HYUNG 50

— Hyung, hic, sob! Sa, Saja. Mmm, Saja got, got hurt. He got hurt because of me…

“Where are you.”

— I don’t know, where is this… It’s a hos, hospital, but Saja is…

Once he began to manage to string words together properly, Ham Dowon became even more emotional at the sentences he spoke and gasped for air. He was even making choking sounds as if he were about to hyperventilate. After coaxing and soothing him several times, I finally heard the location and immediately hailed a taxi.

It was a large animal hospital not far from Ham Dowon’s house. Only after seeing my reflection in the glass door at the entrance did I realize I was still holding a coffee cup with completely melted ice. Coffee that had leaked out of the cup had created a stain on my T-shirt. For some reason, feeling out of breath, I took a sip. It tasted bland.

While throwing the cup away, I looked around inside the hospital. I couldn’t see Ham Dowon. Did something truly terrible happen? Where on earth is he? Feeling urgent, I ruffled my hair and called Ham Dowon. Only the long ringing tone continued without an answer, making me feel even more frustrated as I pulled at the neckline of my T-shirt, when Vrrr. Vrrr. I heard a continuous vibration. I turned my eyes toward it. I saw Ham Dowon sitting precariously at the very edge of a long bench.

“…Ha.”

His hair was a messy jumble, and he was dressed in disheveled pajamas and indoor slippers. The shoes were a mismatched pair and seemingly weren’t his; one was so small that the top of his foot was almost entirely exposed. There was blood on both that foot and his top.

Ham Dowon was sobbing while hugging his body with both arms. Because his head was bowed, I couldn’t see his face well. I approached and carefully brushed up his bangs, which had fallen down and were tickling his forehead. Only then did Ham Dowon lift his face.

“…Hyung?”

“Yeah.”

Usually, Ham Dowon was just pretty, but now he was a total wreck. Tear stains were vivid on his entirely reddened face, and his eyes were swollen shut. He looked like a pitiful child.

“Hyung. Sa, Saja. Saja is…”

“You don’t have to say it.”

Ham Dowon’s voice, overwhelmed by emotion, shook intensely. I sat down in the seat next to him.

“Sob, mmm. Hyung. Hyung.”

Without even taking time to hesitate like before, I just placed my hand on Ham Dowon’s face. It weighed on my heart that tears kept flowing. Even though I moved my thumb like a windshield wiper to wipe away the tears several times, Ham Dowon cried incessantly. He even gasped more, perhaps out of relief that I had come. It was to the point that I was worried he might pass out from lack of breath.

“Have you eaten? Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m, I’m not hungry. Hic, sob! Not hungry…”

Ham Dowon shook his head lightly while leaning his cheek against my palm. Tears kept flowing from his large eyes, wetting my hand.

“What about the rest of your family?”

“They’re in, in the countryside, sob!”

“So you were home alone?”

“Yes. A, alone. Alone…”

As I patted him quietly, Ham Dowon sniffled but admirably answered the questions one by one. Ham Dowon let his head fall weakly onto my shoulder. This time, while rubbing his back, I mouthed a question toward a staff member I happened to make eye contact with. Asking what was going on.

The staff member mouthed back silently, but the sentence was too long to understand at all. I only knew after reading the sentences on a notepad on the phone screen they held out.

Cat fall accident. Laceration. Undergoing suturing. Vital signs seem fine. Hospitalization and testing required.

It was quite heartbreaking that the cat was hurt, but fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I was startled, but I didn’t show it. There’s no need for me to make a fuss too. If there is one person crying and worrying, there must be one calm person as well. Even back when Ye Hwanyoung was injured and hospitalized, my mom handled things instead of my panicked dad.

This guy seems very shaken too; should I take him to a hospital? When we were young, my mom used to take Ye Hwanyoung to an oriental medicine clinic to get acupuncture whenever he cried and gasped after causing trouble.

“Do you want some water? You look like you’re going to collapse at this rate.”

