A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 149

“Oppa.”

Jeong-o shook Ji-heon, who seemed to have lost consciousness with his eyes open and had even stopped breathing.

“Haa…!”

Only then did Ji-heon blink, taking a ragged breath as if waking up, and opened his eyes.

Chae Eun-yeop’s appearance and Chae Eun-yeop’s voice….

Did I lose my memory because of Chae Eun-yeop?

Did Chae Eun-yeop manipulate my memories?

Ji-heon shook his head.

He couldn’t definitively say it was because of Chae Eun-yeop. Chae Eun-yeop wouldn’t be a magician, and you can’t lose your memory with just one instance of hypnosis. It must have been a series of unfortunate coincidences.

Ji-heon clicked on the next video. It was a similar video. However, Chae Eun-yeop’s clothes were different. It was a different day. All three subsequent videos were like that. Chae Eun-yeop had attempted hypnosis several times.

…Was my life, my memory, destroyed by someone’s manipulation?

It was unbelievable and so futile that his head and body felt paralyzed.

During the seven years when Lee Jeong-o wasn’t by his side, he had lived a dull life. He had no dreams, nothing precious, and therefore was not happy.

He always thought it was inevitable since he had always lived that way. That was why he didn’t even think about regaining the three years of lost memories. Because his life was nothing special.

Ji-heon recalled the story he had heard from Ham Dae-geun and relayed it haltingly.

“Ham Dae-geun said something like this: Chae Eun-yeop is the type of guy who even studies hypnotism to win over clients.”

“……”

“The headache I had right after hearing that….”

Jeong-o leaned to the side and embraced Ji-heon’s broad back, as if to soothe his pain, as if she could understand even without him saying more.

Controlling his emotions in Jeong-o’s arms, Ji-heon clicked on the next video. It was a video dated last Sunday.

The surroundings were dark, as if it was filmed at night, and Chae Eun-yeop’s voice could be heard from within.

[Let’s get rid of Jeong Ji-heon together. How about it? If you do as I say, I’ll give you 1 billion won [approximately $750,000 USD]. How about it? Tempting, isn’t it?]

[What are you talking about?]

[Don’t try to play innocent. I know everything.]

[You look tired. You should go home and rest. Go back home and rest.]

[Do you think you’ll be safe? Huh? If you don’t do it, Jeong Ji-heon will kill you first!]

It was a conversation between Eun-yeop and Bae-il. When Bae-il didn’t cooperate with his plan, Eun-yeop provoked him even more. The content of the conversation was so terrible that Jeong-o trembled, her fists clenched tightly.

“Bae-il knew… that Chae Eun-yeop would come to kill me. He knew everything and still interfered….”

“……Detective Kwon came to our house and told us everything. He said that he was the one who caused the hit-and-run accident seven years ago and the one who tried to lure Ye-na.”

“Why? Didn’t he say why he did it?”

“……He said that 24 years ago, your mother put pressure on Detective Kwon Bae-il’s mother, so she transferred from Seoul to the countryside. Your mother suffered at her new workplace and then passed away.”

Jeong-o carefully relayed the story she had heard from Bae-il.

Ji-heon sighed deeply.

“He seemed to regret and reflect a lot on what he had done. I think he was trying to protect Oppa because of the guilt he felt back then.”

Still, he shouldn’t have done that.

He should have just reported it. He should have just warned me that Chae Eun-yeop might do something bad.

‘If he had, Oppa and our whole family would have been anxious all the time. We would have been struggling to keep Chae Eun-yeop in check in every way.’

Kwon Bae-il knew that too.

Some conflicts can only be proven and resolved by bursting the pus and confirming the blood [a Korean idiom meaning that sometimes a problem needs to be confronted directly and painfully to be resolved].

Living is indeed too much suffering. For someone who knows everything.

After a period of silence, Ji-heon struggled to click on the last file.

The last file was a memo file. It was a short letter that Bae-il left for Ji-heon.

