Chapter 4
I called out to him in a gentle voice, carefully avoiding a direct answer.
“Hahyun-ssi, I’m sorry I can’t remember you—the kind person who came to save me. I’m s-sad that I can’t remember too. But… there’s something I’m curious about.”
Hahyun wiped his tears away with his hand and looked at me. Curiosity filled his large eyes.
“Hyung is… curious about… Ah, right, amnesia.”
Mumbling to himself, Hahyun smiled brightly as if he’d never been crying at all.
“What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
“Well… um, earlier, about the wheelchair…”
“Oh, that’s nothing special.”
I barely stopped myself from shouting, “Locking someone in a basement is nothing special? You’re insane!” This was the time to pretend—pretend not to know, pretend to be nice, pretend they were my saviors. I had to play along to survive.
“Nothing special, I see. That’s a bit disappointing.”
“…?”
Hahyun’s eyes widened. I kept my tone casual.
“I mean, weren’t you looking for a wheelchair to untie me and take me somewhere? Since I might not be able to walk?”
“…”
Hahyun clamped his mouth shut, his large eyes darting back and forth. I could practically hear the gears turning in his head as he pretended not to catch on. Just then, a thud sounded from outside and the door swung open. It was Hajin.
“Hahyun, help me carry this.”
Hajin stuck his head through the doorway, panting.
“Carry what?”
Hahyun walked over irritably, then gasped in shock at what he saw.
“No way… all this water… I’d die trying to drink it all.”
At the tail end of Hahyun’s sentence, Hajin’s laughter blended in.
“This is the first time Juwon has asked us for anything. I was just going to bring Evian, but then I thought he might need other things too, so I brought everything.”
“I wondered why you were taking so long. But good job. When someone asks for something for the first time, you should go all out so they’ll ask again later, right? That way, they can’t live without us… Wait, what am I even saying? Hahaha.”
“Enough talk. Just help me move these.”
The two began hauling the bottles of water they’d stacked at the entrance over to the other side of the bed. It looked like they’d brought every type of bottled water in existence. And as if that wasn’t enough, Hajin handed me a cup.
“Drink this. It’s from the highest quality water purifier.”
“…Ah, yes. Thank you.”
I thanked him three times and tried to sit up, only to remember I was still tied down. I fell back against the mattress. Hajin clicked his tongue and used a spoon to feed me the water.
I’d only wanted a glass of water. I never expected them to haul an entire convenience store’s worth of bottled water into the room.
Too much water in a room is bad feng shui… Wait, get it together, Kim Sojin. Is this really the time to worry about feng shui?
While I was mentally scolding myself, Hahyun took the empty cup and carefully wiped my mouth with a handkerchief.
“Hyung, wait here for a bit. Like you said, if we’re going to untie you, we need to get a wheelchair, so we’ll be back soon.”
At the mention of the wheelchair, cold sweat broke out on my skin. If they literally meant to untie me, that would be good news. But if they were just placating me before dragging me to the basement, all my efforts would’ve been for nothing.
I looked at Hajin with the most pitiful expression I could muster. Hajin winked as if to say don’t worry.
Hah… Surely after all this, they wouldn’t lock me up, right? No, I can’t let my guard down. These guys are lunatics.
In that brief moment, my thoughts swung wildly from one extreme to the other. I took a deep breath and muttered to myself:
They won’t hurt me. They’re kind brothers who will save me. They’re not lunatics.
Once I’d calmed down somewhat, I called out to them as they headed for the door.
“You need to come back quickly, before the person who hurt me returns. I’m scared.”
The brothers turned to look at me. After a moment of stunned silence, they spoke in unison:
“Yes, we’ll be back soon.”
“Don’t worry—where would we go without you?”
The door closed. I stared at it for a long time before praying silently.
Kim Hyunju, dear author, I’m sorry for trashing your novels all this time. So if you’re watching me somehow, please just keep me safe.
Prayer was all I had left.
***
While Hajin was stacking bottles of water in the room, Hahyun sidled up and whispered in his ear.
“Yoon Juwon is acting weird. We need to talk privately.”
“What? Because he lost his memory?”
