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Episode 4
Although Sejin had woken up, his body was not yet fully recovered.
After lying unconscious in the ICU for nearly six months, hovering between life and death, he had lost a lot of weight, and his muscle strength had significantly weakened.
The hospital determined that, while there were no major abnormalities based on his test results, it was best for him to remain in the hospital for rehabilitation during his recovery. Hajin agreed to this.
As a result, the top priority became helping Sejin gain weight.
“Alright! Our Sejin is about to receive some meat flying into his mouth! Open wide!”
To get Sejin to eat the lunch provided, Hajin playfully held a piece of meat on a spoon in front of Sejin’s mouth, pretending it was an airplane.
“Uncle!! I can eat by myself!!”
Even though his body was that of a child, Sejin found it hard to accept this kind of treatment from his uncle.
“Oh! Really? But wouldn’t it be hard for you to use chopsticks by yourself, Sejin?”
“No!! I can do it!!”
Sejin clenched his tiny fists, firmly asserting his stance.
Seeing his nephew’s cute determination as he raised his little fists in front of his chest, Hajin couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Haha! Alright. Let’s see just how well our Sejin can do, shall we?”
Giving in to his nephew’s insistence, Hajin handed Sejin a spoon and chopsticks.
Sejin quickly picked up the spoon to scoop some rice and reached for the side dishes, but he was immediately met with a challenge.
With his weakened muscles and short fingers, Sejin had to grip the spoon tightly with his entire hand just to hold it. As for the chopsticks, he dropped them as soon as he picked them up.
“Huh? Huh? Why is this happening?”
Seeing Sejin struggle, Hajin burst out laughing and eventually picked up the spoon and chopsticks himself.
“See? Sejin can’t do it yet, right? That’s why Uncle will help you. Okay?”
“No… I can do it…”
As Sejin lowered his head, sulking, Hajin gently patted him on the head.
“Yes, our Sejin could do it before, huh? But right now, your body isn’t fully recovered, so don’t feel too bad. Let’s eat first, alright? If you eat well and get healthy, you’ll be able to do it on your own soon. Until then, let Uncle feed you. Now, come on! Let’s eat since Sejin must be hungry.”
Accepting the reality of his situation, Sejin reluctantly opened his mouth.
Despite his gloomy mood, the sweet and savory taste of the beef bulgogi in his mouth was absolutely delicious.
Eventually, Sejin’s appetite won out, and he kept opening his mouth like a baby bird until Hajin fed him the entire bowl.
“Alright, Sejin. Stay here for a bit. Uncle’s going to take the dishes back.”
“Mm, okay.”
Since it was lunchtime, Hajin told the caregiver to have her meal first, so she had stepped out for a while.
Cheolhwan had also returned to the company.
After Hajin disappeared with the dishes, Sejin began lightly patting his full stomach, staring blankly into space.
‘Ah… It’s been so long since I’ve felt so relaxed and at ease. This child’s body is a bit uncomfortable, but having a family is really amazing. It feels so warm and cozy. This is the first time I’ve ever felt something like this.’
As Sejin indulged in this rare moment of happiness…
The sound of the door opening reached his ears, and someone entered the hospital room.
Thinking it was his uncle returning, Sejin, who was lying in the separate sleeping area inside the room, turned toward the entrance with a delighted expression.
“Uncle!”
Calling for his uncle, Sejin looked toward the entrance, but instead, a man in his mid-thirties dressed in a janitor’s uniform stood there.
“Gasp!!”
The moment Sejin saw the man, he drew in a sharp breath, startled.
Although the man’s appearance seemed ordinary, his entire right arm was wrapped with a snake as thick as a rope.
Sejin, frozen in shock, his eyes wide and his mouth agape, watched as the man approached with a sinister smile.
“Hey, kid. You’re Seo Hajin’s nephew, right? I heard you were in a big accident, but you look fine to me. Do you remember the accident when you were in the car with your mom and dad? Do you remember that they died?”
Instead of answering, Sejin pulled the blanket up to his chest and curled up as much as he could.
But the man came closer, ignoring Sejin’s reaction, and pulled out a hidden camera from his pocket, starting to snap photos of Sejin.
At that moment, Sejin hurriedly hid his body under the blanket.
“Hey, kid! Look up. I’ll take a nice picture of you.”
The man reached out to pull the blanket away and expose Sejin.
“No!! Stop it!!”
“Hey!! Be quiet! Do you know how hard it was for me to sneak in here? What’s so difficult about letting me take a few pictures? Just let me take a photo, and I’ll leave! Come on, look up!”
From the man’s words, Sejin could tell he was a journalist.
‘No matter how trashy journalists are, harassing a little kid? And to say such awful things to a child who’s lost both parents—has he gone completely insane? If I were the real Sejin, this would be devastating. It’s only because I’m me that I can stay somewhat calm, but what if this had been the real Sejin?’
Initially paralyzed by shock at the snake wrapped around the man’s arm, Sejin began to regain his composure while under the blanket.
‘I can’t let him take any pictures! If my photo gets out, it’ll make things even harder for Uncle. Sigh… How do I deal with this guy?’
As Sejin struggled with the man, he realized that, in his current childlike body, he couldn’t handle this alone.
‘Alright. If I’m going to act like a child, I need to solve this problem as a child would.’
With that resolution, Sejin stuck his face out of the blanket and began to wail loudly.
“Waaaahhh!!!! No!! Uncle, I’m scared!!”
Using the loudest voice he could muster, Sejin cried out so that everyone in the VIP ward could hear.
“Hey!! Quiet down!!”
Startled, the journalist tried to cover Sejin’s mouth with his hand.
Sejin twisted his body, shaking off the man’s arm.
‘Ah! What the hell? I hate snakes! Why is it coming so close?’
