The Secret Investment Formula of a Chemical Genius - Chapter 143



Only Krnovel

Episode 143: Burns

Transparent glass with all sides blocked.

A solid wall that doesn’t even make a sound when you knock on it hard.

When I slowly lowered the hand I was holding, I saw my reflection in the glass.

Blue polka dot pajamas.

The clothes I was wearing before I went to sleep.

Let’s lightly rub it with your hand. The soft texture unique to silk is transmitted through the skin.

… … Is this a dream?

I burst out laughing at the absurd reality.

Most people are not aware of their dreams.

While people sleep, they continuously cycle through non-REM sleep and REM sleep.

At this time, the series of mental processes that we usually call dreams mostly occur in ‘REM sleep’.

During REM sleep, the brain’s neocortex, which is responsible for a person’s physical abilities, rapidly declines, while brain waves intensify.

This causes us to dream, our physical abilities to deteriorate, and we mistake dreams for reality.

But now I am clearly aware that this situation is a dream.

Since dreams usually revolve around the existence of ‘me’, it is normal for me to be able to do whatever I want to some extent.

But this is… … .

I tried to wake up several times, but nothing worked.

Around that time, I was starting to get a little tired.

Suddenly, light poured in from somewhere.

Eyes that frown without me knowing.

As my narrowed eyes gradually adjusted to the light, I began to slowly see what was in front of me.

A man with gray hair.

A man with a face that was eerily similar to mine walked towards me with great stride.

I sat down on the single sofa located right in front of me, in the center.

Are you deliberately ignoring me, or is it that I am truly invisible?

His behavior was very natural.

A distance within reach.

I bit my lips hard and slammed my fist into the wall with all my might.

Still, the glass doesn’t move at all.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but here, reality and sensation were almost the same.

That is to say.

This means that pain is the same.

The back of my hand is swollen.

I laughed hollowly.

If I hit it any harder, I felt like my knuckles would break.

Even if my bones break, I’ll do it if I can just get out of here and reach that man…

That won’t work.

I shook my head as I looked at the smooth glass that showed not a single blemish.

Despite the commotion going on behind him, the man acted calmly.

He was sipping coffee from his mug, then he picked up the remote control and turned on the TV hanging on the wall.

The people who appeared in the TV video are Hyejin and Seodujin.

A man and a woman were fighting and tussling.

When Hyejin spoke loudly, Seodujin took out something from his pocket, seeming to become enraged for a moment.

A clear liquid sprinkled over the face.

Hyejin screamed, clutching her face.

“… … !”

As I was gritting my teeth at the sight, the screen changed.

Hospital emergency room.

Someone lying in a hospital bed, seemingly dead, with bandages wrapped around their face.

A man of enormous size guarded the side.

Seems desperate.

A man bowing his head and covering his face with his hands.

As if a call had come in, the man put the phone to his ear.

The man who had been chatting for a while slowly straightened up from his crouching position.

Lee Tae-kang.

With a face that was eerily expressionless, the guy slowly left the emergency room with his eyes on the unconscious Hyejin.

The screen changed again.

A dark alley.

Pitter-patter! Pitter-patter! The pouring rain.

Under the utility pole in the alley, blood slowly spread to the floor, centered around the fallen man.

Taekang was standing right next to the fallen man with a creepily expressionless face.

Something red dripped from the guy’s fist.

The passers-by who were watching the scene screamed and scattered like a swarm of ants.

The screen changed again.

The news anchor babbled on and on about something for quite some time.

The man tied with a rope was transferred to a police vehicle.

Taekang’s eyes showed no emotion, as if he had given up on everything and given up.

Late at night.

Dark rooftop.

On a day when white snow was falling heavily, someone with a bandage wrapped around his face was sitting precariously on the railing, reaching out to catch the snowflakes.

She hummed something for a while, as if she was singing a song.

His body lurched forward and he fell down, disappearing from sight.

“… … .”

I, who could only watch the scene from behind the glass wall, clenched my fists.