“I do, don’t want to. I won’t drink…”

I tried to stand up, but Ham Dowon caught me by the neck and hugged me so tightly that I sat back down. He gripped me strongly with arms that were trembling as if I were his only lifeline. Ham Dowon’s warm breath tickled my neck and the area of my shoulder wet with tears. It wasn’t unpleasant. I didn’t hate it either.

“I need to make a quick contact.”

After rubbing his back broadly while hugging Ham Dowon, I operated my phone in a position where I was also hugging him back with my chin resting on his shoulder. Since today was a day I had to go to my part-time job, it didn’t look like I could go with the kid in this state.

I contacted another assistant instructor whose schedule I had swapped with before. I said it was very sudden, but an urgent matter had come up with a friend and I felt I had to stay with him, so I asked if they could cover for me.

“Mmm, sob…”

“It’s okay. Nothing bad will happen.”

Even while waiting for a reply, Ham Dowon was still crying, my shoulder was getting wetter, and I was patting Ham Dowon’s back. In the meantime, a message came from the assistant instructor. It was a text saying they would work instead today and that I should be the one to tell the head teacher. After replying with a thank you and sending a reasonably priced gift icon, I also contacted the head teacher. Once everything was settled and I checked the time, it was well past the start of the “Painting” lecture that Ham Dowon and I were supposed to attend.

“Did you contact your parents?”

“No, not yet. Not yet…”

Ham Dowon shook his head from side to side. His hair tickled my cheek. I lightly tapped Ham Dowon’s head and unwound his arms as gently as possible. Ham Dowon looked at me with a face exactly like a child who had lost a comfort doll. It was heartbreaking, but I couldn’t just hold and soothe him forever. Instead, I smiled as gently as I could.

“Contact your parents. I’m going to go buy something for a moment.”

“Hyung, quickly… come back quickly.”

“Right. I’m not going anywhere and leaving you behind, so try to calm down.”

Ham Dowon sniffled while looking up at me quietly. Then, he soon wiped his face roughly with his palms and pulled up the corners of his mouth following my lead. However, it couldn’t become a proper smile because it was trembling so much.

“I’m not going far. I’m just going to the convenience store. Make sure to contact your parents. Your parents need to know too.”

“…Yes.”

After confirming Ham Dowon nodded vigorously, I headed to the convenience store near the animal hospital. As I gathered various things that seemed necessary, the bag was quite heavy. I returned to Ham Dowon. He was in the middle of talking with a staff member. His face was very swollen and his voice was shaking, but his tears had stopped and he looked much calmer.

“What were you talking about?”

Ham Dowon made a face as if he were about to cry again upon finding me. Exactly like a child who holds back tears with effort only to burst out crying in relief upon seeing their mother. Still, he didn’t cry. Because Ham Dowon is not a child.

“They said the suturing is over… but because it was a fall accident, they have to do various tests, so he has to be hospitalized for a few days, they said, they said so…”

“Right. That’s a relief. Eat this, and give me your foot.”

After taking chocolate and water out of the plastic bag and handing them over, I crouched down in front of Ham Dowon and took his foot. Whether he had just run on the road, black stains had formed here and there on his white feet.

“I, I’ll do it. I can do, it.”

As I began to wipe the stains and blood off his feet with wet wipes, Ham Dowon was so startled that he must have swallowed wrong, as he coughed—cough, cough.

“Just stay still. I’m at the point where I’m worried whether I should take you to a hospital too or not. You can’t even see the soles of your feet. Is the chocolate good?”

“Yes. It’s good…”

“There are two more, so eat them if you want. It was two plus one. Don’t you like these? You bought some when you came to my house too.”

“…I do like them.”

I used two whole wet wipes to wipe them, then disinfected the wounds on various parts of Ham Dowon’s left foot, applied ointment, and put on bandages. While I repeated the same process for the right foot, Ham Dowon had finished one chocolate and was munching on the second one. It seemed he had been hungry.

“You did contact your parents, right?”

“Yes. I did, I did. But they said they aren’t in a situation where they can come up right away, sob, they can only come on the weekend.”

“These slippers look expensive, aren’t they your mother’s? Buy her a nice pair later. You can’t wear these anymore.”