Chapter 84
She opened her eyes.
The shadow of the sunset stretched lazily through the window. The scenery was unfamiliar, and there was the smell of disinfectant in the air. She looked around for a moment and then realized that she had been hospitalized.
Her memories quickly returned. She had been exercising when an explosion occurred, and the building tilted, catching fire, and the supervisor lost consciousness... Memories that were like a nightmare resurfaced, and Jin-Seo grabbed her head. It was because a headache had resurfaced along with the memories.
"...Jin-Seo!"
It was Chang-Won who came in. He looked surprised at first, but then he ran toward Jin-Seo with tears in his eyes. A friendly-looking doctor followed behind him.
"You've woken up! Is there any pain?"
"My head... No, I'm fine."
She felt a sharp pain in her head, so much so that she could barely hear her father's voice right in front of her. However, Jin-Seo pressed her temple to force the pain away and smiled while lying, "Cough, argh, I'm okay..."
However, her throat felt extremely parched, almost as if something was stuck in her throat. Jin-Seo was about to unconsciously cough, but she swallowed hard to suppress the cough. She had gotten used to not showing any pain, even when it hurt.
Chang-Won had a serious expression on his face as he signaled with his eyes to the doctor beside him. The doctor understood the meaning of his expression and quickly explained, "Ah, you inhaled a lot of smoke, so your throat may have been damaged. It's not that serious, and you'll recover soon with some blessing treatment. Is there any other place that hurts?"
"Ah... No, only my throat."
"Really? You should have a little headache, though?"
It seemed like the doctor had hit the nail on the head as Jin-Seo nervously shifted her eyes around the room. The doctor chuckled and drew a blessing array. The light of blessing that flowed out enveloped her. The pain didn't go away completely, but it was much better than before.
"If you're in pain, you should tell us honestly, so we can help you recover quickly. So your throat hurts, and your head hurts. Is there anywhere else that hurts? You're so fit that it doesn’t look like there is anywhere else in particular that would hurt..."
Jin-Seo tried moving her arms and legs. Just like the doctor said, the other parts of her body didn’t really hurt. The headache and sore throat seemed to be all there was.
“Doctor, how is her condition...?” Chang-Won asked while looking at Jin-Seo with a worried expression on his face.
The doctor smiled reassuringly. "Oh, she’s almost fully recovered, so you don't have to worry too much. She could be discharged immediately, and she could be completely fine. Nevertheless, it's best to take a few days to rest."
“Ah...!”
Chang-Won breathed a sigh of relief and brushed his chest as if he was relieved. He almost felt like collapsing on the spot from the relief, but he couldn't collapse in front of his daughter. He strained his legs to forcefully hold up his body and bowed to the doctor.
"Thank you, doctor."
"No need to thank me. Your daughter is strong, and her recovery speed is fast, so that’s why she recovered so quickly. Ah, but I can't guarantee the same for the student who came with you."
When the doctor remembered the other patient, his faint smile disappeared. Jin-Seo felt an inexplicable sense of anxiety when she saw the doctor bowing his head with a bitter expression on his face.
"...The student who came with me?"
Jin-Seo hesitated on whether to ask or not for a long time, but she eventually decided to open her mouth. If she didn't ask now, she might not have another chance. Chang-Won and the doctor almost simultaneously shook their heads as if they were in sync.
If he came in at the same time, perhaps...
Jin-Seo's sense of anxiety slowly grew in her mind. An image of someone's face flashed through her mind.
"That student you mentioned last time. You know, the one who entered through special admission...” Kim Chang-Won responded while dragging out the end of his sentence.
Jin-Seo’s face had gone blue due to fright.
“What... What hospital... Where did he get admitted?”
"That... It’s probably the room next door—"
Thump!
Jin-Seo jumped up from the bed and ran into the next room. Before the other two could stop her, she was already heading toward the room next door.
***
Sun-Woo had been admitted to the room right next to hers.
