SATURDAY 37

With a deep sigh, Lee Taeseon rose slowly. He then stared at Inyoung’s parents. From what he had heard from Chief Shin, they had even left the funeral altar empty to stay in Yoon Inha’s hospital room. They were remarkable people. Yoon Inha’s injuries had not even been that significant.

He met Yoon Inha briefly after that, but the fact that the man’s appearance was somewhat strange did not even register. He simply wanted to kill him.

Leaving him behind, he headed toward the mortuary. The mortuary staff were flustered at first. He understood that they could not carelessly show a body to someone who was not a bereaved family member. Lee Taeseon held out his business card and spoke.

“I am Yoon Inyoung’s fiancé.”

At the company name and title written on Lee Taeseon’s business card, and at the word “fiancé,” they hesitated before showing him the body.

Strangely… no thoughts came to him as he looked at Inyoung’s corpse. He could not even process the thought that this was Yoon Inyoung. Something seemed different.

“Is this truly Yoon Inyoung?”

“Pardon? Yes, that is right….”

His gaze suddenly drifted to the ankle. Although the body had been tidied, the entire frame was a mess, but small, faint scars remained uniquely on the ankle in succession. He could not even guess when they were sustained. During the accident? Or somehow while he was away? Lee Taeseon staggered out of the mortuary just like that.

Detectives were loitering outside the funeral hall. They were waiting for Lee Taeseon. They had guessed that the accident that occurred last Saturday was no simple accident, and they had already commenced an investigation. Lee Taeseon had already sent them a recording as soon as he landed on Korean soil.

He had recorded everything Yoon Inha said when he visited that day. Whether he had anticipated such a future, or if there was simply no specific intention behind it… he thought as he handed it to the detectives that he had done well to record it.

The problem was what came after.

Every time he saw Yoon Inha, Inyoung kept coming to mind. Yoon Inha babbled crazy things—calling him Mr. Taeseon, saying he was suffering from the delusion that he was Yoon Inyoung—but from the first time they met at the funeral hall, he kept seeing Inyoung in Yoon Inha.

It was natural because they were twins. Because they had the same face. Even as he tried to think that way, it was difficult. It constantly felt as if Inyoung were nearby, and when Yoon Inha cried, it felt as if Inyoung were crying, and if he was hurt or sick….

So there were times he had acted kindly on impulse. Afterward, a wave of immense guilt would wash over him. Wondering what he was doing to Yoon Inha, who had caused Inyoung’s death.

It was even more severe during his rut. Lee Taeseon completely mistook Yoon Inha for Inyoung and held onto him. If he had not rushed out of the house, he might have embraced Yoon Inha right then and there.

It was utterly loathsome.

If a child were conceived that way, that would be exactly what Yoon Inha desired.

Time flowed amidst such anguish. Bringing Yoon Inha home under the ridiculous pretext of the shaman was because he wanted to subject him to the exact treatment Inyoung had received at home. However, in the end, he could not bring himself to go that far. Because Yoon Inyoung… Yoon Inyoung kept being reminded through Yoon Inha.

Like a reaction to that, there were times he treated him harshly. Insulting someone with the exact same face as Inyoung brought immense guilt. However, no matter how identical he looked, and even if Inyoung came to mind, that was Yoon Inha.

A person whose hidden motives were unknown. Someone he must not be kind to. The one who killed Inyoung….

His twin hyung.

When he…

When he realized that he was the real Yoon Inyoung, Lee Taeseon completely collapsed.

When he learned that all of this was the handiwork of a cultish shaman and a professor who was the primary physician. All his past actions flashed by. Every harsh word and action he had spat out thinking he was Yoon Inha, and the gazes from Yoon Inyoung that he had ignored.

That was not all. Inyoung had lost something unthinkable. His and Inyoung’s… child.

They said it was twelve weeks. If so, it matched the timing of the knotting perfectly. He had certainly taken medicine then, but the obstetrics professor said that perfect contraception is impossible with medicine alone.

The conviction that it was “Yoon Inyoung” came after leaving the hospital and conducting a few investigations. Starting with checking the fingerprints left at the house…. When it became impossible to deny it any further, he felt despondent.

Yes, it was something that could be settled with a few investigations like this. Instead of ignoring the words of Inyoung, who insisted he was Yoon Inyoung, he should have performed at least a minimum check.

