Chapter 256: 255

Chapter 255

haa…hoo… 1

     My consciousness recognized my breathing sounds first. Something was stuffed into my nose, and I couldn’t raise my hand to remove it. It seemed like something heavy was laying on my hand.

     ‘My eyes hurt…’

     As if I were suffering from dry-eyes, my eyelids felt desiccated and stuck together.

     Honestly, my eyes would feel less stiff if they had been glued together. Just as I thought that, I remembered what had happened before I lost consciousness and tried to pry my eyes open. Suddenly, my body ached all over, and the exhaustion made everything difficult… But, I wanted to confirm something.

      ‘…Am I alive?’

Beep– Beep–

     At that moment, I heard the sound of an ECG.

    I blinked again. The light stung as if it were an arrow piercing my eye, but, through my bleary vision, I could tell I was in a hospital. Besides, I could smell the unique sanitized scent of the hospital as well.

     “Lee-kyung-ah.” Someone had seen me blink and approached. He clasped my finger and placed a hand on my head.

     It was Seo Dawon.

     I shivered at the familiar voice.

     “Are you cold?” He said something, but I couldn’t really understand. However, from the moment I heard the Mage’s voice, it felt like the energy had been sapped out of my body; even more strength–from my already lacking and exhausted stores–was seeping out. I didn’t sleep, but I could only lie still with my eyes closed. The Mage didn’t try to engage me in a conversation again.

     Soon afterwards, medical staff approached my bed. They checked my condition and wrote things in their charts. It wasn’t until a bunch more people entered the room that I was able to open my eyes properly; I could only nod or shake my head at the staff’s questions.

     I could feel Seo Dawon staring at me, but he didn’t try to talk even after the medical staff left. He was motionless, holding my hand with his cold fingers. That much was fine. However, when he briefly let my hand go, the Mage released a heavy sigh. “…Get some sleep.”

     “…….” I nodded; Seo Dawon placed his hand over my eyes.

    Afterwards, he probably activated a skill. I gently fell asleep as if I were slowly sinking into deep waters.

     I could hear the Mage’s low voice from a far distance, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

* * *

    “Then, you can’t remember anything?”

     “Y-Yeah…”

     Jung Garam cut the apple into lumps without much grace or sincerity; Kim Olim kicked the leg of his chair. The assassin grumbled as he re-peeled the apple. Then, he cut the fruit into cube-like bite-sized pieces and placed them on my tray.

[Clack Clack!]

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     Lackey repeatedly opened and closed its jaws as if it were about to bite the Assassin. I dragged the skeleton into my embrace and began feeding it the small pieces of apples with a toothpick.

     Jung Garam watched me chew a few pieces before stealthily slipping his dagger back into his inventory. He questioned again, “Nothing?”

     “Just… I vaguely remember being chased around a lot… I just don’t remember the details.”

     “Don’t you remember meeting Ragi-hyung?”

     “No…”

     “It seems like he suffered a big shock as he escaped the nightmare. It’s plausible that his memory is temporarily confused,” Kim Olim said.

[Clack Clack.]

     Kim Olim, as she poured me some lukewarm water, defended me; Jung Garam frowned, as if he were frustrated.

     I felt just as frustrated as the assassin, though.

     I remember that Koo Hui-seo had suddenly visited my home in a strange state, and I was swept into some space alongside the ex-chimera. However, the events afterwards were all blank–nothing came to mind.

     I struggled for a long time, trying to fill an empty paper with details, even though I was told that it was alright for my memory to be so fragmented. Eventually, I quit without any substantial results. Whenever I tried to remember the events, I kept having an awful headache that only a coma-like sleep could chase away.

     “Then, what about your Dawon-hyung-phobia?”

     “…….”

     “Honestly, Dawon hyung had his hands full trying to wake up Koo Hui-seo; he had no time to even touch you. But, why…”

     A really huge problem remained, though.

     As Jung Garam had pointed out, after the nightmare, I felt like I was about to go insane whenever ‘Seo Dawon’ was near–especially if we were left alone. My heart began thumping fast; cold sweat flowed down my back. I was so afraid that I almost vomited what I had recently eaten on the Mage.

     At first, neither Seo Dawon nor I knew the cause, so the Mage repeatedly placed sleeping spells on me. When the other servants intervened, I finally found that my reactions were caused by the Mage.

     This phobia had gotten worse over time.

