Chapter 150

The 2nd Great Rift in the Republic of Korea occurred in a completely unprepared state. The hospital corridors were so packed with injured people and their guardians, attacked by mutants in residential areas and city centers, that there was no room to even step.

People frowned at the cameras that pushed their way through, disregarding the crowd. Even the hospital's dissuasion was useless.

"Ah, we're not filming ordinary people, we're going to a private room. We got permission."

They finally crossed the corridor full of people with their broadcasting equipment. The young anchor eventually shrank, covering her face from the shower of glares, but the director continued to stride forward unconcerned.

"Ah, here it is."

Assemblyman Jin Sung-tae was waiting in the corridor in front of the private room. Although he too was a person with a child hospitalized in this hospital, there was no trace of related worry on his face. His attire was too formal for a hospital visit, more like a well-pressed suit.

"Assemblyman Jin, thank you for calling us exclusively. It's an honor to have the first interview with a 1st-grade awakener."

"I've always had a good view of B Broadcasting, haven't I? Also, since my son is still a student, it's better to appear on public broadcasting first."

"You won't regret choosing to trust us."

The director remembered the students who had appeared on the news. Among them, Jin Soram was a pretty boy who looked like he had just entered puberty, for a male. Such a boy had displayed tremendous superpowers and desperately saved citizens. Even when he burst into tears in front of situations he couldn't resolve, he would run to the next area. People would remember that pure image instead of the desperate scenes of this Great Rift.

The problem was that while the other two who awakened were children from ordinary families, the boy happened to have grown up in an environment ripe for being torn apart by adults... Well, there was no point in worrying, he would live better than anyone here. After all, he was a 1st-grade awakener.

"Ah, wait. There's something I need to tell you in advance."

Assemblyman Jin stopped the group approaching the hospital room.

"Yes, please go ahead."

"The kid is, well, not good with words. He's lacking in various aspects, you know. It's because he grew up as the youngest, pampered. You know to cut those parts appropriately, right?"

"Of course. We'll contact your office with the final version before broadcasting."

Assemblyman Jin Sung-tae nodded with satisfaction. The director wondered, 'If he grew up pampered as the youngest, why is he not good with words?' but didn't ask.

"Then let's start from here. Standby."

"Ahem, ahem."

The camera took its position, and the announcer cleared his throat and stood right next to the hospital room door. Assemblyman Jin Sung-tae also smoothly took his place.

"The 2nd Great Rift, which boasted a desperate power as it reached its final stages. While current disaster headquarters personnel blocked the front lines, it was three high school student awakeners who protected citizens throughout the city."

The explanation continued in a neat voice.

"And here where I'm standing is the hospital room where Jin Soram-gun, one of the student heroes, is hospitalized. Now, let's meet Jin Soram-gun."

Deureuruk―

The door of the private room opened. At the same time, a strong smell of harsh medicine wafted out with the cold air.

The curtain hanging on the window fluttered. Outside the window, a deep blue sky stretched out. The window was wide open despite the mid-winter weather.

On the bed below the window, only a small cave made of blankets remained, from which a person seemed to have slipped out.

***

If you take a village bus for 30 minutes from the outskirts of the city, a bus stop with only a sign appears. It was a signal indicating the end of the paved road. Getting off there, a path between rice fields stretches all the way to the village.

Tae-un, walking his longer-than-others way home from school with earphones plugged in, thought.

Was there a nursing home around here?

The conclusion came immediately that there wasn't. Although this area had good air and very nice scenery, it was far from even a public health center, let alone a big hospital. It wasn't a good location for a nursing home.

Then was there a psychiatric ward?

This wasn't it either. The surroundings with wide-spread rice fields and farmland only had low old houses. If there were facilities like a white hospital ward, it would have been immediately noticeable.

Then what on earth was it?

Finally, Tae-un and the subject of his pondering drew closer, and Tae-un stopped about 1m away from him.

A person wearing patient clothes was sitting on the frozen ridge between rice fields. He kept raising his head, fiddling with the ground, and plucking dry grass.

Tae-un observed him for a while and then slowly approached. Perhaps his interest was piqued because the village had only quiet days without any incidents.

"Excuse me."

The moment he got close, the person raised his head.

Ah.

Tae-un had thought this person was an old man until just now. It was partly because his light-colored hair reflected the sunlight and looked white, but also because his back view gave off an atmosphere like a skinny tree.

However, the face that turned to look at Tae-un was smooth and without a single wrinkle. The hazy brown eyes, and the reddened eye area and cheeks from the cold, looked like someone not even of adult age.

And Tae-un knew this person. He was the one Tae-un had been watching every news report and article about for days without missing a single one.

"Jin Soram...?"

He was the boy who was an awakener and hero of the 2nd Great Rift.

The boy whose name was called tilted his head. Tae-un belatedly realized that this was a one-sided acquaintance. He might have been surprised to hear his name called at their first meeting.

"Ah, I..."

"Your hair could be even shorter, huh?"

...Huh?

Soram traced a curve in the air with his fingertip, following the shape of a head.

"To think that was grown out..."

"..."

Tae-un unconsciously covered his crown with his palm. He felt the grass-like bristly hair. It was short hair he maintained because it was bothersome to manage and didn't take much time to dry in the morning.

But, that wasn't the important thing.

"Are, are you really Jin Soram?"

"I am, but..."

Soram's brows furrowed.

"Why are you speaking informally? You're younger."

This made Tae-un a bit upset too.

"You're speaking informally too right now."

"I'm speaking informally because I know you, but you don't know me."

"You know me?"

"You're Han Tae-un."

Soram calmly called his name. At that moment, Tae-un's curiosity turned to wariness.