「Ji-heon.

In the old days, I resented you a lot. So I ruined your life.

I can’t turn back time, but I’ll return what I can fix now.

I’ve already handed over all the data to the police. The police will help you.」

Just a few lines of plain text without a single word of apology felt like tearing his heart out.

That he handed over all the data to the police meant that he would take responsibility for the traffic accident he caused seven years ago.

“So that’s why he submitted his resignation….”

Ji-heon murmured in a daze.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Bae-il spent several days in the intensive care unit.

How difficult must have been the life of Yoo Soo-il living as Kwon Bae-il; none of Bae-il’s family members came to visit. They had contacted Kwon Bae-il’s aunt, who is now his adoptive mother, but the aunt only sighed and didn’t even say she would visit someday.

Eun-yeop was in another hospital. He heard that Eun-yeop was also unconscious like Bae-il. In fact, the world had become so harsh on Chae Eun-yeop that it would be better if he couldn’t wake up.

The police found about 5 billion won in cash that Eun-yeop had hidden in Incheon, and two members of the National Assembly who had received money from Eun-yeop were also investigated.

Also, Eun-yeop’s attempted murder charges were quickly reported in the news, somehow leaking to reporters. People mocked Eun-yeop, who was unable to wake up, saying that he tried to kill someone and was sleeping comfortably.

It seemed that Eun-bi and Eun-bi’s mother couldn’t even visit Eun-yeop in the hospital because of the reporters.

Jeong-o was worried about Eun-bi.

‘She’s not even in good health. The world is giving her too much hardship.’

Hoo….

“So, is the world going to end?”

Guk-soon said to Jeong-o, who had been sighing heavily lately. Jeong-o sat with her chin on her hand in front of the kitchen counter, picking at the things her mother made and complaining.

“Mom, I wanted to be like your personality, but I have to admit that I’m just a bad person.”

She wanted to be a generous person like her mother, but she couldn’t help but feel resentment.

Even though Kwon Bae-il saved her husband by throwing himself in harm’s way, it was hard to just be grateful.

Her seven years, her husband’s seven years, and Ye-na’s seven years.

She resented Bae-il for keeping his mouth shut even though he knew everything from the beginning. So, even though she felt sorry for his life, she couldn’t just pity him.

“It’s easy to be criticized, but why is it so hard to make up my mind? It’s free, but it’s still hard, Mom.”

“How is making up your mind free? You have to take on all the aftereffects.”

Guk-soon responded to Jeong-o’s complaint as if she could understand Jeong-o’s feelings.

“But, can you hate him?”

“……”

“Can you hate him?”

However, a question soon followed. Her mother knew very well that her daughter had a nature that couldn’t hate someone deeply. She said that she didn’t seem to resemble her personality, but her mother also knew very well that there was no one in the world who resembled her more than she did.

Jeong-o drooped her shoulders as if she wasn’t confident and confessed her feelings.

“There are parts that I can’t forgive. I’m human too.”

“That’s right.”

“……But there’s nothing good about my hatred.”

“……”

“I don’t feel relieved with a hateful heart. It just keeps hurting, Mom.”

She felt sorry for Kwon Bae-il’s life, but she still hated him, and she hated Kwon Bae-il so much, but she also felt so sorry for his life that her heart kept hurting.

“How can I, who have always been strong and happy because I have Mom, understand the heart of someone who has lost their mother?”

You realize your happiness through someone else’s misfortune. Knowing that that feeling is not right, but because you are human, it is always the case.

“Mom, I love you.”

Suddenly, she realized that she was living such a happy life and confessed her love to Guk-soon. At her daughter’s sudden confession, Guk-soon flared her nostrils and widened her eyes, as if she had heard a pig’s serenade [a Korean expression for something unexpected and unwelcome].

“Why is the story going that way? Tell your husband that a lot.”

