SATURDAY 46

What did I just… hear?

I doubted my own ears. Unable to believe it, I asked my mother again.

“What did you… just say?”

“Isn’t it true? It’s not a place for someone like Inyoung to be…. Besides, if he stays there, who knows? He might receive some unearned blessing in death. Then, for everything he takes, you would be deprived of that much.”

“What do you mean by saying it’s not a place for someone like Inyoung?”

I asked, unable to contain myself. Perhaps sensing a ferocity in my tone, my mother recoiled slightly.

“…Oh my, why are you asking such a thing out of the blue…. What Mother means is that it’s more than he deserves. Should an auspicious site be wasted in such a way? A place like that should be left vacant so a better, proper person can enter.”

“….”

I couldn’t even speak properly anymore. I didn’t know my mother hated me this much. No, should I even call it hate? She truly didn’t even treat me as a human being….

Well, that’s why she said it was a ‘relief’ even after I died. While heading toward the burial site Mr. Taeseon had chosen, she definitely said that in the car. I was so dazed then that I couldn’t think deeply about it, but no matter how much she didn’t consider me her child, no matter how much she didn’t treat me as human.

Those weren’t words to be said on the way to burying someone forever.

“Inha, what is wrong with you? You look as if you are angry.”

“….”

As if I’m angry?

“Ah….”

Only then did I realize—was I getting angry? A sudden fear washed over me. I had never expressed anger toward anyone. I had long since forgotten even how to do it. Since the only things that returned to me when I showed anger were corporal punishment and neglect, I had forgotten it bit by bit since childhood, living while believing it was an emotion I didn’t possess.

But to think I looked angry…. The reason I felt a chill was the anxiety that I might truly be turning into Inha.

The purification ritual the Shaman performed—she said it was to drive my soul out of Inha’s body and turn me into Inha. If that were the case, it wasn’t strange for me to start resembling Inha’s personality.

The fact that the Shaman’s power is mysterious was something I had known from seeing it since I was young. Then, perhaps I really was in the process of transforming into Inha.

“Inha?”

I snapped back to my senses at my mother’s voice. I smiled quietly.

“I wasn’t angry, Mother.”

“Yes, I thought so…?”

My mother blinked as if relieved.

“But, are you really going to do that?”

“Do what?”

“About Inyoung’s grave.”

At that, my mother opened her eyes wide this time.

“What? Mother thought you would like it.”

Indeed, if it were Inha, he might have liked it.

“…I don’t know. I’m not sure. But do as you wish, Mother.”

Perhaps thinking my previous reaction was just a common whim of Yoon Inha, my mother stroked my hair. Suddenly, Lili made a “Hiss” sound. Startled, my mother shot a glare at Lili and then grabbed my hand.

“Inha, do you really have to keep that cat? Does Director Lee ever get sentimental while looking at the cat? Haa…. For Director Lee’s sake, I wish you wouldn’t keep that cat.”

“The Director? What does Lili have to do with the Director?”

“If that cat is around, Director Lee will keep thinking of Inyoung forever, won’t he? Still, I heard your relationship has been good lately, so Mother… oh my.”

My mother soon realized her slip of the tongue and covered her mouth with her hand.

“…Mother.”

I said to my mother, who had turned somewhat pale.

“I was going to ask you about that anyway.”

“Inha….”

“How did you know? About my miscarriage… and about Mr. Taeseon and me being on good terms lately.”

“….”

“How did you know?”

Lee Taeseon was sitting across from Jang Se-hyeon, the primary physician for Yoon Inyoung and Yoon Inha. It was deep into the night. Hospital hours had ended, and not a single outpatient remained. It was a bit late for a professor who wasn’t even on duty to be staying behind.

Tension flowed between the two. However, the expressions on both their faces remained calm. Jang Se-hyeon gave a smirk and slowly leaned his body against the back of the sofa.

“I really don’t know what you are talking about, Director. You must be very tired lately… or perhaps the shock of losing Inyoung was too great. Shall I prescribe some sedatives?”

“Why would I take medicine prescribed by Professor Jang? Knowing what kind of tricks you might have played.”

One corner of Jang Se-hyeon’s mouth curled up, but it soon returned to its original expression.

“What on earth do you mean by that? It’s quite hurtful.”

He responded with a pretense of being thick-skinned, but Jang Se-hyeon’s eyes were glistening. They were the eyes of a typical villain—flat and calculating.

“Since it seems you didn’t understand, I will say it again. The verification is already complete. The one who died is Yoon Inha, and the one alive now is Yoon Inyoung. What were you thinking, trying to switch the two? Did you think you wouldn’t get caught?”

“Hahaha! You’re saying strange things again. Look here, Director. I am the one who signed Inyoung’s death certificate.”

