Vol 8 Chapter 1

#(1)

When he woke up, it was well into the night after sunset.

Though he had continuously dreamed sticky nightmares while sleeping, he couldn't remember any of them upon waking. At first he wondered why he had been sleeping until this hour, but soon remembered falling asleep after taking painkillers due to the muscle aches throughout his body and leg pain during the day, and slowly raised himself.

Perhaps because he had collapsed and slept without covering himself with a blanket, his body felt slightly chilly. Judging by the faint pattering sound, it seemed rain was still falling outside.

"Lights on."

The voice that came from his mouth opened to command the computer was unpleasantly hoarse and raspy. His eyes were slightly dazzled when the lights throughout the house turned on with clicking sounds.

When he tried moving his body around while sitting, the muscle pain was still there but not too severe. It was at most like the pain after intense exercise, so it would probably get better in a day or two.

He blankly looked down at his legs placed on the floor while seriously contemplating whether he should try standing up or not. When he carefully grabbed and tried moving his right leg just in case, he felt no sensation as usual.

When he carefully held onto the wall and put strength into standing up, he could rise without any problem as if the pain during the day had been a lie. Though he took a few limping steps while tense, it still didn't hurt. Even when he lifted just his right leg slightly and shook it, it was the same. His leg had returned to its state from before morning as if it had never hurt.

'That couldn't have been a dream...'

After slowly circling around the bed for a few more minutes, when he felt confident he could walk, he went out to the living room. The painkiller bottle rolling on the floor and several scattered pills told him that the daytime events had been real.

While picking up the fallen pills in a daze, the computer's mechanical missed message notification sound pierced his ears as it recognized he had woken up.

[ During user's sleep, 1 mail has arrived from registered name 'Y University Hospital'. Would you like to check it? ]

Just as he was about to ignore it thinking it would be spam or contact from Master or his parents as usual, he wondered if he had heard wrong just now. Mail? And from the hospital?

Y University Hospital was the hospital right near his house, where he had been hospitalized for a year before and also where he had gone to treat the wounds received from Jeong Seung-jo a few days ago.

Now they only exchanged occasional contact every few months to send and confirm regular checkup results conducted simply at home via computer, so why would they suddenly send him mail?

Though he felt his nerves were quite sensitive having just been freed from pain, something felt very strange.

"Check... it."

When he answered after some hesitation, text spread across a large hologram screen.

[ We are informing Kang Mu-heon-nim of your test results from the 17th. ]

The 17th...? That would be...

'Ah... that was when I was hospitalized.'

Only after seeing the first line did he remember receiving a simple leg examination at the hospital's recommendation while he was hospitalized. They had said they would send the results home when they came out, and he had forgotten about it, but it seemed that was what had arrived today.

Thinking he had worried needlessly, he continued reading downward but stiffened upon discovering unexpected text at the end.

[ -Unlike your last identical examination, some muscle abnormalities are suspected. We request that you visit again as soon as possible. Please make an appointment with your attending physician Shin Jung-seok for consultation and re-examination regarding the test results.

Rehabilitation Medicine Attending Physician Shin Jung-seok: 03p-342-d8951t~8952t

Inquiry hours: AM 9:00 ~ PM 6:00 / Appointments available 24 hours through VT-net.

Appointment VT code: Connect to YH8893 ]

What...?

'Muscle abnormalities suspected?'

No matter how many times he looked at the mail in shock, the written text didn't change. After reading and rereading that mail for a long while with his fists tightly clenched, he barely opened his mouth to give a command.

"Mail, close."

[ Closing mail. ]

Beep. Though he heard the sound of the screen turning off immediately, he didn't look that way again. His mind was too confused to think clearly. He certainly hadn't felt any abnormalities until now, yet to receive such mail today of all days when he had felt extreme pain in his leg...

No matter how much he pondered, he couldn't think of any reason why his leg would suddenly develop problems. Though it would be nice if only the test results were like that and there wasn't actually much wrong, he couldn't know until he visited in person.

'At least one thing to do is certain.'

That he should make an appointment and go to the hospital first thing tomorrow morning.

Though they said he had made the impossible possible through over a year of difficult rehabilitation training, doctors had always told him until it was hammered into his ears that he needed to be careful since they didn't know when other problems might arise.

They had said to contact attending physician Shin Jung-seok for an appointment, hadn't they? Thinking the name was quite familiar, he recalled that this was the doctor who had been in charge of his rehabilitation therapy before.

Things he had been forcibly trying to forget suddenly seemed to crawl up from beneath his feet, making him feel as if black hands were embracing his right leg.

'No, no.'

Though he tried to shake off the stray thoughts by biting his lip hard, using that stinging pain, it didn't work well. This leg that looked extremely normal except for the severe scars like randomly stitched rags on his knee now looked nothing but unsettling.

He stood in the living room for a long while, having forgotten even his intention to pick up the medicine bottle fallen on the floor.

Today, Saturn's Korean branch had an extremely anxious yet elevated atmosphere unlike usual.

Nam Mugeon looked disparagingly at the employees gathered in groups of three or five at the third floor corridor railing where the operations management department was located, unable to take their eyes off the first floor lobby.

"Aren't you all working?"

"Oh, Director Nam."

"We are working. We just came out briefly to drink something."

"Ah, yes. Me too."

Nam Mugeon let out a short sigh while watching the employees disappear with guilty faces, though not completely hiding their regretful curiosity.