Season 2: Chapter 117. Political Warrior (2)
Sang-Hyeon's group left the peculiar happenings on the internet behind and arrived at the hospital.
"Call me when you're done."
"Will do. Thanks."
Sang-Hyeon got out of the car and said goodbye to Ju-Hyeok and Ji-Ah. As usual, they drove off to the riverside park for a date.
Sang-Hyeon headed in the opposite direction toward the familiar white building. The automatic door opened, revealing a clean lobby and reception desk.
As a regular patient, Sang-Hyeon simply checked in and sat. He waited for his name to be called while enjoying the view outside.
Suddenly, he encountered a woman in an electric wheelchair.
"Ah... Hello."
Sang-Hyeon greeted her warmly after having not seen her for a long time.
However, she acted significantly different from usual. Although she was always a bit cold, she was normally very polite and never rude. Today, something felt off with a strange tension in the air.
Sang-Hyeon couldn't understand why. Was she angry?
They didn’t exchange any words and remained silent. Strangely enough, the reception desk staff were also unusually quiet.
"... Yes," she barely responded before exiting the building.
Sang-Hyeon blankly watched her leave.
'What's going on?'
She just came from the doctor's office. If her treatment encountered an issue, it would also concern Sang-Hyeon.
He wanted to ask, but couldn't. They only shared a connection through similar afflictions and nothing more.
"Sang-Hyeon, you can go in now!"
The receptionist's voice casually broke the silence, bringing him back to the moment.
"Yes, on my way."
***
A lone white building stood in a landscape blanketed with snow. Its door opened and an electric wheelchair emerged.
The woman in the wheelchair tossed her long black hair back and sighed, "... Sigh."
Her breath formed a white mist as she looked at the scenery. The mountain range's peaks were covered in white and resembled white hair. It was evident how rural the area was since the snow hadn’t melted yet.
Time seemed to flow slowly here. Nothing had changed.
"Ten years and nothing has improved."
They said the landscape changed every ten years, but her body hadn't changed at all just like the scenery here.
She was still confined to a wheelchair and lived with a void in her heart.
Then, she heard someone approaching. The sound of footsteps on grass.
"What's with you? You look dead."
He approached and offered her a cigarette. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the familiar face.
"... Why are you here?"
Despite her cold response, she accepted the cigarette. Instead of taking just one, she grabbed the whole pack.
"That's not all for you."
He seemed incredulous.
"Stop it. You don't even smoke."
"So what? That doesn't make it yours."
"Just say you brought them for me. Be a man."
With a blank expression, she lit her cigarette and started moving her electric wheelchair again. She left the man behind and headed out.
"She still knows how to move, doesn't she?" the man chuckled and chased after her.
They arrived at a vast field behind the hospital. Sa-Rang cherished this place covered in white snow the most within the hospital grounds. The river strongly flowed and a majestic mountain range stood in the background. This was the perfect place to clear one's head.
"Sigh," Sa-Rang exhaled yet another sigh.
Then, the man's arm casually draped over her shoulder.
"Do you remember Sung-Hyeon?" he asked as he lit a cigarette from beside her. "That time with Jae-Min..."
Sa-Rang didn't respond. She just continued smoking more intensely.
"Remember what the commentators always said about him? ‘Wow, what animalistic instincts! Banana is such a crazy player! He's a beast!'"
Still, Sa-Rang didn't respond.
The man chuckled and continued undeterred, "That guy was literally an animal, you know. He was the only one who genuinely liked you as a person. While we all assumed you were a guy, he alone liked you a lot for who you were. He didn't even know why and doubted his own sexual identity because of it, you know?"
Sa-Rang remained silent. However, even she couldn’t control the slight curl in her lips.
"So we always teased him, calling him Gay Banana. 'Please call a banana from the gay bar~!'"
A slight puff of laughter escaped Sa-Rang's lips.
"But then the big twist came. You were actually a girl. Who would have thought someone would disguise their gender to sneak into the dorms? He was so relieved when he found out you were a girl. Do you know how relieved he was? When he thought you were a guy, he still bought flowers, threw them away, bought them again, and eventually threw them away again. That's why there were so many flowers weirdly blooming in the apartment garden back then..."