“That is exactly why it cannot be trusted.”

At Lee Taeseon’s words, Jang Se-hyeon shook his head and burst into laughter as if it were absurd.

“Goodness, calling me out in the middle of the night… what have you been talking about….”

“It seems you thought switching a person would go exactly as you pleased. I’m the one who should be laughing right now. Did you think you could keep insisting ‘This is Yoon Inha’ when the two have different fingerprints?”

“….”

One might expect him to stiffen his face, but Jang Se-hyeon kept his smiling expression.

“Fingerprints? What about fingerprints?”

Lee Taeseon narrowed his eyes. He didn’t expect him to fall for it so immediately. He thought he might act a bit more clever…. Well, I suppose that’s why he planned a person-swap so sloppily.

“Inyoung has been using his tablet PC as if it’s nothing.”

“What about it?”

At the nonchalant answer, Lee Taeseon looked at Jang Se-hyeon while smiling. His eyes were not smiling.

“…I wondered what you were going to say. That’s just… Inha probably snatched Inyoung’s tablet or something. To Inha, such things are like a game.”

“If that were the case, Inyoung would have told me.”

Jang Se-hyeon shrugged his shoulders.

“Isn’t it embarrassing to have your things taken by your brother? Given Inyoung’s personality, I don’t think he could have said it.”

“No, I mean he would have told me in advance so we wouldn’t lose contact properly. We used to have video calls frequently on that tablet.”

“….”

“And I know Inyoung’s personality better than you do.”

He regretted saying this a little after it came out. He had added a remark out of a sudden surge of emotion. However, as if that weren’t the important part, Jang Se-hyeon’s expression gradually hardened. Observing that change carefully, Lee Taeseon continued.

“Isn’t the tattoo on Inyoung’s ankle something newly and hastily engraved? The shape seemed a bit different from the one in Yoon Inha’s photos.”

At this point, Jang Se-hyeon became even more agitated.

“Ha, what on earth are you talking about…!”

Lee Taeseon narrowed his eyes. Jang Se-hyeon did not seem particularly skilled at hiding things. To be like that while being a doctor…. Or was it because the matter was so grave that he couldn’t remain composed?

It had been about two days since he began investigating what the Shaman and Jang Se-hyeon had done in earnest. The only thing he had discovered was that after Yoon Inha met Jang Se-hyeon, he had for some reason erased the tattoo he quite liked.

As for what that reason was, or the secret conversations that passed between the two, there was no way to know. However, it was certain he went to a dermatology clinic introduced by Jang Se-hyeon and seemed to have no real desire to erase it.

“It’s a bit far to go all the way there just to erase one tattoo. The clinic is small, too.”

“….”

Jang Se-hyeon’s expression turned rigid at the fact that Lee Taeseon had already identified which dermatology clinic the tattoo was erased at.

“What do you want to do? Should we bring Inha and do a fingerprint analysis? Then would you believe that he is Yoon Inha? Director, right now you’re in shock from Inyoung’s death….”

Now he began to bluster. Lee Taeseon cut him off.

“I can look into that personally. Why would I ever trust the results you bring?”

Jang Se-hyeon burst into laughter. However, his restlessness was clearly visible. In the first place, did he think it would work? Such an absurdly shallow trick.

Yoon Inha and Yoon Inyoung are different people. For some reason, Inyoung looked like ‘Yoon Inha’ for a while, but he has escaped that now.

He thinks that part alone is bizarre. Lee Taeseon also initially thought it was Yoon Inha while looking at Inyoung. Even if he attributed it to the bruised and swollen face when they met at the funeral, what about after that? The reason he looked like Yoon Inha all along.

Inyoung said the Shaman had fed him a liquid mixed with Inha’s hair and some kind of ash to make him look like Inha. Lee Taeseon was not a person who believed in such things. But after experiencing it personally….

‘To think I was toyed with by such nonsensical nonsense.’

He was beyond absurd; he was on the verge of fury. Not at the Shaman, but at himself. Because of that, he had committed an irreversible wrong against Inyoung.

He had done something unthinkable to Inyoung, whom he had promised to give only love to for a lifetime, even after death. That wasn’t anyone else’s fault. It is entirely his own fault. A fault for which he can turn the arrow toward no one….

“Well, fine. I admit it was a sloppy plan from the start. You just put your faith in one Shaman.”

“….”

“But.”

Jang Se-hyeon leaned his body forward and smirked.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“…What do you mean, what am I going to do?”

“Who would believe you? Even you, Director, didn’t you fail to believe it until the miscarriage? Are you going to step out openly and say the two were swapped, and let’s do a fingerprint check? Haha, everyone will think you’ve lost your mind. And.”

“….”

“Do you think Inyoung would be able to do that?”