The Saint Wants to Rest - vanish into fiction

The excuse he squeezed out was nonsensical. Who would believe such a lie? To blame the machinery when a state of the art vital monitor was running perfectly right next to them was an excuse that even a passing dog wouldn’t believe.

Choi Jae-heon strode forward. His gait was threatening enough to make the floor vibrate.

“Move aside. I will check.”

Choi Jae-heon reached out his hand to grab Ian’s shoulder.

At that moment, Vermouth, who had been quietly watching his actions, let out a rough, hacking cough.

“Ugh. Cough! Cough!”

Vermouth clutched his chest with a pained expression. This was not an act. The aftereffect caused by the rapid injection of Holy Power forcibly driving out the poison from his body had arrived late and with great intensity.

“I apologize, but Mr. Ian is currently focusing on the treatment,” Vermouth said in a cracked voice, yet with extreme composure.

“The poison had spread to my heart. If Mr. Ian had not pressed down on it himself, I would already be dead.”

Choi Jae-heon’s gaze shifted suspiciously toward Vermouth’s wound. The injury, more than half of which had been dyed pitch black earlier, was in a much improved state. It seemed what he said was not a lie. It was certain that Ian had taken some measure to keep him alive.

Choi Jae-heon’s expression changed from suspicion to bewilderment.

“Whew.”

Only then did Ian slowly lift his head.

He had deliberately disheveled his hair to half hide his reddened face. Biting his lip firmly to conceal the swelling, he looked up at Choi Jae-heon with the most exhausted expression in the world. His eyes were wet, and his face was flushed a deep red.

To anyone watching, it was the wretched appearance of someone who had poured out their strength until they reached total exhaustion.

“Hyung, I am truly tired. I barely managed to calm the poison. I spent too much energy, so I feel dizzy.”

Ian wobbled as he climbed down from Vermouth’s body. When his legs gave out and he stumbled, Choi Jae-heon reflexively rushed in to support him.

“Be careful! What is this? Your body is burning up.”

Ian’s body was hot. It was the aftermath of the excessive use of power and the intense act that had continued until just moments ago. However, Choi Jae-heon accepted it as a side effect of the devoted treatment.

Choi Jae-heon helped his younger brother, who looked so exhausted that Jae-heon felt pathetic for having doubted him, into a chair.

“I am sorry. Since the door was closed and there was no sound of anyone moving, I did it just in case. I misunderstood for no reason.”

“I am grateful that you are worried, but Vermouth needs stability right now. I need to rest a bit too.”

“Right. I understand. If it is hard to walk, should I carry you to your room?”

“No. I will be able to walk after I rest a little.”

“When else would I get to hold my younger brother if not at a time like this?”

Choi Jae-heon took on the appearance of the kind older brother from before and picked Ian up. In that state, he skillfully walked out and closed the door. Because Ian was being held in his arms, he could not see exactly what kind of expression Choi Jae-heon was making. However, the atmosphere shifted minutely from the moment they left the room. Yet, Ian could not guess what the cause was. He laid Ian down on the bed and covered him with a blanket.

“Get some rest. I will prepare something to eat.”

“Okay.”

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“No, not particularly.”

“Then I will prepare something on my own?”

A large hand naturally brushed back Ian’s hair. Ian realized a moment too late that his face had been exposed, but Choi Jae-heon did not say anything else.

“Rest.”

He simply left that one word behind and went outside.

Standing in front of the closed door, Choi Jae-heon struggled to suppress his anger. What Ian did was a simple act of treatment. There was not a shred of affection in it. He felt like he would go crazy if he did not think that way. Would it have been better if he had known nothing about Ian’s ability at all? Knowing only a little stimulated his imagination and made it more painful. He wiped his face with his dry hands and headed toward the kitchen.

Since that damn bastard was still a patient, Jae-heon supposed he should feed him porridge. And he would prepare the food that Ian liked. He figured a stew and about three side dishes would be enough. Fortunately, the refrigerator was packed with ingredients.

Thang!

The knife hit the cutting board with a violent sound. Naturally, the cutting board split in half, and Choi Jae-heon had to find a new one. It seemed that calming his anger would not be easy.

The next morning,

Ian, who woke up to the sound of chirping birds and stinging sunlight, jumped up in surprise at the fact that he was on the bed. Then, he soon recalled the events of the previous night and let out a small sigh. His brother said he would prepare food, but it seemed Ian had fallen asleep and stayed that way without hearing a thing.

“Ah, I couldn’t wash up.”

Ian walked slowly toward the bathroom.