Then the miscarriage would not have happened. The obstetrics professor spoke sharply. She said everything was due to the stress received from the father.

He had failed to recognize the Inyoung right by his side. Even as he thought he must go to him, his feet would not move.

A heavy downpour began. Lee Taeseon, who had been burying his face in the steering wheel, stepped out of the car with a sigh, staggering and without an umbrella. The hospital building came into view through the sheets of rain. Inyoung would be somewhere in that building.

Unable to keep staring, he turned his head away. He could see the river flowing far behind the hospital. Water mist rose over the city skyline, and rainwater poured in torrents into the black river. Just like the river beneath the small boat where Inyoung had stood in the dream he had that day….

Lee Taeseon stared at the distant river, heedless of the water dripping from his hair and his clothes becoming heavy with moisture. It felt as if Inyoung might be in that river. No, but Inyoung is behind him, in the hospital.

Yoon Inyoung was a person who would not even get angry at him despite such things happening. No, perhaps he might get a little angry.

“Ugh….”

Regret and anger toward himself became a physical pain that overwhelmed his entire body. It felt as if his chest were being torn and bursting open. Tears were streaming down, mixing with the rainwater. What on earth had he done?

A miscarriage due to stress. The cause of the stress was the father’s pheromones. In other words, everything was because of him.

Lee Taeseon did not care if people passed by or if cars sped past him; he knelt on the wet ground, prostrated, and sobbed without a sound. He did not mind even as his entire body became soaked.

Because he could find no other way for the agony he felt now to go except through this wordless sobbing, he gasped for the first time in his life, shedding tears alongside a silent scream.

Only when the rain had subsided a little did Lee Taeseon lift his upper body by bracing his hands. Now the hospital building was clearly visible. People moving through the parking lot glanced at him, wondering what was happening. It was the first time in his life Lee Taeseon had shown such a pathetic appearance to others.

Fortunately, most people seemed unable to recognize him as Lee Taeseon. Indeed, no one would probably guess. That a man like Lee Taeseon would be in this state.

What was Inyoung doing? The desire to go to Inyoung right this second crossed with the feeling that he had no right to show his face. The things he had done until now, and the child—he had left an indelible wound on Inyoung. It was the first time he had ever lacked courage like this.

But Yoon Inyoung would not resent him. He would likely be happy just that he had found him. Without even knowing what his own true feelings were. Wrapping his pain in words like “it is nothing” or “I am fine.”

How terribly would such sealed-away pain rot?

He felt sorry for Yoon Inyoung. He was so pitiful and heart-wrenching that he did not know what to do. However, Yoon Inyoung himself did not think of himself as pitiful. He did not even know such an emotion. That was why he had intended to teach him bit by bit, to teach him how to escape that pain.

Far from teaching him a method… he had ended up giving him greater pain. He had inflicted an unspeakable wound. How could such a man dare to go see him?

He knew he was Inyoung’s only place to lean. He was worried. Inyoung seemed to think he wanted to monopolize him, but that was actually not the case. He simply hadn’t specifically mentioned it because Inyoung seemed to find stability in that fact; Lee Taeseon wanted Inyoung to come out into a wider world.

So he had planned to take his hand slowly and lead him. Why did such a thing have to happen? Why did he commit such a ridiculous act?

Lee Taeseon endured the pain. He had no leisure to be feeling his own pain. His soaked clothes were as heavy as lead. He could not distinguish whether it was the weight of the clothes or another weight entirely. Now was not the time for this. No matter how shameless a human he became, he had to go to Inyoung’s side.

His own pain was not even pain. Thinking of what Inyoung had endured until now… it was not even pain. Lee Taeseon walked slowly and entered the hospital through the back door.

After providing the name at the station, he was able to receive a guardian card quickly. While the elevator ascended, Lee Taeseon kept his head bowed low. With dazed and devastated eyes, the rainwater flowing from his face and hair continuously entered them.

While he lightly wiped it away with the back of his hand, the elevator stopped with a cheerful sound. A nurse sitting at the private ward station looked at Lee Taeseon in surprise. Ignoring her, he headed toward the room he had been told of beforehand.

It was late at night. Would he be sleeping?

Lee Taeseon slowly opened the door to the hospital room.