LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 7
“Can you wake up?”
“…”
I had just barely woken up. The stark white hospital room, the curtains, the white-clad nurse.
The world I stepped into after breaking free from the monotony of daily life was too much to absorb all at once.
It feels like I had just buried Seol-ah a few days ago, but my memories were all jumbled up.
“You’re still a bit dizzy from the medication. Do you want to hold my hand and come with me?”
Nod.
Strangely, words weren’t coming out right, so I just replaced my response with a nod.
In virtual reality, it felt like I could just think and speak automatically, but reality seemed to have an extra layer of complication? I tried to open my mouth, but the words I thought of couldn’t escape my throat.
The hospital. A dull place that insisted on my annoyance. Perhaps because I was just a child, this ennui felt painfully hard to bear.
Twisting my body around and rolling my eyes, I tried to pass the time by counting the number of patients.
“103 cm and 15.8 kg… Yikes, you’re even smaller than a five-year-old!”
The doctor muttered as he took the chart from the nurse.
Boring examinations followed one after another.
I had to cover one eye and match shapes, and I even got to hug a giant teddy bear tightly.
“Hold your breath for a second. These days, they have teddy bears do chest X-rays? How kid-friendly.”
Having tasted a slice of sweet, sweet sleep, I could hardly keep still. I used to be able to manage with only six hours of sleep a day, but now I’d wake up after twelve hours and still feel drowsy.
As I sat in the chair, my head bobbing, someone who I presumed to be my guardian was sitting beside me, listening intently to the doctor.
The doctor explained in an even tone, but the man next to me wore a rather serious expression. Or maybe that was just his usual face. His fierce features made it hard to tell.
After the examination, the last stop was always the pharmacy. This was a point that somewhat matched my common sense. The world is so strange, it confuses what is common knowledge and what is not.
“So, you’ll have to drink this every day from now on.”
The man handed me a beverage that bore a striking resemblance to ‘Potion X’ or whatever. He even opened the can for me. How kind!
Oh, this taste was familiar.
Definitely not Potion X.
Looking at the nutritional information on the back of the can confirmed my suspicions.
It was the mana potion I used to drink as a meal replacement every day. So they really sell it in reality as well.
“Is it good?”
It wasn’t delicious, but it was bearable. I didn’t provide any comments. The man didn’t seem to mind my lack of reaction.
“You don’t have anywhere to go now, huh? That’s a problem.”
After I finished the quasi Potion X, the man took it and tossed it into the trash can. He didn’t forget to crumple it up first.
I never had anywhere to go in the first place, so what was he talking about?
“What a bunch of idiots. Just because I’m not an officially classified terror victim by the state, I can’t get support? Something about insurance premiums and eligibility. They even don’t know if I’m a Korean citizen since I don’t have a biometric chip. If my mom’s a Korean, then of course I’m Korean too!”
How did it come to this in the first place? The man’s grumbling lasted a while.
Though I couldn’t catch everything due to his dialect, the gist seemed to be that the costs from Seol-ah’s support fund had entirely gone to her funeral and my hospitalization bills. Just lying in the hospital for another day would rack up astronomical expenses in my name.
“Sigh, how would you even know? You’re just unlucky.”
The National Intelligence Service and the prosecutor’s office had washed their hands of this situation.
At my age, I likely wouldn’t have any information about terrorism anyway, and more importantly, it was difficult to specify the perpetrator.
They had officially declared that Valpurgis was eradicated in Korea, so it would be awkward to dig deeper. The state only sees me as a pitiful girl who lost her mother to a terrorist organization.
Even that wouldn’t qualify me for a basic livelihood support because I’m not a formal citizen.
Criminal Investigator Ma Beom-il seemed to just be doing his job out of a sense of duty rather than for professional gain.
Despite his harsh words, he didn’t apply any pressure to the hand he held mine with. He kept looking over my health report with his other hand.
“If it were up to me, I’d like to take you home and let you meet Ji-hye, but… the law says that I can’t. I guess I’ll just have to blame my job.”
Is Ji-hye the name of his daughter? Just looking at the name, she seems to have a rounder, softer impression compared to him.
In the end, the bottom line was that I was not a terror victim, nor a formal citizen, but rather a sort of illegal resident alien with no clear origin.
After driving over the mountains and across the river, we arrived at a remote orphanage. The facility looked quite shabby but was certified with a government seal by the main gate.
As the man arrived, a middle-aged woman with graying hair came out to greet us.
“Please take good care of her.”
“Don’t worry.”
“I’ll visit often.”
“I haven’t seen anyone who keeps that promise in the 25 years I’ve worked here.”
A rather cynical personality, I see.
I said my goodbyes to Investigator Ma Beom-il. It was only a brief encounter, nothing special happened, but I still thought he was a pretty kind person.
“Your name is Na-me? That’s quite unique…”
“Na-me.”
The lady looked over the new resident details, then I promptly corrected her.
“It’s NoName.”
