The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 122
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 122
-Do well on the college entrance exam, our son. Mother will be cheering you on.
Mother’s voice through the telephone was calm. It was no different from before.
After moving to the nursing hospital, she didn’t look to be in pain, nor did she look drowsy from medication.
Moreover, that day she even seemed a little more excited than usual.
“I’ll come straight to the hospital when it’s over.”
-Yes, okay. It’s cold today, so dress warmly when you come.
I had no idea that would be the last time.
The path to the nursing hospital’s lobby felt endlessly long.
“Hah…”
The college entrance exam. That’s a story from long, long ago.
Even when I try to recall it, I don’t have proper memories.
The exam questions that were as calm as Mother’s voice.
When the long hours ended and I called Uncle.
-…I’m sorry, Wook-han.
My vision shook.
Damn it, the buried memories kept stirring up and heating my mind so much that I was getting a headache.
-I’m sorry. Your mother, she…
My ears couldn’t properly process the sounds.
Through my muffled ears, I could only hear fragments of Uncle saying something.
“…”
Nausea rose up.
Mother couldn’t even fulfill the three months the doctor had mentioned and left this world in just one month.
It was a place I had never visited even once since then.
【A Nursing Hospital】
The memories of that day are now blurry.
As if I had forgotten everything, I had never been able to recall them properly even once.
Only Mother’s voice that rang in my ears until the end and Uncle’s wailing cries remained.
The funeral, and all the other follow-up procedures.
I don’t have a single proper memory of any of it.
I slowly walked toward the lobby.
Unlike before, my heart rate actually slowed down rapidly in the marble-gleaming lobby.
It was no different from a completely different place.
“Hello~ How may I help you?”
At the kind voice, I felt like the cold sweat running down the back of my neck finally stopped.
Well… who would have thought I’d feel like this in a place I visited after decades.
That’s right. I came here looking for 404.
The Website Administrator and hacker, so…
“I came for a visit.”
“A visit, I see~ What’s the patient’s name?”
“Lee Yeon-woo, born in ■■.”
“Ah, yes, just a moment~”
The conversation that had been flowing smoothly paused for a moment.
The reception employee who had been responding kindly tapped the keyboard calmly as if searching for something, then asked me with an awkward smile.
“Ah, Lee Yeon-woo. Are you perhaps a guardian?”
“No, I’m a lawyer.”
Was it too sudden?
The employee’s eyes changed in an instant as she received the business card I handed her.
That’s understandable.
A lawyer suddenly requesting a visit at this kind of hospital would look like they’re involved in some incident to anyone.
Moreover, asking if Lee Yeon-woo, who would be a person with no relatives, has a guardian.
‘Hwan lied.’
He said they were real siblings.
Right. If it’s the Hwan I’ve known all along, he would have laundered even his own identity to register himself as a guardian.
“Law Firm… Ilchul…”
I smoothly added for the employee who was muttering to herself while looking at the business card.
“I’m here as a guardian representative.”
“Il…? Oh, ah! I see. Just a moment.”
She tapped the keyboard as if searching for something, then opened her mouth.
“Ah… your name is registered. You’re Sung Tae-hyun, right? The patient designated you directly…”
I knew this would happen.
The employee looked confused with her tone half customer service, half talking to herself.
But the one who’s really confused is me.
‘These damn people.’
Both Hwan and 404 were acting as if they knew I would come here.
The employee who was hurriedly making a phone call somewhere smiled unnaturally whenever our eyes met.
“Yes, yes, 5th floor… Oh, to the 3rd floor? Yes, understood.”
She spoke immediately after hanging up the phone.
“Ah, Lee Yeon-woo is in poor condition right now and is sleeping. I think… visiting won’t be possible.”
Was Hwan right?
I wondered what was going on when I heard she was suddenly moved to a nursing hospital.
It seemed her health wasn’t good.
“When would it be possible?”
“Ah, well… around afternoon…? It’s difficult to say definitively, and it’s only possible after the doctor confirms once the patient wakes up… but she’ll probably be sleeping in her hospital room all day today.”
