What the Fever Revealed
The phone was off…
"Haaah."
Hong Su-ryeon let out a long sigh at the mechanical tone coming through the receiver.
Yeon Chae-rin, standing beside her, asked,
"Still not picking up?"
"No. It just keeps saying the power's off."
"So she really is with Yoon Seo-a, then."
"Most likely, yes."
Su-ryeon's voice was heavy as she answered.
They had already checked at lunch — both girls had been missing from class. Afternoon lessons were the same. Chae-rin had later learned that midway through morning classes, Yu Ha-eun had suddenly taken ill and gone to the infirmary with Yoon Seo-a. From the look of things, the two of them had simply left early after that.
Ha-eun's condition got worse, and she just decided she had the right to go with her to the infirmary?
As if the reason Ha-eun felt terrible in the first place wasn't almost certainly Yoon Seo-a herself. And yet that girl had the gall to escort her to the nurse and then leave school with her. The sheer thickness of her face was almost impressive.
While Su-ryeon was privately tearing into Yoon Seo-a, Chae-rin — who had been quiet, as if turning something over in her mind — spoke up.
"By the way… how are we supposed to get Yoon Seo-a away from Ha-eun?"
"Ordinary methods will never work. Her maternal grandfather is the chairman of the foundation that established Private Acacia Academy."
"I see… Wait — what?"
"Chae-rin. We're still on academy grounds."
Su-ryeon pressed a finger to her lips, silencing Chae-rin's belated cry of shock, then sighed and went on.
"I looked into it hoping a background check might turn up some leverage. That's how I found out."
"Th-then the reason Yoon Seo-a has been able to act however she wants all this time…"
"Her grandfather's influence probably outweighs even her father's."
At Private Acacia, even the instructors were often scions of distinguished houses. Not all of them, of course — some arrived on recommendation — but none of them were people students could freely talk down to or ignore. A granddaughter of the foundation chairman who underpinned the entire academy, though? That was a different story. Add a father who was a heavyweight in politics, and Yoon Seo-a's behavior so far became almost easy to understand.
Of course everyone looks like they're beneath her.
Even the teachers would scramble to accommodate her, and most students couldn't begin to match her backing. Maybe someone like the current president's granddaughter — rumored to be among the upperclassmen — could stand up to her head-on.
Come to think of it, I heard that girl is on the Student Council…
Perhaps they could ask for help. Assuming, of course, that her temperament was a generous one.
Su-ryeon and Chae-rin traded a few more fruitless remarks as they entered Lily Hall. The subject was always the same — how to free Ha-eun from Yoon Seo-a — but not a single practical solution presented itself, and the conversation ended, as usual, in a sigh.
"If anything else comes up, let's talk on Line."
"All right. See you."
At the fork in the corridor, Su-ryeon parted ways with Chae-rin and trudged toward her room. On a normal day the three of them would have wandered the commercial district or studied together, but without Ha-eun, she simply couldn't muster the will. It wasn't that things had grown awkward with Chae-rin — Chae-rin had been the first friend she'd made when classes were assigned. She just couldn't bring herself to stroll around carefree while Ha-eun was being tormented.
"Hm?"
The moment she stepped into the room, Su-ryeon made a puzzled sound at the faintly muggy air. Lily Hall's ventilation system ran around the clock. Why did it feel as humid as a bathroom with the hot water left on?
"Haa… haa…"
"Ha-eun? Is that you, Ha-eun?!"
At the sound of labored breathing from deeper inside, Su-ryeon forgot even to change into her indoor slippers and ran in her socks. She found Yu Ha-eun lying on the bed, face flushed crimson, panting in short, shallow breaths, and rushed to her side.
"Ha-eun, are you all right? Good heavens, you're sweating this much…!"
"Haa… S-Su-ryeon…?"
"The i-infirmary… no, I should call a hospital…?"
Su-ryeon fumbled for her phone, but Ha-eun pulled an arm free of the blankets and stopped her, forcing the words out with difficulty.
"I'm fine…. My body feels a little hot, but if I rest properly tonight, I should be better by morning…."
"That can't be true! You look like you've caught a cold…!"
"Really. I'm just… drained, so the fever came on…. If I rest properly, I'll be fine by morning…."
Even as she spoke, there was no strength in Ha-eun's voice. She sounded almost as if she were sleep-talking, wandering somewhere inside a dream.
Frustrated, Su-ryeon tucked Ha-eun's hand back under the covers and said,
"Is it because you're afraid of what Yoon Seo-a might do to you again? Is that why you won't go?"
"No… it's not that. I'm really all right…."
"How can you be all right? You're drenched in sweat, and your fever is enormous."
"Thank you…."
When Su-ryeon wiped the sweat-glossed face with a handkerchief, Ha-eun's strained expression eased a little, and she murmured the words almost to herself. Su-ryeon looked down at the handkerchief, already soaked through, then rose to her feet.
"If your face is this bad, your whole body must be pickled in sweat."
"Haha… I suppose so."
"Just wait there. I'll bring some towels."
"Towels…?"
Leaving Ha-eun's puzzled voice behind, Su-ryeon went into the bathroom, took out two towels, then opened Ha-eun's wardrobe and pulled free a set of underthings and the soft, airy one-piece dress she used as sleepwear.
