SDM 3

Seong-woon, who had been sleeping deeply for a while, woke up to the sensation of someone’s hand brushing over his face. Although it wasn’t a touch, he distinctly felt the sensation of something brushing against him.

Was it the security guard? His still-drowsy brain casually gave a reasonable response, but no matter how hard he thought about it, it didn’t make sense for a security guard to behave this way toward the person they were guarding.

Seong-woon blinked his eyes open and met the gaze of someone who was staring down at him closely. Seong-woon, who rarely got surprised easily, couldn’t help but inhale sharply as he hadn’t expected someone to be this close.

“Chae-yoon-ah.”

The man called out to Chae-yoon in an endearing tone and gently wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. Seong-woon jumped up from his seat at the feeling that gave him goosebumps.

“You shouldn’t move like that when your body’s still not well.”

Seong-woon glanced around. Seeing that the security guards didn’t react differently, this person must be someone who could freely move around this hospital room, probably a relative of Ryu Chae-yoon. There was a person among Seong-woon’s close relatives whom he had not seen.

“Ryu Chang-yoon…?”

As Seong-woon mentioned a name from among the similar ones, the man smiled warmly and replied.

“Yeah. I’m your older brother.”

He forgot to search who the family members were. This may be because Ryu Chae-yoon’s SNS and appearance were so shocking that he used up all his mental strength.

“You really don’t remember.”

He didn’t say anything. Were the attitudes that much different? Seong-woon nodded, pretending to be innocent, as if he really didn’t know.

The man with his eyebrows furrowed gently touched Seong-woon’s hair. The strands of hair, although the same color, had an entirely different texture as they gradually scattered.

“What are we going to do if our baby is in so much pain?”

Can’t you stop with that “baby” talk? Not just the parents, but the siblings also seemed to be going crazy.

Chang-yoon, who had been silently staring at Seong-woon, lightly kissed his cheek. Chang-yoon burst into laughter in front of Seong-woon’s wide-eyed expression as he didn’t know how to react.

“Haha. Seeing you just sitting there, it really seems like you’ve lost your memory.”

Was this guy crazy? Who does this kind of skinship with their brother?

“When my baby was in middle school, he would sit on my lap and let me give him kisses on the cheek, but ever since he hit puberty, he’s been running away all the time.”

Ryu Chae-yoon seemed to be the only one in his right mind. Seong-woon had thought that perhaps the family’s overprotectiveness wasn’t usual due to the significant age gap and his illness, but this seemed to go beyond that.

However, it would be ridiculous to rebel now. Seong-woon exhaled lightly and turned his head. The penetrating gaze felt heavier and harder to endure than he had anticipated.

His gaze softened slightly, but then Ryu Chang-yoon leaned his forehead against Seong-woon’s shoulder and took a deep breath. It was uncomfortable to be touched by someone, so just as he was about to push it away, a moist voice flowed out.

“I heard you collapsed and couldn’t even regain consciousness, so I took the plane worrying about you.”

“…”

“I kept feeling like something was wrong.”

Perhaps he thought Ryu Chae-yoon had died. Ryu Chang-yoon trailed off with a slight smile. …Unable to push him away, Seong-woon dropped his hand. He didn’t know if Ryu Chae-yoon’s soul had disappeared or where it had gone, and despite the bewilderment, the family’s shock and fear were vividly portrayed.

Feeling even the trembling where Ryu Chang-yoon touched, Seong-woon couldn’t push him away anymore.

“Is there anywhere else that hurts? You fell and cracked your forehead.”

“…No.”

Seong-woon shook his head because Ryu Chang-yoon’s eyes looked like they would go crazy at any moment if he said there were. Everyone in the family had clear eyes, yet it seemed like they were half-crazy.

“Thank goodness.”

“…”

Chang-yoon carefully stroked the back of his head and laid Seong-woon back on the bed.

“Sorry for waking you up. Go back to sleep quickly. You need to rest a lot to grow taller.”

Even though he seemed quite grown already. Despite being quite skinny, he was fairly tall. Jin Seong-woon wasn’t that short either, considering that he was almost the same height.

… Of course, height is relative, and Ryu Chae-yoon is shorter than the other Ryu family siblings, all of whom appear to be around 180 cm tall.

“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”

They gave him an uneasy expression and treated him even more like a child. Ugh, Seong-woon was tired of getting angry so he just closed his eyes. He found it difficult to express his emotions due to his lack of physical strength.

* * *

Seong-woon didn’t even mention wanting to be discharged from the hospital, but everyone else were clamoring for him to be discharged quickly. Looking at that, he couldn’t help but think that Ryu Chae-yoon’s personality wasn’t easy to deal with… At least that was the impression.

First of all, the bodyguards were thrilled when Seong-woon nodded obediently even once, and the family was the same. Everyone appeared content to treat him like a child, which made Seong-woon question if he had gotten difficult to deal with. Of course, Seong-woon was not so young that this treatment affected his personality.

The reason for the hasty discharge was probably because Ryu Chae-yoon really disliked hospitals. So, Seong-woon had his bandages removed ─ his wound was really tiny, so he couldn’t understand why they had wrapped it so excessively ─ and set foot in the main house of “Ryu Shin,” one of the top five conglomerates in Korea.

“Chae-yoon’s space is on the second floor.”

The third child, Ryu Ho-yoon, who is 12 years older than Chae-yoon, even personally showed him around the house.

