In the morning, Taeui woke up with a pounding headache. He couldn’t fall into a deep sleep no matter how hard he tried. He dreamt and woke up groaning with a headache that even persisted in his nightmares.

Finally, Taeui woke up again with a throbbing headache before dawn. It was not even 6 o’clock yet, and he sighed and scratched his head.

“Damn it….”

Even though his head was pounding and his eyelids felt heavy, he didn’t think he could go back to sleep. Jeong Taeui sat softly on the bed, closed his eyes for a moment, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fall asleep, so he opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, the intense headache came back, and Jeong Taeui buried his face in the blanket, groaning.

“Aww……, aspirin, aspirin.”

Last night, after being kicked out of Ilay’s room, Jeong Taeui went to Kyoho’s room and knocked on the door. Kyoho had finished his previous work a few hours ago and was relaxing in his bathtub in his room, cursing as he opened the door with a towel still wet around his body. Kyoho thought who the crazy person was coming here in the middle of the night while he was taking a bath like this and shouted in frustration until he realized that the person standing in front of him was Taeui.

When Kyoho saw Taeui, he immediately fell silent. While opening his mouth to complain, he silently put on his clothes and went to the medical room, then directly threw a painkiller at Taeui as per his request.

He silently thought that even though Kyoho didn’t openly show it, he was quite rough.

But it was not surprising to see his appearance now. His face was pale and his lips were pale. He looked like a sick person who could be knocked out with a light touch at any time.

“You should know that Aspirin is the most corrosive to the stomach among all painkillers, so make sure to eat something before taking it.”

He said bluntly and handed the medicine to Taeui after receiving a reasonable answer from him, then returned to his room.

As soon as he returned, Taeui chewed and swallowed twice the prescribed dosage. His head was really hurting, so it seemed that two pills were not enough.

While taking the medicine, he lay down and covered himself with a blanket, but the headache was so severe that he couldn’t sleep. An hour had passed, and the medicine was just starting to take effect. He drifted into a dazed state. But even so, the headache didn’t go away, so even in his sleep, he only thought, “My head hurts, my head hurts…”

“I think I put the remaining Aspirin somewhere….”

Jeong Taeui felt annoyed, but the headache was even more urgent. He found a piece of paper behind a cup, but there was no medicine in it.

“Uh.” Taeui muttered, closing his eyes and vaguely remembering that he had swallowed all the pills while groaning in an endless headache in his sleep last night.

Damn it. Jeong Taeui stood up from his seat. His head hurt so much that the wrinkles on his forehead crumpled. It was embarrassing to have to find Kyoho again at this hour, but he had never been driven crazy by a headache to the point where his mind was spinning like this. This time, he would only ask for one headache pill and chew it right there. With a sigh, he tried to put on his clothes and leave the room. At this hour, there were fewer people in the hallway than usual, normally there would be a few people passing by.

Occasionally, he heard the sound of opening and closing doors. Among the diligent boys, there were those who liked to sweat every morning in the gym. And Ilay was one of them. He had previously said that if he could sweat a lot in the morning, he would feel refreshed all day.

“……”

Jeong Taeui frowned. He was thinking about a name that he really didn’t want to think about at this moment.

Worse, as soon as he realized that he ‘didn’t want to think about it’, the reasons for that and other unpleasant names came to his mind.

Damn it. Just throw a bomb at this UNHRDO branch and he would feel so refreshed. Or if possible, throw a few more bombs at the headquarters and other branches. But when he thought about it, no matter what, he would soon leave this organization. Should he really carry out a terrorist attack here and then leave? If possible, he would destroy it and leave.

For the first time, he felt jealous of his genius older brother. He lightly tapped his forehead. A staff member who was walking down the elevator was startled when he saw Jeong Taeui, his face bright and dripping with sweat, he must have just returned from the gym. After reaching the floor, Jeong Taeui entered the elevator and looked into the mirror inside, immediately knowing the reason.

A face like a freshly dead corpse reflected in the mirror, he would be horrified if he encountered a face like this even in the early morning or in the quiet night.

Jeong Taeui sighed and said, “Oh, this.” then rubbed his head.

Taeui had been going in and out of Kyoho’s room all month, muttering like a drug addict: “Medicine, I need medicine.” while knocking on the door, but no one answered.

Taeui knocked on the door thinking that he was still asleep. But there was still no response. He frowned slightly and rang the doorbell multiple times, then simultaneously knocked on the door. If it were normal, Kyoho would have run out and shouted loudly. But the door remained silent with no reaction.

