SATURDAY 55

“Property dispute? …Is that even possible?”

My uncle seemed to have the exact same thought as me. There is no reason for a property dispute to occur in our family. All the assets belong to Inha, and everything has already been arranged that way. Even if my parents were to suddenly pass away, the lawyers would handle everything.

For a moment, I thought, ‘Maybe my uncle…?’ but then again, no. Excluding what he inherited from my grandfather, his own wealth alone far exceeds the assets Inha was gifted. He wouldn’t bother.

“A property dispute. It is a sudden thing to say. Mr. Chaein, are you perhaps interested in that family’s fortune?”

“As if. I wouldn’t take it even if they gave it to me. In fact, property dispute or not, I find it strange that the Shaman hasn’t siphoned off my brother’s assets yet….”

My uncle stopped mid-sentence and closed his mouth. As Mr. Taeseon and I looked at him quizzically, my uncle, who had furrowed his brow deeply, continued.

“…How about something like this? Kill Inha first, swap Inyoung for Inha to inherit the estate, and then coax Inyoung into siphoning all that inherited wealth for themselves.”

My eyes widened involuntarily. It was a deduction that wasn’t at all far-fetched. However.

“Wouldn’t they get caught by the law? The scale of the inheritance wouldn’t be ordinary.”

As for me, it was a given, and Inha had also decided not to inherit the management rights of the company. It was because Inha didn’t want them. Inha wished to live freely without being tied to the company, and my parents had made preparations accordingly.

They would give Inha a suitable position within the company so he wouldn’t be completely detached, but they would employ a professional manager.

Actually, this too had been the Shaman’s advice. That one never knows when something might happen to a person, so management succession and property matters should be prepared in advance while Inha was young.

But something bothered me.

“But, Uncle…. Why would the Shaman do such a thing? The Shaman is someone without greed.”

“Look at this one, still talking like that. Is he driving a Ferrari because he has no greed?”

“A Fe, Ferrari? No, the Shaman’s car is….”

Even when he came to our house recently, the Shaman drove a light gray domestic mid-sized car. It wasn’t even a car that could be considered expensive, and it was old; he had been driving it since I could remember, so it had been over a decade.

“He only drives that in front of you and that family. You know those times when he says he’s going to his shrine and goes home? That house’s parking lot is an imported car showroom. Ferraris, Bentleys, Bugattis… what money do you think he used to buy all those?”

“…Money he received from Mom and Dad?”

My uncle nodded slowly.

“And there are two ‘shrines.’ A semi-basement villa in Yangjae-dong; he decorated that place as a shrine. And then there’s an apartment in Jamwon-dong. That is the house where the Shaman actually lives.”

The more I heard, the more confused I became. The Shaman stays at our house more than three days a week. On the other days, he went to the mountains or the shrine to pray. But to think he had a separate home.

“There were times when he left saying he was going to pray, right? Every time that happened, he went to his own house.”

“Yes, Inyoung. Mr. Chaein is right.”

Even Mr. Taeseon stepped in to support him. I felt dizzy. As I put my hand to my forehead, Mr. Taeseon approached with a worried face and sat close beside me. My swaying body was pulled into his arm, and I leaned against him.

“N-No, to suspect the Shaman just for that is a bit….”

“….”

I felt my uncle and Mr. Taeseon exchange a look. I didn’t know what it meant. But the Shaman, and Professor Jang….

Just then, my phone vibrated for a long time. The caller displayed on the screen was Mom. Suddenly, I felt like my breath was being cut off. I tried to reach for it, but Mr. Taeseon covered the back of my hand with his own.

“If you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”

“….”

But, it was a call from Mom. The more it vibrated, the more anxious I became. In the end, I said, “It’s okay,” and answered the phone.

—Inha! Sweetie, why are you answering the phone so late? Mom was worried.

“Ah, the phone was far away…. Did something happen?”

—Oh, it’s nothing else, but do you want to come home for a bit now? Mom has something to tell you.

“Now…?”

I looked back at my uncle and Mr. Taeseon. They both scowled at the same time, having roughly guessed the contents of the call.

“What is it about? Is it urgent?”

—No, it’s not urgent. I just wanted to see your face and tell you in person.

“What could it be….”

