Chapter 17: The Shape on Bed

‘At the very least, shouldn’t I get permission before coming?

Should I ask the driver to turn back to where we started, even now?’

His head grew complicated as he worried over this and that, and before he knew it, they were already near the Esper Association.

The taxi had been driving along the road for quite some time, but to So-won, it felt like only an instant had passed.

Unable to reach any proper conclusion, So-won found himself standing in front of the Association building.

So-won looked up at the massive Esper Association headquarters.

Most of the lights were off, but perhaps some people were working overtime, because here and there, lights glimmered like ornaments on a Christmas tree.

So-won slowly counted the floors.

The first floor, the second… the tenth.

As if by sheer coincidence, every light on the tenth floor was off, painted completely black.

So-won counted the floors once again.

Once more, the tenth floor—where Tae-woo’s private room should be—was dark, like the night sky.

Maybe I should go back after all.

So-won hesitated.

Judging by the lights being out, Tae-woo might not be there.

Or he might have barely dragged his exhausted body back from a gate and fallen asleep.

Yet contrary to his thoughts, his legs carried him straight into the Esper Association.

As if pulled along against his will, So-won had no choice but to follow his own steps inside.

The inside of the Association was quiet.

Only a few people were waiting at the information desk; everyone else seemed to have left, leaving the place empty.

Even so, it wasn’t as silent as Tae-woo’s house.

At least there were people.

At least there were sounds.

So-won walked through the vacant interior toward Tae-woo’s private room.

It was fortunate he had remembered the location from last time.

Arriving in front of Tae-woo’s private room, So-won came to an abrupt halt.

He had come all this way, but now that he was actually here, his mind went blank.

He couldn’t think of a single word to say if he were to see Tae-woo right now.

Just in case Tae-woo was inside, So-won tried to prepare some lines.

First, he would apologize for coming unannounced.

Then he would say that he thought guiding might be necessary…
No, none of it felt right.

In the end, So-won decided to knock without a plan.

Tae-woo might not come out at all, and if he did, surely his desperate brain would somehow squeeze out a decent excuse.

So-won took a deep breath and lifted his slender arm.

His fist hovered in the air for a moment, then carefully knocked on the door.

The hallway was so quiet that it felt like any sound from inside would be heard immediately.

So-won strained his ears.

He heard the sound of wind outside.

It seemed it had started raining, as the sound of heavy raindrops grew louder.

And from beyond the door, there came no sound at all.

So-won let out a hollow laugh.

He had come all this way late at night, only to come up empty-handed.

And now that it was raining, he would have to trudge home pathetically, soaked to the bone.

Just imagining himself spending a gloomy, damp night alone, trembling in fear as rain poured down, made his teeth chatter already.

Maybe I should go to my parents’ house tonight.

At least it was a relief that he had somewhere to return to besides Tae-woo’s place.

So-won turned around.

The moment he took a weak step forward, he thought he heard a small sound.

He stopped and listened, but all he could hear was the rain outside.

So-won tilted his head.

Is someone inside?

It might have just been his imagination.

Still, So-won decided to knock one more time.

The sound of raindrops striking the windows overlapped with his knock, as if keeping rhythm with the rain.

Yet again, no sound came from inside.

Of course not.

So-won smiled bitterly, scolding himself for harboring false hope.

Then he turned the doorknob.

It was a completely unconscious action, but the knob turned, and the door opened.

Having never expected it to actually open, So-won stared at the silently opening door in shock.

Through the crack, the interior was just as he had expected—dark, with the lights off.

So-won suddenly felt awkward, like a thief sneaking into an empty house.

Feeling guilty for opening the door without permission, he offered an apology to Tae-woo in his heart.

He was about to close the door immediately.

But then, the sound he had dismissed as imagination reached his ears again.

It sounded like breathing, or perhaps a groan filled with pain.

It was clearly coming from inside, through the slightly open door.

As So-won leaned closer, a faint smell of alcohol drifted out.

Don’t open it.

So-won’s instincts warned him.

But that warning reached his hand just a little too late.

Because his finger tapped the door with a soft tap, the door slowly slid open, fully revealing what lay inside.

“This is…”

It was a sight impossible to believe belonged to a private room he had visited not long ago.

A shattered sofa lay strewn across the floor at So-won’s feet.

It was the sofa where he had once fallen asleep leaning against Tae-woo’s arm.

In one corner of the room, a table and shelves had collapsed together in a tangled mess, and unidentified debris was scattered messily across the floor.

