The F-Class Healer Omega is a Villain [BL]

Reader Discretion Advised:

This chapter contains sensitive themes that may be distressing to some readers, including references to trauma and emotionally heavy subject matter. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Please take care while reading.

___

I have a really good memory, unlike my older brother. I can remember things that most kids my age wouldn't be able to remember at all. I even remember what my first word was. It was "Hyung."

"Rian… I have a feeling that you're going to be an alpha just like me."

My dad said this as I stared at the bright stars in the sky. He had a habit of guessing second genders for everyone, but he was always right.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

I replied, tilting my head while trying to count the stars with my eyes. My dad suddenly sighed from the side, making me lose my count. I forgot to count them again as I began listening to my dad with all my attention.

"This may be selfish of me, but I just sometimes wish you'd grow up faster so Areum can have someone to protect him."

"I can protect him even now."

Maybe dad thought I was always counting the stars to find out how many there were in the sky… but that wasn't it. I was counting them because I loved them. Just like that, I can protect Hyung—even as a kid—as long as I love him.

"I know you would, but there are limits… Areum is as delicate as glass. Someone like him wouldn't survive long if left to fend for himself. That might be because of your mother and me, though… I think we're to blame. But either way, we can't just stand by and watch him struggle through life all on his own! Ugh…"

Dad grabbed at his own hair with one hand, mumbling while looking down from the balcony, half of his body resting on the railing. At that time, I couldn't understand him at all.

"Honey! I've been searching the whole house for you and Rian. Areum is crying, can you stay with him? I'm busy right now."

Mom opened the balcony door as she spoke to dad. My dad nodded, and mom went back to work, leaving the balcony door unclosed.

"Wasn't he watching a horror movie? How did he end up crying?"

"But I remember you also cried watching a horror movie once."

I replied to dad, jumping down from the chair. The other difference between us would be that Hyung could cry a lot, unlike me.

"I'll stay with Hyung. You go help mom with work."

I said, walking to the door when I heard dad speak from behind.

"You also need Areum to survive, right? You need to protect him for yourself too."

"What are you talking about?"

I turned and looked up at my dad, but he just sighed deeply without saying anything more. I didn't wait for dad to speak again and quickly ran over to Hyung's bedroom. There was a rule my mom had made for Hyung: even though he cried a lot, she didn't want him to cry alone, so one of us always had to be with him when he cried. I was always the first to run to Hyung whenever he cried, though.

*

On the funeral of our parents, Hyung never left my side; he sat beside me through the entire day, so I didn't have to look for him. Even when we met our grandmother for the first time and she asked us to live with her, giving us separate bedrooms, I stayed in Hyung's bedroom because he never stopped crying. I couldn't leave him alone.

Whenever our grandmother came to see us, she would get angry at Hyung for crying, but she would also quietly leave when I asked her to not do that. She wasn't a good person. I decided to not let her talk to Hyung whenever she came to visit us; I would go up to her first and greet her so she wouldn't get angry. That worked for three days until one night when I was sleeping, she took Hyung with her, and I only found out in the morning when he came back to the room. Hyung never cried from that day onward.

"Hyung, why did she take you away at night?"

"Hm?"

Hyung seemed surprised when I asked him as he stared at the bowl of porridge on the bed without lifting the spoon. Grandmother had said we could only eat porridge once a day and that we had to eat in the bedroom. So Hyung and I always had plain porridge for breakfast in his bedroom, but today Hyung seemed distracted; he didn't eat even though he was hungry, and he wasn't crying either. I had never seen Hyung act like this before.

"Oh… um, it was something important. You were sleeping, so she only talked to me instead…"

"What did she say? Was she mean to you again?"

"No. You don't need to hear that."

I had already finished my bowl of porridge, but Hyung hadn't eaten a single bite when the maids came to clean up. No matter how much I asked, Hyung wouldn't tell me about it. I had to give up on it in the end. I knew something had happened that night, but I couldn't find out what. After that day, Hyung rarely showed any feelings; he wouldn't cry even when I forced him to watch a sad movie with me. He didn't laugh even when I tried my best to make him laugh.

That's how I knew Hyung wasn't doing well. He had changed into someone who was scared to react to anything. I stopped greeting or talking with grandmother altogether. I hated her. Everything she did only made me hate her more. Repeatedly ignoring grandmother made her angry, but I was also angry with her, so I still didn't speak to her when one day she came up to me to talk to me first.

