Chapter 53: Don’t Die

Bodam, who had vomited blood, couldn’t properly focus his eyes.

His head was spinning, his eyelids kept drooping, and his ears stung.

Some loud-mouthed brute was holding him close and yelling at the top of his lungs.

The words piercing his muffled ears were mostly curses.

The rest was his name.

“Sh…ut… up…”

At Bodam’s faint whisper, uttered with difficulty, the madly barking shouts died down.

The voice, miraculously quiet in an instant, roused his dizzy body.

Yoon Bodam. Yoon Bodam. Yoon Bodam.

When he frowned at the annoying repetition of his name, this time, the man hugged him tightly, exhaling anxious breaths like a dog needing to relieve itself.

Bodam, his consciousness hazy, had no strength to discern who was holding him.

He simply lay limply in the arms of the man who kept repeating “Yoon Bodam” in a voice close to a whisper.

Faintly, an apology seemed to be mixed in among the familiar name.

The sound was so small that he wondered if he had misheard.

Puk-puk.

His lips, wet with red blood, moved silently.

Then the man incessantly rubbed Bodam’s trembling, thin shoulders, bringing his ear close to Bodam’s lips.

Bodam shivered as if he had been driven out naked in winter.

His body temperature kept dropping.

His limbs trembled and felt cold to the point of numbness.

No, they also felt hot.

His chaotic senses were completely out of control.

In the fragmented moments of consciousness, Bodam’s last memory was still of being on the train.

‘Was the train originally this cold and hot?’

‘I definitely paid good money for a first-class seat, so why am I sitting on a man’s lap?’

Muttering with damp lips in a dazed, dream-like state, Bodam coughed lightly again.

“Hhh…”

Pretending to cough, a lump of blood welled up from his throat, tasting awful.

Bodam, whose already flowing tears intensified, burst into sobs, unable to spit out the blood pooling in his mouth.

His stiff body wouldn’t move as he wished.

“Ugh—”

His lips, unable to stand the metallic smell of blood and retching, suddenly opened.

The man who had been acting as his seat pushed his way into Bodam’s twitching lips.

Bodam, without even the strength to wiggle a finger, couldn’t resist the stranger invading his mouth.

A hot tongue swept and licked every corner of his mouth.

Only then could he breathe through his mouth.

After the lips, which had plunged in as if to lick his Adam’s apple, retreated, cool water entered.

When Bodam couldn’t drink and spat it out, the man cupped his hand under Bodam’s chin to catch the expelled water.

He rinsed his mouth several more times, drinking and spitting like a newborn baby.

“Haa…”

Once even the nauseating, fishy smell disappeared, he could breathe freely.

As Bodam exhaled deeply, the man also exhaled with him.

Then, he clutched Bodam’s body so tightly that his newly opened airway almost squeezed shut.

Again, the annoying sound of “Yoon Bodam” continued.

‘I know my own name.’

Bodam, wondering if the train was quiet because there were few people in the special cabin, just breathed for a moment.

It was too hard to keep his eyes open, and when he tried to close them, his seat swayed.

Even though it was comfortable, thanks to the rock-solid, thick belt holding him securely, the man kept annoyingly rubbing his shoulder and talking to him.

‘If this is how it’s going to be, I should have booked a regular seat.’

Bodam, chewing on his regrets with a vacant, unfocused face, again circled back to his last memory.

On the train, where he had held only excitement, he searched for the object that had captured his full attention right before he lost consciousness.

‘I need to eat it quickly before it gets cold.’

“Guk…”

“What? Yoon Bodam. What are you saying?”

Lee Tae Hwan, whispering in a low voice mixed with a lot of air, asked.

He hunched his wide shoulders, hugging the incessantly trembling body.

He brought his ear close to Bodam’s lips, which moved with difficulty to speak.

Sweat poured down Tae Hwan’s entire body.

“Gu…”

“Gu? Ambulance? This is the Medical Center. I called a doctor. They’ll be here soon.”

“Ha…”

Even when Tae Hwan leaned his face in, trying to meet Bodam’s eyes, Bodam’s unfocused gaze was fixed on the blank wall.

Tae Hwan felt like dying, worried that something might go wrong.

He wondered if Bodam was turning into a fool from vomiting so much blood.

If such a small body had thrown up that much, he thought there might not be enough blood left inside.

Tae Hwan wasn’t in his right mind either.

“It’s okay. Yoon Bodam. It’s okay. Don’t worry.”

“My, guk…”

“Guk?” Tae Hwan repeated, straining every nerve to understand Bodam’s words.

His anxiety peaked at the sight of Bodam desperately trying to utter something, like a final will.

‘What if he closes his eyes after saying that? f*ck. Should I just cover his mouth?’

Fighting between the desire to hear and the aversion to hear, he ultimately just kept listening.

He didn’t even have the courage to cover those pale lips.

Gukhwappang.

Bodam, who had unconsciously grabbed Tae Hwan’s collar like a handle, finally uttered the desperate word.

His eyes closed right after Tae Hwan’s voice, asking “Gukhwappang?”

“Yoon Bodam!”

Tae Hwan, letting out a loud cry as Bodam’s eyelids slowly closed, lifted his pale chin.

He touched Bodam’s face, wet with tears and sweat, trying to wake him from his unconscious state.

Naturally, the utterly pale head, unresponsive to his call, slumped against his chest.

