A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 155

155. The Heart That Can’t Give Up

Eun-yeop pretended to be unconscious the entire time. He was resigned to his fate.

As soon as he recovered, it was straight to jail.

A life of imprisonment awaited him, and his body would likely never fully recover.

*If that’s the case,* he thought, *I need to ruin the life of the guy who put me here before I go to the detention center. That would make me feel a whole lot better.*

Eun-yeop secretly trained his body in bed, taking advantage of moments when he wasn’t being watched. He needed to be able to move as soon as he “woke up.” He strengthened his core while lying down and built up the strength in his arms and legs.

He had to make sure no one found out, so his recovery was slow, but his strong will kept him going.

However, because he prolonged the act, the doctors gradually began to suspect that he had regained consciousness. The day before, the nurse had called Eun-bi and his mother to the hospital room.

Even in front of Eun-bi and his mother, Eun-yeop kept his eyes tightly closed, maintaining the charade to achieve his goal. Still, he gleaned new information in the process.

“Ms. Jang Young-mi is here.”

“In this hospital?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. She seems to be in very critical condition. That’s why she couldn’t come to your dad’s funeral.”

Eun-yeop clearly heard the conversation his mother and Eun-bi had as they left his hospital room.

*Jang Young-mi is here!*

Based on this tempting information, Eun-yeop deduced the situation.

If Young-mi and Jae-kwang knew that Eun-yeop was here, they would have avoided this place on purpose. The fact that she was hospitalized in this hospital meant that she *had* to be here for a specific reason.

The hospital where Eun-yeop was hospitalized was renowned for its outstanding results in treating leukemia and heart disease.

*It must be leukemia or heart disease.*

Since she was said to be in critical condition, her condition must have worsened, and Jung Jae-kwang would be doing everything in his power to save his wife.

Jang Young-mi would naturally be in a VIP room.

*The VIP ward is on the 20th floor of the next building.*

Eun-yeop carefully crafted his plan. He had been here once before, so he knew the layout of the hospital well. He kept simulating his movements in his head.

And then, one afternoon when he was sure of his plan…

Eun-yeop opened his eyes.

“Mr. Chae Eun-yeop? Are you awake?”

Greeting Eun-yeop was the police officer who had been watching him day and night for several days.

Eun-yeop opened his eyes blankly, as if he didn’t recognize the police officer, and opened his mouth with difficulty. Of course, it was all an act.

“Where is this…?”

“It’s a hospital. Do you remember the accident?”

“Accident… what do you mean?”

“Don’t you remember anything?”

“But… who are you?”

The police officer looked embarrassed at Eun-yeop’s weak voice. He turned around and made a phone call, then turned back and coldly read the Miranda rights, as befitting a police officer.

“Chae Eun-yeop, an arrest warrant has been issued for you on charges of soliciting the murder of Kim Jin-gu and attempted murder of Jung Ji-heon. You have the right to hire a lawyer, the right to remain silent, and the right to refuse to make statements that are unfavorable to you.”

“……”

“After receiving recovery treatment at this hospital, you will be transferred to the detention center. Until then, police and correctional officers will be stationed here.”

“…Wait a minute. Something’s wrong…”

Eun-yeop interjected in a weak and gentle voice.

“I think you’re mistaken about something. I’ve never done anything that would warrant detention… Soliciting murder? Attempted… murder? What are you talking about?”

The police officer frowned and asked.

“Chae Eun-yeop, what’s the most recent thing you remember?”

“…My father said he was likely to become a candidate for the Supreme Court Chief Justice…”

The police officer realized the seriousness of the situation and sighed roughly. It had been almost a month since Chae Seo-bok, Eun-yeop’s father, had passed away. It had been even longer since the news reports that Chae Seo-bok had been nominated as a candidate for the Supreme Court Chief Justice.

*He lost his memory. He doesn’t even know that his father has passed away and has become a fool…*

The police officer, who had not properly grasped Eun-yeop’s true nature, momentarily felt sorry for him.

“Chae Eun-yeop, listen carefully. Today is September 15th, and your father passed away on August 20th.”

“What? What, what are you…”

Eun-yeop looked at the police officer with a look as if the world had collapsed.

“…Why did he pass away?”

The police officer closed his mouth, refraining from speaking.

“That can’t be. That can’t be… My father passed away.”

