IWDAR Chapter 1

Han Wooyoung thought.

Taking one’s own life wasn’t that difficult. 

Wasn’t death said to be the great equalizer?

So, for ‘idiot Han Wooyoung,’ who had struggled his whole life, the opportunity to finally be equal had come.

Wooyoung clearly remembered the moment he severed the string connecting him to the world. 

The chilling sensation of that instant still lingered, so Woo-young closed his eyes.

‘Still, I wanted to sing to my heart’s content one last time.’

His blurry vision was completely blocked.

What use were such regrets anyway? 

‘The end, truly the end of everything. Now I can finally…’

“Oh my god, Patient Han Wooyoung?!”

‘…Huh?’

Wooyoung’s eyes, which had been drooping like heavy, sinking weight, opened wide.

“Patient Han Wooyoung! Are you coming to your senses?”

“Uh…?”

As his blurry vision gradually regained its color, the blurry surroundings became clear. 

While the face of the bustling nurse checking his condition came into sharp focus, Wooyoung couldn’t hide his bewildered expression.

“Do you know how long you were unconscious? You don’t seem to have any particular issues, but you haven’t been able to regain consciousness… Just a moment, I’ll call the doctor!”

Wooyoung blinked his wide eyes and slowly looked around. The grey ceiling, the empty beds lined up around him, the IV stand placed close by. 

A hospital.

It was a very familiar sight for Wooyoung.

“Oh.”

‘I guess I’m alive.’

Realizing the reality, Wooyoung’s face fell dejectedly.

“You lost a lot of blood, but it was a stroke of luck that it happened near a residential area. It’s fortunate a passerby happened to find you. If it had been any later, you would have been in danger from excessive bleeding. Still, it’s truly a miracle, a miracle that you only have these bruises after falling from a four-story building. Patient Han Wooyoung, you must have done a lot of good deeds in your life.”

The doctor’s voice held a strange excitement, as if he couldn’t believe it himself.

Silently listening to the explanation, Wooyoung glanced at his battered body.

…First of all.

The place where Wooyoung had thrown himself to his death was the upper floor of one of the most prestigious hotels in the country. 

To be precise, it was close to the 30th floor. Unless a miracle happened, as the doctor said, there was no chance Wooyoung could have survived. 

Furthermore, the hotel wasn’t built near a residential area, but rather a deserted area lined with nothing but only luxury brand shops.

Wooyoung stared blankly at the doctor, who was saying things that didn’t make sense. The elderly man didn’t seem to be lying.

‘Was there some kind of mistake?’

Or did his parents pull some strings to cover this whole thing up? 

That’s why he might be hospitalized in this small, shabby hospital.

‘Maybe, just maybe, I might finally be abandoned this time.’

A faint glimmer of hope, which should have been extinguished by now, flashed across Wooyoung’s eyes.

At that moment, the woman who had been quietly listening interrupted.

“When will he be able to be discharged?”

Wooyoung’s clear eyes rolled to the unfamiliar figure. 

It was the woman who had rushed in first upon hearing that Wooyoung had regained consciousness. 

Wooyoung was seeing her for the first time today. She didn’t seem to be a family member, yet she acted as if she knew Wooyoung very well.

“All his vitals are normal as long as there are no fractures… Patient, if you feel any discomfort, please tell me. It’s natural to be in pain right now, so don’t hide anything.”

“No, there’s nothing particularly uncomfortable…”

Wooyoung shook his head slightly. He had always lived with pain as his closest friend, so this much was nothing to him.

‘It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve broken a bone or two.’

Rather, he found it hard to believe that he’d only sustained these minor injuries.

“You’re not feeling any discomfort?”

The doctor’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. 

Even if a miracle had occurred, Wooyoung, with casts on his limbs and bandages wrapped all over his body, was a critical patient no matter how you looked at it. 

He had even undergone surgery to close a fairly large wound on his side from the impact of the fall. 

The anesthesia had worn off a long time ago, so he should be in considerable pain, yet the boy, who looked like he had always lived a sheltered life, was simply calm. 

Somehow, that seemed a little strange.

“Still, since you’ve just woken up, I think it would be better to observe you for a few more days before discharging you.”

