The manner of someone who’d come barging in to pick a fight with a person who’d lost their memory in an accident was suspicious. They were even supposed to be a married couple, weren’t they?
Either this person’s nature was completely rotten, or their relationship was bad enough that he wouldn’t even believe he was hurt. If that was the case, the cause of this absurd possession might lie in that direction.
“Why can’t you believe my words?”
Mua asked, his eyes flashing. If the person before his eyes was the culprit behind this incident, he had to extract something from him.
“Hey, are you joking? Would you believe it if you were me?”
Jieon retorted without being flustered. Amnesia was putting it nicely—what kind of makjang drama was this? Of all times, now, and of all people, this happened to Shin Mua. The timing was suspicious, far too suspicious.
Shin Mua’s behavior seemed like acting according to a script. That’s how unnatural it was.
“Whether you believe it or not, I truly don’t remember a single thing. If you don’t want to believe it, then don’t.”
“Fuck, really! Can’t you get rid of that beggar-like speech?”
“Didn’t I say I don’t want to?”
Jieon finally lost his temper, but Mua didn’t care and answered while staring straight into his eyes. He was already irritated to death, and he didn’t want to pretend to speak like a normal human before someone who didn’t even believe him.
That attitude made Jieon’s patience completely run out. Jieon, extending his uncasted hand toward Mua, grabbed his wrist and yanked it threateningly while grinding his teeth.
“Cut out that dog-like acting. You’re doing this because you don’t want to divorce me, right, right now. Trying to delay the divorce with the excuse that you don’t remember.”
“Urk….”
A small groan flowed from Mua’s mouth. Pain surged as if every bone in his body was being dislocated piece by piece.
Mua didn’t know it, but Jieon was feeling tremendous pain as well. His body hadn’t fully recovered yet either. However, such pain didn’t matter to Jieon.
He only hoped this detestable human would please disappear from before his eyes, from his life.
“It’s no use. How many times have I fallen for you saying you’re hurt? I won’t fall for that kind of thing anymore. Understand?”
Jieon didn’t even shout but murmured, yet the anger contained within was felt more clearly than a scream.
From Jieon’s words that he spouted without even being asked, Mua could infer why he was so hostile toward his spouse ‘Shin Mua.’ It seemed this couple didn’t trust each other very much.
“I see… so that’s how it was.”
Mua muttered. If their married life had already broken down, he could somewhat understand Cheon Jieon’s arrogant attitude. Judging from his words, it seemed ‘Shin Mua’ had a history of deceiving him several times before with the excuse of being hurt.
“Ha, really….”
It was truly muttered because he’d realized something, but at that manner of speech, Jieon ground his teeth again. Whether he did or not, Mua naturally continued speaking.
“Anyway, right now I’m not lying. I really don’t remember anything. I only learned that you’re my spouse because the caregiver told me, so how would I have known we were trying to divorce?”
“You’re going to keep coming at me like this?”
“I can’t say I remember what I don’t remember, can I?”
As their conversation continued to miss each other and not close the gap, Suchan, who had been watching from the side, quickly approached Jieon’s side and released Jieon’s hand that was still gripping Mua’s wrist.
“He says he doesn’t remember, doesn’t remember. Let’s just go for today. You’re still a patient. The doctor said not to get excited.”
Suchan was worried about Jieon. He was afraid something might go wrong if he got more excited here when his body wasn’t fully healed yet. Suchan hurriedly pulled Jieon’s wheelchair, but he still didn’t stop talking toward Mua.
“You keep coming at me like this, go ahead. You think this marriage will continue just because you do that? Fucking disgusting bastard. It’s great that you don’t remember. Then contract or whatever, let’s each go our separate ways now. That works, right?”
“Jieon, just calm down, calm down for now.”
Even while Suchan coaxed and persuaded Jieon to take him out of the hospital room, Mua just watched them with a face devoid of any particular emotion. Sitting in the quiet hospital room alone again, Mua quietly chewed over what Jieon had said to him.
“We were trying to divorce?”
Mua had no memories of the two’s married life so he couldn’t be certain, but looking at the hostility Jieon showed him, it didn’t feel like a loving relationship.
Looking down at his throbbing wrist, red marks were vivid where Jieon had grabbed him just before.
“What’s this about a contract….”
Moreover, though it was something said in an excited state, Jieon had definitely used the word ‘contract.’ Though it was only fragmentary information, they definitely didn’t seem like an ordinary married couple.
Suspicion bloomed in Mua’s heart once again. According to Jieon’s words, he desperately wanted a divorce, and it seemed the body’s owner ‘Shin Mua’ had refused his divorce request.
What if Jieon held a grudge against Shin Mua for not divorcing him? So he wanted to remove him from his side even if he had to pull tricks? For now, that was the only hypothesis Mua could make.
The notion that surely he wouldn’t do such a thing to someone he was married to held no meaning for Mua. Humans were beings who could do far more vicious things than that, and especially those with money and power like Cheon Jieon tended to be even more cruel to others.