The man who turned off the TV picked up the photo album in front of him.

Inside, each and every image I had just seen was scrapbooked.

Hyejin, holding her face and writhing in pain.

Taekang is despairing next to the sickroom.

.

.

.

Album photos that go by quickly.

And the last remaining sheet.

Even the sight of the guy wearing a gray prison uniform and glaring at the camera with angry eyes, as if cursing the world.

“Thump!” The man closed the album and walked over to the wall with it.

I raised my head and looked up.

In the vast space that was impossible to measure with the naked eye, there were countless albums similar to the one the man had just picked up.

Are those all…?

The prediction was not wrong.

It seems like a common occurrence.

The man put the album between them with a blank expression.

And then I walked towards the door I first came in through.

Just as I was about to grab the doorknob.

He turned his head slightly and looked at me.

“… … .”

“… … .”

A silence shorter than death, deeper than a swamp.

It was only for a moment.

But he didn’t say anything.

In the midst of our intersecting gazes, countless unspoken conversations of unknown meaning took place.

for a moment!

Stop, I said as I reached out to him.

Without any hesitation, he turned his head and went out.

At that moment, the glass blocking my path shattered and fell down with a crash.

* * *

Bam! I quickly sat up.

In the sudden weather.

My heart also seemed startled and started beating rapidly, pumping blood to my entire body.

I looked around.

A familiar room.

Feeling relaxed, I got up from my seat and gulped down the water I took out of the fridge.

The freezing cold liquid cooled my burning body temperature.

Back in my room, I sat down on the bed and opened the curtains slightly.

A pitch-black night before dawn.

It’s that guy again.

I approached the desk and picked up a pen and a notepad.

Is this just a delusion?

But the content of the dream was too vivid for that to be the case.

This is the second time I’ve seen that man in a dream, including today.

Once, after finishing work in Gwangju, I collapsed with a high fever.

Today, I was exhausted from the long hibernation, and I was feeling physically and mentally tired and achy.

A night when everyone was not feeling well.

I had a dream about that guy.

Come to think of it… … .

He put his hand to his forehead.

My body temperature, which had been quite warm before I fell asleep, had now cooled to lukewarm.

I measured it with a thermometer. It was normal body temperature.

I don’t know if it’s just my mood, but I always feel better after dreaming about that guy.

… … The service is finally over.

The moment I picked up the pen to write down what I saw in my dream, smiling self-deprecatingly.

A sharp pain in the back of my right hand.

I dropped my pen on the floor and frowned.

The back of my hand was swollen.

As if hitting something hard with all one’s might.

* * *

“… … You, tell me honestly.”

“what?”

“Who did you fight with? Did you get into a physical fight with that crazy guy, Seo Doo-jin?”

“I told you no.”

“Then why on earth are your hands like this?”

Ha-eun, who was carefully wrapping the bandage, glared at me with sharp eyes.

“No matter how I look at it, unless I hit it with a fist somewhere… … .”

She looked me over.

“I just fell out of bed in my sleep without realizing it.”

“You want me to believe that?”

“… … .”

“This thing, whenever I think I’ve fixed it, it always breaks down somewhere.”

“It’s a bit… … ah, to say that someone is broken.”

Strength entered her hands.

“If you don’t like my treatment, go to the hospital.”

“What did I say? I think it went pretty well.”

I raised my hand, which was wrapped tightly in bandages.

“Anyway, if you can’t speak… … .”

Ha-eun, who was clicking her tongue, brought an ice pack from the refrigerator.

“Why is that?”

“Bow your head.”

“what?”

“Don’t make people talk too many times, just bow your head.”

“It’s okay there.”

“What’s okay? If you don’t want to receive my treatment, then get out.”

Ha-eun pointed to the front door with her chin.

He sighed softly and lowered his head.

She removed the gauze from around my neck and applied ice.

A cold sensation followed by a stinging pain.

“It’s cold.”

“Of course, it’s ice.”

