Chapter 9.2 - 10

Chapter 9.2

It seemed so. This unnatural interruption intensified Seoryeong’s suspicions.

She instinctively glanced at the large mirror covering one side of the wall.

“Well, the attempted defection due to mental instability will be sorted out. Still, there will be a fine of around ten million won for damaging military facilities. Han Seoryeong, thank you for your cooperation in the investigation. You’re free to go home now.”

“….Do you know Kim Hyun?”

“Yes?”

“It seems like you are trying your best to hide him.”

“….”

“Is it okay for the department catching spies to just look at people’s faces and leave?”

The man clicked his tongue briefly. But Seoryeong’s gaze was fixed beyond the mirror.

“Come out here before I break that mirror.”

“….”

“If you’re playing hide-and-seek, we should do it together.”

“Ms. Han Seoryeong, let’s stop the jokes here.”

In an instant, Seoryeong, now pale, threw the file on the table toward the wall. Papers scattered from the file onto the floor.

“The joke is what you are doing now…! Why haven’t you even conducted a simple investigation on Kim Hyun!”

“….”

“Why are you hiding him?”

Her voice, now frigid, echoed in the interrogation room. She tried to remain calm, but her breath betrayed her, becoming shallow.

Remaining employee, as if on alert, cautiously bit his lip before saying,

“Are you properly taking your medication?”

“What?”

“Just by taking your medication regularly, there shouldn’t be any problem on your daily life.”

What nonsense is this again? She scoffed, turning her head away.

“It says here you stopped taking medication a while ago. Probably since then, delusions about your husband disappearing started.”

“…Medication? What medication?”

Seoryeong couldn’t follow his words and just clenched her teeth.

“We also brought your psychiatrist’s opinion on the way here.”

“What?”

The man’s gaze briefly went to the scattered papers on the floor. A bad premonition crawled up her spine like a bug.

Avoiding the mess on the floor, Seoryeong started going through the scattered documents.

And…

“Hanmaeum Scenery Hospital.”

She found a bundle of papers containing the doctor’s opinion. The cold eyes quickly scanned through the content.

Prescriptions for antipsychotics and the psychiatric evaluation for schizophrenia were identical, only the dates were different. Last year, the year before, the year before that…

No. It couldn’t be. Hanmaeum Scenery Hospital was the hospital she had been going to since childhood.

The kind and gentle doctor who corrected her troubles as if straightening out her bent spine.She was thankful to him that she even invited hum to her wedding. It was the hospital he worked.

“This is wrong… There must be some mistake.”

Her hand holding the paper trembled.

***

“―A woman in her 20s was caught attempting to defect in the border area of Paju, Gyeonggi Province. According to the police, the woman, Han Mo, in her 20s, attempted to cross the northern side of the Unification Bridge on the night of the 12th, crashing through the checkpoint barricade and driving about 3 km after passing through the civilian access control line, before being arrested and handed over to the police…”

A man wearing a crisp white gown was preparing for his medical duties while listening to the morning news.

He hummed a tune, neatly combing his hair, now beginning to turn white. As part of his morning routine, he filled the coffee pot with water, warmed a teacup, and checked his appointment schedule.

When he checked his busy schedule, he couldn’t help but recall old memories. The hospital that started in a worn-out building in the province had grown into a large hospital with five counselors. With this proud achievement, he felt invigorated once again today.

“Let’s see, let’s see. The first scheduled patient for today is…”

At that moment, bang! The door suddenly opened without warning. “You shouldn’t just barge in like this…!” The nurses at the front desk rushed to intervene, but the uninvited guest, holding a large gift box with a bright red ribbon, walked in confidently.

“Doctor, Seoryeong is here.”

“….!”

The doctor’s eyes widened, and his wrinkled cheeks stiffened.

“How could you come without appointment…”

“Well, I thought you might not be here.”

Seoryeong burst into genuine laughter, her bright face radiating joy, but something seemed unnatural. The doctor, who had observed her for a long time since she was ten, quickly noticed the subtle change.

“These days, people around me suddenly disappear.”

“Seoryeong…”

“Please sit down, Doctor. I came for counseling.”

Seoryeong sat nonchalantly on the sofa. She hid her trembling hands quickly and regained a composed expression as she faced the doctor.

He knew Seoryeong’s personality better than anyone else. Therefore, instead of causing provoking her with resistance, it’s better to listen to her story first…

“Shall I prepare black tea for you?”

“Uh?”

“I brought a gift for you, Doctor.”

The box was beautifully wrapped. Seoryeong untied the big red ribbon and opened the box.

Inside, there were sets of packaged black tea, fruit tea, classic world tea, and green tea.

“The water is boiling right now.”

Seoryeong went to the island home bar table set up in one corner of the examination room and chose a teacup. Her attitude was casual, as if she were wandering around her own house. The doctor felt a lump in his throat and loosened his tie a little.

“Honey, your eyes… what happened to your eyes?”

“It’s getting better.”

Seoryeong couldn’t take her eyes off the bubbling water.

“Fortunately, it wasn’t a serious injury. Funny, isn’t it?”

She let out a short laugh. It was fortunate that she was getting better, but it was unclear why it was funny.

However, the doctor politely raised the corners of his mouth, trying to create an empathetic atmosphere. Establishing rapport was always crucial, and creating a supportive atmosphere was important.

“Have you been well lately? How are things these days?”

“I’m currently looking for a job. I need to make a living.”

“And your husband?”

“He ran away.”

“…What?”

