As time passed, it was almost time to disinfect my horns.

I didn't wake up exactly on schedule—I was just lying there with my eyes closed, not having slept a wink.

It's not like I could fall asleep anyway. I was used to sleeping several hours a day, but having just woken up a few hours ago, there was no way I could fall asleep at 2 PM when I should be most active.

Besides, I'd eaten not long ago, so my stomach felt bloated just from lying down, making sleep impossible no matter how hard I tried.

*Creak*—

At least my waiting wasn't in vain, as right on schedule, the door to my room opened and a nurse entered.

Naturally, she brought the familiar cart with its medicinal smell.

"Time to disinfect," she announced.

In her usual curt voice, she informed me before soaking a cotton ball with disinfectant and dabbing it around my horns.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain that never seemed to get easier, waiting for the disinfection to end. Today she seemed to be applying more medicine than usual—the room was filled with such a strong medicinal smell that my nose wrinkled by the time she finally finished.

"All done. Don't touch the disinfected area, and call if you need anything."

After finishing, the nurse recited what sounded like a rehearsed script, then immediately began organizing the medicine bottles and cart to leave the room.

"Excuse me."

"..."

She flinched, her reaction making it seem like she'd seen a ghost, which stung.

So she wasn't disliking me—she was afraid of me.

Well, considering I was a monster created from a dragon that had turned half of Seoul into a sea of flames, and given the monstrous appearance I'd shown at the hospital and courthouse, her fear wasn't unreasonable.

I managed a bitter smile while trying to calm my hurt feelings. Sensing she might leave if I hesitated too long, I spoke up.

"I have a small favor to ask."

"I-I'm not your assigned nurse..."

The nurse started making excuses before I'd even stated my request.

I'd expected this reaction, but experiencing it firsthand made it quite uncomfortable to continue.

Still, I had to try. Be shameless. It's not like I have anything to lose anyway.

"It's really simple. Truly. Nothing difficult—just need you to ask one thing for me."

I trailed off with an "ah..." while darting my eyes around.

The nurse seemed to consider for a moment before avoiding my gaze.

Is that a no...?

The suspense was killing me as she took her time, but I waited patiently until she finally sighed deeply and turned toward me.

"What... is it?"

*It worked...!*

Though there was no guarantee yet, having even a possibility was vastly different from having none at all.

Calming my excited heart, I conveyed my request calmly.

"I want to see Choi Hyun. I'll accept any restraints or conditions—just please tell them I'd like to see his face, even if it's through a glass window."

That was calm enough, right?

I tried to hide my trembling hands by pressing them together as I looked at the nurse.

"...I'll pass it on to the head nurse, but we're not in charge of that, so I can't promise you'll be able to see him."

"Yes, thank you."

I expressed my gratitude, but the nurse merely nodded slightly before wheeling the cart out.

Now all that's left is... more waiting.

*It's okay. I'm used to waiting...*

That's what I thought as I waited, but no matter how long I waited, the nurse didn't return.

She must be busy. Let me wait a little longer. That's what I thought, but dinner arrived before the nurse returned.

"Excuse me, could I ask you for a favor?"

"Huh? Oh... as long as it's not difficult."

I made the same request to the nurse bringing my meal, but she shook her head with a troubled expression.

"Visits to the intensive care unit are difficult."

"Ah... what about just seeing him through a glass wall? Not an actual visit?"

"I'll check and let you know. Now, please eat."

I practically gulped down my food, and the nurse quickly cleared away the tray and left the room.

Despite saying she'd check, the nurse didn't return until the next disinfection time.

Time passed, and at 6 PM, disinfection time came around and the door opened.

I was planning to ask the previous nurse what happened, but this time it was a different nurse who entered.

"Excuse me, did the nurse who was here earlier say anything?"

I asked before the disinfection began, hoping for some news.

But the response was puzzling.

"Huh? She didn't say anything."

Ah, so she never intended to pass along my message.

That's fine. It's okay. I expected this.

"Could I ask you for a favor then?"

Fortunately, this nurse nodded, and I made the same request I'd made to the other nurse.