The police officer had no choice but to take out his cell phone, search for news articles, and show them to Eun-yeop. It was a news article from the day Chae Seo-bok passed away.

Eun-yeop’s hand, which received the cell phone, trembled. His breathing became rough, and he hiccupped as if he couldn’t breathe properly.

“I can’t believe it… No, no, no…”

Uwaaaaa.

Eventually, tears burst out. It was a pathetic scene for anyone to see. It was the mournful cry of someone who had lost his father.

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

Ji-heon’s schedule overlapped with Jae-kwang’s schedule. The two attended the same meeting. After the meeting, they naturally talked about Young-mi.

Young-mi’s first chemotherapy uses remission induction chemotherapy to kill leukemia cells in the bone marrow. Doctors estimate the probability of complete remission in the first treatment to be about 70%, but they say that the prognosis must continue to be monitored even after complete remission.

The best way to cure it is to receive hematopoietic stem cell [blood stem cell] or bone marrow transplantation after complete remission.

“She’ll be having chemotherapy starting the day after tomorrow. After the treatment, I’m thinking about bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.”

“Then I might be the right person.”

“That’s right. If not you, we’ll have to find a donor among the general public. We may not be able to find a donor.”

Jae-kwang’s voice was heavy.

The genotype of hematopoietic stem cells is said to match between siblings with a probability of 25%, between parents and children with a probability of 5%, and between others with a probability of 0.005%. Since Young-mi has no siblings, Ji-heon may be the only match. But even that probability is 5%.

“I hope my genes match.”

In fact, Ji-heon was not someone who believed in the 5% probability. But now he was hoping for a miracle. He sincerely hoped that his mother would recover.

“I’ll ask the genetic research institute that did the paternity test a long time ago. It’s a research institute that does blood tests in various fields, so they’ll have my genetic record. I can use that record to check whether it matches my mother’s hematopoietic stem cells. Of course, I can go get tested myself later.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Ji-heon felt awkward when he received a thank you from his father for doing what was natural as a son. Ji-heon replaced his answer with a smile.

Just as the conversation between father and son was coming to an end, Ji-heon’s cell phone vibrated. It was a call from the counselor Ji-heon had hired. Ji-heon’s expression hardened as he checked the text message the counselor had sent.

– Chae Eun-yeop has woken up.

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

Ye-na sat next to her grandmother, who was not awake, and drew diligently with the pen her grandfather had given her. The caregiver watched Ye-na with a satisfied expression. In the meantime, the caregiver received a phone call.

She couldn’t make noise because Young-mi was asleep. The caregiver whispered in a voice that only Ye-na could hear.

“Ye-na, I’ll be back after I make a quick call.”

“Yes.”

The caregiver left the room so as not to disturb Young-mi’s sleep, but Young-mi woke up as soon as the caregiver left the room.

Young-mi stared intently at Ye-na, who was engrossed in drawing on the bedside table near her. She wanted to see what the child was drawing, but she didn’t have the energy to get up.

“Ye-na, is that you?”

“Yes!”

Ye-na, who perked up her head at Young-mi’s small voice, answered.

“When did you come?”

“At 6:10. I came straight here after going to the baduk [Go] academy.”

“Do you like baduk?”

“Yes.”

Ye-na answered firmly.

Young-mi recalled Ji-heon a long time ago. Ji-heon, when he was just like Ye-na, also liked baduk. He was so remarkable that he was called a baduk prodigy.

But after meeting a friend named Yoo Soo-il, Ji-heon quit baduk. It was because of Young-mi. Young-mi put pressure on him to prevent Ji-heon from being close to Yoo Soo-il, and as a result, she succeeded in separating her son from Yoo Soo-il, but her son lost interest in baduk.

The things she did because she thought it was love became resentment.

“How much does Grandma hurt?”

While Young-mi was lost in her old thoughts, Ye-na spoke to her. When Young-mi’s answer was delayed, Ye-na handed her the picture without waiting. It was a picture she had worked hard on while Young-mi was asleep.

“Grandma, this is a gift.”

It was something that looked like a winged dinosaur.

“What is this?”

“A healing fairy.”

It didn’t look like a fairy, but Young-mi smiled.

She thought of her son again.

Even if she sent him to art academy or gave him private art lessons, her son’s drawing skills did not improve. Jae-kwang told her several times to give up, saying that there was nothing she could do about it, but Young-mi couldn’t give up.

