A child who looks like me

Eunbi arrived at the officetel her brother Eunyeob had bought.

Eunbi, who had left for the United States to study three years ago, returned to Korea before completing four years. She passed the transfer examination for K University and set foot on Korean soil again.

In response to his younger sister’s desire to live independently, her brother gladly got her an apartment.

However, he did not fulfill her request. Eunbi wanted an officetel close to the university, but the place Eunyeob found was not very near the school.

Still, the condition of the apartment was quite good, so Eunbi felt somewhat satisfied.

After unpacking, she noticed various necessities she needed. Eunbi left the house to buy daily essentials.

As she descended the stairs and reached the underground parking lot, Eunbi unexpectedly witnessed an incident.

Crash!

Screech!

A man was hit and fell after being struck by a car that suddenly surged forward. Eunbi was taken aback and froze in shock.

It happened so suddenly that there was no time to scream. She hid behind the wall of the emergency staircase, covering her mouth and holding her breath.

A man wearing a black cap emerged from the driver’s seat. He mumbled something as he stood in front of the fallen man.

“…Have you heard of…?”

The voice of the man in the black cap was barely audible. It felt like he was asking something, but the fallen man couldn’t possibly respond.

After posing the brief question, the man in the black cap got back into his car. He abandoned the man and drove away immediately.

Once the car had disappeared, Eunbi finally exhaled.

She peeked her head out to survey the parking lot. She could see blood flowing under the fallen man.

I need to report this!

Eunbi pulled out her phone. But her hand holding the phone trembled. Her mind went blank, and she felt an overwhelming fear.

I’d have to go back and forth to the police station. What if I got involved and it put me in danger?

Her brother, who became a lawyer this year, had once told her not to get involved in loud situations, no matter the case.

“If he’s already dead, there’s no point in getting involved. Someone else will report it.”

I didn’t see anything.

Eunbi hurriedly climbed back up the stairs and returned home.

Fortunately, a few minutes later, she heard the sound of an ambulance. From her window, she watched as the ambulance and police car arrived at the officetel in succession and then left.

Had the man died?

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

In the evening, she received a call from her brother Eunyeob. Eunbi picked up the phone right away.

“Hello.”

[Did you check out the house?]
“Yeah. The house is nice, but it’s too far from the school. Why did you have to get this officetel?”

[Eun Jiheon lives there.]
Eunyeob’s answer made the determined expression on Eunbi’s face turn dazed.

Eun Jiheon!

Her heart raced with excitement, like a teenage girl.

Eunbi transferred to K University because it was the university Jiheon attended. She heard that Jiheon would soon graduate, but still, Eunbi wanted to have some connection with him.

Three years ago, it was Jiheon’s existence that made her hesitate the longest at the crossroads of studying abroad in America.

Eunbi’s brother’s friend, Jiheon, was her first love. And that unrequited love had yet to end.

Although she had dated a few times in the U.S., she couldn’t give up her feelings for Jiheon. That’s why she returned.

Eunbi swallowed hard and asked again to confirm the truth.

“Jiheon oppa lives here? Do you know what unit number?”

[But that’s not the problem; apparently, there was an accident today.]
Eunyeob’s voice suddenly turned dark. Eunbi tilted her head in confusion.

“What?”

[They said Jiheon was hit by a hit-and-run driver in the underground parking lot today.]
Eunbi almost dropped her phone.

“…Hit-and-run?”

[Yeah. I haven’t been to the hospital yet, so I don’t know much.]
An accident that happened earlier today… Could it be that Jiheon oppa was the one involved?

“Oppa… Where’s the hospital?”

Eunbi asked with a trembling voice.

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

[The phone is turned off, so it’s going to the voicemail after the beep…]
Jeongwoo hung up the phone with a worried expression.

Jiheon, who had promised to pick her up at 3 PM today, did not show up. When she called, he didn’t answer, and eventually, it went to a message saying the phone was turned off.

“Oppa has never broken a promise before.”

As time passed and it became evening, anxiety began to creep in.

Could something have happened to him? Was he in an accident?

“Or did he suddenly change his mind…?”

A myriad of thoughts flooded her mind.