As the snake on the man’s arm came closer to his face, Sejin recoiled in fear.
As Sejin cried louder, unintentionally, the sound of his wailing grew even more intense.
Soon after, the sound of people rushing toward the room could be heard.
Bang!!!
The hospital room door was flung open roughly as Hajin, a doctor, and nurses stormed in.
“Sejin!!”
Running into the bedroom, Hajin was stunned to see his nephew, his face a mess from crying, along with a strange man standing there.
“Who are you?! What are you doing here?!”
“Nurse Kim! Call security immediately!”
“Gasp! Yes, doctor, I’ll do that right away!”
Hearing the doctor’s order, the nurse ran out to the desk to contact security.
As Hajin and the doctor approached the man to restrain him, he began to make excuses.
“Ah… haha. Mr. Seo Hajin, I’m not some weirdo. I’m Han Pilyong, a reporter for 'True Magazine.' I came here to interview you, but it seems your nephew got scared of seeing a stranger. Haha.”
The reporter tried to defuse the situation with his explanation.
“Ha! Is that supposed to make sense?! If you wanted an interview, you should have formally requested one through my agency! Instead, you barged in here like this?! And judging by your clothes, you disguised yourself as a janitor to sneak in! How is this considered journalism?!”
Hajin’s voice rose with anger.
“Come on, if you’d just agreed to an interview, I wouldn’t have had to go this far. You keep refusing every single time. I’m doing this for the public’s right to know—that’s why I came all the way here!”
Hearing the reporter’s absurd comments, the doctor and nurses, who had entered with Hajin, became furious.
“Listen, you! You’re a journalist, right? This is a restricted security zone! I don’t know how you got in, but can’t you see that you’ve frightened the patient?!”
“Has security arrived yet?”
As the people around him shouted angrily, Hajin rushed to Sejin and wrapped him tightly in his arms.
“You were so scared, weren’t you? I’m so sorry, Sejin. Uncle shouldn’t have left you alone. I’m really, really sorry for scaring you.”
Holding his nephew close, Hajin fought to suppress his own tears.
Thinking about how terrified and shaken this small child must have been because of a stranger made Hajin’s heart ache.
Moreover, he couldn’t shake the guilt of wondering if his career as a celebrity, which brought so much unwanted attention, had caused this incident.
Sensing Hajin’s guilt, Sejin hugged him back and gently patted his uncle’s back with his tiny hand.
“Uncle, I’m okay. So don’t cry.”
Hearing Sejin’s words, Hajin hugged his nephew even tighter.
A little while later, security staff arrived after receiving the call.
“We’re here from security. You reported an intruder?”
“Yes! That man over there, he’s a journalist. He disguised himself as a janitor to sneak in. Please escort him out and report him to the police if necessary.”
“Understood.”
The security personnel approached the reporter and grabbed both of his arms.
“Hey!! Let go of me! Let go! What did I do wrong?! Why are you doing this?!”
As the journalist shouted and caused a commotion, Sejin leaned toward Hajin and whispered softly.
“Uncle, that man took my picture.”
“What?!!”
Hearing this, Hajin, startled, gently released Sejin and approached the reporter.
“Excuse me, this man took unauthorized photos of my nephew. Please check the camera.”
At Hajin’s words, the security staff approached to confiscate the camera from the journalist.
“Hey! That’s my property! Why are you taking it? Give it back!”
The journalist struggled to hold onto the camera, but the security team subdued him and handed the camera over to Hajin.
Hajin operated the camera to review the photos.
It seemed the journalist had been following him for quite some time, as there were pictures of Hajin walking around the hospital, images of his manager Cheolhwan, and even photos of the group members who had visited Sejin while covering their faces. Finally, there were pictures of Sejin himself.
After confirming all the photos, Hajin removed the camera’s memory card and put it in his pants pocket.
Seeing this, the journalist started yelling hysterically.
“Hey!! Seo Hajin! That’s mine! Why are you keeping it? Give it back right now! That’s theft!”
At the journalist’s outburst, Hajin scoffed.
“If it’s theft, go ahead and report it to the police. I’ll be filing charges against you too!”
“Ugh!! Do you think you can continue your career in the entertainment industry after treating a journalist like this?!”
“Don’t worry about my career—I’ll handle that myself. What you should focus on is hiring a lawyer. I’m not going to let this incident slide!”
With those final words, the security personnel dragged the journalist out of the hospital room.
“We sincerely apologize. The hospital will thoroughly investigate how this man managed to get in and ensure this never happens again.”
The doctor who had entered with Hajin bowed deeply in apology.
Feeling exhausted all of a sudden, Hajin nodded.
“Sigh. Alright. Make sure this doesn’t happen again. As for the rest, please handle it in coordination with my agency when they contact you. I’d like to get some rest now.”
“Understood. We’ll check on Sejin’s condition quickly and then leave.”
The doctor and nurses approached Sejin, briefly examining him. Aside from being frightened, they confirmed there were no serious issues before leaving the room.
Once everyone had left and the room became quiet, Hajin climbed onto the bed and held Sejin close in his arms.
Although the child had been scared, Hajin was just as shaken, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
Understanding his uncle’s feelings, Sejin quietly let himself be held, staying still in Hajin’s embrace.
After a while, the combination of his unwell body and the exhaustion from crying so hard caused Sejin to fall asleep without realizing it.
Noticing that his nephew had fallen asleep in his arms, Hajin carefully laid him down on the bed.
He gently tucked the blanket around Sejin, turned on the night light, and stepped out into the lounge.
Although it was just past lunchtime, so much had happened that he felt completely drained.
But knowing that he needed to stay sharp to handle and resolve the situation, Hajin shook his head, picked up his phone, and prepared to make a call.
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