SATURDAY 71

For a split second, I felt as if I had been bonked on the head with an air-filled toy hammer. That is how dazed I was. Because he has legs… he is a person….

As I sat there blankly, Mr. Taeseon suddenly looked at me with a hardened expression. Remembering how cold he had been toward me, I flinched slightly. However, when his mouth opened and his voice flowed out, it was incredibly gentle.

“Inyoung.”

“Yes….”

“I know it’s hard for you to break away. You’ve been under that Shaman’s shadow since you were a child. But even the Shaman’s spiritual daughter said it back then. Shin Myeonghwa is a fraud.”

“….”

That was true. I had been very distraught after hearing that story from the mudang that day.

“Moreover, she even tried to kill me and your parents.”

My head was spinning. I pressed my hand to my forehead and asked Mr. Taeseon.

“Why would she go that far? Why…?”

“You heard it then too, Inyoung. It’s because of money.”

“Money….”

I had no greed for money. That was likely due to the environment I grew up in. Even though I grew up being treated like a ghost or an evil spirit at home, most necessities were given to me before I even had to ask.

I had never gone hungry, nor had I ever shivered in the cold for lack of clothes. My uncle bought me things like toys and books. There was also a check card my parents had made in my name, telling me to use it whenever I needed. Though, I couldn’t bring myself to use it often because I felt self-conscious.

Perhaps that is why I couldn’t understand it. Trying to kill people because of money. No, the Shaman and the Professor had already killed Inha, so there was nothing more to be said.

But on top of that, even my parents and Mr. Taeseon…. Just what kind of greed drives a person to commit murder multiple times?

“Why my parents…?”

“Because you will inherit it.”

“Inherit?”

Come to think of it, I was still “Yoon Inha.” For some reason, this hospital treated me as Yoon Inyoung, but even so, the patient wristband printed by entering a resident registration number read “Yoon Inha.”

‘Isn’t it obvious even to you? They disguise you as Yoon Inha to inherit the estate as it comes, and then they’ll stab you in the back to make you cough it all up. I can picture it in my head perfectly after hearing it just once.’

Those were the words the mudang had said to me that day. It was exactly the same. So the Shaman and the Professor really….

“…Just like the mudang told me. Are they using me to embezzle the fortune?”

“Yes. Now you understand.”

Mr. Taeseon quietly stroked my hair as if praising me. And I was surprised by my own words. They were words that had simply slipped out. It meant that in my subconscious, I already thought of those two in exactly that way.

“This is a story about the past that I’ve thought of. Do you want to hear it?”

At Mr. Taeseon’s words, I nodded my head.

“A certain mudang entered a wealthy household with her eyes on their fortune. She formed a long-term plan. When a child was born in that house, she would care for them and instill her own thoughts into them, so that later she could extort the wealth. Just like the leader of a pseudo-religious cult would do.”

“….”

“But unexpectedly, the baby the madam was pregnant with was twins. The mudang had no choice but to change her plans. No, she might have actually thought it turned out for the better. Because she could completely brainwash one of the twins and raise them to be someone so blindly devoted to her that it would be frustrating for others to watch.”

So frustrating for others to watch. I flinched despite myself. I found myself frustrating too, so I wondered how Mr. Taeseon or my uncle must have felt. My mind began to waver, as if a fog were rolling in.

“The mudang prepares a long-term plan once again. The destination of that plan is for no one to remain in that household except for the one child she brainwashed.”

Without needing to ask, it was my story. I lowered my head and quietly listened to Mr. Taeseon’s voice. Mr. Taeseon paused for a moment, then gently lifted my chin and kissed me.

Pheromones flowed out from him. My surroundings were likely thick with pheromones that I probably failed to control. However, while smelling Mr. Taeseon’s pheromones and kissing him, my heart slowly calmed down.

At some point, I slowly opened my closed eyes. I felt the touch of Mr. Taeseon’s fingers wiping my lips, and once my eyes were fully open, I saw him straightening his upper body.

“…Were you surprised?”

He asked with a worried face. He was asking if I was surprised because he kissed me. Looking at that face made me feel sorry instead. Thinking about it, Mr. Taeseon must have been surprised and scared by the unexpected events as well, yet he was comforting me.

Only then did I realize my mistake and reached out my hand to touch Mr. Taeseon’s cheek. Now that I looked, there were small scratches on his jaw and cheek that I hadn’t noticed before.

