Devil’s Music

Larry spoke cautiously, waiting for Geon's response. Since the song had not yet been released, using it in the hospital for therapeutic purposes could lead to its leakage before its official release, which neither the musicians nor the company would likely authorize.

However, the doctor's desire to try anything to heal the sick ultimately led him to make an excessive request.

Understanding the cautiousness in Larry's demeanor, Geon contemplated before replying.

"It seems like that's something I can't decide on my own. I'll discuss it with the company."

Since it wasn't a flat refusal, Larry smiled hopefully.

"Of course, you should do that. I'll wait for your response. You came to see Barbara, right? Please go in. Thank you for making time for this, considering how busy you are."

As Larry stood up to leave, he offered a handshake, and Geon, rising as well, shook his hand with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry I can't grant your request right away since it's for treatment purposes."

"Haha, no, it's alright. It's enough that you'll consult with the company."

As Larry turned to leave, ten doctors and twenty nurses all simultaneously gave Geon a pleading look.

Geon nodded slightly upon seeing the pleading looks of the healers, and they bowed silently, following Larry who had already left. Geon silently watched their backs as he made a call to Byung-jun.

"Brother, it's me. Can you come to the hospital for a moment?"

"What? Are you really not feeling well?"

"No, it's about the music."

"You're really not sick, right? Alright, I'm out because of Shizuka's schedule, but I'll be there in an hour."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

After finishing the call with Byung-jun, Geon stood in front of the hospital room, took a deep breath, and opened the door with a wide smile.

"Barbara, I'm here!"

The patients in the room all looked at Geon. Unlike yesterday, when everyone was lost in their own worlds, the patients responded to Geon's presence with bright expressions. Barbara greeted him cheerfully. Ṝã𐌽ọᛒË𐌔

"My, you're here again today!"

"Haha, I hope I'm not bothering you by coming too often?"

"Hoho, it's only boring being here every day, so I'm happy when I have visitors. Please sit."

Geon sat down and greeted the patients.

"Hello, Alisha?"

Alisha, who seemed to be always fishing around, stopped peeling an orange and looked at Geon, puzzled about who was calling her name.

"Is the orange good?"

Alisha quietly looked at the orange in her hand, then broke off a piece and offered it to Geon.

Geon, with a beautiful smile, rushed to catch the orange slice in his mouth. Alisha stared blankly at Geon's face.

Although she didn't know who the beautiful young man before her was, she felt strangely familiar with him and offered another slice of orange. Geon, continuously raising his thumb, caught another slice with his mouth.

"Wow, this is really tasty!"

Barbara, not laughing but covering her mouth with a smile, said,

"Hoho, Alisha seems to like you. I've never seen her do that before."

With Alisha continuously feeding him orange slices until his mouth was full, Geon smiled pleasantly.

Finally, after putting the last piece of orange in Geon's mouth, Alisha, with a blank expression, crumpled the orange peel in her hand. Geon then turned his head.

"Courtney, did you sleep well?"

Courtney, who had been sitting on her bed leaning against the wall, had been staring intensely at Geon. Knowing beforehand about her aggressive tendencies, Geon didn't approach but sat on Alisha's bed and started a conversation. Courtney adjusted her position and scrutinized Geon's face.

Though she didn't respond, Geon felt satisfied just by receiving her attentive gaze and then looked at Mijin sitting next to Barbara.

"Did Ms. Mijin also sleep well?"

Geon had caught a glimpse of Mijin looking at him as he entered, but she quickly lowered her head and did not respond to his question. After a moment of sympathetic contemplation, Geon asked again, this time in Korean.

"Ms. Mijin, are you still having a hard time?"

Startled by the sudden use of her native language, Mijin lifted her head to look at Geon. Her eyes widened in surprise. Smiling at her reaction, Geon introduced himself.

"I'm Korean too. My name is Geon Kim."

Mijin, still looking startled, could not take her eyes off Geon as he stood up and placed a mobile phone and speaker next to Barbara's bed.

"Shall

we listen to some music together today?"

Barbara sat up excitedly on the bed.

"Hoho, yes, please. If it's possible, I'd like to hear the same music as yesterday. Oh, what was the name of that song?"

"It's called 'Song of Water,' Barbara."

"Song of Water... Hoho, what a fitting name. It was as comforting as water."

"Haha, thank you."

As Geon connected his phone to the speaker, he suddenly looked up and noticed all the other patients. Alisha, still holding the orange peel, and Courtney, who had been staring intensely at Geon, were now lying down, covered with blankets, seemingly eager to fall asleep while listening to the music.

Seeing the two patients lying down as if they couldn't wait to sleep to the music, Geon laughed brightly.

Mijin was still not taking her eyes off Geon, so he smiled warmly at her and started playing the music.

While everyone except Mijin closed their eyes and surrendered to the music, Geon and Mijin locked eyes.

No words were exchanged between them, but during the continuous playback of the music, Mijin kept looking at Geon until she eventually seemed drowsy and rubbed her eyes.

Finally, as her seated posture collapsed and she buried her face in the pillow, falling asleep, Geon quietly stood up and stepped outside just as Byung-jun arrived in the hallway.

"Brother, you've arrived?"

Byung-jun, with a mix of suspicion and perplexity on his face, scanned the ward as he approached and asked.

"Isn't this the psychiatric ward? Why are you here?"

Geon shared his earlier conversation with Larry, and Byung-jun, looking serious, listened quietly before responding.

"Ah, I see that happened."

"Brother, do you think it's possible?"

