Chapter 249
“Don’t cry and speak slowly. What’s going on?”
“…That’s…” Koo Hui-seo slowly continued to speak as he rubbed at his tear-laden eyelashes. “That day, Kyungman-ie… his condition suddenly worsened. He kept throwing up whatever I fed him… So.”
“Ah.” I had forgotten about Koo Hui-seo’s brother for a while, though his words made recall the guy. Rather, it’s more accurate to say I recalled the guy’s demise more than his face.
When I rembered that terrible scene, my brows furrowed, but I tried to calmly look into the ex-chira’s eyes.
Perhaps he understood my silent urging; Koo Hui-seo hurriedly began to speak again, “S-So… I was going to call a doctor…”
“But?”
Before answering my question, Koo Hui-seo adopted a miserable expression. His desperate bearing reminded of a man whose precious property was stolen from him.
But, he soon wiped away his tears and confessed, eyes downcast, “I was flustered… while the attending physician was on his way, I let him out of the bed briefly…”
“……”
“At that mont… I think…Kyungman-ie tried to take his life.”
“……”
“Perhaps he knew that, unless he did sothing now, he wouldn’t be able to avoid giving [birth]…”
So…It seems like Koo Kyungman tried to escape his situation while Koo Hui-seo was montarily careless.
Although my relationship with Koo Kyungman was terrible, his situation was honestly worthy of sympathy from any human being. If I were him, I would have gone insane far earlier.
However, Koo Hui-seo’s expression tugged at my heart when the other talked about Koo Kyungman’s attempt at death… The ex-chira seed ignorant of his own desperate expression. So, I asked him a pointless question, “Did Koo Kyungman-ssi die?”
“…No. He hasn’t died.”
“Then, perhaps… were you feeling guilty?”
“What?”
“That is to say… Koo Kyungman-ssi is your younger brother. Well… things don’t work out necessarily exactly the way you want them to go. Your emotions…”
However, contrary to my expectations, Koo Hui-seo blinked as if he couldn’t understand . His expression strangely reminded of Lackey–perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything.
To be honest, if he had any human heart left, he would have killed his brother sooner. Giving Koo Kyungman death now would be like an apology.
‘Then, why does he have such a sorrowful expression?’ I glared at Koo Hui-seo’s pallid face.
He still looked blank, as if he could read nothing from my glare, and suddenly asked, “Do you think I regret this?”
“……”
I had no answer to his question. This ti, I was the one who was struck speechless, so I simply shrugged. Koo Hui-seo must not have expected much of a response either–he didn’t dig any further into that line of thought.
Soon, an awkward silence fell between us. Fortunately, this disquieting calm didn’t last long.
“Excuse . Then… Then, Hui-seo-ssi must have stopped Koo Kyungman from dying, then… What happened after that?” I asked after so reflection.
Koo Hui-seo’s shoulders flinched, as if his mind was on other things, before replying ekly, “Ah, yes… I tried to stop Kyungman-ie, but he suddenly attacked …”
His answer was quite flooring–I was surprised that Koo Kyungman had enough energy to resist. Cutting off the ex-chira, I flung further questions at him. How on earth did he attack? Perhaps it’s a bit strange to point this out, but he had no limbs to attack with…the only thing that could move on that body was the neck. Did he tear at the ex-chira with his teeth? “Koo Kyungman attacked Hui-seo-ssi? How…”
“…Kyungman-ie understands my unique constitution well.” Koo Hui-seo closed his mouth with a complicated smile, as if he didn’t want to explain any further. Of course I wanted to probe and learn more, but Koo Hui-seo cut off. “Anyway… I still overpowered Kyungman-ie.”
“…..Right.”
“In the end, I ended up falling asleep as well.” With that said, rubbed his face several tis as if he sohow blad himself for acting foolishly.
Of course, I couldn’t understand anything with that sort of explanation–I shot him a curious look. Annoyingly, as soon as he and I locked gazes, Koo Hui-seo began to match the timing of his blinks to mine. Faced with the impenetrable wall of the ex-chira’s lack of perception and tact, I had to interrogate him further. “…Excuse , what’s wrong with sleeping? You’ve already overpowered Koo Kyungman… or did your brother have an accomplice there? Actually, if you said you slept, how did you walk all the way over to my ho?”