"Rian, why don't you greet me these days?"

"..."

"Should we have dinner together downstairs today?"

I only glared at her. Grandmother must've noticed that I was angry at her in that moment because her hand instantly raised as she suddenly hit me across the face. It hurt. It was my first time being hit by someone; it hurt, but it wasn't enough to make me talk with her. My eyes were still fixed on her as she lifted her hand again to hit me, but before that, I saw Hyung cover me completely with his body. A loud thud came from behind him, but I couldn't see anything with Hyung hugging me tightly.

"You clearly said you wouldn't touch him!"

Hyung shouted as his hold on me loosened, and I saw grandmother drag Hyung by his hair away from me.

"Hyung!"

I immediately ran up to him as grandmother looked back at me; I repeatedly hit the hand gripping Hyung's hair with both of my fists.

"Let him go! I'll greet you from now on! Don't hurt Hyung!"

I looked her in the eyes, agreeing to greet her because no matter how much I tried, I couldn't get her hand off of Hyung's hair.

"Rian, go back to your bedroom. I'll come over in a bit."

Hyung said, stopping me from trying to free him even though his hair was stretched from the force. It surely hurt a lot, but Hyung remained calm and didn't cry, only asking me to go back. That day, I learned that if I tried to stop grandmother from hurting Hyung, she would only do it more.

*

I'm beginning to understand what my dad meant by saying there were limits. Ever since that night, Hyung had always been in pain; his old injuries had no time to heal because she would take him away every other day to her office, and Hyung would come back with more wounds than before. I didn't interfere; I couldn't unless I wanted Hyung to get more hurt. I was helpless against her.

I was always by Hyung's side, but that was all I could do. Grandmother was away; she had said it would take her a few days, and we weren't allowed to eat without her. Today was the fourth day she hadn't come back. I can endure the hunger, but seeing Hyung fall over so often while walking just because he was too weak and needed to eat was something I couldn't endure. I was mad at myself more than at my grandmother.

"Hyung, let's just stay in the bedroom…"

I muttered weakly, following Hyung, who was walking slowly towards the kitchen, which was downstairs. He had almost fallen down the steps but gotten back on his feet, saying he was fine. If he wasn't doing well, he should stay in bed…

Hyung didn't reply to me as I watched him trying to make a sandwich quickly in the kitchen. I thought he was trying to eat secretly since he was too hungry and grandmother wasn't home. The maids were also asleep; he could just eat without anyone knowing, so I stayed quiet while looking over the door to see if anyone was coming.

"Rian. Come here."

Hyung asked me to stand in the corner behind the door of the kitchen; I did as he said, but then he handed me the cheese sandwich he had made. I confusedly stared at the sandwich as Hyung spoke.

"Eat this before the others notice. Finish all of it, I'll be on the lookout."

"I'm not hungry, you eat it."

I lied to Hyung; I don't do it often, but he knew I was lying, so that one doesn't count.

"I made it just for you. Will you really not eat it?"

As I held the sandwich Hyung had given me, he started to speak in a low voice with affection, though he didn't smile like he did before, knowing I would do anything for him if he asked me like this. I reluctantly agreed, taking a bite of the sandwich as Hyung stared at me; seeing I was eating, he got up and stood before the door, freezing in his steps as I looked up and saw grandmother standing in front of Hyung. I immediately hid the half-eaten sandwich behind me, but it was too late; she had already seen it.

"You couldn't wait for me to get home?"

Grandmother said; we were both silent. I knew if I said anything, she would only get more angry, but I still spoke out.

This chapter first appeared on M|V|L^EMPYR.

"I was too hungry…"

Her eyes moved from Hyung to me; she was definitely angry. I knew she was going to hit me when Hyung blocked her eyes from reaching me.

"I made the sandwich for him, Rian was—"

Hyung had yet to finish his words when he was struck by her, falling to the floor by the impact. I dropped the sandwich behind my back, wanting to move towards him, but I stayed quiet. I shouldn't do anything more. She would only get more violent with Hyung.

"I must've been gone for too long. Let's go, I'll remind you again how you should be behaving with your grandmother."