Mua had experienced that fact in the most brutal way when he was human.
However, he couldn’t rashly be certain that Cheon Jieon had caused the accident. Because there was no benefit for him to gain by possessing a grim reaper in Shin Mua’s body.
If he’d tried to get rid of Shin Mua, there were plenty of easier and more certain methods than that. There was no reason to choose such an inefficient path with high risk.
“What the hell really….”
Mua muttered. Cheon Jieon’s reaction, which was somehow unclear to be called a married couple, made Mua even more confused. He wished anyone would be by his side right now to discuss this problem with.
Mua looked around the quiet hospital room wrapped in silence. If he opened the door and went out, countless humans swarmed, but among them, there was no one Mua could rely on.
Suddenly, those who were cursed alongside him as grim reapers without blood or tears, those who were like friends to him, came to mind. Ridiculously, it seemed he missed them a little.
Even though he’d given up even reincarnation, huffing that he would never trust anyone ever again. Like when he was human, he felt pathetic for having unconsciously felt affection for and come to rely on his colleagues in the Afterlife.
“Get a hold of yourself.”
Mua struck his thigh with a thump with his uninjured hand, as if to awaken his sinking emotions. What kind of grim reaper in the world would feel such loneliness? He wasn’t such a weak grim reaper.
Then he moved his still-painful arm around unnecessarily before closing his eyes and letting out a long breath. Just because he was in a human body didn’t mean he intended to act like a real human.
Anyway, once contact with the Afterlife was established, this life would soon end. Even now, the Afterlife was surely moving busily to find the cause of the incident and a solution. So he just had to wait.
Mua calmed the anxiety that kept raising its head like that.
***
“I’m so dumbfounded I can’t even speak.”
Even after returning to his hospital room, Jieon couldn’t easily calm his emotions. No matter how much he tried to calm down, Shin Mua’s appearance flickered before his eyes so he couldn’t calm down.
He’d already suspected from when he heard from Suchan, but after actually meeting him, the suspicion almost changed to certainty. The amnesia setting was already excessive, but that ridiculous manner of speech too. He could only think it was excessively contrived.
Even he himself thought if he suddenly said he’d lost his memory it would draw suspicion, so you could say it failed because he got antsy and added on an unreasonable setting.
“What do you think, hyung? Don’t you think he’s acting right now too?”
Jieon asked Suchan while still sitting in the wheelchair. However, Suchan, whom he thought would immediately agree with his words, unexpectedly tilted his head and asked.
“It’s so absurd it seems almost real….”
“What?”
“Think about it. If you were Shin Mua, would you have made such a risky move to deceive you?”
“So you’re saying he’s stupid.”
Jieon retorted with a furrowed brow. Honestly speaking, Suchan’s words also made sense. Shin Mua’s condition was suspicious no matter how you looked at it. A person with common sense wouldn’t pull such an absurd stunt.
However, Jieon knew how irrationally deep Shin Mua’s obsession with him was.
“Like you said before, hyung, losing your memory doesn’t make you become a completely different person, right?”
“Mmm….”
“I’ll concede a hundred times that habits or speech patterns might change. But does it make sense to suddenly use historical drama speech just because you lost your memory?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Suchan nodded obediently. Because Jieon’s words were also right. But he thought it was still too early to jump to conclusions.
“But Jieon, we’re not doctors, so… medically speaking, such cases could exist too.”
“…Hyung, really be careful not to get scammed anywhere.”
Jieon said with a displeased pout. He was frustrated with Suchan who still tried to believe Shin Mua’s words.
‘That’s right! I approached the president because I wanted to marry hyung. So what? Is that a problem?’
‘No! Hyung can’t divorce me. It would be really good for the chairman’s health if he found out his precious grandson got contract married to deceive him, right? Should I go tell him directly myself? Is that what you want?’
The face of Shin Mua who shamelessly made threats even after being caught in a lie came to mind. Such a guy having amnesia? The Shin Mua that Jieon knew was someone who would fabricate and bring non-existent memories to achieve what he wanted.
People who haven’t experienced what it’s like to live as a married couple with a vicious stalker probably couldn’t even imagine it. The disgusting things Jieon had to endure after Shin Mua showed his true colors floated around him like dust.
Jieon, who slowly took deep breaths and calmed his heart, continued speaking.
“Right. Whether it’s acting or whatever, that’s not what’s important. We’re getting divorced anyway. If he really forgot everything, that’s even better. He won’t be obsessed with me anymore, and if I coax him appropriately, he’ll divorce me.”
If only that happened, this traffic accident could actually be seen as beneficial to Jieon.
“As soon as we’re discharged, prepare the divorce papers again so we can divorce right away, hyung.”
Jieon sincerely hoped this accident would be a blessing in disguise. Divorcing Shin Mua safely—that was all Jieon wanted right now.
