Fucked.
I lowered my gaze involuntarily, only to see my hands shaking uncontrollably as they clung to the sink.
He said he was out, but when the hell did he come back in?
Even in such moments, my brain habitually started assessing the situation.
Did Kang Ichae see the blood?
Yes, he did.
Do I have any excuses that could get me through?
No, he’s not one to be fooled.
What if I honestly said it was because of a system penalty?
I’d just end up visiting more wards in the hospital.
What about hitting him on the head to cause amnesia?
Death might come quicker.
Whatever I do, I’m going to look crazy…
My nape tingled.
With the thought that I should say something to clear the air, I turned off the faucet and opened my mouth.
“Ichae, first….”
At that moment, Kang Ichae stepped out of the doorway and entered the bathroom.
The sound of slippers hitting the wet floor unnecessarily made my ears perk up.
Regardless of whether I stopped talking or kept staring, Kang Ichae approached the toilet, checked its contents, and then firmly pressed the lever with his finger.
Swoooosh…
“…”
As the sound of the water flushing ended, silence hovered.
It was blatantly obvious he had intentionally cut off my words.
“There are a few things I want to check before calling an ambulance.”
Kang Ichae’s gaze moved from the toilet to the sink, and then to me.
What do I do now?
Gone was the laughter, and though he tried to appear calm, his eyes were blazing.
The members might make a fuss seeing someone sick, but I didn’t think it warranted this level of anger.
Did I touch a nerve?
Usually, half of what he said was jokes and pranks, and I had never seen him with a downturned mouth, so honestly, I felt a bit cautious.
“Do you have some incurable disease?”
“…No.”
“Then, trauma related to hospitals?”
“…No, nothing like that.”
“Then why?”
Kang Ichae’s eyes narrowed as he met my gaze.
“Why are you holed up here?”
A red alert went off in my head.
I quickly tried to add more words to prevent Kang Ichae from continuing his thought.
“Kang Ichae, wait, wait…. Cough. Ahem.”
Just then, a cough erupted, and the blood I was holding in my mouth spewed out.
The atmosphere in the bathroom grew even colder.
“…It’s not what you think.”
After blinking hard once, I finished organizing my thoughts.
There was no suitable excuse to make in my exposed state, and dragging the time a little longer was going to end it anyway.
Given the circumstances, spilling everything to buy some time and somehow downplaying the issue seemed like the best course of action.
“I’m sorry for startling you. Actually, I have some stomach issues. When I’m tired or my condition worsens, it happens occasionally. I’ve been visiting hospitals in Korea too.”
“…”
“I have my own medication, but what if getting a new prescription backfires? Besides, going to the hospital for something trivial like this will only bring up unnecessary stories.”
Going to the hospital would ruin me.
Even if I could somehow stop news from spreading in Korea, the real problem was having symptoms but being perfectly healthy.
It could easily turn into a rumor about an idol stricken with an unknown incurable disease, like some drama protagonist.
I decided to act as if I was fine, putting strength into my hands.
“…You understand, right, Kang Ichae?”
However, Kang Ichae just stared at me silently.
“Are you done talking?”
“…!”
“Then, I’ll call now.”
Fuck, was he really thinking of calling an ambulance?
I grabbed Kang Ichae’s hand hurriedly as he calmly reached for his phone.
None of my lengthy excuses worked.
“Hey, wait.”
“What?”
Damn.
On one hand, I was relieved it was Kang Ichae.
Compared to the stubborn Kim Seonghyeon, Seong Jiwon who would dismiss my words with a smile and drag me to the hospital, or the maknae, Jeong Dajun, whom I didn’t even want to show this state to, Kang Ichae seemed like he would be easier to deal with.
But seeing him now, it didn’t seem right.
He’s pissed.
Kang Ichae’s eyebrow was quirkily raised, exuding a fierce aura.
The blood from the cough I had earlier left a mark on Kang Ichae’s wrist.
Knowing it was a shallow move but still, I bowed my head.
To escape this situation…
“…Hey, Kang Ichae.”
