SATURDAY 2

“Evil spirits take over the bodies of the living. Just because someone wears a human skin doesn’t mean they are a living person. You two should be careful as well.”

This was a story told to Inha and me by the shaman when we begged her to tell us something scary. I heard similar stories several times after that, so it was deeply engraved in my mind.

The shaman was one of the few people who treated Inha and me without discrimination. In fact, it was paradoxical considering the discrimination I faced was actually because of the shaman’s words, but I had no choice but to follow her. And the story she told several times was something I could never forget.

An evil spirit that takes over the body of someone dying from an unexpected accident. At that time, Inha was dying. I… I don’t know how badly I was injured. I was standing on my own power, but I lost consciousness not long after. That is, after hearing Inha’s… words.

“Why did you push me?”

Inha definitely said that. Did I… push Inha? If so, it’s strange. Why did Inha say he was “Yoon Inyoung”?

Maybe I really did push Inha. I don’t remember anything from the time of the accident. From a distance, an exceptionally bright headlight came racing through the rain at high speed. Inha was….

After the memories that seemed to be cut away and failed to surface, the image of Inha lying on the ground covered in blood came to mind. The sight of his limbs twisted in strange directions was vivid.

And before that, before seeing that sight, the sensation of someone pulling my sleeve is vivid. It was Inha. Inha pulled my sleeve. So, I think I was hit by the car along with him. I’m not certain, but it’s likely.

Perhaps I suffered a major injury to my head or some other fatal spot. At the time, I stood there pretending to be fine, but it must have been a dangerous place that didn’t show on the outside. So, as I collapsed, I entered the body of the dying Inha. Thinking according to the shaman’s words, that was it.

But there is something strange.

“It’s Yoon Inyoung, twenty-two years old….”

The words of Inha, who had not yet lost consciousness. Inha said with his own mouth that he was “Yoon Inyoung.” Furthermore…. I lifted both arms to my chest. Gauze and bandages were stuck to my palms, and an IV was connected to one hand. However, no major injuries were visible anywhere.

“M-Mom, why… am I fine?”

“Fine? Where are you fine? Do you know how badly you were hurt? Ah, right, a mirror, where is a mirror….”

My flustered mother hurried around and brought a mirror. Taking it and reflecting my face, I was startled. My face was a mess. From mottled bruises to wounds that hadn’t even scabbed over, and even swelling—it was hard to recognize even though it was my own face.

I was hurt a lot. I certainly ached here and there. However, the injuries I had seen on Inha were nowhere to be found. Inha was horribly injured and was loaded into the ambulance while bleeding profusely.

“Inha is… Mom, Inha was hurt a lot, his limbs were broken, he was really hurt badly. But why.”

“Inha!”

Mom suddenly shouted. It wasn’t anger; it was closer to a cry. I flinched at Mom’s pale face and sad voice.

“Why is he being like this…. Inha, the one who was hurt like that was Inyoung. That’s why Inyoung died. Right? Inha, please get a grip….”

“….”

I blankly stared at Mom and Father. Ah, was it from then? From then, had I already taken over Inha’s body? So that might be why he said his name was Yoon Inyoung….

My head is spinning, and my judgment is a total mess. Neither my thoughts nor my reasoning are functioning properly.

I am Yoon Inyoung.

When the traffic accident happened, I died, and my soul took over the relatively uninjured body of Inha.

And now, I am here as Yoon Inha.

“….”

“Inha, Inha?”

Mom and Father came closer, shaking me and rubbing my hands. The doctors were giving instructions to the nurses, and one doctor strode over and made Mom and Father step aside.

“Mr. Yoon Inha, look here.”

What he held in his hand was a black fountain pen. He moved the fountain pen far away and then brought it close, repeating the meaningless action. He was likely checking if my eyes were focusing properly.

“You know what this is, right?”

“…A fountain pen?”

“Which hospital is this?”

“Inhyeon University Hospital…?”

It was written on the bedding and supplies, and in the first place, whenever anything happened, we always came here. Because Professor Jang is here.

“What is your home address?”

“…208 XXX-ro, XX-gu, Seoul….”

“Let’s try saying one phone number you remember.”

I glanced at Mom. Mom and Father had used one number since I was a child, so I remembered it clearly. When I spoke the numbers, the doctor nodded and asked again.

“Then, do you remember how old you are? And… what is your name?”

“I’m twenty-two, and I am….”

I’m dizzy.

“Yoon Inyoung.”

“….”

The faces of Mom and Father, who had been watching with expectant eyes, collapsed. The doctor also let out a short sigh. The doctor, who said something to the nurse, looked back and forth between me and my parents and spoke.

“First, I think we need to take another CT scan. It came out that there were no abnormalities, but just in case…. However, there is a high possibility that this is a temporary phenomenon. Since you two were twins, after all.”

Twins. Inha and I were twins. Even if our relationship wasn’t exactly good…. Looking down at my fingertips with my head hanging weakly, I suddenly felt a sense of dissonance.

“Mom….”

“Yes? Why, do you need something?”

I shook my head and asked.

“The funeral…. What about the funeral? Is it over?”

“Over? We just set up the mortuary yesterday, so guests should be arriving now.”

“….”

I raised my head. The mortuary, Yoon Inyoung’s funeral. The mortuary would likely be set up in this hospital’s funeral hall. If they set it up yesterday, today would be the day the most guests arrive.

I blinked my eyes slowly.

Then, but….

“Then why are both of you here?”

