SATURDAY 99

A dark light flickered in Shin Myeonghwa’s eyes. That light, rare for her, flashed while vividly carrying her emotions. The name of that emotion was, needless to say, anger.

Hong Sayoung, receiving that gaze head-on, faltered.

“Sh, Shaman….”

The bold momentum she had shown just a moment ago, saying she couldn’t give up the baby gown, had vanished; Hong Sayoung was discouraged like a young schoolgirl. To her, Shin Myeonghwa was a terrifying existence. Now that her husband had passed away, it was even more so.

Strength entered the Shaman’s hands as she gripped both of Hong Sayoung’s arms. It was a harsh and violent touch, as if the thin arms beneath the hospital gown would bruise at any moment.

“Shaman.”

Hong Sayoung, terrified, called out to the Shaman again. Making eye contact with her, Hong Sayoung recalled a certain word the Shaman had once mentioned. Something that exists everywhere in the world and must always be feared.

A Ghost Woman.

She had said that among the evil spirits of the world, one must be especially careful of her. The Shaman had performed rituals several times, saying the Ghost Woman had appeared nearby.

She had never actually seen one but… if a Ghost Woman were to appear, she wondered if she would have a face like this.

The Shaman’s eyes were opened terrifyingly wide. Her sanpaku eyes, which usually gave off a sharp impression, flashed, and the pupils and irises within—smaller than an average person’s—spat out a blue light like a striking bolt of lightning.

And her tightly bitten lips, the pale teeth revealed beside them. Even her cheeks were pulled taut.

Whether she muttered the words “I’m scared” aloud or swallowed them internally, she couldn’t tell. Hong Sayoung trembled uncontrollably, unable to take her eyes off the Shaman, who was the Ghost Woman herself.

If she could have her way, she would have averted her gaze. But this must be exactly how a frog feels in front of a snake. She couldn’t move an inch, as if suffering from sleep paralysis.

After staring for a long time at Hong Sayoung, who was shaking like an aspen tree, the Shaman spoke.

Her lips, slightly wrinkled and still red despite all that chaos, moved flick, flick.

“I didn’t know you would be this useless.”

“…hic.”

“Abandoning Inha to save that thing, Inyoung?”

Hong Sayoung struggled to steady her trembling body and said nothing. As a mother’s heart, she naturally wanted to save Inha. But what about Inyoung?

Ridiculously, it was only in this situation, after seeing the Shaman’s terrifying face, that Hong Sayoung thought about what everything she had believed in like the Book of Ecclesiastes until now really was. A single crack formed in her rock-solid faith.

She had actually been thinking that all along. She had merely kept pushing it out of her mind because she didn’t want to believe it.

But the moment she saw the Shaman’s face now, she felt it as if she had been struck by lightning. Perhaps really… Inyoung.

That child she had never loved once since he was a newborn, perhaps.

She desperately shook her head, which wouldn’t move.

“The baby gown… I’ve hidden it. You won’t be able to find it.”

“…I see.”

Unexpectedly, the Shaman obediently let go of Hong Sayoung’s arms and took a step back. Staggering, Hong Sayoung stared blankly at the Shaman’s face. The Shaman, making eye contact with her, moved her lips again.

Only Hong Sayoung saw the way the lips opened and closed. The Shaman’s words could be understood sufficiently just by that mouth shape. Hong Sayoung wore a blank face and then thud, she slumped down onto the floor in her hospital gown.

The Shaman passed by her and lightly stroked Hong Sayoung’s head. At that touch, she let out a suppressed scream and shook her head. The Shaman laughed soundlessly and passed the bed to exit the hospital room.

The hem of her skirt, burnt in places, brushed the doorway, and Hong Sayoung realized the sound of rain had been falling since some time ago. It was dark outside the window, and a desolate moisture drifted through the room.

Hong Sayoung, struggling to pick herself up, slowly rolled up her sleeve and tug, tug, pulled the ends of the tape holding the IV needle in place to remove it. As the needle moved, blood immediately flowed backward. The hand pulling even that needle out was trembling.

She lifted her head, letting her blood-streaked arm drop. Tap, tap, raindrops hit the window—not large, but enough for a person to climb through. The pitch-black sky, hidden by clouds, looked like the entrance to hell.

Was that even an incorrect statement?

She thought she heard the sound of someone running in the hallway. It seemed an emergency patient had occurred somewhere. That was fortunate. If so, no one would pay attention to this room….

