Chapter 27
Is this also an effect of Awakening?
In less than half a day, I had become this indifferent toward watching other people die.
But maybe that was actually fortunate.
Because the world from now on would become a place where it would be difficult to survive unless you learned to be indifferent toward others.
Of course, that was something to worry about later.
For now, what we had to do was....
"Let's go home now."
"What? What about my arm?"
"I'll heal it later. Besides, didn't you say it didn't hurt that much?"
"You only say that because it's not your arm...."
Oppa raised his fist as if he were about to hit me, but his voice gradually faded.
His expression stiffened as he stared somewhere.
"...Kim Taeyoon?"
Oppa muttered so quietly that I wouldn't have heard him if I hadn't been standing right beside him, then suddenly rushed forward.
Kim Taeyoon?
Oppa ran over and spoke in a trembling voice.
"You're Kim Taeyoon, right?"
"Do you know him? I understand how you feel, but this person's condition is very serious. We need to get him to a hospital quickly...."
"Taeyoon, don't you recognize me?"
My steps toward Oppa gradually slowed.
The life force I could feel from Kim Taeyoon was steadily fading.
Maybe because he had lost so much blood, a blanket had been wrapped around his body. But even though it had only recently been placed over him, it was already turning red.
His condition was critical.
The skin visible between the folds of the blanket was stained purple in several places.
It looked like he had been poisoned.
If not for his faint breathing, I might have thought he was already dead.
So it ended up like this after all.
Because of me.
I had done this to him.
I had tried to comfort myself by saying that he died in the novel anyway, but that was nothing more than an excuse.
I had pushed him into a deadly situation.
And now, the result had come back to me exactly as it was.
Was it guilt that made my chest ache and tightened my throat?
Or was it regret?
I slowly reached my hand toward him.
[Skill, 'Healing Lv.3' is being used.]
[※Skill cannot be used due to 'Mana Exhaustion'.※]
Damn it....
Awakening hadn't helped.
Knowing the future hadn't helped.
Nothing had helped.
If I had at least had an Elixir, would the result have been different?
I wanted to save everyone.
I didn't want to lose even one person who was precious to me.
But in the end, I was the one who had used Kim Taeyoon as bait.
I couldn't deny that fact.
And I shouldn't deny it.
"Kim Jia.... You're a healer, aren't you? Right?"
At Oppa's words, as he grabbed my arm, I instinctively clenched my fist.
Oppa held tightly onto the edge of my clothes.
"You can heal Taeyoon, can't you? Just like you did for us earlier, you can do it again."
Oppa looked like he was about to cry.
The Oppa I knew was a very prideful person.
That was why seeing him like this felt so unfamiliar that I didn't know how to react.
"I...."
I can't save Kim Taeyoon.
Those words became stuck in my throat.
"...I've never really asked you for anything before. You just need to use your skill once. That's all. ...It's nothing to you, right? Right?"
Oppa forced a smile even though his eyes were red.
He looked as though he might fall apart at any moment.
"Jia."
His blood-covered hand desperately held onto mine, as though begging me.
"Excuse me, I'm sorry, but I think we need to move the patient immediately...."
"Just wait! It'll only take a moment... okay? Jia. Please, just help me this once. Even trying is fine."
My expression twisted.
I wanted to save Kim Taeyoon too.
He had sacrificed himself for us until the very end.
In a way, it was no different from owing him my life.
But something impossible was still impossible.
I bit my lip tightly and turned my head.
Then my eyes landed on Arachne's corpse.
Suddenly, a small hope appeared in my mind.
I hurriedly turned around, but Oppa grabbed me.
"Where are you going?"
"There might be an Elixir in there."
That was when,
"If you mean an Elixir... is it this?"
My head turned automatically.
The moment I saw the bottle in Lee Dohyun's hand, my eyes widened.
It was definitely an Elixir.
Oppa seemed just as shocked.
He raised his index finger and pointed at Lee Dohyun.
"Y, you...! Where, where did you get that...!"
"After we defeated Arachne earlier, something dropped, so I picked it up...."
"You... you bastard!"
Oppa hurriedly pulled Lee Dohyun into a hug.
Lee Dohyun panicked and struggled in his arms.
"Ack! Why are you doing this?!"
"Ah, seriously...! Thank you...."
Oppa sniffled and bit his lip.
Lee Dohyun, who had been watching him, gradually calmed down as well.
The soldier who had been watching us carefully stepped in.
"Um... I'm sorry, but if you're finished talking, we really should take him to the hospital...."
"Ah, right. This isn't the time for that. Mister, wait a moment."
"Mis... ter...."
