The Nightmare's End
“Hrk…!”
I jolted awake as if someone had driven a blade deep into my side. “Haa! Haa! Haa!” Gasping for breath, I swept my eyes around the room. An unfamiliar hospital ward came into view. ‘Why am I here…? Ah, r-right… the hospital.’
My head felt heavy, as though I had slept far longer than necessary, and my entire body was clammy with cold sweat. The ragged breaths tearing from my mouth betrayed just how badly I had been startled. I must have had a nightmare. Or… had it really been a dream?
“Oppa?”
At the sound of my wife’s voice, my heart plummeted. My trembling hands were nothing compared to the way my eyes darted helplessly in every direction. Moving like a poorly oiled machine, I slowly turned my head toward the voice.
“……Ah.”
There she was. Lee Hyeonju sat bathed in the warm morning sunlight, gazing at me with worried eyes. Without thinking, I scanned her from head to toe. Her loose hair cascaded down to her chest, and the white patient gown looked pristine, as though it had never been stained. Even the bedsheets appeared freshly changed. Everything I saw seemed to insist that it had only been a dream.
“What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?”
She reached out and gently stroked my cheek. That left hand—the same one that had trembled with pleasure and ecstasy in the nightmare—now caressed my face with tender care. The soft, warm touch seeped into my skin, and my racing heart began to settle.
“D-did I… wake up late?”
My thoughts were sluggish, and tension twisted my words. Hyeonju shook her head lightly, assuring me it wasn’t particularly late.
“Mm-mm. No. If anything, you woke up earlier than usual. Anyway, look at all that sweat. Was the bed uncomfortable?”
She assumed I had been miserable sleeping on the folding cot and scolded me for it.
“That’s why I told you to go home and sleep. How are you supposed to work like this? Fine, from today on you’re sleeping at—”
“Hyeonju? Did you… sleep well?”
My voice trembled despite myself. I was terrified the nightmare might spill into reality. My body stiffened with dread at the thought of her saying she had slept poorly.
In answer, she smiled brightly and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“Mwah.”
The soft brush of her lips lingered for a moment before retreating. The faint vanilla scent of her usual perfume had almost faded, leaving only the familiar warmth of her skin. I barely stopped myself from pulling her into an embrace. She smiled gently, as if denying the sordid nightmare entirely.
“Yeah. I slept really well. Even with the new bed, I think I got a proper night’s rest.”
“Ah…”
Relief flooded through me at her answer. Just as I tried to push the impossible nightmare from my mind, she offered the next thread for my paranoia to seize.
“I probably had a narcolepsy episode while I was asleep, so I slept deeply. The nurse told me this morning that the symptoms appeared and the readings were normal.”
My heart seemed to drop straight through the floor. My eyes, shaking as if the ground itself were quaking, roamed over her body again and again. She kept speaking, but I couldn’t process a single word.
‘Is there… anything strange?’
I checked and rechecked her gown for any sign of disarray. An overwhelming urge rose in me to strip it off right then and search her snow-white skin for marks. Outwardly, everything looked fine—almost too clean.
“……”
My gaze rolled downward to her lower body. A feverish desire surged through me to force apart her most private place—the part I could barely look at even during our most intimate moments—and stare inside.
“Oppa?”
“……!”
Her voice snapped me back to my senses.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Those were the questions I wanted to ask her. I opened my mouth several times, desperate to ask if her chest felt strange or if there was any lingering heat between her legs, only to force it shut again.
“N-no. I’m… just… yeah. Just a little tired, I think…”
What came out was a coward’s evasion, not the questions burning inside me.
‘No. If something like that had really happened, Hyeonju would have noticed first.’
She had said herself that even when her narcolepsy struck and she slept like the dead, a slap to the cheek would leave a lingering sensation. So if anything had been done to her, she would have felt some discomfort. Therefore, it was fine. It had to be fine.
“Huu… huu……”
I let out a long sigh, as if expelling the nightmare that filled my head. Then, like always, I became the Choi Jihoon my wife loved.
“Sorry, Hyeonju. The bed must have left me a little worn out.”
“See! That’s why I told you not to insist on staying here! Go home and sleep tonight, got it?!”
“Aww, it’s not a big deal. I’m fine.”
Yes, I was fine. Repeating the words to myself, I stood up. Sitting on the bed, Hyeonju looked up at me in the morning light. She was as lovely as ever—the woman I wanted to protect—but in the patient gown she seemed frailer, smaller than usual.
“I’m heading to work. Want anything for dinner? I can pick it up on the way back.”
“Huh? Are outside foods even allowed…? Now that I think about it, I’m not actually sick. Hmm… what would be good? I’ll text you later.”
“Okay.”
I leaned down and gave her a light kiss on the lips.
“Mwah.”
“Mmph…”
Our warmth met, breaths mingling. Unable to pull away, I pressed harder, slipping my tongue inside.
“Mmph?!”
Startled by the sudden intrusion, she tried to lean back, but I held her shoulders and fed the hunger boiling in my chest.
“Chup, shluurp… shup… lick, lick.”
“Huu, mmph…! Mmph… huu, huu… shup, shluurp… lick…”
My tongue, reflecting every ounce of my desire, explored her mouth. When I coiled around her stiffened tongue and pulled, she tried to flee. I chased it like a game of tag until she finally surrendered. Our slick tongues tangled hesitantly in the air, twisting together. We crushed our lips together until we were breathless, then finally parted.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
“Huu… huu…”
Our heated breaths filled the quiet ward. A glistening thread of saliva stretched between our lips before snapping. Hyeonju’s eyes were slightly glazed as she looked up at me in a daze, clearly aroused by the sudden kiss. With every ragged breath, her chest rose and fell beneath the loose gown, and the saliva that had trickled down her chin disappeared into her cleavage.
