Chapter 70
“Seems like you really didn’t intend to kill me.”
Dan Seohyuk muttered, his gaze landing on my hand.
“You only caused trouble by stubbornly insisting on doing something unnecessary.”
“I…”
“Hey, I asked you earlier,” Dan Seohyuk said coldly in his usual irritating tone. Still, he quickly grabbed a clean towel from the cabinet.
Pressing firmly against my palm to stop the bleeding, he continued:
“Who are you? Even the elder’s been asking this from the start.”
“I…”
I glanced at Dan Seohyuk for a moment, then slowly turned my gaze toward Park Chungman.
I saw him sitting upright, supported by Jang Hyunwoo.
“Im… Kyungmi.”
Yes, to us, she was just a frightening ghost, but to Park Chungman or herself, she must have been something special.
It might be a memory from reality he wanted to forget, but at the same time, it could be something he didn’t want to forget.
“Kyungmi…”
Tears streamed down Park Chungman’s face.
“I’m sorry… Grandpa is sorry.”
“……”
“You were saying with your whole body that you wanted to live, and I couldn’t help you. I’m sorry.”
Even though the person who had caused the crime was someone else, why was it Park Chungman, who had tried hardest to protect Im Kyungmi, who had to apologize?
‘You know… even if you resent it, reality can’t be undone.’
I spoke silently to the Kyling ghost in my mind, hoping somehow she could hear me.
‘Do you really want everyone to suffer and die?’
The fact that her actions had already prevented Dan Seohyuk’s violence was her answer.
“……! The letters are disappearing from Choyeon’s face.”
Jang Hyunwoo, standing next to Park Chungman and looking at me, murmured in awe. The frightening letters that had covered her face were vanishing.
My vision began to blur. Feeling weak, I staggered, and Dan Seohyuk gently supported my shoulder.
“Peanut.”
After blinking a few times, my vision cleared again. I could see Dan Seohyuk holding me up.
Though his brow was slightly furrowed as before, his eyes weren’t cold this time.
“You okay?”
I nodded slowly. My body moved as I willed it.
‘Dan Seohyuk notices everything so quickly.’
Now, I could feel the pain. Pressing on my injured hand made me wince, and the perceptive Dan Seohyuk spoke quietly:
“Hang on a bit. I can’t help it, we need to stop the bleeding.”
“…Who told you to do something so reckless?”
“I didn’t think it would get that bad either.”
Dan Seohyuk probably just intended to make a token gesture. Cold, annoying, and mean as he was, he wasn’t the type to easily harm others.
Anyway, it wasn’t over yet. I let out a short sigh and turned my head.
The Kyling ghost was standing where I had been. Her hospital gown’s sleeves and pant hems, as well as her hands and feet, were covered with letters.
Judging from the pale expression of Jang Hyunwoo, who was facing the ghost, her face was probably covered too.
“Ah…”
Yet Park Chungman staggered to his feet. His face showed joy, sorrow, and relief all at once.
“I… I kept waiting for you. I thought that if you were in Room 303, maybe I could see you again someday.”
“……”
“Finally, this foolish grandpa can look at our granddaughter’s face properly.”
His wrinkled hands slowly caressed the Kyling ghost’s face, trembling slightly as if afraid she might break.
“You must have been very scared alone, huh?”
The Kyling ghost nodded very slowly. Park Chungman wrapped her in his arms.
“Grandpa will stay with you now.”
“And my little brother…?”
“Your aunt’s taking care of him. She has since I was admitted. You’re worrying about your brother even now?”
Park Chungman gently brushed the ghost’s—well, his granddaughter’s—eyes.
“When will you ever grow tougher…”
Even though her life had been in danger moments ago, his voice held no resentment.
Tears streamed down the Kyling ghost’s face. The old man’s wrinkled hands softly patted her shoulders.
“You endured well, little one. You held on until I could see you.”
“Grandpa, you don’t know… how badly I behaved.”
“It’s alright. This grandpa will take all the karma you need to carry.”
The hospital room lights flickered. A sudden wave of drowsiness washed over me.
“Huh?”