*
In the end, several hands had passed my comprehensive health report before it finally landed in my own.
Since I was no expert in these matters, many terms were often beyond my understanding, but to summarize, I could say I was a walking general hospital.
Low height and low weight were standard. Now my body had become so accustomed (or more accurately addicted) to mana potions, I couldn’t live without them.
Perhaps because of that, my internal balance was completely off. My muscles barely stuck to my bones, making even walking a monumental challenge that required immense mental effort. Amazing results, I must say.
On the bright side, I didn’t have major issues on the intelligence front. Just a hint of an autistic tendency and a language disability were the downsides. It occurred to me that looking people in the eye was quite challenging.
Wait, had I even met anyone properly until now? I figured the speech issue would gradually improve, so I decided not to worry too much.
Considering the orphanage lady, I thought she was quite cold and unfriendly compared to Investigator Ma Beom-il, but seeing her reaction to the state of my health, she seemed to be simply without prejudice.
Such emotionally blunt people seem to thrive in the social welfare field.
[Merlin Orphanage]
This would be the place I would reside in from now on.
A wooden mansion with a duplex structure, which I could hardly find in the city. Each room was quite small, just barely enough for a bunk bed to fit.
After completing the admission process, Madam Park Young-hee (thanks to her name tag, I learned her name) guided me promptly to my room.
Room 206.
It was the farthest room on the second floor.
[Hwang Bo-young]
[Baek Ah-rin]
Madam Young-hee removed the upper name tag attached to the next room.
“Bo-young moved to the first floor yesterday, so you can take this spot. Ah-rin is on the first floor, and you are on the second. Everyone’s in the dining area for lunch right now. If you haven’t eaten, feel free to come and join.”
Once that was said, Young-hee quickly left.
I had no belongings. The casual clothes I was wearing were bought for me by Investigator Ma Beom-il.
Not that I felt hungry.
Time felt suspended. I tried to open one of the potions the man gave me, but I found it utterly impossible.
So, I headed to the full-length mirror next to the door instead, putting off my battle with the can. It felt like it was the first time I truly saw my reflection in the mirror. Thinking back, I realized there wasn’t a single mirror in the hospital.
My hair, which hadn’t been cut for seven years, reached down to my waist.
I hadn’t parted my hair properly, so I brushed aside the bangs that covered half of my face.
My hair was unusually pitch black, and contrastingly, my face was pallid from lack of sunlight.
My eyes, resembling Seol-ah’s, filled the small space of my face. No, if anything, they seemed somewhat tilted, giving me a fierce look.
Staring into the mirror with my somewhat bulging eyes sent a slight chill down my spine.
My limbs were indeed very thin. Not only did I lack muscle, but I also appeared to have very little fat. My pale skin seemed to stretch tightly over the contours of my bones.
“Who… are you…?”
A timid little voice whispered through the crack of the door.
Seeing me standing frozen in front of the mirror, the girl relaxed a bit and came into the room.
“Didn’t the nun say someone new would come today…? Wait, am I right?”
It seemed she was referring to Madam Young-hee as the nun.
“What’s your name? I’m Ah-rin. Baek Ah-rin.”
“NoName.”
“Na-me? That’s a name?”
Nod.
“Na-me is super tiny. You’re the first little one to come in after me, so it’s amazing. I’m seven, and how about you?”
I tried to say I was seven, but again, the words got stuck at the back of my throat.
So, reluctantly, I held up seven fingers for her to see.
“You’re seven? No way!”
The fact that such a small person was the same age was hard for Ah-rin to believe.
“Hey, Baek Sang-ah! Are you happy to have your own room now? You’re not bored since I’m not here to play with you?”
A tall, tomboyish girl burst through the door. Without giving Ah-rin a moment to respond, she wrapped her arms around her neck.
“Oh, Bo-young, it’s you…”
“Who’s this? Ah, today’s new recruit, huh? Nice to meet you! I’m Hwang Bo-young. What’s your name?”
“…”
“Why aren’t you talking? You might hurt the feelings of someone who’s just asking out of kindness.”
“That…! My name is Na-me.” Right?
“Our Na-me doesn’t talk much, huh? Or are you just trying to make me mad on purpose?”
“No, no, I think Na-me is just nervous because it’s her first time here.”
“Really? Well, whatever. You two look cute together, given your size.”
As soon as Bo-young dashed down the stairs, Ah-rin let out a sigh of relief.
“That was my last roommate, Bo-young. She’s in the fifth grade and knows a lot of scary seniors, so if you happen to meet her again, be nice to her.”
From the first floor, I could see her leading the other kids around. In elementary, she seemed to be the one in charge.
Perhaps Ah-rin’s equation of spending time with Bo-young, who now had a status above her own, could lead one to wonder if she had been at the bottom of their social hierarchy.
As she joyfully bounced back to reclaim her lost first-floor spot, I wondered how this wasn’t a royal palace and thought I had no desire to become embroiled in children’s politics.