Since he said glass broke in the car, even if it was special safety glass, scratches like this might have been left behind. Or he could have been hurt during a physical struggle. When the skin I touched thoughtlessly with my fingertips felt different from the rest, I pulled my hand away in surprise as if I had been burned.

Even though I had touched the wounds, Mr. Taeseon looked as if it were nothing. Instead, he was looking at me with a worried expression.

“I’m sorry for touching the wounds…. Did it hurt? Should I call a nurse?”

I tried to press the call button, but Mr. Taeseon waved his hand to stop me.

“It’s not like they’re significant wounds. They’ll get better in a day or two.”

“But even so, at least a bandage….”

“I told you it’s fine. It’ll just stand out more for no reason.”

I stared up at Mr. Taeseon. Looking closely, his face was a mess with scratches everywhere. I had been looking at him this whole time, so why didn’t I know? I was too preoccupied with my own affairs. While I was hesitating out of distress, Mr. Taeseon gave a bitter smile and kissed me once more.

Tok.

After his lips pulled away and I hesitated for a moment, Mr. Taeseon lightly bumped his lips against mine and spoke.

“Are you still that shy?”

“…Mr. Taeseon, weren’t you scared?”

At that, Mr. Taeseon widened his eyes as if asking what I was talking about.

“You almost died…. You encountered kidnappers; weren’t you scared or shocked? I’m so glad you returned safely like this, but….”

“Scared? It was nothing. Our youngest secretary played an active role, and the bodyguards were quite excellent.”

“You should give them a promotion….”

“That’s a given. It really was nothing. So don’t worry.”

I didn’t know if he was saying that to ease my worries or if it really was nothing to him. Then again, Mr. Taeseon is different from a faint-hearted person like me, so he would have been resolute even in such a situation, and perhaps he truly wasn’t scared at all.

Regardless, I’m just so glad he is safe. And….

Suddenly, the faces of the Shaman and the Professor flashed through my mind. Along with a faint sense of unpleasantness.

Unpleasantness?

I had never felt such an emotion while thinking of those two. But now, an emotion close to anger, which I couldn’t quite put into words, surged within me. I felt as if, right now, I could push those two away completely.

“….”

Then, strangely, my heart felt refreshed. It was like… the feeling of taking off wet clothes. The feeling of taking off wet clothes I thought I would freeze to death without, and exposing my skin to the sunlight. The feeling of damp skin gradually drying.

“What would you like me to do with the Shaman and Professor Jang, Inyoung?”

“That… I don’t really know yet.”

It was a frustrating answer again. However, Mr. Taeseon was now sitting on one side of the bed, looking at me with a gentle gaze.

“I don’t know for sure… but I don’t have the same thoughts I used to.”

“The same thoughts?”

“The thought that the Shaman and the Professor are unconditionally right…? Well, I haven’t thought they were right since I heard Inha’s story, but still, the thought that I want to keep relying on them, that I can’t be without them.”

“You don’t have those thoughts anymore?”

“Yes…. Actually, it’s not that I don’t have them at all, but more than that… the desire to distance myself feels greater.”

As I said I wanted to distance myself, I felt my thoughts becoming organized. Actually, even now, I feel an impulse to meet them and talk. However, even if I met them, I don’t necessarily have the courage to interrogate them about what they did to my parents and Mr. Taeseon.

No, do I not?

Will I really be unable to say anything?

My mind was tangled in a complicated knot.

Maybe I was just hiding behind the words “I can’t” simply because I was afraid. And to be honest, I am still scared of those two.

I was disgusted and felt terrible about them doing such things… but when I think of those two, I still end up feeling that I must not treat them carelessly. Like a fool. I was so scared of them getting angry.

Because… it had been that way since I was a child. If those two turned away from me, I would become empty. Because only my uncle would be left by my side. My uncle is so precious too, but the Shaman and the Professor… they to me.

What did they do to me?

“Inyoung.”

“….”

“Think about it step by step. About those two.”

“I….”

“Think about what that mudang you met said too. The mudang said it. If you break away from Shin Myeonghwa, you will surely come to hate her just like he does. Why does a person hate another person?”

“Because… they did something wrong to me?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Taeseon carefully reached out and cupped the back of my head.

“Yes, Inyoung. That’s right.”