CH 348

Kang Jin-Ho walked past the elegant but still-flashy corridor to reach Choi Yeon-Ha's private hospital room.

He grabbed the door handle but sighed and took his hand away soon enough after realizing it wasn't designed to open that way.

'If it's like this, why was there a door by the ward's entrance, too?'

Individual rooms' door locks were functioning perfectly well. In that case, what was the point of inspecting every visitor to the ward?

One's privacy was important, of course. However, when Kang Jin-Ho thought this was nothing more than a way to fulfill people's desire to show off, he couldn't help but grow a little disapproving of this arrangement.

Just as he was about to press the door bell, a nurse quickly ran up to him. “P-please wait, sir!”

“Sorry?”

“The patient is currently asleep.”

“Oh, I see.”

“We usually only open the door after seeking permission first, but the patient has already told us to open the door once you arrive, Mister Kang Jin-Ho. Please wait while I open the door for you.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you.” Kang Jin-Ho nodded and watched as the nurse pressed her keycard against the card reader.

The door slid open with a soft whoosh noise. Kang Jin-Ho briefly bowed at the nurse and stepped across the doorway, then waited until the door slid close behind him.

“...Mm.”

The room was too large for a single person to occupy. On the side of this spacious room was a luxurious-looking bed that seemed a bit out of place in a hospital. Choi Yeon-Ha was lying on it, unmoving.

Kang Jin-Ho quietly walked up to the side of the bed and studied her for a little while. Soon, her eyelids began trembling a little before Choi Yeon-Ha opened her eyes.

She stared at him for a moment or two, then a faint grin formed on her lips. “I can see…”

“Mm? What can you see?”

“Your face, Mister Jin-Ho.”

“...I don't follow?”

“I couldn't see your face back in that place, you see? That's why I often wondered if you were really with me down there even when we were talking to each other. Even though I could touch you and feel you, I kept thinking about that... I think people become strange by getting trapped in a space like that.”

“Oh…” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded as if he understood it.

When he thought about it, it seemed likely for a non-martial artist to find the experience of relying only on the body heat and sense of touch to 'feel' the presence of another person within the darkness absolutely terrifying.

“And now that I can see you in bright daylight... How should I say this? I get a renewed appreciation?”

“About what?”

Choi Yeon-Ha smiled refreshingly. And for the first time during their interaction, Kang Jin-Ho found that smile quite beautiful.

Since she had no makeup on, and didn't take the time to tidy her looks, Choi Yeon-Ha didn't look as good as she could usually be. She was always fastidious with maintaining her looks, but her face was now pale and sickly, while her hair was bushy and unkempt. Those little nicks and bruises around her lips hadn't healed yet and looked somewhat hideous, too.

Even then, the smile on Choi Yeon-Ha's face right now was easily the most beautiful Kang Jin-Ho had seen her make.

That was because he couldn't sense a single hint of pretense from that smile. As it was a part of her job description, Choi Yeon-Ha had to smile all the time. As such, her smile naturally developed this hint of... facade, even if that wasn't her original intention.

But now, for the first time in a long while, Choi Yeon-Ha's face had none of that facade.

“Mister Jin-Ho, looking at you like this makes me appreciate how handsome you really are.”

“...Oh.” Kang Jin-Ho could only smile wryly.

It wasn't that he felt embarrassed about being called handsome. No, his sudden bout of awkwardness stemmed from the fact that they were thinking about similar things at the same time.

Kang Jin-Ho decided to change the topic. “How are you feeling? Is your body okay?”

“Hold on for a sec…” Choi Yeon-Ha slowly got up. Kang Jin-Ho tried to assist her, but she refused his aid and leaned against the backrest with her own strength. “Please don't treat me like a critically-ill patient. People might think I've contracted an incurable disease, you know! It's just that I'm a little dizzy, that's all.”

“I see.”

“The doctor said I'm physically okay. As long as I eat my meals on time and get a good night's rest, I should be discharged in no time at all. So, please don't worry about me.”

“I'm relieved to hear that.” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. However, he still wondered if the doctor didn't mention the psychological issues to Choi Yeon-Ha. Was telling the truth a moral thing to do? Or lessening the patient's worries by withholding that information the right thing in this case? Kang Jin-Ho couldn't quite tell.

“I'm physically fine, but…” Choi Yeon-Ha put on a cramped smile. “I still feel a little anxious at night, Mister Jin-Ho. Switching the lights out made me too anxious, so I had everything switched on before falling asleep.”

“Mm…” Kang Jin-Ho sighed, then bowed deeply at Choi Yeon-Ha. “I'm sorry.”