Chapter 10

Seoryeong shrugged, showing indifference. She chose one of the tea sets, tore open the packaging, and carefully placed it in the teacup. As she poured hot water over it, a rich color gracefully brewed.

“I behaved nicely as I was taught.”

“…?”

“Like a well-behaved puppy, with great humor, and pretty.”

She neatly organized the remaining tea bags and continued speaking.

“You know it too, Doctor. I tried to live righteously. I took care of and cherished even those who were dying. It was a job with no productivity at all.”

“…”

“But still, look at me now.”

Seoryeong gracefully approached, placing the teacup in front of the doctor. He felt his throat getting dry. He clasped his damp hands together under the table.

“What could have been the problem?”

His pitiful expression seemed somewhat theatrical to the doctor. The man quickly drank the warm tea to hide his expression. There was no time to savor the taste.

“Why do people give birth and then abandon, run away after loving, and betray even those they cherish?”

“…”

“Why did you do that, Doctor?”

As he was setting down the teacup, his hand made a mistake. When he looked up, Seoryeong was looking at him with a cold gaze. Then, she closed her eyes again and started laughing as if nothing happened.

“It is said that in the old days, the mafia mixed black tea with poison to punish traitors.”

“…!”

It felt like all the blood was washed away from his face. The doctor’s hand wandered precariously around his neck.

As before and now, her big, pretty eyes were dull and emotionless, like unpainted beads. However, throughout, that gaze remained steadfast.

That much hadn’t changed since her childhood. The determination to obtain whatever she wanted, using any means necessary. The doctor’s lips trembled.

“Hey, dear… What did you do to me?”

“You made me a schizophrenic patient. Without that, I would have served a prison sentence without a word.”

“Tsk…”

That part hasn’t changed since I was young. If you want something, you have the tenacity to get it at any cost. The doctor’s mouth trembled.

“Hey, dear…”

“You turned me into a schizophrenic patient. “If it weren’t for that, I would have been sent to prison.”

“Tsk…”

“Are you scared?”

“I-I…” … ”

At that moment, the doctor, gritting his teeth, pushed Seoryeong away and stood up.

Poisons, no matter how small they are, dissolve the internal organs. He felt a squeezing abdominal pain and tried to somehow get out of the treatment room.

However, his flabby legs flopped down before he could take a few steps.

“Doctor, don’t turn your back on me.”

Seoryeong said, placing her knee somewhere on his spine.

“Ugh!”

“Who ordered you?”

“I-I don’t know about that…Ugh!”

When Seoryeong put her weight on his knees, he screamed. She put her arm inside his open mouth and turned up the volume of the TV.

“I need to find out. It seems to be related to my husband. I’m sorry, but when it comes to my husband’s affairs, I lose my temper, doctor.”

Suddenly, the doctor’s arm was released, and he gasped for breath, drooling.

“I don’t… I really don’t know. I just… received a request…”

“What kind of request?”

“They wanted to see your medical records.”

Medical records? Seoryeong tilted her head expressionlessly.

“So, you manipulated the medical records as well?”

“That, that won’t harm you at all—”

“Sorry, but I wanted to be caught attempting to defect to North Korea.”

“!”

“It was my plan. They caught me red-handed.”

The doctor seemed to give up, releasing tension from his body. Seoryeong, too, tiredly leaned against the sofa after lifting her knee off him. Then, casually, she gulped down the red tea on the table.

The man stared at her in horror. His stiffened eyes twitched in spasms.

“You… you…!”

“So, exactly who was it? Where did these people come from?”

She wiped her lips, wet with tea, with the back of her hand. Only now did the doctor realize that she had played him, this audacious patient.

Or maybe, all the accumulated misunderstandings and fears had exploded at once. He breathed out a voice that sounded relieved, caressing his throat.

“I don’t know if they were trying to reassure me, but they claimed to be some kind of national agency. There were no business cards at first, but later on, they even gave me a business card from a printing shop.”

A printing shop or a publishing house… Seoryeong mumbled, her breathing laborious. It hurt as if her neck was punched, though there was no place to blame. No, in truth, she wanted to believe in Kim Hyun until the end.

She didn’t believe the words from Blast agency she hired at first. How could she? She couldn’t allow them to tell her how fool she was. She must have unknowingly developed such arrogance.

Deep insid, Seoryeong still clung to that flimsy hope that her husband was real…

But with the suspicious reaction of the National Intelligence Service and the testimony of her doctor, there was no longer any excuse to turn away from the truth. The denial of reality she had secretly clung to was gradually unraveling.

The spiderweb they had woven was so clear, and she was the only one who didn’t know. Stupidly, she was the only one who didn’t know.

Seoryeong covered her eyes with both arms. A sense of defeat washed over her.

Kim Hyun, you did deceive me…

And then, he left her.

He didn’t just disappear; he completely left her.

“…You kindly taught me how to put up a mask, doctor.”

“Y-yes…”

“In that sense, today’s counseling will be the last.”

“What…?”

Fatigue weighed down on her shoulders. It had only been a few days since she had been caught after attempting to escape. Now alone, she had to prepare for reemployment and find her husband.

“I’m going to break everything associated with that mask.”

“…!”

She wanted to live kindly and be loved, but nothing was genuine.

If even the time she believed to be the happiest in her married life was just someone’s manipulation—

Love, trust, they were all just pitiful and worthless words. In this world, there was nothing that wasn’t tainted with falsehood except for her nasty true self.

“Goodbye, doctor. Take care.”