Chapter 105
This is how the Winners Company incident came to an end. The media incessantly reported on Winners Company’s misdeeds, and anyone even slightly related to the case was taken into custody.
[The suspect in this incident and CEO of Winners Company, Mr. Yoon, took a drastic step yesterday-.]
More accurately, it was closer to someone forcing him to take that drastic step. There was always the possibility that Yoon Byeong-cheol might regain his sanity and confess everything. Of course, very few knew that truth.
‘So it ends like this.’
I closed the article I was reading and headed to the hospital room I had been directed to.
“Se-ah is taking a break from school for a while. I thought you should know.”
Choi Tae-min had called me to the teacher’s office separately to inform me of Lee Se-ah’s hospital room location.
Lee Se-ah, who had fainted that day, was admitted to a nearby hospital and was expected to return home once her condition stabilized.
“Hmm…”
I hesitated for a long time in front of the hospital room. I used such extreme methods to make Lee Se-ah confront the truth.
Feeling awkward, I kept glancing at the fruit basket I was holding.
‘I should have bought something that looked a bit nicer.’
As I lingered in front of the hospital room, I felt someone approach from behind.
“What are you doing there?”
Lee Se-ah, dressed in a hospital gown, walked sluggishly towards the room.
Dragging her IV pole, she looked much more haggard than I had anticipated.
“I heard you’ll be going back home soon.”
“Did you really come all this way just for that? It’s not like I’m quitting school entirely, so there’s no need to make such a fuss.”
Lee Se-ah covered her mouth and laughed loudly. Though she joked, she didn’t seem to mind my visit.
“What’s with the long face? I’m the one hospitalized, but you look like you’re the patient. Anyone would think you were the one admitted.”
She glanced at the fruit basket in my hand and let out a small chuckle.
“Shall we take a walk together?”
* * *
We took a walk around the hospital without doing anything special. Since Lee Se-ah had an IV pole, I had to match her walking speed.
“They said it’s just a temporary shock, so there’s no need for you to look so grim.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
I shrugged.
The atmosphere felt somewhat awkward, and Lee Se-ah was the first to speak up.
“Shin Seo-ha.”
It was a familiar name, but I was quite surprised to hear it from Lee Se-ah. It was rare for her to mention someone by name.
“She stopped by briefly yesterday. Just to check if I was okay and then left. She mentioned catching me when I was about to collapse?”
“Yes, she did.”
I hadn’t known Shin Seo-ha had visited.
Come to think of it, knowing her personality, she probably wouldn’t have asked to come along and would’ve visited alone.
“I used to think she was really rude, but maybe she’s not so bad after all.”
Lee Se-ah snorted.
The topic she brought up matched what I wanted to discuss, so I took the opportunity to speak.
“You once said that friends are a luxury for the weak. Do you still believe that?”
“Yes, I do. In the end, friends must be people who can share the same vision. That’s impossible for me.”
To Lee Se-ah, a friend was someone who could see the same scenery and share the same thoughts. In that sense, she felt she stood too high and alone to make friends.
“Then it’s fine not to call them friends. Just ‘acquaintances’ you happened to meet would be enough.”
I wasn’t planning to challenge her definition of friendship. Instead, I’d approach it from another perspective.
“To win the succession battle, you need solid connections.”
There are two main conditions for succession.
1. Rare items.
2. Valuable connections.
Meeting these two conditions was key.
While the first condition could be handled somehow, the second was nearly impossible for Lee Se-ah right now.
“I know some good people. Shin Seo-ha is one of them.”
“Don’t tell me these ‘good people’ are students?”
“You’re a student too. What’s wrong with a student expanding their social circle with other students? Have my suggestions ever led you astray?”
Lee Se-ah couldn’t easily refute this.
Her experiences had taught her enough.
“At the very least, they consider you a friend.”
“…Alright, it won’t be a loss.”
Lee Se-ah brushed her hair back.
Though she had said that being able to share the same scenery defines friendship, she understood deep down.
‘Meeting Jin So-yul and Shin Seo-ha was a stroke of luck.’
Knowing that there were people who approached her without caring about such scenery. As evidence, Lee Se-ah hadn’t shown much resistance to Jin So-yul and Shin Seo-ha.
“Actually, I have a few questions for you.”
“Yes, that’s probably the real reason you came to see me.”
Lee Se-ah nodded as if she had expected this. Even though it seemed calculated, I had no intention of denying it. That’s just how our relationship was from the beginning.
“When we arrived at Yoon Byeong-cheol’s lab, you asked why we took so long. Did you know we were coming?”
“More or less. Considering you tipped me off to reject Yoon Byeong-cheol’s proposal, you must have known he would confess something. I didn’t think Yoon Byeong-cheol would let me go easily.”
Lee Se-ah shrugged.
“So I figured if you saw that far ahead, you’d come to rescue me.”
“…I didn’t think that far ahead.”
As expected of Lee Se-ah.
Though I had manipulated the information of the future a few times, Lee Se-ah was one of the top intellectual characters in the RollHun world. I never imagined she’d deduce so much from a single hint.
“One more thing. Why did you reject Yoon Byeong-cheol’s proposal? If you had joined forces, you might’ve truly won the succession battle.”
“That’s true.”
Lee Se-ah didn’t deny it. Instead, she rolled her eyes mysteriously.
“Although you told me not to accept any proposal, I also saw something.”
