SATURDAY 75

In an instant, a chilling sensation crept up my spine.

“Shin Myeonghwa and Jang Sehyeon are that breed. As long as they’re alive, they’ll find a way to crawl back up. I don’t know the exact nature of their relationship yet, but I plan to handle both of them at once if possible.”

“Um, Mr. Taeseon… are you serious? Do you really mean you’re going to do… do that?”

I asked, gripped by fear. Mr. Taeseon’s words sounded as if he intended to kill them both—and thoroughly, so there would be no repercussions.

At that, Mr. Taeseon, who had been speaking so gravely, burst into laughter.

“W-why are you laughing?”

“Do you really think it’s that easy to kill two people in Korea? I’m going to chase them out of the country. After shaking them down for every last cent of their hidden assets. I’ll turn them into Red Notice fugitives who can never step foot in Korea again, making them spend the rest of their lives on the run, unable to do anything.”

“Ah….”

A sigh of relief escaped me for some reason. No matter the circumstances, the idea of whether or not to kill the Shaman and the Professor was terrifying and overwhelming.

Once I felt reassured, something else suddenly caught my eye.

“…Why are you still sitting there?”

Mr. Taeseon was still kneeling on one knee on the floor. He didn’t seem to have any intention of getting up; instead, he smiled, pressed a kiss against my palm with a mwah sound, and spoke.

“You haven’t given me your permission yet.”

“What permission…?”

“The ring.”

“Ah….”

I mindlessly looked at my left hand again. The one-of-a-kind ring was sparkling atop my rough, cold hand. Mr. Taeseon held my left hand and said:

“Will you marry me, Inyoung? Let’s start every single wedding preparation over from the beginning….”

“….”

The wedding, which had been pushed back and delayed until my parents’ accident became the final blow, was something I thought could no longer even be considered. The venue, as well as additional things like flowers and vehicles—the cancellation fees had all been paid, so it was as good as completely cancelled. Since it had turned out that way, he was suggesting we start over from the very beginning.

I hadn’t expected him to go this far. I felt strange. I was so overwhelmed and moved that I just smiled. But just smiling wouldn’t bring the conversation to a close.

How was it during the first proposal? I can’t even remember how long ago that was. Back then, after receiving the ring, I couldn’t say a word and just burst into tears. Mr. Taeseon had quite a hard time comforting me. Is it because this is the second time… that I’m different now?

“…I’d love to… Mr. Taeseon, thank you.”

At the very least, I was now able to say that much.

My parents in critical condition, my now-confusing thoughts about the Shaman and the Professor. There were many mounting problems, but I pushed them all aside and looked only at Mr. Taeseon. Only then did Mr. Taeseon stand up, brace his hand against the bed, and kiss me.

The sweet kiss continued for a long, long time. We carefully tasted each other’s lips and mouths. It tasted like some kind of sweet fruit—a fruit I was certain didn’t exist in this world.

Once the kiss ended and our lips were still slightly touching, Mr. Taeseon whispered:

“Thank you for accepting my proposal, Inyoung.”

“I’m the one who’s thankful… thank you for proposing.”

After we kissed once more, we spent time sharing small talk until the swelling of our lips subsided.

“Should we go for a walk? They’ve built the rooftop garden quite well here. You’ll feel refreshed after a visit.”

It wasn’t as if he was coaxing a puppy that hates walks…. I was giggling at the funniness of Mr. Taeseon’s persuasion when Lili suddenly came to mind. Although cats don’t go on walks.

“Ah, what about Lili? Is Lili doing well? I haven’t been home for days….”

“Ah, Lili. Right. I forgot to show you that.”

Saying so, Mr. Taeseon pulled his phone from his pocket, turned on a screen, and handed it to me. Looking closely, it was our house. Specifically, Lili’s main territory. It seemed he had installed a pet cam at home while I was asleep for three days.

The cat tower in the living room, the stairs leading to the second floor, the hallway, the food and water bowls in two places in the living room and one in the second-floor hallway….

And as I peered into the screen, I almost burst into tears. It was because Lili wasn’t looking at the food bowl or the cat tower, but was sitting forlornly at the front entrance.

Soon an employee came out to play with Lili, but Lili quickly lost interest even in the favorite 3D butterfly wand and returned to the entrance. Even when given treats, the cat only ate a tiny bit and stopped. It was a sight that made me want to go and hug Lili right away.

“…When can I be discharged?”

“You need to stay at least two more days.”

When I grew sullen at those words, Mr. Taeseon stroked my hair as if to say it couldn’t be helped.

Perhaps because I missed Lili, my mood felt somewhat down, so I decided to go for a walk as Mr. Taeseon suggested. Though it was more like looking at the rooftop garden he said was well-decorated than a walk….

As Mr. Taeseon pulled the IV stand and I carefully climbed down from the bed, I saw something on Mr. Taeseon’s knee. It was dust from when he was sitting on the floor earlier.

“…?”

The moment I bent over to brush off Mr. Taeseon’s knee, a strand of hair fluttered and fell to the floor.

‘Hmm?’

