Chapter 31 – Magic Boy (9)
Animal protein and fat that delight the tongue are always a win!
Sure, too much can be bad for you, but that’s true for vitamins too, so let’s not dwell on it!
I was thrilled at the prospect of eating beef soon, but I felt a twinge of guilt for my opponent, who still couldn’t process their defeat.
“No way…”
“Good match.”
It was a great match that earned me beef.
“This is a scam!”
The opposing coach shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Accept it.”
“He must’ve used drugs! Winning with that scrawny body? We need to test him now!”
“And if it’s not drugs? I’d like to hear how you’ll compensate for slandering my athlete.”
“Ugh!”
“If you’ve got nothing, an apology will do.”
The coaches started a second round over the match results.
Way more exciting than the actual competition!
I quietly watched, waiting for my beef…
“This isn’t slander! Look at him—anyone would suspect drugs! Right? Long legs? Big hands and feet? He’s skin and bones!”
It’s fine to think what you want, but personal attacks are crossing a line, aren’t they?
“That comment right there is slander.”
“Hmph! It’s not wrong, is it?”
“If you lost, accept it cleanly. Don’t be dirty.”
“What, what—?! Dirty?!”
The conversation was tilting toward me getting tested.
‘I’m so sick of tests…’
Having undergone too many recently, I wanted to refuse, but the mood was leaning toward verification.
Then,
“Coach, calm down. The match was fair.”
“He was clearly ahead at first, but lost due to stamina.”
“That athlete’s strength isn’t long limbs.”
“It’s exceptional lung capacity.”
The observing athletes stood up, chiming in.
That shifted things.
“What, you think I don’t know that?! It’s got to be a bronchodilator boosting his lung capacity…!”
The coach, cornered after attacking me, quickly changed his tune.
‘Bronchodilator?’
Something to widen the throat? I didn’t even know such drugs existed.
“Can you take responsibility for that claim?”
My coach asked again, visibly annoyed.
“Of course!”
“How?”
“If I’m wrong, I’ll formally apologize and clean the pool until the year’s end!”
Wow! Pool cleaning!
That’s a bit much, but is he that confident?
What a shame.
Of course,
“Let me ask you this: if it’s proven he used drugs, how will you take responsibility?”
“I’ll resign without a word.”
“…Fine.”
A declaration to quit coaching.
Was it because he came on stronger than pool cleaning?
The opposing coach’s confident eyes wavered slightly.
He seemed conflicted.
But he didn’t back down.
“Since we’re done talking, shall we go for the test?”
“Obviously.”
“You’ll regret it…”
“That’s my line! Let’s see how long that bravado lasts.”
And so…
One innocent pool cleaner’s job was lost.
***
This was my chance to learn about various Olympic-banned substances.
Especially salbutamol and formoterol, used for asthma treatment, which increase lung capacity and draw the most suspicion.
Salbutamol.
Formoterol.
I memorized those unfamiliar drug names!
Besides those, I was suspected of using ‘EPO,’ a blood-doping agent that temporarily boosts red blood cell production to increase oxygen transport…
“That must’ve been tough.”
Dr. Seo Hye-joo chuckled at my complaints.
“Don’t get me started. That coach even accused the doctor testing for drugs of being in on it!”
“As a doctor, I’m sorry to hear that.”
Her soulless response made it clear she had zero interest in what I’d been through this past week.
She only wanted to hear one thing.
“How’s your body recovering?”
“Not yet.”
The ‘body’ here doesn’t just mean my physical self.
My mind.
The trauma from Magic Boy Choi Kang-min was that severe.
“There’s not much time left for patient Choi Kang-min.”
“What? Doesn’t he have a bit over two months?”
“The 100 days I mentioned before isn’t a guaranteed minimum. It’s the opposite. He could die any moment now.”
“…”
“For your information, the drugs you were suspected of using, salbutamol and formoterol, are also prescribed to him. Among his complications Is asthma, which causes inflammation in the bronchial tubes.”
“Oh, I see.”
I didn’t care what illness Choi Kang-min was dying from.
But,
‘I’d better hurry.’
If I wanted the treatment fees Dr. Seo promised, I couldn’t afford to be leisurely.
That said, I wasn’t impatient.
Life ethics, morality, sense of duty…
I decided to help Choi Kang-min without those basic principles. After experiencing hell, I stopped treating him as human.
Anyway,
“To persuade Choi Kang-min, who’s trapped in a dream, we need solid proof that it’s a dream.”
The only way to wake him before his life ends.
This wasn’t a mere guess.
‘Song Sun-young was the same.’
Song Sun-young, who chose the extreme method of suicide whenever things didn’t go her way.
She never questioned the ‘unreal phenomenon’ of returning to the past each time she died.
She believed she was special.
She rationalized it without evidence.
“Choi Kang-min firmly believes he’s a special being with surreal powers.”
“Every time I hear this, I feel so drained. I’m working day and night to wake the patient, but he’s happily frolicking in his dream…”
“Can’t be helped.”
I didn’t like Choi Kang-min, but I didn’t criticize him for this.
Why?
Even I, who prided myself on believing in science, ended up believing Song Sun-young’s dream was reality.
“So, Mr. Kang Moon-soo, do you have any plans?”
“I have to persuade him. What else can I do?”
The moment I convinced Song Sun-young to abandon the occult, we woke up from what we thought was reality.
‘I was lucky back then…’
I didn’t act knowing it was a dream then. But now it’s different.
As proof, I immediately recognized it was a dream when the surroundings turned surreal.
“Suppressing him… is impossible, right?”