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     I was able to bear meeting Seo Dawon for the first three days after I had woken; afterwards, the [Mage] tried hard not to appear before me again. I heard that he would only occasionally come by my side after I had fallen asleep. “…I really don’t know…”

     “Did Dawon-hyung dump you in the nightmare or something?”

[Clack Clack Clack?]

     “Piss off…”

     Though Jung Garam may have been trying to lighten my mood, I couldn’t find it within me to joke about this situation. I’d been feeling miserable ever since I woke up.

     I wanted to see Seo Dawon. However, whenever I saw him I wanted to run away, and when I couldn’t run, cold sweat ran down my back… I couldn’t understand my contradictory reactions.

     Choi Kyung-sik, who couldn’t stand watching this anymore, had barricaded himself in the lab to create a potion that might have some effect on this trauma. Since then, we’d lost contact with him.

     The Alchemist had said that I had been unfortunately dragged into Koo Hui-seo’s infectious nightmare–a variation on a curse. It was a very nasty curse where those dragged in experienced Koo Hui-seo’s nightmares; if their dream body obtained injuries beyond a certain level, the real body would be affected as well.

     Even Koo Hui-seo had still yet to awake; fortunately, it seemed like his brain waves were improving, and he was expected to regain consciousness within a few days. The servants were determined to give Koo Hui-seo brand new nightmares when he opened his eyes.

     However, I was more curious than angry. What on earth had happened in his dreams?

     And…

[Remember.]

     ‘Who said that?’

     Whenever I tried to recall what had happened in the nightmare, an unfamiliar voice surfaced in my mind. His arrogant tone; his distinctive vibe…

     To be honest, I thought I’d be able to recognize that man if I were to see him again. He was taller than me, and his eyes… were they black? However, that person wasn’t like Koo Hui-seo or Woo Ragi. Rather than those guys…

     ‘He slightly resembles Seo Dawon…’

     Of course, Seo Dawon wouldn’t have a reason to harm me, but… I felt somehow stifled and uncomfortable. Of course, the Mage would never harm me. Besides, these days Seo Dawon was…

     “Choi Lee-kyung. What is this?” Kim Olim asked.

     “Ah, that’s… S-Something that Seo Dawon left behind…”

    “What is it?”

     …these days the Mage was so incredibly kind.

     The small stone on top of the bedside table that Kim Olim had lifted in her hands was one of the things that the Mage had left for me every night. Because my condition rapidly deteriorated whenever I saw his face, he would only come to see me when I was asleep.

     I felt sorry and briefly wrote down a summary of my recovery and physical condition on a memo pad, mainly focusing on the things that Seo Dawon would want to know about. Then, when I woke up in the morning, the piece of paper vanished, and a pretty pebble appeared in its place. Since I was waiting for his reply, I felt delighted from the bottom of my heart.

     The number of stones grew during the length of my hospitalization. I piled them up on the side–it wasn’t too difficult to stack since they were shaped a bit like building blocks.

     “They’re purified mana stones… Aren’t these consumable?”

     “R-Really?”

     “It’s to slightly increase your ability levels. Haven’t you tried one?”

     “Oh……?” When I heard Kim Olim’s words, I remembered something. Come to think of it, when Seo Dawon first came home, he had given me a similar consumable…

     I had thought it was just some decoration since it didn’t melt even if I were to handle and touch it; plus, the Mage didn’t leave any signs that I should eat them even when I let them pile up. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I popped one into my mouth and rolled it around. “…It doesn’t taste good? Rather… it doesn’t have a taste at all?”

     “I don’t think you’re in any position to complain about food.”

     “It’s not a complaint…”

     “It can’t be helped. Next time, I’ll bring some honey for dipping.”

     I tried to decline, but a [System Message] materialized before I could open my mouth.

[Stamina has increased by +1]

     So, it really was a mana stone. My exhausted and fatigued body actually felt a ripple of vigour rush through it. However, Kim Olim immediately dissuaded me from eating any more, “Try not to eat so many in the evening. You won’t be able to sleep well.”

     “Ahh… Okay.”

     “Then, we’ll go to the dorms for now. We’ll contact you as soon as we hear from Choi Kyung-sik.”

    “Alright.”

    “Choi Lee-kyung, see ya tomorrow. Hey, Skeleton! Keep him safe!”

[Clack!]

     The servants were busy trying to find out Ryu Hyerin and Bae Jaemin’s movements while travelling to and fro from our home base to the hospital. The emptied hospital room quickly became quite lonely, but I soon laid back and turned on the TV.

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