HIF 5

It’s Nothing to Be Sorry About

Seon Yi-han had a white bandage wrapped around half of his left forearm. Red blood droplets dotted it in a long line.

The bandage was tied tightly without any gaps. Seon Yi-han’s already pale skin looked even whiter. It looked like a clumsy attempt to tie it as tightly as possible.

‘I think I should check the wound.’

I wonder if he disinfected it properly. Judging by the way the blood had soaked into the bandage, it seemed like a pretty deep wound.

Remembering how Seon Yi-han couldn’t even stop his nosebleed properly earlier, hoping he had treated it properly seemed like too much to expect.

‘Still, it’s better not to say anything now.’

I suppressed the urge to untie the tightly wrapped bandage right away. This wasn’t something I could pry into carelessly.

It was wrong to just untie the bandage and check the wound when we had only met less than a day ago.

But asking to see the wound wasn’t a good idea either. Judging by Seon Yi-han’s stubbornness, he would just brush it off as nothing if I asked him now.

It was obvious that he would try to hide it even more carefully in the future. That was more dangerous.

‘At least I want to reapply the bandage.’

His slender wrist, with its prominent blue veins, looked so fragile, as if it would break. Even though I knew that wasn’t the case, he looked so uneasy, as if he would crumble. My heart felt heavy.

Barely managing to make a normal expression, I released the rolled-up sleeve and let it down as if nothing had happened.

Seon Yi-han still had a languid look on his face, his eyes fixed ahead. He didn’t seem to have noticed that I had seen the bandage on his arm.

Looking at his half-closed eyes, it seemed like he wasn’t even in the right state of mind to notice.

“Hey, Seon Yi-han. I don’t think folding it will work.”

Seon Yi-han turned his head towards me and met my gaze. My reflection was captured in his clear, blue eyes that blinked slowly. The corners of his eyes still looked a little red.

“More blood than I thought has spread. I’ll use Clean magic now.”

Seon Yi-han nodded slightly with a dazed expression. He brought his hand to the blood-stained sleeve and opened his mouth.

“Tell me right away if you feel anything strange.”

I quietly recited the Clean magic. As I watched the red bloodstains on the sleeve gradually fade, I asked Seon Yi-han.

“How is it, are you okay?”

“…….”

There was no answer.

I was sure that this level of magic would be okay, but was I wrong? I quickly raised my head, wondering if something was wrong.

“Hey, Seon Yi-han?”

Seon Yi-han was still staring at me. Our eyes met in the air. Seon Yi-han slowly blinked his blurry eyes, which seemed out of focus.

Soon, Seon Yi-han’s head slowly tilted to one side.

I quickly reached out, thinking he was going to fall. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Seon Yi-han slowly brought his face to my palm, which was awkwardly stretched out next to his head.

His cheek felt soft against my palm. It felt a little squishy, which was out of character. And it was hot. Even though my hands weren’t cold, his cheek felt so hot that my hand felt like it was burning.

‘Wait. Hot?’

I raised my other hand and placed it on Seon Yi-han’s forehead. Unlike his burning cheeks, I felt a slight fever. It seemed like a mild fever.

When I put my hand on his neck and shoulders, I could feel a faint fever under his thin clothes.

It wasn’t serious. It didn’t seem like a side effect of the magic. But I felt a slight worry. He seems to be in bad shape right now.

“Seon Yi-han.”

“…….”

“Seon Yi-han, look at me. Are you sick?”

“No.”

Seon Yi-han answered immediately, unlike before. And he slightly turned his face, which was leaning against my palm, and met my eyes. Seon Yi-han, who was slowly blinking his eyes, added in a small voice.

“…Sleepy.”

He did look like it. Since a while ago. But I couldn’t understand why he was holding on without sleeping. I sighed softly to myself and carefully leaned Seon Yi-han’s head against the wall of the carriage.

Seon Yi-han’s pale face was a little flushed, probably because of the fever. He looked strangely precarious.

“I told you to get some sleep a while ago.”

As I said that, I slowly took my hand away from Seon Yi-han’s cheek. The hot warmth that had been on my palm gradually faded away. I felt a little empty for some reason.

Seon Yi-han remained slumped against the wall of the carriage. His eyelids, which he closed and slowly lifted, looked heavy.

Seon Yi-han slowly opened his mouth and mumbled.

“…Sorry for sleeping alone… in front of you….”

“Huh?”

“…Sorry.”

His voice was gradually fading as if it was being locked away. But I could still understand what he was saying, so I was a little dumbfounded.

‘So, he didn’t sleep until now because he felt sorry for sleeping alone in front of me.’

The first thought that came to my mind was that he was such a foolish person. I was also a little worried. I wondered how he was going to live in this harsh world.

But it didn’t feel bad because it meant he was thinking of me that much. I was worried that he might hate us for forcing him to come, but it didn’t seem like that was the case.

On the one hand, I felt a little relieved from the worries I had been having all along. Of course, new worries arose, though.

“Just sleep.”

I took off my outer garment and covered Seon Yi-han’s knees with it. I wondered if he was getting a cold because he had a mild fever. Seon Yi-han’s dazed gaze turned to the outer garment on his knees.

“Don’t worry about it.”