I thought of appealing to his emotions.
“Isn’t it disappointing? Can’t you trust me? It might seem shocking since it’s your first time seeing this, but it’s more common than you think. If it was serious, I would have run to the hospital first… Cough! Cough!”
“…”
“…Would have run there first… Urgh.”
“…”
“Cough, urk…”
“…”
Yet, Kang Ichae remained expressionless.
Even as my vision blurred and my head spun, I gathered all my willpower to muster my words.
“…I’m fine.”
Trying to appear undaunted, I even forced down the blood swirling in my mouth, but Kang Ichae simply tilted his head and asked,
“Is this fun?”
Fuck.
Turning my head, I spat the remaining blood into the sink.
“Damn brat… Can’t you just let it slide since I’m your hyung?”
I wondered how to get out of this situation—maybe by pretending to faint again—but I immediately scrapped the idea, fearing it might actually land me in the hospital, a more dangerous prospect.
I wished for the help of the system window, but as usual, there was no sign of it when I needed it most.
Kang Ichae let out a small sigh and released my wrist.
“I don’t get it…”
“…”
“The reason I haven’t dragged you to the hospital immediately after seeing you like this is out of respect for you. I thought there must be a reason a smart person like you is acting so recklessly.”
Seeing Seo Hoyun, who meticulously took care of his health with three meals a day and constantly had a red ginseng stick in his mouth, refusing to go to the hospital even in this state made him wonder if it was a disease that couldn’t be cured by a hospital.
But since that wasn’t the case, there was no reason for Kang Ichae to just watch me suffer in pain in a hotel room.
“But the excuse you’re giving now is pretty lousy, isn’t it?”
Kang Ichae rubbed the blood off his wrist and looked up at me.
“…Hey.”
I took a deep breath.
Bearing the splitting headache, I reached out for a towel hanging next to Kang Ichae and grabbed it.
“I’m not going.”
“…”
And I roughly wiped the blood from the corners of my mouth.
Honestly, I couldn’t understand why he was so pissed…
No.
That’s not what was important right now.
“I get where you’re coming from. Honestly, it’s a pretty lame excuse, but just leave me be for half a day, and I’ll get better.”
“…Half a day?”
Kang Ichae murmured in a low voice.
The system window, that son of a bitch, promised improvement, yet the pain kept coming.
I couldn’t think straight anymore, and I decided to reveal just the minimum truth to somehow calm down this crazed guy.
“Yeah. See, my complexion has already improved, hasn’t it?”
Of course, the mirror still reflected nothing but a pale, sickly person.
At my shameless words, Kang Ichae swept his hair back and gave me a look of disbelief.
In front of him, I spoke even more brazenly.
“If you really want me to go to the hospital, just wait for half a day—no, just three hours.”
“…”
“You know me. I don’t do foolish things. So, trust me this once, okay?”
Kang Ichae briefly stroked the corner of his mouth.
“Whatever…”
He glanced at the blood scattered around the bathroom and looked at me with a shaky gaze.
Until just a moment ago, he had seemed unyielding, but now he appeared slightly softened by one of the reckless things I had just blurted out.
His eyes filled with suppressed emotions, slightly closed, and a hollow laugh escaped his lips.
That’s when I knew.
Somehow, Kang Ichae would listen to me.
“Thanks.”
Thinking I’d managed to smooth things over, I quickly turned to leave the bathroom, but Kang Ichae’s eyebrows twitched, and then—
Bam!!
“…!”
—he kicked the bathroom door shut with his foot.
“One hour.”
The wind that brushed past me made my skin crawl.
The guy who had forcefully shut the bathroom door tilted his head to the right.
Already looking like a thug, this gesture made him seem even fiercer than anyone.
“Make it one hour.”
“…”
“If it doesn’t get better within that time, you’ll listen to me.”
…Could I get better in one hour?
Ding!
[…There’s a 17% chance in one hour.]
Without me having to say anything, the system window seemed to have immediately picked up on my curiosity and added the information.
Is this insane?
No matter how I thought about it, one hour was way too short.
