Fairy Trap

long hair like an apple as if even a single hair was disturbing, crumpled her face.
Yi-Gyeol tried to raise his upper body first, saying he was sorry for making a loud noise, but his weak arm kept slipping in the water.

“Why do you have to make everything worse, why?!”

Yi-Jin, who quickly grasped the situation, shouted and raised Yi-Gyeol’s upper body.
Leaning him against the bottom of the sink, Yi-Jin took a towel from the bathroom and sharp-temperedly wiped off the water.

“Ah, really! So annoying!”

At Yi-Jin’s angry roar, Yi-Gyeol could just smile, feeling sorry, and lowered his eyes.

“…Sorry.
I was trying not to disturb you…”

“Is this not disturbing right now?! I’d rather you called me?!”

“But you’re studying… No, I’m sorry, sis.”

After wiping the water off the floor, Yi-Jin took off Yi-Gyeol’s soaked top and threw it into the laundry basket with the towel.
After putting the water bottle that fell on the floor back into the refrigerator and turned around, Yi-Gyeol, who was trembling with his fleshless body, faintly laughed.
Which made Yi-Jin even angrier.

“Is this the situation to laugh right now? Stop laughing like a fool!”

Although he lowered his eyes again, the awkward smile on Yi-Gyeol’s mouth did not disappear.
Seeing Yi-Jin’s annoyed voice made Yi-Gyeol’s shoulders shrink even more. 

“From what time have you been awake? I think mom gave you food before she went earlier.”

It sounded as if he was treating him like a dog, but Yi-Gyeol didn’t express his feelings.

“I’ve been up from around 7:30.” 

“What? It’s been two hours.
You have to go to sleep quickly, why did you come out?!”

After estimating the time, Yi-Jin became angry again like fire lashing out.
She put her hands under Yi-Gyeol’s armpits and dragged him to the room. 

“If time runs out and you have a headache again, you’re not the only one who suffers.
Can’t you think of us, too?”

“…Sorry.”

That’s the only thing that Yi-Gyeol could say.
Even though he was dragged by his younger sister like a sack of hot potato, he couldn’t think of raising his lowered eyes even slightly. 

Yi-Jin, who barely managed to lay Yi-Gyeol on the mat, took out an appropriate shirt and put it on him.
She covered him with a blanket then checked the time, and again, she made an annoyed expression on her face.
She told Yi-Gyeol, who is still wearing an awkward smile, to quickly go to sleep with a disapproving voice, and then left the room without looking back. 

He heard Yi-Jin making annoyed sounds as she went to the door.
Soon, with the bang of the door closing, there were no more other sounds heard.

The darkened room was as quiet as if nothing had happened.
All he could hear was the faint ticking sound of the wall clock. 

The smile on Yi-Gyeol’s lips gradually disappeared.

A useless lump of nuisance.

He can’t even drink a sip of water without the help of others, he can’t also find anything to do on his own.
It was not enough that he brought trouble to his family, but he makes it even more difficult for them as time goes by. 

Yi-Gyeol’s parents dragged money from all over the place just to try to overcome the incurable disease somehow, and now they are in debt.
They became so busy working just to pay off their debts, but Yi-Gyeol’s body, which actually cost them the money, only got worse day by day.
Even now, even though he had been visiting the hospital every two weeks and receiving a generous amount of nutritional supplements after a long IV, there was no sign of improvement at all.

‘Maybe it’s much better to just die.’

He sneered at himself and closed his eyes.
The thought that living itself was nothing less than tormenting his family quickly brought tears to his eyes.

He squeezed his trembling hand under the blanket.
Is there anything he can do to help everyone if he stays alive?

He couldn’t drink water, so his throat hurt, but he tried to ignore it and forced himself to sleep.
It seemed that being asleep is the best thing he can do for his family.
He thought that it would be much better if he could just completely fall asleep like this, never to wake up.

He slept until he was fed-up with it, but sleep always comes to him as he will it.
That’s the only advantage to him.

At some point that he doesn’t know when, the moment he fell asleep, he felt freer than when he’s awake.
When he was asleep, he didn’t have to lie down and stay locked in his room like a rat.
He doesn’t have to worry about anything, let alone pressure someone just to help him. 

In fact, he also thought it was strange to say he could feel something as he was asleep.
How can someone sense anything when he is asleep?

However, Yi-Gyeol was feeling a strange sensation all over his body as if denying the possibility of such thoughts.
The moment he felt like falling asleep, his whole body seemed to finely shake and seemed to rock up and down and repeat over and over again. 

By the time the vibration stopped, Yi-Gyeol slowly opened his eyes.
He could see the same surrounding area exactly as if he hadn’t closed his eyes from the beginning.

The ceiling looks much closer than when he was lying down.
Nevertheless, Yi-Gyeol looked away without showing any signs of being surprised.
With the feeling of floating in the air, his vision gradually returned. 

In Yi-Gyeol’s eyes, he could see himself sleeping deeply with a thin and gaunt face.