A Child Who Resembles Me [EN]: Chapter 3

3. It Feels Like Someone Is Crying

Eun-bi arrived at the *officetel* [a Korean term for a multi-purpose building, often used as both a residence and an office] that her brother, Eun-yeop, had bought.

Three years ago, Eun-bi went to study in the United States, but she returned to Korea without completing the four years. She passed the transfer examination to K University and set foot on Korean soil again.

At her younger sister’s wish to live independently, her brother readily provided her with a place.

However, he did not grant all of her requests. She wanted an *officetel* close to the university, but the place Eun-yeop got was not very close to the school.

Still, the condition of the place was excellent, so Eun-bi was reasonably satisfied.

After organizing her luggage, she noticed various things she needed. Eun-bi left the house to buy daily necessities.

As she went down the stairs to the underground parking lot, Eun-bi witnessed an unexpected incident.

Crash!

Screech!

A man was hit and knocked down by a car that sped in as if it had suddenly accelerated. Eun-bi was startled and stopped in horror.

The incident happened so suddenly that she didn’t even have time to scream. Eun-bi hid behind the emergency staircase wall, covered her mouth, and held her breath.

A man wearing a black hat got out of the driver’s seat. The man in the black hat stood in front of the fallen man and muttered something.

“……Have you ever heard of it?”

The black hat’s voice was not clear. It sounded like he was asking something, but there was no way the fallen man could answer.

After asking the brief question, the man in the black hat got back into the car and drove away, leaving the man behind.

After the car disappeared, Eun-bi belatedly gasped for breath.

She peeked out and looked around the parking lot. She could see blood flowing from under the fallen man.

*I have to report this!*

Eun-bi took out her cell phone, but the hand holding the phone trembled. Her mind went blank, and she felt terrified.

*I’ll have to go back and forth to the police station. What if I get caught up in it and things become dangerous?*

Her brother, who had become a lawyer this year, had told her not to get involved in any messy situations.

*If he’s already dead, there’s no point in getting involved. Someone else will report it if I don’t.*

*I didn’t see anything.*

Eun-bi hurriedly went back up the stairs and returned home.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, she heard the sound of an ambulance. Eun-bi watched from the window inside her house as the ambulance and police car successively arrived at the *officetel* and then left.

*Did the man die?*

Whether he lived or died, she hoped that nothing troublesome would happen to her.

Around evening, she received a call from her brother, Eun-yeop. Eun-bi answered the phone right away.

“Hello.”

[Did you look around the place?]

“Yeah. The place is nice, but it’s too far from school. Why did you get this *officetel* of all places?”

[Jung Ji-heon lives there.]

At her brother’s answer, the determined expression she had been wearing melted away, as if she was dumbfounded.

Jung Ji-heon!

Her heart fluttered like a teenage girl’s, and her pulse quickened.

The reason Eun-bi transferred to K University was because it was the university Ji-heon attended. She knew that Ji-heon was graduating soon, but Eun-bi still wanted to have contact with him.

Three years ago, Ji-heon’s presence was the biggest factor that made her hesitate at the crossroads of studying in the United States.

Her brother’s friend, Ji-heon, was Eun-bi’s first love, and that unrequited love was not over yet.

She had a few relationships in the United States, but she couldn’t give up her feelings for Ji-heon. So she came back.

Eun-bi swallowed hard and asked again to confirm the facts.

“Ji-heon *oppa* [an honorific term used to address an older brother or male friend] lives here? Do you know what number it is?”

[But is that the problem? There was an accident today.]

Eun-yeop’s voice suddenly turned dark. Eun-bi tilted her head.

“What?”

[Ji-heon was the victim of a hit-and-run in the underground parking lot there today.]

Eun-bi almost dropped her cell phone.

“……Hit-and-run?”

[Yeah. I haven’t been to the hospital yet, so I don’t know much.]

The accident that happened during the day… Could that have been Ji-heon *oppa*?

“*Oppa*…… Which hospital is he in?”

Eun-bi asked in a trembling voice.

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

[The power is off, and the call will be connected to voicemail after the beep…….]

Jeong-oh hung up the phone with a worried expression.

Ji-heon, who said he would come to pick her up at 3 p.m. today, did not show up. He wasn’t answering his phone, and later, it went straight to voicemail, indicating that the power was off.

*Oppa has never broken a promise before.*

As time passed and evening arrived, she became anxious.

*Could something have happened to him? Could he have been in an accident?*

*Or maybe *oppa* suddenly changed his mind…….*

A myriad of imaginations took over her mind.

