SATURDAY 34

I am twins with Inha. We have the same face, similar physiques, and even our blood types and DNA match. However, there is one thing that is different even for twins.

Fingerprints.

The strange sense of incongruity I had felt every time I used the pad until now.

When using my phone or Inha’s, I didn’t feel it at all because of facial recognition. But the pad was different. This old-model pad, which our uncle bought a long time ago, only unlocks with fingerprint recognition.

This was “my” pad. The incongruity I had felt before enveloped me even more intensely. Currently, I am supposedly in Inha’s body. These are Inha’s fingerprints. That means this should not open with these fingerprints.

Suddenly, the tattoo I saw the day I woke up came to mind. The area around the dot of the tattoo was slightly reddish. As if… it hadn’t been that long since it was engraved. I also remember the tattoo site feeling strangely itchy.

Back then, my whole body was covered in minor wounds, so I didn’t take that fact seriously, but….

The strange occurrences that had happened until now began to come to mind one by one, down to the smallest detail, like links in a chain.

I couldn’t eat hot food well, while Inha ate it without a second thought. Yet, when I woke up in Inha’s body, I still couldn’t eat hot things.

Could this be called a matter of the soul, a matter of memory?

The body is the same. I have a very thin frame, and Inha had a sleek body that was just right to look at. Just because such a body had been lying down for a while due to a car accident, he wouldn’t suddenly lose so much weight that the formal wear tailored to that physique had to be taken in entirely.

Furthermore, regarding the length—I just let it pass then, but there is definitely a height difference between me and Inha, however slight, yet there was no need to alter the length.

And the car accident….

I definitely saw Inha’s body fly up and slam into the ground. I saw the limbs bent in strange directions, the dazed face, and the blood spreading as it mixed with the rainwater. My soul swapped at that exact moment?

In the first place, he was the one who jumped in. He dropped his umbrella with a “tuk” and threw his body toward the car with his own feet.

Before jumping, he seemed to smirk at me at the very end…. No, he did smile. It was the smile Inha wore whenever he was planning something to torment me.

The image of the 1.5-ton iron monster racing through the rainy road, hitting Inha, and stopping far ahead with a roar flashed through my mind.

The raindrops reflected like diagonal slashes in the light of the car’s taillights, and at the end of it was the fallen Inha.

But why? He… he seemed to have a face that said he couldn’t understand.

There was no time for souls to be swapped. Inha jumped into the roadway first and was heavily injured just like that. As for the time for the dead Inha and me to swap….

I tumbled down from the bed with a “kudangtang” and ran to the sink. My reflection in the large mirror was, just as it had been all along, me. Yoon Inyoung. It was my own appearance.

The moment I collapsed, cupping my face with both hands, a certain scene was painted in my mind.

It was a hospital room.

A Shaman was there, and Professor Jang was there too.

The Shaman circled around me, shaking bells. Then, after brandishing a knife several times over my prone body, the Shaman picked up a cup nearby and held it to my lips.

Professor Jang supported me, and I drank it with unfocused eyes. The contents were clearly visible. It was clear water mixed with ash and hair.

I drank something like that…? Goosebumps rose all over my body. I could tell by instinct. That is related to Inha. And it is Inha’s hair.

Following that, the Shaman placed a red talisman pouch on my forehead and muttered.

‘Yoon Inha has come. Yoon Inha has come in the body of Yoon Inyoung. Yoon Inha has come.’

Then, the Shaman circled near the bed again, shaking the bells. After removing the talisman, the Shaman placed two fingers on my forehead and recited something like a spell for a long time. The moment a light suddenly returned to my dazed eyes, I glared straight ahead and screamed.

‘I wasn’t… trying to die!’

‘Yes, Inha.’

‘It should have been Yoon Inyoung who died, not me!’

‘I know. Calm down.’

Inha could only scream and could not move his body. Looking now, his entire body is tied tightly with white cotton cloth.

‘But you are dead. You can no longer influence the world of the living.’

‘That’s non…!’

The Shaman stuffed a talisman into “Inha’s” mouth. Inha could not spit it out and only struggled.

‘I shall allow your spirit, at least, to remain in the world of the living.’

At those words, Inha flailed his bound body even more. It was to the point that the heavy hospital bed rattled and shook.

