CH 377

“Mister Jin-Ho! You're here.”

“Good evening, Miss Yeon-Ha.” Kang Jin-Ho bowed slightly to greet Choi Yeon-Ha as she smiled brightly to welcome him. Even now, Kang Jin-Ho found Choi Yeon-Ha without any make-up a little unfamiliar. Even so...

“Looks like you've chosen the wrong profession, Miss Yeon-Ha.”

“Mm? I have?”

“Yes, at least I think so.” Kang Jin-Ho nodded affirmatively.

“Why... do you say that? I think I'm really well-matched to my profession, you know?”

Kang Jin-Ho replied while putting down the fruit-filled gift basket next to a small refrigerator. “In my opinion, you look more beautiful without any makeup on, but your profession forces you to put on a ton of stuff on your face, does it not?”

“...Ah!” Choi Yeon-Ha gasped loudly and hurriedly turned her head away to look outside the window. It wasn't because she wanted to see something outside, though. No, she 'simply' found staring straight at Kang Jin-Ho impossible to do right now.

'He's... far too natural at this!'

Uttering things like that without a care in the world required an extraordinary level of talent, that much was for sure! Choi Yeon-Ha had already received information from Kang Eun-Yeong that her dear oppa had practically zero dating experience, but that knowledge alone wasn't enough to explain Kang Jin-Ho's naivety!

Most likely, Kang Jin-Ho didn't have any girlfriend because women around him had to give up on their own or his lack of interest in the opposite sex pretty much eliminated any opportunities for him to chat with girls his age.

To think he'd brazenly hit Choi Yeon-Ha with such a pick-up line while carrying that kind of face!

Choi Yeon-Ha knew better than anyone the power of one's good looks thanks to the unique traits of her profession. Even so, Kang Jin-Ho's face practically verged on fraud. Fraudulently good-looking, that was! And it was a cheat key, too. Any lesser man spouting such an immature line would've sent goosebumps of cringe down Choi Yeon-Ha's spine, but not Kang Jin-Ho.

That popular assertion about good looks covering for one's cringe comments seemed totally true in Kang Jin-Ho's case!

'This will make me look like a shallow half-wit...!'

Choi Yeon-Ha was 100% certain that her current behavior was not caused by Kang Jin-Ho's good looks. Of course, her morals forbade her from completely denying that possibility. Even then, she swore, with hand on heart, that his looks were definitely not the sole reason!

'What's wrong with me! I'm Choi Yeon-Ha, aren't I?!'

Choi Yeon-Ha was a top actress in the country. As such, it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that her co-stars were some of the most gorgeous people in the country, too. Since she was used to interacting with the country's best-looking people during film productions, a man's good looks alone shouldn't be enough to win her over. That wouldn't make much sense.

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Miss Yeon-Ha? What are you thinking about?”

“Eh? I'm sorry?”

“No, well... You were frowning, then smiling, then frowning again, so…”

“I, I was doing all of those?”

“Yes.”

“Y-you must be mistaken! I didn't do anything!”

“...Oh. Of course.” Kang Jin-Ho didn't argue and nodded away. But that was already too late. Choi Yeon-Ha's face was already as red as a human face could get.

'This... I definitely have a problem, don't I!'

She had it down bad, real bad! If the agency's managers or colleagues close to her saw her current state, they would've freaked out by now!

Wasn't Choi Yeon-Ha's 'concept' an aloof, proud woman? That was supposed to be the case, so why...!

Just where did she drop-kick the concept of aloof coolness to?! Even though she had been religiously maintaining that concept all her life!

To think she'd be writhing in shyness like a middle schooler experiencing her first crush! Her manager would start weeping in lamentation and unhappiness if he saw her now! And her colleagues maintaining similar concepts as her would either ridicule Choi Yeon-Ha or tell her to get her act together immediately!

Choi Yeon-Ha hid her face behind her hands. “I... I think... my mind isn't functioning right.”

“I'm sorry?”

“...Oh, maybe I shouldn't go with that?”

Calm down, Choi Yeon-Ha!

Was there a need to pretend as a loon to escape from her current embarrassing predicament? Calming down should take priority here.

'Okay! Take a deep breath first, and...'

“Miss Yeon-Ha? Are you alright?”

“Kkywaaaahk?!” Choi Yeon-Ha hurriedly picked up a pillow and threw it at Kang Jin-Ho's face.

Kang Jin-Ho easily caught the pillow and frowned slightly. “What are you doing?”

“D-don't stick your face close to mine without saying anything! You surprised me, you know!”

“Mm? I just wanted to see if you had a fever, that's all.”

“I, I don't have a fever! I'm fine! Really!”

