.  The following story was even more severe. Touching his forehead, Eun Jiho continued, “Besides, he got serious injuries to the head…… so not sure if he can wake up even if the surgery goes well.”


  “Ah……”


  “The reason why no grownups are here is that they’ve called an emergency meeting. There’s no guarantee of the postoperative recovery; even if the surgery goes very successfully, no one knows if he’ll be able to regain his consciousness, so they’re already preparing for war.”


  That was when the two people I saw at the party flashed through my head.

  “What about Chun Young’s brothers? Were they Yoo Shin and Yoo Gun?”


  “They are coming here by flight. Probably Yoo Gun will be dragged to the meeting right away, and only Yoo Shin will be here, but that’s fine since Yoo Chun young won’t be alone.”


  “Yeah, at least, that’s better……”


  However, at that moment, Eun Jiho paused to speak and threw a mixed glance at me. I rubbed my cheeks. Pointing at his cardigan over my shoulders, I asked, “Ah, you’re quite sensitive to cold, right? Should I return it to you?”


  “No, not that……”


  Disheveling his hair, Eun Jiho mumbled, ‘Gosh, what should I do……? How come they all made me explain everything?’ His muttering words agitated me that I pushed him, “Hey, what’s going on?”


  “I mean…… you said you’ve heard about this situation from the TV news, huh?”


  “Yes,” I nodded.

  “Then you saw that it was a car accident.”


  “Uh-huh.”


  “You know who’s the driver of Yoo Chun Young’s father……”


  As soon I grasped what Eun Jiho was implying, my face stiffened immediately.

  It was a thing that never entered my head since Eun Hyung even came out to pick us up. His face that I first encountered today in the parking lot looked pale, which I considered that it was because of a sudden accident. There wasn’t any trace of tears too, so I couldn’t think further at all.

  Watching my reaction, Eun Jiho heaved a deep sigh as if he had expected that. His following words then dragged me to the ground.

  “Eun Hyung’s father is also in a critical state just like Yoo Chun Young’s father. He’s also in a major surgery right now. We’re not even sure if their consciousness could return.”


  “.……”


  “They must…… they must wake up from the coma, don’t they?”


  Eun Jiho dropped those words one after another in front of me, who was just standing still wordlessly. He seemed to vent his anger at, not me but, someone who wasn’t here in this place such as the angel of death or the god of destiny.

  “Because Kwon Eun Hyung…… he only has one person left for now, so they must survive. Wouldn’t that be fair for him?” Eun Jiho murmured frantically while mussing up his hair.

  I knew that the world was unfair, and I wasn’t supposed to say this, but……

  “Among the people I know, Kwon Eun Hyung is the one who’s living life to the fullest……”


  “He’s been hustling to survive…… but how can this happen again to him? Such nonsense……”


  While Eun Jiho blurted out, unusually, without context, I also mumbled beside him in a daze.

  “They say good people get rewarded after their death…… that’s such bullshit.”


  Why did it have to be after death, not now? Everyone deserved to become happy, but if someone particularly had the right to be that way, I believed it was Eun Hyung.

  I clenched both my fists while thinking, ‘But how come……?’


  In front of Eun Jiho, who broke into tears, I also began to cry, eventually.

  When we went back to the hallway near the operation room, Eun Hyung greeted us first. Sitting beside Yoo Chun Young, who still didn’t move an inch like a statue, Eun Hyung just looked down at the floor nonchalantly then turned his head toward us and smiled.

  It was his usual, refreshing grin, which made me become even more concerned about him.

  With a bright expression, he uttered, “Aren’t you tired? It would have been a long way to get here by car.”


  “No,” I replied. Turning my head aside, I found Eun Jiho looking at Eun Hyung with a piercing gaze in slight anger. That was when I heard Eun Hyung’s response.

  “Then you should fill your tummy, or else you’re gonna get hungry soon. Let me go get something for you. I know this hospital well.”


  “Huh? Uh, no thanks, I’m okay,” I shook my head in a hurry. ‘Thanks for your consideration, but having something in this situation would just make me have an upset stomach or suffer from indigestion,’ I thought. However, Eun Hyung stood firm.

