The Rose Field Hospital (3)

The enigmatic figure, whose aura belied his true nature, wheeled himself towards his friend with a congenial expression. Despite the calm and friendly demeanor he projected, a hint of apprehension lingered in his mind.

Having heard tales of stranger danger in Nigeria, he couldn't shake the feeling that danger lurked in unexpected places, especially for foreigners like Dae-su Han whom the locals perceived as naive.

"Hi there." He said looking at me.

"Hello," I responded, meeting his gaze. Despite his efforts to mask his apprehension, my abilities allowed me to sense it lingering beneath the surface.

"What is going on? Dae-su Han, you traitor! You just want to make other friends here and not chillax like you claimed" He was already by the pale lad's side tapping him on his side jokingly.

"I just wanted to say hi to the foreigner. This place can be a little bit boring. And I just came here a few hours ago. " I explained, hoping to alleviate his suspicion.

While Dae-su Han remained composed, his friend Jackson Lee remained wary, his suspicions still lingering.

Jackson Lee embodied the archetype of those who believed they possessed deep knowledge when, in reality, their understanding was shallow at best.

His perceptions of his mother's homeland were warped by false and exaggerated notions, leading him to view random strangers with suspicion, assuming they were either scam artists or beggars.

Though his assumptions were often incorrect, he wasn't entirely mistaken about my intentions; I did indeed seek financial assistance from them.

However, armed with the knowledge of their past, I navigated the situation carefully so as to escape his rightful suspicion.

"My friend and I will likely be here for quite some time," I remarked, preempting their response. Without waiting for their reply, I continued, "How about you? Do you plan to stay here long?"

"Well, I'm here because I had a sickle cell crisis, but this one wasn't as serious as others, so I should be out by next week. So my friend here and I can continue touring Nigeria."

Indeed, this was a tactic to put them at ease. Once people began talking about themselves, they tended to relax, revealing more about themselves in the process. Birds of a feather, the two of them. They were exactly the same so making them drop their guard wasn't going to be hard. It was in fact already happening.

"That's really cool, to come down to your native land just for fun," I said.

"Well, it wasn't really for fun. It's my grandma's memorial, and Dae-su Han decided to tag along with me since they are basically on a break. Then we decided to extend the stay since we basically don't have anything to do back at home. "

"Why do you put it like I'm in school?" Dae-su Han interjected, stopping before revealing his status as a celebrity. He preferred to keep such information private, to strangers who didn't know him.

"Of course, you guys are in school. Taking breaks! Going on tours in buses like you're going camping... Just like school students," Jackson Lee chuckled, nearly falling off his wheelchair as he clutched his chest. He loved teasing his friend about his work and fame.

"Don't mind him. We were saying something before he arrived. " Dae-su Han said and then paused to recollect his thoughts and then continued " So, yes. I'm from South Korea. He's Jackson Lee from South Korea too," Dae-su Han explained, pausing to gauge my reaction.

It was always the same anticipation whenever he introduced Jackson Lee to people. He expected their surprise upon learning that his black friend was indeed of South Korean descent.

" Jackson Lee? He looks pretty much Nigerian to me," I replied, feigning surprise. I had to act accordingly to gain the trust of the two especially Jackson Lee's suspicious ass.

"That's what everyone says. He's actually from South Korea. You see his mom is from Nigeria and his dad is from South Korea. They were the loveliest couple in the area where we grew up. When I was younger I lived with my grandma and used to stay at theirs whenever my grandma was sick. He used to look more like his dad when he was younger but eventually, he started to look a lot more like his mom" I stared at him faking surprised expressions even though I already knew about that from my one week of work.

Oh how easy it is to make these people drop their guard. They were already narrating their life stories to me. Not like I was up to no good.

They were safe actually. It's not like there was anything anyone could do to them in the heavily guarded hospital. They were just being paranoid for nothing.

"Well, that is really cool. I'm Walker. Just Walker." I said to them and a surprised look more comical than mine appeared on their faces almost at the same time.

"Walker," I thought to myself. As the name "Walker" echoed in my mind, I couldn't help but ponder the simplicity of my choice. I could've done more than that but somehow I never thought about forging a name. I've never really had to talk about having a name or even talk at all...

Just a few hours ago, I was a formless being floating around the endless span of the great library while living the most monotonous life.

But now, spontaneously the name that I forged for myself was a typically caucasian name. What a smart move for a supposed omniscient being. If I was not with those two I would have seriously face-palmed myself.

"Wow. I didn't know people here answered such a name" Jackson Lee said, his face still showing remarkable surprise.

Okay, now that's a bit much. Nigeria is a very diverse country that is well known for its trying to model after Western ways. In fact, almost the entirety of humanity was trying to model after Western ways. For some reason, it's seen to be superior and the top-notch by majority of humans.

"Well, now you've seen that you thought wrongly, " I said to him.

Dae-su Han was surprised about something else entirely. "How do you not have a surname? Did you fall from Mars or something?" He asked while pondering different reasons why this stranger didn't have a surname.

'Was it an embarrassing surname? '

'Was he just eccentric? '

Questions like this poured into his thoughts but all these things were interrupted. At that very moment, our little chit-chat was interrupted by a strange turn of events in the course of humanity.

As the event unfolded, every story coursing through my consciousness echoed with a shared sensation—a piercing ache seizing each individual's forehead, drawing out into a lingering pain that threatened to overwhelm their senses.

From the youngest to the eldest, the infirm to the robust, the affluent to the destitute, all were gripped by the same inexplicable agony, uniting humanity in a moment of collective distress.

It made me wonder "Is this normal?" The sudden onset of this phenomenon left me pondering its significance. Never before in my one-week existence had I encountered such a disturbance, nor had I delved into the experiences of those who came before me...

Indeed, my knowledge of the period preceding my own existence is limited to the understanding that there were beings akin to myself, coexisting with humans long before my awareness came into being.