Jang Hyunwoo, not just me, also moved toward the bed in a daze, apparently not by his own will.
Even Dan Seohyuk let go of the hand he had been using to stop the bleeding and walked somewhere, as if someone else were controlling our bodies.
Clatter.
The hospital room door opened, revealing the nurse ghost.
“It’s lights-out time.”
Park Chungman’s expression shifted in surprise as he recognized her, then he gave a bitter smile.
“You’re foolish too… Thank you for staying by my granddaughter so she wouldn’t be lonely.”
“……”
Perhaps the nurse ghost knew or sensed that she had taken her own life out of guilt over Im Kyungmi’s death.
With the nurse ghost’s support, Park Chungman headed to his bed. I lay down on the auxiliary bed next to Jang Hyunwoo, and Dan Seohyuk sat on a chair leaning against the wall.
The Kyling ghost silently stood by Park Chungman’s side.
Step, step.
The nurse ghost who had helped Park Chungman to bed approached me.
Dan Seohyuk and Jang Hyunwoo, unable to move, nervously watched me with only their eyes, worried that the nurse ghost might do something.
“I’ll help disinfect it.”
Dispelling any worry, the nurse ghost carefully treated my hand. She cleaned the wound, placed gauze on top, and wrapped it with a bandage with delicate precision.
Watching her silently, she slowly spoke:
“Room 303 ward records.”
Probably to be written on the last page of the notebook.
“November 24, 20XX.
Patient Park Chungman deceased.”
She glanced at Park Chungman’s bed with only her eyes. Everything was exceedingly calm.
“We offer our deepest condolences.”
After the nurse ghost spoke, the Kyling ghost’s tears flowed, and her entire body began to glow slowly.
The ominous red smoke turned gold. For a moment, her eyes met mine.
The pure face I saw for the first time looked almost the same age as me, youthful and innocent.
I’m sorry.
She whispered with her lips and vanished. The nurse ghost, after finishing treating my hand, also began to glow golden.
From their appearance, I realized that this was a state of enlightenment.
When even the nurse ghost disappeared, the hospital room lights came back on.
“Grandpa!”
Jang Hyunwoo, now able to move, hurried toward Park Chungman’s bed. Dan Seohyuk also stood, glancing at me.
Seeing my perfectly treated hand, I noticed a small sigh of relief.
“Hey… you guys…!”
I could tell what Jang Hyunwoo was going to say even though he didn’t finish.
When Dan Seohyuk pressed the call bell, the medical staff hurriedly entered the room and surrounded Park Chungman’s bed. The tense, chaotic scene looked unreal.
In that strange, distant feeling, I looked down at my legs. The letters on them were disappearing.
Soon, the announcement of Park Chungman’s death came.
November 24, 20XX.
The same date the nurse ghost had whispered.
Doctors and nurses solemnly stepped back from Park Chungman’s bed.
The deceased wore a calm, smiling expression.
Meanwhile, outside Room 303’s window, Millie floated with a blank expression. His gaze was fixed on Machoyeon, who had injured her hand.
Hm.
Since it wasn’t life-threatening, he left her be, but his eyes kept going to the wound.
It was never good for ghosts to linger around the living. The more they did, the more they could attract other spirits seeking the life force of humans.
Even if not, intervening in a living person’s life to prevent danger could be seen as going against fate.
He had tried to keep his distance, but…
“This is troublesome.”
The face of the little boy who had followed her with a smile, identical to Machoyeon, lingered in his mind.
It was just a memory from a previous life, and the human he was watching didn’t remember him.
He couldn’t even be sure if this was reincarnation or just a resemblance. He wasn’t family, lover, or friend—just a fleeting child in his hard life.
“Millie!”
The cheerful child’s voice remained vivid.
“For now… I’ll watch a little longer.”
Muttering this, Millie’s gaze fell on a dagger that had dropped to the floor—it was an item he had given her.
Black flames briefly appeared around the dagger and disappeared unnoticed. Now, the dagger could no longer harm Machoyeon.
A child wouldn’t harm themselves with a toy.
This was a minor interference in fate, so it was fine. Millie disappeared once again.
