The Genius Who Reads the World - Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Secret Temptation (4)
TL/ED – Miso
The man who stabbed the middle-aged man ran away without even thinking of looking around.
“Why? What’s going on?”
As Lee Hye-rim tried to peek out from behind Woojin, he blocked her with his body.
“Don’t look. Someone got stabbed.”
“W-what did you say?”
Woojin immediately called 119 while approaching the man.
“Someone has been stabbed. Please send the police as well. This is…”
While talking on the phone, Woojin laid the middle-aged man flat and pressed his abdomen firmly with his hand.
At the same time, he checked his wrist.
His pulse was speeding up.
This was the cerebellum’s response to a drop in blood pressure caused by bleeding, increasing the heart rate.
His breathing was rough and fast.
As the heart rate and pulse increased, the body had to supply more oxygen, causing the respiratory rate to rise. It was an autonomic nervous system response.
However, as time passed, the opposite would happen.
Because the body was dying.
‘Hemoperitoneum (intra-abdominal bleeding).’
The amount of bleeding was not small.
Woojin, noticing the man’s face turning pale, asked him a question.
“Sir, what is your blood type?”
“Gasp… gasp… B… B type… gasp…”
Nodding, Woojin spoke into his phone.
“There is significant bleeding. There is a stab wound to the abdomen caused by a knife. It appears to be abdominal hemoperitoneum, and an urgent transfusion is needed. His blood type is B.”
-Excuse me? Could you repeat that?
“The bleeding is…”
Woojin rephrased his words, realizing that the responder might not understand medical terms.
“He was stabbed, and he’s losing a lot of blood. He needs a transfusion during transport. His blood type is B.”
-Please lay him flat. Where exactly is the stab wound?
“The abdomen.”
-Then, use your hands or a cloth to cover the wound…
“I’ve already done that. Just bring B-type blood and get here quickly.”
Surprisingly, Woojin looked at the middle-aged man with complete composure.
His breathing had slowed down compared to before. His pulse was also slower.
His face was turning paler.
After five minutes, paramedics and police officers arrived.
As one paramedic lifted the middle-aged man onto a stretcher, he turned to Woojin.
“Are you a doctor by any chance…?”
The paramedic had heard from the dispatcher that the caller might be a doctor.
But Woojin looked too young.
“No. Did you bring the blood?”
“Yes, we did.”
The paramedics quickly disappeared, and two police officers approached Woojin.
“We have a few questions.”
Woojin nodded slowly, but his speech was quick.
“The cap he was wearing was black with a ‘K’ logo on it. The mask was sky blue, like the ones commonly seen in hospitals. His top was gray and white with horizontal stripes in a simple pattern. He was wearing beige pants with pockets and buttons on both thighs. His height was around 171 cm, and his shoe size was about 265 mm. He had pulled his mask up high and pressed his cap down as much as possible, so I couldn’t see his face.”
The police officers standing in front of Woojin blinked in surprise.
It felt like the suspect’s details had just flashed past in an instant.
Had there ever been a witness who described a perpetrator in such detail?
No matter how hard they searched their memories, they couldn’t recall such a report.
Most eyewitnesses either rambled incoherently or were extremely cautious.
“I’ll repeat it for you.”
“Ah, yes.”
One officer quickly turned on a recorder.
With that, yellow police tape was set up, and after providing some personal details, Woojin walked toward Lee Hye-rim, who had been standing at a distance.
This must be her first time experiencing something like this.
But for Woojin, dealing with Lee Hye-rim, this was an ideal situation.
Experiencing something for the first time in life brings shock, and he can be the one to soothe her mind and guide her thoughts.
Like a parent comforting an innocent child, offering coping strategies and solutions.
A child observes and learns from their parents. Even as a fully grown adult, they often develop similar tendencies to their parents.
Right now, all he need to do is comfort her.
Woojin placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke.
“You were really startled, right? It’s okay now.”
“Uh…”
“There’s nothing to worry about. The culprit didn’t see our faces. You were behind me, so he couldn’t have seen you.”
At Woojin’s words, Lee Hye-rim felt a sense of relief.
“They’ll catch him soon. And the man who went to the hospital will recover quickly. The wound didn’t seem too deep.”
Her shocked mind slowly started returning to normal.
The way Woojin had spoken like a doctor when calling for help, how he had calmly exchanged words with the police.
The more she learned about him…
The more she realized how little she actually knew. He became more and more unknown, no, even mysterious.
And right now, she was with such a person.
She quickly pulled something out of her bag.
It was none other than wet wipes.
