LMO 119

“Hae-jun! How did you get here…”

Everyone was pacing in front of the operating room, worried about Seong Hae-min, so they rushed over in surprise when they saw me. I grabbed Lee Beom, who was closest, and bombarded him with questions without taking a breath.

“Where’s Hae-min? What did they say? What happened?”

“That’s…”

Lee Beom faltered. Jeon Jae-hyung also stood there with his mouth shut, looking at me. Lee Beom, after a moment of conflict, cautiously opened his mouth.

“You know… it’s because of Hae-min’s blood type.”

“Blood type?”

My mind raced. I pressed him again.

“What about his blood type?”

“As you know, it’s not a common blood type…”

Lee Beom trailed off, but I could easily guess what he was going to say. ‘There isn’t enough blood to transfuse to Seong Hae-min, who is in surgery.’

My vision spun. With bloodshot eyes, I urged them on.

“My blood?”

“Seong Hae-jun.”

“Quick, give him my blood…”

“Calm down.”

I hobbled forward hastily. But I almost collapsed after just a few steps. My body, which had been lying down, still couldn’t move properly. Lee Beom, who held me, looked at me with pity. I clung to Lee Beom.

“I, I’m Hae-min’s twin. So, can you give him my blood? Please, please. You can take all my blood, just save Hae-min, Hae-min…”

Emotion overwhelmed me. My words, which had tried to sound rational, had turned into desperate pleas. I tried to suppress my sobs, fearing I would break down if I lost focus for even a moment, but it wasn’t something that could be swallowed.

Before I knew it, I was sobbing uncontrollably. Tears blinded me like a downpour.

“Seong Hae-jun. Calm down. Do Yun-hyeok already went to check.”

“Do Yun-hyeok…?”

I asked blankly. Lee Beom nodded with a firm expression.

“Yes.”

“How…?”

“Do Yun-hyeok has a compatible blood type for transfusion. Everyone was surprised because they didn’t expect him to be so close… Do Yun-hyeok himself was surprised. It’s a miracle. The doctors are calling it a stroke of luck.”

“Stroke of luck…”

“So, calm down.”

“Do Yun-hyeok…”

My strength drained away as I stared blankly. Lee Beom held me firmly as I was about to collapse and murmured like a sigh,

“Anyway, you’re not in a state to donate blood right now. You lost too much blood yourself and almost went into shock. Your blood pressure is still too low. Don’t push yourself and go back to rest.”

I shook my head. Every breath I took made a wheezing sound in my windpipe. I clung to Lee Beom for support. Lee Beom furrowed his brow with concern. Jeon Jae-hyung and Min Si-hu also looked at me with worried eyes. But they couldn’t break my stubbornness.

I could hear the nurses moving about busily. A moment later, Do Yun-hyeok appeared, dressed in surgical scrubs.

I pushed past everyone and approached Do Yun-hyeok. He looked surprised to see me, then put on a calm expression.

Do Yun-hyeok had also been beaten badly by the thugs, so his appearance was not good. He looked like he needed considerable treatment himself.

Seeing his state, my nose stung and my eyes welled up. When I opened my mouth, hot breaths escaped in gasps.

“Why, why…”

I intended to thank him, but the question blurted out nonsensically. Even that question was choked by my throat and left unfinished.

Do Yun-hyeok smiled faintly, shrugged his shoulders, and replied lightly,

“Of course.”

“……”

“You can only be happy if Seong Hae-min is alive.”

The moment I heard that, my head throbbed. I closed my mouth.

It felt like a large bell had rung beside me. My heart fluttered. An unknown emotion surged within me.

‘What am I…?’

The unfinished thought drifted away. His heavy words were so grateful that I wanted to be indebted to him shamelessly. I fumbled for words to say to him, but only tears flowed out.

“Thank, thank, th…”

Gasping, I managed to express my gratitude. My voice trembled ungracefully, like a newborn goat’s first cry.

“We’ll meet again. You can greet me then.”

Do Yun-hyeok said with a simple smile, waving his hand.

With those words, Do Yun-hyeok also entered the operating room for the transfusion. I stared endlessly at the closed operating room door without blinking. The others watching beside me came and stood by me wordlessly, as if to comfort me. My shoulder felt warm. Finally, I closed my eyes and could cry.

I tried to wait blankly, but it didn’t work. My whole body trembled with anxiety and impatience, even though it was summer, so Lee Beom brought me a blanket.

My feverish body cried out in pain. But I couldn’t lie down comfortably by myself. The nurses tried to take me back to my room, but I stubbornly held my ground. I knew I was being a nuisance, but I had no other choice.

Lee Beom, Jeon Jae-hyung, and Min Si-hu, who sat beside me, made arrangements so I could lie down and wait comfortably.