It was a turbulent world. Rifts and monsters appearing and harming people had happened just days ago. And it was said that scams and voice phishing taking advantage of people's anxious hearts in disaster situations were also prevalent.

No wonder. No matter how he thought about it, 'Jin Soram' appearing here out of nowhere didn't make sense. Rather, it seemed more appropriate that some scammer had tracked his ID, knowing he had been searching for his videos all day, and came to scam him.

Right. Why would Jin Soram come to Otgil-eup, Guncheon-gun?

Tae-un stepped back with a hardened expression. Soram tilted his fair face.

"Are you leaving?"

"Yeah."

"I see. Take care."

Huh?

Soram turned his gaze back to the rice field ridge and hugged his knees.

Isn't he going to stop me? Wasn't he going to make me sign up for something or make a deposit? If so, that's fortunate. They say Seoul people would steal your nose right in front of your eyes. It would be better to leave quickly now.

Cough.

At that moment, a cough was heard from behind. Tae-un stopped abruptly as if someone had grabbed his ankle. Even he, who was almost 190cm tall, was wearing a padded jacket in this weather, but the scammer was wearing only a patient gown. The surroundings were open fields with nowhere to shelter from the wind.

"...Hey!"

Tae-un finally shouted from about ten steps away.

"You don't need to shout, I can hear you. What?"

"Why did you come here?"

"I just came out without thinking. I wanted to do something I've never done before."

Tae-un hesitated. No matter how he looked at it, it was too suspicious. Every single word they had exchanged so far was strange.

But.

"..."

For some reason he didn't understand, the more he looked at that face, the more his heart raced.

It was true that he was pretty enough to be mistaken for a short-haired girl. And he did look very much like Jin Soram, enough to pull off such a scam.

"Are you going to stay there?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I'm thinking about where to go."

"..."

"I don't mind if I die like this either..."

The information about the boy accumulated to: a runaway, a pretty scammer with no plan.

Tae-un stood there, unable to go back or forward. Finally, he took a step. Towards the direction of the pretty scammer who was a runaway with no plan.

"You'll really freeze to death if you stay there. Follow me."

"..."

Tae-un held out his hand, and Soram just stared at it blankly. Then his eyes narrowed.

"You really are young. It's clean."

"What?"

"Nothing."

He took the hand and stood up. The hand placed in Tae-un's palm was extremely cold. Tae-un took off the padded jacket he was wearing and held it out to him. He might be a bit cold, but he was still dressed warmer than the hospital gown.

"Oh, wow. A school uniform..."

The pretty scammer didn't take the offered padded jacket but marveled at something strange. What else would a student wear if not a school uniform? Still, abandoning the incongruous cool tone and opening his eyes wide now was much more...

"Hu, hurry up and put it on."

"Where are you taking me?"

"...My house."

Tae-un was making numerous rationalizations internally. How troublesome would it be for the owner of that field if he froze to death there? Since he's a suspicious person, it would be better to take him and interrogate him, and so on.

And the one following a step behind, trotting along, muttered absent-mindedly again.

"It's my first time at your house."

Of course it should be your first time. Tae-un gave up on having a sensible conversation.

***

The cold smell of the winter forest, the humidity held by the trees, and a slight smell of floor heating when the boiler was turned on all mixed together. It was a truly unfamiliar smell to Soram. But it was the most fitting place for his goal of wanting to do something he had never done before.

The young Tae-un left Soram standing in the living room and moved about busily. First, a towel flew towards him.

"Wait here."

"Okay."

Soram obediently draped the towel over his body and only looked around with his eyes.

The house he was brought to had a living room, kitchen, and two rooms. The structure was like a regular family home, but the traces of life were a bit peculiar.

There was a lone computer desk in the living room. And on the spacious dining table in the kitchen, instead of food, there were workbooks presumed to be Tae-un's, either stacked or placed in bookshelves.

How should he put it? Overall, there were traces of someone around Han Tae-un's age living there, but no traces of adults.

Tae-un, who had gone into a room, came out and handed Soram a sweatshirt and training pants.

"Why are you giving me these?"

"Are you going to keep wearing that?"

Ah, right, it did have snow and dirt on it. Soram started unbuttoning his patient gown from the top.

"Wh-what are you doing!"

But Tae-un suddenly shouted and backed far away. What do you mean what?

"You told me to change."

"Why are you taking off your clothes here!"

"I have to take them off to change."

"..."

The young Han Tae-un had a somewhat fidgety side. He hadn't yet become the stiff rock he knew, but was more like a slightly soft but still hard... potato. His head was also exactly like a potato head, like Crayon Shinchan.

As he undid all the buttons, the loose patient gown slid down. His body was wrapped in bandages covering the wounds his young self had received right after experiencing the 2nd Great Rift. Still, except for the major injuries, most were healing at an abnormally fast rate.

Han Tae-un turned his back so he couldn't see Soram. His ear lobes and nape, exposed due to the short hair, were bright red. The potato had become a baked potato.

Why is he acting like that?

"Are, are you done changing?"

"No, not yet."

"..."

"I'm about to take off my pants now."

Flinch. His back visibly moved, noticeable to anyone. Is it because he's going through puberty? He's really shy...

"I'm done changing."

When Han Tae-un was holding them, they looked a bit small, but when put on 18-year-old Jin Soram's small body, the sleeves and pant legs were all too long. The waist of the pants also had to be tightened with a full knot. Thanks to this, the bandages wrapped tightly around his body were completely covered.

Also, thanks to this, Han Tae-un, who had blushed at a boy his age changing clothes, didn't see a single bit of bare skin. Soram swung the sleeves that were long enough to cover the backs of his hands.

"..."

But why is he turning red again?