The waiting time grew increasingly tense. Just yesterday, she felt she could accept her situation as a blessing, but now, everything terrified her.

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

In front of the hospital’s operating room.

Mrs. Jang Youngmi sat engulfed in fear.

Her son had been in a hit-and-run accident. It happened just a few minutes after she had spoken to him on the phone.

Today, he had ignored his mother’s request to come home and was found in the parking lot of the officetel.

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

She couldn’t believe that the son she had raised so well was now fighting for his life.

After rushing to the hospital upon hearing the news, Mrs. Jang confirmed her son’s condition and cried out in despair. It felt as though the world was crumbling around her.

Why did this happen to my son?

After screaming to the point of exhaustion, Mrs. Jang felt utterly drained when a detective assigned to the case approached her.

“Hello. I’m from the Yongsan Police Station. You must be the mother of Jeong Jiheon?”

Mrs. Jang looked at the detective with an expressionless face.

“They said the building’s CCTV malfunctioned, so there’s no footage available. Fortunately, there was a parked vehicle with a dashcam, so we secured the vehicle’s license plate number. We’ve also obtained some footage of the hit-and-run and identified the suspect.”

“Please catch him… Catch that bastard for sure…”

Mrs. Jang pleaded with the detective, her dignity as the wife of a prominent CEO long forgotten. The sight of her clinging to the detective and sobbing was pitiful.

“The suspect’s name is Kim Jingu. Have you heard of him?”

Mrs. Jang shook her head. Tears she thought had dried up began to flow again.

As the detective stood there awkwardly due to Mrs. Jang’s tears, a woman approached him.

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

The detective turned his attention from Mrs. Jang to the young woman.

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

At the young woman’s voice, Mrs. Jang lifted her head. The face was vaguely familiar.

“Mother, it’s me, Eunbi. Chae Eunbi. Do you remember me?”

Eunbi firmly held onto the swaying Mrs. Jang to support her and greeted her.

“Ah… Eunbi! It’s Eunbi…”

In a daze, Mrs. Jang could only nod her head. The daughter of a well-known legal family, she was the sister of Eunbyeol, Eunbi’s brother’s friend, Jeong Jiheon.

“Mother, please calm down and stay strong. Oppa will be fine during the surgery. I’ll go to the police station to give my statement. They will catch the culprit for sure.”

Eunbi comforted Mrs. Jang with a mature demeanor, as if the roles had reversed; Eunbi was the adult, and Mrs. Jang was the child.

“I’ll be back after I go to the police station. The surgery will take a while, so please go home. I’ll contact you after the surgery is over.”

At Eunbi’s calm reassurance, Mrs. Jang wept once more, mumbling thanks to Eunbi through her tears.

Accompanying the detective to the police station, Eunbi recounted everything she had witnessed in as much detail as possible.

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

“Did the suspect say anything?”

“Yes. He asked the fallen victim something like, ‘Have you ever heard of a robbery hit-and-run?’ It was something along those lines.”

Eunbi added a bit of imagination to her recollection.

“If I saw his face, I think I could recognize him for sure.”

As she relayed her account, the two of them arrived at the police station.

Upon entering the station, Eunbi immediately recognized the suspect. Coincidentally, the suspect, Kim Jingu, had just been arrested at his home and brought to the station.

“This is the guy! This guy!”

Eunbi shouted in front of the suspect, Kim Jingu.

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

With his hands cuffed, Kim Jingu twisted his body and shouted, his eyes wide with a look of utter injustice.

But Eunbi was certain.

“This is definitely his voice! No doubt about it!”

With a determined expression, Eunbi clenched her fist tightly. The man who harmed the brother she had admired felt like an enemy to her. On the other hand, she felt exhilarated to have done something righteous.

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

After the suspect was caught, Mrs. Jang received her son’s belongings: his cellphone, car smart key, and a ring case.

The ring case.

After turning on the cellphone, Mrs. Jang discovered that her son was supposed to go on a date with someone named Jeong-O at noon.

Because of the date, he had refused his mother’s request to come home.

And it was because of that date that he had been involved in the hit-and-run.

– Oppa, where are you?