“Can’t you accept it nicely if your daughter takes the shame and tells you? I love you so much that I’m taking this shame. Huh?”

“Oh, stop it!”

She raised her voice, unlike the usual Lee Guk-soon. Eventually, Guk-soon put down the cooking spatula she was holding, turned around, and opened the sink door for no reason.

Jeong-o followed her and looked into Guk-soon’s face.

“Huh? Ms. Lee Guk-soon, are you crying?”

“Crying?!”

“I think you’re crying?”

Jeong-o teased her mother and hugged her tightly at the same time. Guk-soon twisted her body as if she was annoyed.

“Oh, get away from me. It’s disgusting.”

“Mom. I love you. I love you. I love you.”

“Stop it!”

Just as Guk-soon couldn’t bear her embarrassment and shouted, the phone rang. It was a call from the hospital.

.*. *. *. *. *. *.

Bae-il opened his eyes after five days. It felt like he had a long dream, but he couldn’t remember the contents of the dream. His body felt lighter than he thought. It was a bit difficult, but he could talk reasonably well.

After being transferred from the intensive care unit to a general ward and undergoing various tests, it was evening. The doctor said that his recovery was miraculously fast. He tentatively asked if he had a guardian, and the nurse answered instead that the patient’s friend had been visiting continuously.

The transferred hospital room was a VIP room. After checking the room, Bae-il couldn’t help but think of Ji-heon.

Sure enough. Around dinner time, Jeong-o came to visit.

“Ji-heon will be here soon too.”

Jeong-o opened her mouth as if anticipating that Bae-il would ask first.

She spoke dryly without deliberately smiling. In fact, Jeong-o had come prepared. She felt like she had to get rid of the things that had accumulated in the meantime so that she could fully worry about him.

“I can’t say thank you.”

She put on a stern expression and omitted the question of how his body was. She had asked the nurse about his condition first so as not to ask how his body was.

“Detective Kwon, you came wearing that hat.”

There was something that needed to be pointed out and addressed.

Last Monday, the day Bae-il visited Jeong-o’s house and confessed everything, Bae-il came wearing a hat. It was the hat that the woman who tried to kidnap Ye-na was wearing.

Bae-il’s eyes widened at Jeong-o’s remark.

“You were trying to scare me, weren’t you! Do you think I wouldn’t know?”

That’s why Jeong-o hated Bae-il. She didn’t know what Bae-il’s intention was in coming with such a hat while saying he was sorry, so her head was complicated.

“And then you suddenly said you were sorry, told me not to forgive you, and then tried to apologize by risking your life. How sneaky.”

“……”

“Detective Kwon, you are too unilateral.”

A person who judged her life as he pleased.

A person who thought that Lee Jeong-o didn’t need Jeong Ji-heon, so he tried to scare her by staging a kidnapping.

A person who knew everything about what happened seven years ago but hid it.

But that too could be understood if one guessed at his life. Since he couldn’t share his heart with anyone, he had no choice but to think and judge alone. How could she just hate someone who was so lonely and tormented?

Jeong-o, who had been giving strength to her eyes, soon dropped her head. Her chest was throbbing so much that it seemed like her stomach was hurting more when she scolded him.

“……I’m sorry for scolding you as soon as I saw you. You must still be in a lot of pain.”

“……”

“Actually, forgiving requires as much courage as saying sorry…….”

Her voice was small.

“I forgive you everything. And I’m sorry too…….”

“……”

“And thank you so much for saving Ji-heon. But don’t throw yourself into other people’s affairs again. Recover quickly and live a healthy and diligent life. Do you understand?”

“……”

“Build a beautiful family too. You have good looks, so the kids who look like you will all be pretty.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, but Bae-il was smiling as if he found it interesting to watch her.

Jeong-o suddenly became worried about his condition.

“Why aren’t you saying anything and just smiling? Can’t you speak?”

Just as Jeong-o got up from her chair and took a step towards Bae-il, the door opened, and Ji-heon came in.