Chapter 52

[Connection failed, switching to sound source]

“Ha… why the hell isn’t he answering the phone!”

Seonoel threw the useless phone onto the ground.

It had already been an hour since their mother entered the operating room, and there was still no word from their brother Semaaru.

“What the hell… what the hell…”

This Friday in March was just another ordinary day for Semaaru, Seoyuna, and Seonoel himself.

Perhaps because it was Friday, even during lunchtime, there were a lot of deliveries being requested, and No-Eul thought he was lucky.

He decided to gather the family for a long-awaited dinner of yawabani, which Yuna loved, thinking that today shouldn’t turn out too badly.

Of course, no matter how much he earned, it was nothing compared to the money Semaaru brought in after half a day’s work, but someone had to stay by their mother’s side and take care of her all day.

There was no job better suited for in-and-out visits than delivery work.

Perhaps their mother could eat if they ground the meat up finely enough.

“Mom, I’m here! How about yawabani for dinner? Mom…? MOM!!!”

Their mother’s belly was swollen like that of a pregnant woman, looking as though it could burst at any moment. Her complexion had turned an unsettling shade of green, almost to the point where it seemed impossible that red blood was flowing beneath her skin.

Seonoel still couldn’t shake off the agonizing thirty minutes that replayed in his mind.

It was an extremely rare symptom that appeared in patients at the final stages of multiple sclerosis.

If even the doctor hadn’t conveyed that it was multiple sclerosis, he would have surely misunderstood it as an intestinal obstruction.

“Corticosteroid administration has temporarily prevented acute relapse, but we cannot guarantee when or how the disease will strike next.”

A disease that was fundamentally impossible to cure didn’t require extensive surgery.

But Seonoel couldn’t curse the doctors and nurses who only managed to keep his mother barely alive in front of their faces.

After all, they were the ones who had saved her.

He turned away from his mother, who had several IV needles inserted in her.

“How long… how much longer can my mother live?”

“We cannot know that either. It could be three days, a month, or maybe even a year.

But as a doctor, I can say with certainty it won’t be more than that… so it would be best for the family to prepare yourselves mentally in advance.”

“A year… just a year?”

“Due to the long-term medication, the patient has developed severe steroid resistance, and more than that would be a lethal dose.

When you come to the hospital again for the next time, we cannot guarantee anything.”

Seonoel felt as though his heart had dropped.

He hadn’t even been able to repay his mother before she could go so emptily.

Moreover, Yuna was only now eight years old; she was far too young.

At an age when a child desperately craved their parents’ love, he didn’t have the confidence to pour that much affection into her.

“A year…?”

“Seoyuna? How did you arrive here at the hospital so quickly?”

“Mom can only live a year? Why…? Why did this happen to our mom? Waaah!”

“Yuna, calm down.”

“I can’t live without mom! Mom, please wake up. I’m begging you. I swear I’ll listen to you every day and study hard, so please look after me!”

“Mom needs to rest now, so let’s talk outside…”

“Waaah!”

Seeing Yuna’s disheveled state, it didn’t seem like she had walked here.

After all, using her transport card, which only supported specific lines, meant she had to walk far after getting off at the last station to reach the hospital.

It seemed improbable that she had arrived promptly after reading a note at home.

“Who brought you to the hospital?”

“Uhh… Hyung did. Is that important right now?”

“Just making sure you didn’t ask some strange person!”

“Namae… Namae called a taxi for me. My friend…”

“A friend? How did your friend know to pick you up?”

“I was at home… I went home with Namae, but no one was there. Uhh… But I read your note and came right away.”

It was only then that Seonoel could spot a child in the waiting room wearing the same uniform as Yuna.

Was it Namae?

Seonoel recognized the name.

There was a day when Haru had lamented that a transfer student at their academy had scored first in the aptitude test, which made him feel uneasy.

‘Could it be that child?’

It was incredible how someone’s eyes could lack any gleam. No-Eul evaluated Namae’s first impression that way.

It was as if she lived in a world with a black-and-white camera filter.

Rather than being dreary, it was more appropriate to say she was profound.

** * **

“Hey, do you like Sikhye?”

Yuna’s brother sat down next to me and brought a canned drink from the vending machine.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. I owe you more.”

“What about Yuna?”

“She didn’t want to leave mom’s side, so I set up a makeshift bed for her. She’s probably sleeping by now. If you can’t open it, give it to me; I’ll do it.”

There was a crisp sound, but it was quickly drowned out by the chaos of the emergency room.

Those who have been to an emergency room know that it can be summed up as orderly chaos.

Sometimes screams and shouts could be heard, but they were quickly subdued by hospital staff, forcing everyone to hold their breath and suppress their emotions.

It was the same for Seonoel, Yuna’s brother.

The Sikhye was refreshing, but not very sweet.

“Thank you so much. My hyung hasn’t been picking up his phone, so I was worried about how to bring Yuna here.

Honestly, I was considering just telling her to stay put at home, but knowing my sister, I figured she wouldn’t listen and come anyway.”

He explained why he left the note.

“How is your mother doing?”