– Oppa, we were supposed to meet at 3 PM today. Did something happen?

– I can’t reach you. I’m worried. If you see this message, please contact me.

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

Checking the dozens of text messages from Jeong-O, Mrs. Jang clenched her fists and her heart raced.

“I have a friend I want you to meet.”

Her son had said that in their last phone conversation.

It seemed he had wanted to introduce her to this Jeong-O.

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

Mrs. Jang felt nothing but resentment towards her son’s girlfriend.

After having someone investigate this Jeong-O, Mrs. Jang was even more astonished.

Jeong-O, a junior at H University, 23 years old, daughter of a single mother. A child raised without a father.

It was needless to say that they were incredibly poor, and that mother had not received a proper education.

“Because of a girl like this, my son…”

The surgery went well, but Jiheon had not yet regained consciousness. With her son still unconscious, her resentment towards Jeong-O grew even stronger.

Mrs. Jang sent a short text message to Jeong-O using Jiheon’s cellphone.

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

– Don’t contact me again.

Three days after losing contact, Jiheon sent a text message.

The content of the short message startled Jeong-O.

The Jiheon she knew would never say such things.

Jeong-O immediately went to Jiheon’s house.

She hadn’t been there often, but she had been invited once or twice a month. Jiheon had even given her the door lock password, telling her she could come over anytime and stay the night.

Was it really possible that someone like him would suddenly break up with her through a text? Telling her not to contact him again?

Jeong-O couldn’t believe the source of the message. She thought something must be wrong.

However, upon arriving in front of Jiheon’s house, Jeong-O encountered a problem.

‘Room 1903. This should be the right place…?’

The door lock for Jiheon’s room 1903 didn’t match her memory.

‘Could it be…?’

Her heart raced. She pressed the doorbell, but there was no response from inside.

With trembling fingers, Jeong-O entered the door lock password she remembered.

The door didn’t open.

She tried her own house password, her birthday, and Jiheon’s birthday one after the other. After a few wrong attempts, a loud alarm went off. Jeong-O’s face turned bright red when suddenly the door opened from inside.

A middle-aged woman stared at Jeong-O with a stern expression. Jeong-O swallowed hard and asked her,

“Um, is this not Jeong Jiheon’s house?”

“Are you Lee Jeong-O?”

The woman knew Jeong-O’s name.

“I’m Jiheon’s mother. Come in.”

The coldly spoken words felt like chains dragging Jeong-O inside. She felt like she was being pulled in against her will as she entered the apartment.

Mrs. Jang scanned Jeong-O up and down as she stepped inside. Seeing Jeong-O approach timidly, with her head bowed like someone who had committed a crime, Mrs. Jang sighed heavily.

Perhaps it was because she knew Jeong-O came from a single-parent household; she felt an innate shadow hanging over her.

There was no way she could allow such a girl to be near her son.

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

“Jiheon Oppa told me the door lock password before.”

“That password has changed, so I’m saying this. If you pressed it once and it didn’t work, you should have given up.”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t reach Oppa, so I was worried something might have happened.”

She was more daring than she appeared.

Mrs. Jang thought that polite words might not be enough to dissuade her. She decided to be more assertive.

“How much have you tormented my Jiheon?”

“……”

“How annoying must you have been for Jiheon to send me here?”

Tears like glass beads welled up in Jeong-O’s eyes at Mrs. Jang’s sharp words. Unable to bear the sight, Mrs. Jang turned her head away.

“If you understand, don’t come back again. I’m not so idle that I can deal with kids like Jiheon.”

“Mother, please wait.”

Jeong-O pleaded, grabbing Mrs. Jang’s arm.

“Could you let me talk to Oppa just once?”

“Don’t call me ‘mother’ out of nowhere.”

Mrs. Jang violently shook off Jeong-O’s hand.

My son is fighting for his life right now.

No matter how much you beg to talk to him, he’s in no condition to do so.

She felt a surge of anger, believing everything was because of this Jeong-O.

“Leave while I’m still being polite. Don’t torment my Jiheon any longer.”

Mrs. Jang said harshly.

Tears fell from Jeong-O’s eyes onto the floor.

