I Became the Drug-Addicted Childhood Friend

You’ll bring it for me, right?

I feel sorry asking you to bring the drugs.

But since I can’t go outside, I have no choice.

I need something more effective than what I have now.

I wanted to get the drugs without bothering anyone, but it’s because Han Si-Hoo stopped me.

Han Si-Hoo seemed to hesitate after hearing my words.

“I don’t use the drugs recklessly. If I did, I would’ve been dead by now, and there wouldn’t be any left at home.”

That meant there was no need to put the drugs somewhere out of reach.

Even if they were right in front of me, I would use them responsibly.

The doctor was surprised, saying it was amazing that I had any left.

When it comes to self-control, I’m quite exceptional.

If I weren’t, I’d already be having a funeral.

“So, please bring it. Okay?”

I kept persuading him.

No matter how I thought about it, the more drugs I had, the better.

If I can’t get the drugs and run out, that would be a huge problem.

“I’m completely fine right now. I can stay here alone without any trouble.”

I added that because he seemed to be worried.

What I’m using now is the drug provided by the Academy.

It should’ve gone through enough safety checks.

Where do they sell this stuff?

“I haven’t used any dangerous drugs either.”

What would be considered a dangerous drug?

A drug that makes you want to kill Han Si-Hoo?

One that makes you get killed by the protagonist?

Of course, even those drugs had the advantage of making me feel emotions vividly.

But they were too dangerous to use.

I didn’t know how they related to treatment either.

They were strange drugs.

Back then, I couldn’t control my body.

It was hard to control even my thoughts.

You could tell by how I hated Han Si-Hoo for ridiculous reasons.

I never thought I’d actually attack him.

But now, since I haven’t used those dangerous drugs, there’s no problem.

I don’t plan on using them in the future either.

“…Alright. I’ll go and bring it.”

Han Si-Hoo finally agreed.

“Wow.”

I’m excited.

He’s really going to bring it.

“Anyway, I need to check…”

Han Si-Hoo muttered.

I don’t know what he’s going to check, but I’m sure he’ll manage.

As long as he brings the drugs, nothing else matters.

“But before that.”

Han Si-Hoo continued.

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“A little.”

One good thing about the drugs is that they suppress hunger.

But skipping too many meals leaves the body weak.

I still have to eat.

Come to think of it, I haven’t had a proper meal since yesterday.

It would be stranger if I weren’t hungry.

“I’ll make you breakfast.”

Han Si-Hoo said confidently.

He seemed to be trying to change the mood.

He cleared the paper bag off the table and brought out the dishes.

“Breakfast?”

“Yeah.”

Was Han Si-Hoo good at cooking?

There wasn’t any mention of his cooking skills in the story.

I thought he always ate out.

“…It’s delicious.”

To sum it up, it was better than I expected.

I enjoyed the fried rice that Han Si-Hoo made.

I guess the protagonist can cook too.

It’s definitely better than the canned tuna I had at home.

[5 hours 8 minutes]

While the drug’s effects lasted, I could eat anything deliciously.

Anyway, I ate well.

At least he didn’t mix any drugs into the food like the doctor does.

“Are you okay?”

Han Si-Hoo asked from the side.

“Yeah.”

I’m smiling, aren’t I?

Of course, I’m okay.

Do I look strange just because I’m lost in thought?

These peaceful moments are nice.

Now, all Han Si-Hoo needs to do is bring me the drugs, and everything will be perfect.

“Here, this.”

Han Si-Hoo handed me something.

“A phone?”

“It’s something similar. It’s called a device. If something happens, you can call the numbers saved here or press this button.”

I know what this is.

Every student at the Academy has one.

When I was looking for Han Si-Hoo at the Academy, I was able to contact him through this.

“Okay.”

I fiddled with the device.

It didn’t seem much different from a smartphone, but I knew it had extra features.

Han Si-Hoo had a phone aside from this device.

