Chapter 59: In the Hospital Room (6)

“This is a leaflet with precautions, and this is…”

Around mid-morning the next day, I was going through the discharge process as the doctor had told me, listening to various explanations.

“…So, if your condition gets worse again, you need to come straight back, okay? Got it?”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

It was quite a long explanation, but considering I had been bleeding over 50 times a day without exaggeration, it couldn’t be helped.

Even I thought my condition was serious, so they were probably being so insistent.

With the nurse’s explanation etched in my mind, I moved towards the reception desk.

Moved, but…

“It’s 1,074,650 won. Will you be paying in installments?”

“Huh?”

For a moment, I made a strange noise, thinking I had misheard.

One… how much?

“Excuse me, how much did you say?”

“One million, seventy-four thousand, six hundred and fifty won.”

I listened again, carefully, word by word, but reality didn’t change.

Can such a reality even exist…?

As my vision threatened to turn completely white, I grabbed hold of a faintly visible thread of hope.

“Um… excuse me?”

“Yes?”

“Installments, um… does that work with a debit card, by any chance?”

“…? Installments only work with credit cards.”

Hope seemed to have been a mirage.

The receptionist looked at me with a cold expression, as if I was talking nonsense.

I awkwardly avoided her gaze, stammering.

“Ah… haha…. I guess so? Yes… just a moment.”

I quickly took my phone out of my pocket and launched the banking application.

Soon after, the balance of my account was displayed on the phone screen, and the remaining balance was

[ Go Su-yeong’s Account ★ ]

[ 1,090,530 won ]

[ Transfer ｜ Card Usage History ]

….

It was just enough to barely pay the hospital bill.

I sighed in relief and took my card out of my wallet, handing it to the receptionist.

“Here you go.”

“…Um, are you okay?”

“Yes?”

“You seem to be shivering… if your condition isn’t good, maybe you should be readmitted.”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. I’m fine.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

The receptionist processed the payment and returned the card along with the receipt.

The number 1,074,650 printed on the receipt felt like it was tightening around my heart.

“…Have a good day.”

I left the hospital with a commonplace greeting.

As I stepped out of the hospital doors, the outside air that I hadn’t felt in a while

“Ugh… aaaaack, I’m gonna dieㅡ”

Was cold.

It should be getting warmer since it was almost spring, but the cold hadn’t subsided yet.

“Let’s see… let’s see, a taxi… how much will the fare be?”

Huddling against the biting cold, I took out my phone.

I turned on the taxi-hailing app and calculated the fare to my house, and

“…It comes out to around 15,000 won.”

Coincidentally, the money I had left after paying the hospital bill was also around 15,000 won.

In a way, you could say the money was left over perfectly…

But if I took a taxi, I wouldn’t have any money left to eat.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have any food at home, but as you know, the things I could eat were extremely limited.

All I had at home were the usual things that single people eat, like rice, kimchi, eggs, spam, ramen, etc., all of which I couldn’t eat in my current condition.

In the end, if I wanted to eat something, I would have to order porridge, but considering the delivery fee, even 15,000 won was very tight.

“…Let’s take the subway.”

In the end, I chose to eat something rather than being comfortable.

After spending a week only on IV drips, I desperately wanted to eat even just porridge.

Huddling in the cold, I moved my feet.

“I’m homeㅡ”

“You’re back?”

“Huh?”

Having returned home after braving the cold, I was simply saying the customary greeting.

But… someone’s here?

Wondering what was going on, I went into my room and saw two people already sitting comfortably.

“Welcome back from the hospital.”

“You’ve worked hard, boss.”

“…What are you guys doing?”

I hadn’t heard they were coming?

No, in the first place, why are you guys opening the door and coming in so naturally?

Those thoughts ran through my head, but rather than that, I was puzzled because one person who should have been there if these two were here was missing, so I asked.

“Where’s Ara? Did only you two come?”

“No? She came with us.”

“Then where did Ara go?”

Since there was nowhere else to hide in the room, I turned around and looked outside the room.

Then, I suddenly realized that a smell that stimulated my nose and stomach was wafting through the air.

I headed towards the source of the smell, which was the kitchen, and Ara was standing in the kitchen wearing an apron.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, you’re back, boss? I was making some porridge.”

Perhaps because it was unexpected, I couldn’t give a proper reply and stood next to Ara.

In the pot was… probably tuna porridge, I thought, which was being cooked.

“You can cook too?”

At the question I blurted out without thinking, Ara made a slightly sulky expression and replied.

“Of course I can do this much. I’m the one who usually prepares meals at home.”