“He was late for the appointment, so I was wondering what was going on, but he came in this condition....” Chang-Won explained.
Sun-Woo had dragged his heavily wounded body and arrived at the Great Auditorium while looking as if he could die at any moment. As soon as he stepped onto the stage, he collapsed and passed out.
Chang-Won was shocked and quickly tried to contact Sun-Woo's guardian, but was unable to reach him. Thus, he then hurriedly arranged for Sun-Woo to be admitted to the Florence Academy Hospital.
“...”
Jin-Seo vacantly stared at Sun-Woo's face as he lay in the hospital bed. His complexion was pale, and his ashen lips were dry and cracked. One of his legs was covered in bandages, and there were bruises all over his body. His breathing was shallow, as if he could stop breathing at any moment. Every time he breathed in and out, his shoulders would slightly rise and fall.
"Dehydration is the first problem. If you don't drink water for three days, your body will end up like this. But I have no idea how this student ended up like this... The student's muscles are almost all torn apart, and his blood pressure is as high as that of a hypertensive patient. Sometimes it shoots up, and other times it drops like a corpse, which means his blood vessels are not in good condition."
Jin-Seo remembered what the doctor had just said as he left the room.
"Even so, this student has a very strong body. If it were a normal person, they would have died in the evening, but he’s still holding on. He's recovering pretty quickly, but I can't say for sure when he'll regain consciousness."
Even the doctor couldn't guarantee when Sun-Woo would wake up. Sun-Woo's body was damaged much more severely than what was visible on the surface. Jin-Seo felt her breath catch in her throat, and she felt her consciousness slowly fade. She started to hyperventilate.
"Are you okay?" Chang-Won asked.
It was directed toward Jin-Seo, but at the same time, it was a question for Sun-Woo. However, no one answered. Chang-Won looked between his distressed daughter and the unconciousSun-Woo.
He didn’t know much about Sun-Woo. He only vaguely knew the fact that the student had lost his mother in the Holy War and that he had entered Florence Academy through a special admission. Chang-Won remembered the look in Sun-Woo's eyes as he led his battered body up onto the stage. The look in the boy’s eyes was something that was difficult to describe as just determination, but rather, burning desire. If he had to describe it, it was close to faith.
He had always assumed that his obsession with success was stronger than others due to his unfortunate upbringing.... But when he heard the story that he had saved Jin-Seo from a burning building instead of attending his appointment ceremony, complex feelings rose up in Chang-Won's heart.
"Jin-Seo, you should—"
"Let me rest a little."
"...”
“I’ll just rest here for a bit and then leave," Jin-Seo said while facing her father head-on.
He was surprised. It was the first time his daughter had expressed her own opinion so clearly since his wife died.
"Okay, rest and take your time coming out."
Chang-Won nodded as if he understood his daughter's feelings and left the hospital room. Even as he walked out into the hallway, Chang-Won's mind felt complicated. He fumbled with the cigarette pack that was in his pocket as he felt the urge to smoke.
Left alone in the hospital room, Jin-Seo looked at Sun-Woo.
“It's okay. You're not dead yet, so it's okay..."
The words Sun-Woo muttered to himself when he carried her out of the burning building echoed faintly in Jin-Seo's ears.
"What's okay about this, you...!"
She clenched her fist tightly and then let go.
Sun-Woo was not okay at all. He was most likely not okay, even at the moment he saved her. Sun-Woo's body would have been damaged beyond repair at that point in time. Even so, Sun-Woo foolishly went out to save people without caring about his own condition. He rescued numerous people trapped in the building, but he couldn't save himself.
Bounce.
Jin-Seo buried her face in the edge of the bed. The blanket smelled of disinfectant, Sun-Woo's scent, and various other odors. The strongest smell of them all was still the smell of blood.
"Don't die."
There was no response. Jin-Seo felt fear as she looked at Sun-Woo, who lay there silently. She felt as though he would never wake up and would eventually die, just like all the others she had relied on and trusted.
"..."