As a result of her desperate efforts to improve her drawing skills, Ji-heon, who was twelve years old, won an Excellence Award at the Imagination Drawing Contest. Young-mi still couldn’t forget the sense of accomplishment at that time.

“Look at this. You can do it if you try. Good job, our son, you’re amazing!”

It was as if she had won the award herself when Ji-heon won the award. She only knew that was happiness. She didn’t know how to separate her son and herself. Those years of obsession eventually brought about these results.

She should just be grateful to receive a gift from her granddaughter, but Young-mi didn’t know what to say. After thinking for a long time, she barely expressed her gratitude.

“Thanks to the healing fairy, Grandma will get better soon.”

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

Thanks to the fact that he burst into tears as soon as he woke up, pretending to have lost his memory, the police felt sorry for Eun-yeop and called the doctor. The doctor said that Eun-yeop had temporarily lost his memory, but he would soon regain his memory as his body recovered further.

Anyway, thanks to a brief act, the surveillance became lax. But he couldn’t drag it out for long. The longer he dragged it out, the greater the suspicion would grow.

Eun-yeop wiggled his legs, taking advantage of the police officer looking elsewhere. His legs moved well as he intended.

Thanks to the intense training he had done in bed, his body was not too heavy. Now that he had checked his condition, he had to immediately put his planned work into action. Eun-yeop watched for an opportunity for the police officer to leave his seat.

He only had one chance. Maybe it would be about an hour from now. Since the news that he had woken up had been delivered, one or more guards would soon be deployed. Also, he might be handcuffed.

After waiting for a while, Eun-yeop had the perfect opportunity.

While the police officer went to answer the phone, Eun-yeop escaped from the hospital room.

He had to finish the job before they realized he was gone. Eun-yeop ran blindly.

Eun-yeop quickly caught an elevator, went down to the 5th floor, moved through the passage connecting to the next ward, and took the elevator again.

*Now to the 20th floor.*

Eun-yeop got off on the 20th floor. The entrance to the VIP ward was blocked, but soon a nurse opened the door and came out, and the entrance door opened. Eun-yeop quickly entered before the door closed.

So far, so good. But he didn’t have much time. Everything was an adventure and a gamble.

If Jang Young-mi was not in the VIP room, if there was someone else in the room besides Jang Young-mi, if the police were unexpectedly guarding the front, the plan would be ruined and he would become an even more serious criminal.

Eun-yeop carefully walked down the hallway. There were 40 VIP rooms. Among them, the room at the very end would be the highest class. Eun-yeop decided to check the room at the very end first.

And as he reached the end of the room, through the slightly open door, Eun-yeop could clearly hear a voice he knew well.

“Thanks to the healing fairy, Grandma will get better soon.”

It was Ms. Jang Young-mi’s voice. But an even bigger gain than that.

“Yes! The healing fairy will make Grandma get well soon!”

*That brat.*

*That brat who ruined my life, my family’s life!*

Eun-yeop’s eyes flashed as he recognized Jung Ye-na.

Jung Ji-heon’s child was alone in the hospital room with her grandmother.

Eun-yeop immediately changed his target.

*That brat. I have to get rid of her.*

Eun-yeop strode into the hospital room.

Young-mi smiled gently at Ye-na’s cute voice. But the smile soon shattered terribly.

Young-mi’s face turned blue.

Chae Eun-yeop was approaching Ye-na from behind with a terrifying look on his face, holding a thin IV hose, as if he was going to strangle Ye-na’s neck with it.

Without even thinking, Young-mi quickly got up and threw the IV pole next to her with all her might just before Chae Eun-yeop reached Ye-na. It was a power that could not be explained by common sense.

Crash!

The pole hit Chae Eun-yeop’s head with a dull sound.

Ye-na’s face turned pale and she couldn’t say anything, and Chae Eun-yeop, who had fallen, got up with an even more monstrous expression and shouted.

“You woman!”

In the meantime, Young-mi desperately shouted. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Baby, get out of here quickly!”

Taking advantage of the gap where her grandmother blocked Eun-yeop, Ye-na quickly ran out of the hospital room.

*What should I do now?*

Ye-na was at a loss, terrified. Her heart was pounding.

Then, suddenly, she remembered what happened at the baduk competition a long time ago. Her mom had definitely taught her what to do in this situation.

“Mommy!”

Ye-na shouted so loudly that the hallway echoed.

“Mommy!”