Chapter 21
***
About an hour later, the two brothers finished their conversation and called me out. When I went to the living room, they’d changed into fresh clothes and were standing by the door.
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Yeah, we’re heading out for a bit.”
“While we’re gone, watch the house. Actually… don’t do anything. If you make us suspicious, it’ll only cause trouble for you, hyung.”
“Come on, you worry too much. I’ll just watch TV…”
Hahyun stared intently at my lips. His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“Huh? We have a TV? We cut off all the internet and cable…”
“I meant I’d watch the DVDs you bought for me.”
When Hajin urged that they needed to hurry, Hahyun simply nodded and left. After confirming the brothers were gone, I felt a wave of relief at being alone in the house.
But something odd struck me.
They left me here alone? Those paranoid brothers?
No, that couldn’t be right. They must have set some kind of trap before leaving.
In most captivity situations, when victims are left alone, they all inevitably look for ways to escape. But most victims don’t just fail to escape—they get caught by their captors and end up in even harsher confinement.
The thought made me shudder. So I resolved absolutely not to think about escaping.
What mattered now wasn’t escape, but the secret the brothers were hiding. Searching the house would be far more helpful to my situation than trying to run away.
Once I made up my mind, the sound of the clock ticking seemed to grow louder. By now, the brothers should be far from home.
I carefully got up and examined the living room. There were no visible cameras, but it would be safest to move assuming there were cameras throughout the house.
The simplest method would be to deliberately trip the circuit breaker and cause a blackout. But since cameras might be installed near the breaker too, I couldn’t use that approach.
I didn’t despair—I tried to think from the brothers’ perspective instead. If I were them, where would I install cameras? Everywhere except the bedrooms and bathrooms.
So I just needed to search everywhere but the living room, hallway, entrance, and my room. The problem was there was no way to move around this house without going through the hallway.
Conscious of the cameras, I yawned widely, then moved from the living room to my bedroom. I lay down on the bed, pretending to sleep. As they say, a guilty conscience needs no accuser—my heart was pounding even though I wasn’t doing anything particularly suspicious. After lingering in my room for about thirty minutes, I went to the bathroom, then slipped into Hajin’s room, which was right next door.
If the brothers checked the footage later and questioned me, I planned to pretend I’d been sleepwalking. Given that I already had amnesia, they might not think sleepwalking was such a big deal.
Finally, I was in a blind spot. As soon as I entered, I came face to face with monitors covering an entire wall.
The monitors were broadcasting live footage of every corner of the house. As expected, they were recording everything except the bedrooms and bathrooms.
Wow, they really did install a ton of cameras.
I felt dizzy thinking about what would’ve happened if I’d acted assuming there were no cameras. Anyway, I needed to find something quickly and get back to my room.
I looked for places where important things might be kept, but unfortunately, the safe and desk drawers were all locked. Given Hajin’s cautious personality, it was only natural he wouldn’t leave his room unlocked if he had anything important in there.
I left the room without lingering. I walked with a loose, swaying gait, like someone actually sleepwalking. I circled the living room once, the kitchen once, and deliberately pretended to fall asleep sprawled over the shoe rack by the entrance.
Then I went into Hahyun’s room. This time I went straight to the desk. True to a college student, the bookshelf was crammed with textbooks, and on the desk sat a diary with a prestigious university logo. With trembling hands, I grabbed the top drawer handle and pulled.
It opened!
Excited, I looked inside and found a rather thick scrapbook. I took it out and placed it on the desk. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely turn the pages. Pressing my hand to my chest, I turned to the first page and found an article about Juwon.
The headline read: “Model Yoon Juwon Missing Ahead of Designer Kwon Chaerim’s Fashion Show.” My heart raced at the intriguing article.
Just as I was about to turn the page to at least quickly scan the headlines, I heard the sound of someone entering the door code.
I was so startled my heart seemed to drop to my feet and roll around. I quickly closed the scrapbook, shoved it back where it belonged, and took a deep breath to calm myself.
I was Yoon Juwon with sleepwalking—I just needed to go out with my eyes half-closed and my body relaxed.
I slowly opened the door and headed to the living room. As soon as I moved according to plan, I heard a familiar voice.
“…Hyung? What are you doing?”
What do sleepwalkers do? They move their bodies without consciousness, so I shouldn’t respond to that question.
I kept my gaze fixed on a framed picture on the wall and walked straight ahead, even letting my knees bump the table. This much was necessary to fool the suspicious Hahyun.
“No… hyung, what’s really going on? Why are you…”
Hahyun, seemingly unable to believe what he was seeing with his own eyes, stood frozen in place, repeating the same words. I lay down on the sofa, pretending to sleep.
After a while, I felt Hahyun sit down at my feet. Time passed without a sound. Just as I was considering getting up since pretending to sleep was becoming exhausting, I heard the sound of sniffling.
Confused, I remained absolutely still, continuing my act while straining my ears. The crying was getting louder.
Why is he crying? What’s making him so sad that he cries at every opportunity?
I hoped he’d say something while crying, but after crying for a while, Hahyun said nothing and started shaking me awake.
“Hyung, wake up. I made you a meal, and I need to go out again.”
I blinked my eyes, pretending to have just woken up.
“…Where am I?”
Hahyun was still crying. Wiping his wet eyes with his sleeve, he answered.
“Where else? The living room.”
“No, I mean… why am I lying here?”
“Don’t you remember? You were wandering around the living room like a drunk person, then you suddenly lay down and fell asleep.”
“I did that?”
At my words, Hahyun’s eyes widened and he tilted his head before asking.
“Hyung, is your memory coming and going again? Do you remember me?”
“No, it’s not that my memory’s coming and going. You’re Hahyun-ssi, of course. It’s just… I’m sure I fell asleep in my room, so I was surprised to find myself in the living room.”
“Hmm… Something did seem off. Could it be sleepwalking?”
I deliberately acted even more surprised.
“Sleepwalking? Did I have sleepwalking problems too?”
Hahyun stared at me intently, clearly suspicious.
To dispel his suspicion, I threw myself into his arms.
“What am I going to do? Memory loss and now sleepwalking… I’m scared I might actually go crazy.”
Hahyun embraced me and patted my back.
“It’s going to be okay. Even if you really do go crazy, I’ll be here, so don’t worry. I’ll never leave you.”
I calmly continued my act.
“Y-yeah, I guess so. But there’s one thing that’s bothering me.”
“What is it? Tell me anything. I’ll fix it for you.”
“Um, Hajin-ssi told me I’m a model. Doesn’t that mean my face is somewhat well-known?”
At this, Hahyun’s eyes narrowed. He probably thought Juwon was asking because he couldn’t let go of his modeling career. Before his misunderstanding could deepen, I quickly continued.
“So I’m guessing the reason you two won’t let me go outside is to keep me from being seen by people—and I’m not saying I don’t like that.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“No… I was wondering about the doctor. He saw me up close, right? Isn’t there a problem with that?”
Hahyun nodded as if he understood. Then he grinned.
“He’s fine. He’s discreet… and he’s a doctor who’s known us since we were little.”
“But that has nothing to do with me. I’m not in a stable state right now and can’t appear in front of the public like this… What if the doctor sees me outside and says something?”
At my words, Hahyun comforted me with what seemed like a pleased expression.
“I understand what you mean. I know you’re ambitious about your work. But really, it’s fine.”
Hahyun responded just as I’d anticipated. The reason I brought up the doctor wasn’t because I was afraid he might mention seeing me.
My goal was to convey to Hahyun that “I don’t want to appear in public in this unstable state” and thus lower his guard. However, Hahyun’s nonchalant reaction made me curious about the reason why.
