As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing that came into view was a pure white ceiling. I rolled my eyes to the side, and it was a place I didn't remember. There were about seven other beds besides the one I was lying on, and the entire room was white. Next to me, there was a hanging sap dripping liquid, and someone must have been guarding me, because my outerwear and bag were placed on the extra chair.
After rolling my eyes and blinking blankly for a while, I finally came to my senses.
Oh, this is the hospital room.
uh...
Am I getting in trouble?
"He's so fearless! He can't live, really!"
And as expected, she got scolded by her mother. Sayu climbed a tree without fear and fell.
Oh, I remember. I was playing basketball with the kids at school and the ball got stuck in a tree. I climbed the tree and boasted that I would get it out.
Actually, I didn't plan on climbing up myself, but my friend's "Wait?" made me angry, so I climbed up without looking back, and I successfully climbed up the tree and managed to get the basketball out. But if I had come down safely, I wouldn't be lying here right now.
I was walking down the fence looking at a black cat, when I twisted my ankle and fell from the tree. And I don't remember anything after that.
Yeah, that cat was pretty cute. I thought that Nero, with his jet-black fur and green eyes, looked a lot like my junior in the club, so I was looking somewhere else instead of concentrating on getting down from the tree.
Fortunately, he ended up with only abrasions and a slight concussion. He said that the impact was mitigated by getting caught on a branch while falling. It was a miracle that he didn't break any bones.
I decided to stay in the hospital for a few more days to observe the progress. I thought it was because I hit my head hard, but I nodded obediently as I was told to press the call bell immediately if I felt dizzy or had any nausea or other symptoms. I usually listen to the doctors and nurses, so there’s nothing wrong with that.
When I looked at the time, it was quite late in the evening. Since I couldn’t wake up, it seemed like my school friends hadn’t come to visit me. After my parents and younger sibling left and I closed the curtains, I went back to bed. And as expected, the hospital food was tasteless. The soup and side dishes were all bland. Of course. Patient food is usually low-salt food.
"Ah, I want to eat cold noodles."
When I get discharged, I should take Do Eun-ho to Myeonok and eat a bowl of Pyongyang Naengmyeon. It's getting warmer, so it's perfect.
But there's a very high chance that he'll ask to eat clam kalguksu. It's like he was a sea otter who couldn't crack open clams in his past life and got reincarnated into the human world with the determination to 'eat as many clams as I can in my next life!' He was really crazy about clam kalguksu.
It's summer, and you're eating so much hot food. Isn't it hot? Of course, if Eunho was next to me, I would have said things like, "This is so hot, this soup is so refreshing and amazing," but unfortunately, he wasn't next to me.
I had to drag her out to eat cold noodles, mentioning that I was sick. I giggled and fell asleep.
'You should sprinkle chili powder on your naengmyeon and eat it... Oh, by the way, I heard that tteokbokki tastes better with chili powder rather than chili paste. Oh, the so-tteok-so-tteok at the snack bar near my school is delicious. But so-tteok-so-tteok is sausage and rice cake. Then, can't a hot dog be so-ppang-so-ppang?'
I closed my eyes and let my thoughts wander, and as usual, I fell into a deep sleep.
And I had a dream. I was running, dancing, and singing in a cyberpunk city that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. I was very fast in the dream. Wherever I ran, there was a neon afterimage, and it made me feel like I was moving at the speed of light.
Under the dark sky, the lights of buildings and streetlights illuminated the city as if they were the sun. Cars and subways passed quickly, scattering light and wind, and I ran wildly between them as if I had completely forgotten the danger. I sat down between the railroad tracks where the train passed quickly and sang, or lay down and looked into the dark sky to find stars that had been swallowed up by the city's neon signs and disappeared, and ran between buildings as if I was a parkour athlete, or danced and leisurely passed through the middle of the road.
I was like a confident national representative who threw himself into the arena of freedom without any consideration. As I let go of the constraints of common sense and moved my body as I wanted, my heart swelled and a sense of liberation burst from deep within my chest, and my mind felt incredibly refreshed. As I took the last step and spun around, the air split open like a broken computer screen in front of me, and something fell down with a clatter.
What is that? A coin? I tilted my head in puzzlement and picked it up.
'HELLO'
I woke up from my dream. Unlike the dream world where only fluorescent lights illuminated the darkness, bright sunlight tickled my eyes.