∞ ∞ ∞

I saw my funeral portrait set up on the altar, trapped within flamboyant flowers. I knew it by the clothes in the photo and the gloomy expression. It was my photo, not Inha’s.

They said it had been a week since I fainted before I woke up. It seemed the mortuary was prepared a bit late so that the funeral could be held at least after I woke up.

The grand funeral, using two special suites joined together, was filled with a level of attention I had never received in my life.

Fortunately, it wasn’t just filled with macabre curiosity. An inevitable tenderness toward the twenty-two-year-old young man who had left without warning or a final cry surged everywhere like a mist.

I was sitting in the room wearing patient clothes with the IV stand beside me. Father and Mom, the chief mourners, were at the mortuary. It is said that while they were both in my hospital room, an uncle who was currently nowhere to be seen had kept watch.

I couldn’t hide my feeling of resentment. Both of them stayed in the hospital room instead of the mortuary to look after “Inha” who would just be lying there still. Even though I was dead.

I had once thought, Will things change a little if I die? But I only realized it after seeing this… nothing much changed even if I died.

My parents looked exhausted from the constant stream of mourners. However, it was hard to find a sense of despair over losing a child. Rather, a faint sense of relief could even be felt.

My fingertips turned cold.

Perhaps conscious of people’s gazes, they wore sorrowful expressions, but… among the mourners filling the guest area, some were already looking at my parents with strange eyes.

I lowered my eyes. Outside, it was raining. Perhaps because my health was poor, drowsiness kept washing over me. My forearm, where the medication was entering, felt chilly.

I knew the rate of the IV drip was a bit fast, but I didn’t even have the energy to adjust it. Just like that, nodding off, how much time had passed?

The outside suddenly became noisy, and my parents, who were greeting mourners, looked at each other with somewhat dismayed expressions.

Raising my head, I blinked my eyes, which were swollen from fatigue, and then realized the reason for the commotion. A familiar…. An overwhelming Alpha pheromone that couldn’t be hidden even by the smell of incense.

Given the setting, he would have restrained it enough that others wouldn’t feel it, but it reached me.

Struggling to get up, I dragged the IV stand and went out to the mortuary. My body froze instantly. An Alpha dressed in pitch-black clothes was striding into the mortuary.

Carrying a faint scent of rain, with a face as pale as a sheet of paper and devoid of expression as if his soul had departed, he didn’t give a condolence gift but walked straight into the mortuary with a stiff face and spoke to my parents.

“I am sorry I am late.”

As expected, a familiar voice. Thinking he would come straight to me after greeting my parents, I took a step forward. In a black suit and tie, a black coat, the shoulder of his funeral attire was slightly wet with rainwater.

Lee Taeseon.

My lover, and my fiancé. My… only sanctuary. And I, too, was his sanctuary.

“Aren’t you overextending yourself coming here when you’re busy? I heard you were abroad until yesterday….”

“Yes, that’s why I was late in hearing the news.”

His company sold food products and also ran a business providing food aid to remote or underdeveloped areas. Because of that, it wasn’t uncommon for him to be out of contact for several days when he went to check on those regions.

When Inha… no, when I died, it was the same. He had gone on his last business trip just before the wedding. He said he would go handle everything at once since things would get busy with wedding preparations afterward.

I quietly waited for the conversation between my parents and Mr. Taeseon to end. Because then, Mr. Taeseon would look at me. This confusing situation, the dizziness, the nauseous stomach, the head that felt like it was breaking—it felt like Mr. Taeseon could resolve everything. Just as he always had.

“….”

However, after finishing the brief conversation with my parents, Mr. Taeseon’s gaze, even while knowing I was here, slowly turned toward the funeral portrait. He stared silently at my photo, lit incense, and quietly placed a flower. He, who bowed before my photo, could not get up for a while after bowing a second time.

“….”

I couldn’t bring myself to speak. But even if it weren’t me, there would have been no one who could have spoken to him. Among the people who visited the mortuary today, he was the only one from whom a sense of sincere agony could be felt.

No, beyond agony, it was… I, who had shared a bed with him many times, could tell. It wasn’t an emotion that could be fully expressed by the word “pain.” It was, literally, a grief that felt as if his entrails were being severed.

Soon, standing up and taking a deep breath, he looked at my parents again.

“I have urgent business, so I must go. The mortuary.”

He suddenly… directed a gaze that was even cold toward my parents.

“You will protect it, won’t you?”

“….”

It was a way of speaking that seemed to know they had left the spot and stayed in my hospital room. My parents looked at each other momentarily as if embarrassed, then quickly turned their heads and patted Mr. Taeseon’s wet shoulder.

“Goodness, man, why would you say something like that.”

“….”

Mr. Taeseon, who did not answer, had a sunken gaze. He glanced at his shoulder where Mom’s hand had touched. He didn’t look happy. Not at all.

Still… I waited, quietly fiddling with the IV stand.

He’ll come to me now….

…He’ll come to me. Then…. Then, even just a word. I waited for Mr. Taeseon, thinking about what word he might say. However, exuding a heavy scent of rain, he brushed right past me as if nothing were in front of him.

“….”

Bewildered, I stared at Mr. Taeseon’s back. He left the mortuary, and I heard the sound of someone whispering.

“…It seems he was close to the child who died. With things like that, will a marriage with the hyung be possible?”

Truly, it was exactly as those words said. I stood there dazed, then, dragging the IV stand and unable to even put on slippers, I ran out barefoot after Mr. Taeseon.