After reading Geon's earnest expression, Byung-jun fell into thought. Uncharacteristically contemplative for a long time, Byung-jun eventually stood up.

"Wait, let me talk to the director and I'll be back."

Byung-jun took his phone and moved away. Alone, Geon sat in the waiting area, his eyes anxiously following the busy nurses.

From a distance, nurses who were secretly watching Geon cleared their throats and went about their tasks. Soon, Byung-jun, having finished his call, approached Geon.

"Let's go see the doctor."

Geon, rising awkwardly, asked the suddenly doctor-seeking Byung-jun.

"Why?"

Byung-jun, waving his phone and smiling, said,

"Director Lin said to just do as you please. And since it's obvious you'd be stubborn about it anyway, why bother stopping you? But there are still things we need to promise on the company's behalf, so let's go talk to the doctor."

Cheered by Byung-jun's words, Geon accompanied him to Larry's office. Hearing that Geon and his manager were visiting, Larry rushed out and clenched his fist in joy upon hearing Byung-jun's words.

Byung-jun signed a confidentiality agreement with Larry, and Larry agreed to conduct experimental treatments on patients who did not respond to drug therapy and to write a paper based on that. For the time being, they agreed to conduct a trial on the patients in Room 403 for about a month to see if there were any side effects. Geon, handing over the music files to Larry, smiled brightly as he shook hands with him.

"Thank you so much. It was a tough decision, but please convey my thanks to the company as well."

"No, I'm not sure if it will really help, but I hope it does. Please take good care of it, Doctor."

"Haha, the world is still warm, but... I've been wanting to ask you this for a while..."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Um... I asked Lisa, and she said you and Barbara weren't originally acquainted. You just met by chance on the bench in front of the hospital. What brings you to see her every day?"

"Ah... well... it's not actually Barbara I came to see."

"Really? Not Barbara? Then who is it?"

Geon calmly shared the story of how he had seen Mijin in Chicago, which was news to Byung-jun as well, who asked with wide eyes.

"What kind of connection is that? It's not easy for the lady you saw there to end up in the hospital you're being treated at, but thanks to Barbara, she happened to be admitted to the room you entered?"

Geon, too, nodded as if it were a curious coincidence.

"It's a small world, isn't it?"

Listening quietly, Larry looked deeply at Geon and said,

"Perhaps it's a small miracle meant to fulfill your vow to alleviate Ms. Mijin's sorrow through music. I believe that human wishes have that much power."

Attributing

a miraculous meaning to coincidence, Larry smiled and shook hands again.

"Then, let's start the music therapy. I'll share the process and effects with you."

* * *

Geon, eager to complete the lyrics and finish the song, sent the final version of the 'Song of Water' to Kiska, but unlike other times, Kiska struggled to come up with lyrics and spent over a week just listening to the music without any inspiration.

Lying on the bed, staring at the empty notebook and agonizing over it, Gregory, getting dressed, said,

"Going to visit grandma at the hospital, want to come along?"

Kiska turned her head at Gregory's words and glanced at the empty notebook on the bed before closing it.

"Yeah, I could use some fresh air, I'll come too."

Arriving at the hospital, a 40-minute drive from home, with her father, Kiska parted with Gregory, who had business at the administrative office, and scurried to the VIP room where her grandmother was staying.

Tall and already a young lady, the beautiful Kiska drew the attention of hospital staff, but the young Kiska, eager to see her grandmother, did not notice their gazes and ran to the room.

When she opened the door to her grandmother's single VIP room, her grandmother, sitting up in bed with reading glasses on, greeted her with a smile.

"Oh, my granddaughter is here?"

"Grandmaaa~~"

Having lived together and shared meals for nearly a year, the bond between the two had deepened.

After playing with her grandmother for a while, Kiska sat down on the sofa and opened her empty notebook again, putting on her earphones. Believing that she would be inspired after getting some air and seeing her grandmother, she was frustrated when the lyrics still did not come to her. Kiska took out her earphones, and her grandmother, noticing her mood, asked,

"My granddaughter seems to be worried about something?"

"Yeah, Grandma. It's just work, don't worry. I'm going to the restroom!"

"Alright, be careful not to slip."

As Kiska left the room, she overheard Gregory talking to a doctor.

"How much longer can she live?"

"Ah, the cancer has spread to the liver and kidneys. It will be very painful, so it's not easy to decide whether to continue chemotherapy.

In older patients, we recommend discontinuing chemotherapy and letting them pass comfortably. But even without chemotherapy, it will be very painful.

We're administering daily painkillers, so she may be comfortable now, but once the medication's effects wear off, it will be hard for her to bear the pain, making it difficult to discharge her."

"Ah, I see. Then we have no choice but to keep her hospitalized."

"Indeed. If we want to lessen her pain, that's the only option."

Hearing the doctor and her father's conversation, Kiska's expression darkened. After returning from the restroom, Kiska looked at her grandmother with pity. Her grandmother, having taken off her reading glasses, smiled brightly.

"Come here, my granddaughter."

As Kiska hugged her grandmother and touched her wrinkled hands, she handed over an MP3 player.

"Grandma, want to listen? It's the music I'm involved in."

Perhaps feeling guilty for dismissing her grandmother's interest in her work earlier, Kiska urged her grandmother to listen to the music.

With her interest piqued because it was her granddaughter's work, her grandmother put on the earphones, and Kiska played the 'Song of Water' for her. Nestled in her grandmother's warm embrace, Kiska closed her eyes.

>

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