While I stared blankly at the decadent, sensual sight, clarity returned to her eyes and she cried out.
“Oppa!”
The single word was thick with reproach, but I only smiled—brightly, as if trying to erase the anxiety buried deep in my heart.
“What? Didn’t like it?”
“N-no! How could we do that here… W-what if someone sees?”
She whipped her head around in a panic, scanning the empty room as though someone might actually be watching.
“So you didn’t like it?”
“……”
She pouted, her saliva-slick lips working as she searched for words. That alone was answer enough.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Hmph!”
With her half-hearted send-off, I left for work.
After finishing my shift, I once again lay down on the folding cot. ‘I won’t sleep tonight.’
Jang Mansu offered me the juice laced with the sleep inducer, just like always. I accepted it with only a brief greeting, the same as yesterday, and placed the empty container on the table as though I had drunk it.
The same scene repeated.
“……”
Jang Mansu came and went from the room repeatedly, checking on Hyeonju’s condition. He stood in the exact same spot as in my dream, glancing between the monitor and my wife before leaving again. The tedious scene played out over and over.
‘It really was just my imagination, wasn’t it?’
He performed his duties faithfully all night. There was no sign of him laying a hand on her.
“Oppa, your face looks terrible.”
Those were the first words out of Hyeonju’s mouth when she woke in the morning. Forcing myself to stay awake all night had taken a heavy toll.
“You said you have to go down to the provinces tomorrow, right? You have to sleep at home tonight.”
“……”
I couldn’t answer right away. We had already promised she would sleep at home tonight, but I had no confidence I could actually do it. Doubt and distrust coiled tighter and tighter, refusing to let me go.
“Oppa! Answer me!”
“Huh? Oh… well, you see…”
She instantly realized I didn’t want to go home and grabbed my face with both hands, squishing my cheeks.
“Hyeonju-ya? O-ow, why?”
My words came out muffled under the pressure.
“Oppa. We made a promise, didn’t we? You’re definitely sleeping at home tonight.”
“W-we did?”
I pulled her hands away from my cheeks. She glared at me like a teacher scolding a misbehaving child, her expression stern.
“Are you going to break your promise?”
Normally I would have backed down, but the words wouldn’t come. Sadness crept into her eyes, replacing the anger, and my resolve crumbled.
“A-all right. But I’ll stay late before I go.”
“What?! Why?!”
“C-come on, don’t worry. I’ll definitely sleep at home.”
I decided to pretend to follow her wishes while planning to stay late, then sneak out without Jang Mansu noticing. ‘I should probably make it look like I’m still on the cot.’ If I rolled up a blanket to mimic a body and pulled the covers over the head, it might work. ‘Worst case, I can pretend to leave and come back after she falls asleep.’
Resolving to play along for now, I began forming several plans. Night fell.
Stuck in bed with nothing to do, Hyeonju twisted restlessly, clearly dying of boredom.
“Lee Hyeonju-ssi. It’s time to sleep.”
Jang Mansu entered as usual to announce bedtime. Since I had told Hyeonju I would return before midnight, she believed me and lay down without complaint, ready to sleep.
“Here’s your juice with the sleep inducer.”
“Thank you.”
Jang Mansu handed over the medicated juice as part of his routine, then left the room without a second glance. It truly seemed as though the nightmare had existed only in my head. Everything was proceeding without issue, and a wave of self-loathing and disgust crashed over me.
‘Should I go back? Or stay?’
After staying awake an entire day, I was honestly nearing my limit. If I fell asleep here, I wouldn’t be able to wake before Hyeonju. She would be upset that I broke my promise, and our relationship would suffer during this critical time when we needed to manage her narcolepsy.
“……”
The dilemma deepened.
‘I’ll go back.’
Physically exhausted and facing an important meeting tomorrow, I couldn’t afford mistakes. Besides, nothing had happened last night while I watched, and I had found no abnormalities in Hyeonju the next day. Still, there was no harm in staying cautious, so I made the utmost preparations before leaving.
‘Today I’ll make it look like I didn’t drink the juice.’
Yesterday I had only pretended to drink it to observe Jang Mansu. Today, to show I hadn’t, I left the juice untouched on the table. Then, careful not to wake Hyeonju, I arranged the cot to look as though I were asleep on it.
Once everything was ready, I slipped out of the room without a sound. ‘I have to make sure no one notices I left…’
After avoiding the slumped figure of Jang Mansu at the desk, I quietly exited the hospital.
“Huu…”
I let out a long sigh and began the journey home. The entire way, my heart felt heavy. The house greeted me with cold air.
“……”
The home that my beloved wife always welcomed me into now felt unbearably empty. I lay down on the bed where we always slept together.
“It’s so big…”
The familiar warmth that always came from her side was missing. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
“……”
My body, worn down by fatigue, screamed for rest, but my nerves were wound tight. Sleep felt impossible.
“What the hell am I doing…”
I sat up and buried my face in my hands. The filthy fantasy of my wife, dead to the world, being violated beneath that muscular nursing assistant kept circling in my mind.
“Haa…”
Deciding sleep was a lost cause, I got out of bed. I packed for the trip to the provinces, then left the house. The road back to the hospital felt impossibly long. I walked through the eerily empty, dark streets, a chill running down my spine.
“Haa! Haa! Haa!”
Before I knew it, I was running. My lungs burned, my body overheated. I couldn’t tell if the suffocating heat came from the exertion or the vile delusions filling my head. I ran and ran until I reached the hospital where my wife lay.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
My heart begged for cool air, yet my breathing strangely quieted. Moving as though I were entering a place I shouldn’t be caught in, I silenced even my footsteps and stepped inside.
“……!”
He was gone. Jang Mansu, who should have been at the desk, was nowhere to be seen.