SATURDAY 3

“Tae, Mr. Taeseon!”

It was only just before he almost stepped out of the main entrance that I caught up with Mr. Taeseon. Even though he knew I was clattering and noisily following behind him, he never once looked back—his secretary, Shin Jeongho, merely glanced at me once. It was only when he reached the front of the main entrance that he stopped his steps and turned his gaze.

It was late, and there was no one in the lobby in front of the main entrance. Only the monitors directing people to the mortuary flickered quietly. The moment that screen changed and the names Special Suite 1, 2, Deceased Yoon Inyoung appeared, my body flinched and trembled.

However, what made me tremble more than that was Mr. Taeseon’s voice.

“Mr. Yoon Inha.”

“….”

Hearing the name “Yoon Inha” in his voice was utterly strange. The moment I realized it was directed at me, goosebumps erupted all over my body. Why is he calling me by that name?

“Do you know the police are just waiting for the funeral to end?”

“Ah…. Pardon?”

Before my confusion could even subside, he said something even more incomprehensible.

“Th-The police? Why the police….”

“Because…”

A faint smile hung on Mr. Taeseon’s face. It was an inscrutable smile—as if he found it interesting, or perhaps absurd. It was a strange expression he had never worn in front of me. While I was hesitating like a fool, he strode closer and placed his lips against my ear.

My heart thumping at the proximity of his pheromones lasted only a moment. He said:

“Because, you are a murderer.”

“….”

It wasn’t just a chill. It was a shock that felt like cold water being suddenly poured over my body, as if my heart were stopping, making my skin freeze like a sheet of ice.

I struggled to move my mouth to ask, “What do you mean?”, but no sound came from my throat.

“Why. Are you scared now that you’ve actually been called a murderer?”

“…What, what…, m-murder, what are you talking about.”

Ridiculously, the tension eased slightly at his low voice and the faint presence of his pheromones. I finally succeeded in spitting out a few words. Mr. Taeseon’s expression was still terrifyingly cold, and with that face, he tilted his head and stared at me.

“You are a major person of interest in the Yoon Inyoung murder case.”

“….”

“They say ‘person of interest’… but in reality, you’re a suspect.”

“Mr. Taeseon….”

“So you’re going to call me ‘Mr. Taeseon’ openly now? It’s disgusting.”

I flinched again. I have never received such malice head-on from Mr. Taeseon. I know this is directed at “Inha.” Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but shrink back from my toes up. Was Mr. Taeseon such a frightening person?

“Inyoung made a statement before he died. He said the two of you were walking together, and as the car approached, his hyung pushed him. Before that, there was an argument over the issues of marriage and family property.”

That’s nonsense. That rebuttal rose up to my throat but could not pass my lips. Because, in truth, I have no memory of that time. Because I don’t even know what I did.

But…. But the one who made such a statement must certainly be Inha. What was he thinking, doing that before he died? Furthermore, he said that he himself was “Yoon Inyoung.”

“If it’s a matter of property division, that’s sufficient motive. The property division in that family was complicated. And even more so—this is a fact not widely known—if Mr. Yoon Inha kept wanting to interfere in the marriage between Inyoung and me.”

“….”

The Yoon Inha I knew was… someone fully capable of telling such a lie the moment he realized our souls had switched. Claiming that I pushed him. That I was the reason he was dying. Solely to make things difficult for me.

For that reason, Yoon Inha was a person capable of lying even while dying.

Where should I start explaining, to Mr. Taeseon? If I tell him, will he believe me? If I were Yoon Inyoung, he would have believed me no matter what kind of absurd thing I said.

But right now, I was Yoon Inha. Yoon Inha, who has an Orion constellation tattoo on his ankle. Right now, I am in the state of having entered Inha’s body.

In such a state, if I say, “I’m actually Inyoung who has possessed Inha”? Furthermore, to Mr. Taeseon who is this angry? He would certainly call me crazy.

Mr. Taeseon took a step back and lightly dusted off his clothes. My heart sank as it seemed he was brushing away the traces of my touch.

“I am sorry for the loss of your younger brother. That is, if it’s something to be sorry about.”

And then Mr. Taeseon turned coldly and left. Neither he, nor Manager Shin the secretary, nor the chauffeur waiting with an umbrella by the car at the main entrance—no one looked at me. They were all faces familiar to me. But now, they are so strange.

“….”

After standing dazed for a while, I pulled out the IV in my arm as if I were a madman tearing it off. Blood spurted from my forearm, but I didn’t even care. I crossed the hallway just like that and ran down the stairs in the corner. If I went down to the third basement level, there was the morgue.