The waiting became increasingly unbearable. Until yesterday, she thought she could accept her situation as a blessing, but now everything was scary.

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

In front of the hospital operating room.

Mrs. Jang Young-mi was sitting in fear.

Her son was involved in a hit-and-run accident. The accident happened just minutes after she had a phone call with him.

Her son, who had refused his mother’s request to stop by the house today, was found in the parking lot of the *officetel*.

Her only son, the son who was more precious than her own life.

She couldn’t believe that her son, who had grown up so healthy and admirable, was hovering between life and death.

After hearing the news and rushing to the hospital, Mrs. Jang burst into tears. It felt like the world was collapsing.

*Why did this happen to my son?*

After screaming until she was exhausted, a detective in charge of the case approached Mrs. Jang, who had lost all her energy.

“Hello. I’m from the Yongsan Police Station. Are you Jung Ji-heon’s mother?”

Mrs. Jang stared at the detective without expression.

“Unfortunately, the building’s CCTV was malfunctioning today, so there is no data left. Fortunately, there was a car with a black box among the parked cars, so we secured the car’s license plate number. We have also secured the identity of the suspect because part of the hit-and-run scene was filmed.”

“Please catch him…… Please catch that guy…….”

Mrs. Jang grabbed the detective and pleaded. The dignity befitting the wife of the CEO of the large corporation Seryun Group was long gone. The woman holding the detective’s hand and wailing was a pitiful sight.

“The suspect is a man named Kim Jin-gu. Have you ever heard of him?”

Mrs. Jang shook her head. Tears that she thought were all dried up flowed again.

A woman approached the detective, who was standing blankly in front of the operating room because of Mrs. Jang, who was holding on to her and crying.

“Are you the detective? I’m a witness to the hit-and-run incident at the *officetel*.”

The detective’s gaze, which had been directed at Mrs. Jang, turned to the young woman.

“I moved into the *officetel* today. I went down to the parking lot for a while and witnessed the hit-and-run.”

At the woman’s voice, Mrs. Jang also raised her head. It was a face she vaguely remembered.

“Mother, I’m Eun-bi. Chae Eun-bi. Do you remember?”

Eun-bi firmly grabbed Mrs. Jang, who was staggering, as if to support her, and greeted her.

“Oh…… Eun-bi. It’s Eun-bi…….”

Mrs. Jang, who was flustered, just nodded. An acquaintance from a family of legal professionals. The child of Eun-yeop, a friend of her son Ji-heon, Chae Eun-bi.

“Mother, calm down and cheer up. *Oppa’s* surgery will go well. I’ll go to the police station and give a statement. I’ll catch the culprit for sure.”

Eun-bi comforted Mrs. Jang with composure. It was as if Eun-bi was the adult and Mrs. Jang was the child.

“I’ll go to the police station and come back. The surgery will take a long time, so go home. I’ll contact you when the surgery is over.”

At Eun-bi’s calm consolation, Mrs. Jang sobbed once again. She mumbled vaguely, saying, “Eun-bi, thank you, thank you.”

While accompanying the detective to the police station, Eun-bi told him what she had witnessed in as much detail as possible.

“It was a very cruel hit-and-run. The culprit was a man, wearing a black hat and black clothes. He seemed to be about 180cm tall, and his voice was husky.”

“Did the culprit say anything?”

“Yes. He asked the fallen victim something…… ‘Have you ever heard of a robbery hit-and-run?’ Something like that.”

Eun-bi embellished her memory with a bit of imagination.

“I think I can recognize his face more clearly if I see it again.”

While listing her eyewitness account, the two arrived at the police station.

As soon as she entered the police station, Eun-bi recognized the culprit. Coincidentally, the suspect had also been arrested at his home and arrived at the police station.

“This is the man! This man!”

Eun-bi shouted, pointing at the suspect, Kim Jin-gu.

“What is this lady talking about! Do you know me? Why are you doing this to me! Why!”

Kim Jin-gu, whose hands were tied, twisted his body and shouted. His eyes were wide open, and he had the most wronged expression in the world.

But Eun-bi was sure.

“His voice is exactly like this man! No doubt!”

Eun-bi clenched her fist tightly with a determined expression. The culprit who harmed her beloved *oppa* was like an enemy to her. On the other hand, her heart was filled with the thought that she had done something righteous.

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

After the culprit was caught, Mrs. Jang received her son’s belongings: a cell phone, a car smart key, and a ring case.

A ring case.

After turning on the cell phone, Mrs. Jang learned that her son was about to go on a date with someone named ‘Jeong-oh’.

That’s why he had refused his mother’s request to come home—because of the date.

