SATURDAY 56

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

My mother, her face turning pale, staggered as she tried to grab me. Involuntarily, I reached out and caught her, and when I approached to help her up, she stared at me blankly. This was a first for such an action. It was likely a first for her as well.

Inha was never affectionate enough to help my mother up, and I had never dared to approach her.

“I am In, Inyoung. There is a way to confirm it too. Mom… You can’t believe me?”

“I have to hear something believable to believe it!”

“Mom, just because of one tattoo, to think that Inha and I were swapped…”

In the middle of speaking, I gasped, my breath hitching. It wasn’t easy to say such things in front of my mother. Just then, the doorbell rang. My mother stood there dazed as if she couldn’t hear the sound, and my uncle looked back at me before carefully picking up the interphone to check.

Seeing the screen, my uncle immediately pressed the door release button. The lock disengaged, and a familiar pheromone was felt. Mr. Taeseon had entered. Mr. Taeseon immediately approached me and pulled me into an embrace.

Only then could I breathe properly. My mother snapped her head up and stared at me intently. It was as if she were witnessing the scene of some bizarre occurrence. Then, she opened her mouth falteringly.

“Inha… Inha, what is wrong with you?”

“…”

“Hmm? Inha, why are you doing this, you’re scaring Mom…”

My mother sounded as if she were almost on the verge of sobbing. As she stumbled forward and tried to grab my arm, Mr. Taeseon stepped in to block her.

“Don’t you think you lack the right to do this?”

“…What on earth does that mean, CEO Lee.”

“He’s right about you lacking the right, Sister-in-law. Even though he was the Inha you loved so much, you couldn’t even recognize him properly.”

My uncle continued in a sarcastic tone.

“Or, are you just pretending not to know?”

“…”

My mother suddenly froze.

“Because you want to raise a new Inha?”

“Wha, what… what… are you talking about, Mr. Chaein.”

My mother’s trembling voice was pitiful. As I tried to go to her, Mr. Taeseon blocked me this time. When I looked up at him silently, he shook his head slightly. He spoke by only mouthing the words.

‘No need to help.’

“…”

I became anxious. I had to help my mother. I had to comfort her. Because she is still my mother, no matter what she did to me… Because Mom is Mom.

“…Mom…”

When I called out to her in a small voice, my mother’s gaze shifted toward me. She looked at me with an inexpressibly complex expression. Because you want to raise a new Inha? It seemed those words had been a tremendous shock to her.

“To Inyoung…”

I flinched at the sudden mention of my name. Mr. Taeseon’s grip as he held me tightened.

“To Inyoung, I’m sorry… But, I thought the better I treated Inyoung, the more Inha would have taken from him. So I purposely—purposely treated him worse and acted harshly. Inyoung is—Inyoung is my child too…”

“Don’t listen, Inyoung.”

Even if he hadn’t said so… I didn’t want to listen. Because I understood so well what my mother was saying, I felt like I would rather scream to block out her words.

While speaking as if she were atoning to me, didn’t the statement ultimately underlie that her actions were for Inha’s sake?

“…Mom.”

When I called her quietly, she looked at me with a face made a mess by tears. She reached out her hand, but I could not bring myself to take it.

“In the end, it was all for Inha’s sake.”

“It’s not like that… Inyoung, why can’t you understand Mom’s heart? Don’t you know how hard it was for Mom? You—you are a truly bad child. How can you do this to your mother, hmm?”

You are a truly bad child.

How can you do this to your mother.

These were the words my mother habitually said to me. Every time I heard them, I was swept into intense anxiety. How can I do better? How can I cause less harm? What can I do so that Mom, Dad, and Inha won’t suffer? From my childhood until now, my life had been permeated with such thoughts.

It was only natural. Because I am the evil spirit. Because I am the ghost born having stolen everything from Inha. Because I am a deficient person who cannot say a single word of rebuttal even when Inha calls me a corpse or a ghost—no, because I am not even human to begin with.

Mom is just saying the obvious things…

“Inyoung.”

Just then, I suddenly heard Mr. Taeseon’s voice.

He was very close. He also seemed a little angry. It must be because of me. Because I was showing such a frustrating appearance. Since he dislikes these kinds of situations and would also dislike a person who acts stupidly in them. When I lifted my head in fear, Mr. Taeseon raised his hand.

