4.
“I don’t remember, but…”
“It’s okay, Hyean. Your memory may be temporarily unstable. It’s quite possible. For now, there are no special signs, so it’s likely a temporary phenomenon. Let’s start detailed tests tomorrow, and for today, just focus on keeping your body and mind relaxed. Okay?”
But I do remember.
In fact, I remember everything in detail.
Once again, Choi Hongseo felt a widening gap. The small slit that barely let in a sliver of light was gradually opening wider and making a creaking noise.
That’s why it was even scarier to confirm it. It felt like something that should be avoided. Not a thought, but a premonition.
The two noisy people barged in right after the doctor and nurse left the room.
“Hyean, you bastard! I knew you’d wake up! I knew a tough guy like you would come back to life even after dying!” A middle-aged man with short, graying hair entered almost by storm, pushing the door open roughly. Contrary to his harsh words, he had tears in his eyes. And no matter how hard Hongseo tried, he couldn’t remember the face. The large young man standing at the foot of the bed, following the middle-aged man, was just as unfamiliar.
“Hyung, you’ve been through a lot. I knew you would wake up.”
The young man at the foot of the bed called him ‘hyung’ with reddened eyes, but he looked at least three or four years older than Choi Hongseo.
The two, dressed in suits that didn’t seem to fit their build or aura, looked like a gangster senior-junior combo at first glance. But their attire and hairstyles didn’t reflect much of a gangster style. Having dealt with those kinds of clients often during his host bar days, he knew the signs well.
“I’m sorry, but who are you…”
At Choi Hongseo’s question, the faces of the two men hardened. They had the same reaction as the doctor earlier. They looked bewildered and shocked, wondering if something was wrong with the awakened patient’s brain.
The middle-aged man bent over and placed his large, round face in front of Hongseo.
“Look closely. I’m CEO Im of ENA. We’ve been together for 10 years! This is Yongjae. Goo Yongjae. Your manager. Yongjae was also looking after Tiffany, you idiot.”
ENA… ENA… With his eyes narrowed, Choi Hongseo quickly searched his memory for a clue. ENA was definitely a familiar word.
“ENA… Isn’t that the company ‘Titan’ belonged to?”
“Yes, ‘Titan’! You remember! Gosh, I was momentarily freaked out!”
The middle-aged man sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief he pulled out from his jacket pocket. However, the gap between the man’s words and Hongseo’s memory remained unbridged.
He did remember the company ENA Entertainment and the idol group ‘Titan.’ But Choi Hongseo himself had no connection to either the company or the group. At least not according to his current memory.
Or perhaps CEO Myeong of UB Entertainment and CEO Im of ENA were close friends? He had never heard any such thing…
CEO Myeong. CEO Myeong. As he recalled the name, Choi Hongseo’s brow and lips twisted.
Right, what happened to CEO Myeong? If the X scandal blew up correctly, this time that bastard wouldn’t have gotten away.
As anger and hatred caused his blood pressure to rise, a headache immediately followed. The pain in his temple felt like a needle was poking through, making him grimace.
“What would have happened if you hadn’t woken up, you fool? Were you trying to scare CEO Cho? You moron, do you think CEO Cho would even flinch at something like this? That scoundrel hasn’t contacted anyone or shown his face the entire time you’ve been lying there…!”
“Sir, please stop for today.”
“What?”
“The doctor said absolute rest is the priority today.”
CEO Im, who was talking excitedly about things Hongseo couldn’t understand, was stopped by the young man.
“Yes, yes. What’s important is that you’ve woken up. Isn’t that what matters?”
Of course, Choi Hongseo couldn’t understand their conversation at all.
“What about my mom? Does my mother or any other family know? Or what about my colleagues at the company… What happened to UB?”
“……”
ENA’s CEO’s face paled again. He groped for the large man’s arm while not taking his eyes off Hongseo.
“Yongjae, why is he like this? Is something wrong with his head? Should we call a doctor?”
