March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 102

“Ah…”

My whole body ached as if I’d been beaten. I wanted to sleep a little longer, but my body screamed at me to get up. After groaning for a long time, Sehwa finally opened his blurry eyes. Even if he ignored the heaviness and sluggishness, his stomach hurt too much. Strangely so.

There was no one in the room. He wondered why his right arm felt heavy… a saline drip needle was stuck in the crook of his arm. A fresh patch was wrapped around his wrist, and the bandage around his splint looked new. The sheets and blankets were all new.

Since he couldn’t remember anything, it seemed he had thrown up a lot earlier and then fainted… If so, did Gi Taejeong clean up after him?

Sehwa stared blankly at the IV fluid dripping steadily through the tube, then slowly raised himself. It seemed enough had gone in, so he could probably take it out now.

He removed the needle in his arm and all the sticky tape, and as he reached out to clean up, a sharp pain spread again. It was a sensation similar to the unfamiliar ache he’d felt when he woke up. No, it seemed to hurt even more than before.

Sehwa slowly breathed, clutching his stomach. He’d had a few sharp pains in his stomach before, so he thought it would get better soon. But,

“…Saessak-ah.”

This time, something was a little different. A pain like a blade tearing through his insides came intermittently, like aftershocks.

“Are you… hurt? Saessak-ah…”

He had just finished the IV drip a moment ago. Why was this happening? Sehwa gritted his teeth and tried to endure it. He tried to shake off the unfamiliar pain by calling Saessak’s name and talking to him, but it was no use. Instead, the pain only grew stronger with time.

Finally, he fumbled above the headboard, grabbing the tablet that had been placed next to the collar. He’d been told he could open and close curtains, and turn lights on and off with it, so he wondered if there was a function to call someone. Since all the examination equipment was laid out in the hallway outside the bedroom anyway, he only needed Lieutenant Na to come.

Wiping away cold sweat, Sehwa fumbled for the desired function and was about to press it… when he hesitated for a moment, then withdrew his hand from the button.

The call function didn’t have an option to select who to call. If Gi Taejeong or Master Sergeant Choi came instead of Lieutenant Na… it would probably become more troublesome. He might be ridiculed for throwing up the meal they prepared, and for being fussy even after being given an IV drip.

Of course, he hadn’t detected such a fierce aura from the man yesterday. Even though he had hugged him and fallen asleep without permission, he hadn’t treated him carelessly like before. However, his incredibly weakened body and mind arbitrarily overlaid nightmarish imaginings. In his current state, he felt he couldn’t even endure a normal verbal spat.

Eventually, Sehwa slowly got up. Lieutenant Na had said he would be waiting on the first floor for the time being. He had asked him not to endure pain even in the early morning and to call him, so he felt sorry, but it seemed he would have to impose on him again this time.

Since he had always stayed in Gi Taejeong’s bedroom, he hadn’t heard exactly where Lieutenant Na was, but he thought he might find him if he went to the room where the ultrasound examination equipment had been installed before.

His wrist tingled every time he gripped the mattress, but he tricked himself into believing it was fake pain. Sehwa carefully stepped forward, clutching his abdomen. Perhaps thanks to the IV drip, he didn’t feel dizzy, only a slight tightness in his stomach.

Now that he thought about it, the floor used to be bare marble, but now it was covered with soft carpet. Although it still felt monotonous and desolate, he was relieved that it seemed to put less strain on his right ankle.

Ah… while he was at it, should he ask Lieutenant Na to write a medical opinion stating that he shouldn’t have relations for the time being? It was a little embarrassing… but since Gi Taejeong wouldn’t even mention a contract, he wanted to make sure of it in some way.

Still, since he hadn’t done anything after his appeal that the baby’s condition wasn’t good… if Lieutenant Na’s opinion was added, he might not have trouble with sleeping arrangements for at least a while, a faint hope bloomed.

Thinking it was a good idea, he gave a small nod, just as he was about to leave the bedroom.

“…Anyway, General Kim will be in the courtroom, and General Oh Seonran will also be there, so isn’t it better to attend once? Especially if you plan to completely clear your previous actions.”

Lieutenant Park’s voice was faintly heard from afar. Lieutenant Park was the only one speaking, but the footsteps climbing the stairs were those of two people. As expected, Gi Taejeong was also with him.

“If you really don’t want to put him in the courtroom, it might be good to ask Mr. Lee Sehwa to record a hologram for testimony.”