“What… Is it related to Luther*? He’s in the training room.”

“Go and find out.”

(Luther is also Kyoho’s name for those who don’t remember.)

When he knocked on the door, the room did not respond. Instead, the door of the adjacent room opened, and another “Kyoho” with an annoyed expression poked his head out. As if waking up after being hit in his sleep, the words ‘Noise’ were clearly visible on his annoyed face.

After a while, he whispered, “I’m sorry,” in a very low voice. He turned into the room without regaining his frowning expression.

It’s really surprising. He didn’t know that a shy Kyoho would have enough strength and energy to exercise every morning. It’s true that you shouldn’t judge people just by their appearance. Among all the medical staff, he was most impressed with him.

“In reality, you don’t need a very strong body to do this job, but he seems to be the strongest in the medical staff.”

Jeong Taeui gently rubbed his temples and walked away. However, as soon as he decided to go there, Taeui immediately wanted to curse. He had to go up many basement floors before and now he had to go down to the training room on the 5th floor. When he found Kyoho there, he had to go back up to the hospital on the 2nd floor again, and the headache was still tormenting him. That’s probably why every house has a medicine box even if they are not usually sick.

So now he also held a box in his hand. He decided to go back to his room to put it away and then go back to the 5th floor again.

“…….Oh………My stomach hurts so much…”

The elevator stopped on the 6th floor and started going up to the 1st floor. Because it took too long to wait, he decided to walk down the stairs himself. Taeui placed it in front of him and stopped for a moment. He felt uncomfortable not only because of the headache but also because of the stomachache.

Pain. He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and furrowed his brows due to the sharp pain in his abdomen. Taeui sighed and started walking after feeling a little better. It was like being revived.

He wasn’t that weak. He usually didn’t get sick easily. If he had a headache, he just needed to take medicine. But now, it is extremely painful. Could it be that he was really sick or just stressed?

He didn’t know anymore.

“All of this is so damn wonderful… wonderful to the point where I just want to die, can’t stay here any longer.”

Jeong Taeui muttered through gritted teeth. Half a year ago, he promised himself that it wouldn’t be long. Moreover, more than half a year had passed, and perhaps Jung Taeui was the “healthiest” person in the UNHRDO branch this time.

How should he describe this feeling now?

Although Taeui felt sad and uncomfortable, he didn’t have the willpower to maintain his anger. But if he tried to hide it in his mind, it would be difficult to think deeply.

There is clearly a word to describe this emotion, but Jeong Taeui couldn’t remember what it was.

No matter how much he tried to think, the first thing he had to do was to solve this headache.

He could see the training room door. Jeong Taeui continued to encourage himself that there was a type of medicine there to get rid of this headache, as if hypnotizing himself and moving in that direction.

However, if Kyoho was not there, he would definitely go to the medical room and knock on the door again.

Jeong Taeui glanced at his watch. It was just past six o’clock.

He just wanted to go to the medical room, take the medicine, eat and drink, and return to his room, and it seemed like he could sleep for another two hours. Even if he couldn’t sleep, he still had to lie down even if it was a nightmare. Or should he chew a sleeping pill along with those other pills? And then, he might be caught for drug abuse, but his current headache was so painful that he couldn’t think of anything else.

Jung Taeui despaired… Thinking about it, he lightly slapped his own back. It felt like his mind was shaking and the pain subsided a little.

When Jeong Tae-ui took a few steps towards the training room, the automatic sliding glass door opened, and a man with wet hair stepped out as if he had just finished exercising and showering.

As soon as Jeong Taeui looked at the man’s face, he immediately frowned.

Ilay Riegrow. Dammit, he exercises every morning, so it’s not surprising to bump into him here. But now he really doesn’t want to see him, just looking at him makes him feel heavy. The headache is still intense, and just a few hours ago he was still angry and sad in front of him.

Ilay couldn’t help but notice Taeui’s strange expression, he lightly smiled when he saw him.

“Rarely see you here at this hour, do you want to exercise? What are you doing here? There aren’t many people today so I can run comfortably.”

Ilay spoke while pointing inside. Jeong Taeui looked at him without saying a word.

He was calm as if nothing had happened, as if he had informed him in advance about everything, or as if everything had been resolved long ago.

Never before has he been so angry, he is no different from usual.

“Ha.” He seems to be laughing.