And that’s why he was involved in a hit-and-run accident.

– *Oppa*, where are you?

– *Oppa*, we were supposed to meet at 3 o’clock today. Did something happen?

– I can’t reach you. I’m worried. Contact me when you see the message.

– What’s going on? Nothing happened, right? Please send me a text message.

After checking dozens of text messages from ‘Jeong-oh’, Mrs. Jang clenched her fist and pounded her chest.

“I have a friend to introduce you to.”

Her son had said that in his last phone call.

He was probably going to introduce this child named ‘Jeong-oh’.

How much did he like her to refuse my request and go on a date?

Mrs. Jang was just resentful of her son’s girlfriend.

Mrs. Jang was even more dumbfounded after having someone find out about the child named ‘Lee Jeong-oh’.

Lee Jeong-oh. 3rd year at H University. 23 years old. The daughter of a single mother. A child who grew up without a father.

Not to mention that her family was desperately poor, and her mother was a woman who had not even received a proper higher education.

“Because of this kind of child, my son…….”

The surgery went well, but Ji-heon had not yet regained consciousness. Since her son had not regained consciousness, she hated Lee Jeong-oh even more.

Mrs. Jang sent a short text message to Jeong-oh using Ji-heon’s cell phone.

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

– Don’t contact me again.

A text message came from Ji-heon three days after contact was lost.

The content of the short text message shocked Jeong-oh.

The Jung Ji-heon she knew was not the kind of person who would say this.

Jeong-oh went straight to Ji-heon’s house.

She didn’t go to Ji-heon’s house often, but she was invited once or twice a month. Ji-heon had also told Jeong-oh the door lock password, saying she could come and sleep over anytime.

*That person suddenly sends a text message to notify her of a breakup? Telling her not to contact him again?*

Jeong-oh couldn’t believe the message. She thought something must be wrong.

However, as soon as she arrived in front of Ji-heon’s house, Jeong-oh faced a problem.

*1903. This is the right place……?*

The door lock of Ji-heon’s house, 1903, was different from Jeong-oh’s memory.

*Could it be…….*

Her heart fluttered with anxiety. She pressed the bell, but there was no response from inside.

With trembling fingertips, Jeong-oh pressed the door lock password she knew.

The door did not open.

Jeong-oh pressed her house password, her birthday, and Ji-heon’s birthday in turn. After entering the wrong number several times, a loud alarm sounded. When Jeong-oh’s face turned red with panic, the door opened from the inside.

A middle-aged woman stared at Jeong-oh with a fierce face. Jeong-oh swallowed hard and asked the woman.

“Excuse me, isn’t this Jung Ji-heon’s house?”

“Are you Lee Jeong-oh?”

The other person knew Jeong-oh’s name.

“I’m Ji-heon’s mother. Come in.”

The coldly uttered words pulled Jeong-oh in like a chain. Jeong-oh felt like she was being dragged into the *officetel*.

Mrs. Jang scanned Jeong-oh, who had entered the house, up and down. Perhaps because she knew that Jeong-oh had grown up in a single-parent family, she seemed to have an inherent prejudice as she looked at Jeong-oh, who was bowing her head and approaching timidly.

*I can’t let my son be with this kind of child.*

“What kind of rude behavior is it to keep pressing someone else’s door lock?”

“Ji-heon *oppa* told me the door lock password before.”

“I’m saying this because the password has changed. Shouldn’t you give up if you press it once and it doesn’t work?”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t reach *oppa*, so I was wondering if something had happened.”

She was a bolder child than she looked.

Mrs. Jang thought that gentle words might not work on her, so she scolded Jeong-oh more strongly.

“How much did you harass our Ji-heon?”

“…….”

“I was wondering if our Ji-heon sent you that message because you were so annoying.”

Tears like glass shards welled up in Jeong-oh’s eyes at the sharp words. Mrs. Jang couldn’t bear to watch and turned her head away.

“If you understand, don’t come back again. Ji-heon isn’t free enough to deal with kids like you.”

“Mother, just a moment.”

Jeong-oh grabbed Mrs. Jang as if pleading.

“Can’t you let me talk to *oppa* just once?”

“Who are you calling mother?”

Mrs. Jang shook off Jeong-oh’s arm violently.

*My son is hovering between life and death right now.*

*No matter how much you plead to let me talk to him, he is in a state where he can’t.*

She felt disgusted because it seemed like all of this was because of Lee Jeong-oh.

“Get out while I’m being nice. Don’t harass our Ji-heon anymore.”

Mrs. Jang said more fiercely.

Jeong-oh’s tears fell to the floor.

