There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 672

Chapter 672: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 7

From the thin shirt and the shorts the doctor wore, it seemed like he, too, was in a pool party like them. There was still leftover sand on his legs, and the white coat didn’t seem to fit him, probably given by a colleague before going to the ward. Radia felt guilty about cutting someone’s hard-earned vacation short--but the guilt only persisted until he saw the doctor’s troubled expression.

Yeah. The doctor knew and agreed to hide it.

"Mister Mallarc, I--"

"I’m sorry to disturb your vacation, Doctor," Radia stood up with his dry, business face as if he had never been in distress for the past two hours. The crimson eyes had regained their full focus. "But I need an answer to my husband’s condition."

It was clear that the doctor was terrified of Radia--after all, the hospital itself belonged to the Mallarcs, and the Director was Radia’s uncle. But the doctor’s hesitation was also palpable from the way he didn’t answer right away; whether it was from a physician’s code to their patient, or because he felt guilty and feared the consequences.

But Radia had no interest in considering all of that.

"Surely whatever it is he told you to keep a secret does not apply in this situation?" he had to hold back from hissing and lashing out, staring at the doctor with fury brewing just below a boiling point.

"Yes," the doctor, fortunately, had no intention of arguing since what he was afraid of had happened."Yes, you’re right," he turned around and gestured toward the hall. "Please follow me."

Along with Han Shin, Radia followed the doctor while the others stayed in front of Joon’s room to wait for any news. Another doctor came with them to bring the result of the examination they had been doing, including Mana Resonance Imaging, before returning after receiving instructions on what they should do.

Inside the doctor’s office, Joon’s doctor looked at the chart and couldn’t hold back his sigh. He could see the disappointment and hurt in those crimson eyes. Knowing Radia Mallarc, the doctor knew that the display of emotion was deliberate, perhaps to make him feel guilty and uncomfortable to hide anything more.

But the doctor felt wronged. He had told Han Joon not to hide his condition from his family, but what could he do if the patient himself was stubborn? It was Han Joon’s right to keep his illness to himself, and the doctor didn’t want to breach the code.

Could anyone even understand how stressful it was hiding the condition of the hospital Director’s nephew-in-law? The husband of the Chairman and the future patriarch owning his workplace? He had no idea whether he would be sued by his patient or fired by his boss.

He even had to take a vacation because of his stress, but what he was afraid of had really happened.

Swallowing another sigh, he raised his head to look at the boss of his boss, who was also the husband of his patient, to deliver disappointing news.

If you told me to tell you what is ailing him, then forgive me--I couldn’t figure it out myself. All I had been doing was helping him reduce his pain and trying not to make his body worsen," the doctor said.

The twitch in the corner of Radia’s eyes was terrifying, and he couldn’t even see the face of the healer, whose bowed face was covered by messy black hair.

"It is not an illness, but a condition," the doctor continued while opening up the patient’s file on his table’s screen. "Well, many conditions pile into one big trouble."

Several files, including scans and MaRI, charts, and even ultrasounds spread across the screen. At the top left corner was the picture of Han Joon’s ID and Esper’s license, still showing him in a military buzz cut several years ago.

The doctor started to explain using the newest result that just came in, with several layers of analysis of Han Joon’s body. What Radia and Shin could derive from the doctor’s explanation was that Joon’s organ system was declining due to excess exposure to cold and pressure. It didn’t show from the outside because everything happened on the inside, and this time, the damage started to crawl to his brain.

It wasn’t a condition that other people typically had, but the doctor likened it to a cancer cell in the form of cold energy.

"The biggest source of this is his trait--intentionally decreasing one’s body heat for a single time was already quite dangerous, but he had been doing it so often for more than a decade that even when he did not use the trait, his body already get affected," the doctor explained further.

It was everything Radia had been afraid of, and he felt a cold wind blow past his neck.

Han Joon didn’t choose this path as an esper by his own will. He became an esper because of his father, and he chose to become an invisible assassin to protect Radia. In the end...wasn’t it because of him?

Radia clenched his hand so hard his nails dug into his palm.

"The cold energy, in abundance, is never good for a human’s body. In his body, especially..."

"What do you mean?"