I knocked on the morgue door blindly. Before long, the person in charge showed his face. He tried to act as if he recognized me. Placing my hand on his chest, I pleaded:

“I want to see the body of Yoon In, Yoon Inyoung.”

“Pardon? That is….”

Normally, various procedures would be required. However, my family was a VIP of this hospital, and the man likely wouldn’t want to create unnecessary trouble. After touching his neck for a moment, the man quietly led me inside.

“You must keep this a secret.”

I nodded.

The air in the morgue had a somewhat pungent smell and was much colder than outside. Even though it was very cold weather because of the rain, the air conditioning was running. It was so cold that my body shivered in just a single layer of patient clothes.

The man in charge’s attitude was somewhat awkward. He had let me in, but he didn’t try to look at me. The patient clothes stained with blood because I pulled out the IV, and my bare feet. Perhaps he thought I was a ghost. No matter. Finally, I entered the inner part of the morgue, where the bodies were.

It was beyond chilly—it was cold, and the smell of chemicals was permeated into every corner. The frozen air, the dim lighting, the steel bed placed in the center, and the hard-feeling floor. I felt as if I had come to a bizarre space where everyday life could not be imagined.

Creak, rattle… Along with a metallic sound, my body came out. I quickly approached and looked at the face of the emerging corpse. And in an instant, I couldn’t help but become dazed involuntarily.

The body, which had finished the process of collection and arrangement, looked relatively intact. Unlike what I had seen immediately after the accident, the body was quite clean, though covered in wounds. The bones that had all been broken had somehow all been put back in their proper places.

It was like looking at a wax doll that had wounds created on it intentionally. Wounds turned pale as the blood drained away, a white body—the parts that were at least intact looked somewhat slippery.

Truly, I could only think of it as a sophisticated model. A form that I could not possibly believe had once lived and moved. And.

The left ankle, which had nothing except for minor scratches.

I stared for a long time at the figure that looked exactly like me.

Is it just to my eyes? The one lying here looks like Inha. Isn’t the one who died Inha, after all? Did Inha play some kind of trick so that the person who died was swapped…. An absurd thought occurred to me. It was close to my wishful thinking.

However, there is nothing on the left ankle of the corpse. My brother, who resembled me so much that even our voices were identically rare, even for twins.

Thinking that this was my body made me feel strange. I didn’t want to admit it. That I had died and ended up in Inha’s body.

That my physical body was in the freezer, changed like a doll, and would soon be burned and disappear….

I said goodbye to the man in charge of the morgue and came up trudgingly. Looking at the rainy outside, I walked out weakly just like that, forgetting that I was barefoot. Seeing the rain pouring in the darkness, my heart thudded again. I remember that night.

In an instant, it felt as if the area around my eyes became hot, then tears welled up and began to drop before I could stop them. I couldn’t control my trembling body. It wasn’t simply because of the cold.

Then suddenly, I felt a familiar pheromone.

“Uh….”

Mr. Taeseon, whom I thought had gone back, was standing in the smoking area next to the entrance, quietly smoking a cigarette. He was staring intently at me. I approached him as if drawn. Naturally, like seeking light in the darkness.

The smoking area had a roof, but the ground was all wet. As I approached, stepping barefoot on the wet and muddy ground, Mr. Taeseon gave a smirk and flicked his cigarette ash toward me.

“Ugh….”

The ash, still hot, touched my skin. When I flinched, Mr. Taeseon laughed as if he found it interesting. While I was staring blankly, two men who had been beside Mr. Taeseon approached.

“Mr. Yoon Inha? We are sorry to bother you during such a frantic time, but we’ll have to trouble you for a moment.”

The two men showed me their IDs. It was the police. I looked at Mr. Taeseon to see what was happening, but he was just quietly smoking his cigarette.

“We’d like to know what happened that day.”

The detective’s voice mixed with the sound of the rain and changed into the shouts that had raged that night, and sirens drew closer from afar. It was only natural, but the hospital was right next to the funeral hall. I felt lightheaded.

“N-Nothing… happened.”

I barely managed to answer. In truth, that day, until the accident happened, nothing had occurred between us. We were just walking together under an umbrella toward where the car was parked, and Inha was exceptionally quiet that day. He didn’t even say a single unpleasant word he would usually say to me.

“Yoon Inha.”

Abruptly, Mr. Taeseon cut in. The cigarette in his mouth was new. Come to think of it, I don’t know how many he’s had already.

“He was someone who wasn’t even a threat to you.”

“….”

“So why did you kill him?”