Healer

When he opened his eyes, Yaba reached out his hand and groped from the floor. The back of his head hadn’t been blown off, and his brain didn’t flow out either. The wall clock showed four in the morning. He didn’t know if he knew it or not, but Kang Giha didn’t press the remote control.

He had to get up now, but the bottom seemed to have melted away. His mouth tingled as if it had been torn apart, and his neck and cheeks were tugged by a damp and dry sensation. He moved his gaze to see the man holding him in his arms. Cha Yiseok was deeply asleep with his face buried in Yaba’s neck. The light of dawn descended on his hair, wet with sweat.

Yaba liked the quiet before people woke up. The dawn when no sound of life can be heard. His mom called the sound the silence before people woke up. She said that you could only feel the sound if you listened alone to the sounds of the world, the sound of grains of dust falling, the sound of a bud’s breathing, and the sound of a sprout pushing the ground. The desperate stillness of being alone, that’s another name for love. Love was another sound that you find in the midst of the bitter silence.

His mother crossed over and was caught by the frozen corpse. Yaba wondered if the day comes when he would no longer follow Cha Yiseok’s back, will the servant of the frozen corpse disappear…?

Yaba released his arms that had been fastened around his waist, and quietly escaped from his arms. It was nice to hear the rustling of the duvet. The lower body, as well as the bones, seemed to melt. On one side of the spacious living room, He saw Yiseok’s pants. He took out the medicine case and ate five pills in a hurry. The case became flat, and the anxiety disappeared. He put on his own pants that were a distance away. However, his top was too stretched and torn to the point that he could not wear it at all.

He looked around the living room and stumbled to a room. He approached the dressing room that had an entire wall mirrored. At that moment, Yaba was startled. Several layers of belly fat, and the forearms were covered with red spots. Above all, when he imagined that he had such a body exposed to that man, his cheeks became hot again, and it was also mysterious that he was in heat with such a body.

Insects crawled out and did early morning exercise in the ears. Come to think of it, the bugs that appeared from time to time never appeared when he mixed with Yiseok. There were only moans and tongues crawling around.

When he pushed the groove in the mirror door, he saw a spacious dressing room. After looking around the suits and organized clothes hanging on both sides, he chose a blue shirt and put his arms in it. Even though it looked spacious, it was not enough to contain this body. Yaba groaned and barely buttoned up.

The moment he closed the dressing room door, he was startled again. On the other side of the room, the Soon-yi1 was sleeping. He didn’t know whether it was sleeping or awake because it had no eyelids, but it didn’t move. It seemed like he saw it in the living room last night, but Cha Yiseok seemed to have moved it. Yaba bit his lip and glared at it.

He took out only the taxi fare from Cha Yiseok’s wallet. He also took the medicine. He handled the snake. Arriving back at the dorm, he went through the window. Two thugs were dozing by the front door. The rest might be closing their eyes in the van for a while.

The location tracking device was located deep in the president’s office, so they wouldn’t know it unless they checked it on purpose. The scariest thing was the information from his roommate. Yaba could only imagine that his head would fly off and scatter his brain until the moment he came through the window and stepped into the bathroom. Fortunately, nothing he feared happened.

The shower was turned off. When he opened the lid of the toilet tank, the poison bag was still there. Yaba looked at the bathroom door. Beyond that door, Giha might be waiting with wrathful eyes. Cocaine, who had noticed the poison, might immediately scream. Yaba took a deep breath before opening the door. His head was pounding as if he was feeling the medicine now. He bit his molars and twisted the doorknob.

“…”

On the way here, he imagined every single worst thing that would happen in this room. He also came up with a countermeasure. But this was completely unexpected. There was no Kang Giha, and Cocaine was asleep in the bed. Cocaine rubbed his eyes, sensing someone’s presence, got up, and met his gaze. Then his gaze landed on the nape of Yaba’s neck with a firm gaze. For a moment, something cold appeared in his eyes and disappeared. He asked in a hoarse voice.

“Where the hell have you been? Yesterday, I was sweating, telling the thugs that you were washing up. They didn’t suspect it because they knew you wouldn’t come out once you went in. You owe me.”

“…”

Cocaine stretched, stood up, and walked to the water purifier. He took water from a glass and drank it at once. Yaba’s pulse surged rapidly. He thought he was caught. No, maybe he didn’t know. All the evidence was hidden, and he wouldn’t even know what the envelope was. Cocaine felt his gaze and looked at him. Cocaine lowered her glass and wiped his wet lips. A smile like sunshine hung on his fingertips that were stealing his lips.

