Chapter 115

His heart pounded violently. Riding the elevator that seemed to crawl slower than usual, Gyeol forced himself to steady his breathing. The moment the doors opened, he strode past the nurses’ station, eyes darting across the room numbers until he found the right one.

When he reached the hospital room, his gaze landed on the name card.

Go Yuli.

Seeing his son’s name written there sent a surge of tangled emotion crashing through him.

He carefully pushed the door open. The first thing that greeted him was the small chatter of children.

Gyeol’s eyes swept across the room.

It was a pediatric ward. Everywhere he looked there were children and guardians. At this point, more than half a year still remained before R-Connect 10 would even air. There was no chance anyone would recognize him, but the natural attention drawn toward an unfamiliar visitor still made him tug his cap lower for no reason at all.

Thinking ahead to the future, Kisoo Yang had pushed as hard as he could to request a more private room—a single or at least a double. But there had been no openings. Reading the message explaining that Yuli had been admitted to a shared room instead, Gyeol had only felt relieved that they had managed to get him hospitalized at all.

At the very back of the room, beside the window, he spotted someone familiar.

“Gyeol...!”

The man shot to his feet the instant he recognized him.

It was Hyesung.

Gyeol crossed the room in long strides.

“Yuli, Dad’s here.”

Pulling back the curtain around the bed, Hyesung spoke softly to the child.

Gyeol called his son’s name with a trembling voice.

“Yuli.”

Even asleep, the child’s breathing came in strained little wheezes. The sight of Yuli’s pale face made Gyeol’s throat close up painfully.

Hyesung stepped back to give him room. Gyeol approached the head of the bed and gently stroked the child’s cheek.

“...Look how rough your skin’s gotten. Poor thing.”

“He couldn’t eat breakfast, but he said he wanted strawberry yogurt, so I bought him some. He managed to eat a little of that at least. He kept trying to stay awake because Dad was coming, but he fell asleep....”

“......”

Listening to the rough rasp of Yuli’s breathing felt like his chest was being torn apart. Conscious of the other patients in the room, Gyeol barely swallowed down the sob rising in his throat. His eyes had already brimmed over, tears dripping steadily down his face.

“Hey. Don’t cry, idiot.”

Hyesung’s voice sounded just as wet.

Gyeol stroked Yuli’s fever-warm cheek, then finally crouched beside the bed so he could meet the child at eye level and hold his hand.

Though deeply asleep and completely unconscious, Yuli still curled his tiny fingers around Gyeol’s hand in return. Gyeol felt like he might burst into tears right there.

“...Dad’s sorry. I came late.”

Hyesung pulled several tissues from the box and handed them over. Gyeol used them first to wipe the cold sweat from Yuli’s forehead, then dabbed the mucus beneath the child’s tiny nose before finally pressing the tissues against his own eyes.

The little hand in his grasp burned with heat. As Gyeol lifted his head to ask about Yuli’s condition, Hyesung immediately explained.

“His fever dropped below thirty-eight degrees, so they said he’s finally stabilizing a little now. He’s still weak because he got dehydrated, but they think he’ll recover gradually... and his coughing’s gotten a lot better too.”

With every word, another layer of panic slowly peeled away from Gyeol’s chest. Thank God. Really.

“...Thank you, Hyesung. Seriously. You’re the reason he got through this. I heard your phone got wrecked too?”

“Oh, right. Totally destroyed.”

Scratching the back of his head awkwardly, Hyesung nodded toward the window. A phone with its screen shattered beyond repair sat there.

“I couldn’t contact you, so I ended up worrying you for nothing, huh? I’m really sorry. Everything was such a mess. I couldn’t leave Yuli’s side.”

“No. I’ll replace your phone. It happened because you were taking care of Yuli....”

“Come on, forget it.”

Hyesung waved him off.

“Kisoo’s coming later, so I’m gonna stop by a repair shop with him.”

“Still, I should replace it. That thing doesn’t even look fixable anymore....”

“With our finances? Buying a brand-new phone? No thanks. If the repair costs too much, I’ll just look for a used unlocked phone on Onion Market. Don’t worry about it.”

Gyeol stopped arguing. Hyesung was stubborn once he made up his mind.

“Then at least send me the bill later. Promise me.”

“I said it’s really fine....”

“Think of it as paying you back for helping Yuli and taking care of everything. I’ll feel better that way.”

“You’re seriously stubborn... I’m literally freeloading at your place.”

“My stubbornness is just as bad as yours. You know that, right?”

After a moment, Hyesung reluctantly nodded.

Even though he tried to act normal, the dark circles under his eyes had deepened twice as much from taking care of Yuli.

“The kid was dying to see you, but now he won’t wake up. Want me to wake him?”

“No. He’s sleeping well. I’ll go handle the paperwork downstairs first.”

“Yeah. That’s probably better.”

After Gyeol left, Hyesung was once again alone with the sleeping child.

Just Gyeol’s arrival alone seemed to ease some of the anxiety Yuli had been carrying from being sick. You couldn’t ignore the years they had spent together.

“Yuli. How long are you gonna sleep? You need to see your dad.”

Hyesung lightly poked the child’s cheek. Yuli showed no sign of waking.

“Was that child’s father just here?”

The guardian from the opposite bed spoke up with obvious curiosity as soon as Hyesung sat down on the guardian cot.

“Oh, yeah.”

The woman had been chatting with Hyesung ever since Yuli was first admitted. Apparently her own child had been hospitalized for a long time, because she practically acted like a permanent resident of the room, constantly looking after everyone around her. She talked a lot, but she was kind-hearted and meant no harm.