“Yes. Completely impossible. How could I beat Choi Kang-min, who moves like light?”
Persuasion was the only solution.
But failing meant facing hell again, so I needed to thoroughly prepare ‘proof.’
“I agree. But solid proof…”
“…”
“…”
We fell silent, lost in thought.
A few seconds later,
“A secret only family knows.”
“Information he can’t access in the dream.”
Dr. Seo and I spoke our ideas almost simultaneously.
Different details, same conclusion.
Satisfied, we exchanged meaningful smiles.
“I’ll be back.”
“I’ll contact the guardian to request their cooperation.”
“Oh! Please do.”
Going to Choi Kang-hoon’s house without a plan would get me stuck at the elevator without a keycard.
But with Dr. Seo, his attending physician, giving a heads-up, it’d be much easier.
‘I’m already looking forward to it.’
Maybe something like him wetting the bed or sofa while watching a horror movie as a kid?
I needed plenty of Choi Kang-min’s embarrassing secrets only he and his parents would know.
***
(Your reserved guest has arrived.)
Ding-dong!
Slide—
As the elevator stopped at the top floor of the officetel, butlers and maids welcomed me.
“Come in.”
“Welcome, guest.”
“Welcome, Mr. Kang Moon-soo!”
The moment the maids’ attention, fully reflecting the homeowner’s taste, focused on me, I felt like royalty.
“Master Kang Moon-soo?”
“Oh, yes.”
“The Chairman is waiting.”
“…Understood.”
Snapped out of it by the butler’s words, I slowly stepped forward.
“No need to be so tense. The misunderstanding has already been cleared.”
“…”
The incident where I was treated as a fraud for mentioning my shaman aptitude.
That resentment melted away the moment I saw the numbers in my bank account.
The reason for my serious expression now was something else.
‘How much should I say?’
The story of Choi Kang-min framing his half-brother Choi Kang-hoon and sending him to prison.
It happened in a dream, but since Choi Kang-min believes it’s reality, his judgment and actions were genuine.
“A feast has been prepared on the Chairman’s orders.”
“Oh!”
“As soon as he heard you were coming, he urgently hired a top chef.”
“No need to go that far…”
“It shows how sincere the Chairman is toward you.”
“…I see.”
Sincerity.
A word that stirred my heart, both positively and negatively, as I hadn’t decided how much to reveal.
Knock knock.
“Chairman, Kang Moon—”
“Come in!”
Before the butler could finish, the homeowner’s permission boomed out.
His tone was a complete 180 from when he treated me like a fraud.
“Master, please enter. I’ll prepare tea.”
“Yes.”
Creak—
With a slight bow of gratitude to the attentive butler, I carefully opened the study door.
“Excuse me—”
“Moon-soo! I’m so sorry!”
Hug!
As soon as I stepped in, I was enveloped in a warm embrace by the homeowner waiting at the door.
“Uh, hello?”
“I was really wrong last time, kid!”
“It’s fine. It happens.”
The apology was more than covered by the numbers in my bank account.
“After that, every time I met Kang-hoon’s eyes, he scolded me! Asking how I could do that to you…”
“I see.”
The homeowner’s voice, venting his complaints, conveyed how much he cherished and loved his son, Choi Kang-hoon.
That’s why,
‘I have to tell him.’
Even if it was a dream, I had to tell him about the other son who was jealous and hateful of that love.
“Chairman.”
“Hey! Moon-soo, call me Uncle like you used to. No, I’d love it if you did. It’s this old man’s wish!”
“…Uncle.”
“Yes! Haha!”
The uncle with modest wishes laughed heartily.
“I have something important to say.”
“About the dream?”
“Yes. It seems Dr. Seo already mentioned it.”
“No, the doctor didn’t say anything. Just told me to hear it directly from the shaman visiting soon.”
“Then how…”
“Kang-hoon told me.”
“He must’ve complained that I said he went to prison in my dream.”
A wry smile crept up.
I didn’t tell that story for him to snitch to his dad…
“Ha! Kang-hoon went to prison? For what?”
“…”
I got ahead of myself.
“Kang-hoon didn’t say much. Just that you, a real shaman, met Kang-min in a dream.”
“I see.”
That’s a relief, then.
“So Kang-min sent his only little brother to prison?”
“…”
“Looks like I hit the nail on the head. It’s written all over your face.”
“Uncle, how did you know?”
I began to doubt if Dr. Seo really hadn’t said anything.
“Because that’s the kind of son he is.”
“What?”
“That’s why my successor is Kang-hoon, not Kang-min. That kid wouldn’t kill his brother.”
“Oh…”
Is this what a parent is?
My heart ached.
“But my successor went to prison… That must mean dirt’s been thrown in my eyes, right?”
“Correct.”
He deduced it all without me explaining.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s really strange. Killing me wouldn’t be easy…”
It wasn’t bravado. You could tell just by looking at this study.
“…”
“…”
Bodyguards in black suits stood quietly in the corners of the room.
Choi Kang-hoon taking them all on alone?
It’s unrealistic.
‘Right. It’s impossible in reality.’
But with surreal powers, as Magic Boy, it’s entirely possible.
“Moon-soo.”
“Yes.”
“I’m really curious—didn’t Kang-min tell you anything in the dream?”
“About what?”
“How he killed this old man.”
“…”
What had this uncle seen in his eldest son?
I had a strong feeling that the reason I came here was tied to this.
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because that’s the kind of son he is.”
“Would you mind sharing the story?”
“Hm… Alright.”
The uncle’s story went back ten years.
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