There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 692: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 27

"What do you mean he...regressed?" Bassena widened his eyes, shifting his gaze from the glass window to Radia on the couch.

Inside the bedroom, Han Joon was sitting awkwardly on the bed, hands fiddling with a box of chocolate milk. The white-coat talking to him was not his doctor, but a counseling psychiatrist. One for a child.

"Not exactly that, he just..." Laurel sighed while stroking Radia’s nape. The summoner had been burying his face in his palms for half an hour. "He thought he was eight years old. He said it had only been a few months since his mother and sister died."

"Amnesia?"

"Something like that," she nodded. "The doctor did say there was something slightly wrong in the brain scan, but he never thought it would be memory loss."

Bassena and Zein wanted to groan because--damn it! They thought it was over. "Is it permanent?"

"We...have no idea," Laurel shook her head sullenly. "We only found out, so we are still trying to figure out stuff."

Radia pressed his face harder into his palms, nails digging slightly into his skin and leaving reddish marks. The memory of what transpired that morning would haunt him for the rest of his life.

At first, Radia thought Han Joon was joking, pranking him like usual to lighten the mood. He stared at the man with an unimpressive gaze, but what Joon said next was something Radia knew his husband would never joke about.

Closing his eyes, Han Joon let out a resigned sigh. "Did my father send you?" he asked in a dry voice. "Does he finally decide to get rid of me?"

Radia was so startled that he jumped off the bed, staring at Han Joon with widened eyes, at his familiar, but also unfamiliar husband.

It wasn’t rare for him to see Han Joon putting on a cold mask, without any expression. But this...those black eyes were empty, dead. It brought him back to a memory of his childhood; of a boy who did not cry facing the dead body of his mother and sister because he was thought not to.

That boy, in the body of a forty-year-old, got up groggily. The black eyes no longer looked empty, but the innocence had been replaced by caution and suspicion. He scooted to the edge of the bed, before carefully standing up with his wobbly legs that hadn’t been used for a while. Seeing the man standing in attention, with perfect posture even on wobbly legs, and eyes lowered to the ground, Radia just wanted to cry.

He had always wondered what kind of life Han Joon had lived before meeting him during their teenage days. He knew the gist of it, but he could never bring himself to ask for details, because Han Joon had always deflected the topic about that with an uncomfortable look in his eyes.

Was this...was this how he finally found out about it? Must it be this way?

"...Joon?"

"Yes, Sir. Han Joon, Sir."

Radia closed his eyes for a second; it was just too much seeing his husband like this...again. Answering readily as if he were a soldier, even though it was clear that he was a child inside. A child...yeah, Joon called him uncle earlier, didn’t he?

Taking a deep breath, Radia shoved away all the shock and frustration he had. There would be time for that later--the most important thing was that Joon stayed alive. As long as Joon was alive, they could do something about this situation.

For now, just being seen as someone who wanted to kill him was enough stab to the heart for Radia. For a child to even think like that...there must have been precedent. Perhaps a threat. That bastard who didn’t have the right to call himself a father!

Radia walked around the bed to reach Joon, but stopped when he saw the man tensed considerably. His darting, cautious eyes were as if contemplating between running away and following the order. "Han Joon, I am not sent by your father."

The rigid face faltered, but the caution was still there. "Then...who are you?"

Who...who was he? Radia’s brilliant mind suddenly paralyzed because...how could he say he was a husband?

Fortunately, at that time, a team of doctors and nurses came inside the room to answer the summon of the emergency button Radia had pressed earlier. Immediately, he gave an ’order’ to the ’kid’ who was overly obedient to a fault.

"Joon, sit down for now," Radia said before turning toward the medical team and raising his head, halting them. He had to explain the situation first before the doctor examined Han Joon.

Obediently, Han Joon took a seat--not in the bed, but the couch beneath the window. The bed was only for sleeping or when he couldn’t move his body at all. Since he still could stand--even though his legs felt like jelly for some reason--he should only sit on a chair.

But...it was nice that he was allowed to sit. His father usually didn’t allow him to. Was the man telling him the truth, then? The red man wasn’t one of his father’s people? But...

But what if it was a trick to deceive him?

With that startling thought, Han Joon was torn into a dilemma. Should he stand up in case his father would get angry by this behavior, or would he get scolded because it would mean going against an order?

Hmm...but that red man earlier...looked familiar for some reason. That deep red hair and crimson eyes reminded him of the lovely boy telling him it was alright to cry when one felt sad or in pain. He wondered where that boy was now...