She wears rather plain things.
Perhaps because of her build. Su-ryeon shook the stray thought out of her head, switched the air conditioner over to heat, and returned to Ha-eun's side.
"Ha-eun, can you sit up for a moment?"
"Sit up…?"
"Yes. Sleeping in sweat-soaked clothes will only make you worse. I'll wipe you down."
"Mm… you really don't have to go that far…."
"Come on, now."
Having grown up looking after younger siblings, Su-ryeon coaxed the reluctant Ha-eun upright with practiced ease. When a fever climbs into the head, most people become simple and pliant; a little gentle urging is usually enough. Ha-eun was no exception — she sat up with her eyes half-closed. Her back soon rounded and she slumped forward, but there was no need to force her spine straight. All that remained was to strip the clothes and wipe away the sweat.
"I'm going to take your clothes off, all right?"
"Mmnh…."
Whether it was an answer or just an exhaled breath was unclear, but Su-ryeon took it as permission and began peeling away the sweat-soaked garments. The dress was long enough that she had to pull the blankets completely aside first, but with the heat already running, the chill wouldn't be too bad.
…Why isn't she wearing any panties?
The instant the dress came off, the bare white curve of Ha-eun's hips made Su-ryeon freeze without meaning to. She herself removed her bra before bed, but she always kept her underwear on. Everyone had different habits, of course — nothing to make a fuss over — but the surprise was unavoidable.
Ha-eun must just prefer to sleep as comfortably as possible….
Su-ryeon steeled herself and returned to the task at hand. With a soft, well-dried towel she carefully wiped Ha-eun's back, then her arms and throat. After a steadying breath, she said,
"I'll do the front now."
"Mm…."
Cradling Ha-eun's shoulders so the fever-heavy head wouldn't tip backward, Su-ryeon exhaled and looked at her upper body. Even flushed with heat, the pale skin, the modest rise of her chest, and the hot breath drifting down from just above stirred an unexpected flush of embarrassment.
Why am I feeling like this…?
She was wiping down a sick friend. There was nothing to be ashamed of. This was simple caretaking.
Su-ryeon pressed the backs of her hands against her eyes, trying to cool the heat rising in her face, and prepared to continue.
"…Huh?"
Her hands stopped of their own accord at the mottled red marks scattered across Ha-eun's chest. Su-ryeon traced them not with the towel but with her fingertips. They were the same kind of marks she had noticed that morning between Ha-eun's neck and collarbone. Insect bites… all the way down here?
That wasn't the only strange thing. Near the areolae, faint impressions that looked like teeth marks were visible. Marks that had clearly been left by a person. Su-ryeon's expression grew steadily more grim.
It can't be. Surely not.
Ha-eun was an ordinary heterosexual. She had never said she liked men, exactly — but from the very first day she had declared that two girls couldn't date each other, so there was little room for doubt. Su-ryeon herself was not so different. She simply held the open-minded view that if one truly fell in love, even a heterosexual person might well end up with someone of the same sex.
But Yoon Seo-a? The Yoon Seo-a who tormented Ha-eun — which side was she on?
Or perhaps it didn't even have to be Yoon Seo-a herself. If this was the kind of harassment she favored, there were other ways. Hand the girl over to followers with those inclinations, and they would take care of the rest. Maybe Ha-eun's poor condition was the result of being hounded by people like that….
"No. That's impossible."
She would not soil Ha-eun's honor with baseless speculation. Su-ryeon crushed the runaway fantasy and forced her hands to keep moving. But the traces left across the body kept scrambling her thoughts. They weren't insect bites. She knew now what they really were — what people called kiss marks.
Fortunately, once she reached the lower half of the body, no such marks remained, and Su-ryeon could breathe a little easier.
But that won't last long.
Anyone bold enough to leave marks all over a body would take the next step in no time at all.
Su-ryeon dressed Ha-eun in clean clothes, laid her on her own bed, then sat at the table and wrestled with her thoughts. Exposing sexual harassment of a classmate ought to be enough to bring down even the foundation chairman's granddaughter — and yet, somehow, she could also imagine Yoon Seo-a brushing even that aside without a care. Spreading the story outside the academy was equally useless. That kind of thing would be smothered even more easily. No matter how many media connections her own father had, the other side would have just as many — more, almost certainly. Both Yoon Seo-a's father and her grandfather were major figures in politics and business.
But she couldn't simply leave Ha-eun like this. Not when what was at stake was a young woman's most vital honor.
Wouldn't it be better to help her even if it meant leaving the academy? Later she could hire her as a personal secretary or exclusive attendant — that would offer a reasonable degree of protection.
Or she could simply hire some people, abduct Yoon Seo-a, and bury her somewhere quiet. When bullying was involved, the best solution was always to put distance between the perpetrator and the victim. But Yoon Seo-a was no ordinary opponent. Would that even work?
Right — if she borrowed private security from her father… Su-ryeon nodded along to her own thoughts, never noticing that the fatigue she had been holding off since the night before — sleepless with worry for Ha-eun — was finally catching up to her.
Before long she slumped forward onto the table and closed her eyes.
"Ha-eun… I'll help you…."
By any means necessary. Su-ryeon's sleep-talk drifted softly into the quiet room and faded away.