“You must have been really shocked too.”
Suchan, who had been blankly staring toward the room Mua had entered, suddenly turned to look at Jieon standing beside him and asked. Jieon’s face was completely drained.
He didn’t know how shocked he’d been when he received a call about the hospital while heading to Jieon’s house. Accident aftereffects aside, even before the accident Jieon would become extremely weakened for no reason, so who knows how many thoughts had flashed through his mind wondering if something had gone wrong again.
He’d unconsciously let out a sigh of relief after hearing it was Shin Mua’s problem, not Cheon Jieon’s.
“I really go through all kinds of shit because of that bastard…”
Jieon muttered as if fed up. Suchan lightly patted his back. Just as he said, the hardship from meeting Shin Mua was no small matter. If he’d known it would be like this, he should have tried to dissuade him one more time when he said he was getting a contract marriage.
“Will it be okay to just leave him alone?”
“Leave him. The hospital said he’s fine. Who knows, maybe that was all an act too.”
“Aw, no way…”
“He’s more than capable of it.”
Jieon muttered in a cold voice. But that was closer to desperately trying to convince himself rather than certainty. The image of Mua twisting his body in pain and seizing was still vividly remaining in his mind.
Rendering the ambulance ride meaningless, there was nothing wrong with Mua’s body. He’d only heard the vague opinion that stress from the accident and memory loss could have affected his body.
Mua hadn’t said much at the hospital or on the way home. He seemed fairly shocked by the sudden seizure himself. In other words, even to Jieon’s eyes, that seizure earlier hadn’t seemed like acting at all.
“You go in and rest too. Call if you need anything.”
“Hyung, didn’t you say you had to go to the company soon?”
“It’s not urgent. I can go a bit later.”
At Jieon’s question, Suchan shook his head as if it was no big deal. Jieon felt newly apologetic toward Suchan. Jieon held the representative position of the art patronage organization ‘Yuyae’, but in reality it was close to just having his name on it.
There were separate professionals who actually operated the organization, and he was literally an ‘idle rich representative.’ At most, he’d occasionally show his face and half-listen to performance reports he had no interest in.
It wasn’t a position he’d taken on out of interest in the first place. Jieon had originally been living practically unemployed to show he had no interest in the succession battle. However, perhaps his grandfather felt sorry seeing his cherished grandson playing around without a single title, as he suddenly handed over the representative position of the patronage organization.
At first, he’d had no desire to do it, whether representative or whatever. He was uncomfortable with holding a ‘representative’ title in any form, and he’d never had any desire to do his own work from the start.
The reason he’d ultimately accepted that position was only because he couldn’t bear to ignore his grandfather’s eyes, constantly worried about his grandson day and night—he didn’t have even a fingernail’s worth of intention to actually work.
As a result, in reality, Suchan often handled matters related to [Yuyae] as a proxy rather than Jieon. After Jieon’s accident, he’d let go of it even more, so there were more things for him to worry about.
“Hyung’s the only one suffering because of me.”
Jieon subtly conveyed his gratitude in an awkward voice. In fact, thanks to this Suchan had also caught the chairman’s eye so it wasn’t bad, but considering his abilities, it weighed on his mind that he was playing the role of his caretaker.
“What are you saying? That’s enough. Go rest quickly.”
“Okay. Hyung, rest a bit before you go too.”
“Yeah, got it.”
Jieon hurriedly turned around without even making eye contact with Suchan. After saying embarrassing words he never usually said, the back of his neck grew hot. And before entering his room, Jieon stopped for a moment and his gaze turned to the corridor in the distance.
Inside there was the room where Shin Mua was. From where Jieon stood, he couldn’t sense any sign of movement.
Surely he’s not having another seizure alone.
With that anxiety, he wondered if he should look into the room once, but soon gave up. It wasn’t like he’d asked for help, so there was no need to step forward and worry first. If all of this was Shin Mua’s scheme, the moment he showed weakness and treated him well, he’d end up properly caught in the trap he’d laid out.
Jieon deliberately withdrew his gaze that kept turning toward Mua’s room and entered his own room. Whether that guy was Shin Mua or a Grim Reaper who’d entered Shin Mua’s body, it wasn’t his concern anyway.
***
“It’s not working. Tsk.”
Shin Mua, who was actually in the room, was lying on the bed and clicked his tongue with a disgruntled expression. He’d inwardly hoped that a situation like earlier might unfold again, but far from a seizure, there wasn’t even a headache, so it was quite disappointing.
