Mental Caretaker In An Apolcalypse Game

Episode 44

My hazy mind became clear at the sound coming from somewhere. I soon realized that the sound was a voice very familiar to me, and it was coming from right beside me. I forced my heavy eyelids open and tried to wake up.

“Why… Why! I clearly…”

He was holding me tightly, crying out in a distressed voice. Seeing him like that, I felt more relieved that he was alive than the need to calm him down. It was my first time trying it, so I was a bit worried, but fortunately, the skill seemed to have worked properly. Yes, it should work. If it wouldn’t have worked even after I coughed up blood and collapsed, I would’ve been too resentful to even close my eyes.

“Do-yoon, can you calm down for a moment?”

“Noona! You’re alive… I was afraid you were dead. What the hell happened? Why were you collapsed, and I…”

“Yeah, I understand you’re surprised. But let’s calm down for a second.”

When he confirmed that I was alive, he kept pouring out words non-stop and asked what had happened. Judging by how he had the strength to talk like that, his condition seemed to be okay. I tried to push him away to put some distance between us, but he didn’t budge and instead hugged me even tighter, making it hard for me to breathe.

“I’ll explain it to you, so let go of me a bit. It’s uncomfortable.”

“No, I’m fine like this, so just explain it to me as it is.”

Well, I’m not fine.

I had to sigh inwardly at his stubbornness which had started again.

“I think this place is the type where you can gain special skills, like the ability you have.”

“The ability I have?”

“Yes, you can manipulate shadows, right? Remember that monster from school that enveloped us in darkness last time? This room is probably similar — giving trials and stuff to make you solve them to gain abilities. I think, at least.”

“Then what kind of ability did you gain, Noona?”

“If we’re talking in terms of a game, it’s a healer. It’s the ability to heal others. After you were left alone in the room and the door closed, a strange screen suddenly appeared. It said something about a hidden piece, and I accepted it because I thought it would be helpful. And when the door opened and I saw you collapsed on the floor, I tried using the ability.”

And then I coughed up blood and collapsed too.

I swallowed those words and explained it in a way he could understand.

But now that I thought about it, the cost for this ability was too high… When I was healing him, I felt the energy inside me suddenly drain away. I had a nosebleed and even coughed up blood, and it felt like I was sacrificing my own life force to heal someone else, which was a bit unsettling. If my hypothesis was correct, I couldn’t use this ability carelessly. If I wasn’t careful, I would end up dying myself while trying to save someone else.

“Then… what are the side effects of that ability?”

“…Well.”

“You were bleeding, weren’t you?”

“I don’t know the details, but after using the ability, I did have a bit of a nosebleed.”

“Is that really all? Don’t lie to me.”

He let go of me and asked me, looking straight into my eyes. I tried to sneak away from his gaze, but he turned my head to force me to make eye contact.

“There’s blood around your mouth, too.”

“It must be from the nosebleed.”

“….”

“…It’s really nothing. I did have a little bit come out of my mouth too, but maybe the blood from my nose just flowed back into my mouth?”

“Noona! That’s not something to take lightly. Don’t use that ability ever again.”

“No, why wouldn’t I use such a good thing? How long will you rely on medicine when you’re hurt? If it weren’t for this ability just now, you would have died.”

“It’s still not okay. You don’t know, Noona. How much blood you lost. Your face is pale, your skin is cold… There’s blood all around your face… Your clothes are covered in blood, too.”

“It’s the same for you. If anything, you were worse off than me, not less. And who asked you to do such a thing? If you just leave like that, what about the people you leave behind!”

I knew he was saying it out of concern, but I hated it, so I couldn’t help but retort, not backing down. He hesitated for a moment before responding in a much softer voice than before.

“I only learned to do such a thing because I had no choice.”

“Who did you learn such things from? Speak sense.”

“Well, wouldn’t you know better than me who that person is, noona?”

“What?”

How would I know? Was he talking about me right now?

I looked at him with a puzzled expression. Yet, he didn’t back down and stared at me without missing a beat, causing me to eventually avert my gaze first.

“Enough. Since we’re both safe, let’s move on.”

“It’s not over yet. Are you really going to keep using that ability?”

He still kept clinging to the same topic, clearly having no intention to back off. I clicked my tongue, impressed by his tenacity but ultimately ignoring his words. Although the ability was unexpectedly obtained, I decided to be satisfied with its performance. In situations like before, where one is severely injured and medicine can’t solve the problem, this ability would be very helpful. For example, in situations requiring surgery…

“Ah! I completely forgot.”

