SATURDAY 11

It was true that my arm was injured because Mr. Taeseon pushed me. However, since Mr. Taeseon had a reason he couldn’t help, it wasn’t his fault.

As he always did when I was sick while with him, he sought out Professor Jang and headed to Inhyun University Hospital. It was because he knew that person was the long-time primary physician for both Inha and me.

I heard that he had collapsed a while ago but had now recovered and returned to work. The reason he collapsed was that while I was unconscious from the traffic accident, he had clung to me day and night alongside the Bodhisattva to care for me.

Perhaps the Bodhisattva already realized back then that I had possessed Inha’s body. If so, wouldn’t she have consulted Professor Jang as well…?

I was worried about what I would hear if I went to see the professor.

That anxiety approached as a pain greater than the throbbing ache in my wrist. Anxiety and fear are strange. They are clearly nothing more than emotions, yet they are accompanied by actual pain and suffering.

Furthermore, the current situation was also uncomfortable. For some reason, Mr. Taeseon did not call a chauffeur but sat in the driver’s seat himself. I hesitated for a moment before sliding my body into the seat next to him, climbing in cautiously as if hitching a ride in someone else’s car—though that wasn’t exactly wrong to say now.

I even fumbled clumsily several times while buckling the seatbelt. Trying to do it with only one hand was harder than I thought. In the past, Mr. Taeseon would have fastened it for me before I even said a word…. After struggling for a while, I finally succeeded in wearing the safety belt.

With a short sigh, I glanced at Mr. Taeseon. He had been looking at a pad during that brief interval, then he tucked it into the door pocket and pressed the ignition button.

Vroom…

With a low exhaust sound, lights flickered on throughout the car. Simultaneously, the air conditioning began to run.

It was late April, and although the weather couldn’t be called hot even compared to previous years, Mr. Taeseon was sensitive to heat, though he didn’t show it. Especially in humid weather like lately, it was common for him to droop like a blade of grass.

Though the reason his complexion looked bad now was certainly not just because of the humidity or the heat. Considering his personality, he would never want to show a weak side to “Inha.”

However, a complexion that looked as if he might collapse at any moment and sunken eyes weren’t matters that could be controlled by willpower. I looked away from him. He quietly lowered the air conditioner temperature.

Whirrr…

With a loud noise, cold air poured out from the vents. I quickly reached out and closed all the vents on my side, but I couldn’t help the internal temperature of the car dropping itself.

Mr. Taeseon gets very hot, and I get very cold. When the weather became like this, Mr. Taeseon used to tuck blankets and dolls around me and turn on the seat heaters.

Then it became just the right temperature for me; I remember how much I laughed when Mr. Taeseon first did that because the situation and my appearance were so funny.

I liked the chilly wind of the air conditioner hitting my forehead and the warmth enveloping my body. It seemed that right now, Mr. Taeseon had no intention of showing me such consideration.

I arrived at the hospital looking pale. Of course, Mr. Taeseon didn’t pay me any mind….

“….”

“Taeseon… CEO?”

Somehow, it ended up being a mix of his name and the title “CEO,” but Mr. Taeseon didn’t care. He just stared at me with the same mysterious expression as before.

I truly couldn’t understand that expression. It was strange to say he simply disliked me or felt contempt.

“…You seem cold?”

“Ah, I, I also get cold easily….”

“I’ve never heard such a thing from Inyoung.”

“Would I… say it… unnecessarily…?”

“That is also true. You must have been cold. I am sorry.”

He spoke coldly for an apology and entered the hospital first. The nurses were already out waiting. I stood there dazed before awkwardly following him.

April in a leap year was still quite chilly, and the air was humid. Perhaps because of the humid air, it felt even colder. While I was squeezing my pale fingertips, a nurse made a puzzled face.

“Are you cold?”

“Ah, no. I’m okay.”

Mr. Taeseon turned around as if he were about to intervene. As if to block that, I quickly told the nurse I was fine. Mr. Taeseon, whose lips twitched as if he were about to say something, soon narrowed his eyes and turned away.

After going up to the ward, Mr. Taeseon disappeared somewhere. Not long after, Professor Jang and an orthopedic professor came up together, and both professors frowned simultaneously as soon as I pulled back my wrist sleeve.

Professor Jang, in particular, had a face full of worry.