Yes, all of this means nothing to him. No matter how he feels, whether he is angry and screaming like crazy, it has nothing to do with him.

Taeui remained silent for a moment and then sighed. He didn’t even know he was like this, what is happening to him? (Meaning why is he thinking about Ilay like this, even though Ilay doesn’t care about him, it shouldn’t matter to him.)

“No, I’m here to find Luther, is he inside?”

“Luther? Why? Have you been sick since morning?”

“A little headache.”

Jeong Taeui answered straightforwardly and briefly. Ilay stopped and looked down at Taeui. Then he suddenly smiled and took a few steps closer until he was less than a step away from Taeui and stopped.

Ilay slightly leaned down, bringing his mouth close to Taeui’s ear and whispered like a kitten.

“Taei. The problem is you’re showing a lack of wisdom while pretending like nothing happened. At least yesterday, I was very uncomfortable and couldn’t sleep well. Try taking some heavy burdens off your shoulders and don’t think too much about trivial matters anymore… oh, right, why did you come here if you don’t want to exercise? After sweating, your mind might feel more at ease.”

After finishing his words, he lightly kissed Taeui’s cheek, as if greeting a loved one in his family affectionately. Then, Ilay took a step back and smirked.

“What would be better to do? I think I saw Luther lifting weights inside, maybe he’s relaxing or taking a shower now. Take good care of yourself, Taei.”

Ilay patted Jeong Taeui’s shoulder a few times and walked away.

He didn’t flinch as he passed by him. The sound of Ilay’s footsteps gradually faded, until it completely disappeared in the hallway.

“………”

Taeui’s nails dug deep into his palm. Unaware of it, his hand holding tightly trembled.

He forgot about the headache. It’s because his brain has turned into a blurry black. Like a tumor rising inside. The tumor clogs his throat, making it hard for him to breathe at once.

“Ha……”

Taeui slowly opened his hand. Crescent-shaped nail marks appeared on his palm.

“It’s true….” – He murmured with a long sigh. He wanted to sniffle but no sound came out.

“It’s been a long time since I felt this terrible…”

He clicked his tongue, hearing the words that escaped his mouth made him feel even worse.

Taeui didn’t expect anything good from a rapist who sees others as sex toys, and he never imagined that he would apologize or say sorry. Because when he thinks about it, he doesn’t even know why he should receive an apology.

Taeui thought, “Of course, if I were him, I would do the same.” But when he remembers the innocent face, anger surges up like a raging wave.

Hey, you miserable bastard, if you were a human, you should at least know how to apologize or show remorse.!

Jeong Taeui felt his heart constrict and immediately slammed his hand against his chest. But it was so strong that it made his chest ache, however, his breath became more comfortable. At the same time, the headache that had disappeared for a moment suddenly intensified. Jeong Taeui released the strength from his clenched fist. A sigh escaped his mouth. The anger that had surged to the top of his head seemed to immediately subside. And the feeling of not being able to remember the name of the person who caused it once again enveloped his mind.

Is this similar to a symptom of depression? When he was thinking about it, the headache became worse, and Jeong Taeui walked into the gym.

Fortunately, he found Luther early. He had just taken off his sneakers as if preparing to enter the bathroom after exercising. When he saw Taeui walking straight towards him with a pale face, he froze and mumbled, “Uh, uh, uh.” As if trying to say, “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”. But when he saw Jeong Taeui’s pale face, he immediately shut his mouth.

“Uh, Tay….. good morning…… something seems off here? Last night… Why do you look like that….. um…huh? Hey! Wait a minute! I mean I haven’t showered yet.!!”

He shouted as Taeui grabbed Luther’s collar as a greeting and dragged him away like a doll. Taeui spoke softly in a voice as if dying.

“Give me the medicine.”

Today Luther was cursed and deceived when dragged out of the training room with sweat and workout clothes still on. He quickly spewed out foul language. It was true that he did not listen to Luther’s advice and swallowed the pills immediately upon receiving them, the curses echoing in his ears until he returned to the room.

Fortunately, instead of his head feeling like it was about to explode, it was just a passing breeze in his ears.

When he woke up, Taeui returned to the room and lay down on the bed.

His head hurt, and his eyes ached. The phone rang in the corner. It now looked like a piece of scrap metal when he had unplugged the phone cord last night before going to bed (landline phone). Someone could be calling even though the phone cord was unplugged? If so, nine out of ten times it would be his uncle. No, perhaps that phone would never ring even when plugged into the power source.