MLBO 03

I froze, not knowing what to do at Emilion’s sudden action.

But it seemed he had acted unconsciously because of the fever.

I looked down at Emilion leaning against my shoulder. His lips had turned bluish, and his body trembled faintly.

The hand that had touched his forehead still felt hot.

His fever was burning so fiercely that my palm still tingled from it.

‘How did he endure this without showing it once?’

I adjusted my posture so he could lean on me more comfortably and asked,

“Um… since when have you been like this?”

Emilion slowly opened the eyes he had closed.

“Since I came here…”

“What? Then why didn’t you say anything?”

As if it were obvious, Emilion replied,

“I thought it would get better if I endured it.”

For a moment, I was speechless.

Emilion had grown up in the slums since childhood. Without a single family member.

Even when he was sick, there had probably never been anyone to take care of him.

He must have simply endured it alone until he got better.

Just like now.

“It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry about it.”

He probably wasn’t just saying that to be polite. To him, this level of pain was truly nothing.

But this wasn’t something that would improve just by enduring it.

“How is this okay? Your fever’s really high.”

If it was just a bad cold, that would be a relief, but just in case, it seemed better to have a physician examine him.

I laid Emilion down on the bed and said,

“I’ll go call a physician. Wait here for a moment.”

Without waiting for his response, I hurried out of the room.

I ran down the hallway to the first floor.

As I passed the lobby and turned into the left corridor, the emergency room came into view.

A physician standing near the entrance noticed me and raised his head.

“What is it?”

Still catching my breath from running, I quickly explained,

“One of the test subjects is sick.”

The physician looked down at me with both hands tucked into his coat and asked,

“So?”

His blunt tone made me shrink back instinctively, but I still forced myself to speak.

“I was hoping you could examine him.”

The physician answered in the same indifferent voice,

“What symptoms?”

“He has a really high fever. I think it might be a severe cold.”

Even after hearing there was a patient, the physician only looked annoyed.

But reactions like that weren’t anything new.

The children used as test subjects were always sick from the cruel experiments. As the experiments continued, their bodies became damaged beyond treatment.

“They won’t live much longer anyway.”

“Stop treatment as of today. It’s a waste of time and manpower.”

Believing the patients wouldn’t survive long no matter what, they never put much effort into treating them.

The physician’s lukewarm response made me anxious that he might refuse to see Emilion.

I spoke urgently.

“The Director specifically told us to pay special attention to Subject 175.”

“The Director did?”

“Yes.”

Though he still looked irritated, the physician slowly reached for his medical tools.

It seemed using the Director’s name had worked.

Just as the physician was gathering his equipment—

Suddenly, loud commotion erupted outside.

Shouts rang out, mixed with hurried footsteps pounding against the hard stone floor.

‘What… what’s happening?’

A moment later, researchers rushed into the emergency room pushing a stretcher.

The girl lying on it writhed like a beast, screaming.

“Gghhh!!”

Her limbs tightly restrained, foam poured from her mouth as her entire body convulsed violently.

The physician hurriedly checked her condition and asked,

“What happened?”

One of the researchers answered with a troubled expression.

“Test Subject 97 showed an abnormal reaction during the final-stage experiment.”

The girl’s thrashing grew even more violent. The physician pulled out a syringe from the medicine case and said,

“We’ll have to administer a sedative.”

At that moment, the laboratory director entered the emergency room with a group of researchers. Looking frantic, he shouted,

“We cannot lose Test Subject 97! Fix her no matter what!”

“Yes, Director.”

The physician responded immediately.

I couldn’t bring myself to ask what had happened to the promise of examining Emilion.

“Damn it! Success was right in front of us…!”

The Director bit his lip anxiously. I tried to move quietly to a corner of the emergency room so I wouldn’t disturb the physician.

But then the Director noticed me and snapped irritably,

“You’re in the way. Move aside!!”

He shoved me roughly.

“Ugh!”

I fell hard onto the stone floor.

My knees and palms scraped painfully against the ground.

I had hoped maybe staying nearby would help convince the Director to send the physician to Emilion later…

But the current Director saw nothing else.

It was true that he considered Emilion special, but right now, saving that girl was his top priority.

After all, there were only a handful of test subjects who had reached the final stage.