When the word surgery came to mind, I was reminded of the girl we left outside. Come to think of it, she had been left unattended while we were unconscious. Worried about her safety, I hurried in the direction where she was, or at least tried to.

“Noona, where are you going?”

“Get up quickly. Let’s get out of here.”

Not only was the girl’s condition a concern, but I also didn’t want to stay in this bloody room any longer. I urged him to leave the room and went to the girl who was lying in front of the emergency staircase.

Her condition was not much different from ours a moment ago; pale and cold. I placed my hand on her stab wound and, with the intention of healing it like I did for him, I poured in my strength. Once again, my vision blurred, and I felt something rising from within.

I swallowed the thing that had reached my throat and continued to use my ability. Thinking it was enough, I removed my hand. The bitter taste of blood in my mouth made my expression involuntarily twist. However, with him beside me, I tried not to show it too much. I unwrapped the bandage to check if the wound had healed properly. The skin inside the bandage was intact, as if there had never been a wound in the first place. Only then did I finally feel relieved.

“Huh? Noona! Blood!”

“Huh?”

I sighed softly in relief, but he, who had been watching me from the side, suddenly grabbed my face and put his hand under my nose. Only then did I realize that my nose was bleeding again. I rolled my eyes, looking for a bathroom. I needed tissues to stop the bleeding and wanted to wash my blood-stained face.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to do this. Didn’t we see a bathroom when we were wandering around here earlier? Let’s go there. I need tissues… and I want to wash up.”

“Can you move? You’re still bleeding…”

“It’s fine. If you keep doing that, you’ll get my blood on all your clothes.”

“They’re already dirty. It won’t make much difference if they get stained more here.”

That was true. Both he and I had been practically rolling around in a puddle of blood and dirt. And since I was wearing white, my situation was even more severe.

Where could I find more clothes… I couldn’t keep walking around in these blood-stained clothes.

Walking around outside in this state, reeking of blood, was no different from advertising to the zombies, “There’s food here, come and eat me.”

While I was pondering, the girl who had been unconscious woke up. She looked around in a daze before her eyes focused on us.

“Ah! What on earth happened to the two of you?!”

As soon as she saw us, she screamed as if startled and backed away. Her reaction made me wonder if our appearance was really that bad.

“Are you both okay? Blood…!”

“We’re fine. We just… had a lot going on.”

“But Ms. Ji-ah, your nose is…!”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Why does she not have to worry? You’re like this because you were healing her.”

“Yes…?”

“Why are you saying it like that? Don’t do that.”

“But Noona’s condition isn’t good to begin with…”

“That’s because I was healing you too.”

I stood up from my seat and avoided his touch to say that was enough argument. I stumbled a bit when I stood up, probably because I was bleeding a lot, but fortunately, I didn’t fall because he caught me.

“I’ll go to the bathroom for a bit. Ms. Ga-eun, please rest here.”

“Will you be okay? Should I come with you?”

“I’m fine. I have him, don’t I?”

I pointed at him, reassuring Ga-eun who looked at me anxiously, and moved towards the bathroom. Since blood kept rising to my throat for a while now, it was hard to talk. The slight gurgling sound it made was also unpleasant.

That being said, it seemed like it was time to tell the girl about the skills. I’d healed her wounds too, and since we’d be together from now on, it’s good to not keep it a secret any longer. Whether she believed it or not was another thing — it was better to tell her.

Upon arriving at the bathroom, I went to the sink, turned on the water, and washed my face. The area around the sink quickly turned red. I washed away the unpleasant feeling on my face, pinched my nose shut and looked for tissues to stop the bleeding. Just as I was about to go into the stall to find some, he’d already gone there and back while I was washing and handed me a stack of tissues.

“Ah, thank you.”

With a bunch of tissues in my nose, my head slightly tilted back, I waited for the bleeding to stop.

As I waited, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and understood why Ga-eun had screamed earlier. My condition was definitely shocking enough to warrant such a reaction. No, I hadn’t washed my face earlier, so it must have been even worse.

I glanced over at him, who was washing my blood off himself at the sink. He wasn’t much different from me. Clearly, it had been Ga-eun’s condition that was the worst at first, but now he and I were in an even worse state. Feeling sorry for my situation again, helplessly, I sighed inwardly and just waited for the bleeding to stop quickly.

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It’s your friendly neighbourhood translator Ami again! Sorry for the late chapters. I was really tired from uni work but I saw a commenter with the name Ji-ah’s white coat that made me laugh enough to want to translate and post more. As always, I deeply appreciate your comments because they motivate and keep me going.