I knew she was going to grab Hyung's hair again. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't just stand and watch Hyung getting hurt. I covered Hyung's head before her hand could touch it.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it wasn't Hyung's fault, I shouldn't have asked to eat."

I stared up at her, apologizing again and again, but even that didn't seem to work. She didn't lose any of her anger as she threw me to the side and pulled Hyung by his hair, twisting his neck while walking away to her office, which was nearby; I immediately followed after them. She must've not noticed me because she didn't lock the office door behind her.

I stayed at the door, careful to not let her see me while peeking from the small opening of the office door. She didn't wait anymore; turning towards him, she began to slap his face without a break. Hyung stood still, taking every hit until he fell to the ground a few steps away from her. I saw his left hand shaking, unable to lift him upwards as he slowly raised his head. The butterfly hair tie hung from the ends of his hair as he discreetly grabbed it, taking it off from his hair; he gripped it tightly in his right hand. It was our mother's hair tie, the last belonging of our parents we had gotten. Grandmother was unaware of it, so Hyung tried his best to hide it even as he kept falling.

"Get up quicker, I don't have time to waste on you."

"Yes."

Hyung replied, getting back to his feet, his eyes fully shut. I could only see Hyung getting more and more injured. What could I even do? I couldn't stop her. I couldn't protect Hyung. What can I even do for Hyung?

"Uh… she's hitting the kid as soon as she came back."

"Rian? What are you doing here? Let's go back, don't look, it's best to not see it."

The maid that usually brought breakfast for us noticed me, taking my hand to keep me away from the office. I let her take me to the bedroom because I also didn't want grandmother to see me and get more angry at Hyung.

*

"Mhm…"

Hyung winced from the pain as I applied the ointment on his face. Both of his cheeks were swollen red with sharp bleeding lines coming down to his neck. Hyung was frowning visibly as he sat on the carpet, waiting for me to finish applying the ointment. I was careful with my touch, but it was still too painful…

"I'm done."

My voice came out weaker than I thought. Hyung opened his eyes, staring at me as I sullenly glanced down at my feet when Hyung suddenly grabbed my hand.

"Where did you get this cut from?"

Hyung must've known it was from when grandmother had pushed me to the floor in the kitchen as he didn't say more. A few small black dots appeared on the cut. Hyung healed the cut on my hand, looking even more tired and in pain than before, but he never once cried.

"Hyung…"

I hugged him as I called out.

"Hm?"

The only thing I could do for Hyung. I gave it a lot of thought. Since he couldn't cry anymore, I decided to cry for him. It was the only thing I could do for him.

"Rian?"

Tears dripped onto Hyung's shoulder as I cried, and Hyung's arms wrapped around me weakly as he began to speak urgently.

"Rian? Did something happen?"

"Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"Did she do anything to you?"

I shook my head at his every question because none of them were the reason why I was crying. Hyung had only seen me cry like this a few times, so I must've worried him. It would've been better if Hyung had just cried from the pain and said it hurt instead of always saying he was fine. At least then I could just stay by his side until he was feeling better after crying. But if Hyung wouldn't even cry, there was nothing I could do for him.

*

I think me crying so often scared Hyung. One night, he suddenly asked me to get up and that we were leaving. Of course, I agreed; if Hyung wanted to leave, I would go with him anywhere as long as we were together, it didn't matter where we stayed. I would go anywhere with Hyung.

He had been working as a healer, sneaking out every night; only I knew that, but I had no idea why he had started working as a hunter. When mom and dad had asked him in the past if he wanted to become a hunter, he had said he wouldn't do it. But that might have been when we lived with our parents and not grandmother.

Hyung brought me to a place I had never seen before. He said he bought it with his own money and that we didn't need to live with grandmother anymore. He also promised me that he wouldn't let me starve ever again…

I didn't really care about that anymore. I was really happy that we didn't have to live with grandmother anymore, but Hyung was still the same. He never smiled or cried. He would come home late at night, often injured, and sometimes he wouldn't even come home at night.

I had always thought that as long as I loved Hyung, I would be able to protect him.

That was what I used to think, but when I couldn't protect Hyung, I realized he needed someone else. If I couldn't grow up any faster… I only wished for anyone else who could come and protect Hyung.

Every night, I earnestly prayed for someone kind like my parents to come and protect Hyung.