NOVEL FROG Chapter 15
“Are you going to bring it?”
“I’m sorry to ask you to get me some medicine, but I really can’t go outside.”
“I need something more effective than what I have now.”
“I wanted to fetch it myself and not trouble others, but Han Si-Hoo blocked me.”
Han Si-Hoo hesitates after hearing my words.
“I don’t go through medicine that quickly. If I did, I’d have died a long time ago and there wouldn’t be any left at home.”
That means there’s no need to place it on some high shelf. I’ll use it wisely as long as it’s right in front of me.
The doctor was surprised that I still had some left.
I do have incredible self-control when it comes to that. If not, I’d already have my funeral planned.
“So please, bring it to me, okay?”
I continued to persuade him.
No matter how I think about it, the more medicine, the better.
If I run out of it and can’t get any, it’ll be a huge problem.
“I’m completely fine right now. I can just stay here on my own.”
I added that to make it look like I was worried about him.
The medicine I’m using is from the Academy.
It must have been thoroughly tested for safety.
I wonder where they sell other types of medicine.
“I haven’t used any dangerous drugs.”
What could be classified as dangerous drugs?
The ones that make you want to kill Han Si-Hoo?
Or the ones that could get the Protagonist killed?
Of course, even if those drugs exist, they do have the advantage of making emotions feel vividly real.
But it’s still too dangerous to use.
I don’t even know how it relates to healing.
It was a strange drug.
Back then, I couldn’t control my body at all.
It was hard to even control my thoughts.
You can tell from how irrationally I hated Han Si-Hoo.
I mean, who would have thought I’d attack him?
Right now, I’m not using any such dangerous drugs, so there’s no problem.
Nor do I intend to in the future.
“…Alright. I’ll go home and check.”
Han Si-Hoo agreed.
“Wow.”
I’m excited.
He really is going to bring it!
“I still need to confirm…”
Han Si-Hoo muttered.
Whatever he means by confirmation, I’m sure he’ll handle it well.
As long as he brings the medicine, the rest doesn’t matter.
“But before that.”
Han Si-Hoo continued.
“Yeah?”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Kind of.”
One great thing about using medicine is that you don’t get very hungry.
But if you skip meals too often, your body becomes weak.
You need to eat.
Now that I think of it, I haven’t eaten properly since yesterday.
If I’m not hungry, that’s the real oddity.
“I’ll make you breakfast.”
Han Si-Hoo declared confidently.
He seemed to want to lighten the mood.
He cleared the paper bag on the table and pulled out the dishes.
“Breakfast?”
“Yup.”
Is Han Si-Hoo any good at cooking?
There’s been no mention of his cooking skills in the story.
I always thought he just bought food outside.
“…It’s good.”
To cut to the chase, it was better than I expected.
I enjoyed the fried rice Han Si-Hoo made.
Maybe it’s because he’s the Protagonist, but he’s good at cooking too.
It was certainly better than the canned tuna I had at home.
[5 hours and 8 minutes]
As long as the medicine’s effect lasts, I can eat anything delicious.
Well, that was satisfying.
He doesn’t just shove the drugs in like a doctor would.
“Are you okay?”
Han Si-Hoo asked from the side.
“Yeah.”
I’m smiling, aren’t I?
Of course, I’m fine.
Does it look weird that I’m lost in thought?
This peaceful daily life feels nice.
If Han Si-Hoo just brings me the medicine, it’ll be perfect.
“Here, this.”
I received what Han Si-Hoo handed me.
“A cellphone?”
“It’s something similar. I just call it a device. If anything happens, contact the numbers stored here. Or just press this button.”
I know what this is.
Every student at the Academy has one.
When I was looking for Han Si-Hoo in the Academy, I could’ve contacted him through this.
“Uh-huh.”
I fiddled with the device.
It looks pretty much like a smartphone but, as far as I know, it has many additional features.
