143) Chapter 21. ……Huh? (2)

Fortunately, no doctor or nurse came into the hospital room that day.

At some point I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, it was morning. Maybe because I slept wedged between the two of them every single day, the moment I felt body heat pressing in from both sides, my body had started recognizing it as “time to sleep.”

I wondered if Hyeonji and Jinwoo had gone home, but then I was startled when I saw them getting up groggily from the floor.

“……Sleeping bags?”

“Just in case.”

Unlike Jinwoo, who looked like she hadn’t slept properly all night, Hyeonji got up and neatly folded her sleeping bag with her usual completely indifferent expression.

No, I mean, how should I put this.

Did they really bring sleeping bags into a hospital room and sleep there? Did the hospital even allow that?

…Well, if the hospital permitted it, then Hyeonji probably did it. Considering Hyeonji’s personality, she wasn’t the type to just do whatever she wanted on her own.

More importantly, I was curious where the sleeping bags even came from.

“Does your body feel a little better?”

Hyeonji asked me while I was still trapped tightly between the two girls and unable to move.

“Ah, yeah.”

And the moment I answered, I started coughing again.

It still felt like something remained inside my lungs. I’d been told it would heal if I gave it a little more time, but it still scared me a little.

Well, I had gotten stabbed in the side, after all.

Then again, if even this level of injury couldn’t heal completely, Uncle Dohyun would’ve definitely been left with a truly serious disability, so the doctor’s words probably weren’t just empty comfort.

“Mmm, you’re awake?”

Apparently Soi had woken up from my voice. She asked while resting half her face on top of my chest.

“Ah, yeah.”

Chae-yi wriggled around too. She’d woken up, but she was very obviously broadcasting that she didn’t want to get up as she slowly climbed down from the bed.

Still, thankfully, she at least seemed aware that this was a hospital.

The private room even had a shower, so we all took turns washing up lightly.

“Just in case, should I help you?”

…Soi had said that, but—

Right away Chae-yi insisted she’d help too, and even Jinwoo started nervously glancing around while saying things like, “M-me too……”

So I just hurried into the shower room and locked the door.

Fortunately, all of us had our luggage. We’d originally planned to stay one night during volunteer work and head back to school the next day. And I’d already been wearing a patient gown from the start.

After all the noisy washing and changing clothes, it became around the usual time we’d be going to school.

Right after the doctors came by, checked my condition once, and left after saying they wanted to run a proper examination again in the afternoon—

“Hello.”

The hospital room door, which hadn’t fully closed, suddenly opened and someone walked in.

It was Instructor Justina.

“A-ah, hello.”

“How’s your body feeling?”

“Ah, yes.”

At my answer, Instructor Justina quietly let out a breath.

Seeing the others glance around awkwardly, wondering if they should leave the room, she waved her hand to show it was fine and sat down in a chair.

It looked like she was trying to make her usual bright expression, but there were dark shadows beneath her eyes.

A student had already been seriously injured before this. In my previous life’s world, having a leg broken like that could easily leave someone disabled for life if things went wrong.

And if things had gone badly for me, I would’ve died instantly without even getting treatment.

According to the doctor, the wound hadn’t simply been a clean stab wound. I hadn’t properly seen my side myself, but apparently after being stabbed, while I forcibly tore the woman away from me, the wound had ripped sideways as well.

The only reason I survived was because my other lung had remained intact, and probably because my brain had pumped out every hormone imaginable from the overwhelming pain and forcibly blocked out the agony. If my luck had been worse, even without my heart being cut, I could’ve died from shock.

Things like that only become truly frightening after you hear about them afterward.

Even Auntie Yujin probably couldn’t help but protest to the school after hearing about my condition.

She was a hero, but if your child got injured like that, it would be hard to just stay quiet.

“I’m sorry. We should’ve checked for things like this beforehand.”

A failure on the school’s side.

It seemed things had ended up like that.

Was this my fault too?

If I hadn’t warned them beforehand, Instructor Justina would’ve been helping patients inside the hospital, and then she probably would’ve realized there was a superhuman mixed in among the patients.

But if that had happened, then she wouldn’t have been able to handle what was happening outside instead……

“N-no, um, it’s just…”

“Since the result turned out like this, then it’s the fault of the side that failed to check properly.”