Ha-eun rubbed the ice even harder on her neck, as if telling her to shut up and get treatment.

“It looks like there will be a scar.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“The scar is small, but I think it’ll still leave a mark. Are you free next week?”

“Around Monday? Why?”

“Please stop by our hospital and I’ll prescribe you some antibiotics. Just in case. There’s also a risk of secondary infection.”

“Okay, sir.”

After the ice treatment, she brought out some ointment and applied it on me.

“If you’re sick, don’t endure it. Go to the hospital.”

“It’s a newspaper article.”

“Then don’t get sick.”

“… … .”

“Okay, treatment is finished.”

When she tapped my shoulder, I raised my head which had been bowed.

The candy jar that appeared before my eyes at that moment.

“I’m giving you a gift because you received good treatment.”

“… … .”

“Why, you don’t like it?”

She shook the barrel loudly.

I chuckled and picked up a candy from the can.

Red ginseng flavored candy.

A flavor I usually dislike.

Let me choose again.

“Ugh, no need to fall. Once you pick it up, that’s it.”

She quickly hid the candy jar behind her.

“Wow, you’re so picky.”

I had no choice but to put the red ginseng candy in my mouth.

“If you’ve finished your treatment, don’t bother me this precious weekend and go quickly.”

Hui, Hui, Ha-eun gestured as if she was chasing away sparrows.

Still, I sat there quietly without saying anything.

“Why do you still have something to say?”

“… … By the way. How would you feel if I told you that your face was badly burned and you were seriously injured?”

“What? Is Hyejin hurt too?”

Ha-eun, who had maintained a calm expression until now, got up from her seat in surprise.

“No, Hyejin is fine.”

“You’re surprised. I’m a newlywed who’s about to get married.”

She ran her hand over her chest as if she had been feeling sorry for ten years.

“Now that we’re on the subject, what would you have felt if you had suffered a serious facial injury right before you got married? After all, you’re a woman, so you’d probably understand how I feel.”

“How can I possibly put it into words? It feels like the world is falling apart.”

“Enough to make you want to die?”

Ha-eun was taken aback for a moment by my unusual expression, then put her finger to her lips and thought about it for a while.

I opened my mouth carefully.

“Well, it depends on the person and the situation, but there are some people who think it would be better to die. In fact, there was a case in the past where a female patient with severe facial burns took her own life… … .”

“……okay?”

“It’s your face. It has to be shown to people every day.”

Among burn patients, the rate of those complaining of psychological distress was quite high compared to patients with other diseases.

A sense of loss, helplessness, despair.

Although skin grafting has advanced significantly in recent years due to advances in plastic surgery technology.

There was no technology perfect enough to return to the state before the accident.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“No, I was just curious.”

“It’s bland.”

“I’ll just go and take a look.”

“Monday. Don’t forget.”

He waved his hand at Ha-eun, who was shouting from behind him as if telling him not to forget.

* * *

“Representative!”

I stopped by the office for the first time in a while, and Manager Kim Seong-jae saw me and came running over to me.

“Why are your hands… … ?”

“I got hurt a little. I fell out of bed and sprained my ankle. How’s work?”

“It’s going well.”

I glanced around and looked at the office.

“What about the vice president? Is he doing his job properly and not slacking off like usual?”

“Of course! You must be working so hard… … .”

I know everything about America.

Manager Kim Seong-jae explained everything that happened while I was away from the company, without leaving anything out.

“Shall I contact the Vice President?”

“No. I’m busy, but my hands are like this, so I can’t do my work properly yet, and at least you shouldn’t bother me. I also stopped by for a moment to take some materials from the lab. Don’t worry about me and just go to work.”

“Okay, sir.”

After finishing my conversation with Manager Kim Seong-jae, I headed to the lab.

A white bandage fluttering in the wind.

Melted skin.

I saw it in my dream.

Perhaps an image of Hyejin from another time period flashed through my mind.

Burn treatment… … .

I started to look through the piles of lab materials.