Page 236 of Scarbound

Duri nodded. “And the ambulance?”

Ji-Woo lowered his voice. “They’re still on standby. I explained that a doctor is coming to assess him immediately. If Dr. Daniels says hospital, we go.”

Duri looked at Noeul. He had already closed his eyes. “Okay.”

Ji-Woo stepped into the room. For a while, neither spoke.

Then Duri heard a quiet sound from the doorway.

His mother. She was crying. Not loudly. She pressed one hand against her mouth, trying not to make any noise.

Noeul’s eyes opened. They wandered toward her.

She immediately wiped at her face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

Noeul stared at her. “Eomma…”

Everyone went still.

Mrs. Kang’s eyes widened.

Noeul looked at her without recognition, half inside sleep already.

“Don’t cry.”

His voice was fragile.

“I’ll…”

He stopped. The thought seemed to disappear.

Mrs. Kang waited.

Noeul’s eyes closed again. “Don’t cry.”

She covered her mouth.

Duri looked away.

No one corrected him. No one asked why he had called her eomma.

It was enough that, for whatever reason, her face had made him reach for a word that meant something warm.

CHAPTER 56

Dr. Daniels was an emergency physician at a private hospital in Seoul and had provided urgent medical care for Yujin’s family before. He arrived less than twenty minutes later with an emergency bag, portable monitoring equipment, and everything required for an initial emergency assessment, though not hospital imaging. He spoke with Ji-Woo and Mrs. Kang before entering the bedroom.

“How long was he unconscious after the head injury?”

“Chung-Hee said only a few seconds,” Ji-Woo replied. “He opened his eyes when Chung-Hee called his name.”

“Has he vomited?”

“I don’t know.”

“Does he know where he is?”

“Sometimes I don’t think he knows who we are.”