She buried her face deeper into the bed and hid her tears.
When she fell asleep, she dreamed of Sun-Woo's death. His body had been abandoned, and the bugs had devoured it. Jin-Seo stared blankly at the corpse, which only had bones left after the bugs had eaten it. The bugs that ate Sun-Woo's body grew in size and then climbed up her legs and covered her face completely.
Thump!
"Ugh..."
She woke up. She had hit her head on the railing of the bed while getting up, but that wasn't important right now. She quickly looked at Sun-Woo. Thankfully, he was still alive. However, her frightened heart was unable to calm down, no matter how many times she confirmed it.
"Just see what happens when you get up, seriously..."
Jin-Seo glared at Sun-Woo with her narrowed eyes.
If he woke up, she would pay back all the misfortune she had encountered in her dreams. She would make sure that he would be responsible for that time when he messed around with that other woman in her dream, and she would make sure that he paid the price for the dream that she had today.
...So please, just get up.
Jin-Seo prayed to her father in heaven and buried her face in the bed.
***
"No matter how you look at it, can’t you forgive him for being fifty minutes late? If it were any other day, then maybe we could let it slide, but this was the day of the appointment ceremony—"
"He was rescuing citizens at the scene of a fire, so of course, we should forgive him for being late. The fact that there were no casualties is all thanks to this student."
The conference room, where the meeting was in full swing, was filled with noise. However, compared to all the commotion, there was a relatively small number of people that were gathered in the conference room. It was because it was a smaller meeting where only those who were qualified to make decisions that involved the Seven Holy Names were gathered.
Chairman Chang-Won and the principal, who were frequently absent, also happened to be present during this meeting.
“There were no casualties, but some ended up in a comatose state. I’m talking about the supervisor of the training center.”
“So what I’m saying is that the reason why that person is alive is all because—”
“Isn’t that thanks to Jin-Seo? If she hadn’t quickly healed the wounds, then even if they had recovered his body, he would have still...”
“He would have still died if his body hadn’t been recovered from the scene of the fire after getting healed! Mr. Yu, why are you so inflexible?”
“It’s not that I’m inflexible. Sigh, I can’t believe this. Why are you suddenly saying that I’m inflexible...”
“There, there, let’s stop bickering amongst each other.”
The meeting had been going on for over two hours, but they had not arrived at a conclusion, and the dispute was only escalating. Whenever someone presented an opinion, someone else would refute it, and then someone else would refute the rebuttals until the meeting turned into a heated argument. Eventually, someone would attempt to calm down the situation. This pattern repeated itself several times.
“What do you think, Chairman?” Vice Principal Yu subtly asked Chang-Won. Vice-principal Yu had always been at the center of the arguments. Since there was no sign of arriving at a conclusion even after discussing it, he passed the baton to Chang-Won, the ultimate decision-maker amongst the decision-makers.
“Hmmm...” Chang-Won pondered.
There were two main opinions in the meeting room. One was to choose Sun-Woo as originally planned, and the other was to revoke Sun-Woo's qualification according to the rules and choose another student. Both opinions were reasonable in their own right, and as a result, the meeting's momentum did not easily lean toward one side.
However, Chang-Won's mind was already made up.
“I believe that it is right to grant the Holy Name to Sun-Woo as originally planned.”
There was a moment of silence in the room. Everyone who attended the meeting opened their eyes wide as if they were surprised. The news that Sun-Woo had saved Jin-Seo was something that none of the students knew, but it was something that all Florence Academy teachers knew. Due to this, Chang-Won was in a position where it was difficult to support Sun-Woo.
If he supported Sun-Woo, it could be misunderstood as making a public judgment based on his personal emotions because Sun-Woo had saved his daughter.
Gabriel, who was in charge of a part of the Florence Elder Council, asked, “I believe that... You did not make that judgment for personal reasons. But may I... ask for the reason?”
Chang-Won remained silent for a moment and dropped his head.
“If there's not enough room, then I'll just drop out instead.”