Then, Mom spoke in a nonchalant voice.

—You know what I mentioned before, the remains. I had them dug up today.

∞ ∞ ∞

I don’t know in what state of mind I traveled to the house. I lay in the back seat the whole time because of dizziness. Even though it was an odd hour, traffic was heavily backed up as if there had been an accident somewhere, and I suffered from motion sickness. Mr. Taeseon and my uncle were restless.

Still, thanks to the pheromones Mr. Taeseon kept releasing, my condition became quite alright by the time we arrived home. Enough that I could step out of the car on my own feet.

My uncle stopped Mr. Taeseon as he tried to get out as well.

“If the Managing Director goes in, I think a fight will break out. Stay here, if possible.”

“….”

Perhaps thinking similarly, Mr. Taeseon stroked my hair, kissed my temple lightly, and told me to go in and come back safely.

When I entered the house, Mom welcomed me with a table full of refreshments. They were all fruits, cakes, and snacks of the kind Inha liked. I didn’t particularly like sweet foods, but no one in my family knows my preferences.

As soon as I sat down, Mom poured me tea. Unable to even wait for that, I looked at the teacup filling with warm steam and spoke.

“…What happened?”

“What do you mean ‘what happened.’ They say it’s going to rain a lot again starting tomorrow, right? I figured we might as well do it on a day with good weather, so I dug it up. By the way, why is it raining so much in May….”

Mom was filling my uncle’s cup and finally pouring tea into her own cup. It was an even tone, as if she were truly just complaining about the weather.

“Wouldn’t Inyoung also want to go on a day with good weather.”

Mom let out a short sigh.

“I opened the grave, emptied it, and did a bone-scattering burial. Do you know of the Memorial Hill?”

“No….”

It was a word I was hearing for the first time. Mom explained lightly that it was a designated place in the mountains for storing bone ashes.

“Then, now… I won’t even be able to find it.”

“That might be more free. How suffocating it must be to be trapped in one place.”

If that were the case, I wanted to ask if Mom would be okay with having her bones scattered in the mountains or the sea after she died. Seeing as they had even made a family grave, she wouldn’t be okay with it. My uncle, who had been still until then, suddenly stood up with his teacup and splashed the tea—which had cooled somewhat—directly at Mom.

“Ack…! Ch, Mr. Chaein, what do you think you’re doing!”

“Sister-in-law, are you even human?”

My uncle’s voice was trembling violently. The empty cup dropped from his hand and rolled across the rug on the floor. My uncle glared at Mom with bloodshot eyes and spoke again.

“Is throwing the bones of a child who died at twenty-two into a place where the ashes of this person and that person are piled up something a human being would do?”

“Th, throwing them away…! How can you say such a thing? That is strictly a place for burial too, and we did it all for Inyoung’s sake…!”

“What you threw away, Sister-in-law, those were Inha’s remains.”

In an instant, Mom’s movements stopped.

Mom stared blankly at my uncle and then, with her hair and face wet, she laughed, “Ahaha,” as if it were absurd.

“Mr. Chaein, are you sick somewhere? Are you in your right mind right now?”

“Yes, I am. I’m in my right mind. You just believed it because the Shaman and Professor Jang said, ‘This one is Inha,’ didn’t you? Without even knowing they had been swapped long ago.”

“I’m asking you what on earth you are talking about!”

Mom jumped up and screamed so loudly it made my ears ache. I felt an inexplicable strangeness from that appearance of hers. Why is she reacting to that extent? But I was too frantic to think more deeply. Mom… took ‘my’ remains and performed a joint burial in a place where the ashes of others were interred.

Of course, they weren’t mine, but Mom did it thinking they were my remains. Without even caring about them being mixed with those of others.

I felt the blood drain from my face. Because the spot where ‘I’ was buried was an auspicious site, because she didn’t want to leave me in such a place, because she feared that I, having received blessings from that spot, might obstruct Inha’s path ahead, Mom….

“…Mom.”

Mom, who looked ready to fight with my uncle, whipped around to look at me. I asked in a slowed voice.

“Did you really hate me that much, Mom?”

“…You… you, why are you being like this again. Why are even you like this, Inha.”

“Inha is dead.”

“….”

“I’m Inyoung, Mom.”