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“Eh? What for?”

“I can only apologize for getting you involved in such a horrible incident.”

“No, wait. That only happened after I insisted on going in that direction, so I should be the one apologizing.”

“That's not true,” Kang Jin-Ho firmly shook his head. “What happened has no relation to you whatsoever. Even if we chose to take another route, something similar would've still happened. We didn't get trapped because of you, but the truth was... You ended up in that situation because you were next to me.”

“I... don't understand.” Choi Yeon-Ha looked confused as she stared at Kang Jin-Ho.

Kang Jin-Ho pondered where he should start his explanation before deciding to reveal as much as he could. Trying to hide some information while sweeping everything under the carpet was an immoral thing to do to a victim.

“I was the target, Miss Yeon-Ha.”

“Target? Was someone... targeting you?”

“Yes. The tunnel didn't collapse on its own, but someone made sure it did. They were deliberately aiming for my life. And you happened to be caught up in it. That's why you shouldn't feel guilty about anything. I should be the one feeling guilty about putting you through that.” Kang Jin-Ho bowed deeply once more at Choi Yeon-Ha. “I sincerely apologize for everything that happened to you. I swear, I will make up for this, no matter what.”

“H-hold on. Wait.” Choi Yeon-Ha hurriedly waved her hands in flabbergast. “D-don't be like this.”

“But, you were put in harm's way because of me…”

“No, it's not that, but...!” Choi Yeon-Ha's face reddened brightly. Not because she was embarrassed or flustered, but more like her blood had begun boiling instead. “Please don't speak as if I’m a total stranger you've never met before, Mister Jin-Ho!”

“I'm sorry?”

Choi Yeon-Ha sneakily turned her head away and avoided meeting Kang Jin-Ho's confused eyes. An awkward silence settled between the head-tilting Kang Jin-Ho and the silent Choi Yeon-Ha.

The first one to break this silence was Choi Yeon-ha. “I don't know what is going on. And I also have no idea what happened in your past. But I want you to stop apologizing. If I got into that incident because I was near you, the blame should be on me since it was my fault for hanging out with you.”

“No, wait. That doesn't sound…”

“That's why I want you to stop trying to scare me. Even if you say I might end up in another scary situation like that if I insist on staying next to you, I won't leave you and run away.”

“I never said you should leave, though.”

“Really?” Choi Yeon-Ha's expression grew icy as she held Kang Jin-Ho's gaze.

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “Yes. However, I am worried about things getting dangerous for you.”

“That decision is mine to make.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho sighed under his breath. That wasn't what he was trying to say, yet it seemed he failed to formulate his words correctly. Either that, or Choi Yeon-Ha was feeling a bit too prickly at the moment to correctly interpret his intentions.

'Not that surprising, though.'

It'd be weirder for her to not be prickly after experiencing a major incident like that. Even Kang Jin-Ho felt a chill down his spine, after all.

Choi Yeon-Ha crossed her arms. “I think I get the gist. So, it wasn't my fault. That's what you're saying, yes?”

“Yes.”

“I see. That's great, then.” Choi Yeon-Ha smiled brightly again. “Whew. I'm so relieved to hear that. I thought it was my fault that we had to go through that ordeal, you know. That was why I have been seriously wondering how embarrassing it'd be when I try to see you again.”

“Mm?” Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes suspiciously when Choi Yeon-Ha suddenly became energetic. He had this weird feeling that he just did something stupid again.

“Mister Jin-Ho, you said you will make up for this, didn't you?”

“...That I did.”

“And you were being genuine, weren't you?”

“...Yes, I was.”

Something was quickly going wrong here. That was when Kang Jin-Ho suddenly remembered something. And that would be how the people around him seemed to boast an abnormally strong mentality for some weird reason!

If most 'normal' people heard about how dangerous it'd get by hanging out with Kang Jin-Ho, they would quickly try to distance themselves from him.

However, Choi Yeon-Ha was genuinely celebrating the fact that she wasn't to blame for what happened. It was as if she had cleared a massive hurdle here. And Kang Jin-Ho couldn't quite tell how this and that were related.

Choi Yeon-Ha smiled and cautiously asked Kang Jin-Ho. “In that case... Can you stop by later tonight?”

“I'm sorry?” Kang Jin-Ho's eyes powerfully shook. “T-tonight, you say?”

