SATURDAY 88

“Last Friday, Jang Sehyeon went into the room to inject the Chairman with diuretics instead of a nurse. At that time, Mother, you were sleeping. Because Jang Sehyeon had administered a sedative beforehand.”

“….”

“And Jang Sehyeon injected the Furosemide prescribed to the Chairman. Of course, as the Chairman’s condition improved, the prescribed dosage and administration intervals for the diuretics had been reduced, but Jang Sehyeon injected only 10% of that prescribed amount and discarded the remaining injectable solution. Into that trash can over there.”

At the words “that trash can over there,” Mother’s gaze reflexively shifted toward the trash can placed in the hospital room. It was a common-looking trash can with a lid attached. A normal doctor or nurse would never discard medication in a place like that.

“They would have tracked the diuretic response, but Jang Sehyeon, who stepped in as the attending physician, likely said something like… let’s observe the situation for a moment. And then he passed away just like that. The hospital knew it was Professor Jang Sehyeon’s medical malpractice. However, would they have truly wanted to admit that there was hospital negligence involved in the death of the head of the Jegang Group?”

“That’s nonsense. You are… right now, talking absolute rubbish. That is truly nonsensical….”

Mother, who had raised her upper body halfway, staggered. The thought that I should catch Mother did not cross my mind. I should have, but for some reason, my body remained still.

And the gaze with which I viewed Mother also became strange. It felt as unfamiliar as looking at a person different from the mother I had known until now.

The expression I saw on Mother earlier kept flashing through my mind.

Mother shifted her gaze toward me as I stood there blankly. Mr. Taeseon, who was standing right beside me, moved his feet and stood so that I was completely hidden by his body. The moment I saw that back, my heart throbbed.

My family.

…My real family.

I quietly bowed my head and lightly rested my forehead against his back with a thud. Mr. Taeseon flinched for a moment but did not move further.

“The Shaman’s real name is Shin Myeonghwa. You are aware of this, aren’t you?”

“CEO Lee, you…. How dare you speak the Shaman’s name so carelessly….”

“It is a name that can be called as carelessly as I wish. Because he is nothing more than a criminal who has committed atrocious acts until now.”

“CEO Lee!”

“Shin Myeonghwa, 48 years old, three prior convictions for fraud. He is a former musician1) and a complete fraudster who has never received a divine calling or served as a disciple under a shaman.”

“What? His age is….”

“He is indeed 48 years old this year. He has been lying about his age until now. Shin Myeonghwa has been going around defrauding people since he was 17. And he is currently presumed to be in a romantic relationship with Jang Sehyeon.”

Mother let out a scream of horror. It wasn’t a scream of surprise at the relationship between the Shaman and Professor Jang, but rather, how should I put it, a scream like when one’s faith is being insulted.

“Did you watch the video I sent you? Well… you probably didn’t.”

Mr. Taeseon pulled out his phone and played a video. Mother reflexively lifted her head and stared at the screen. I couldn’t see the screen, but I could clearly hear the Shaman’s husky voice.

The Shaman was demanding an exorcism ritual from the other party, claiming that their child’s death was because the mother had been an evil spirit since birth. Besides that, there were several other files that sounded like they were just audio recordings.

The Shaman’s claims were consistent. The child in your womb is an evil spirit that stole the womb; your husband is a ghost who should never have been born; the second son should have died but didn’t, so a shadow of ruin has fallen over the household…. In that manner, using a single pattern, he was demanding rituals, talismans, candles, lotus lanterns, and various other things.

It was exactly the same as our house.

“It must be fabricated.”

Mother spoke. However, Mother’s voice was trembling violently. I didn’t see the video, but there must have been footage that made it impossible to believe it was fabricated. And the voice was also unmistakably the Shaman’s. Perhaps several people who felt suspicious had recorded or filmed the conversations.

They said the Shaman had been a famous shaman even before he entered our house. But if he had become famous back then by manipulating divinations and finding out personal information in advance….

Just as that shaman had said before, as long as one holds a bell and a fan. If that’s the case, wouldn’t people obsessed with Shamanism immediately believe the shaman even if they only spout simple, predictable words that anyone could guess?

“Did I not tell you before? I even sent the video. Most of the bad things that have happened in this house until now are things Shin Myeonghwa orchestrated by hiring people. It wasn’t because of Inyoung.”

“N—nonsense…! Do not lie to me, what kind of absurdity is this…! He-heck!”

“Ah, damn it.”

Cursing, Mr. Taeseon ran to Mother and pressed the nurse call button. However, before his hand could even pull away, the door to the hospital room opened and the nurses who had been monitoring Mother’s condition from outside swarmed in.