The scene cut off there. The people who called me Inha, the tattoo, the fingerprints—everything tangled together in my head to form one conclusion.

This is not Yoon Inha’s body.

The image reflected in the mirror was my image exactly as it is.

That day…. The day of the accident.

I definitely saw Inha’s body fallen in a terrible state. So how could I be possessed by Inha’s body? Inha is dead.

The fact that Inha said he was Yoon Inyoung, and the fact that he said I pushed him, was merely Inha’s spite until the very end. I know Inha well. Because I was treated as a toy and tormented by Inha countless times.

The incongruity I felt then was that. To be possessed, there had to be an intact body. But Inha… died with his whole body shattered.

Inha must have intended to be in a minor car accident. And then he would have framed me, trying to make me commit suicide because I couldn’t endure the blame.

It’s true that Inha disliked me to a disgusting degree, but I didn’t know he hated me that much. Why did he do that? Inha had everything. Was it because of the thought that he should have even more, but I ended up taking it away?

Something went wrong with that, and Inha met his death. Right now, is Inha somewhere in my body? Is that why everyone sees me as Inha….

Was the urn that Mr. Taeseon was cherishing Inha’s?

My head was dizzy. I felt nauseous.

I couldn’t tell what on earth had been done to me.

I could understand, yet couldn’t understand, why the Shaman had cast such a spell to make me live as “Inha.” I am a person too, so why me like that….

Dragging my IV stand, I went out to the nurse’s station.

“Oh my goodness, patient, are you okay? Your complexion looks so bad….”

“I’m, I’m fine. More than that…. Can I see Professor Jang Se-hyeon from Family Medicine? If you say Yoon, Yoon Inyoung, he’ll know.”

“Professor Jang Se-hyeon? Um, hold on a moment.”

The nurse, who was calling somewhere, said, “Ah, yes yes,” and put down the receiver, then spoke with a sorry face.

“They say he went to an academic conference. He returns tomorrow; should I pass along a message?”

“Yes…. Please. He was my original primary physician.”

The nurse smiled kindly and answered, “I understand.” I tried to stagger back to my room, but I was caught by the nurse who came out from the station.

“But patient, your complexion is really not good. You’re currently under Professor Min Ji-yeong from Obstetrics, right? I will pass word to Professor Min Ji-yeong.”

“Ah…. Yes.”

It wasn’t a suggestion, but a notification. It seemed my complexion was indeed quite bad.

Returning to the room, I groaned as I hung the new IV bag on the stand by the bed and slowly washed my hands. The water falling on my hands was cold. As I washed away the soap suds, a tear I hadn’t even been aware of fell with a “tuk” onto them.

Inha died. But practically, the one who died was me. The name tag on the hospital room said Yoon Inha, and everyone called me “Yoon Inha.” Even Mr. Taeseon didn’t recognize me. I miscarried from that stress.

A reality difficult to bear crushed me.

Even after the soap was all washed off, I stood under the water for a long time, then even washed my face and laboriously lay down on the bed.

I wonder how much time passed after that. There was a “ttok ttok” knocking sound on the door, and a nurse entered. She was pushing a large tray with her hands, upon which a small IV bag, a blood pressure cuff, and a thermometer were visible.

“You feel dizzy, don’t you? You were stumbling earlier. The professor also said your anemia is very severe…. First, I’ll take your blood pressure and temperature.”

The nurse, who was clearly older than me but looked younger, spoke as if chatting. Listening to that bright voice, it felt like my agitated heart was calming down a little.

“Your blood pressure is quite low too…. And you have a bit of a fever.”

The nurse expertly connected the IV. The IV, which had increased from two lines to three, dripped slowly drop by drop. My arm felt a bit sore.

“Does the place where the needle went in hurt?”

When I shook my head to say I was fine, the nurse told me to lie down and rest, then left the room. My health has been very poor since the miscarriage, so I was grateful for the nurse’s consideration.

Lying on the bed just like that, I fell asleep before I had a chance to think about anything else. I woke up because of the sound of the room door opening. Did they knock and I just didn’t hear it? The surroundings were dark, and I could hear the sound of rain.

Who is it, the nurse? Thinking blankly, I turned my head and slowly blinked my eyes.

Between the dim hospital room and the hallway, Mr. Taeseon was standing.