“Is her condition very bad?”
“Ah, yes. Since a while ago…”
She continued with an awkward smile, as if being mindful of me even though I wasn’t a guardian.
“Well… like seizures… Ah, patients with total paralysis sometimes have such cases. Moreover, Yeon-woo still has nerves alive above the neck and is conscious.”
…Total paralysis?
I barely swallowed the question that almost burst out.
“Is Lee Yeon-woo born in ■■ that one patient?”
When I asked again for confirmation, the employee nodded and answered.
“Yes? Oh, yes. If you don’t mind me asking what this is about… if it’s alright with you, should I relay your message when the patient wakes up?”
Total paralysis.
That was the secret.
Quickly organizing my thoughts that had nearly gone blank for a moment, I opened my mouth.
“There’s something I need to collect from her.”
“…Excuse me?”
Because there’s something I need to do.
When I said I had something to collect from a patient with total paralysis, the woman’s eyes widened in surprise.
“…From patient Lee Yeon-woo…?”
“Yes.”
“…Ah…”
“Is it possible to just check on her condition?”
“Oh, well…”
“If it’s difficult, I’ll just wait until she wakes up.”
Well, waiting a day or so is nothing.
The round trip to Gangwon Province took more time.
The employee bit her lip with a troubled expression.
After tapping the keyboard a few more times to check something, the woman finally stood up from her seat.
“Patient Lee Yeon-woo is a rather special case…”
“Yes.”
“I’ll guide you for now. Please come this way.”
How kind.
Since Hwan, the guardian, went to prison, 404 probably rarely had visitors like this.
Though it was surprising that they had specifically registered my name to allow visits.
“This is the room.”
Despite the employee’s hesitation in guiding me, the hospital room was surprisingly well-organized.
In fact, the path to the hospital room had been the same way.
Signs emphasizing premium services like VIP and VVIP were posted everywhere,
On the third floor where Lee Yeon-woo’s hospital room was located, a name plate as large as a door reading 【VIP Hospital Room】 hung from the ceiling.
“Yeon-woo is sleeping right now. Just in case, I’ll be waiting outside the door.”
“Yes.”
Do they usually provide this level of service?
I haven’t been to a nursing hospital like this since Mother, so I wouldn’t know.
Besides, when Mother was here… it was a completely different type of hospital from this A Nursing Hospital.
Our house didn’t have enough money to receive VIP or VVIP services.
“If anything happens, just press the red button inside the hospital room!”
With the employee’s final words, the door opened.
Like the corridor, the pure white hospital room was bright even though the lights were off.
It was a place where sunlight poured in through the open-curtained window.
And there, sleeping 404 was there.
‘Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun hahahaha’
Come to think of it, I’d never heard his voice.
I’d always only communicated with him through chat.
There was no trace of 404 who always mocked the world from behind his monitor.
There was only one person sleeping with his eyes closed, several IV lines connected to his arm.
“404?”
As expected. There was no response.
He said his body wasn’t well.
I don’t know much about the medical system, but I didn’t sense any pain from sleeping 404’s face.
‘That kid is trapped.’
Hwan’s words floated around in my head.
Total paralysis.
He’d been hiding that all this time.
But how?
This hospital room has nothing in it.
Except for the few IV lines connected to 404’s arm, there was nothing.
It really was a VIP room – there was a wardrobe, refrigerator, guardian bed, water purifier, and even an air purifier running, but there was no computer.
Is this child really 404?
[Lee Yeon-woo]
I looked around again.
They said there was only one patient named Lee Yeon-woo at A Nursing Hospital.
The name tag hanging above the bed was indeed Lee Yeon-woo.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, there is something that catches the eye.
I carefully walked over to Lee Yeon-woo’s bedside.
By the bedside, within arm’s reach, there was a mobile phone.
…They said he’s a total paralysis patient, yet he has a mobile phone?
“Hey.”
I spoke to 404’s sleeping form, knowing he wouldn’t hear me.
“I’m just going to look at this for a moment.”
Silence is consent.
