BCGWR Chapter 42

Sweet Dream 10

Usually, people don’t dream when receiving Mental Stabilization Treatment, but Han Ji-su definitely dreamt. He dreamt of eating endless sweet desserts to his heart’s content in a place filled with small, beautiful, nameless flowers.

There was a time he couldn’t eat because he had to manage his body for his job, but now that period felt like a very long time ago.

Ji-su, fully awake from his dream, groggily opened his eyes and this time, confirmed the unfamiliar ceiling. It was clearly a VIP hospital room. Seeing that the air felt a little stuffy even with the air purifier diligently running, he figured the space of nothingness he had been in must have been unrealistically clean.

Ji-su, now clear-headed, looked down at his chest, which was shallowly rising and falling. A ball of fur was lying on his flat chest. Ji-su, seeing the round rump and tiny protruding tail, softly called the ball of fur.

“……Toto. Daddy’s awake.”

Toto’s ears twitched at his daddy’s cracking voice. It was newly cute to see even such small things react like ears, twitching, and as he chuckled and watched, the round ball of fur clumsily got up.

Ji-su, ready to give his fullest smile to Toto, who must be disheartened from only seeing him sleep for days, was about to smile the moment the ball of fur turned around but was so surprised his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

“……T-Toto?”

“Squeak.”

“Toto, what did you stuff so much into your mouth?”

“Squeak.”

Seeing Toto’s face, angular and square like a rectangle, Ji-su was flustered and immediately reached out his hand. Toto, as if thinking he was trying to take what it had stuffed into its cheek pouches, scurried towards his daddy’s leg. Toto, having moved far enough away, turned back to Ji-su and made a resolute expression, covering its small mouth with its front paws.

Ji-su wondered what on earth it had put in its mouth to make it look like that, but as he calmly grasped its form and shape, a conclusion instantly came to him.

“……Toto, don’t tell me that’s… my phone?”

“Squeak!”

“……No, why would you… your phone?”

Why on earth would it put a phone in its mouth!

Ji-su, bewildered by Toto’s new and unprecedented eccentric behavior, was just about to speak, unsure where to begin scolding, when the hospital room door opened and Jung Ha-jin entered.

As if he had already sensed Ji-su was awake, he, without a hint of surprise, opened the cap of the bottled water he brought, inserted a straw, and spoke.

“You’re awake. Today is January 25th. The treatment was successful, and your brain is now stable. However, Guide Rampage symptoms can occur at any time, so it’s best to be careful.”

“Yes… Um… Jung Ha-jin Esper.”

“Yes.”

“Um… First, thank you for looking after Toto while I was asleep.”

“Not at all. I had a pleasant time with Toto.”

“That’s a relief… And, um… thank you for looking after me too.”

“It’s my duty. For now, it would be good to drink some water.”

“Ah, yes.”

Ji-su tried to take the bottle he offered, but Jung Ha-jin held the straw and brought it to Ji-su’s mouth. It felt like overly attentive nursing for someone who wasn’t critically ill, and he was about to say he could drink it himself, but Jung Ha-jin’s expression, as he tilted the straw to a good angle for drinking, was so earnest that he couldn’t refuse.

“……Thank you. I’ll drink it well….”

Ji-su lightly bit only the tip of the straw, careful not to let his lips touch Jung Ha-jin’s fingers, and took a few sips. The bottled water, which he thought would be cold, was lukewarm. As Ji-su, who preferred cold water, frowned and parted his lips, Jung Ha-jin, who had put down the water bottle, reeled off the upcoming schedule as if giving a briefing.

“The discharge procedures have been completed. Professor Choi Seong-hun is scheduled to visit shortly.”

“Ah, yes. I see.”

“And it would be best if you return to the Guild Dormitory immediately to rest. If there’s anything you need, I will get it for you.”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s just go to the Guild Dormitory.”

“Yes. Additionally, while you were sleeping, I continuously administered a meal replacement potion mixed in, but for your immediate meals, it’s recommended to start with rice porridge rather than solid foods. I will prepare it for you when we return to the Guild Dormitory.”

“……Thank you. By the way, Jung Ha-jin Esper.”

“Yes.”

Ji-su turned his gaze from Jung Ha-jin and glanced at Toto, who was standing a little distance away, nestled between his ankles, and asked.

“That thing in Toto’s mouth, that’s my phone, right?”

“Yes.”