But the atmosphere wasn’t right to ask Kang Ichae for more time, so I just rubbed my neck and grumbled.
“…Say it with words, you bastard.”
I pushed past Kang Ichae and reopened the bathroom door.
After wiping my hands with the towel I was holding, I lay down on the bed.
Damn it…
I pulled the blanket over me and briefly went over the recent events in my mind.
Kang Ichae gets really fierce when he’s angry.
At this moment, I was just thankful Kang Ichae hadn’t strangled me.
Kang Ichae followed, then dragged a chair next to mine, and flopped down with his arms crossed.
A heavy silence seemed to press down on us in the room.
Ring.
Just as I was suppressing a mix of coughs and blood, my phone rang at the perfect moment.
[CEO]
As I fumbled to pick it up, Kang Ichae snatched it away and threw it to a corner of the bed.
“…Hey.”
“What?”
“That was an important call…”
Rolling my eyes toward where my phone had landed, I saw weariness and cynicism etched on Kang Ichae’s cold face, which didn’t fit his 22 years.
“Leak? Or a shake-up?”
“…”
“Do you really have to do this now?”
It was clear he was aware of everything, including the smoking incident and the leak.
For a moment, speechless, I wiped sweat off my forehead while fixing my gaze on the ceiling.
“…Ichae.”
“…”
“Why are you so pissed?”
I genuinely couldn’t understand that part.
“Because I didn’t tell you guys? Because I’m suffering alone? Or because I lied earlier? … I just didn’t want to worry you.”
I added a hint of feigned weakness for good measure, which was partly true.
“It’s not like I have a terminal illness, cough…, and the person in question is fine. You’re worrying over nothing right now.”
“What?”
“Can you say that again?”
I threw the towel I had used to cover my mouth while coughing onto the floor and drove the last point home.
“You’re overreacting a bit.”
Kang Ichae just stared at me silently.
“Overreacting?”
Then he said it.
“My mom, like my older brother, passed away acting like that.”
“…!”
“I couldn’t help but know about the hyperventilation. It was hard to hide, after all. But not the rest. I never knew because she always smiled when she saw me.”
Shit.
“By the time I found out, it was already too late.”
I had misspoken.
His voice continued calmly, making the words sting even more.
“Now do you understand why I’m ‘overreacting’?”
…I was in the wrong.
I covered my face with my hands and rubbed it.
“…Sorry.”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at Kang Ichae.
After a long silence, Kang Ichae sighed.
Then, a soft touch landed on my hand. Kang Ichae had given me a fresh towel and said in a slightly softer tone,
“It’s okay, I was just venting a bit.”
“…”
“I’m throwing a fit now because I couldn’t do this with my hyung back then. Just let it slide.”
“…But… cough… It’s not really serious, you know?”
“While coughing?”
I tried to offer some excuses, but of course, it didn’t work on Kang Ichae.
“Would you say the same if Dajun was in this situation?”
“…”
“The person who would have made a huge fuss if Dajun acted like my hyung… now acts like it’s nothing when it’s about him.”
Every word was sharply insightful.
I had no strength to argue, so I just kept my mouth shut.
“Still, I’ll try to understand. I respect whatever you do behind my back, as long as you live healthily and happily.”
“…People should live like that.”
“Right?”
“If you have money, it’s possible.”
Kang Ichae lowered his eyes and smiled slightly at my words, which were 100% sincere.
“Yeah, if that’s your happiness. I really like our current life, including Dajun and the others. I want to keep it going.”
“…”
“So let’s stay healthy and together for a long, long time. Don’t get sick where I can’t see.”
Kang Ichae leaned back in the chair, appearing much more relaxed than before.
“…Ichae.”
I couldn’t miss this timing.
As I was suppressing a chill and cautiously about to suggest stretching it to three hours…
“Ah.”
Kang Ichae said in a soft voice,
“46 minutes left.”
“…”
“Guess I should get ready to call a taxi.”
This fucking asshole…
I sincerely regretted not having hit Kang Ichae on the head from the start to make him lose his memory.
**********
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