That I wanted to meet Hyun, to see with my own eyes if he was alive, to check his condition.

This nurse also said she'd pass it up the chain, then finished the disinfection and left the room.

I waited and waited, but no nurse came to my room until lights-out time when the room went dark.

"...I knew this would happen."

I did know. But knowing something and experiencing it are quite different.

Maybe something was wrong with my dinner, because my stomach felt terribly sour. I sighed deeply and hugged my knees.

Whether from hope or lingering attachment, I couldn't sleep a wink until the lights came back on in the morning.

* * *

I wait, I ask questions. I make requests.

The answers are ambiguous, never clear rejections.

I endured for one day.

On the second day, I just waited.

On the third day, I pleaded for any kind of response.

On the fourth day, I begged. If it's not possible, just tell me clearly.

But every time, all I got was vague affirmation.

And the nurses who gave such answers never showed their faces in my room again.

How many nurses have been reassigned because of me?

What instructions from above are keeping me from meeting Hyun?

Are they afraid I'll go berserk again? Or are they isolating me on purpose?

Or are the nurses here deliberately tormenting me? Why? Because I'm a monster?

"Tsk."

I tried my best to think positively, but the more I tried, the more my thoughts tilted toward negativity.

Yet if I stopped trying to be positive, I could feel myself falling endlessly into an abyss.

People's voices sounded like noise, and the ticking of the clock in the room seemed to fill my head so loudly I thought I might go crazy.

It was worse knowing that all these emotions were genuinely mine.

Is that what they're aiming for? For me to go crazy and rampage? Haha, no way.

"Ah, this is fucking bullshit."

The one improvement over when I was under mental interference was that cursing like this actually made me feel a bit better.

Of course, my mood would sour again quickly, but at least it was a hundred times better than when I was floundering in depression under mental interference.

Looking at it that way, the current situation isn't so bad.

"Pfft... yeah right."

Regardless of whether the situation is good or bad, bullshit is bullshit.

Should I just go for it? If I don't get caught, it should be fine, right? It's not like I'd be committing a crime.

As I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, seriously planning how to get to the building across from here, the door to my room slid open with a creak.

That's strange—lunch time had long passed, and it was still about an hour before disinfection time.

Feeling puzzled, I sat up in bed and couldn't help but be surprised.

Standing at the door was someone I hadn't expected at all.

"...Ha-Young noona."

"Your face has become half of what it was since I last saw you."

It would be a lie to say I wasn't disappointed. I had actually hoped, just a little, that it might be Hyun opening that door.

Still, I didn't show it outwardly. She'd come all this way to visit—I couldn't openly show my disappointment.

No matter how foul my mood, I shouldn't take it out on others.

"Something bad happen?"

But damn, I must really suck at hiding my expressions.

For someone who'd been in the room less than two minutes to immediately pick up on my mood.

At this point, I might as well just spill everything.

It's not like I could hide it anyway.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't there be? Being trapped here unable to leave, Hyun being in the building right next door but I can't see him. The nurses treating me like I'm nothing, ignoring my requests to pass along messages. Fuck, I feel like shit."

I shrugged with a smirk, and she looked at me with a surprised expression.

"You curse quite a lot."

"I told you before. Before becoming like this, I was just an ordinary high school boy. Of course I cursed all the time. Have you ever seen a high school boy who doesn't curse?"

"Can't say I have. So, was it the mental interference all this time?"

"Maybe? But I think it was more that I just didn't have the luxury. I was always watching my step. Just dealing with what was right in front of me was overwhelming enough."

"And now it's not?"

"Right. Why should I care what others think? I've already done all the damage I could do, people's perception of me is shattered, and my life can't sink any lower."

"...You sound just like Ryu Hwa."

I shuddered at those words.

Resignation. The very thing I had denied was somehow now firmly rooted within me, which was shocking.

"So, what brings you here today?"

After hesitating briefly, I forced a bitter smile and deliberately changed the subject.

"They've decided on your treatment."

If I'd known this topic was coming, I wouldn't have changed the subject—I should have talked more about the previous matter.

A bit of belated regret.