“Haa, I don’t know… She’s never been this sick before. I just don’t know, I really don’t know anything…”

“You must be really heartbroken.”

What feelings were underlying his words? Resignation? Regret?

“Yuna was trying to walk all the way to the hospital.”

“Walk? I’m sure I gave her a transport card.”

“There was no balance left.”

“That’s why you should have charged it in advance when Maru-hyung gives you pocket money… She must have had a tough time walking back and forth from school. She probably had to walk uphill too.”

Seonoel scolded his younger sibling.

Does this person really not know anything about his sister?

“You said her name was Namae, right? How is she doing at the academy? Is she getting along well?”

“What does Yuna say?”

“She says she enjoys going to school every day. The teachers are nice, there are many friends, and learning magic is fun. Sometimes she seems to struggle and cries under her blanket when studying, but overall I think she’s satisfied with her grades.”

“…”

“By the way, Namae, she mentioned you. You scored first in the second-year aptitude test, right? Please take care of our Yuna as well.”

I unconsciously tightened my grip on the can in my hand.

The empty can crushes easily, even with my weak grip.

“Yuna has never taken the bus to the academy.”

Seoyuna… she was wearing a mask not just at school but also at home.

Neither school nor home had served as her sanctuary.

It was heartbreaking to think about how such a young child had spent a whole year.

“To save 2,100 won a day, she made a round trip distance of an hour and a half, climbing up and down 519 stairs.”

“She walked every day…?”

“Yes? Has she said she has many friends? Well, she couldn’t speak much, at least not except during class.”

“…”

“From the moment she arrived at school to when she left, she didn’t say a word and just sat there studying.

There have been several times she’s thrown up in the school bathroom after lunch.

But do you really think Yuna has been adapting well to the academy?”

During the potion incident, I had to put my fingers into her mouth to check the parameters of the magic circle, and I discovered her oral acidity was too low.

I could see that the gastric acid secreted from above had reached her esophagus, causing inflammatory damage.

Considering that she often vomited in the restroom, there was a high likelihood of stress-induced gastroesophageal reflux disease.

“Yuna felt deeply hurt when you all kept something from her.

Even if it was for her well-being.

Not letting her know and not trying to know about her is something I see as wrong.”

I understood that her brothers were trying their best to revive their family by risking their lives.

But to only hand over a few bucks each time while showing no interest in their sister until she reached this point was…

It was clearly a misstep.

It aligned perfectly with the reason why this Sikhye wasn’t sweet at all.

The food and drinks supplied to the hospital were all made with the intention of minimizing sugar and salt for the sake of the patients.

But those who drank it obliviously would think the product was simply defective.

Although it may have felt like a good intention for Yuna, the pain she endured was definitely not trivial.

If things continued like this, Yuna would have eyes but see nothing, ears but hear nothing, spending meaningless time endlessly.

“Haaa…”

Seonoel sighed as he rubbed his head.

Even though Yuna’s younger brother was a pillar supporting the family like his older brother, he still looked very young to me.

At the most, he looked to be around seventeen or eighteen.

Too young to be responsible for the family and the future.

His brother, just a year older, had likely just reached adulthood.

Happy families share similar reasons for their happiness, but unhappy families each have their own reasons for their misfortune.

And that misfortune might not necessarily stem from anyone’s fault.

Unless someone cuts the chain of misfortune, they couldn’t escape the wheel of the vicious cycle.

“Yuna really loves her brothers and is proud of them.”

“I didn’t know Yuna would struggle so much… I just thought of her as a child who was a bit demanding. She had been sending signals all along, and I didn’t even recognize it…”

“So please don’t blame yourself.”

Even though he was immature, Yuna couldn’t possibly lack that kind of understanding.

“Did she say she wanted to be a basketball player?”

“Did Yuna say something like that? I didn’t have much talent anyway, so I could never become a basketball player. It’s just mental victory for me. I just make excuses about my lack of talent due to our family situation.”

“Yuna still supports that dream.”

“Enough. As long as Yuna is attending the academy, I have to stay at home. Who knows how much longer mom will live? I have to do well while she’s still around… while she’s still here…”

To care for their mother, who was almost in a vegetative state below the neck, he lamented that a guardian should always be there.

Especially to prevent bedsores, it was crucial to turn the body at least once every two hours.

“Do we know what the diagnosis is?”

“It’s multiple sclerosis.”

Multiple sclerosis was a disease I was quite familiar with through my research at the Magic Tower.

According to my memories from the previous world, when the erosion of [Sloth] begins, the ‘Medusa’ phenomenon is observed extensively across the world first.

Plants wither away, and animals and humans become stiff and rigid.

Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

It was practically impossible for a human who couldn’t even understand their own body to prevent the unknown erosion.

That’s why humans excluded the contaminated and sometimes even exterminated them.

Similar to how protagonists in apocalyptic movies kill zombies without any remorse.

“How did the doctor prescribe it?”

“Huh? I think he mentioned something about steroid something. Why?”

“Corticosteroids. They can hasten recovery times, but they have no impact on the degree of recovery. Can I visit your mother’s hospital room?”