Dementia is a truly terrifying disease

It makes you lose everything.

Beautiful memories... sorrowful moments... even the happiest times... all of them.

It changes personalities as well.

Someone who never once raised their voice in anger may suddenly become violent, while a talkative person may grow silent.

The ability to recognize and understand others' words diminishes, and vocabulary rapidly decreases.

But these reasons alone are not why dementia is such a terrifying disease.

Dementia also causes distortions in time and space.

A daughter may appear as a mother.

A son may look like a father.

A grandson may be mistaken for an older brother.

A granddaughter may be seen as an older sister.

There are countless cases where patients leave home, convinced they are in the wrong place.

About 2% of all dementia patients go missing. And the cause is often these very misperceptions.

Fortunately, over 70% of them are found with the help of the public or at locations they feel attached to.

Since the country is small and surveillance cameras are installed on almost every street, another 25% are safely reunited with their families within a week.

The real problem lies with the remaining 5%.

Dementia causes not only cognitive decline but also a loss of sense of direction.

Patients may not recognize an approaching vehicle in time, and even if they wander deep into a forest, their lost sense of direction prevents them from realizing it.

In reality, most of these 5% are either killed in traffic accidents or found deceased in forests or city outskirts.

Unfortunately, Lee Jin-sun fell into the first category.

"It seems she was hit by a car while jaywalking. She was immediately transported here by ambulance, but she had already lost a lot of blood. We need the guardian’s consent before taking her into surgery. Please sign here."

"I already agreed…"

"Excuse me?"

"I agreed, I really did…"

"Ma'am?"

"I said I agreed!"

"I understand how you're feeling, but if we don't hurry—"

Following Kang Min-hee, Seo-jun shook his head at the doctor, signaling him to step back for a moment.

As the doctor withdrew with a sigh, Min-hee collapsed to the floor in a daze, sobbing.

"I agreed… I already agreed… So why, why… why… sob sob!"

Seo-jun had no way of knowing what had happened.

Of course, just like with Lee Ae-seon, he could have looked into her memories. But somehow, it felt wrong to do so.

"Honey!"

Someone rushed into the emergency room. It was Min-hee’s husband, Lee Chang-hyun.

"We agreed…"

"What?"

"We agreed that tying her down was okay… But then, then why did this happen? Why, why…!"

The doctor, watching the scene with a grave expression, hesitated as a nurse whispered something to him before cautiously approaching Chang-hyun.

"Are you the guardian?"

"Ah, yes. I'm her son-in-law."

"Your mother-in-law is in a very critical condition. She lost a lot of blood on the way here, and both her arm and kneecap are fractured."

"Fr-fractured?"

"Yes. But the fractures aren't even the biggest issue. The paramedics reported that when she was briefly conscious, she complained of chest pain and difficulty breathing. We're highly suspicious of severe internal organ damage. If she doesn't go into surgery immediately…"

The doctor glanced at Min-hee, who was still sobbing on the floor.

"…We may not be able to do anything."

"Not… be able to do anything…?"

The doctor remained silent in response.

Chang-hyun, gripping a pen, signed the consent form.

The doctor, now holding the signed form, urgently called out.

"Which OR is available?"

"Operating Room 3 is open."

"Move the patient to OR 3 immediately. Call Dr. Oh from Anesthesiology—"

As the doctor issued orders, Min-hee could only watch helplessly. There was nothing she could do.

Nothing at all.

"Thank you."

It was in the surgical waiting room.

After crying until exhaustion, Min-hee had passed out. As Chang-hyun stared at his unconscious wife, he suddenly spoke to Seo-jun.

"Pardon?"

"The nurse told me. You were the one who brought my wife to the hospital, weren’t you?"

"Ah, well… it just happened that way…"

Chang-hyun fell silent again before speaking after a long pause.

"This is my fault."

"…"

"I suggested moving my mother-in-law from the care center to a nursing home. My wife doesn’t know, but… I have more debt she isn’t aware of."

"Debt?"

"Yes. Even after downsizing our house to afford the care center, it wasn’t enough. I took out as much as I could in home loans, but even that wasn’t enough. Eventually, I had to secretly take out a personal loan."

"…"

"The principal never seemed to decrease, and the interest kept piling up like a snowball. I held on as long as I could, but eventually, I realized I couldn’t manage anymore. So, I suggested moving her to a nursing home, even though I knew what that meant to my wife…"

"…"

"But barely two weeks after moving her, this happened. If only I had been more capable… then none of this would have happened."

His bitter smile made Seo-jun want to comfort him. But he couldn’t find the words.

No words would be enough right now.

Just then—

The doctor emerged from the operating room.