“Ah.” Perhaps Koo Hui-seo finally understood my confusion, he continued to explain, “Actually, I stabbed myself with a knife…to try and wake up.”
“……”
“I accidentally cut myself too deep… I thought I would die. Just then, I thought, ‘wouldn’t Lee-kyung-ssi have a solution?’ So…”
“……”
“But, by the ti I arrived at Lee-kyung-ssi’s dorm, I was already almost half-asleep. My mories are quite fuzzy. I probably caused you much trouble before the fuse of my consciousness snuffed out, but… I wasn’t in a good enough condition to explain or argue about anything…”
Of course, his words were still incoherent. As soon as I crossed my arms across my chest, Koo Hui-seo nervously rolled his eyes and fidgeted, “Uh, mm… I shouldn’t fall into deep sleep.”
“…Why?”
“When I sleep deeply, I have nightmares.” Koo Hui-seo tapped his head with his index finger. “That wouldn’t be a problem when I’m in a good condition. However, when I’m not…”
“……”
“I’ll fall asleep for a long while. Well…that’s normally not a huge deal, but…”
“Uh huh…”
“Because your blood and mine have mixed together, things have gotten complicated. It’s gotten…worse.”
My mood slightly dampened because I felt like he was blaming ; in any case, I felt like I was slowly grasping what the ex-chira was trying to say.
If I understood correctly, [Koo Hui-seo has nightmares when in a horrid physical condition–the tussle with Koo Kyungman led to that condition. Therefore, before he could fully fall asleep, he ca to for help].
‘…Wait a minute. Why would soone try to hurt themselves in order to wake up just because of a nightmare?’
Furthermore, it’s unbelievable to think he could sweep others around him into his nightmares.
Naturally, I had never experienced this sort of situation before, and Koo Hui-seo’s attitude caught my eye. I pondered what was so strange when suddenly an idea occurred to .
‘Does Koo Hui-seo know what sort of state his body is in?’
Most ill folk may not realize how broken down their bodies are.
I recalled Kim Olim and Seo Dawon’s conversation when Koo Hui-seo had first arrived at my house. The ex-chira was not a normal human, and his ntality was different from normal modes of thought. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about ntal illnesses, but even I could tell the man was short-sighted and cruel.
Therefore, it was hard to take Koo Hui-seo’s babbles at face value. Rather, perhaps it’d be more accurate to say that the ex-chira didn’t understand his situation either and constructed child-like theories based on his short-sighted judgnt.
“May I ask why you don’t want to have nightmares? You must be incredibly scared of falling asleep if you’re willing to scar yourself to chase it away.” I asked him another question to confirm my theories.
Koo Hui-seo’s pupils began rolling around as he stamred significantly and rambled. “M-Mother appears… Also, I’m alone…”
“……”
“….Ah! Also, if I’m injured in my nightmares, the injuries are still there when I open my eyes… C-Co to think of it, Lee-kyung-ssi has broken his leg… S-Sorry.”
“……It’s alright. Disregarding that…you said that injuries attained in the nightmare appear in real life as well?”
“Ye~es….”
As I looked into Koo Hui-seo’s vacant eyes, I was certain. ‘This place… It’s a place made from Koo Hui-seo’s [skills].’
Before he was trapped in the hospital, he was the next guildmaster of the Red Dragon Guild; he must have been a User.
‘Though, it seems like his mories of his ti as a User have either dissipated or distorted…’
Since the body remains intact, perhaps he was able to access his old skills?
Beco a Patron!
TL: It’s interesting! A lot of you picked up on the fact Woo Ragi’s explanation of this scenario doesn’t really fit. As Ragi said, he’s not really the brains of the operation. I really wanted to talk about it in the s, but I think it’s a conversation best fit for this chapter! I agree with Lee-kyung and you guys–there’s an elent of Lee-kyung here but it’s more because of Koo Hui-seo. This is definitely ‘His’ world.
Also…Oh god…Every ti I’m reminded of Koo Kyungman, I’m just D: D: D:
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