Han Si-Hoo, separately, had a cellphone.
It’s interesting to see that he can afford to give me one.
“Don’t go outside until I come back.”
He said firmly.
“Even though there shouldn’t be any problems inside the Academy, better safe than sorry.”
“Okay.”
It’s not like I intended to go out anyway.
Going out would just reduce the medicine’s effect.
“I’ll leave one syringe here. Use it if you need to, and contact me in emergencies.”
I don’t know how many syringes one is supposed to use in a day.
Having some extras wouldn’t hurt.
“Alright. Have a good trip.”
I waved him off.
*
Receiving Seo-A’s farewell, Han Si-Hoo stepped outside the dormitory door.
Seo-A seemed to be getting better.
I hadn’t expected Yeon-Hwa to come by.
Thanks to that, I could tell that Seo-A was at least able to interact with people, but…
He received a gift in place of a present.
We aren’t that close.
I wonder what Seo-A was thinking.
A strange sense of guilt was poking at my chest.
I recalled Seo-A saying how she had many close friends.
Leaving her behind puts a weight on my mind, but I have to confirm things.
If I take the medicine Seo-A was using to Lee Yoo-Ram, I might find out what kind of medicine she was using.
Perhaps I can obtain helpful information for her treatment.
Han Si-Hoo thought as he walked.
The air was still cold.
People were repairing the Academy after the attack yesterday.
“Is that barrier still under repair?”
“Yes. It’s taking longer because we are cleaning up the monster corpses.”
“An academy attack? What on earth…”
I could hear the sounds of people talking.
Because many monsters burst forth, the academy buildings were severely damaged.
Rumors say there was a traitor inside.
Han Si-Hoo recalled the figure of the doctor in black clothing.
He also remembered Yoo Seo-A standing next to the doctor.
A strange anger rose up, making him bite his lips.
Han Si-Hoo contemplated the reasons why the doctor would make Seo-A fight against him.
He had barely slept all night due to worrying about it.
In the end, no conclusion was reached.
The information was simply too scarce.
Would there be a clue if he went to Seo-A’s home?
Perhaps he might figure out what happened with the doctor.
How long has it been since he last visited?
“I found it.”
The neighborhood where Yoo Seo-A lived was quiet.
For a slum, it’s pretty clean.
It may be clean, but it still looks shabby.
The house looked so dilapidated that it was hard to tell if it was actually home.
For some reason, it had fallen into even worse condition than before.
Seo-A was usually good at maintaining her living space.
She was the type to like cleaning whenever she had free time.
Creeeak.
The door was left open.
Looks like they didn’t even lock it from the start.
“Ah…”
The inside of the house was quite messy.
Broken glass shards everywhere.
Something was smeared on the walls and floor.
Han Si-Hoo carefully pushed the glass shards into a corner with his shoe.
The state of the house was worse than he had imagined.
If the Seo-A he knew were here, she wouldn’t have allowed her home to remain in such a state.
Everything was different from the last time he had visited.
He pressed the switch to turn on the light, but all he got was a spark.
“The lights are broken too.”
A few theories sprang to mind.
Either a thief broke in while Seo-A was away, or she hadn’t cared for the house for quite some time.
Han Si-Hoo scanned in front of the table.
“There’s a bottle… with medicine.”
It was a bottle containing a blue substance.
At the very least, it seemed nobody had broken in and taken the medication.
He could leave if he was just fulfilling Seo-A’s request, but the mess of the house was too much.
He needed to find out what had happened.
Countless gruesome images flooded my mind just thinking about it.
What on earth happened to Seo-A?
Thud.
He uprighted a fallen chair.
The more he looked around, the more uneasy he felt.
The only thing organized among everything was the medical supplies.
“Is that a box?”
Han Si-Hoo discovered a white box under the desk.
It was a plastic box used for storing medical tools.
Inside were several syringes, along with disinfectant.