"Mister--I mean...Han Joon?"

While he was lost in thought, someone wearing a white coat was suddenly in front of him. Ah, no--he shouldn’t be this careless. Han Joon was about to spring to his feet again, but the doctor held him back by gently grabbing his shoulder.

"It’s okay, you don’t have to get up," the doctor said while crouching slightly. Strangely, the doctor’s line of sight was lower than his, so Joon had no choice but to look down. If he got up, it would feel disrespectful, right?

So he nodded, and the doctor spoke again. "Joon, do you know where this is?"

Han Joon glanced around without making it too obvious. Only his eyes were moving, but he could see that it wasn’t a regular bedroom. He glanced at the doctor. A lab? Was he sent to that lab again? But...he looked at the people behind the doctor. The lab never had nurses, so...

"Is it a hospital, Sir?"

The doctor flinched slightly, but he quickly managed his expression. In a case where the patient suffers from memory loss, they should refrain from making the patient unstable. "Yes, this is a hospital. Can you tell me what you know about yourself?"

Han Joon tilted his head slightly. Was this also a test? Then...

"My name is Han Joon. My father is Major Han Gyeong," he paused. That much information was alright, since they could find it through link, but...he wondered if he should also tell the doctor where he lived. "I’m seven years old."

The doctor glanced at Radia, who was covering his face in distress, leaning against the glass wall. The summoner had said Han Joon acted like a child, but they didn’t think he would be this young. On the other hand, he acted mature for a seven-year-old.

"What about your...family?"

Oh. "I have a baby brother, a small baby. My mother died while having him a few months ago. And my sister too..."

His voice trailed off, and he quickly clasped his mouth.

"Joon?"

"That’s not true," Han Joon shook his head strongly. "I--I didn’t say it. I don’t have a sister. Please don’t tell my father I said that."

The doctor frowned, reminding himself once again that he was facing a child, not a fully grown adult. "It’s okay, Joon. We’re not going to tell your father. You don’t have to be afraid, okay? You can tell us anything, no one will tell on you."

The black eyes hardened, and Han Joon curled his fists. For some reason, he clammed up after that, refusing to answer anything. Rather than stressing the patient, he decided to stall for time by letting the medical staff check his condition again, including another brain scan.

Especially another brain scan.

While Han Joon received more check-ups, the doctor called one of his friends who worked as a child counselor to get through to Han Joon. Han Shin, who came hurriedly after hearing that his hyung was awake, couldn’t even see the man.

Just like how Radia couldn’t explain that he was a husband, they had no idea how Joon’s state of mind would be if Shin came forward and said ’I am that baby brother’. So, he could only watch his hyung being led inside the bedroom again from the corner, trying not to be seen in case it would trigger something shocking. They were quite in luck because that body was no longer an esper body, or the seven-year-old boy inside might feel extremely uncomfortable.

"He didn’t even realize that he was in a bigger body," Laurel sighed. "The doctor said he seemed to be used to the check-ups, and when the nurses asked, he said he did it often in the ’lab’."

"That freaking lab who caused this whole shit!" Radia finally snapped. He didn’t say anything about it for a long time because Han Joon said they weren’t that bad, but...

Fuck. Since he couldn’t kill that bastard Han Gyeong again, he should at least destroy that lab or whatever, right?

"But...you can’t hide it from him forever, right?" Zein asked. "Sooner or later, he’ll realize it once he observes his reflection."

"That’s why we have that child counselor there," Laurel smiled wryly. "But nothing had been--oh!"

Laurel stood up, and everyone stirred when the child counselor opened the door. Her expression, however, wasn’t very good. "How is it?" Joon’s doctor asked, and the counselor shook her head.

"Nothing I said work," she sighed. "He kept thinking his father was sending me. Even when I showed him my license, he looked at me sharply and said he wouldn’t be deceived."

"That fucker!" Han Shin cursed fiercely. "How can he keep messing with us from the grave!"

The child counselor, who only heard a rough explanation, exhaled heavily. "Sir, I think...it will be better to tell him the truth. At least about his father."

Radia sighed deeply. As Han Joon’s medical proxy, the decision was in his hands. But honestly, they had no choice.

"Let’s tell him the truth," he stared at the man...the kid who sipped on his favorite chocolate milk in bliss.

He could only hope that the truth wouldn’t shatter that bliss.