After roughly rationalizing it, I reached out and picked up the mobile phone. And.
“…!”
Somehow, the phone screen lit up after recognizing my face.
* * *
“What the hell.”
This bastard, he really was 404.
Otherwise, there’s no way Lee Yeon-woo, whom I’d never seen before in my life, would have saved my face to unlock his mobile phone.
I looked back at the sleeping Lee Yeon-woo with a bewildered expression.
“This guy is really driving me crazy.”
Had he been working with his mobile phone all this time?
But the speed was too fast for that to be the case.
Well, I had heard that with today’s advanced technology, it’s possible to move a mouse with eye movements or input text with a keyboard.
But still.
“….”
To think there would actually be such a person here.
And as a hacker, no less.
I could understand why Hwan hadn’t told me about this.
A secret of this magnitude was certainly worth hiding.
I didn’t know what kind of work 404 usually did, but it was impossible for a hacker to have no enemies.
So if 404’s identity were revealed, it would certainly cause quite a bit of trouble for 404.
“Ha, what the hell….”
I turned my gaze back to examine the mobile phone.
If he had made it possible to unlock, it was obvious.
There must be something on this mobile phone that he wanted me to see.
However, my strange mobile phone exploration of 404’s device couldn’t continue.
-…I told you that won’t work!
-But the 5th floor… permission… and checking like a regular patient is possible….
-Why are you handling work like that! What lawyer are you letting inside?
There was a loud commotion outside.
Had some problem occurred?
I carefully rolled my eyes to first check the CCTV inside the room.
Of course, taking it might cause problems.
It would be better to put 404’s mobile phone back in its original place for now.
And just as I put the mobile phone down, the door burst open.
“…?”
The person who made eye contact with me was a middle-aged man who looked quite old.
Judging by the white coat he was wearing, he must be a doctor.
Soon after, an employee who had followed behind was sweating profusely as he tried to stop him.
“Manager! This is a VIP room. There are other guardians in the adjacent room too-”
“What’s the problem with that right now!”
What a voice he has.
His voice echoed loudly throughout the quiet hospital room.
The employee was startled and quickly closed the door to the hospital room.
“I’m, I’m sorry. This is our manager.”
“What’s the matter?”
At my question, the man glared at me with a reddened face, breathing heavily.
Whatever the issue was, he seemed extremely angry.
As I stared at him blankly, he suddenly let out a deep sigh and changed his expression.
“You, what’s your relationship with patient Lee Yeon-woo? I heard you’re a lawyer. Is that true?”
I told them I came to visit.
But to suddenly barge in and ask about my profession.
I glanced at 404’s still sleeping face and then turned my gaze back to him.
“Depending on the situation, I might actually become her representative.”
“What? What? Damn it, hey! I knew this would happen!”
A guilty conscience needs no accuser, as they say.
Something’s strange.
It’s been like this since 404’s mobile phone recognized my face.
The fact that they violated my personal information without permission is something I’ll personally retaliate for later.
Bad premonitions always come true in this way.
“So, what’s the problem that made you come looking for me like this?”
The doctor hesitated for a moment, then burst out shouting.
“Th-that’s right. Do you know how much Lee Yeon-woo’s overdue hospital bills amount to right now?”
“I don’t know.”
When I answered, the doctor’s hands trembled violently.
I don’t understand why he’s getting this angry.
“Don’t know? You don’t know? Right now this worthless money- No, what kind of law is this?!”
“Don’t get excited and speak slowly.”
I need to know what the problem is before I can give an answer.
It’s also ridiculous to raise your voice in front of a patient.
I gestured toward the employee who was still sweating profusely, signaling for him to leave.
The employee couldn’t decide what to do and just kept stamping his feet while looking back and forth between the doctor and me.
“Come over here for now. I’ll listen to what you have to say.”
This was the good thing about VIP rooms.
As if I had foreseen this situation, I pointed to the table and sofa placed in one corner of the hospital room.
The doctor who had entered full of rage seemed somewhat deflated as he trudged over and sat down on the sofa.
“Good grief…”
He let out a deep sigh.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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