“Um… well, that’s part of it…”
They left Juwon’s room and entered Hajin’s room down the hall.
Hajin habitually scanned the screens covering one wall. They displayed real-time footage from the CCTV cameras they’d installed throughout the house to prevent Juwon from escaping—his room, the living room, the entrance, the yard, the road.
After finishing his check, Hajin sat on the bed while Hahyun took the sofa across from him. Hahyun spoke first.
“Didn’t you notice something strange? It’s not just that he lost his memory—his whole personality seems different. Almost like he’s a different person…”
Hajin’s gaze shifted to the feed of Juwon’s room. Juwon was still tied to the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. Looking at him like this, nothing seemed changed, but what he’d said today was definitely different from the usual Yoon Juwon.
“He can’t be a different person.”
“I know, but… Remember when I mentioned the wheelchair? We’ve threatened to lock him in the basement so many times, I thought he’d understand what I meant. But when you left to get the water, he asked if we were getting the wheelchair to untie him.”
Hearing this, Hajin pressed his lips together and tapped his knee with one finger, lost in thought. If Juwon had really lost his memory, he might genuinely think Hajin and Hahyun had come to rescue him. But what if he hadn’t actually lost his memory and was just tired of the hopeless situation, trying to compromise?
Both scenarios were plausible, but considering Juwon had never once tried to compromise before, it was more likely he’d truly lost his memory.
So what should they do? Since he’d lost his memory, should they pretend to be his rescuers and rebuild their relationship from scratch?
While Hajin pondered, Hahyun pressed him for an answer.
“Say something. Do you know how many times I’ve called you?”
“Shh, quiet. I’m thinking.”
“That’s what I’m asking! Are you going to keep everything to yourself? You need to tell me what you’re thinking!”
Despite Hahyun’s irritation, Hajin stayed silent. Hahyun felt like he’d go insane with frustration. Hajin was always like this—always acting like he knew the right answer, like everything would work out if you just trusted him, always playing the adult.
Hahyun found it absurd how Hajin always acted like an older brother when they weren’t even blood-related. Yet he couldn’t completely dismiss him either, which made his insides burn.
After a while, Hajin finally spoke.
“If he hasn’t really lost his memory, Yoon Juwon’s behavior doesn’t make sense. People don’t change overnight, right? Plus, think about what we’ve done to him.”
Hahyun seriously considered what he and his brother had done to Yoon Juwon.
‘Loving him? Asking him to stay with us? What exactly did we do wrong?’
No matter how he looked at it, Hahyun couldn’t see what they’d done wrong, so he tilted his head in confusion.
“So you did do something wrong. Well, you tormented him quite a bit. But I treated him well.”
Hajin clicked his tongue as if appalled.
“No, that’s not what I mean. I’m speaking from a common-sense perspective. Given Yoon Juwon’s personality, he’d rather die than accept us.”
Hahyun flinched as if struck. Seeing this, Hajin nodded.
“Yes. That. What you just felt.”
“So what are you suggesting… We decided to lock him in the basement and keep him bedridden because he kept rejecting us like that! It’s the most reliable method!”
“That was when Juwon kept rejecting us… But now he’s a blank slate. He doesn’t know us, doesn’t even know himself. Don’t you understand what that means?”
Hahyun mulled over the phrase “doesn’t even know himself.” If Juwon had forgotten everything, had his desperate obsession with “walking the runway” disappeared too? Was that even possible for Yoon Juwon?
He thought it absolutely impossible. Even if Juwon was confused now due to memory loss, once it came back, the same cycle would repeat. After all, the things Yoon Juwon had done to succeed as a model…
Hahyun twisted his lips into a bitter smile.
“Hyung, don’t even dream about it. Think about why we fell for Yoon Juwon in the first place. What hasn’t he done to succeed as a model? Yoon Juwon giving up his modeling career? Say something that actually makes sense. I’m still worried. So let’s just stick to the original plan.”
Hajin, who’d been leaning lazily against the headboard, sat up straight. His face showed sympathy and pity for his brother. His eyes seemed to say, “I’m messed up, but so are you.”