My first morning at the hospital was about as uneventful as anyone could have imagined. I ate bland food, took some prescribed antibiotics, took a nap, and played with my phone.
I lay on my side and lightly tapped my dressing on my forearm. The lacerated wound will take about ten days to be stitched up, so I shouldn't move around or exert too much force. Of course, I should refrain from exercising. Does that mean I can't play the guitar for a while? I think it'll be okay if I play it gently... I'll have to ask later.
It won't scar, right? If I have a scar on my arm, it'll show when I wear short sleeves in the summer. When it's all healed, I'll have to buy some scar ointment. Should I buy Macasol? Hmm, I'll just ask the pharmacist what I should put on it.
While I was munching on the jjeon-ddeok (Korean rice cake) my parents gave me as a snack and listening to music with my wireless earphones, someone's face suddenly appeared in the space between me and my phone.
"Chae Bong-gu!"
I was so startled that I almost screamed, thinking I could hear my heart pounding, but I managed to suppress my scream, realizing that this was a hospital room shared with eight people.
"Are you surprised, bro?"
The one who was giggling was Do Eun-ho. He couldn't hear the sound coming because he was listening to music with noise-cancelling on. Eun-ho was giggling as he pulled back the curtains at my seat. As soon as the realization that it was Eun-ho who surprised me struck my mind, I narrowed my eyes and took the earphones out of my ears.
I wanted to give him a slap on the back, but I couldn't do that because one arm was receiving an IV and the other arm was stitched up.
Following that, Noah and Yejun came in waving their hands, and Hamin came in last and was closing the door to the hospital room. Yejun asked me how I was doing in an affectionate tone.
"Are you feeling better?"
"Looking at your glaring eyes, you seem fine, if not healthy."
"You keep quiet. As you can see, it's fine, except for a little tear."
He waved one of his arms, which was dressed, to show that he wasn't hurt too badly. Noah, who was chuckling at our banter, put the box he was holding, saying that it was a gift that we all saved up and bought, on the desk next to the bed.
"I'm glad you weren't hurt too badly."
Oh, a full set of bottled drinks. This is a national rule for hospital visit gifts.
Since I was already sick of the tasteless hospital food, I took a bite of the leftover rice cake and took out a glass of orange juice.
"Thank you. Thank you very much."
"Swallow and speak."
As soon as I took the juice bottle out of the box, Eunho naturally took the orange juice from my hand, opened the plastic packaging, opened the cap, and put it back in my hand.
I said a light 'thank you' and drank the juice. It was lukewarm, but for me, who had been eating only bland rice all day, it was a stimulating sweetness that seemed like it would send my blood sugar spikes very quickly.
While we were slurping down the juice, Yejun, who was looking around, whispered to us in a small voice.
"It's a nuisance to be talking in a shared room, so why don't we go to the break room?"
"good idea."
"approval."
As my brother said, it was impolite to talk in the shared hospital room. I put the empty juice bottle on the IV holder and dragged it out. Eunho stared at the IV holder I was dragging and asked me if he had any questions.
"But do I need to get a ringer for trauma?"
"I don't know. They just left it alone."
"I heard somewhere that if you don't get IVs, you won't be admitted to the hospital."
"aha."
Eunho's curiosity was solved by Hamin.
As I was walking down the hallway, chatting in a low voice, I soon arrived at the break room. There were books on the bookshelf, and there were chairs and tables. I had no intention of coming out except when I finished eating and returned my tray, so I was surprised at how neat and tidy the break room was.
"This is my first time in the break room."
"So what did you do all day? Aren't you frustrated?"
"I watched Youtube while eating bean sprouts in my hospital bed."
As I said this while putting the juice bottle in the recycling bin, Eunho tilted his head with a look of incomprehension. The guy with the Power E personality wouldn't understand, but I could stay in bed all day without going out.
We went to a place where there was a sofa on one side, a table in the middle, and chairs on the other side, and sat down together. I liked the sofa, so I quickly sat down on the sofa, and Noah hyung sat next to me. Yejun hyung and Eunho sat on the chairs across from me, but one of them was not visible. Of course, I could find them in an instant by turning my head to the side.
Ha Min-i was looking at me from a distance with a blank expression, as if she had some kind of complaint.