The large young man called Yongjae pushed the CEO away and approached Hongseo.
“Hyung. It’s important that you get absolute rest today. Don’t think about anything else. We can solve things one by one slowly in the future. Got it?”
Their words seemed to make sense. Although he didn’t know why these unfamiliar people were acting so familiar, it seemed like he should try to understand the situation on his own rather than questioning them right now. Now that he realized this was reality, there were too many things he needed to confirm.
The X scandal, Lee Seokyoung and CEO Myeong of UB Entertainment, and… the person he was most curious about.
“What happened to my phone and personal belongings?”
“When you were found, there was nothing like a phone or wallet, nothing. You were barely wearing any clothes. The second phone from your office, Yongjae brought it here.”
ENA’s CEO rummaged through the drawer next to the bed.
“Yongjae made sure to keep it charged so that it wouldn’t run out of power. He knew you’d ask for your phone first when you woke up.”
“……”
“But damn, you really do ask for your phone first.”
CEO Im chuckled as he handed over the phone. But what CEO Im gave him wasn’t the ARA Electronics phone, the one ‘he’—Lee Haeseong—had given him.
Choi Hongseo couldn’t understand a word of the two’s conversation. With dry lips, he forced out a voice.
“Thank you. I… I’d like to rest a bit.”
“Yes, yes. The doctor said just breathing might make you tired. Sleep well and recover. We’ll come again tomorrow.”
“……”
“It’s really ironic, isn’t it? Just today, we were debating whether to put your office up for sale…”
With a complex expression, CEO Im said that and left the room with Yongjae.
The appearance and disappearance of these two strangers felt like a ridiculous play happening right before his eyes. A play seen from the middle without any context or information.
Choi Hongseo thought.
Was it possible that my memory was temporarily unstable after the ‘incident,’ as the doctor said? Would I remember the names and faces of those people tomorrow or the day after?
No, the doctor’s guess was wrong. It’s not that I don’t remember my name. I do have memories.
The problem was that their memories and mine were different.
Even though his body felt like he had been severely beaten, it was not a situation where he could rest comfortably. He had to confirm what the mismatched gap was.
The fingerprint lock on the phone was easily unlocked by Choi Hongseo’s fingerprint. The wallpaper and app arrangement were all different from his phone. But it wasn’t the time to worry about such details.
First, he launched the internet and began typing his name in the search bar. A name he had obsessively searched dozens of times a day, sometimes more than a hundred times.
Articles, posts on various communities, blogs, even personal SNS mentions—he had to comb through all accessible information to be at ease. Though he knew it was a form of self-harm, he couldn’t stop doing it.
Choi… Hong… Seo…
“……”
Even after typing the three short characters, he hesitated to press search. Staring at the blinking cursor behind his name for a long time, he eventually erased all the letters. Then he started typing another name.
Lee… Hae… Seong.
His fingers trembled as they tapped the screen, and his heartbeat quickened.
Swallowing dryly felt like swallowing a burning lump. The short loading time felt excruciatingly long, and he gnawed at his dry, peeling lower lip. He feared the traces of the Lee Haeseong he knew might have completely disappeared from the world.
Fortunately, that did not happen.
At the top of the page was the official profile registered on the portal site. It was the same familiar profile he had seen countless times.
Lee Haeseong. Businessman.
Affiliation, Vice President of ARA Electronics Wireless Division.
Family: Father Lee Woo-hyeok, Mother Yoo Ha-young, Grandfather Lee Kang-moon, Younger brother Lee Do-yeon, Younger brother Lee Joo-seong.
Education: Completed the PhD program in Business Administration at Stanford University Graduate School.
Next to the basic information was a small attached photo.
The same photo he had seen the first time he searched for his name in his room.
He had once complained about that photo. He said he looked like a salaryman going to work in Yeouido and didn’t look good in it. Although it was a photo chosen by the PR team, it was not to his liking. He had said this somewhat shyly, like a boy embarrassed to have his secret revealed.