Sehwa, who was about to go back inside, perked up his ears at the sudden mention of his name. Testimony? Me?

Lieutenant Park continued to speak, but he spoke so softly that Sehwa couldn’t hear him well. Sehwa didn’t even realize his hand gripping the doorknob was sweating as he strained to focus on Lieutenant Park’s voice.

“You said that to Lieutenant Colonel Kim at the previous trial, so I don’t think there will be any problem.”

“That was just something I said because Lieutenant Colonel Kim and Oh Seonran were blabbering on their own.”

“…Then, surely the CCTV footage was installed in the house…”

“F*ck, is that even a question?”

The CCTV… footage… installed in the house?

“If I tell them that their debt to President Son can be forgiven, there will be a line of people willing to testify, so why bother? Just pick from them.”

“But…”

“If I give them fragmented footage, they’ll say they can’t trust it this time and demand all of it. If you start listening to them, there’s no end to it, so act as if such a thing never existed from the beginning. Forget about testimony holograms or whatever, and don’t put Lee Sehwa on the front line anymore.”

Sehwa gripped the doorknob and replayed what he had just heard.

Lee Sehwa. For testimony. Hologram. CCTV installed in the house. Footage.

The fragmented words swelled up behind his eyelids. As if someone was holding his head and forcing him to look only at those letters, the story he had just heard… simply wouldn’t disappear.

“…Lee Sehwa?”

He heard a voice calling him, sounding puzzled. He hadn’t realized Gi Taejeong and Lieutenant Park had approached the bedroom, perhaps because he had completely suppressed his presence from the moment they climbed the stairs and entered the hallway. Or perhaps it was because he wasn’t in a mental state to notice such things.

Gi Taejeong slightly furrowed his brow, looking at Sehwa standing awkwardly by the door. His intense gaze swept over Sehwa’s right ankle, both wrists, and the crook of his arm where the needle mark remained.

“You still have the IV…”

“General.”

He wasn’t angry, nor was he sad. The threshold of his senses had crossed beyond its limit, so he felt no emotion at all.

“The footage you just mentioned… what is it?”

However, contrary to his feelings, the voice that squeezed out of his dry throat was terribly shaky.

“You just… said you installed CCTV in the house…”

“……”

“That footage… is it what I’m thinking of right now?”

Gi Taejeong’s slightly parted lips tightened. Lieutenant Park, standing behind him, looked as if he had bitten his tongue.

Ah… Sehwa felt as if he had already heard all the answers from their expressions. It was true. They had really planned even such a thing…

“…Come in, I’ll show it to you so you can confirm what it is yourself.”

Gi Taejeong groaned and rubbed his dry face.

“On the day you first entered the house, I installed CCTV throughout the entire building for surveillance. The office, the gambling den, the players’ lounge… everywhere without exception.”

“……”

“The house itself was one of the important pieces of evidence, and it was the scene of an undeniable crime, so…”

“……”

“Even the most ordinary operations start that way. This is a small-scale operation, not even really an operation, but since it involves infiltrating a facility… I just gave those basic instructions. At the time, I thought that’s what had to be done.”

Towards the end, Gi Taejeong’s voice was tinged with anxiety. He seemed to be rambling a bit, unlike himself.

“Anyway, only I had access to the CCTV server, and later I even forgot about it. Lieutenant Kim was arrested more easily than expected, and thanks to his foolishness, we already secured enough evidence in other ways…”

However, if all the lengthy excuses were erased and only the facts remained, Gi Taejeong had, after all, slept with him several times in that place, knowing that CCTV was installed. Moreover, Lieutenant Park also seemed to know this fact, and even mentioned it for testimony purposes… which meant that even if not now, in the past, he had considered pulling out those records if necessary.

“I didn’t deliberately… I mean, I didn’t install it with the sole purpose of targeting you, Lee Sehwa!”

The man’s voice echoed muffled, as if submerged in water. He couldn’t understand what was happening. His stomach didn’t hurt anymore. All sensation was lost, and he only felt as if the ground he was standing on was slowly collapsing.

“Call Lieutenant Na, quickly!”

Even at that moment, he thought he shouldn’t hurt his stomach, so he tried to wrap his body somehow… no, he tried to, but he didn’t know if he succeeded. His fingertips, devoid of strength, dropped to the floor with a thud.

“I’ll call an ambulance too!”

