructible after all.
"The family's been dead a long time."
"...I see."
I nod slowly, looking at the branch chief as she speaks matter-of-factly, and she continues.
"But, uh, I was wondering if you could come with me to the family place."
"...Me?"
"Yes."
Me?
Why me?
She gives a sorry smile at my look.
"It's not a big deal or anything, just... uh, it's been a while, and going alone feels... you know."
"Lonely?"
"It's not just loneliness..."
The branch chief twirls the end of her hair with her finger, looking troubled.
"Anyway, you free?"
"...No problem there."
I answer calmly, looking at her.
"Why pick me?"
"Well, there are a few reasons."
Only then does the branch chief stop twirling her hair and look at me.
"For one, I want you by my side."
What?
I stare at her, and she shakes her head.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I just think there'll be trouble if you're not around."
"Ah, like carrying a walking bomb?"
"Exactly!"
Can't even get mad at that bright smile.
"...Is that all?"
"Of course not."
I stare at the branch chief, and she shakes her head like what kind of question is that.
"I want to chat with Kim Jaeheon too..."
"..."
Anyone hearing this would think it's a confession.
"Anyway, come along. It's a request from your branch chief."
"Not an order?"
"A branch chief who orders stuff like this would've been fired ages ago."
"..."
Fine, whatever. I had questions anyway.
"Understood."
"Great!"
She smiles.
"Am I going alone?"
"Not exactly. But dragging the whole HR Team along would be tough, right? Why?"
"..."
Going alone would be lonely too.
Especially a trip with my ancient superior—I'll end up driving, peeling oranges, massaging her feet, handing over the best bits of squid if we buy any.
Hate that, so I'll bring one person.
That person it is.
"When's the date?"
"Uh, tomorrow?"
"Got it."
If I think of it as a casual business trip, no big deal.
I nod with that thought, and the branch chief smiles.
"Great. See you then!"
Then she gestures for me to leave.
Gotta go get her quick.
*
"...Is this how you get revenge?"
The next day.
Park Ye-eun glares at me with narrowed eyes and whispers.
"What? Why?"
"Because I didn't pick up the phone...?"
"Nope."
I just wondered what it'd be like, the youngest and the eldest together?
As I'm thinking that, the branch chief approaches us with a smile.
"Oh, you're here?"
"B-B-Branch Chief!"
Park Ye-eun bends at a perfect ninety degrees right there.
"Hello! HR Team's Park Ye-eun! P-Please take care of me!"
"Oh, hello. Ye-eun."
The branch chief looks at her with a kind smile.
"I-I'm still a teen, so I don't know much! Please take care of me!"
"...A teen?"
The branch chief stares at me, and I shrug.
I called who you told me to call.
"Let's go."
It was a trip pairing folks two hundred years apart.