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

It had already been half a month since Ji-heon had the accident. Ji-heon was still unable to wake up.

Eun-bi visited the hospital room every day.

“Mother, did you get some rest?”

Eun-bi greeted Mrs. Jang, who was guarding the hospital room, brightly.

“Eun-bi is here.”

At Mrs. Jang’s weak greeting, Eun-bi’s eyes soon became worried.

“At this rate, Mother will collapse too. I thought you should get an IV drip, so I asked a doctor I know.”

“I’m okay.”

“Still, get the injection. *Oppa* seems like he’ll wake up today. When *oppa* wakes up, he’ll look for Mother first, so you have to show him a bright face.”

Eun-bi led Mrs. Jang out of the hospital room. Mrs. Jang reluctantly followed Eun-bi’s suggestion and headed to the reserved hospital room.

After sending Mrs. Jang out, Ji-heon became Eun-bi’s focus. Eun-bi gazed intently at Ji-heon, who was fast asleep like a sleeping prince.

Even with his eyes closed, his handsome appearance remains the same.

*Maybe you haven’t changed at all in the past three years.*

*No, it seems like you’ve become more handsome in the meantime.*

*Should I try to steal a kiss? He won’t know anyway.*

Eun-bi’s lips, drawn to Ji-heon’s beauty, got closer and closer to Ji-heon.

One second before her lips touched.

“Ahem.”

The hospital room door opened and a man came in. Eun-bi immediately moved away from Ji-heon and sat back in her seat.

Ji-heon’s friend, Park Seung-gyu.

A friend who was Ji-heon’s high school and university classmate and a senior in the military.

“You’re here again today.”

Eun-bi responded with a smile to Seung-gyu’s greeting, which seemed to be sarcastic.

“Yes. I’m worried about *oppa*.”

Despite the kind answer, Seung-gyu did not loosen his sullen expression.

“What brings you here, Seung-gyu?”

“What else would bring me here? I came to see a friend.”

Seung-gyu replied gruffly to Eun-bi’s question.

Since he seemed to hate her for no reason, Eun-bi didn’t feel like being nice to him either, even if he was Ji-heon’s friend.

Seung-gyu sat close to Ji-heon, as if he was worried about leaving Eun-bi and Ji-heon alone.

A stuffy silence filled the already quiet space.

“By the way, there’s something strange.”

Seung-gyu spoke to Eun-bi, who was feeling bored in the silence, for some reason.

“Ji-heon’s accident happened at 1 p.m., and the report was received at 1:20 p.m. The person who reported it was a man.”

“…….”

“Didn’t you say you witnessed the accident? Why didn’t you report it right away?”

Eun-bi was embarrassed by the unexpected question.

“……My cell phone battery was dead. I reported it as soon as I turned it on, but someone else had already reported it first.”

Seung-gyu nodded sullenly.

Eun-bi felt bad about Seung-gyu’s reaction. She felt more guilty because she had a guilty conscience.

“But why are you asking that?”

“Oh, well…… Huh! Ji-heon!”

Seung-gyu, who had mumbled his answer, suddenly called Ji-heon’s name.

Eun-bi also turned her head towards Ji-heon.

“*Oppa*!”

“Ji-heon, Jung Ji-heon!”

Finally, Ji-heon opened his eyes.

Ji-heon, who was just blinking and rolling his eyes without saying anything, seemed to be trying to get up from his seat.

Seung-gyu raised the upper body of the electric bed to help Ji-heon get up.

“Are you okay? Can you see me? Do you recognize who I am?”

Seung-gyu, who had secured Ji-heon’s seat, asked him.

Ji-heon, who had been staring at Seung-gyu for a long time, opened his mouth.

“Who……”

It was a face he seemed to know, but the name did not come to mind.

“……You don’t know me?”

“…….”

“Park Seung-gyu! We’re high school and university classmates! And I’m your military senior. We were close after you were discharged. Don’t you remember?”

“Military?”

Ji-heon asked, stammering with dry lips.

He thought he still had a few more months left until he entered the training camp, but suddenly he was a military senior.

“I’ve been to the military?”

At his question, the eyes of Seung-gyu and Eun-bi widened.

Ji-heon had no way of knowing why they had such ambiguous expressions.

Suddenly, a terrible headache struck.

“Ugh.” Ji-heon frowned and let out a rough groan.

“Ji-heon!”

“*Oppa*!”

The voices of those in front of him sounded distant.

It was as if a needle was piercing his brain.

*It feels like I’ve forgotten something very important.*

*It feels like someone is crying.*

His heart was aching, and his head was throbbing.