It was the words that his daughter had said before the meeting. His daughter seemed to think that Sun-Woo was late for the appointment because of her. She said that if Sun-Woo was not appointed as the Holy Name of Charity because he was late, she would drop out to make room for him.
Chang-Won was surprised because this was the first time that she had wanted something so desperately. However, he excluded personal emotions from his judgment as much as possible and tried to make a rational and reasonable decision. Nevertheless, or rather precisely because he made a thoroughly rational and reasonable judgment, Chang-Won had to bestow the Holy Name Charity to Sun-Woo.
"I received a call from the Theological Association. They said that if we plan on conducting a re-election test, they will cut off their sponsorship. It’s almost as if they are threatening us."
"The Theological Association? Wait, what Theological Association?"
Principal Heo, a member of the Gospel Healing Theological Association, widened his eyes. The Gospel Healing Theological Association was famous for its relatively large size and high status among theological associations. Therefore, whenever the topic of theological associations came up, Heo's voice always grew louder.
"It's the International Theological Association."
"...Ah, I see. Well, um, if it’s that association, then I can’t say much about it..."
Heo's voice, which was about to increase in volume, suddenly quieted down. No matter how high the status of the Gospel Healing Theological Association was, it could not compare to the International Theological Association led by Sung Yu-Da.
Moreover, the amount that the International Theological Association sponsored for the Florence Foundation was astronomical. There were even jokes that if the International Theological Association stopped sponsoring them, then half of the Florence Academy building would have to be demolished. Such statements from the International Theological Association could not be ignored.
"Why in the world would the International Theological Association do such a thing...?"
"Maybe because they were the ones who arranged the location for the re-election test, and perhaps they don't have the luxury to support us again."
"I wonder. Did the International Theological Association say such things because they couldn't even lend us the Ark? Sung Yu-Da may be sly, but he's not a stingy person..."
As a result of the International Theological Association's statement, the opinions that were divided were now leaning toward one side.
"But isn't it a situation where we don’t know when Sun-Woo will wake up? He could just lie there forever..."
With Vice Principal Yu's word, the situation returned to square one once again. According to Vice Principal Yu, Sun-Woo had been hospitalized and had not been to school for five days straight. His condition had not improved at all, and even the doctors couldn't guarantee when he would wake up.
"What kind of disaster would it be if we gave the Holy Name of Charity to him, and then he just ends up dying? At least until he wakes up—"
"Teacher Yu! That's not something an educator should say!"
"Please don't misunderstand. I’m just saying if we look at the situation realistically... "
"Realistically... it's the right thing to say. Though, as a clergyman... I'll be careful with my words."
The crux of the matter was that they couldn't leave the Holy Name of Charity vacant until Sun-Woo woke up, as they didn't know when he would wake up.
It wasn't a wrong statement, but Chang-Won felt a little uncomfortable. Even if it was realistically the right thing to say, he wondered if it was right for an educator to readily talk about the possibility of a student dying.
"No, realistically, it would be better to give it to Sun-Woo. The seven Holy Names have legends that correspond to their names. Isn’t that right?”
"I see. He was late for the appointment of the Holy Name because he had to rescue people who were trapped in the building... The fact that he dedicated himself to helping others makes it a legend that perfectly fits the name of 'charity.'"
"But wouldn't we run into the same issue that we had before? What about the decline in public image that will happen from this? It's clear that the students won't listen or believe us..."
"Um, excuse me, Teacher Yu! There's been a logical leap since earlier!"
"You keep interrupting, but it's not a leap but–!"
Swoosh— thud!
At the height of the heated meeting, someone opened the door and came in.
Overwhelmed by the overheated atmosphere of the meeting, the woman hunched her shoulders and looked around with her eyes before finally making her announcement.
"Um, there's good news... Sun-Woo woke up. Well then, I'll go away now...!"
Tap tap.
Ye-Jin, the head of the Class of Charity, left those words and quickly left. The air in the meeting room froze.
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