As the doctor showed a hesitant reaction, the woman looked at Wooyoung and asked, 

“Hey, are you really okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“See? We’ll be discharged.”

Since the guardian was being so forceful, and the patient remained silent, all the doctor could do was nod. 

After the doctor and nurse left the room, a brief silence fell between the two. At the same time, the woman’s sharp gaze pierced Wooyoung like a knife. 

Even upon closer inspection, she was a complete stranger to Wooyoung.

‘Is she someone from my parents’ side? Or someone from B Corporation?’

While he was lost in thought, the woman confirmed that all the beds in the 4-person ward were empty except for Wooyoung’s. 

The woman, after abruptly closing the loosely drawn curtain, snapped at Wooyoung.

“Are you out of your mind? How could you do something like that if you weren’t completely insane!”

Wooyoung instinctively flinched at the anger displayed by the woman whose name he didn’t even know. 

Actually, Wooyoung had a lot to explain, but he knew very well what he had to say in this situation.

“I’m sorry.”

It didn’t matter what kind of infairness Wooyoung had suffered. He had lived like that his entire life. These people wouldn’t want to hear his explanations anyway.

‘Why did I have to survive?’

Wooyoung was truly amazed. 

If he survived a fall from a high-rise building, what method should he try next to finally succeed? 

Wooyoung thought of a couple more effective ways to end his life.

“Is being sorry enough? Does an apology fix everything?! Do you know how much I had to deal with the President while you were pulling that suicidal crap?!”

As Wooyoung just stared at her with a blank expression, the woman’s face crumpled further. He had always been a gloomy kid, but today he seemed different somehow.

‘He seems strangely more mature.’

She gritted her teeth at the unexpected feeling of pity that welled up inside her.

“You damn brat. Do you have any idea how I felt the entire time I was coming here?”

“……”

The woman’s jaw tightened as if she were gritting her teeth. 

She slowly inhaled, her eyes widening sharply against the blurring vision. 

Having regained her composure, the woman grabbed Wooyoung’s shoulders. Her grip didn’t even have enough strength to restrain him. It felt like a comforting gesture, causing Wooyoung’s eyes to widen.

Whether Wooyoung was flustered or not, the woman felt even more displeased as the skinny shoulders she held felt more fragile than her own.

“Hey, listen carefully. Even if you hate it to death, once you’ve signed the contract, you have to do what you have to do. That’s how dirty the world is.”

“Yes. I know.”

“…Right. You’re an adult now. Didn’t I tell you over and over? If you want to get out of this, you have to debut first. Just close your eyes and endure it! Why don’t you understand that you’re the only one who loses if you die?!”

“…Huh?”

Wooyoung, who had been nodding obediently unlike usual, slightly raised his head. 

The woman’s face immediately contorted, displeased that he had interrupted her with a stupid look on his face.

“What? Are you offended that I’m saying this? Is it hurting your pride?”

“Offended?”

At the woman’s sarcastic expression, Wooyoung scratched the back of his neck with a puzzled look.

“It’s not that, it’s just that the time for a social debut has already passed… I’m already in my mid-twenties, and debuts are for eighteen-year-olds.”

“What?”

The woman frowned.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Uh, you suddenly mentioned a debut…”

“Did you hit your head?”

The woman ruffled Wooyoung’s small head.

“They clearly said he fell on his side, so his brain should be fine.”

For example, despite having bruises all over his body and looking terrible, his stupid face, except for a few minor scratches, was perfectly fine.

‘Wow.’

Wooyoung’s cheeks flushed slightly. It was the first time someone had worried about him being hurt.

‘Even though I don’t know who she is…’

Unfortunately, the woman didn’t leave the awestruck Wooyoung alone.

“Stop running away from reality. It was only a year ago that you readily signed the contract for the money they offered. Whether you want to be an idol or not, you can’t just bail like this. It’s not me who’s in trouble, it’s you.”

“…An idol, what?”

“And what do you mean mid-twenties? You just turned twenty. What are you talking about, forgetting your age already? Don’t be impertinent.”

Wooyoung, unable to understand half of what the woman was saying, could only open and close his mouth like a fool.