The researchers watching this all crouched down with horrified expressions.

All the researchers, including the Research Director, watched the bed, anticipating a rampage.

However, no reaction appeared.

“Yoon Bodam…! Ah… Yoon Bodam. Please.”

Lee Tae Hwan, in a panic and unable to even check his pulse, hugged the limp body even more violently.

Ever since he pulled Yoon Bodam, who was vomiting blood, off the bed and held him, his churning stomach felt like it would explode.

There was nothing he could do for Yoon Bodam, who couldn’t stop crying or even breathe properly.

He just held and held the convulsively trembling body, almost as if having a seizure himself.

Even though he wondered if his holding him was worsening his condition, he couldn’t let go.

He just kept desperately calling out his name, repeating apologies and the name ingrained in his head.

He hadn’t known Bodam was this sick.

He knew Bodam cried and collapsed alone somewhere, and bruised easily everywhere, but he had never seen him vomit blood before.

Lee Tae Hwan had never cared for anyone else in his life.

He grew up seeing people curse first when someone fell beside them.

It was an ignorant attitude that shouldn’t be used towards a Guide.

He shouldn’t have made excuses like, ‘What can I do? It’s already ingrained in me, goddammit.’

“Yoon Bodam. Don’t die. I… f*ck… I…”

‘I should have treated him better.’

‘I should have suppressed my temper and protected him from the start.’

“I was wrong…”

Not even a breath could be properly heard from the limp, thin body.

He hugged him even tighter, fearing he might disappear even while in his arms.

His expanding arm muscles, seemingly about to burst, trembled finely.

His lowered shoulders even heaved.

Like someone crying.

“Open your eyes, please.”

“Hmm. I don’t think he can open them right now.”

Tae Hwan, who was bent over, hugging Bodam so low he seemed about to touch the floor, suddenly lifted his head at an unfamiliar voice.

Team Leader Kim, whose eyes met Lee Tae Hwan’s, paused for a very brief moment, looking at his face.

Then he gently placed Guide Yoon’s wrist, which had been limp on the cold floor, onto his stomach.

Thankfully, his pulse was beating well.

“You startled me. I thought something terrible had happened.”

Team Leader Kim stood up and spoke to Seung Ho, who was standing right in front of him.

As soon as he arrived after getting the call, Esper Lee Tae Hwan was making crying noises, so he thought Guide Yoon had died.

His pale face was covered in red bloodstains, leaving no choice but to misunderstand.

“Put him down and get up.”

Seung Ho spoke to Tae Hwan, who was kneeling on the floor.

Tae Hwan, his eyes bloodshot with bursting veins, glared fiercely.

“Put him down. You’re preventing him from getting treatment.”

Seung Ho pointed out the hospital room door with his chin.

The medical team, thoroughly terrified by the S-class Esper’s violent aura, couldn’t enter the room.

Even the surrounding Barrier Espers couldn’t approach Tae Hwan recklessly.

They simply waited for Team Leader Han to arrive.

“If you’re here, you fu—”

Tae Hwan, glaring at the group of white coats hesitant outside the door, gritted his teeth.

He had been so focused on Yoon Bodam’s voice that he hadn’t noticed the doctors’ presence, even though he was waiting for them.

‘The kid is on the verge of life and death, and they just stood there watching from afar?’

Tae Hwan, springing up from the floor, walked towards the medical team as if to blow them away.

Of course, that’s how it seemed from the medical team’s perspective.

As the attending physician at the front of the group took a step back, Tae Hwan’s scowl became even more menacing.

It was as if he was threatening that their lives were already forfeit.

“I’m sorry… Ah, yes.”

The attending physician, who first offered an apology, squeezed his eyes shut then opened them.

Esper Lee Tae Hwan was holding the Guide who had vomited blood and pushing him forward.

He seemed to be telling them to examine him quickly.

“Yes, j-just a moment…”

The Guide-specialized doctor’s legs trembled in front of the S-class Esper.

No matter how experienced a veteran he was, he couldn’t maintain composure in front of an S-class Esper whose anger was so clearly visible.

His hands froze at Tae Hwan’s menacing expression, which, as rumored, looked like he could make someone disappear without a trace.

“Hey. Take him.”

Tae Hwan gestured with his chin to the tallest man among the medical staff and spoke.

The man quickly understood and spread his arms.

In that brief moment, Tae Hwan, who had used psychokinesis to grab the thick blanket that had fallen on the floor, meticulously wrapped it around Bodam’s body.

The man, surprised to see the blanket instantly wrap around the patient’s body as if by magic, carefully held Bodam.

His arms trembled at Esper Lee Tae Hwan’s quiet warning, which sounded as if from hell itself: ‘Drop him and you die.’

Tae Hwan, turning his reluctant feet, entrusted Bodam to the doctor.

He merely watched from the corner of his eye as they exited the room, taking Bodam with them.

It was clearly not good for the ailing Guide to have him so close.

“What is this.”

Tae Hwan, running his hands over his face, slowly walked towards the bed.

He felt like he’d be less tired if he demolished dozens of Gates by himself than he was now.

Tae Hwan was more exhausted than ever.

“Is that Kang Yi Jun?”

Tae Hwan asked, pointing to the bed.

The dark blue mass wrapped in barriers didn’t look like a person, much less Kang Yi Jun.

He would have barely recognized him if it weren’t for the black cloth used to control mental abilities.