It’s surprising he’s giving me one of these so casually.

“Don’t go outside until I come back.”

He said firmly.

“Nothing much will happen inside the Academy, but just in case. For your safety.”

“Okay.”

I didn’t plan on going out anyway.

If I did, the drug’s effects would just wear off faster.

“I’ll leave one syringe here. Use it if necessary, and contact me in case of an emergency.”

I’m not sure how many syringes I’m supposed to use in a day.

Having a spare one won’t hurt.

“Okay. Take care and come back safely.”

I saw him off.

***

Receiving Seo-Ah’s send-off, Han Si-Hoo stepped out of the dormitory.

Seo-Ah’s condition seemed to have improved.

He hadn’t expected Yeon-Hwa to visit.

Thanks to that, he found out that Seo-Ah could still interact with people.

She even accepted a gift on his behalf.

They weren’t particularly close.

Han Si-Hoo didn’t know what Seo-Ah was thinking.

A strange sense of guilt pricked at his heart.

He remembered Seo-Ah teasing him, saying, “You have a lot of close friends, huh.”

Leaving Seo-Ah behind made him uneasy, but he had to check.

If he took the drugs Seo-Ah had been using to Lee Yu-Ram, they could find out what she’d been using.

Maybe they’d even discover information that could help with her treatment.

Han Si-Hoo walked on, lost in thought.

The air was still cold.

He could see workers repairing the Academy after yesterday’s attack.

“Is that barrier still being fixed?”

“Yes, it’s delayed because we’re clearing out the monster corpses.”

“An attack on the Academy… What in the world…”

He overheard people talking.

The Academy had sustained major damage because of the swarm of monsters.

There were rumors of a traitor from within.

Han Si-Hoo thought of the doctor dressed in black.

He thought of Yoo Seo-Ah, who had been standing beside him.

A strange anger welled up, and he bit his lip.

Han Si-Hoo pondered why the doctor had made Seo-Ah fight against him.

He had spent the whole night thinking and barely slept.

In the end, he hadn’t reached any conclusions.

There just wasn’t enough information.

Would he find some clues at Seo-Ah’s house?

Maybe he could figure out what happened with the doctor.

It had been a while since he last visited.

“I found it.”

The neighborhood where Yoo Seo-Ah lived was quiet.

It was relatively clean for a slum, though still shabby.

The house seemed even more run-down than before.

Seo-Ah usually kept her home well-maintained.

She was the type who liked to clean whenever she had time.

Creak.

The door was open.

It didn’t seem like it had been locked in the first place.

“Ah…”

The inside of the house was in disarray.

Broken glass shards were scattered around.

Something was smeared on the walls and floor.

Han Si-Hoo cautiously pushed the glass to the corner with his shoe.

The house was in worse condition than he had imagined.

The Yoo Seo-Ah he knew wouldn’t leave her home in such a state.

Everything was different from the last time he visited.

He pressed the switch to turn on the lights, but only a crackling sound came from the fixture.

“Even the lights are broken?”

Several possibilities came to mind.

Either a burglar had broken in while Seo-Ah was away, or she hadn’t been able to manage the house for a long time.

Han Si-Hoo looked around the table.

“The vial with the drug… It’s still here.”

The vial contained the blue liquid.

At least no one had come in and stolen the drugs.

He could leave after fulfilling Seo-Ah’s request, but the house was too much of a mess to ignore.

He needed to find out what happened.

Just thinking about it, several grim scenarios came to mind.

What happened to Seo-Ah?

Thud.

He straightened the chair that had been knocked over.

The more he looked around, the more uneasy he became.

The only thing that seemed in order was the drugs.

“A box?”

Han Si-Hoo found a white box under the desk.

It was a plastic box used to store medical supplies.

It contained several syringes and some disinfectant.

There was a piece of paper at the bottom of the box explaining how to use the syringes.

Other than that, there wasn’t much.

Han Si-Hoo closed the box.