“No, what I mean is… from what I see on a regular basis, you give the impression that you’re not very good at things that require a lot of handiwork.”

I expressed my honest impression and asked again.

“But there wouldn’t have been any ingredients at home?”

“Of course, I went grocery shopping before coming.”

“Yeah, it would be great if you could check the spelling once before getting the video confirmed too.”

“Ah, really! Boss!!”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding, thank you.”

Leaving Ara in the kitchen to cook, I returned to the room and saw Bo-yeon lying down and rolling around, and Cha-in sitting roughly and resting.

“Ah, what is it! Why are you causing a fuss again.”

Ara was working hard to cook for me, but I felt annoyed that this b*tch was barging in and doing nothing, so I acted up for no reason.

“Move over there, so I can sit down too.”

“You could just say it, why do you have to cause a fuss?”

“Get over there.”

Complaining, Cha-in moved aside and I sat next to her, leaning my back against the wall.

The wall was incomparably harder than the hospital bed, but my heart felt incredibly soft.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been home….”

“Only a week?”

“About that? Six days.”

Leaning my back against the wall, I enjoyed being back home after a long time.

Was it because I was relieved, or because my body was tired?

I felt like I would fall asleep just like that, but the sound of someone ruining the mood woke me up.

“So, what did the doctor say?”

I wondered if she was only asking that now, but I didn’t even have the energy to argue.

“There’s nothing certain I can know right now, and I have to wait for the biopsy results in about a month.”

So, I gave a casual answer and closed my eyes again.

“Then do you have to go to the hospital regularly?”

“Not continuously, but I have to go once when the biopsy results come out.”

“That’s rough.”

As I was closing my eyes and vaguely replying to Cha-in’s words, I felt something on my thigh.

“…Bo-yeon?”

“Yeon.”

I opened my eyes slightly and looked down, and Yeon, who had moved at some point, was lying with her head on my lap.

“What are you doing?”

“Lap pillow.”

“…You’re the one doing it, not giving it?”

Even though I’m still a patient, it was absurd to see her receiving a lap pillow from the patient instead of giving one.

But because of Yeon’s expression, as if she had somehow accomplished something, I couldn’t scold her any further.

Oh well, whatever.

Stroking Yeon’s hair as she lay on my lap, I thought it was the usual scene.

Yes.

Just like always

I was feeling an ordinary daily life.

And to me, who had returned from the hospital, that ordinary daily life, which was just boring and uneventful

Felt so special.

“This is nice.”

“You’re stroking the head of someone who’s 5 years younger than you?”

“That b*stard always has to ruin the mood.”

I glared at Cha-in, who always ruined the mood, and looked down again, and Yeon seemed to have moved slightly away from me.

…It’s not, right? I’m just imagining it, right?

As I was feeling uneasy, Ara came into the room with a pot in her hand.

“Can someone spread out the table a bit?”

“Okay.”

“Yeon, go to the kitchen and get the dishes and spoons.”

“…Too lazy.”

“Go get them.”

“Okay….”

A scene I hadn’t seen in a while.

Watching them divide the roles and set up the table without me even saying anything, I had that thought.

How much have these guys drunk at our house to know the location of our dishes and everything?

“…I should drink less in the future.”

“Huh?? Why?!”

“Why do you ask, I was hospitalized with intestinal bleeding, if I still drink after that, am I even human?”

“I guess that’s true…”

Yeon seemed quite dejected after hearing me say I should drink less.

“Bo-yeon.”

“Yeon, it’s okay, don’t worry. It’s her who needs to drink less, not us, right?”

“Oh.”

“What do you mean oh, you little sh*t, do you have to come to our house and drink so much??”

“Can’t help it.”

“Try to hold back a bit, you b*stard…”

“Can’t help it.”

“…Yeon, you should hold back a bit too.”

“Hey, b*tch, you’re only swearing at me.”

“Am I supposed to swear at the kid?”

Watching us bickering again, Ara, who was diligently setting the table by herself, said a word to us.

“Whether you can help it or not, hurry up and eat the tuna porridge before it gets cold, everyone.”

Hearing Ara’s words, the three of us stared at Ara with expressions of extreme disgust.

“Huh? What, what is it? Why are you looking at me like that??”

“Wow… can’t help it… tuna porridge….”

“What a f*cking dad joke….”

“Boomer.”

“No, I wasn’t making a joke?!”

Like that

I returned to a day that was so ordinary.

“Hey, can you lend me some money? I don’t have any living expenses after paying the hospital bill.”

“F*ck, seriously.”