Even the solid concrete walls were caved in, as if struck by a heavy blunt weapon.

Finding an intact spot in the ruined room was difficult.

So-won’s gaze moved toward the bed by the window.

On top of it lay something pitch-black and massive.

From there leaked sounds that were like the cries of a beast, or the groans of a monster.

“Tae-woo…?”

So-won’s voice trembled.

Forcing his uncooperative legs to move, So-won stepped inside.

The shards of broken glass scattered across the floor were crushed under his feet, letting out sharp crunching sounds.

As he moved farther in, a strong stench of alcohol assaulted his nose.

So-won frowned and covered his mouth and nose with his hand.

Distracted by the overpowering smell, he failed to notice the wind that had slipped in from somewhere gently closing the door.

The door shut silently.

As the light that had been spilling in through the open doorway disappeared, darkness fell as though a curtain had been drawn over his vision.

Startled by the sudden dark, So-won flinched and turned back the way he had come.

But he couldn’t see anything.

Fear seized him.

Even the faint sound of raindrops tapping against the window terrified him.

So-won shrank in on himself, trembling in place for a long while.

But the tightly closed door did not open again on its own.

As time passed, his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness.

Even to So-won, who was still trembling pitifully, the outlines of nearby objects began to come into view.

Anxiously glancing around, he spotted a switch by the door and reached out toward it.

But, lacking the confidence that he wouldn’t run away upon seeing the room brightly lit, he hesitated and eventually withdrew his hand.

He steadied his breathing and took another step forward.

The closer he got to the bed, the more clearly he could see both the guiding devices surrounding it and the person lying on top.

What he had thought was some massive black shape was Tae-woo, his body wrapped entirely in guiding machinery.

Tae-woo was almost naked, yet the guiding devices covered his body without leaving any gaps, so it didn’t even register as nudity.

As So-won moved closer still, he caught a new scent—one he hadn’t noticed before, masked by the alcohol.

It smelled like blood.

Or perhaps like rot.

Once again, that strange sound reached his ears.

The noise he had been hearing all along was coming from Tae-woo’s throat.

His labored breaths were ragged.

Intermittent, beastlike groans escaped him without end.

The immense pain contained in those sounds reached So-won as well.

Though frightened by the noise, he couldn’t help worrying about Tae-woo.

Is he hurt…?

The image of Tae-woo bleeding endlessly flashed through his mind, and his heart dropped with a heavy thud.

So-won hurriedly checked Tae-woo’s condition.

With guiding devices attached everywhere, it was difficult to see any wounds clearly.

Fidgeting anxiously in the dark as he examined him more closely, So-won noticed something strange.

Tae-woo’s skin was dark—far darker than usual.

It was so black it looked as if it had been smeared with charcoal.

He couldn’t tell whether it looked that way because of the darkness, or because of the black machines encasing Tae-woo’s body.

Soon, So-won realized what it was.

Thunder crashed, and the rain intensified.

His heart pounded violently as his body stiffened.

The soft patter of rain suddenly felt terrifying.

Whenever rain slammed hard against the windows with a loud bang, So-won grew even more anxious, pressing his lips tightly together.

A sharp wind howled long and low, producing an eerie sound.

Something moved in the darkness.

It wasn’t Tae-woo moving.

He lay there on the bed, doing nothing but emitting sounds of agony.

And yet, strangely, his body writhed on its own.

So-won knew exactly what it was.

It was Tae-woo’s blood.

The blood drained coldly from his entire body.

Faced with the horrific scene filling his vision, So-won trembled in shock—and at the same time, felt confused.

For the past eight years, every time Tae-woo’s condition worsened, So-won had been drawn to the Esper Association as if pulled by force.

Yet even he had never seen Tae-woo like this before.

No matter how panicked he had been in the past, if Tae-woo’s state had been this severe, he would have noticed immediately.

Tae-woo’s eyes twitched.

“Lee So-won…?”

Unable to withstand the pain, Tae-woo had lost consciousness, only to awaken faintly when he realized that the pain was no longer there.

The agony that had devoured him had subsided.

In fact, he could even feel a warm sensation.

It was familiar.

Impossible as it was, it felt as though So-won were nearby.

That couldn’t be.

When he forced his eyes open, he saw So-won, on the verge of tears.

His face looked unbearably sorrowful.

It was an expression he had never seen before, but that small, delicate face was unmistakably his guide’s.

Tae-woo thought it was a hallucination.

A warning sent by his body that he needed a guide—nothing more than an illusion.

And yet, it was far too real.