“The water tastes good today.”

***

“Ha.”

Cha Yiseok stood crookedly with his weight on one leg. He brushed his disheveled hair with his sleepy eyes. The cat had run away while he was sleeping again. He needed a way to lengthen the curfew or get rid of the delusion that he had a chip in his head. He opened the door to the freezer to put an ice pack on the hand that Soon-yi had bitten, and found Soon-yi, which had been neatly rolled up, inside.

Cha Yiseok massaged Soonyi, who was struggling with the cold, and covered it with a blanket. How the hell Yaba caught this ferocious guy and put it in the freezer was a mystery. Even though Soonyi was not yet an adult, it would not meekly submit. The housekeeper and Secretary Jang did not have a good experience with it. It would be nothing to twist a cat’s neck. Soonyi was a natural hunter who lived in the wild. It’s obvious that Soonyi went easy on him. Cha Yiseok’s lips, who smoked a cigarette, drew a strange curve.

“Hey, are you possessed by his song too?”

Soon-yi, who slowly found its body temperature, flicked its tongue. Snakes have degenerated ears, so they cannot hear, but they can detect subtle ringing through their skin. It heard it with its whole body. That gloomy song and lewd moans…

A vibration sounded somewhere. Cha Yiseok put the cell phone lying on one side of his shoulder and ear and continued the massage.

― Aahhhh――!! All out! Get out——!!

— Young master! Young master! What should I do… ! He’s been in so much pain since last night!

A loud shattering sound, a sobbing passed after the man’s scream. Cha Myunghwan’s cry could be felt as the woman was kicked out. When the seizure started, Cha Myunghwan refused everything except painkillers, and even a strong man could not handle it. He said the pain had subsided for a while, but even Cocaine couldn’t keep up with the cancer cell growth.

― It seemed like he was getting more stressed while listening to Mr. Cocaine’s song. I liked it too much to hear, but he didn’t like it. Am I too trusting in Mr. Cocaine…? Wouldn’t it be better to just stop it all? Sob… young master. What should I do… Dr. Yang told me to prepare our hearts…

The woman sounded pretty enough that she might be patting her hair if she was just beside. Cha Yiseok furrowed his eyebrows.

“Didn’t you say that last month as well? The pain has always been there, so it will be fine.”

— No matter how much pain medication you take, it’s useless. I’m so scared of what will happen right now…

“By the way, it’s hard for me to say anything, but that aside, I think Chairman Kim had good timing. Maybe he listened to Cocaine just in time when he’s getting better, and he believes he’s fixed it. That’s human psychology, isn’t it?”

― Is that really true…?

Cha Myunghwan’s wife trembled. Even though she believed in the existence of a healer, distrust grew, but her hope for a miracle would still be there.

“Even if Chairman Kim pushed him to heal, he was reluctant to touch Cocaine from the beginning, so he will see the opportunity and quit. It would be better for my brother to refuse than to be rejected.”

Cha Myunghwan can’t stand being rejected. He was a single flower that grew nicely in the shield that Chairman Cha has given him for the rest of his life. There was no definitive answer yet, but it was impossible to predict how the outcome would be different if Cocaine deliberately attacked. There was hope in giving up now. In that case, it was better for Cha Myunghwan to cut Cocaine off than Cocaine stepping down on his own.

“The decision is ultimately up to you. I want you to put everything else aside and just think about Brother.”

— Yes. Young master… I’ll let you know later when he’s okay. Oh, he’s looking for me now. I should go. Well, if he gets better, he’s going to Seoul tomorrow for a thorough examination.

Cha Yiseok ended the call and tapped his chin with the edge of his cell phone.

“Make friendship with the bear. But always have a hatchet ready.”

He called somewhere. It would definitely come in handy. It was also necessary to be careful while Yaba was there. As the phone dialed, Cha Yiseok rolled up the frozen reptile’s body with a blanket and massaged it.

Suddenly, his bandaged hand caught his sight. Only then did he realize that his hand had no pain. The pain that was excruciating just yesterday felt like it had disappeared now. He clasped his hand and stretched it out, looking at his other hand. In the place where Soonyi had bitten, a tooth the size of a needle hole appeared in a round shape, and a bruise spread widely in the center. The wound throbbed. After a long beep, a hard voice came over.

— What’s going on at this hour…

Kang Giha’s surprised yet welcoming voice came over the phone. Cha Yiseok laughed.

“Did you miss my voice?”