“If you say so…”

That was when Choi Yeon-Ha knew she messed up. Kang Jin-Ho's current expression silently said, 'Did this woman finally lose all of her marbles?' Or, maybe it said, 'I guess she was mad, after all. Better stay away from her.'

If the genre of the... 'movie' she was in happened to be a romcom, her behavior would've been seen as adorable. Unfortunately for her, though, Kang Jin-Ho was waaay too serious as an actor to be a male lead in a romcom!

'Humor that doesn't match the genre will only turn off the audience, you know!'

And it'd only ruin the flow of the story, anyway!

Choi Yeon-Ha kept sighing and groaning. What on Earth was she doing right now?!

“I'm sorry, Mister Jin-Ho. It's just that I'm not... okay in my head yet.”

“No, I understand. That's why I'm here, after all,” Kang Jin-Ho replied emotionlessly.

Choi Yeon-Ha sighed again.

'Romcom, my foot...'

From the get-go, Choi Yeon-Ha was never fated to be in a honey-sweet relationship. Even if she had no say in choosing her life's genre, Choi Yeon-Ha thought she could've done better with the casting of the male lead, at least!

When Choi Yeon-Ha silently stared at him, Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head and asked her, “Is there something on my face?”

“...No. Did you take care of the matter you told me about last time?”

“Yes. It's been… ‘cleanly’ handled.”

“Hnnng…” Choi Yeon-Ha slowly nodded. “I see. Glad to hear that. In that case, you should go home, Mister Jin-Ho.”

“Sorry? But I only just got here.”

“It's already late at night, you know,” said Choi Yeon-Ha.

“Didn't you ask me to stop by at night because you found it scary to be alone?” Kang Jin-Ho blinked his eyes in confusion.

“Oh? Because I said that, were you honestly thinking of spending the night in an unmarried adult woman's room? Please remember that we have nurses working overnight, Mister Jin-Ho. Any unsavory scandal will ruin my career, you know!”

“That... wasn't my intention.“

Choi Yeon-Ha grinned softly. “That's why it's okay for you to go home, Mister Jin-Ho. Besides, it'd be a problem if you went home too late, wouldn't it? And the visiting hours ended a while ago, too. Unless you're my guardian, you aren't allowed to stay.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. Well, if she insists...

“In that case, I will be on my way.”

“Okay. And you don't have to come tomorrow. I'm scheduled to be discharged the day after, you see?”

“I see. Well, then.” Kang Jin-Ho waved his hand and left the room.

Choi Yeon-Ha waved her hand back until the door closed behind Kang Jin-Ho. Then, she silently lay down and stared at the ceiling.

'I... I think I'm definitely not right in my head.'

Only a few seconds ago, Choi Yeon-Ha acted like a little girl and daydreamed nonsense just because Kang Jin-Ho came to see her. However, now that he was gone... Her moods had swung the other way, and she felt weird again.

Maybe... Kang Jin-Ho was the type who couldn't abandon an acquaintance behind in danger. And Choi Yeon-Ha happened to be that acquaintance the last time. Didn't Kang Jin-Ho already say it? That he was only here out of guilt for putting her through that ordeal in the first place?

When her thoughts arrived at that point, melancholy washed over her. Her improved moods instantly plunged back to being gloomy before the cycle repeated itself again and again.

Choi Yeon-Ha objectively assessed herself and admitted that her condition was not good. No, make that 'quite concerning', instead.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

'I'm in trouble.'

Choi Yeon-Ha sat up and hugged her knees.

Would she be able to return to acting in this state? One of the most important aspects of her profession was controlling one's emotional state, after all.

Choi Yeon-Ha turned her head and stared out the window again. The darkness dominating the view outside felt like a monster pouncing on her. She tightly gripped her duvet before burying her face between her knees.

'...Pull yourself together, Choi Yeon-Ha!'

She wasn't scared about being out of sorts. Choi Yeon-Ha knew that being unaffected after surviving such a terrifying ordeal was too unrealistic, to begin with. What made her scared–what made her worried–was something else.

Choi Yeon-Ha was worried about how long this unexplainable fear and the uncontrollable mood swings would continue. Her discharge was practically around the corner, but she had shown no signs of improvement yet. And that was what scared her. What if she couldn't act anymore? The thought of being unable to continue her 'normal' life was scaring her to bits.

And also...

'I don't want to go back home...'

Choi Yeon-Ha felt lonely and abandoned in this hospital full of nurses and other patients. Imagine how much lonelier–and scarier–it would be to live in that spacious place by herself.

The night seemed too long and too dark. Choi Yeon-Ha sighed, then pressed the 'call nurse' buzzer next to the bed.

A short while later, a nurse knocked on the door and stepped into the room. “Did you call for a nurse, Miss Choi?”

“Yes. I'm sorry, but... Can you give me something to help me sleep?”