The soldier stood there looking shocked, apparently offended by the way Oppa addressed him.
Then he shook his head briefly as if forcing himself to focus.
"If we delay any longer, it really might be too late!"
"It's okay. I'll take responsibility."
I snatched the Elixir from Lee Dohyun's hand, removed the cap, and poured it into Kim Taeyoon's mouth.
The soldier nearly jumped.
"What are you feeding him right now...!"
The soldier had been shouting angrily, but his mouth slowly closed.
Right.
Anyone seeing this for the first time would react the same way.
An Elixir was nothing short of a miracle.
The wounds on Kim Taeyoon's arm, which had been so deep that his bones were visible, began closing instantly.
Color returned to his pale face.
His closed eyelids slowly lifted, revealing his eyes.
Oppa called his name in a tearful voice.
"Kim Taeyoon...."
A moment later, a weak voice answered.
"...You're late."
"I'm sorry."
Oppa lowered his head deeply toward Kim Taeyoon, looking truly apologetic.
Watching him, my heart grew heavy.
Because the person who really needed to apologize wasn't Oppa.
It was me.
But instinctively, I knew that this wasn't the moment for me to interfere.
I'll apologize later.
Thinking that I could finally stop worrying, I turned my head.
At that moment,
"H, how did this happen...."
I met the eyes of the soldier, whose face had gone pale as though he had just seen a ghost.
At that moment, I realized there was no way we were getting home peacefully.
In the end, we were only allowed to return home after telling the soldiers everything that had happened.
"Ah, home."
I had come home at around the same time as usual, yet it felt as though I had returned from a very long journey.
I took off my shoes at the entrance.
The moment I stepped into the living room, all the strength left my body, and I collapsed onto the floor.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Oppa, who was taking off his shoes behind me, held out his hand.
I stared blankly at it.
His hand, which had been covered in deep cuts and purple stains before, had mostly healed except for the larger wounds.
Of course, before the soldiers questioned us, the paramedics had given him some temporary treatment.
But that had only been first aid.
The soldier had told him to go straight to the hospital once the questioning was over.
However, Oppa said his injuries weren't serious enough for a hospital and insisted on going home instead.
On the way back, he even removed his bandages because he said they were itchy.
And now it's already healed that much.
Even a scratch from a cat could take a week to heal if it was bad enough.
Yet his wounds had recovered this quickly.
As expected, Awakeners were practically cheating.
Instead of taking his hand, I continued staring blankly at his arm.
Oppa waved his hand again.
"Hey, my arm hurts. If you're just going to sit there, move out of the way."
"Seriously. Your kindness doesn't even last a few seconds."
"Hey, just move."
Oppa pulled his hand back and tried to kick me with his bare foot.
He wasn't moving particularly fast.
I dodged his foot and quickly grabbed the hand he was pulling away.
"What's with you?"
"Give me a break. I seriously can't stand up."
"You're trying to trick me again! What kind of person who can't stand up moves like that?"
I was smiling as I spoke, but I really couldn't stand because my legs had completely lost their strength.
Oppa seemed to realize that too.
Instead of coldly shaking me off, he tightened his grip and pulled me to my feet.
"How old are you, and you can't even stand up by yourself?"
He complained, but he seemed a little more considerate than usual.
It still felt strange talking to Oppa like this.
But sometimes, it wasn't so bad.
Just before entering his room, Oppa glanced back at me as I stood there blankly.
"Well... you worked hard. Get some rest."
Maybe he became embarrassed by his own words, because he scratched his head and slammed his door shut without even waiting for an answer.
Left alone in the living room, I stood there blankly for a moment before slowly walking to my room.
I didn't even have the energy to change out of my ruined clothes.
I simply collapsed onto the bed.
Only then, after all the tension left my body, did I fully feel how exhausted I was.
I seriously felt like I was going to die.
Muscle pain spread through my entire body, making everything ache, and I didn't have a single bit of strength left.
My mind felt hazy, as though I were walking through thick fog.
Encountering a monster.
Witnessing someone die for the first time.
Feeling strangely indifferent toward someone else's death.
Awakening.
Giving orders to other people.
Knowing someone would die, yet pushing that death onto them because I wanted to survive.
Nearly dying again and again.
And in the end, fighting a monster and winning.
They were all things I had never experienced before in my entire life.
So many things had happened.
Yet strangely, none of it felt real.
Eventually, I even started wondering whether I had really been the one who experienced all of it.
I knew it had definitely happened to me.
So why was I thinking like this?
Still half dazed, I let out a weak laugh.
That was when my phone began to vibrate.
Bzzzt.