“My goodness, what happened? Did you fall? Now that I look, Inha, your complexion isn’t good either….”

Professor Jang glanced outside the hospital room. He seemed to be looking for Mr. Taeseon, who had left. I quickly shook my head.

“I tripped in the living room and fell. I’m not used to the furniture layout…. As for my complexion, I think it’s because I was cold while coming here with the air conditioning on.”

“What air conditioning in this weather? You should have asked to turn it off if you were cold.”

“The CEO is sensitive to the heat.”

“Sigh, still, you should have asked to turn it off if you were cold. How can you not say a single word like that. Anyway, we should take some pictures first. Right, Professor Yoon?”

Professor Jang spoke to the orthopedic professor. He nodded and busily operated the pad he brought. Then, after a short while, a nurse came up.

“Would you come this way, Mr. Yoon Inha?”

I followed the nurse around and completed the necessary tests. X-rays, CT, ultrasound. It was an excessively large number of tests for just a slightly strained ligament.

As I passed the waiting room to return to the ward and go to the hospital room, I caught a glimpse of Mr. Taeseon through the waiting room glass window. He seemed focused on work.

Before he could notice, I quickly passed the waiting room and entered the hospital room, where Professor Jang was alone. The professor, who was looking into a pad with a serious face, looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled at me.

The nurse only followed that far and closed the door from the outside. I watched the heavy door close for a moment when—thud—with that sound, the professor spoke.

“Now, shall we talk for a bit? …Inyoung.”

“….”

Without realizing it, I took a step back. My back hit the hospital room door with a thump, and a stinging pain shot through my arm.

“Come over here. If you’re by the door, the sound might leak out.”

“…Yes, Professor.”

Enduring the pain in my arm, I approached the professor. I naturally knew that the professor would know my secret. Because the Bodhisattva said so. He must have known from the beginning. Since he was with the Bodhisattva during the week I was unconscious.

It was just that the shock of my name being called for the first time in a long while was great. No matter if it came from the professor’s mouth, being called “Inyoung” by another person was so long ago….

I hesitated for a moment and then asked.

“You heard it from the Bodhisattva, right? At, at first. Right after the accident, when you were looking after me.”

“That’s right. It was hard to believe at first. For another soul to enter a person’s body…. Inyoung, I didn’t see you that way, but you really are something. Was it that you couldn’t hold back at the moment your life was on the line, as much as you had been suppressing it?”

I couldn’t say anything. The professor was strangely hostile. He took off the glasses he was wearing, put them in his front pocket, and glared at me.

“To think you would drive out the soul of the living Inha and take that place yourself.”

“Pro, Professor, I….”

“I understand. Anyone would want to live. Do you know about ’emergency escape,’ Inyoung? Taking someone else’s life jacket in an emergency situation isn’t illegal.”

“….”

That… was only a matter of it not being illegal. It was something where one had to endure moral responsibility, ethical responsibility, the criticism and reproach of people, and guilt. Even if it was something I did unknowingly. The blood in my entire body went cold. My face must have turned pale too.

“The Bodhisattva said that you would be aching here and there. Because even if the body belongs to Inha, the soul is yours.”

“Because the soul is mine…?”

“Yes. Since it’s a soul with problems, you won’t be able to live like an ordinary person. Aching here and there, getting hurt, suffering. Still, hmm, yes….”

The professor slowly approached and stroked my head. I flinched for a second, but at the large hand stroking my head, my heart gradually settled softly. I was weak to an adult—though I was enough of an adult myself—treating me like a child in this way.

“Whenever you are in pain, come see me anytime. Keep it a secret from other people. If Inha says he’s in pain too often, his parents will worry. They might even find it strange and ask the Bodhisattva. You know the Bodhisattva can’t lie, right, Inyoung?”

“Yes…. I know.”

The Bodhisattva said she couldn’t lie because she served a god. That was why she would tell us straightforwardly even when there was a misfortune in the family. Of course, I was the cause of most of those misfortunes.

“Inyoung.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“From now on, you just have to listen well to me and the Bodhisattva. Since it has turned out like this, we will do our best with the thought of protecting Inha’s body and also protecting you. So I hope you follow along well.”

“…Yes.”

Something surged up from inside me. I didn’t know that the words “protecting me as myself” would sound so grateful and joyful.