Lieutenant Park, his face pale, hurried down the stairs. Gi Taejeong barely managed to hold Sehwa’s body, which was about to collapse, and moved his hands busily. He checked if he was breathing properly, took his pulse, and swept his hand over various parts of his head to see if he had hit anywhere when he fell.

“Lee Sehwa, can you hear me?”

Gi Taejeong kept calling him, rubbing his cooling hands.

“Not like this… I’ll explain everything again, one by one.”

Explain what…? Is there still something I need to know? How much more pain do I have to endure to reach the end?

“Sehwa.”

A timid resentment briefly bloomed in his fading consciousness. He wished he had just continued to treat him as Lieutenant Kim’s accomplice or a convenient tool. He wished he had kicked him and locked him up like before. So that he wouldn’t harbor any expectations…

If that had been the case, he could have truly done anything, no matter how he was treated, if he was just given his ID card later. It wouldn’t have hurt this much, and…

“Lee Sehwa!”

Well, he didn’t know. He didn’t want to know anything. He didn’t want to hear anything.

…He just wanted to stop everything now.

The tightly closed operating room door opened after several hours. Gi Taejeong, who had been pacing the hallway all this time, rushed towards Lieutenant Na with bloodshot eyes.

“Lee Sehwa is.”

Sehwa, who had collapsed, showed no reaction. Thanks to being caught immediately, he didn’t hit his head, nor did he vomit blood or have internal bleeding. However, his eyes quickly turned bluish under his eyes, like a dead person. His heart sank at the sight of him losing all vitality like a withered flower.

“I’m asking what happened to Lee Sehwa!”

“The surgery is still in progress, but… something urgent has come up that I need to ask the General.”

Lieutenant Colonel Kim, who had failed to extract President Son from the house, was insisting on getting the CCTV installed inside. It was a ploy to try and tarnish his reputation even a little, citing harsh treatment during the occupation process.

When he entered the house wearing the ridiculous title of director, he thought it was natural to have surveillance eyes everywhere.

He had forgotten about it now, and of course, he had no intention of doing so, but… it was true that when he first took Lee Sehwa, he had thought it would be convenient later if it also captured him wanting him himself. He had even confidently declared that to Lieutenant Park.

He had no intention of denying that he had pushed Sehwa too hard. Even if they first met as a soldier and a drug offender, the cruel abuse that occurred did not disappear. He also knew that his subsequent immersion in the gentle affection Sehwa gave him, and forgetting his initial plans, could not be an excuse.

However, he didn’t want Sehwa to find out about everything at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way.

Looking back, this situation had repeated itself ever since he had casually lied as an excuse. It was like a domino that had already begun to collapse, and he felt there was nothing he could do but watch. He didn’t know where the tangle had begun, and he no longer had any idea how or where to touch it to untangle it.

“The surgery was performed earlier than expected, but… we successfully transferred the baby to the incubator, and the baby’s condition is better than we thought. Still, it’s fortunate that we had many cases to refer to since it was past four months. However…”

“However?”

Lieutenant Na, with eyes sunken from fatigue and worry, bit his lower lip for a moment.

“…You might not remember, but I told you once before, didn’t I? That Mr. Lee Sehwa’s basic numbers were not good and his uterus looked weak, but strangely, only the fetus seemed healthy. The situation is still the same. The surgery to remove the baby was successfully completed, but… the mother, Mr. Lee Sehwa is still bleeding.”

“……”

“I thought it was fortunate that the anesthetic worked, but instead… none of the hemostatic methods we have are working. The internal bleeding in areas that cannot be sutured with a laser is not stopping.”

And so, Lieutenant Na took a deep breath. As if he didn’t want to say this much.

“The measure we are trying to take now requires one more consent form from the General, who is the legal guardian of the mother.”

“…Consent form?”

“We are going to try administering A7 along with the blood transfusion.”

“You’re going to use A7?”

A7 was a special treatment even within the military. It was a drug developed because a suspicious head of state had pushed for its creation, demanding that his life be preserved no matter what happened, in case of an unforeseen situation.

Of course, its effects were more powerful than any other treatment. However, its side effects were also considerable, making it a white elephant that was no longer used. Even Gi Taejeong, who had rolled through countless battlefields, had only heard its name and never taken it. Even when he was shot and stabbed, bleeding profusely, H3 was enough.

But now he had to use A7 on Lee Sehwa…

“And as you know, this method, in the worst case… that is, Mr. Lee Sehwa’s death must be considered.”