Simultaneously with Jung Ha-jin’s reply, as if a notification had arrived, the phone in Toto’s cheek pouch vibrated with a buzzing sound. Even though the vibration of Han Ji-su’s phone must have been bothering its teeth, it stubbornly closed its eyes and endured.

Naturally, an ordinary hamster wouldn’t be able to put a phone in its mouth, but Toto, being a monster with a skill called ‘Infinite Storage,’ usually stuffed all sorts of things into its cheek pouches. However, this was the first time it had arbitrarily taken Han Ji-su’s item and refused to return it.

“Toto.”

“…….”

“Toto?”

“……Squeak.”

“Toto. Daddy will, um… I’ll just post one message saying Daddy’s awake. If I don’t post it, unnecessary rumors will spread again, so I’ll just post that and give it back to you. And the phone is dirty. Yucky.”

“Toto kept trying to put it in its mouth, so I disinfected it.”

“Oh, thank you… No, you should have stopped it, not disinfected it… No, never mind. Toto, just give it to Daddy for a moment, okay?”

“……Squeak!”

As Ji-su reached out his hand, Toto, who was about to reflexively run over, paused and turned its head away haughtily. It kept glancing at him, clearly wanting to run over, hug, and cling to Ji-su out of joy, but it was both absurd and cute that it was behaving like that, driven by the sole determination not to let go of the phone. As he pondered how to coax Toto, Jung Ha-jin pressed the nurse call button and spoke.

“You can post the message after we return to the Guild Dormitory.”

“……Yes… But Jung Ha-jin Esper. Was anything special happening while I was asleep?”

“……Nothing happened.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

That he, who usually answered everything immediately, hesitated for a moment was puzzling, but Ji-su accepted it. After all, Ji-su himself, due to a long habit, always thought once more before speaking, so his answers were usually slow.

‘Wait, if Jung Ha-jin Esper needed to think about it, something must have happened after all…’

Jung Ha-jin’s reaction was one thing, but the God of Rest specifically keeping him with desserts, and Toto hiding the phone like that, all suggested that something had indeed happened.

To add certainty to his suspicions, Ji-su reached out his hand for the remote control, and Jung Ha-jin’s hand, which was closing the water bottle cap beside him, suddenly froze. Toto, who had been keeping its distance, also flinched and was about to run straight to Ji-su but started just watching cautiously, perhaps because of the phone in its cheek pouch.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

The situation became quiet, with the two men and one hamster exchanging only glances. Ji-su put the remote control back in its original place and reached out his hand towards Toto.

“Toto.”

There was no answer, but its eyes were on Ji-su, and its ears definitely twitched. Ji-su extended his hand a little further towards his worried companion monster.

“Toto, I won’t take your phone away. Daddy just wants to hug our Toto. Come here.”

“…….”

At those words, Toto subtly rolled its small, black eyes, checking the mood, then hesitantly approached Ji-su.

When it saw the palm offered to it, perhaps it couldn’t hold back any longer, it scurried over on all fours and climbed onto his palm.

As Ji-su brought his hand to his chest, kissed Toto’s head, and smiled, Toto also began rubbing its head frantically against Ji-su’s chin and clinging to him. Normally, it would have chirped “Jji-it jji-it~”, but now, with the phone in its mouth, it made strange sounds like “Tzeung~ tzeut! Jing-!” as it cried and rubbed its cheeks.

Ji-su whispered, “Daddy slept too long, I’m sorry~” and patted Toto’s rump. The plumpness of its rump should have felt substantial, but having slimmed down over the past few days, it felt only slightly chubby.

‘Our Toto lost so much weight… Hmm, it’s definitely emaciated.’

Thinking thoughts that would make a veterinarian burst into a hollow laugh, he continued to pat Toto’s rump and back.

Thanks to Toto expressing its joy by rubbing its entire body, the phone in its cheek pouch repeatedly bumped Ji-su’s chin, but feeling sorry that Toto seemed to have suffered emotionally because of him, he let it cling as much as it wanted.

Jung Ha-jin, who had been watching the touching reunion scene between the companion monster and its master, went into the caregiver’s dedicated room and silently began packing his belongings.

Professor Choi Seong-hun had warned in advance that because if he woke up with all the brainwashing removed, he might be extremely distressed and sad from the sense of loss, it would be best to let him sort out his emotions on his own if he wasn’t in a serious condition. But contrary to expectations, Ji-su seemed fine, and that fact worried him even more.

Jung Ha-jin knew well the signals sent by those who suddenly became calm in situations where they should be extremely depressed. Han Ji-su clearly seemed to have made a decision.

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