I was about to continue by saying it’s nothing to be sorry about, but I pursed my lips and carefully brushed Seon Yi-han’s eyes. I felt his eyelashes tickling my palm as he blinked, and then it became quiet.

‘He fell asleep.’

When I slowly took my hand away, I saw Seon Yi-han’s face, who was quietly asleep with his eyes closed.

He’s finally sleeping. He was so tired that he fell asleep so quickly, but he stubbornly held on until now, which was a little surprising.

‘I hope he takes care of his own condition first, more than anything else.’

I carefully stroked Seon Yi-han’s hair, which was still and quiet with his eyes closed. His neat hair felt soft against my palm.

‘I should teach him how to apply bandages properly later. And how to stop bleeding and disinfect wounds.’

There was a lot to do.

◇

The inside of the carriage was quiet. Even though the carriage was bumping slightly, Seon Yi-han was fast asleep as if he had fainted.

Dark shadows were cast under his closed eyelids. His limp arms swayed helplessly whenever the carriage shook.

‘That wound from earlier.’

Judging by the location, it wasn’t a wound caused by accidentally falling or anything like that. It didn’t seem like a trace of trying to take his own life either.

Deep and long. It was clear that he had cut himself to bleed as much as possible.

Seon Yi-han was in the temple, so there was a high possibility. The people in the temple used their hair or blood as sacrifices to use Divine Power.

‘I heard that some of them have big costs and are dangerous.’

There was also content about temples when I was learning at the academy. It was covered briefly in passing, but I vaguely remembered something from it. Especially Divine Power that was a big burden. What was it….

‘Peeking into the future, something similar to that.’

I only heard it in passing, so I don’t remember it well.

‘Anyway, I should keep a close eye on him in the future.’

Whatever it is, it didn’t seem like Seon Yi-han would try to tell me first. So I had to watch him and stop him right away if it was too dangerous.

Besides, the fact that he was making wounds to use Divine Power was just a guess. Although I was almost certain. Still, I had to keep all other possibilities open and watch him.

Squeak.

The carriage slowly stopped as I was thinking about it for a while. We had finally arrived.

I reached out and swept up Seon Yi-han’s hair, which was slightly damp with cold sweat. It seemed like his fever had gone down while he was sleeping.

I gently tapped his shoulder to wake him up. I could feel his thin body under his thin clothes.

“Seon Yi-han.”

Seon Yi-han flinched slightly at my voice. His quietly closed eyes slowly opened, and my figure was completely reflected in his clear, watery eyes.

◇Seon Yi-han’s POV◇

“Seon Yi-han.”

I heard a voice calling my name in my sleep.

I struggled to lift my heavy eyelids. Min Joo-hyuk, who was looking at me, came into view.

“Wake up. We’ve arrived at Ledeo.”

Min Joo-hyuk’s bright voice penetrated my dazed mind.

“…Okay.”

I was still half-asleep. My mind was hazy as if I hadn’t fully woken up.

I hugged Min Joo-hyuk’s outer garment, which was covering my knees, and got up. Min Joo-hyuk opened the carriage door wide. A gust of wind blew into the carriage.

‘Oh.’

The cold air cleared my head.

Outside, the afternoon sunlight was shining yellow. It was a blue morning like dawn earlier, so it seemed like quite a bit of time had passed.

My body felt much lighter than before. And….

‘Wow, I really slept soundly.’

It was hopeless. To have slept so soundly within a few hours of meeting, it was bound to be a terrible first impression. I glanced ahead. Fortunately, Min Joo-hyuk had a clean expression as if nothing had happened.

‘It’s already happened, so there’s nothing I can do. Let’s do well in the future.’

I made a resolution in my mind and got out of the carriage, holding Min Joo-hyuk’s outstretched hand.

A large gate was visible in front of me. Behind it, there was a small building.

As I moved my steps, I neatly folded the outer garment that had been covering my knees and handed it to Min Joo-hyuk. Min Joo-hyuk unfolded the garment again and gently placed it on my shoulders.

“Min Joo-hyuk, why…?”

“What?”

Min Joo-hyuk looked at me innocently.

“It’s nothing. Thank you.”

I was a little embarrassed for a moment, but the garment that was draped over me in the chilly weather was quite warm. Min Joo-hyuk seemed to have smiled lightly for a moment.

I continued to move my steps. The gate was right in front of me. Min Joo-hyuk reached out and slowly opened the large gate.

The ground was covered with short grass. Flat stones were sparsely embedded from right in front of the gate to the building. Flowers were blooming profusely on the side.

There were tall flowers and small flowers. The flowers swayed gently in the autumn breeze.

“Oh, Park Yul, hyung?”

I heard Min Joo-hyuk’s voice from the side.

Following Min Joo-hyuk’s gaze, there was a person standing right next to the profusely blooming flowers.

Thin streams of water were falling to the ground from a small watering can in his hand. The small water droplets seemed to be holding the sunlight.

A gust of wind blew, and his hair became a little disheveled. His blonde hair sparkled under the afternoon sun.

He widened his eyes and blinked as he looked at Min Joo-hyuk and me. His eyes were a light green color, like the sprouts of spring.

He bent down and gently placed the watering can he was holding on the ground. Then he stood up again.

Facing us, he was smiling brightly with a faint eye smile.

“You’re here so soon.”

A faint floral scent blew by on the cold wind.