“Saw something?”
“Something like the faces of people in agony…”
I exchanged a silent glance with Yomi on my shoulder.
[She must have seen the grudges.]
Lee Se-ah had glimpsed the grudges embedded in the C-virus. Sensing them as omens of doom, it became one of the reasons she rejected Yoon Byeong-cheol’s proposal.
‘It really comes full circle, doesn’t it?’
The temporary awakening of Lee Se-ah’s vision had helped in an unexpected way. Truly, life can be unpredictable.
“And there’s one thing I need to say.”
Lee Se-ah pointed her index finger and poked my chest.
“Don’t do anything reckless like that again. I really thought you were dead.”
“Oh, that.”
She must be talking about using the dummy as bait. To deceive the enemy, you must first deceive your allies. If I hadn’t faked my death convincingly, it might have been difficult to trick Yoon Byeong-cheol.
“I passed out partly because of you. Don’t do that next time.”
“Are you worried about me now?”
“You’re a valuable asset to me, so it’s only natural to be concerned.”
Lee Se-ah joked lightly.
But soon after, her expression hardened.
“I don’t want to believe it… That Se-young would scheme something like that.”
Though Lee Se-ah is cautious around outsiders, she has a special attachment to her family, especially her siblings. Lee Se-young was the one she cared for the most.
‘I’m sure she knew from the beginning.’
Lee Se-ah is smart.
She must have had an inkling ever since she got hit at the exhibition. The reason she desperately investigated the background was to completely rule out her sister as a suspect.
“Se-young has been physically weak since she was young. Yet she always smiled and yielded to her older siblings.”
Her eyes appeared sad.
Lee Se-ah’s gaze quietly swept the floor.
“But why…”
Se-young had seized control of the C-virus, working behind the scenes to undermine her greatest rival, Lee Se-ah.
“It’s okay. If you don’t want to believe it, you don’t have to.”
“Huh?”
Lee Se-ah blinked at my words.
“Believing or not believing is up to you. I don’t have the right to force you.”
I hoped Lee Se-ah would actively oppose Lee Se-young. But that too was not something I could enforce.
Since our opponent was a person with emotions and not just data, I couldn’t force her actions. Otherwise, the backlash could be unpredictable.
“…Okay. Then I’ll try to believe a little longer.”
Lee Se-ah nodded.
Just as the atmosphere was about to turn awkward again, I spoke up first this time.
“Did you hear the conditions?”
“No, seeing hallucinations made me want to get out of there quickly. I should have listened to their demands, but thinking about it now, it was foolish.”
A bitter smile crept across Lee Se-ah’s lips.
“Don’t worry too much. It probably wasn’t anything significant.”
It was a miracle that an ordinary human like her overcame the voices of the grudges. Plus, I already knew what Yoon Byeong-cheol had offered as part of the deal.
‘Distribution of the C-virus within Babel.’
If they had joined forces, Lee Se-ah would no longer be in the dominant position. Yoon Byeong-cheol, holding the production line of the C-virus, would naturally take the upper hand.
Yoon Byeong-cheol wouldn’t hesitate to use any means—sweet talk, gaslighting, or even threats—to pressure Lee Se-ah into distributing the drug within Babel.
‘That’s how the latter part started.’
As the number of C-virus infected people increased within and outside the school, the ratio of infected individuals in society began to rise.
The starting point for that was Winners Company and Lee Se-ah.
‘We stopped it.’
From the moment the hidden quest started, Lee Se-ah was destined to become a slave to the C-virus, whether she rejected or accepted Yoon Byeong-cheol’s proposal.
But finally, the fate that leaned toward evil was prevented.
‘Yeah, this is good enough.’
Only then did the realization hit me, and I felt my strength draining from my body.
“I have a question for you.”
“What is it?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
But unaware of the circumstances, Lee Se-ah might have found my repeated kindness burdensome.
‘A reason…’
But in reality, I didn’t have a specific reason.
Lee Se-ah absorbed anything beneficial without questioning the reason for the kindness. That’s how she had always been.
“That’s—.”
“No, don’t say it. I think I know what it is.”
Lee Se-ah interrupted me with a meaningful chuckle.
“Do you remember what you said to me?”
“What did I say?”
“You told me that if this tour didn’t benefit me at all, you’d grant me any wish I wanted.”
I did say something like that.
But it was predicated on the tour not benefiting Lee Se-ah.
“Didn’t you gain a lot thanks to me this time?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Lee Se-ah began walking in a circle around the IV stand.
“Whether it’s beneficial or not is a highly subjective matter, right? Even if I find it useful, what if you deny it?”
“You just admitted it yourself.”
“I was just giving an example.”
Lee Se-ah stopped walking.
And she stepped closer to me. Amid the smell of disinfectant, a fresh scent of canola flowers wafted.
“It’s not enough that you try to see the same scenery as me; you’re always a few steps ahead.”
Lee Se-ah looked up at me.
Due to the height difference, my face reflected in her large eyes.
“You foolishly took all the insults, but you’ve always been by my side whenever I was in danger.”
What’s with this atmosphere?
“So I’ve been thinking…”
Lee Se-ah suddenly grabbed my hand.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips, now red, began to move.
“Let’s go out.”
This wasn’t in the script.
–
(T/N): I still believe in my ship, Ha-Baek and Seo-ha >.<