It was time to explore the next room.

Creeeak.

The hinges made an unusually loud noise.

The doorknob was broken.

“Ugh.”

In the room, piles of scrap metal—probably picked up from around the area—were stacked in a corner.

A few steel bars, a pile of rusted chains, and some ropes.

“Why on earth is this stuff in the house?”

Han Si-Hoo couldn’t guess what Seo-Ah had intended to do with it.

Maybe it wasn’t even Seo-Ah who brought it here.

Whoever it was, what were they planning to do with it?

He remembered Seo-Ah telling him the doctor used to come into her home.

So, was it the doctor who did this?

Han Si-Hoo felt a headache coming on.

Something was seriously wrong.

“…A mirror?”

On the dirty floor, something was reflecting light.

Following the trail, he reached a cracked mirror in the bathroom.

Next to the broken mirror was a faint smear of blood.

“Why?”

Han Si-Hoo muttered as he stared at the blood on the wall.

What had happened here?

The cracked mirror had a corner that had broken off.

It took Han Si-Hoo a long time to process what he was seeing.

Even though he was looking right at it, he couldn’t figure out what had happened.

What did Seo-Ah do?

Or what had been done to her?

– I got cut.

– Why?

– I just accidentally scraped against the edge. It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it.

He remembered the conversation he had with Seo-Ah.

She said she got cut and scraped against the edge.

Because of the mirror?

Why?

Because of the drugs?

It was hard to imagine the always-smiling Seo-Ah breaking a mirror on her own.

Did the doctor do this?

Or was it a side effect of the drugs?

There were dozens of possibilities.

The only way to know for sure was to ask Seo-Ah.

“…Sigh.”

It was worse than he had imagined.

Something had gone very wrong.

What had Han Si-Hoo been doing while things had come to this?

He had been enjoying his life at the Academy.

Enjoying it.

Meanwhile, Seo-Ah had lost her protection.

Why hadn’t he looked after her properly?

He couldn’t understand why he had just assumed she’d be safe somehow.

Of course, it was true that Seo-Ah had pushed Han Si-Hoo away with resentment.

But even if she rejected him, he should have made sure she was okay.

Han Si-Hoo looked at his reflection in the broken mirror.

His face looked troubled.

He should have thought more carefully.

He shouldn’t have just assumed Seo-Ah would be fine with minimal support.

“Damn it.”

He looked around the house a few more times, but it was clear that this wasn’t a place where anyone could live.

Especially the pile of scrap metal in the room—it was completely baffling.

The house Han Si-Hoo remembered had always been neat and tidy.

It had been cozy and clean.

The gap between the warm past and the cold present was enormous.

“Why…”

Seo-Ah hadn’t mentioned anything about the state of her house.

She had just asked him to bring her the drugs, as if nothing was wrong.

It was as if she wasn’t even aware of how bad her house had gotten.

Anyone who saw this place would think it was a disaster.

It wasn’t a place fit for someone to live.

Han Si-Hoo sat down on the chair and examined the vial.

Half of the blue liquid remained.

The other half had already been used by Seo-Ah.

He hadn’t intended to give this to her in the first place.

First, he needed to take it to Lee Yu-Ram or someone else who could help analyze it.

His gaze shifted to the drawer under the table.

Click.

He opened it.

Inside was a broken hair tie and a black ribbon.

Han Si-Hoo remembered the ribbon—he had given it to Seo-Ah as a gift when she was about ten.

Recalling that, Han Si-Hoo took the ribbon with him.

A gift.

Was it a gift?

Seo-Ah had folded a paper crane as a gesture of thanks for the ribbon.

She had found an old origami book from the junkyard.

Unfortunately, the important pages were torn, so the crane didn’t look much like a crane.

But it was still a good gift.

Click.

He opened the next drawer.

This time, there was a small notebook inside.

Han Si-Hoo opened it.

The notebook was filled with Seo-Ah’s notes.