165) Chapter 23. Because We’re Friends. (4)
The place we visited wasn’t quiet at all.
I mean, this was the kind of place where the hotel had extremely expensive rooms. It wasn’t just a few groups of tourists besides us—there were crowds everywhere. Not only Koreans but plenty of foreigners too, since it was a famous tourist spot.
So honestly, it was almost surprising that we ran into two different groups of kids from our school. In a place this crowded, even if you’re in the same area at the same time, you usually get buried among strangers and never notice each other.
Anyway, since it was such a well‑known tourist destination and the city itself was pretty big, just wandering around was fun.
“But you guys really like sticking together, huh?”
The girl asked.
“You’re like this at school, and outside too.”
“Of course. She’s my best friend in the whole world.”
Chae‑yi said something incredibly embarrassing with a completely straight face. Not that she was wrong.
“I see.”
The girl’s expression turned a little bitter.
“W‑why? Is something bothering you?”
“Mm, no, it’s not anything huge. It’s just… you know how I said my family keeps interfering? They even try to meddle with who I make friends with.”
“O‑oh, right.”
“Just ignore that kind of thing.”
Before I could mumble out a response to the suddenly serious topic, Chae‑yi cut in cleanly.
“Ignore it? Ignore the adults?”
“What can they do if you ignore them? You’re at school anyway. Even if they wanted to come watch you every day, the school wouldn’t allow it.”
“Huh… when you put it that way…”
“As long as you don’t bring friends home on weekends, they won’t know. You sleep in the dorms anyway, so what’s the problem? And if you want to meet during vacation, just meet somewhere far from home.”
“Wow.”
The girl stared blankly up at the sky for a moment.
“Is it really that simple?”
She tilted her head.
Well, yeah.
That’s how “doing things secretly” works. As long as you don’t get caught, that’s it.
Back then, even though Chae‑yi’s mom hated it when she skipped cram school to hang out, Chae‑yi still kept going out with us anyway.
Even before she was attacked by that villain, she always came with us to ice cream shops and stuff.
It’s natural not to realize something is possible until you actually try it.
Maybe she spoke so firmly because she’d been in a similar situation herself.
Come to think of it, even though I heard things were much better between them now, I still hadn’t really talked to Cheong Hwirin directly.
I sometimes worried about whether she was really doing okay at home… but it felt weird to suddenly show up and say I wanted to visit her.
I worried about Hyeonji and Jinwoo too… mm, maybe I’m sticking my nose in too far.
“It’s simple.”
“I see.”
The girl tilted her head again, then shrugged.
“Well, maybe I’ll try it sometime.”
She let out a small sigh.
We weren’t doing anything special.
She had just stepped out to catch her breath for a bit, and she didn’t seem interested in joining us for cable cars or sightseeing.
“Why, don’t you guys want to go by yourselves? Wouldn’t it be awkward if I tagged along? Right? Right?”
The way she grinned at me for no reason was a little annoying.
But honestly? She wasn’t wrong.
I wasn’t as much of a social butterfly as Soi had been when she was little, so having someone I wasn’t that close to hovering near me and my friends made me a bit uncomfortable.
I felt bad thinking it, but… I still didn’t even know her name properly.
“And… well, it’s not like I hate my family. They’re still my family. If I had really come here with just friends, that’d be different, but since I came with them, there’s no need to scout out tourist spots with other friends first.”
True, “older relatives” might not include her parents.
So the mood naturally shifted toward having lunch together and then parting ways. We were trying to decide on a decent place to eat when—
“Uh—uh.”
Suddenly, Jinwoo flinched in shock.
Her gaze was fixed on something beyond the café window.
We followed her line of sight and saw an elderly man collapsed on the ground.
We all exchanged a quick look and immediately rushed outside.
People were already gathering around the old man, who was lying face‑down and twitching slightly. A few had already lifted his arm and helped him sit up.
Blood was running from his nose, but he wasn’t unconscious.
From the chatter around us, it sounded like someone had already called an ambulance.
In that case, there wasn’t much we could do.
We weren’t officially registered heroes, and if we tried to move him to the hospital ourselves, we might make things worse. Heroes can function properly because they’re integrated with systems like emergency services—everything works together.
…If the ambulance arrived and they needed help moving him quickly, maybe I could assist a little.
“Still, let’s stay until the ambulance gets here.”
At Hyeonji’s words, we all nodded and stepped back to wait.
We could already hear the siren in the distance—
Thud.
Huh.
We all turned toward the sound.
Another elderly man had collapsed. He seemed to be traveling with family, and some younger people were already helping him up—
Thud.
This time it wasn’t an old man, but a young woman.
She was thin and pale. She didn’t seem badly injured from the fall, but she couldn’t regain her balance.
And then again—thud, thud.
Several people collapsed at once.
Only then did everyone realize something was seriously wrong. A few people screamed.
“Uh…?”
I murmured without thinking.
Screeeech—an ominous sound.
Apparently, I had reached out instinctively to stop a car that was swerving toward the sidewalk.
I didn’t hear anything, but I think I felt something break.
It was an invisible hand, so of course there wouldn’t be any sound.
But I reached out again and again, somehow managing to stop the car.
My mind went completely blank, so I don’t remember much after that.
I think… I think my friends were desperately calling my name.
*
I don’t think I was unconscious for very long.
I wasn’t sure exactly, but at most… maybe five minutes?
When I came to, the kids were looking at me with tears welling in their eyes.
“Guys—”
“We need to get out of here. Now.”
Soi quickly grabbed my arm and pulled.
“Soi.”
“Mom said she’s coming. Dad too. So don’t worry too much. Let’s just go.”
“O‑okay.”
I had regained consciousness, but that didn’t mean I was completely fine.
The pain disappeared the moment my arms vanished. Not even the slightest ache remained.
But the shock of feeling that pain didn’t disappear.
Three arms breaking, then breaking again, and again.
I couldn’t see them, but the sensation of something being crushed under pressure was so vivid.
“Ah— the car, what about the car?”
“It’s fine. We already rescued the person inside.”
Only then did I look around.
The car had stopped after hitting a utility pole. Thankfully, the pole hadn’t fallen, and the car was only slightly dented. The airbags hadn’t even deployed.
An ambulance was parked nearby, and rescue workers were running around. Sirens still echoed. Maybe more ambulances were arriving from farther away.
Seeing that, something flickered in my mind.
I couldn’t clearly grasp what it was. But I felt like I had seen a description like this before—
“Come on, let’s go.”
Soi tugged my arm again. Chae‑yi too.
“B‑but… I might be able to help.”
If I carried people like I did at the hospital last time…
Maybe I could save at least a few.
But Soi shook her head.
Not lightly—she shook it fast, like a child refusing something with all her might.
Ah.
I see.
Trauma.
If being held by someone has become a trauma for me, and if I feel trauma even from having my head patted…
Then Soi could have trauma too.
Because I was stabbed while carrying a patient. Not with some ordinary knife, but with a blade crafted by a superhuman ability.
Right in front my best friend’s eyes.
“……”
I looked back.
The situation didn’t look easy, but people were already moving quickly, deep into rescue efforts.
And the rescue workers who had arrived, along with several heroes already on-site controlling the scene.
Auntie Yujin and Uncle Dohyun were coming too. Adding one inexperienced kid probably wouldn’t help much anyway…
I pressed my lips together and decided to follow Soi.
As she pulled me away from the scene, something kept nagging in my mind.
And every time it nagged, the uneasiness grew.
But the identity of that nagging thought… I couldn’t recall it, not even by the time we left.