Fortunately, after receiving the sedative, the girl’s condition seemed to stabilize.

Still, the physician wouldn’t be able to leave her side for a while. Nobody knew when the convulsions might start again.

My palms had been scraped open during the fall, and blood seeped from the wounds.

A stinging pain spread through them.

I opened and closed my fists a few times.

‘Compared to what the test subjects go through, this is…’

Truly nothing.

I brushed the dirt off my pants and stood up.

Avoiding the Director’s gaze, I approached a shelf filled with medicine bottles.

Since I couldn’t get the physician to examine Emilion…

‘At least I should give him a fever reducer.’

Running errands for the researchers had helped me memorize what the fever medicine bottle looked like.

The adults already seemed to have completely forgotten my existence.

I quietly slipped the medicine bottle into my sleeve.

Then, making sure nobody noticed, I slipped out of the emergency room.

When I arrived at Emilion’s room, he was curled up with his eyes closed.

His black hair was drenched in sweat and stuck to his forehead.

His complexion was still pale.

‘I really should’ve brought the physician.’

Hearing my footsteps, he opened his eyes.

Feeling guilty for returning alone, I lowered my gaze and said,

“Sorry. I couldn’t bring the physician.”

Emilion slowly sat up and replied,

“It’s fine…”

There was no blame in his voice.

It genuinely sounded like he meant he didn’t care whether the physician came or not.

‘He really was planning to just endure it alone.’

I walked closer to the bed.

His complexion looked even paler than before, which worried me.

Pulling the medicine bottle from my sleeve, I said,

“It’s a fever reducer. Your fever should go down if you take this.”

Emilion stared silently at the bottle.

After moving his lips a few times, he finally spoke.

“…Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Next time, if you’re sick, say something instead of enduring it. Bottling it all up and suffering alone isn’t a good habit.”

“……”

Emilion didn’t answer.

He simply stared at me with an unreadable expression.

‘Did I upset him…?’

From his perspective, maybe it sounded like unnecessary interference.

Feeling awkward for some reason, I absentmindedly tapped my heel against the floor.

Just as an uncomfortable silence began to settle—

“…Okay.”

After a brief pause, Emilion finally answered and accepted the medicine.

‘Good. I guess he’s not upset.’

I sighed inwardly in relief, but then Emilion opened the bottle and tried to take the medicine immediately.

I barely managed to grab his arm in time.

“…?”

Emilion looked at me in confusion, as if asking why I was stopping him.

I explained the obvious.

“You can’t take it like that.”

“Why?”

“It’s bad for your stomach.”

Emilion stared at me as though he couldn’t understand.

Considering he had grown up in the slums and likely never eaten proper meals, it made sense that he didn’t know.

But I thought differently.

‘What if his stomach starts hurting too while he already has a fever?’

I brought over the tray and placed it on the bed table.

Then I said firmly,

“You probably don’t have much appetite, but eat anyway. Taking medicine on an empty stomach is bad for you.”

“……”

At my insistence, Emilion finally picked up the spoon.

He scooped up a large mouthful of stew filled with vegetables and meat.

‘He eats well.’

Sitting at the bedside, I watched as Emilion quietly ate the stew.

After finishing about half of it, he took the fever medicine.

“Now that you’re done, I’ll clean this up.”

After confirming his nod, I reached out to move the empty bowl onto the cart.

That was when Emilion grabbed my wrist.

‘What…?’

Confused, I looked at him blankly.

His gaze had settled on the wound on my palm from earlier.

Frowning slightly, Emilion said,

“You’re hurt.”

“Ah… this is…”

I hurriedly hid my hand behind my back.

But it was already too late.

“How did that happen?”

I couldn’t tell him it happened while trying to bring a physician for him.

I was worried he might blame himself for it, so I quickly brushed it off.

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Is it because of me?”

Startled by the sharp question, my shoulders flinched.

Still, I pretended nothing was wrong and answered,

“It has nothing to do with you.”

Afraid he would see through my lie, I hurriedly added excuses.

Emilion quietly stared at me with strangely sunken eyes.

“You…”

The ruby-red eyes felt as though they were binding me in place.

Then Emilion spoke.

“You’re really bad at lying.”