BCGWR Chapter 14 Part 2

“Hyung, when I wake up… you have to be next to me… Don’t go anywhere… You must be here. Okay?”

There was still no answer. He wanted to ask again due to his anxiety, wanted to insist that they must stay by his side and not go anywhere, but the gentle hand stroking his forehead made him increasingly drowsy.

He felt dizzy, as if under general anesthesia, and his entire body began to droop. The fortunate thing was that it didn’t feel unpleasant like forced anesthesia from medication.

A cozy sensation, as if his exhausted mind was covered with soft cotton, dominated his entire body.

Han Ji-su felt a dizziness he had never experienced before and closed his eyes. He really didn’t want to fall asleep like this, but sleep kept overwhelming him.

However, feeling an uneasy sense of anxiety, Han Ji-su moved his fingers and interlocked them with the other person’s, weaving his fingers between theirs.

The other person, too, seemed to understand what Han Ji-su wanted, bending their intertwined fingers and holding them tightly. After interlocking his fingers with the large, rough hand, it finally felt like something was properly in place.

Feeling a small but definite sense of satisfaction, Han Ji-su wore a faint smile and willingly embraced sleep.

When Han Ji-su groggily opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was what is commonly called an unfamiliar ceiling. Reminded that this was not a place he knew, Han Ji-su slowly surveyed his surroundings.

It had often happened before he awakened as a Guide, but after awakening, waking up in unfamiliar places happened quite frequently.

Before awakening, the problem was overwork from a schedule that made it hard to get even 2-3 hours of sleep a day. After awakening, there were frequent accidents such as being affected by poison or sleep attacks in dungeons, or fainting due to Brain Overload from excessive Guiding.

Since this was a common occurrence, he wasn’t particularly agitated or surprised by an unfamiliar location, unless the ceiling itself was remarkably extraordinary.

Han Ji-su slowly rolled his eyes, calmly surveying his surroundings, and ultimately concluded that he was in an unknown place. The furniture arranged in the room felt similar to the Peace Guild Medical Facility, but it lacked the distinctive scent of the Peace Guild Medical Facility.

At a glance, it felt like a hotel, but there was something subtly alien about it, making it seem more like a VIP hospital room than a hotel. Supporting this conjecture, several pieces of equipment with lines connected to his body were placed next to the bed.

On the sofa against the wall opposite the equipment, Esper Kim Hyun-ah was seen lying slumped with her eyes closed, along with Toto. Han Ji-su stared intently at Toto, who was asleep on Kim Hyun-ah’s chest, and asked.

“Noona… what hospital is this?”

“Hankook University Hospital.”

She was lying in a seemingly carefree sleeping posture, yet answered immediately, which suggested she had noticed Han Ji-su was awake long ago.

Han Ji-su watched for a moment as Toto, on Kim Hyun-ah, merely twitched his ears but couldn’t get up. Seeing how deeply he was asleep, it seemed as though he had probably broken about five hamster wheels while Han Ji-su was unconscious.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About four days. You kept dozing off and waking up.”

“…I see… What’s the date today?”

“The 17th.”

Han Ji-su tried to recall his last memory. Someone other than Kim Hyun-ah had been by his side, but he couldn’t guess who it was at all.

At the time, he thought it was Kang Jae-yoon, but with his mind clear now, he knew it wasn’t him. He clearly remembered attending Kang Jae-yoon’s funeral and memorial service just before falling asleep, having used an appearance-altering item.