“Pfft,” Sa-Rang finally burst into genuine laughter. “Puhahahaha. Stop making stuff up."
"I'm not making anything up! If anything, I'm toning it down! Do you know why Jae-Min always ganked the mid lane? He was so into you."
Unable to contain her laughter, Sa-Rang bent over cackling.
"Good thing you were practically the best mid-laner in the world. If you were weaker and he did that, oh boy..."
"Better than going top lane. Idiot."
Sa-Rang's old manner of speech returned after meeting an old friend. This was a side of her no one else could see. The man seemed familiar with this side of her and felt even more at ease.
"... Sigh. True, that was better than the top lane. Better than the top."
His name was Popcorn, the top laner who won the World Series with Sa-Rang.
"Ah, I need to quit smoking soon too. I just have to deal with it after thinking about all the effort he put in... really..."
The memories started flooding back to Sa-Rang.
"How could you think you wouldn't get caught by us? Did you see us as mere fools?"
"I just didn't think I'd get caught by those lower ranked than me."
Popcorn laughed at the absurdity.
"And then, we had to cover it up for you too... Thinking back on it, you tried to look like a man with all that weird makeup. Why did you even try so hard?"
"I already told you why."
"Yes, but it still doesn't make sense. You would have been much more popular if you just said you were a girl. Even your face is... well, pretty good-looking."
Popcorn slightly averted his gaze, feeling awkward about complimenting a former teammate's appearance.
"I don't remember," she said.
"They say I wanted to be an athlete when I was young, but I can't recall."
Silence followed.
"It all feels like a lie. Like I was brainwashed from the start to believe I was born this way."
"Hey, hey, calm down! Please!"
"They all lied to me. My dad, my uncle, and you too!"
With that, she punched Popcorn without any warning.
"Hey, why am I getting hit all of a sudden!"
"You too! You lied to me too!" She hit him again and again.
"Hey, hey! You're the one who lied, remember?"
Popcorn became an unwilling target for her outburst. Although he felt baffled, he couldn't do anything about it. It was the first time he saw her venting like this.
'She's so weak,' he realized how feeble her punches were.
The towering figure he knew was so fragile now.
***
In the hospital, Sang-Hyeon and Song Ha-Na reviewed his gameplay data.
"Was this when I played Zombie School? Are you sure?"
"Yes," Ha-Na replied.
Her voice sounded weary from answering the same question multiple times.
Sang-Hyeon sensed that something was off.
"Sigh..." Ha-Na slumped over the desk in despair. "What now... Sang-Hyeon? This... I never expected this."
'It seems something went wrong,' Sang-Hyeon realized he had harbored false hopes.
"It's strange. It was supposed to be precisely timed to prevent the worsening of your arm’s condition..."
Ha-Na appeared lost, rifling through papers in a daze.
"Maybe the fact that Sa-Rang wasn't affected at all..."
She almost seemed out of her mind as her words trailed off.
"I might have misspoken. I'm sorry," she finally admitted.
Sang-Hyeon was at a loss for words.
After a moment, Ha-Na came to a conclusion.
"I don't know what to say, Sang-Hyeon. I was almost certain. Now, it feels like we're back to square one."
The theory that playing Zombie School could alleviate his arm’s condition seemed to have failed. At least, it wasn't proven anymore.
"Please continue to play regularly. We might discover something," she encouraged.
"Okay, I will," Sang-Hyeon replied.
He nodded, but internally resigned himself.
'Of course.'
It wasn't his first time facing such disappointment.
He comforted himself reflexively, 'It's okay.'
The idea that a game could be a cure was absurd from the start.
'It's just the same as always,' he thought as he left the hospital.
***
As he stepped out of the hospital, Sang-Hyeon felt something pierce his heart. A surge of emotion threatened to overwhelm him.
Was this how Choi Sa-Rang felt earlier?
He managed to suppress the outburst and told himself, 'It's all the same.'
Regardless of his arm's condition, he was determined to participate in the national competition. The preparations were going well. He didn’t need to play to the point of hurting himself. Everything was on track.
'Nothing has changed. Just do it,' he reassured himself.
Sang-Hyeon reaffirmed his resolve as if compensating for his arm just like she did in the past.