BXBX NOVEL Chapter 24 - Please save me (2)
Lee Yoon-Seo also spent a few days in the hospital.
"Ha-Yeon, I\'m fine. You don\'t have to visit every day."
"...But you never know."
Every day, Ha-Yeon visited Lee Yoon-Seo in the hospital, and each time, Lee Yoon-Seo greeted her with a bitter smile.
Initially, Lee Yoon-Seo was quite confused. She thought she was dead, but she was alive, with harpy-like wings attached to her arms.
However, she got used to it, realizing she was lucky to be alive and coming to terms with her situation. The other survivors had similar reactions.
"Oh, it\'s surprisingly comfortable to have a tail," remarked a woman with a cat\'s tail who shared the hospital room with Lee Yoon-Seo.
She used her tail as an extra arm to bring a cup of water to her hand. Like Lee Yoon-Seo, she had been shocked at first but quickly adapted.
"Ha-Yeon, check this out! I can fly with these!"
Lee Yoon-Seo exclaimed, standing up from the bed and demonstrating her ability to fly by flapping her wings.
Jung Ha-Yeon, who was slicing fruit, quickly stopped her, her eyes widening.
"Stop it and lie back down. You heard what the doctor said; you need to rest as much as possible."
"Come on, it\'s not that bad. I just flew a tiny bit."
Despite her complaints about Jung Ha-Yeon\'s nagging, Lee Yoon-Seo obediently lay back down on the bed and ate the apple Jung Ha-Yeon handed her.
"Now I can fly in the sky like you. Maybe we can be good heroes together again?"
"That would be great, but it\'s an ability obtained through the Monster Association\'s experiments. There might be some bad side effects."
"Of course there are, but I\'ve decided to focus on the positive side. At least I came back alive, didn\'t I?"
"...Yeah, that\'s right."
Jung Ha-Yeon smiled faintly as she ate her own apple.
It was true—the most important thing right now was that Lee Yoon-Seo was alive.
In her mind, she had come back from the dead. If they hadn\'t discovered the Monster Association\'s headquarters in time, who knows what would have happened to Yoon-Seo?
All of this was thanks to Shin Hye-Rim.
Because of her, Jung Ha-Yeon was able to get her revenge and rescue Yoon-Seo.
"I heard things while I was in the hospital. Didn\'t you say I was able to come back because of someone named Shin Hye-Rim?"
"Yes. She noticed the potential terrorist attack by the Monster Association, which kept the citizens safe. She also found the Monster Association\'s headquarters, where you were being held."
A few days after the capture of the Monster Association, the news revealed the whole story.
As soon as Shin Hye-Rim discovered the Monster Association\'s lure device, the entire Awakened Association mobilized to prepare for the attack. They also received cooperation from the head of the Hero Association, allowing all the Heroes to mobilize and stop the attack safely.
Even Alice\'s free concert in Jamsil was a strategy to prevent the attack, meaning Shin Hye-Rim\'s tutoring of Alice was part of this larger plan.
When Jung Ha-Yeon realized this, she felt guilty.
They were just doing their respective roles to do good, but she had been jealous that they seemed to be getting along so well.
That\'s not how a hero should behave.
"All of this was done by Ms. Hye-Rim. I... I don\'t know how to thank her enough."
Shin Hye-Rim had helped her before, so she wanted to repay her. But now, she had not only destroyed her archenemy, the Monster Association, but also reunited her with a friend she thought was dead.
Jung Ha-Yeon was deeply troubled, wondering how to convey her gratitude to Shin Hye-Rim.
"Ha-Yeon, you must like her a lot, huh?"
As she thought about Shin Hye-Rim, a smile appeared on her face. It was a warm, gentle smile that even Lee Yoon-Seo, who had known her for a long time, hadn\'t seen much of.
"Yes. She\'s the person I admire the most."
There was no hesitation in her words. Deep down, she wished she could meet Shin Hye-Rim right now.
"Ms. Hye-Rim is a benefactor who has given me a grace that will take a lifetime to repay."
She is also the person she most admires in the world.
"She\'s my hero."
Lee Yoon-Seo looked a little surprised to see Jung Ha-Yeon saying that without a hint of embarrassment.