On a paper at the bottom of the box were instructions for using the syringes.
Other than that, there was nothing special.
Han Si-Hoo closed the box.
Now it was time to explore the room next door.
Creeeak.
The sound of the hinges creaked especially loud.
The doorknob of the room was broken.
“Oof.”
Old scrap metal appeared to be piled in the corner of the room.
Several rebar pieces, a heap of rusty chains, and some ropes.
“Why on earth is this in her house?”
He couldn’t fathom what Seo-A would have used this for.
Maybe it wasn’t even Seo-A who used them.
Not that it mattered who used them anyway.
What purpose did they serve?
He recalled Seo-A saying the doctor had come into her home.
If that’s the case, could it be something the doctor had set up rather than Seo-A?
Han Si-Hoo felt a headache coming on.
Something was terribly wrong here.
“…A mirror?”
Something reflected light off the stained floor.
Following the traces led him to a cracked mirror in the bathroom.
Next to the broken mirror was a faint streak of blood.
“Why?”
Han Si-Hoo murmured, looking at the bloodstain stuck to the wall.
What on earth happened?
The cracked mirror had a corner that had broken off.
It took him a while to wrap his head around what he saw.
Even with his eyes open, he couldn’t understand what happened.
What on earth did Seo-A do?
Or what was done to her?
It was a scratch.
Why?
I just scraped my arm on the corner. It’s nothing to worry about.
The conversation he had with Seo-A flashed through his mind.
A scratch, just on the corner.
From the mirror?
Why?
From taking the medicine?
It’s hard to imagine Yoo Seo-A who always smiled would break a mirror voluntarily.
Could it have been the doctor’s doing?
Or perhaps it was a side effect of the medicine?
There are tens of possibilities.
The most certain thing would be to go and ask Seo-A directly, wouldn’t it?
“…Ha.”
This was more serious than he expected.
Everything was going awry.
What had he been doing all this time?
He was enjoying his life at the Academy.
Enjoying.
While Seo-A had lost her protection.
Why hadn’t he paid closer attention?
He doesn’t know why he thought she would be safe no matter what.
Though Seo-A did push him away with some resentment.
He should have definitely checked on her condition, regardless of her refusal.
Han Si-Hoo looked at his own reflection in the broken mirror.
His expression looked troubled.
He should’ve thought more about it.
He shouldn’t have assumed that Seo-A could handle herself with minimal support.
“Damn it.”
He looked around the house again, but no matter how he looked, it was uninhabitable.
Especially the scrap piled up in the room left him confused.
In his memories, Yoo Seo-A’s home had always been tidy.
It gave off the impression of being cozy and clean.
The cold present and the warm past were vastly different.
“Why…”
Seo-A didn’t mention the condition of her house.
She asked for the medicine as if everything was perfectly fine.
As if she didn’t recognize the state of her home at all.
No matter where you looked, the place was a disaster zone.
It was hardly appropriate for a living space.
Han Si-Hoo sat down on a chair and examined the medicine bottle.
The blue substance was half-empty.
The other half must have been used by Seo-A.
He never intended to simply bring that back to Seo-A in the first place.
Firstly, he needed to have it analyzed by Lee Yoo-Ram or someone else who could help.
His eyes were drawn to the drawer under the table.
Click.
He opened the drawer.
Inside were broken hair ties and a black ribbon.
It was definitely the ribbon he gifted her when she was around ten years old.
Remembering that, Han Si-Hoo took the ribbon.
A gift.
Was it a gift?
Seo-A folded a paper crane in return for the ribbon.
There was a torn origami book that she had found in the trash.
Unfortunately, a crucial page had been torn out, resulting in a paper crane that didn’t look quite right, but it was a nice gift nonetheless.
Click.
He opened the adjacent drawer as well.
This time, there was a small notebook inside.
Han Si-Hoo unfolded the notebook.
It was filled with Yoo Seo-A’s notes.