SATURDAY 36

From then on, gradually—no, even before then—Lee Taeseon could not hide his irritation. Eventually, he even set aside the courtesy he had maintained until the very end and stared intently at Yoon Inha, his gaze fully reflecting his emotions. Yoon Inha, who had been acting so boldly, flinched at a single look from Lee Taeseon and shrank back.

‘Please leave now. I no longer feel you are worth dealing with.’

‘You’ll regret it.’

‘We’ll see.’

However, Lee Taeseon should have known then. That Yoon Inha was frighteningly malicious. The fact that he was a monster existing outside the realm of human thought.

If the “demon wearing a human mask” that the Shaman spoke of truly existed in that household, it was Yoon Inha. He had failed to realize it in time.

He should have known. If he had… perhaps he could have stopped it.

Instead of making trivial calculations about how he could grow the market or use it for promotion through charitable activities centered on digging wells and leveling ground in remote parts of Africa, he should have returned to Korea to stop Yoon Inha.

Truthfully, he had a dream while he was in Africa. It was a dream where Inyoung sat in a small boat floating in the middle of a pitch-black river, silently staring at him from a distance. Since he did not believe in dreams, he had brushed it off as nothing.

But on that day, the accident occurred. It was Saturday in Korea. A day when ominous rain clouds were looming in the sky in Africa. It was a night when rain poured down in torrents in Korea as well.

On that day, Inyoung was said to be on his way back from shopping with Yoon Inha. Although they said they shopped together, Inyoung had likely gone out to wait on him.

Yoon Inha, acting on a sudden whim, parked the car on the side of the road and tried to enter a side street, saying they should shop in the alleyways. They were on their way back to the car after giving up because the rain was too heavy. That is what “Yoon Inha” said.

It was strange behavior to begin with. It was a day when heavy rain had been forecasted since morning. What was in that alleyway were stalls selling second-hand clothes and antiques. Was Yoon Inha the type of person to buy such things? Even if it were an antique, it was “something used by someone else,” and second-hand clothes went without saying. It was a place he would never go.

Furthermore, due to the news of heavy rain and the ominous sky, none of the stalls had even opened.

The twins walked along the narrow sidewalk where the rain had begun to pour, sharing a single umbrella as they headed toward the parked car. Though it was narrow, it wasn’t to the point where they would bump into each other, but one side suddenly tapped the other as if to signal something. The bodies of both men swayed simultaneously.

This was the last scene captured on the secured on-site CCTV. Because the following area was a blind spot without CCTV, the actual accident scene was not recorded. However, in the corner of this camera, a figure was glimpsed jumping into the roadway as if throwing their body, though it was unclear which one it was.

Of course, that footage was quickly discarded due to external pressure from the Jegang Group and could not be used as any form of evidence.

In fact, even when he learned that the footage had been discarded, he thought the one jumping was Yoon Inyoung. He believed that some scheme had surely been used… to make Inyoung jump in front of the car. That something must have been said while tapping his body.

He thought that a conversation he was unaware of must have been taking place within the silent CCTV screen.

However, the results he discovered later were quite different.

The one who jumped was Yoon Inha.

Yoon Inha’s plan. The wicked scheme to drive Inyoung to suicide, which he took with him without ever fully revealing it. That was a result that could only be obtained if he himself were slightly injured.

Causing a car accident using a broker. And then saying Inyoung pushed him. That one thing would be enough. He would make it so the entire household would make it impossible for Yoon Inyoung to endure without dying.

Who would believe Yoon Inyoung’s words?

However, the moment he jumped toward the car, Yoon Inha sensed something strange. Simultaneously, he knew it was already too late. His eyes must have flashed. The thought that he could not die like this must have dominated his mind.

So he grabbed and pulled at Inyoung’s sleeve. Inyoung staggered forward and rolled onto the asphalt, but he was not hit by the car. He wasn’t seriously injured anywhere either.

Yoon Inha had arranged through a broker for a car that would hit him lightly and gently. The car was supposed to drive slowly through the rain and strike him just enough to result in minor injuries.

However… Yoon Inha’s plan went awry. For some reason, the driver sent by the broker was in a state of extreme intoxication.

The old, grey domestic car with outdated license plates raced toward them at a terrifying speed. In the rain, the speed of a car is difficult to gauge, and it feels as though it is approaching slowly instead. Even if he thought, “Is it fast?” he likely assumed it would slow down in front of him.

