A child who looks like me

The Chae Eun-yeob case, along with the charges of instigating murder and attempted murder against her, had been covered extensively in the news, so Young-mi had heard about it too.

The attempted murder charge was related to her son Jiheon. She had heard that Chae Eun-yeob had tried to kill Jiheon but ended up crashing into another car.

Her son had nearly died, and she wanted to check on him, to hear his voice, but she couldn’t contact him.

Fortunately, her husband occasionally updated her on Jiheon’s condition. She had learned that her son was uninjured and was continuing to work healthily at his company.

“But the child who saved Jiheon got seriously hurt. His name is Kwon Bae-il, and he seems to be an old friend of Jiheon’s.”

“…What’s the name again?”

“Kwon Bae-il. I think they were friends in elementary school? Why? Do you know that name?”

At Jaekwang’s question, Young-mi’s heart began to race.

She rummaged through old documents. She felt like she had jotted something down in a notebook somewhere…

‘Ah…’

In an old notebook, she found the names Yoo Soo-il and Kwon Bae-il.

Yoo Soo-il. He was a child who used to hang out with Jiheon when he was nine years old and taking classes for gifted Go players. She didn’t like that boy, so she had called his mother to ask her to keep their sons apart.

That mother had relayed the message to Soo-il, and he, in turn, had told Jiheon. Jiheon had gotten very angry. Young-mi couldn’t help but be furious as well.

Young-mi had gone to the restaurant where Yoo Soo-il’s mother worked and had harassed her. She colluded with the restaurant owner to get her kicked out. After that, Yoo Soo-il’s mother found a job at another nearby restaurant but didn’t stay long and eventually moved to the countryside.

Although she felt relieved that she had successfully kept her son away from Yoo Soo-il, there was a lingering unease. The last time she had seen that boy’s mother, her expression hadn’t been good, and it had stayed in Young-mi’s mind. About a year later, she had tried to find out about Yoo Soo-il.

In the meantime, a significant event had occurred in Yoo Soo-il’s life. His mother had passed away from illness, and he had been adopted by his aunt and given a new name.

That name was Kwon Bae-il.

As Young-mi gripped the notebook, her hands began to tremble.

Why had Kwon Bae-il tried to save Jiheon?

Just then, she felt a throbbing pain in her head, and a drop of blood fell onto the name Kwon Bae-il. Young-mi hurriedly pressed a tissue to her nose.

She experienced nosebleeds at least once a day, and they didn’t stop easily.

Am I going to die…?

Amidst all this, she was still a mother, worrying about her son’s safety.

Is Jiheon okay?

***

Entering the hospital room, Jiheon stared blankly at Jung-oh, who was closely approaching Bae-il.