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

It had been fifteen days since Jiheon had the accident. He still had not regained consciousness.

Eunbi visited the hospital every day.

“Mother, have you had some rest?”

Eunbi greeted Mrs. Jang, who was keeping watch in the hospital room, with a bright smile.

“Eunbi, you’re here.”

At Mrs. Jang’s weak greeting, Eunbi’s expression turned to one of concern.

“If this goes on, you might collapse too. You should get some nutrients; I asked a doctor I know to help you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Still, please get the shot. I have a feeling Oppa will wake up today. When he does, he’ll look for you first, so you should show him a bright face.”

Eunbi gently led Mrs. Jang out of the room. Mrs. Jang, unable to resist, followed Eunbi’s suggestion and headed toward the reserved inpatient room.

After sending Mrs. Jang away, Jiheon became Eunbi’s focus. She gazed tenderly at Jiheon, who was sound asleep like a prince in a fairy tale.

Even with his eyes closed, his handsome features remained unchanged.

Perhaps he hadn’t changed at all in the three years since they first met.

No, he seemed to have gotten even more handsome.

Should I try to give him a quick kiss? He wouldn’t know anyway.

Entranced by Jiheon’s beauty, Eunbi leaned in closer until their lips were almost touching.

Just a second before their lips met.

“Um, um.”

The hospital door opened, and a man entered. Eunbi quickly pulled away from Jiheon and adjusted her seating.

It was Park Seungkyu, Jiheon’s friend.

A classmate from both high school and university, as well as a senior from the military.

“You’re here again today,” he said, his tone seeming almost mocking.

Eunbi responded with a smile despite Seungkyu’s sour expression.

“Yes. I’m worried about Oppa.”

Seungkyu didn’t soften his expression at her kind reply.

“Why are you here, Seungkyu?”

“What else would I be here for? To see my friend.”

He answered Eunbi bluntly, showing his dislike for her without reservation. Even if he was Jiheon’s friend, she didn’t feel inclined to be nice to him.

Seungkyu moved closer to Jiheon as if he were worried about leaving them alone together.

The already quiet room was filled with an uncomfortable silence.

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

Seungkyu spoke up unexpectedly, breaking the silence that was wearing Eunbi down.

“Jiheon’s accident happened at 1 PM, and the report was filed at 1:20 PM. The person who reported it was a man.”

“……”

“You said you witnessed the accident, right? Why didn’t you report it right away?”

Eunbi was taken aback by the unexpected question.

“……My phone battery was dead. I turned it on and tried to report it, but someone else had already done it.”

Seungkyu nodded, still looking skeptical.

Eunbi felt irritated by his reaction. It seemed like he was probing for something deeper, and it made her uneasy.

“Why are you asking about that, anyway?”

“Oh, well… Ah! Jiheon!”

Seungkyu’s response trailed off as he suddenly called out Jiheon’s name.

Eunbi also turned her head toward Jiheon.

“Oppa!”

“Jiheon! Jeong Jiheon!”

Finally, Jiheon opened his eyes.

At first, he blinked and rolled his eyes without saying a word, as if trying to sit up.

Seungkyu helped raise Jiheon’s upper body on the electric bed.

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

Seungkyu asked Jiheon as he adjusted his position.

After staring at Seungkyu for a long time, Jiheon finally spoke.

“Who…?”

It was a face that seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t remember the name.

“……You don’t know me?”

“……”

“Park Seungkyu! We went to high school and college together! And I was your senior in the military. We got close after you were discharged. Don’t you remember?”

“Military?”

Jiheon hesitantly asked with his pale lips.

He thought he still had months left before even entering boot camp, so it was shocking to hear the mention of military service.

“I went to the military? Me?”

At his question, both Seungkyu and Eunbi’s eyes widened in surprise.

Jiheon couldn’t understand why they looked so confused.

Suddenly, a terrible headache surged through him.

Ugh. Jiheon grimaced and let out a rough groan.

“Jiheon!”

“Oppa!”

The voices of the two people in front of him sounded distant.

It felt like needles were stabbing his brain.

He felt like he was forgetting something very important.

Someone seemed to be crying.

His chest felt tight, and his head throbbed.