He gave a slight nod to Chang-hyun, let out a sigh, and walked past the two of them. A nurse who had entered the operating room with him followed shortly after.

“How… did it go?”

“……”

“Why are you coming out already? It hasn't been that long since you went in.”

“Well… the surgery became difficult.”

“What do you mean…? We agreed to the surgery. We gave our consent.”

“Consent isn't the issue. She went into cardiac arrest. Her blood pressure was already low when she was brought in, which worried us. Given her age, experiencing cardiac arrest on top of that makes immediate surgery impossible.”

“……”

“Then…”

The nurse hurriedly left. No matter how many times one faced the family of a dying patient, it was something that never became easier to handle.

Seo-jun glanced at Chang-hyun before stepping into the restroom, where he made himself invisible and observed Jin-sun in the operating room.

He didn't even need to go in. Using demonic energy to assess her condition wasn't a difficult task.

“Hmmm…”

After a while, Seo-jun let out a deep sigh.

The nurse had softened the reality as much as possible.

Jin-sun’s condition was far worse. The fact that she was still breathing at all was nothing short of a miracle…

‘It’s impossible.’

He wanted to help if he could, but in her current state, there was nothing he could do.

She was gradually losing her life force. And that meant…

‘Hah…’

Seo-jun had witnessed countless deaths in the Demon Realm.

He saw Antoros sacrifice his life for him, Teranius perish while fighting "them" alone, and Serrael willingly fall into corruption to enter the Demon Realm in order to reveal the truth about "them."

He had witnessed the deaths of many whose names could no longer even be spoken.

Yet, he had never felt this deep ache in his chest before.

Antoros, Teranius, Serrael—

Their deaths meant annihilation. And annihilation did not signify an end. It was the literal erasure of existence.

From a human perspective, it might still be called death, but its meaning was quite different.

Annihilation was complete erasure.

A total absence.

Death was forgetting.

An incomplete absence.

The psychological gap between the two was greater than one might expect.

“Even if Dr. Park came, it would be difficult, wouldn't it?”

One of the medical staff still inside the operating room murmured while tidying up, looking down at Jin-sun.

“Not just Dr. Park. No one could save her at this point.”

“Yeah… I guess.”

Seo-jun nodded in agreement.

Jin-sun’s condition… No, to be precise, there was still a way to revive her.

If he could regenerate her damaged nerve cells and tissues, it would be possible.

But Seo-jun was not a god.

Although demons referred to him as the Demon God due to his power and authority, that did not mean he was omniscient or omnipotent.

To save her, certain conditions had to be met.

First, demonic energy.

If she already possessed demonic energy, it would be possible.

Considering that ether, which Awakened beings spoke of, had similar properties to demonic energy… In simple terms, if she were an Awakened, it would be possible.

But she was not an Awakened.

The next method was injecting demonic energy into her.

If he infused her with his demonic energy, she would become a part of his kin.

Though different from the Awakened ones in South Korea, she would still become an Awakened of sorts.

The problem was that her life force was already severely damaged.

It was similar to why he couldn’t grant Doo-shik’s request to return to the Demon Realm.

Strictly speaking, Jin-sun’s condition was due to her life force being compromised, while Doo-shik’s was due to rejection from being bound to Barunk's kin.

Of course, there was another way.

Reversing all causal relationships.

Just like when Park Sung-jun, driven by resentment, tried to ram his car into Ki Seok-Tae and Seo-jun stopped time—if he could reverse everything, it would be possible.

By rewinding time little by little, just enough to save Jin-sun before the accident, he could change the outcome.

However, that would mean sacrificing himself.

If he reversed time too much, his demonic energy would be depleted, and it would take a long time to recover.

And if "they" noticed him while he was weakened from using such a significant amount of power, there would be no way for him to defend himself.

That was why he only used time-stopping in fleeting moments—to avoid detection.

The medical staff began to move Jin-sun. Or rather, they were about to.

Beep, beep, beep, beep—!

The monitor alarm blared loudly. The previously steady graph suddenly spiked and fluctuated wildly. And then…

Beeeeeeeeep—.

“C-cardiac arrest…”

The assistant, who had stayed behind after the lead surgeon left, murmured.

“Doctor!”

“Ah! Prepare the defibrillator!”

“Defibrillator ready!”

The operating room became a flurry of movement.

Several nurses dashed out of the room, likely to fetch the lead surgeon.

“Charge to 200 joules! Clear!”

“No response!”

“Charge to 200 joules! Clear!”

“Still no pulse!”

“Charge to 250 joules! Clear!”

Jin-sun’s body jerked repeatedly with each shock from the defibrillator.

How much time had passed?

Despite the medical staff’s efforts, her pulse showed no signs of returning.