“Here.”
Woojin’s hands were covered in blood.
“Thanks.”
Woojin took the wet wipes and started wiping his hands.
Lee Hye-rim watched him. Given the circumstances, he should have at least frowned while wiping away the blood, but he remained completely composed.
He simply looked like someone wiping off a stain.
“Let’s go.”
“Aren’t you throwing that away?”
“I’ll throw it in a trash can.”
*
The next day, Woojin arrived at the luxury apartment complex where he had arranged to meet Lee Hye-rim.
It was to attend a tutoring session.
A high-cost private lesson that most people couldn’t even dream of taking.
It would be a huge help.
He had heard that her parents weren’t home.
She had simply said that this was a place she often visited when she wanted to be alone.
Woojin had a good guess about her family background, but he didn’t bring it up.
There was a time and place for everything.
He took the elevator up to the royal floor.
Ding-dong—
When he rang the doorbell, Lee Hye-rim swung the door open.
“You’re here? Come in.”
The living room was spacious but empty.
There was only a sofa and a TV. The kitchen was the same, bare and minimalist.
“Where’s the tutor?”
“He should be here soon. Want an Americano?”
“I’m good.”
“He focuses on teaching for the college entrance exam. Apparently, he’s pretty well-known in this field. Judging by the way he explains things, I can see why.”
“How much is the tutoring fee?”
“Not sure. I don’t pay for it, so I wouldn’t know.”
Woojin gave a small nod.
That was just like Lee Hye-rim.
Less than thirty minutes later, the tutor arrived at the apartment.
He appeared to be in his late twenties.
“Hey, Hye-rim! And you must be the friend she mentioned. Nice to meet you.”
“Hello.”
As the tutor extended his hand for a handshake, Woojin took it.
However, the tutor’s handshake was dominant.
Their hands were clasped, but the tutor’s hand was slightly turned upward, while Woojin’s was tilted downward.
This indicated that the tutor did not consider him an equal.
From this handshake alone, Woojin could tell, the tutor saw him as someone he could dominate or control.
Of course, this behavior was likely unconscious.
A truly equal handshake should have both hands positioned vertically, perfectly aligned.
If you look at photos of politicians shaking hands, you’ll notice this immediately.
– A fake smile.
– Eyes scanning me, assessing and wary.
– A dominant handshake.
Under different circumstances, Woojin might have reacted differently, but he brushed the thought aside.
Whether the tutor was interested in Hye-rim or not was irrelevant.
What mattered was the knowledge inside his brain.
After exchanging greetings, the tutor sat at the large dining table and said,
“Alright, let’s get started with today’s lesson.”
The first subject chosen was math.
The problems were at a level only high school seniors would study – proof that this tutor specialized in college entrance exam preparation.
Woojin flipped through the workbook that Lee Hye-rim had prepared and listened as the tutor began explaining.
“For the curve y = ex with respect to the real number t…”
Lee Hye-rim furrowed her brows, finding the problem difficult, while Woojin, as always, remained expressionless.
“There’s a trap here. The function y= l f(x) – k…”
As the tutor read through the problem, he glanced at Lee Hye-rim and smiled.
“If you avoid the trap, what’s the correct answer?”
“Number 3?”
Looking at her with an affectionate gaze, as if he found her cute, the tutor then shifted his attention to Woojin.
He had heard that Woojin was preparing for the GED.
It would be tough.
In front of Lee Hye-rim, he planned to subtly belittle Woojin.
Woojin answered.
“Number 1.”
The tutor’s eyes widened slightly.
But he quickly masked his surprise and put on a knowing expression.
“Oh, you got it right. Impressive. You must be studying hard. Want to try solving this one? I need to gauge your level so I can adjust my teaching accordingly.”
As he pointed to a problem, the corner of his mouth curled slightly upward.
A smirk.
He had deliberately chosen a difficult question to intimidate Woojin in front of Lee Hye-rim.
Woojin glanced at the workbook, twirling a pen in his fingers once.
“Number 3.”
“Your name is Woojin, right? If you don’t know, just admit it. Guessing like this—”
As the tutor spoke, Woojin began marking answers in the workbook.
In less than 40 seconds, he had completed ten problems.
‘Is this bastard messing with me…?’
While the tutor was lost in that thought, Lee Hye-rim, who had been checking the answers beside Woojin, spoke in a dazed voice.
“Hey, Shin Woojin, what the hell…?”
Not a single mistake.
Even the subjective questions were correct.
At that moment, Woojin spoke.
“Instead of these… do you have anything harder?”
*****
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