Ryu Chae-yoon was definitely the youngest. The eldest, Ryu Hae-yoon, was 37 years old; the second, Ryu Chang-yoon, was 35; the third, Ryu Ho-yoon and Ryu Ha-yoon, were fraternal twins who were 32 years old; and Ryu Chae-yoon was only 20 years old. He was at a point where he had nothing to say even when he was called baby.

“… There are a lot of rooms.”

There was a reason why the second floor was said to be Ryu Chae-yoon’s space. So, it didn’t mean that Ryu Chae-yoon’s room was on the second floor, but that he was using the entire second floor.

“Other than Chae-yoon, everyone else is independent.”

There were at least six visible doors, but it didn’t seem like Ryu Chae-yoon was using all of those rooms. Some were empty when opened, and one strangely had a door lock installed.

“That’s Chae-yoon’s fanboy room.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Do you want to open it?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Fanboy room? That’s the abyss of a person’s soul. It’s not right to peek without consent. Since Seong-woon wasn’t mentally prepared for that yet, he declined for now and looked away.

Seong-woon looked closely at the door with the door lock and then glanced around. There were a total of 12 cameras he spotted on his way here.

Considering there were hardly any blind spots and no apparent intention to hide them, it was clear they were installed with everyone’s consent… But even though they were a conglomerate family, it was hard to understand why they would install so many CCTV cameras in a residential home.

“Oh, that’s…”

Ryu Ho-yoon must have noticed Seong-woon’s gaze, looking at the CCTV throughout the hallway.

“Just in case something happens to you.”

“Do they exist in the rooms too?”

“They’re not in the bathrooms.”

So, they are in the rooms then? Seong-woon asked, looking directly at Ho-yoon, who was avoiding the question.

“You mean it’s in the room?”

“…They do.”

Even overprotection doesn’t reach this level.

“It can’t be helped. Chae-yoon, there was a time when incidents happened while you were sleeping… That’s when you had the defibrillator installed.”

…Well, it can’t be helped. He’d have to be content with the fact that it wasn’t in the bathroom. Ho-yoon, who was observing Seong-woon’s reaction as he let out a short sigh, suddenly asked.

“Aren’t you angry?”

“Why would I be angry?”

“No, just…”

It seemed like Ryu Chae-yoon had been angry. But seeing as they hadn’t removed the cameras, it seemed like they had accepted his anger.

“There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Being filmed like this all the time wasn’t something Seong-woon was used to, but since the cameras themselves didn’t feel intrusive, he just shrugged his shoulders.

Furthermore, it seemed like the family had decided to tolerate privacy invasion for Ryu Chae-yoon’s sake. It’s better to be grateful than to get angry.

“Yeah… um, today, everyone in the family decided to have dinner here. Do you want to rest in your room until then? Or do you want to stay together in the living room on the first floor?”

The sparkling eyes looked like a big dog asking to play, but Seong-woon shook his head. This guy’s body lost stamina if he stood still for even a moment. He was desperate to lie down.

“I’d like to rest for a bit.”

“Yeah, sure. Rest up quickly.”

“The cameras don’t record audio, do they?”

“No, of course not.”

Could he trust that? Seong-woon, briefly glancing suspiciously at the cameras, entered Ryu Chae-yoon’s bedroom.

The room was not as big as expected and surprisingly barren. Like someone who could leave at any moment.

Well, Ryu Chae-yoon’s medical history, which he learned in the hospital, was extremely complicated, even though he didn’t understand half of it. At the age of ten, he had acute myocarditis leading to myocardial infarction, with a congenital heart defect also discovered.

Even after emergency surgery, they couldn’t completely correct the deformity, and there were severe aftereffects, such as some parts of the myocardium dying. Despite undergoing several reoperations, it is said that there was no significant improvement.

Even though it was said that there was a high possibility of death due to the heart not being able to support the body once the body was fully grown, Ryu Chae-yoon somehow endured and survived.

So the family treats it like a miracle every time he collapses and gets back up, and Ryu Chae-yoon is probably always prepared for his own death.

Looking at the empty space, Seong-woon felt uneasy. He sighed and began to search around. Maybe he could find a diary or something.

But it seemed Ryu Chae-yoon didn’t want to leave anything like that behind.

“There’s nothing…”

All there was were a few English novels and clean textbooks on management. He went to college but couldn’t continue due to collapsing on campus. He naturally passed the high school equivalency exam, and of course, he wasn’t sent abroad for studies.

There might be a lot in that “fanboy room,” but he didn’t feel like opening it yet. It’s probably where his inner self is most exposed.

The moment he flopped down on the bed and turned his gaze to the camera in the corner of the room, something slowly rose up from the corner of his vision.

“… What is that?”

Seong-woon rubbed his eyes several times. He thought he was seeing things because of his poor stamina.

But no matter how much he rubbed his eyes and blinked, the hologram floating in the air did not disappear.

“…A status window?”

As he uttered those words, Seong-woon was so startled that he stopped himself from speaking further. It was a word that had been written in the most recent script he had seen, so it came out naturally.

It’s true that the camera didn’t record, right? If it were recorded, everyone would think he was crazy. No, maybe they would just think he’s reading a fantasy novel in the first place?

Seong-woon slowly removed his hand covering his mouth and stared into the air. White letters floated up as if scattered over the bluish hologram.

Quest 1(tutorial)

Appear in visual media such as dramas, movies, etc.

However, personal broadcasting is not allowed.

Compensation: Reassignment by the Reincarnation Management Committee

Deadline: D-7

We are conducting the Soul Adjustment Project….

Haa, he really wished this were just a dream.