Had I ever been this tense in my life? Not even when my university entrance exam results came out. One minute felt like an hour, and one hour felt like a year. My heart was drying up.

Perhaps due to the fever, or perhaps because I was in front of the operating room, something that felt like a hallucination, a memory, or a dream flickered before my eyes.

Was it a scene from a drama? Young parents fighting here, and a young boy with a familiar face crying, leaning against this wall…

Visions flashed wildly before my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut.

Just thinking about Seong Hae-min inside the operating room… and then thinking about Do Yun-hyeok beside him, my chest ached as if it would split, and tears kept flowing. Exhausted from crying, I couldn’t even distinguish whether what appeared before my eyes was reality or not. My breath came out hot from the fever.

“Seong Hae-jun…”

Ban Seo-yi, who was waiting for the surgery results with me, suddenly called me softly. I opened my eyes faintly and looked at Ban Seo-yi, who stood a short distance away.

Ban Seo-yi’s eyes were also red. His usual sharp eyes looked round from swelling.

Ban Seo-yi’s lips moved. I could barely hear his voice, but I could clearly read one word from his distorted mouth.

‘Sorry.’

I didn’t know why he suddenly apologized. I blinked and looked at Ban Seo-yi. Perhaps due to the fever, Ban Seo-yi’s face seemed to ripple like a lake.

In the quiet hallway, the sound of my breathing echoed with a rustling noise. Over that, Ban Seo-yi’s suppressed sobs overlapped.

As Ban Seo-yi’s face contorted into a smile, the operating room door, which had been shut like an impenetrable fortress, opened.

Forgetting I was looking at Ban Seo-yi, I rolled off the chair I was sitting on. Before the others could help me up, I stumbled towards the doctor emerging from the open door, crawling on all fours.

“D-Doctor. Is, is Hae-min…?”

The doctor, wearing glasses, looked at me. His somewhat ambiguous expression offered no answer. I couldn’t guess what he would say. I scrunched up my face. Lee Beom held me as I was about to fall.

And at that moment.

Suddenly, the world brightened, and I felt myself being pulled somewhere, then fainted.

❖ ❖ ❖

The clatter of kitchen sounds made my eyes open on their own.

“……”

Even with my eyes open, I stared blankly at the ceiling. For some reason, tears that had gathered in my eyes trickled down my temples. My chest ached as if seared with a branding iron. I lay there stupidly, like someone who had pressed pause.

The pattern on the ceiling wallpaper was familiar. I blinked again and looked at the ceiling.

“…My room?”

It was the ceiling of my room, where I had lived since I was young, but why did it feel so unfamiliar? I wiped my tears and pondered for a moment. Why were these tears flowing again?

As I dazedly tried to sense my surroundings, a voice called me from outside the closed door.

“Seong Hae-jun! You’re going to the entrance ceremony today, right? You should get up soon!”

“…Mom?”

“What did this kid do last night to still be asleep?”

After that, I heard my mother grumbling with displeasure. I sat up abruptly. My head buzzed like a swarm of bees.

“Mom? Huh?”

I quickly looked around. The space was familiar.

It was only natural, as it was the familiar room where I had lived since childhood until I entered high school dormitory.

The computer on the desk was humming as it ran. On the screen was a file I had written, titled ‘Seoul National University Entrance Ceremony Precautions.’

For a moment, I was stunned speechless.

“…Where’s Seong Hae-min?”

A moment later, I rolled off the floor and opened the door to my room. My mother, who was in the kitchen, tutted and said, “You’re finally up?” Strangely, tears kept flowing.

As if possessed, I asked my mother,

“Mom, where’s Hae-min?”

“Who is Hae-min?”

“My twin…”

“Are you going to say nonsense after sleeping all night and waking up?”

“Hae-min…”

“Hurry up and wash, then eat. You said we had to go to the entrance ceremony together and take pictures.”

Pushed by my mother, I went to the bathroom to wash, but my head felt foggy, as if I had cried all night.

‘One day, I woke up and it was reality again.’

That one sentence came to mind, and I thought it had really happened, though I didn’t know why.

However, I didn’t have time to think any further. My mother’s urging that I would be late for the entrance ceremony made me hurry and finish getting ready before leaving the house.

The first day of university passed in a blur.

In the large entrance ceremony hall, I mingled with countless people and took photos with my parents. Young faces holding bouquets laughed and chatted happily. Announcements kept pouring into the university group chat I had joined beforehand.

I watched the scene from a step away, feeling like an outsider. Even though it was the university I had struggled so hard to get into, I strangely felt no joy, only a dullness. The world felt like a lie. I felt like a dog’s acorn.

When I returned home after a busy day in the evening, tears streamed down my face like a broken machine, and I realized the reason for the strangeness that had persisted all day. I pinched my cheek. The sharp pain made me collapse onto the floor.

‘I’ve returned to reality.’