SATURDAY 83

My mother’s eyes were shining so intensely they almost flickered. I reflexively looked at my father. He quietly turned his head away, avoiding my gaze.

In that moment, my vision spun rapidly, and I clearly saw a side profile of the Professor standing near the hospital room door.

Fortunately, my vision returned quickly, but the process caused severe dizziness. As I staggered, Mr. Taeseon caught me as if embracing me. However, the moment I was held, what I felt wasn’t relief, but a fleeting… annoyance.

“…?”

I looked at Mr. Taeseon, bewildered. I knew it wasn’t my place to question it, but it was strange. Strong emotions felt by others often rub off on me. Could Mr. Taeseon have been feeling annoyed internally?

I had no choice but to think that way because, for nearly three years, I had never once felt the emotion of annoyance toward Mr. Taeseon.

I liked everything he did unconditionally, and even things I would normally dislike were fine if he did them. Above all, he never did anything that would make me feel annoyed.

What was that just now? Did I mistake a complex surge of emotions for something else?

I tilted my head and leaned against Mr. Taeseon. The annoyance was gone. While holding me, Mr. Taeseon turned around and left the hospital room. From behind, I heard my mother calling “Inha, Inha,” and I wanted to cover my ears.

Just as I tried to force myself to ignore it and take a step.

“Yoon Inyoung!”

“…!”

At the sound of my name being called accurately, I stopped in my tracks without realizing it. The person who called me was the Shaman.

“Don’t blather on with useless nonsense.”

Mr. Taeseon gave a low warning. I knew that if he went just a bit further, his polite speech would turn into informal speech, and harsher words would follow. Wanting to leave before that happened, I pulled on Mr. Taeseon’s arm. But faster than that, the Shaman spoke.

“Keep your body clean. Because soon, it will no longer be your body.”

“Wh—what does that mean….”

“Don’t listen, Inyoung.”

Uncle stepped in to intervene. In that moment, Mr. Taeseon momentarily entrusted me to Uncle, spun around, strode toward the Shaman, and grabbed his wrist so hard it looked painful. Even though the Shaman was still young and had a better physique than me, it was so threatening that I wondered if his arm might break.

The Shaman was exerting force to pull his arm away, and the moment Mr. Taeseon suddenly let go, he lost his balance and fell to the floor with an “Uh, uh.” Mr. Taeseon strode toward him and looked down as if pressing the fallen Shaman down with his height. I felt a sense of intimidation so strong it made even me lose my breath.

It felt as though Mr. Taeseon might hit the Shaman. Uncle patted me, approached them, and grabbed Mr. Taeseon from behind, saying “General Manager.” While his arm was held, Mr. Taeseon said in a low voice.

“I told you not to say useless things to Inyoung.”

“CEO Lee!”

“Wh—what do you think you’re doing right now!”

Mother and Father were horrified and tried to stop Mr. Taeseon, but he didn’t even pretend to listen. He continued.

“A mere scrap of a con artist acting like a shaman. Using crude tricks based on fragments of knowledge you’ve picked up. I asked a real shaman about the rituals and warding methods you use, and they just scoffed.”

“….”

“I heard you went around pretending to be so spiritually gifted when you were young? But since you couldn’t actually be possessed by a god, well, you must have felt resentful and embarrassed.”

The face of the Shaman sitting on the floor turned a deep, burning red. Mr. Taeseon tilted his head to the side and let out a smirk.

“Even so, you shouldn’t resolve that through fraud. Mr. Shin Myeonghwa. Shaman? Don’t make me laugh.”

Crossing the hospital room, which had become suffocatingly quiet, Mr. Taeseon approached me again. After whispering “Let’s go,” he practically carried me out of the room.

After the hospital door closed heavily, I finally let out a “Gasp.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ho—how could you do that to the Shaman….”

“Why.”

“No, I mean… is it okay to treat the Shaman like that?”

At that, Mr. Taeseon gave a bitter smile.

“Why wouldn’t it be? Well, he is older than me, but he isn’t your family’s guardian deity, nor is he even a Shaman you should respect and serve. I told you several times he’s a fake shaman and a con artist.”

After leaving the room, Mr. Taeseon picked me up and carried me sideways. Only then did I realize my limbs were trembling. It seemed I had been in a state of extreme tension until now. Come to think of it, my throat felt parched, my mouth was bone-dry, and I felt dizzy.

“There’s water in the car, so just hang on for a bit.”

As if he knew, Mr. Taeseon said that. I nodded and stayed quietly in his arms. Uncle stared at me with pitying eyes for a moment before turning his head.

After returning to the hospital, I fell asleep for a while. While I slept, Inha appeared, as if he’d never tire of it. For some reason, Inha looked perfectly fine, wearing the exact clothes he wore that day, even his shoes. He was standing on my chest, looking down at me.

‘Move….’

I mumbled, but no voice came out. After looking down at me with a lingering smirk for a long time, Inha spoke.

[Mother….]

‘….’