But the driver, after striking Yoon Inha as if he were a mere mannequin, drove straight on and crashed into a street tree. He died on the spot, and the autopsy revealed his blood alcohol concentration was at a level for license revocation.

That is what happened on the day Lee Taeseon dreamed of Inyoung.

Until he learned the truth, Lee Taeseon believed the one who died in that accident was Inyoung. Everyone said so. Believing the figure jumping toward that terrifyingly speeding car was Yoon Inyoung, he had watched the footage several times in agony.

Thinking that Yoon Inha had used another trick instead of that complicated method, using other words and another way to make him commit suicide. Because he knew that suicides disguised as car accidents happened countless times.

If only the quality of the CCTV had been just a little better, would he have been able to distinguish between Inyoung and Yoon Inha? If the quality had been good enough to properly see their clothing… no, perhaps he wouldn’t have been able to even then. Because he didn’t recognize him even after seeing him in person.

He ignored him—the Inyoung who confessed that he was Yoon Inyoung.

‘I can’t live like him. It’s a miracle he’s even still alive…. He’s lingering and stupid.’

Yoon Inha’s words came to mind.

‘Well, I’m the one who said it. A beast wearing a human skin? Who would believe such a thing? He was just a hidden baby. One without any sin.’

Though he had babbled with his own mouth about Yoon Inyoung being a bringer of bad luck or a beast, for some reason, he felt that this side was the truth. Yoon Inha also did not fully believe the Shaman’s words.

‘However, I don’t know what the Shaman was thinking, but they turned a person into a complete devil within the household. Only my uncle didn’t believe it. That’s why my uncle hated me.’

‘So. What on earth are you asking me to do?’

‘What do you mean? I’m saying I’ll let his pitiful life come to an end.’

‘Just you try.’

‘Can you stop me, Mr. Taeseon?’

‘How many times must I tell you not to call me Mr. Taeseon?’

Yoon Inha smirked.

‘Ah, right, Director. …I’ll be going now. It was a pleasant time.’

Truly, he should not have just let him go then. He should have killed him or done something. For some reason, Yoon Inha reportedly told the paramedics before he died that “he was Yoon Inyoung, and Inha had pushed him.”

He was a human whose thoughts could not be understood until the very end. He went into cardiac arrest before reaching the hospital, and less than thirty minutes after entering the emergency room, he was pronounced dead without any family present. His trauma was indeed unsurvivable.

As Lee Taeseon surmised, there was only one reason for Yoon Inha to do such a thing as he died. To ensure that even if Yoon Inyoung took everything in the household, he would never have Lee Taeseon. To make Yoon Inyoung someone who was miserably abandoned by Lee Taeseon.

And so… having been perfectly deceived by that plan, what had he done? What had he committed against Yoon Inyoung?

When he was in Africa, when he knew nothing. The floods, the broken satellite phone, and the non-functioning communication network had delayed the news of his fiancé’s death by several days. It took even longer to grasp the situation properly.

At first, he thought it was a lie. It didn’t feel real. That Inyoung had died while he was away? With the wedding only a few months away? That… that such a tragic thing could happen…?

He couldn’t believe it until he saw it for himself. He thought something must be wrong. His whole body trembled, and he suffered from an overwhelming anxiety he had never felt in his life.

And when he set foot on Korean soil. When he stood between the comfortable temperature and humidity of the city airport and the people passing by with bright faces.

From then on, it slowly began to feel real.

That Yoon Inyoung had left this world.

He had finished some investigation while coming to Korea. At the time, Lee Taeseon was obsessed with the thought that Yoon Inha had pushed Yoon Inyoung to disguise it as a suicide. He had the conviction in his head that surely, because his plan didn’t seem to be working, he had chosen the easy path.

As soon as he landed at Incheon Airport, he headed to the funeral hall. It was a hospital he frequented, but this time, he was going to the funeral hall. His secretary, Chief Shin, had not said a word since they got off the plane. It was out of consideration for Lee Taeseon, who seemed to have lost his soul.

Even so, Lee Taeseon was holding up well. Until he arrived at the altar and saw Inyoung’s funerary portrait.

The moment he saw the portrait buried in flowers, something collapsed within him. Like a dam bursting, like a landslide, the reality rushed in cruelly as if he were being forced awake from a dream.

Even as he bowed before the portrait, his body was frozen and would not move. How many years had it been since he experienced his eyes burning like this? After the second bow, he could not get up while prostrated. Resentment toward the many took hold of his entire body.

How could he believe that he could no longer meet Inyoung?