Chapter 120 – Up (3)

“… Hello?”

[… Yes, brother…]

I heard Baek Ga-eun’s voice on the other end of the phone, but I had no energy, probably because I was half asleep.

“… Did you sleep well?”

[… Yes.]

Her answer, half a beat late, showed that the dream had been wild today as well.

“… That’s good, I have some business to stop by the office today, so I’ll see you later.”

[Yes…, Oppa works hard too.]

She said a brief hello and put down the phone, confirming that the call had ended.

“Whoa…”

She sighed deeply with mixed feelings and put her body under the shower that had been turned on.

Jiyeon has been secretly giving Baek Ga-eun a wake-up call for several days now, and Baek Ga-eun’s condition has been getting worse as the days go by.

However, because she devotes her time to Hyeon Ha-yeon during the day and Lee Ji-yeon in the evening, she is unable to pay proper attention to Baek Ga-eun.

At most, I could just listen to her voice on the phone all the time or occasionally stick around and take care of her according to her schedule.

Still, she comforted me by saying that Baek Ga-eun was okay, but she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

One encouraging thing is that Baek Ga-eun’s movie filming is not far away.

It was fortunate that Hyeon Ha-yeon’s activities were wrapping up and Baek Ga-eun’s movie filming coincided.

… It’s hot.

The water wasn’t that hot, but it felt like it was heating up her head, so I slightly moved the faucet to adjust the temperature.

As she was dazed by the strong stream of water, she inadvertently looked at her left hand.

Today is the day I promised with Jiyeon.

It’s the day we go to get our wedding rings matched.

*

As we sat at the table and sipped the herbal tea brought by the staff, a practitioner appeared and handed us several drafts.

When Jiyeon and I opened the file the employee gave us, there were numerous ring-shaped tattoo designs lined up.

There were a variety of designs, from a bloody skull to two neat parallel lines.

“Well, in general, when it comes to cases used in place of wedding rings, many people choose designs without patterns, or many people just draw lines.”

While listening to the practitioner’s explanation, I glanced at Jiyeon Lee, then glanced at me and said.

“… Should we make a new one?”

… Directly?

Jiyeon Lee said that in the case of couple tattoos, the practitioner often decides on the design herself and that she can provide some help.

If Jiyeon likes me, I like it, so in the end, she started making her own designs on her own initiative.

Upon hearing the practitioner’s words, a staff member immediately brought a sketchbook and colored pens.

However, when she tried to design it herself, she felt at a loss as to how to draw it.

“… I guess I’m not good at drawing, I can’t figure out how to draw…”

Jiyeon Lee, who was sitting across from her, lifted her head while she was drawing something. She looked at me and said quietly.

“… Then, I will draw it, so please choose one of them.”

I expressed my approval to Jiyeon Lee’s words, put down her pen, sat quietly, and took a peek at Jiyeon Lee’s sketchbook.

Ji-yeon Lee drew two designs, and both designs had unusual patterns that she had never seen before in place of jewelry.

There was a small heart drawn on a pattern that looked like a magic circle, like something out of a cartoon movie.

It’s a picture that will remain in place of a ring on my left ring finger for the rest of my life, but I can’t engrave it without knowing its meaning.

“… Jiyeon, what is that?”

She raised her head slightly, met her eyes, and answered with the corners of her mouth slightly raised.

“… “Your leash?”

She burst out laughing at her words.

… Her wedding ring is engraved on her hand, so her leash is correct.

A leash is to prevent an animal from jumping out, but I wondered if there was a need to put a leash on me as I only knew Jiyeon Lee.

Still, considering the things she did before to tie me up, isn’t this a noble thing?

Okay, if this is enough…

Before she knew it, she had completed her design and showed it to me.

One with only a pattern and one with added thin lines.

As we saw in the design earlier, the difference was whether there were only gems or whether there were lines.

… Wouldn’t the one with a line look more like a ring?

“… Does this look more like a ring? I think this is better.”

I glanced at Jiyeon Lee to see what she was thinking, and she was looking at me with a satisfied smile, as if I had made a mistake.

After that, the practitioner appeared and discussed with Jiyeon Lee to finalize the final design.

The time has come to paint my body for the first and last time.

As I lay down in my seat, I quietly asked with a little concern.

“… Are you in a lot of pain?”

The practitioner who was positioning my hand responded with a small laugh.

“At first, my fingers hurt a little.”

The operator was a person who had tattoos drawn all over his body. How much would it hurt for someone like that to say it hurts?

After such a hectic time, I listened to the treatment method the practitioner told me without paying attention, and when I went out to the waiting room, Jiyeon, who had already finished, was waiting for me and reading a magazine.

When she saw me looking like I was dead, she smiled and said.