[Mother, do you remember that incident? It was so trivial you might have forgotten…. He-he-he-he.]

Inha’s voice is identical to mine. Goosebumps rose as he repeated the words I had said earlier in that same voice.

[On Christmas when I was six, he-he… you bought me the exact same doll you bought for Inha. Do you perhaps remember that? Do you perhaps remember that? Do you perhaps remember that?]

‘Stop it….’

Was my voice always that desperate and pitiful? It didn’t sound like a voice speaking to a mother. It sounded like a distant relative who had come to borrow money from someone wealthy. It meant I was that miserable and depressed.

[My name is… Yoon Inyoung… I’m twenty-two years old….]

I flinched. This time, Inha was repeating the exact words I had said at the time of the accident. The weight on my chest, which I hadn’t felt at first, grew heavier and heavier. It was hard to breathe, as if a heavy boulder had been placed on my chest.

[He-he-he-he-he…. Inha, why did you push me? Inha…. Why did you push meee? He-he-he, hi-hi-hi-hi-hit!]

Inha, who had been cackling and laughing, suddenly stopped laughing and crouched down in front of me.

[Hey, Yoon Inyoung. Do you like Lee Taeseon?]

‘….’

[Who do you like best in the world? Do you like Lee Taeseon? Then it doesn’t matter if Mother and Father die?]

‘N—no, that’s not it….’

I managed to shake my head. Inha gradually lowered his head and smirked right in front of my face.

[Is that so? Then is it okay if Lee Taeseon dies?]

‘N—no, I hate both ideas….’

[Greedy person…. he-he, greedy person.]

‘…Disappear….’

As I kept muttering “disappear, disappear” internally, Inha stared at me with a cold face for a long time and then vanished like smoke. Simultaneously, I woke from my sleep.

“….”

When I opened my eyes, Mr. Taeseon was dabbing a wet gauze against my lips. When I blinked and looked at him reflexively, he pulled the gauze away and kissed my damp lips.

“Ahem!”

I was about to quietly accept the kiss when I was so startled by the sudden sound of a dry cough that I nearly fell off the bed. Mr. Taeseon said calmly.

“Mr. Chaein, you’re startling Inyoung.”

“Fix your habits, General Manager! That habit of biting and sucking on the kid everywhere! Didn’t you already get called a thief for snatching a twenty-year-old to get married?!”

“I was twenty-six back then too.”

Mr. Taeseon argued in an aggrieved voice.

Mr. Taeseon and I actually only have a six-year age gap. However, because Mr. Taeseon… is handsome but looks a bit older than his actual age, and because we started dating when I was twenty, there was a time when the looks from those around Mr. Taeseon were rather cold.

Uncle also opposed my marriage to Mr. Taeseon at first, all for that reason. Although he eventually gave in to my persuasion. To be honest, even back then, I never dreamed they had known each other from the start.

“Want some water, Inyoung?”

“Yes….”

I had drifted off in Mr. Taeseon’s arms while heading down to the car earlier and slept straight until we arrived at the hospital.

Even after arriving, I was so out of it that I forgot to drink water, rushed into my patient gown, and fell back asleep. That was why Mr. Taeseon had been continuously moistening my lips with water while I slept.

“Drink slowly, bit by bit. It’s cold.”

In weather like this, even water kept at room temperature is quite cold. As I followed Mr. Taeseon’s advice and quenched my thirst by drinking slowly, Uncle checked the time and said.

“I’ll be heading out now.”

“Uncle, where are you going?”

I asked while clutching the water bottle, and Uncle shrugged.

“I got in touch with one of the truck drivers who caused an accident. I’m going to go meet him.”

“You, yourself, Uncle?”

“Things like this are originally meant to pass through as few people as possible.”

I see…. hearing that, it seemed to make sense. Uncle left, leaving only Mr. Taeseon and me in the hospital room. When I slowly finished the rest of the water, Mr. Taeseon asked.

“Want more?”

“Just a little.”

While Mr. Taeseon went to get more water, my vision suddenly flickered, and I saw a strange sight. It was the back of someone wearing a doctor’s gown. I thought it looked familiar, and as expected, it was Professor Jang. The Professor was humming a tune to himself while walking somewhere.

“…?”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, just for a second, something like a hallucination….”

“A hallucination?”

Mr. Taeseon had a worried look on his face. Seeing hallucinations in my current state was by no means a good thing.

Because our outing took longer than expected, my psychiatric appointment was pushed to tomorrow. We decided to talk about the hallucinations during the appointment, and I spent some time with Mr. Taeseon. We watched what Lili was doing by turning on the pet cam connected to Mr. Taeseon’s phone, and we rolled around on the bed together.

After about three hours had passed, a call came from Uncle. Had his conversation with the driver he went to meet ended well?

However, the news Uncle delivered was completely unexpected.

— Inyoung, listen carefully and don’t be startled. Your father… they say he’s in critical condition. If you can come now, come to Inhyeon University Hospital.