"Ha-Yeon, you\'ve changed a bit since I last saw you."
"Really?"
"Yes. You\'ve become much more cordial."
Lee Yoon-Seo chuckled as she picked up another apple and ate it.
"My Ha-Yeon, who was always icy, now looks like a girl in love."
"W-what do you mean love? It\'s not like that. I just admire Ms. Hye-Rim."
"Haha, sure, sure. Of course you do."
"...I\'m serious."
Jung Ha-Yeon grumbled with a pout.
"Okay, then. Once I\'m out of the hospital, let\'s go say hello together. I need to thank the person who saved my life."
"Okay. Let\'s do that."
That\'s when she would tell her everything on her mind: how grateful she was to Shin Hye-Rim, that she was the person she most admired in the world, and that she would definitely repay this favor.
As she made this promise to herself, she thought about what Shin Hye-Rim, the Hero of the people, was doing right now.
“Dammit. I’m going to die.”
I feel like I’m dying.
When do you think a person believes they’re going to die? When there’s a bullet through their chest? No. When they have a terminal illness? No. When they eat soup made with poisonous mushrooms? No.
It’s when they’re buried in endless paperwork.
“How many days has it been…?”
I feel like I’m about to lose my mind with the never-ending reports. I’ve been sitting in my office for days and nights already.
For someone like me, who’s used to being out in the field, writing this much paperwork feels like a death sentence.
“Team Leader, are you okay?”
“No, not at all.”
I answered Park Oh-Jin’s question as I typed away, my fingers never stopping.
Do I seriously look fine for him to be asking that? If I let my guard down even a little, I’m sure I’ll pass out right now.
“Why don’t you get some sleep?”
Park Oh-Jin suggests, looking worried that I’m still writing reports without sleep. But that’s stupid advice.
“I’ll still have to write reports when I wake up, so I might as well just get it all done.”
“That’s true, but I’m starting to think you’re reaching your physical limit…”
When I turned my head, I saw that Lee So-Young and Shin Yu-Sung were looking at me with the same concern as Park Oh-Jin. They’re so worried, even though they usually don’t want to get involved with me.
I must be looking pretty tired.
“Hmm, I wonder what I should do… Oh, right!”
After a moment’s thought, I came up with a brilliant solution.
What’s the problem that’s bothering me right now? It’s fatigue. I’m physically tired, and I can’t focus on writing the report.
Then all I have to do is just recover from that fatigue, no?
I immediately transformed into a magical girl.
“…Team Leader, what are you doing?”
“Why did you suddenly transform into a magical girl?”
“Do you have a condition that requires you to transform intermittently?”
My teammates started to question my behavior.
“Guys, you don’t know, but when you transform into a magical girl, your stamina goes up tremendously.”
“Yeah, so?”
“That means I can stay up for a few more nights in my magical girl form.”
Hell yeah. It’s a perfect plan, as far as I’m concerned.
Is physical strength an issue? Then I just need to not run out of physical strength. But wouldn’t my mental health suffer?
Who cares? It’s much worse if I’m stuck writing reports for a moment longer.
“Okay, I feel a little less tired. I’m going to keep working like this, and you guys can look away if it bothers you.”
So there I was, in my office, doing paperwork, dressed in a fluttering magical girl outfit.
I could feel three pairs of eyes looking at me very sadly, but you guys try writing these reports. You’ll make the same decision I did.
“Hye-Rim, how long until you’re done with that report—what are you doing?”
While I was still working on the report, the door to our office opened, and the section chief walked in.
“Oh, this report? It’ll be done in about an hour.”
“Uh… sure, but why do you look like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“No, I mean… sigh, never mind. Things like this can happen too.”
He looked like he had a lot he wanted to say, but he nodded and walked away.
For some reason, he looked at me with sad eyes, but that was probably just my imagination.
“It’s not unusual to become stupid when you’re suffering. It’s all because of those bastards in the Monster Association. Pieces of s***. Those fers! Those subhuman fers!!”
Heading back to the chief’s office, he cursed the Monster Association with all sorts of expletives.
Both of us were suffering.