Chapter – 38
The chairman of Dongwoo Group, Joo Taebaek, has collapsed.
When I heard the news, I couldn’t respond at all.
My head felt like it was spinning.
“Saeyi. Saeyi….”
My aunt’s voice, the noisy hallway still bustling because break time wasn’t over, even the bell announcing the next class—all of it felt distant, as if I were underwater.
Only then did I understand why Joo Suyeon had run out earlier. She must have heard first and gone straight to Grandfather.
As my breathing grew rough, my aunt tried to calm me instead. The moment I hung up and ran toward the school gate, a text from her arrived.
[Seohae Seoul Hospital, VIP Ward, Room 201]
[I’ll be there soon too.]
I sprinted to the main road and desperately flagged down a passing taxi.
Chairman Joo. My grandfather—someone who never seemed like he’d waver—was unconscious.
In my previous life, news articles about his illness only appeared when he was already nearing the end of his life. I’d thought there was still no reason to worry about his health yet.
But that wasn’t true.
‘Maybe this was when it started….’
Slowly, he might have begun walking toward death from this moment on.
I pressed a hand to my chest and tried to steady my breathing, but it wouldn’t calm down.
Memories from my past life surged up like trauma.
The memory of reading Grandfather’s obituary in the news, and then fleeing with my bags packed before I even had time to mourn.
In that life, I ended up dying on the same day as him—by my uncle’s orders.
I thought I had finally reached a future where I would survive…
But helplessness and anxiety churned violently inside me.
The ride to the hospital felt like an eternity.
The VIP ward hallway at Seohae Hospital was eerily quiet. Even the air felt heavy and cold, as if it were pressing down on everything.
Taking advantage of the lack of people, I ran straight for the hospital room.
“Chairman…!”
But I was immediately stopped. The firm arms of the security guards stationed outside the room blocked my path.
“Miss.”
One of them recognized me. He was a guard who always stayed close to my grandfather. Dressed in a jet-black suit like mourning clothes, with cold eyes and a massive frame—he stood like an unbreakable wall.
“Access is restricted at the moment.”
“You know who I am. I’m Chairman Joo’s granddaughter. Just for a moment—just to check his condition—”
Before I could finish, the guard grabbed my wrist.
“I’m sorry. Only registered immediate family members are allowed inside right now.”
“I am family. I’m his granddaughter—”
“…You are not registered. Entry is not permitted.”
It was suffocating.
They knew I was his granddaughter, yet they still wouldn’t let me in. Because I… wasn’t officially registered as family with the hospital.
“Just let me see him for a moment. Just to know he’s okay—!”
“Miss!”
Desperate, I yanked my arm free and grabbed the door handle.
But the guard didn’t give me an inch. He stepped in front of me, blocking me completely with his body.
“This is dangerous. Please stop.”
“Let go of me!”
The guard seized both my arms. As I twisted to escape his grip, I lost my balance and crashed down onto my knees.
Thud.
A sharp pain shot through my knee. My palms slammed against the floor, throbbing.
“…I’m sorry.”
The guard tried to help me up, but I slapped his hand away and leaned against the wall instead.
My breath was caught in my throat. I couldn’t say anything anymore.
My grandfather was lying just beyond that door, yet I couldn’t take even a single step closer.
The guards pushed me toward a chair in the hallway. Even after I slumped weakly into it, they stayed on high alert.
A little while later, my uncle and Joo Suyeon came out of the room.
People officially registered as Joo Taebaek’s family.
“…Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped deep from my chest.
My uncle and Joo Suyeon were acknowledged as family—so why couldn’t I enter? Why was I the only one? Because I was a powerless granddaughter who had just returned to Jaedamjae?
‘I knew it. Things were going too smoothly.’
I thought I’d finally gained the strength to stand up to my uncle.
The poster for Your Blue Name had received great responses, and the official schedule for May the Mountain God Protect Us had been progressing smoothly, like it was speeding down a highway.
But none of it mattered.
In the end, this was how it turned out.
It felt like everyone was telling me that my place wasn’t beside my grandfather—but far away, at this distance.
Tears filled my vision, and I lowered my head. Drops fell one by one, soaking into my skirt.
My body trembled—not from cold.
But from the fear that my attempt to change the future might make me lose my grandfather even sooner, and from the terror that I could be eliminated by my uncle’s hand again at any moment.
I bit my lip hard, trying to suppress my sobs.
That was when—
Thump.
A blanket was draped over my shoulders. My body stiffened.
‘…Aunt?’
I lifted my head, but the face before me was unexpected.
“You’ve cried enough to get sick of it.”
A low voice. Calm, steady—eyes that seemed to pierce straight through my tear-stained face.
“…If you’re trying to become a celebrity, you shouldn’t be doing this where everyone can see you.”
It was Ryu Dogyeong.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“….”
I didn’t have the strength to respond and just stared at him.
Only then did I realize it—my phone. I must have dropped it while struggling with the guards.
“…I dropped it while asking them to let me in.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No—”
Before I could finish, Ryu Dogyeong’s gaze snapped to my knee. The wound clearly visible beneath my skirt.
As if he’d immediately grasped what happened, his expression darkened. He grabbed my hand and lifted it.
When he saw my palm, where dried blood clung to the skin, his face hardened instantly. His already cold expression sharpened into something dangerously close to killing intent.
Without asking anything else, Ryu Dogyeong gently closed his fingers around my wrist.
“Come with me.”
This grip felt nothing like the guards’.
As he led me away, his broad back shielded my tear-soaked face from view.
A quiet corner of the hospital café.
The moment I sat down, my head drooped again. My eyes still burned from crying so much.
“But why here—”
“Feels like you forgot something. This is our hospital.”
Right. Seohae Foundation Hospital.
“Your aunt asked me to come.”
“Ah… my aunt.”
That made sense. Even if Chairman Joo had been hospitalized, Ryu Dogyeong wouldn’t have known immediately. She must have asked him to look after me.
“Sit still.”
He said it firmly, then ran off before I could reply.
His long legs carried him swiftly out of the café.
‘So he can run.’
I stared blankly at his retreating figure.
He returned shortly after, holding a plastic bag. It looked like he’d gone to the pharmacy.
Inside the rough vinyl bag were ointment, disinfectant—and pink character bandages.
The design was so completely incompatible with Ryu Dogyeong that my eyes widened.
“Why did you buy something like that?”
“…That was all they had.”
He answered curtly, then plopped down beside me.
Taking my palm, he applied disinfectant. His touch was uncharacteristically gentle.
“Ah, I can do it myself—”
“Stay still.”
He cut me off before I could finish. The way he made a soft tsk sound, like handling a puppy, made me feel oddly strange.
“It’ll sting. Bear with it.”
At that short command, I clamped my mouth shut.
Even though he’d run over, Ryu Dogyeong’s face didn’t show the slightest disturbance—still cold and composed. Without so much as twitching an eyebrow, he carefully disinfected my knee as well.
After applying ointment thoroughly, he pulled out the pink children’s bandage and tore open the packaging.
‘Wow. That is definitely not a bandage Ryu Dogyeong would ever use.’
The contrast between his icy good looks and the cute bandage was absurd.
They say you shouldn’t laugh after crying, but a small chuckle slipped out anyway.
That was when—
Ryu Dogyeong lifted his gaze and looked straight at my face.
When he saw me smiling, the stiffness in his expression softened ever so slightly. A fleeting warmth passed through his previously frigid eyes.
…As if he’d been waiting for me to smile.
“You’re smiling even when I’m putting something like this on you. You’re not a kid.”
His words were blunt, but the corner of his lips lifted faintly.
He looked relieved.