Professor Jang was not seen among the doctors. They treated Mother, who had fallen into a state of shock, by injecting various medications, and fortunately, after about ten minutes, her heartbeat and blood pressure normalized.

Once the medical staff had all left, Mother lay there with a blank face and her eyes half-open. Mother… likely wouldn’t want to admit it.

Because if she admits it, the things Mother has done to me until now.

The abuse Mother has inflicted on me until now becomes something she did to her own biological child based solely on the words of a shaman.

Because the remains Mother discarded would not belong to a ghost child, but to the Inha she loved so much.

Miraculously, I could read all of Mother’s thoughts.

That if she had raised me normally, Inha might have lived and remained alive. That Father might still be alive, and they might have become a happy household raising twin sons….

But it was already too late.

Just then, Mother looked at me. With a face of an inexpressible person for whom everything had collapsed, she reached out a trembling hand toward me.

I slowly approached Mother and took that hand. My hands had also become cold, but Mother’s hand was like a block of ice.

“Inha….”

“….”

“…Inyoung, Mother is sorry….”

“….”

“Mother was truly sorry….”

Tears streamed down from Mother’s eyes. In the past, seeing Mother like that, I would have cried as well. But now, my eyes only stung a little; no tears came out.

I silently toyed with Mother’s cold hand. Cold, firm, and with a few wrinkles. It seemed Mother had aged as well. But in an instant, Mother gripped my hand tightly and at the words she spoke, I had to freeze stiff.

Mother said.

“Inyoung, could you…. Could you please live as Inha…?”

“….”

It felt as if cold water was being poured over me from my head down. Mother continued while crying.

“Inha is closer to Mother, isn’t he…. When I look at you, I can’t think of anything but being sorry. For each other’s sake, hmm? For each other’s sake, you, just pretend to be Inha when you’re with Mother; it’s because Mother is struggling so much. As if nothing happened, as Inha….”

For “each other’s” sake? No…. I was not included in that “each other.”

Just then, a thick arm reached out, wrapped around my waist, and pulled me back. The owner of the chest I ended up leaning against was, needless to say, Mr. Taeseon.

“Mother.”

While holding me, Mr. Taeseon spoke to Mother in a low voice, almost as if he were giving a warning.

“In the future, there will be no occasion for me to call you Mother, nor Mother-in-law. And from now on, you had better not think of meeting Inyoung ever again.”

At those words, Mother struggled to get up from her spot as if she had suddenly snapped to her senses.

“Stay still, unless you want to call the nurses back in. You’re startling Inyoung.”

“I, I… Mother, Inyoung, it’s not that, the words just came out without Mother knowing. I—Inyoung, if even you are gone, how is Mother supposed to live!”

I felt pity for Mother.

But more than that, I felt pity for myself.

Call it self-pity if you want. No, it was self-pity. But if I don’t pity myself, who will? Me, who was unhappy for twenty-two years.

Countless memories flashed and passed by.

Memories of abuse, corporal punishment, neglect, and abandonment.

Being kicked out into the garden on a cold day until my feet turned red from freezing; eating retort foods given by the annoyed-looking employees in an empty house while the family was all away on a trip; a lavish birthday spread where there was no cake for me—from such trivial things to….

Being drenched in the fresh blood of a chicken; being beaten with a tree branch until my whole body was covered in blood; kneeling and kowtowing before a stiffly standing Inha while begging for forgiveness; being locked in a prayer cave swarming with mosquitoes and bugs for several days without a single drop of water. Was that all? If Inha did something wrong, I had to be hit instead. If Inha was sick, that illness had to be transferred to me.

If I tried to recall them, there was no end to it.

A doctor has a duty to report. While treating my body, Professor Jang clearly knew that there was child abuse. However, he said nothing, and he did nothing. It’s natural. Because the Professor was an accomplice.

Yet, even so, Mother tells me now to become Inha. The reason I resent such a mother is, pathetically, because I wanted to be loved by Mother. As Yoon Inyoung, not Inha. But… it seemed such a thing would never happen.

Mr. Taeseon turned around with me. Then Mother shouted.

“Do—don’t go, Inyoung, Inyoung…! Mother was wrong, I won’t say things like that. Don’t go!”

As I looked back reflexively, Mother was leaning forward as if she might fall out of the bed. For a moment, my heart almost wavered, but Mr. Taeseon pulled me into his arms.

“How can Mother live alone…!”

Mr. Taeseon took me and left the hospital room. The nurses at the station were looking toward us with worried faces, but we passed them by. As we got into the elevator, Mr. Taeseon said.

“Inyoung.”

“…Yes.”

“The things you went through—don’t forget any of it.”

“….”

“Don’t forget anything.”