“Yes…” Choi Yeon-Ha grew tearful. “I try not to, but... I keep getting these weird thoughts only at nighttimes, you see? I can't ask the nurses to stay with me during the night, so I thought about calling my mom, but... If she hears about how I'm at the hospital, she might have a heart attack, so... And I'll have to explain how I ended up here, and that's also…”

“I see. Yes, I can relate to that.” Kang Jin-Ho sagely nodded. Even he had to sweat buckets while trying to explain, so it might be the same for Choi Yeon-Ha, too.

“I... That's why I have trouble sleeping at night, you see. It can get awfully boring here, and being alone is kind of weird, too…”

Choi Yeon-Ha was trying to beat around the bush and avoid saying how scared she was.

“I see. In that case, let's do that, then.” Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded.

Choi Yeon-Ha opened her eyes wide in surprise. She was taking a chance when asking that to Kang Jin-Ho, thinking that he'd find all kinds of creative excuses and sound reasons to weasel out of fulfilling that promise. To her surprise, though, Kang Jin-Ho actually said yes without too much resistance.

“Really?” Choi Yeon-Ha skeptically asked.

“Yes, really.“ Kang Jin-Ho nodded affirmatively. “However, you need to give me two days first. I have something... 'important' to deal with first.”

“Two days? But I'll be discharged by then!”

“Mm? It can't be helped, you know.”

“You're so full of it!” Choi Yeon-Ha didn't try to hide her expression that screamed, I knew it!

That expression was adorable enough to tempt Kang Jin-Ho into laughing out loud, but he managed to suppress the urge. “Miss Yeon-Ha. Your shock might last longer than you think.”

“Yes, I'm aware.”

“And you might suffer from some other side effects in the future, too.”

“I'll have to deal with them, then.”

“Once more, I'd like to…”

“Please stop with that!”

Kang Jin-Ho was about to apologize again, only for her yell to leave him in a daze.

“Seriously now! People might think you've accidentally shoved me off a bridge or something! You're also a victim, you know! You've done nothing wrong, so stop apologizing. If you knew what was about to happen, you wouldn't have given me a ride home. And it was my fault for forcing you to give me a ride, even though you just wanted to go home for the night. So, let's not apologize to each other.”

“...Understood.” Kang Jin-Ho helplessly chuckled at that. “Then, I should be on my way.”

“Already?”

“Yes. I have something that needs to be taken care of.”

“But I'm really bored, though…”

“...I'll come tomorrow. I promise.”

Choi Yeon-Ha formed an expression that openly said, What’s gotten into this guy today?

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced a little.

'Well, it's good that she's no longer hiding behind a facade, but...'

One could argue that her less-than-positive emotions appearing more readily on her face wasn't exactly a good thing. Especially when she was so adept at hiding them until recently. At least, that's what Kang Jin-Ho thought.

“I-in that case, you gotta come tomorrow, Mister Jin-Ho.”

“Yes, I will.”

“Ehehe. Thanks. Take care.” Choi Yeon-Ha smiled and waved goodbye.

Kang Jin-Ho smiled back at her while nodding. He then leisurely walked out of her hospital room.

Choi Yeon-Ha waited until Kang Jin-Ho had left the room and the door closed behind him. Once he was gone, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

'No, don't shiver, Choi Yeon-Ha...!'

Despite her thoughts, Choi Yeon-Ha's body began shaking like a lone leaf in the winds.

'I... I need to show him that I'm okay!'

It felt like a flood of tears might spill out at any moment. She was still scared. Terrified. Even though she knew there was no reason to, that she was safe, it was impossible to cope with her emotions.

This gigantic yet vague terror would hit her out of nowhere until she couldn't even breathe. And she grew fearful that if her condition persisted, it'd become difficult to continue her career as an actor.

All these things continued to torment Choi Yeon-Ha, and she could only bury her face between her knees to sob quietly.

***

Kang Jin-Ho slowly opened his eyes.

He wasn't a moron. He could see Choi Yeon-Ha was forcing herself so much to smile like that in front of him. The truth was, he sensed her hand hiding beneath the duvet tremble nonstop while they were chatting away.

Kang Jin-Ho gritted his teeth while sensing Choi Yeon-Ha's trembling figure beyond the hospital wall.

“Sir...?” A nurse saw Kang Jin-Ho step outside the patient's room and approached him. Her intention was to guide him to the exit, but when she saw his face, all colors instantly drained out of her complexion. She stood on the spot, her body utterly paralyzed from pure fear. “Ah... Ah...!”

“...My apologies.” Kang Jin-Ho lightly tapped the nurse on the shoulder, then walked past her. While quickly walking through the corridor, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

'Now, we can finally start.'

Never forget one's grudges. That was Kang Jin-Ho's way.