“Did it end well?”

“… Yes.”

I gave her a dissatisfied answer, but she seemed to find it funny, so she burst into laughter and quickly packed her bags.

After leaving the treatment center and making her way to the restaurant where Jiyeon Lee had made a reservation in advance, she spoke secretly while playing with her cell phone.

“… Shall we eat and go look at the furniture?”

“… Furniture? Change it already?”

At that moment, I stopped her car and looked at her sitting in the passenger seat.

“I plan to change it when I move later.”

… Issa.

It seemed like they were talking about the newlyweds’ house they would move into after the ceremony.

For a moment, Lee Ji-yeon’s ‘villa’, which I had visited before, came to mind, but quickly subsided.

Tsk…

She continued her thoughts, trying to ignore her briefly throbbing headache.

One day, Jiyeon Lee hinted at her new home, but it seemed like she was already thinking seriously.

When I heard the news that Baek Ga-eun’s movie shooting would soon begin, I seemed to be slowly preparing, but I was actually feeling sick to my stomach because I had made a promise.

I looked at the wrap wrapped around Lee Ji-yeon’s left hand, cursing my past self who had thought it would just be over after her debut.

Underneath the wrap that the practitioner had wrapped, telling me to leave it on for an hour or two, there was a picture of an eternal wedding ring that could no longer be returned for the rest of my life.

She had been mentally preparing since she talked about her wedding ring, but seeing Jiyeon looking forward to it made her heart heavy.

First, I was going to tell Ji-yeon Lee to postpone it for a bit after doing something from Baek Ga-eun, but I was already starting to be afraid of how she would react.

I inadvertently avoided Lee Ji-yeon’s gaze looking at me.

“… “Then, shall we stop by for a moment after eating?”

I answered that I wanted to stop by a furniture store and slowly increased my speed, following the signal that had suddenly changed.

… It will work out somehow.

*

A room decorated so white that the flesh-colored shapes lying on the floor stand out.

“Huh…, Buy it, buy it for me…, I’ll give it a go…, Jebaal…”

Beyond the transparent window, a woman was clinging to the floor, rubbing her waist desperately.

Her eyes were glassy as she stared into space, sticky saliva flowing from her mouth, soaking the floor, and water was constantly pouring from her lower body, which was spasming intermittently.

“… Subject No. 45 was successful in obtaining mental and physical pleasure, but some side effects such as delirium and hallucinations appeared.

While listening to her research team’s briefing, the woman who had been crawling on her floor started going crazy, this time banging her head on the floor.

“Don’t do that!!! I hate it now!!! Kill me!!!!!”

Researchers waiting inside her laboratory rushed in and subdued the woman, and she seemed to perceive the touch as pleasure, causing her body to flutter and squirt water.

“… Ha.”

As she let out a small sigh as she looked at the liquid that had splattered on her window, the research team leader next to her began to fidget and continue speaking.

“… Joe, if you give me just a little more chance, I’m sure you can do it! If you adjust the dosage and reduce side effects, I’m sure you will be satisfied…”

… I have a long excuse.

When she gently raised her hand, the research team leader started a fight and stopped her.

She said quietly as she looked through her window at the woman who had lost consciousness and her body was limp from the sedatives she had administered.

“… “Team leader.”

She, who had stiffened up at my call, responded with surprise.

“Yes, four!!”

The researchers beyond the window took the woman and opened the door inside her, disappearing.

I continued speaking slowly while looking at the liquid flowing through the transparent window.

“… I know it’s too much to ask, but just coming this far is a great thing.”

When I slowly turned my gaze to look at her team leader, she was looking at me with fearful eyes while holding her file.

The moment her eyes met hers, she quickly looked down at her floor and pursed her lips.

I looked at her slowly and continued speaking.

“… I believe that the team leader will do well… “You’ve been making great drugs so far, right?”

“Yeah, right… Yes…”

I spoke with a faint smile to the team leader, who answered in a crawling voice, probably because he felt pressured by the look in my eyes.

“If this job is done properly, you will probably become the CEO of the world’s most profitable pharmaceutical company.”

The team leader seemed awkward, perhaps remembering what I had said, but smiled with anticipation.

“But…”

The corner of her mouth, which was trembling and rising, twitched and stopped.

“If I fail this time…”

After hearing the next words, the team leader erased his smile and pursed his lips as if he had never done that before.

“… You might have to go in there. … “There are a lot of talented people, right?”

She gulped down her saliva so loudly that I could hear it, and then, unable to control her trembling body, she carefully opened her mouth.

“Yeah, that’s right…” Definitely…, I will definitely try to present it to you as soon as possible…”

I smiled and answered her words.

“… Yes, I look forward to it.”