Otherwise, maybe the education system itself was designed to encourage excessive ambition.

I understood the intention. In a world where superhumans existed, people wanted all those superhumans to grow into heroes. They wanted them to use their powers for others the moment they became adults.

That was probably why children who weren’t even adults yet were out here under the name of volunteer work.

But if that was the case, then shouldn’t they have them do “real volunteer work” instead? Just ordinary volunteer work that normal children without powers could also do. Not in places ravaged by villains.

To begin with, forcing together superhuman children at this age and making them do something resembling training already felt absurd.

Still, that probably wasn’t the teachers’ fault. I knew how terrified this world was of the possibility that superhumans might become uncontrollable.

“You looked like you had something you were curious about.”

“Ah, yes.”

I nodded.

“According to your mother, you were wondering why that woman didn’t know about the relationship between you and the Witch. Is that right?”

When I nodded, Instructor Justina nodded too.

“It sounds like they’d been living only among themselves for a long time.”

“……Only among themselves?”

“Yeah. That woman was apparently arrested a long time ago… and imprisoned.”

As she said that, her gaze shifted ever so slightly toward Chae-yi.

Chae-yi and I came from the same orphanage. What that woman had done there probably remained a nightmare for Chae-yi too.

Still, judging by the fact that Chae-yi hadn’t shown any reaction upon seeing her, it seemed she hadn’t recognized the woman. It had been such a long time ago.

“But there was a massive prison break once. They still haven’t caught all the escaped superhumans from back then. …And if she was imprisoned for that long, it means her crimes were that severe. Well, among them, maybe a tiny handful genuinely try to live quietly without using their powers ever again. Though it rarely works out.”

Instructor Justina let out a deep sigh.

“But some of them survive by gathering together like this. Though it’s not anything grand. More like throwing together a few shacks deep in some remote mountain village and living there. But even that isn’t easy. Truly undeveloped mountains are actually pretty rare in this country. Within a few hundred meters, there’ll usually be people living nearby, roads passing through, or at least hiking trails, parks, or pavilions.”

“…….”

“They move over and over again, hiding themselves more and more. Eventually they run out of food, and money too. No matter how much they want to avoid getting caught by the law, if they’re starving and unable to do anything they want, then there’s no point in escaping prison in the first place, right? Eventually dissatisfaction explodes.”

“B-but there’s one strange part.”

“Yeah. There is. A strange part.”

Instructor Justina crossed her arms, her expression growing complicated.

“That woman was imprisoned before the ‘Witch’ really started becoming active. Ah, well, technically she was probably active even before that. But the nickname ‘Witch’ only appeared long after that woman had already gone to prison.”

Of course, she still could’ve found out somehow.

The Witch had been held in prison briefly before.

Especially because prisons for superhumans were such specialized facilities, there was a high chance they’d crossed paths.

But still.

“In special prisons, they make it nearly impossible for superhumans to meet each other. You never know what might happen if two of them get together. Especially if they start forming organizations inside prison, that becomes a huge problem. The only people they can really meet are outside visitors or lawyers.”

She could know that the ‘Witch’ had entered prison.

She could hear about the Witch’s powers.

Maybe she even happened to see the Witch directly using her powers on a TV screen from outside.

But if that was all, there was no reason for her to be that terrified.

Especially the way she panicked as though the Witch herself would come after her for harming me.

“So my guess is that the Witch met this group before.”

“The Witch… met them.”

“Yeah. Someone’s actively hiding the Witch too. And the people who caused this incident basically were as well.”

“…….”

“It’s only speculation for now, though.”

Instructor Justina gave a faint, weary smile.

“Anything else you’re curious about?”

“A-ah, no. I’m okay.”

“Alright.”

Instructor Justina stood up.

“And once again, I’m sorry. This wasn’t pain you should’ve had to go through.”

“A-ah, no. I-it’s okay.”

“Get plenty of rest. That’s how you’ll recover faster. Your mom must be worried.”

“…….”

The “mom” Instructor Justina referred to was obviously Auntie Yujin.

When I gave a slight smile, Instructor Justina finally seemed a little relieved. She nodded once before turning around.

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Pub: 27 May 2026 06:22 UTC

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