Of course, the earlier seizure had been bewildering for Mua too. For a moment he’d been slightly afraid that something had gone seriously wrong. Because it was unexpected and he’d wondered if perhaps the ritual had been performed again.
On the way home from the hospital after the commotion had passed, Mua, who had been mulling over what had happened to him, came to the conclusion that the afterimage remaining in his head was probably ‘Shin Mua’s’ memory.
Right before losing consciousness, the voice crying out in pain while calling someone’s name had definitely been Grim Reaper Mua’s. Strictly speaking, it was a memory from when he was human, before becoming a Grim Reaper.
But the scenes that had appeared before that were definitely things he was seeing for the first time. Yet to call them simple hallucinations, the scenes were too vivid and specific. Not just images—he could vividly feel even the emotions of the subject who’d been berating them to just let him die. As if those emotions were his own.
If it had all been a fantasy that would be one thing, but the fact that memories from his human days had surfaced meant there was a high possibility that the unfamiliar memories were also real, not hallucinations. In the end, what else could it be but the memories of ‘Shin Mua’, the owner of this body, gradually assimilating with him?
So as soon as Mua returned to the room, he lay on the bed and tried to recall anything more. It was because he expected that since he’d opened the floodgates once, wouldn’t more memories pour out immediately?
Unfortunately, the result was failure. Far from new memories surfacing, even what had revived earlier was hazy. Just when he thought he was finally seeing a bit of hope, the disappointment was considerable.
But Mua didn’t view this situation entirely negatively. While it was disappointing that nothing more came to mind immediately, the important thing was that at least fragments of ‘Shin Mua’s’ memories had surfaced.
Wasn’t there a saying that starting is half the battle? If what he’d glimpsed earlier was really ‘Shin Mua’s’ memory, then anyway it could be seen that the body and soul had begun assimilation.
Even if not immediately, Mua could now look forward to the day when he could read all the memories this body held.
“……”
Mua’s expression quickly darkened as his thoughts reached that point. Even though it would definitely help solve this damn possession incident, the prospect of achieving complete assimilation with this body wasn’t entirely welcome.
‘I’ll die without hyung anyway. So just let me die now!!’
The sharp voice that had been screaming at the top of their lungs in desperation suddenly lingered in his ears. The moment of spitting out words to threaten the other party, he’d definitely seen red blood wetting the view.
Mua, who had slowly sat up, stared blankly at the mirror placed at the bedside. The face reflected in the mirror was still only unfamiliar and awkward.
The expression of Cheon Jieon looking at this face like it was vermin came to mind. What kind of person had ‘Shin Mua’ been exactly? What on earth had happened between the two, and why had Shin Mua cried out while even self-harming?
When seeing that scene, though it was a very brief moment, Mua had felt a sensation as if even his emotions were assimilating with that memory. The despair and possessiveness, anger and love-hate that the crying person felt—all of it was as vivid as if he’d directly felt it himself.
For solving the case, it was important to reach the body’s memories as soon as possible, but on the other hand, his heart was heavy because he couldn’t be certain whether that would really be a good thing for him.
If Shin Mua’s body and his soul completely assimilated and settled, would he still be able to perceive himself as a being completely different from humans like now, even then?
Because it was something he’d never experienced once in over a hundred years of life, he couldn’t be certain of anything, so Mua couldn’t freely be optimistic about the situation.
As complicated thoughts continued in succession, drowsiness gradually began to creep in. He’d wanted to continue thinking more, but his body weakened by the seizure seemed to have no strength to overcome even sleep.
His trembling eyelids soon became calm and Mua’s consciousness began to sink bit by bit, gradually into a deep place. How long had he slept like that?
[Are you sleeping?]
“Heup…!”
Along with waves penetrating his mind, Mua roughly drew in breath and opened his eyes. Even though he was clearly covered with a blanket, he felt cold. It was natural that he couldn’t move even a finger.
Mua hurriedly rolled his eyes to survey his surroundings. Beyond the deep darkness as if submerged in shadows, he could see a welcome form. It was Sangmyeong. When he wriggled his body to greet him, Sangmyeong clicked his tongue and opened his mouth.
[Just when are you planning to regain your strength?]
That’s what I want to say.
Mua grumbled inwardly. Who would want to show such an unseemly appearance? But since he couldn’t convey even one thing he wanted to say to him, he only felt frustrated inside.
If you found out something, hurry up and tell me.
Mua pressed Sangmyeong with his eyes. He didn’t know if he’d caught on to those inner thoughts, but Sangmyeong soon continued speaking.
[Take a good look around this house.]
The house?