Hong Sayoung watched the tip of the needle for a moment, where the fluid beaded roundly before falling. Her whole life, for her entire life, she had lived piercing needles into her child’s body. So, this much was a natural consequence.

Fingers that had become rough and thin from lying on a hospital bed for so long gripped the window. Her haggard appearance was reflected in the dark glass.

There were good times, too. When her husband and Inha were both alive. Back then, Inyoung was the loner. Was he just a loner? Thinking back now, he received treatment that made no sense.

“Inyoung….”

She muttered softly.

“Mom is sorry….”

Her own image remained floating on the window like a lingering afterimage. She saw her deeply sunken eyes. With these eyes, she had seen things she shouldn’t have seen, and hadn’t seen the things she should have.

Her thin fingers pushed hard to open the window. The moisture from outside, the cold wind, and the raindrops rushed in all at once.

Standing before the window without caring that her body was getting soaked, she soon leaned her body forward.

“What are you doing, doing this?”

Mr. Taeseon’s low voice echoed throughout the hospital room.

The room was a mess. The IV fluid had fallen and was soaking the floor, wind and rain rushed in from the wide-open window, and the bed was disheveled.

And Mr. Taeseon was holding Mom firmly, as if embracing her waist.

It was a situation anyone would recognize. Mom had just tried to jump out of this hospital room window. In the midnight rain, Mom and Mr. Taeseon were getting soaked helplessly. Even Mr. Taeseon, who rarely gets agitated, seemed quite startled.

Then, having regained his senses, he closed the window first. The sound of the heavy rain outside stopped abruptly, and the midnight in the rain was disconnected from the quiet hospital room.

Mom was dazed for a while. I regained my senses too, and rushed into the bathroom to bring out as many towels as I could. After handing the pile of towels to Mr. Taeseon, I took a new hospital gown from the closet for Mom to wear.

“…Mom, go change your clothes. You’re all wet.”

Mom, who was staring blankly at the hospital gown I held out, smiled quietly and said, “Thank you, Inyoung.”

I was the one flustered by those words. It was the first time I had ever heard a word of thanks from Mom. And… it was also the first time Mom had smiled at me like this.

I secretly glanced at Mr. Taeseon. I had promised, after Mr. Taeseon’s persuasion, that I would never meet Mom again.

But at the news that the Shaman, who had disappeared from the provincial hospital, had immediately driven to the hospital where Mom was admitted, Mr. Taeseon hit the highway without a second thought.

The road from the provincial hospital to Seoul felt incredibly long. It was because I was anxious the entire time. The Shaman’s eerie eyes that I had seen at the hospital came to mind. They were certainly eyes that looked like she was going to commit some sort of deed.

But to think she went alone to the hospital where Mom was admitted—my heart thundered so uncontrollably that I even had to take medicine.

Thus, without even time to wait for the elevator, we ran up the stairs and through the hallway; the moment we arrived, what we saw was Mom with half her body leaning out the window. Mr. Taeseon rushed forward quickly and caught Mom.

The Shaman was nowhere to be seen after we arrived at the hospital. I didn’t know if she had already finished her business and left, or if she hadn’t come at all.

“Mom will go change and come out.”

Mom had been struggling on the window as if she would fall at any moment. Shouting for him to let go. But Mr. Taeseon held on firmly and, before long, pulled Mom inside. Mom, sitting thud on the floor as soon as she was away from the window, stared blankly into space as if something possessed had suddenly fallen away.

Then, when I gave her the towels and the hospital gown, she had reacted this way.

I kept glancing toward the bathroom, worried about Mom going in alone, but no matter what, I couldn’t just barge in while she was changing.

In the meantime, I noticed Mr. Taeseon’s body was also completely soaked and a mess. I looked at Mr. Taeseon worriedly and wiped his wet body here and there with a towel.

When I even stood on my tiptoes to dry his hair and asked if he was okay, he smiled slightly and replied that it was nothing.

About five minutes later, Mom came out with a towel placed lightly over her wet hair. Mom still had a dazed face and staggered weakly like a person whose energy had all drained out.

After helping Mom lie down on the bed, I called a nurse and asked her to set the IV again. During that time, Mom kept her eyes closed and said nothing.

It was only after a few more minutes had passed since the nurse left that Mom opened her mouth.

“…The Shaman was here.”

She really had come to the hospital. Mr. Taeseon asked as he lightly held Mom’s arm.

“Did something happen with that woman?”

“To me….”

Mom’s closed eyes snapped open.

“She told me to jump from here.”