  “You don’t have to starve and wait at the same time.”


  As if he was a nutritionist facing a kid fussy about food, Eun Hyung responded determinedly that way. He then stood up and began to bend his steps.

  Watching at him blankly, I soon ran up and threw my hands to his arm.

  Diverting his gaze back onto me, Eun Hyung asked, “What’s up?”


  “I mean, Eun Hyung…… don’t you have to stay here, or else……” With a slight pause, I added hesitantly, “Or else you can miss the doctor coming outside after the surgery.”


  It was ridiculous to recall some shallow knowledge from TV dramas in this urgent situation. However, in those soap operas, doctors came out to the hallway once the operation was over. They took off their face masks, and, first of all, briefly talked about how the surgery went.

  Wouldn’t Eun Hyung, of course, also wonder how the operation proceeded? He, however, just furrowed his brows for a second in silence.

  Why on earth was he showing that expression? Did I say something wrong? The moment I rambled those thoughts in my head, Eun Hyung opened his mouth, at last.

  “It’s fine. He’s gonna be moved to the recovery room, so I can’t even see him anyway.”


  “But…… you should…… hear……” I barely added, “.…… Hear the result of the surgery……”


  Eun Hyung intervened in my words again, while saying, “Even if the operation is over, we don’t know when he’s regaining his consciousness.”


  “.……”


  Being unable to understand Eun Hyung talking that way, I just looked up at him vacantly.

  ‘Aren’t we usually getting nervous since we don’t know what’s gonna happen? We are flustered, frightened, stamping our feet, and urging to get out of this place as soon as possible, aren’t we?’ While I had those thoughts in mind, Eun Hyung took my hand off his arm and was receding from me.

  Pulling myself together all of a sudden, I shouted, “Eun Hyung, okay, let’s go together!”


  He slowly paused his steps and waited for me. Once I caught up with him in the hallway, we headed toward the convenience store inside the hospital.

  * * *

  As if he wasn’t lying that he was familiar with this hospital, Eun Hyung walked through the place without hesitation.

  Whenever we saw some suspicious people, who didn’t look like patients or their family members, Eun Hyung pulled his beanie over his eyes and swerved to avoid them. Perhaps, reporters aiming at the response of Balhae Group were all over the hospital. Thankfully, the space around the surgery room was fiercely guarded.

  Sometimes, we hid in the elevator or empty rooms to keep moving forward. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but look at Eun Hyung in wonder. Although he had a good brain, wasn’t it a little weird to memorize every floor and structure of this hospital when he was here only once?

  How could Eun Hyung, not Jooin, behave this way? Another possibility I could think of was that Eun Hyung had been here often, but why would he do that? Did he have some chronic disease?

  Even when I had those thoughts in my head, Eun Hyung bent his steps with me without hindrance and finally arrived at the convenience store. Letting me stand in front of the cashier, Eun Hyung detached his lips.

  “It seems fine now but after a few hours, you’re gonna get hungry and not feel well. Let me get some water and something easy to digest.”


  “Okay.”


  “Wanna choose them together?”


  I shook my head. Nothing would pop inside my head since I wasn’t craving anything. Thus, even when I got to see some snacks to eat, I wouldn’t feel like, ‘Oh, I want to have this, not that.’


  Eun Hyung would definitely feel the same as me; however, he just nodded nonchalantly and disappeared with the words, ‘Well, then.’


  I stared at the view of his back with mixed feelings. Suddenly, I lifted my head at a loud noise. There was a TV right above the counter. The old lady at the cashier was looking up at the screen with a boring look.

  The exterior of this hospital was on the TV screen. Since the sky looked bright, thankfully, at least, it wasn’t a live broadcast. The reporter’s clearly ringing voice resonated around the quiet store.

  [Yoo Jin Young, the president of Balhae Group, and his driver, Mr. Kwon, were involved in a fatal car crash in Seoul at 9 pm the previous night. Two people were found severely injured at the scene and quickly taken to Balhae hospital. The hospital reported that the two men, who are in a state of coma, are now under major surgery, but even though it goes out successfully, medics aren’t hopeful that the two men will recover consciousness.]