I was puzzled for a moment seeing it. Judging by the length and color, it must have been my hair, but it was covered in some kind of dark, sticky substance. There was nothing in the hospital room that could get stuck to hair like that.

I tilted my head, but I snapped out of it when Mr. Taeseon asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

I threw the hair into the trash can and left the room.

That night, it began to rain again. At my request, all the curtains in the room were closed, and bright music was even playing from an old record player that had been sitting there who-knows-how-long. It was to mask the sound of the rain even a little.

Actually, I had never acted this sensitive before… if I were to make an excuse, it’s because the sound of the rain felt exceptionally scary today for some reason.

The record I chose was, as expected, an old-looking “Children’s Classical Nursery Rhymes.” However, despite the music I turned on, the cheerful melody could not completely hide the sound of the pouring torrential rain.

If I were to play something else, the only records available were particularly gloomy ones like jazz, bossa nova, or blues.

I could have asked someone to go buy a CD, but I didn’t know any modern songs, and my taste in music was entirely somber, which was problematic. I had no choice but to be satisfied with a Minuet.

The incident occurred around 11:00 PM.

Since I couldn’t fall asleep until late, I was talking about this and that with Mr. Taeseon when the lights in the room suddenly flickered. It was strange; not just the main lights, but even the auxiliary halogen lamps placed here and there were flashing at different intervals.

Mr. Taeseon, glancing at the lights as they repeated their cycle of brightening and darkening, stood up from the caregiver’s chair.

“Is it a blackout? I’ll go tell the nursing station.”

“Okay.”

In the midst of this, I was having useless thoughts like What if the halogen lamps explode? Fortunately, there was only a long incandescent bulb directly above my head.

Shortly after Mr. Taeseon left for the nursing station.

With a pop sound, all the lights in the hospital room went out.

“….”

I froze in shock. I thought they would turn back on soon, but they didn’t. There was no sign of Mr. Taeseon returning, even though he had only gone just outside.

‘Is it a power outage?’

But a strange thought suddenly occurred to me. Hospitals… don’t all hospitals have their own generators so that the power comes back on immediately even if it goes out?

Was that only applied to special facilities and equipment in the hospital? Maybe it was okay for the room lights to be out, and since my room didn’t have any separate life-support devices.

I turned my head to look through the small window on the door. Even the hallway was dark. The nursing station should be right in front, yet I couldn’t sense anyone’s presence. There was only the sound of a song in the pitch-black darkness.

…A song?

“….”

Inadvertently, I thought the song was coming from a Bluetooth speaker as usual. That was why I didn’t feel any sense of oddity at the song continuing even in the darkness….

But come to think of it, what was in this room was an old-fashioned phonograph where the audio device and speaker were integrated. If there were a blackout, the music should have turned off as well.

The moment I thought that, the cheerful rhythm of the Humoresque gradually slowed down, and static noise began to mix into the music. That wasn’t all. A strange creak, creak sound, like something scratching a glass surface, was also heard.

That sound gradually became clearer. It became clearer, and louder. And before long, creak, creak, so-ol, la, cree-eak, sol, la…. It became a person’s voice….

“Sol— La— Sol— La— Si— Re— Mi— Re….”

I let out a sharp gasp. The voice gloomily singing along to the melody that should have been simple and light was familiar. The moment I thought of the owner of that voice, thunder and lightning struck almost simultaneously as if it were a lie, and a human shadow appeared in the corner of the dark room.

“Heugh…!”

With a feeling of my breath being choked off, a suppressed sound that wasn’t even a scream escaped me. Because the curtains were closed, the interior was so dark that I could barely see the outline of my own hand; even letting my eyes adjust to the darkness was not easy.

With pupils dilated to their limit, I stared in a certain direction. I couldn’t see well, but I could feel that something was there. Clearly.

Why isn’t Mr. Taeseon coming? Along with the sound of the rain, the melody of the classical dance music, which had grown bizarre, kept repeating.

As did the human voice accompanying it.

The moment a hint of laughter began to seep into that voice, I barely let out a geuk, geuk sound as I struggled to back away.

That attempt, of course, ended in failure. Blocked by the headboard and the wall, I scrambled to pull the blanket up to my neck.

Soon, a thud, thud sound of a wet object stepping on the floor was heard. It seemed a bit like a limp. The sound drew closer and closer.

There is still no sign of the hospital room door opening. Eventually, I lifted the blanket with both hands and hid inside. The footsteps stopped.

I shivered, unable to even breathe. That familiar voice singing. The one who had now reached the foot of the bed was Inha. Inha had appeared again.

Suddenly, that dirty hair I saw earlier came to mind. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it. That is Inha’s hair. The foreign substance attached to it was the blood and flesh from Inha’s broken head.

My body was shaking so much I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know how much I hoped Inha would just back away like this, that the lights would turn back on, that Mr. Taeseon would return.

However, in the next moment. One side of the blanket flapped slightly. I held my breath and directed my gaze there. The blanket was moving slightly, slightly, bit by bit.

All my nerves were focused there. I felt like tears were going to flow.

And the moment I inhaled the breath I had been holding, unable to bear it any longer, the blanket was whipped open, and along with the sound of thunder, Inha thrust a wide-grinning face deep into the blanket.