In that instant, even though I knew better, I thought he was going to slap my cheek; it felt so much like he would that I hunched my body inward. However, Mr. Taeseon hesitated for a moment and then quietly stroked my hair and cheek.

“Calm down… Inyoung, there is no need to be afraid.”

“…”

While I was dazed, my body was suddenly lifted. My mother seemed to be shouting something, but my ears felt muffled and I couldn’t hear well. Nor could I hear the voice of my uncle, who was raising his own voice in response to her. Among all that, the only sound that I heard clearly.

“I will be taking Inyoung with me.”

“…Did you know as well, CEO Lee?”

My mother spoke in a vacant voice. Mr. Taeseon pulled me deep into his chest as if to cover my ears and then opened his mouth. Every time he spoke, I could feel his chest vibrating low against my ear.

“About what do you mean. That the Shaman you serve like a god in this house—no, that mongrel who isn’t even a Shaman—plotted this whole thing and deceived everyone?”

The glimpse I caught of my mother’s face was filled with horror. However, it wasn’t the shock of learning a fact she hadn’t known; it was the face of a believer who had heard a tremendous verbal assault against the object of their faith.

“What on earth are you talking about right now!”

“I am merely stating the facts. The Woljeong Shaman is…”

At that moment, the sound of the front door opening was heard.

“Shaman!”

My mother ran to the entrance in a single bound as if she had met a savior. The one who appeared was the Shaman. When I involuntarily lifted my head to look at the Shaman, he was glaring at Mr. Taeseon with a cold and terrifying face. Suddenly, chills ran down my spine and I was gripped by fear. I wondered if the Shaman might harm Mr. Taeseon with some sort of incantation.

“Ta, Mr. Taeseon, let’s just go now… A, no.”

It wasn’t a problem that would be solved by disappearing from the Shaman’s sight. The Shaman already knew Mr. Taeseon’s date and time of birth, and if he set his mind to it, he could… Fear ran from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

“Inyoung.”

The Shaman called me.

“Don’t listen.”

Mr. Taeseon covered my ears, but I quietly brushed his hands away. I wanted to know what the Shaman was saying.

“Inyoung, I am sorry for deceiving you. But from the beginning, this Shaman intended to call Inha.”

“…”

“Don’t you think so too? That it is more helpful to have Inha in this world. For the sake of the family as well.”

“Stop talking bullshit.”

Harsh words immediately burst from Mr. Taeseon’s mouth. My uncle followed up by clicking his tongue, saying he was out of his mind.

“Did you think such a shallow trick would work?”

“It worked, on Inyoung. And the rest of the family believed that child was Inha and waited. Also, there was the effect of the secret ritual.”

“Ha, secret ritual? You’ve gone completely mad. You’re doing every single thing a cultist does.”

“…Actually, you didn’t recognize him, did you?”

“…”

For the first time, Mr. Taeseon’s movements stopped. Mr. Taeseon had, for a while, perceived me as Inha. It must have been because of that mysterious liquid the Shaman made him drink.

“Without recognizing that child, you acted harshly while thinking, ‘So you are Yoon Inha.’ Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

Mr. Taeseon was momentarily flustered, and I staggered out of his embrace. Mr. Taeseon immediately reached out his hand to catch me again.

“Inyoung.”

“Inha!”

“…Stop calling me Inha!”

I raised my voice. Toward my mother. It was the first time in my life. An act like raising my voice to my mother was something I hadn’t even been able to conceive of.

“I am not Inha… Inha is dead. I saw Inha as he was dying. He was in a state where there was no way he could have survived.”

“In, Inha, what are you… That, that was Inyoung. The one who died like that was Inyoung, Inha.”

“Inha is dead. He isn’t coming back ever again.”

Then, I looked at the Shaman and spoke.

“Shaman, no matter what, no matter how incredible you are, the dead do not return. I am…”

I was going to live as Yoon Inyoung. I would ask the Shaman to break the spell he cast on me… no, seeing how Mr. Taeseon and my uncle recognized me after a few words, perhaps it was a spell with a time limit from the start.

“Do you think so?”

Along with the eerie voice, the living room fell silent in an instant. I lifted my head and looked at the Shaman.

“Do you really think that? You…”

“…”

“Inha will keep appearing in your dreams, won’t he?”