“Something to help you sleep...?” The nurse looked troubled by Choi Yeon-Ha's request. “I'm sorry, ma'am. But, any additional drugs will be difficult to prescribe at this stage…”

“I can't sleep, you see. And I feel... too anxious.”

“I see. Can you wait for a little while? I'll contact the physician in charge of your care and ask for permission.”

“Thank you.”

Choi Yeon-Ha sighed under her breath while watching the nurse bow her head and leave the room.

***

Click...

Kang Jin-Ho wordlessly lit his cigarette and sucked in a lungful of smoke.

'I've been too indifferent, haven't I?'

Everything had an order of priority. However, people would forget that fact when anger blinds them. Kang Jin-Ho admitted that he hadn't been thinking rationally after letting his rage get the better of him.

Getting revenge shouldn't have been his priority. Revenge was merely a way to vent his emotions, after all.

The only profit from getting his revenge was a triumphant feeling and not much else. As such, Kang Jin-Ho shouldn't have focused on revenge but on ensuring the safety and health of the people around him first.

Kang Jin-Ho sat on the bench, quietly puffing away. He waited for the darkness of the night to grow deeper. His eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness like a pair of stars.

***

A short while later...

'Well, then. Should I get started?'

Once he judged that the hour had gotten late enough, Kang Jin-Ho slowly got up from the bench. He stubbed the cigarette out on a nearby ashtray, then turned his head to stare at the tall hospital building.

“Hmm…”

Black smoke-like something leaked out of Kang Jin-Ho's body before enveloping him, turning him pitch-black. After perfectly assimilating into the darkness, Kang Jin-Ho silently approached the hospital.

'Whenever I have to do this, I don't feel so good...'

Kang Jin-Ho didn't have much choice but to learn this 'Shadowwalk' technique back in Zhongyuan. After all, he was labeled as gangho's number one enemy, and the entire murim chased after him constantly back then. No matter how strong he was, fighting off every single pursuer was impossible, so learning a technique to hide his presence became an absolute must for his survival.

Someone once told Kang Jin-Ho that learning as much as the world had to offer could come in handy one day. To think what he learned back then to survive would help him out this way in the current era...

If he was being honest here, it even felt like this technique was far more helpful to him in the modern era, too. Of course, it meant he had to feel like a cat burglar every time he used the technique, but still.

After approaching the hospital's wall, Kang Jin-Ho relied on the 'Art of Wall Climbing' to rapidly climb the building. He speedily went up the smooth wall as if his hands had suction cups.

'...Should I buy a red-and-blue spandex just in case?'

Kang Jin-Ho arrived at the rooftop in the blink of an eye, then scanned his vicinity.

'Where was her room, again?'

It wasn't easy to locate the windows to Choi Yeon-Ha's room. Kang Jin-Ho had to waste quite some time hovering around different windows before finally locating the ones he had been searching for.

When he cautiously peeked inside, he saw the figure of sleeping Choi Yeon-Ha.

'Good. She's asleep.'

That would make his job a little easier. Kang Jin-Ho reached toward the lock in the center of the window panel.

'Carefully now...'

Kang Jin-Ho slowly injected his essence qi through the window with his fingertips. When he carefully slid his fingers down the glass's surface, the lock clicked softly and came undone. However, he frowned slightly after silently opening the window all the way.

'It's pretty narrow...'

He did expect something like this to happen, but still. The window was smaller than he'd have liked. Was it because this was the top floor? Or maybe the entire hospital was built this way? Regardless of what the actual reason was, though, it wouldn't have mattered, anyway. Not even a little child could slip through this small opening.

Crack, crack...!

Suddenly, the sounds of bones cracking came from Kang Jin-Ho's body before it started shrinking rapidly. Soon, his body became as malleable as an octopus's, allowing him to slip through the opening without any further obstruction. Once his feet touched the ground, Kang Jin-Ho changed himself back.

'Using the Art of Shrinking Bones still makes me feel crappy...'

The feeling of his body shrinking before transforming back to normal was indescribably terrible, no matter how many times he had performed it.

Having successfully infiltrated the hospital room on the top floor in the proverbial blink of an eye, Kang Jin-Ho carefully scanned Choi Yeon-Ha on the bed. She was sleeping quietly, her breathing soft and nearly inaudible.

One of Kang Jin-Ho's 'specialties' was eliminating the turbid energy in a person's brain. Although he couldn't guarantee that Choi Yeon-Ha's condition would improve dramatically from this treatment...

'Still, it should help her somewhat.'

Kang Jin-Ho steeled his resolve and cautiously approached Choi Yeon-Ha's bedside. But, just as he reached out to poke at Choi Yeon-Ha's pressure point...

“...Ah.”

Even though she seemed asleep, Choi Yeon-Ha suddenly opened her eyes.