“Oh my goodness, I nearly jumped when he walked in. He’s unbelievably handsome. And his voice is so nice too. Your kid must’ve been thrilled his dad came.”

“...Haha. Yeah.”

A celebrity really was a celebrity. And since Gyeol had been polishing his appearance nonstop to prepare for R-Connect, it only made him stand out even more.

“He seriously looks like an actor. Ah—wait, is he actually one?”

The guardian burst into laughter after tossing out the joke.

Having the truth hit dead center made Hyesung break out in cold sweat, but all he could manage was a strained smile.

“But then I guess you’re not the child’s father?”

“Huh?”

“She kept looking at Hyesung while she spoke.”

“I thought you were the dad since you’ve been taking such good care of him. But listening to the two of you talk, I guess not.”

This kind of misunderstanding wasn’t exactly rare, so Hyesung simply waved his hands dismissively without much embarrassment.

“No, no. I’m just his dad’s friend. More like an extra freeloader living in the house. If anything, I’m basically the uncle.”

The strange part happened somewhere else.

Someone entering through the door abruptly stopped mid-step.

Hyesung’s eyes naturally shifted toward him.

At first he thought Gyeol had already finished handling the paperwork and come back quickly.

But the man standing in the doorway wasn’t Gyeol.

Tall. Broad-shouldered. A cap pulled low enough to cover half his face, plus a massive mask that hid almost everything else. Yet even dressed like that, he radiated an abnormal presence through sheer physique alone.

There was no way to tell who he was beneath all that armor, but he definitely didn’t look ordinary.

The guardian who had been talking with Hyesung turned to stare too. Fortunately, the other beds had their curtains drawn halfway shut for privacy. Otherwise every eye in the room would have been on him. The man carried that kind of attention simply by existing.

What the hell? Did he walk into the wrong room?

Before Hyesung’s dazed assumption could settle, the man began walking deeper into the room.

His gaze never left Hyesung.

Wait. What? Why are you looking at me?

Startled out of his mind, Hyesung awkwardly pushed himself halfway to his feet.

The man finally stopped in front of Yuli’s bed and glanced down once at the sleeping child.

Then he reached out and pulled the curtain shut, cutting them off from everyone else’s eyes.

After blankly watching the entire sequence happen, Hyesung suddenly realized he’d somehow ended up trapped behind the curtain alone with him.

Stammering, he asked,

“Uh, e-excuse me... who are you?”

In the man’s hand was a black plastic bag that looked absurdly out of place with him. He lowered it onto the empty space near the foot of Yuli’s bed.

The opening fell apart slightly, revealing the contents inside.

Candy. Chocolate. Snacks. Things children would like.

The man bowed his head politely toward Hyesung.

“I’m a coworker of Gyeol Go’s. I came with him because of the program’s rules.”

“Ohhh.”

So he really wasn’t an ordinary person after all. Finally understanding the situation, Hyesung hurriedly bowed back.

“Sorry for not greeting you properly sooner. I’m Bae Hyesung. Gyeol’s friend.”

But the man’s reaction was strange.

He simply stared at Hyesung.

Now that he was this close, Hyesung could see a sliver of eyes beneath the cap. Sharp eyes. Clear eyes. Strikingly intense.

How can someone’s eyes even look like that?

He barely had time to marvel internally before another thought hit him.

Those eyes looked familiar somehow.

A strange sense of déjà vu prickled over him.

“His... friend, you said.”

The man slowly repeated the words.

“...? Yeah.”

“So you’re not his spouse?”

“What?”

The word burst out of Hyesung’s mouth much louder than intended. The man immediately lifted a finger to his mask in a gesture telling him to quiet down.

Crap.

Hyesung hurriedly lowered his voice.

“Don’t say weird things like that. People misunderstand sometimes, but we’re really just friends. Friends. Like lifelong buddies.”

The man said nothing.

He only continued staring at Hyesung as though trying to read something from him.

Lowering his voice even further, Hyesung whispered,

“You said you came because of the program system, so....”

His eyes swept over the man from head to toe.

Anyone could tell he was a celebrity. Not staff. Not production crew either. Even the way he dressed screamed it.

Assuming he must be another cast member, Hyesung continued cautiously,

“If Gyeol actually had a spouse, there’s no way he’d join a dating program like that.”

He’d only said it instinctively, trying to clear up the misunderstanding around Gyeol.

But the moment the words left his mouth, something felt wrong.

Fine. Let’s say he was another contestant.

Then why had he come all the way here with Yuli?

The man’s sudden appearance had thrown him off enough that he’d accepted it without thinking, but the situation was undeniably strange.

Yuli’s existence was top secret.

Ever since Gyeol joined R-Connect, Gyeol, Kisoo Yang, and Hyesung himself had all been extremely careful.

Meaning the only people who knew the truth about Gyeol and Yuli were Kisoo and Hyesung.

Then how does this guy know?

Cold sweat slid down Hyesung’s spine. A terrible sense of danger washed over him—like something had already gone wrong, like one careless mistake from him could destroy everything.

The man watched Hyesung silently for a moment before apparently deciding this couldn’t continue.

Gripping the edge of his mask, he whispered,

“Please don’t scream when you see me.”

“...What?”

It looked like he was about to take the mask off.

At the same time, the blankets rustled.

A sleepy child’s voice drifted through the curtain.

“...Dad?”

Yuli had woken up.