The Card
"...Oppa... I'm sorry... I..."
I watched the apologies and the tears keep coming, then quietly sat down in the chair where Lee Hyesun had been. Saying nothing, I stroked Hyunji's hand, and smiled at her as brightly as I possibly could.
"I'm so glad it wasn't anything worse, Hyunji."
"Oppa..."
"They said you aren't hurt anywhere. The bleeding was heavy, but it doesn't seem to be anything serious. You have no idea how scared I was. I'm really glad it stopped here."
"But... the baby. Our baby..."
"What about the baby?"
"...Oppa..."
Cold, if one wanted to call it cold — but that was what I thought. An early pregnancy is nothing more than a clump of cells. Of course that was only the thought; I could feel my own heart unsteady, and the words were as much for myself as for her. Still, until it takes a human shape, it is only cells. No heart, no brain, nothing at all. Just a clump of cells. And even if that wasn't quite true, I had to think of it that way. I wanted Hyunji to think of it that way too.
"My... the baby. The baby you worked so hard to give me..."
"Worked so hard? You've been so busy lately. Of course you might not have known."
"...I'm sorry... Oppa, I'm sorry..."
I looked at her face as she went on apologizing, smiled quietly, and wiped away the tears that kept falling like beads of silver.
"Don't. A child is something we can make again. They said there's nothing wrong with your body, and that's such a relief."
"Oppa..."
"You matter more to me than that. I'm just so glad you weren't badly hurt..."
"...Oppa..."
She sniffled, looking up at me as she called my name, and I met her eyes without a word. This was a first for me too, of course. I didn't even know how I was supposed to understand a miscarriage, and the shock of a man looking on is bound to be different from the shock of the one who lives through it. But one thing I did know. I wanted to comfort Hyunji, sunk as she was in despair, however I could. A smile suited her far better than a face like this.
"...We can make the child again. Right?"
"...Oppa..."
"You're going to keep having my children. Aren't you?"
"...Yes..."
She sniffled.
"And you're going to stay by my side from now on and live with me, aren't you? So how can you fall into despair over something like this? The doctor said early miscarriages are common."
"Oppa..."
"Look at me. Do I look sad?"
"No..."
She sniffled again.
"Of course not. Right now I'm so happy. Just having you not badly hurt — I'm grateful for that alone."
"Oppa..."
She crumpled into tears once more, and I watched her a moment before gently stroking her face. Her stage makeup had smeared everywhere, but I couldn't have cared less.
"Oppa..."
"Yeah."
"...Kiss me... Oppa, your lips... give them to me..."
"As much as you want."
I rose quietly, stroking her cheek, and looked over her face a little at a time. I felt the eyes that gazed only up at me go soft and unfocused, and I pressed my lips to her forehead.
"Ah..."
I kissed every corner of her face, gently, as if to tell her she was loved, and Hyunji closed her eyes in quiet pleasure, waiting for my mouth. I kissed the tip of her small nose and her cheek, then slowly covered her lips with mine.
"Haa..."
"...I'm sorry."
"Wh-what are you sorry for, Oppa...? It was all... me..."
"Because I'm going to get you pregnant again. I'm apologizing ahead of time."
"...Of course. I'm going to get pregnant by you, over and over..."
"That's right. A son who takes after you, and a daughter. Let's have lots. All right? And—"
I looked quietly at her face, then whispered.
"Let's do it until we're full of it. Even if you run and beg me to stop, I won't. I won't leave you alone. I'll hold you and never let go until the day I die."
"...Yes. Me too... I'll hold you so much, Oppa..."
"I'm going to fill you up with me."
"Yes... I want that too... I want to be filled with you..."
Heard alone, the words were close to the whispers a couple trades in bed a breath before he pushes in — but there was no lust at all on either of our faces. The light in Hyunji's eyes as she looked at me grew warmer and warmer, and a faint smile rose over the face that had been sunk in gloom and despair as she accepted my touch. We sought each other's lips again, and hers parted softly.
That was the moment. Before the words had even finished, I had the illusion of light bursting from her shining eyes, as if a flash had gone off.
...Ah...
It felt like fireworks detonating inside my head. My vision reeled, and I opened my eyes without meaning to, breaking the mood — but Hyunji was too far gone to notice, gazing at my face in a dazed, drunken haze.
What is this... what is this...
The sense that Hyunji and I were connected seemed to thicken enormously. No — it was as if I could feel the whole of her body. As if my own were being dyed in her clean color. It might have been elation. The fullness pressing on my chest was enough to drive the soul out of me, but what called me back was Hyunji's whisper.
"...Oppa... your eyes. They're so beautiful..."
"...You're prettier, Hyunji."
"Thank you... Every time you look at me like that... I feel as if I really have worth..."
"Of course you do. You're too precious to me. I'm not giving you to anyone."
"...I won't go. I don't even want to think about it..."
"Good. I'm going to hold you in my arms and never let go."
"...Oppa... I..."
I could feel her shifting both legs beneath the white hospital blanket. The whispers and the kisses seemed to be making it harder and harder for her to hold still. And if this communion of the mind was the same for her, those hazy, unfocused eyes were filling not only with desire, but with elation and happiness. I only smiled quietly and stroked her cheek.
"When you're discharged. All right?"
"...Yes... Oppa, kiss me..."
"Yeah."
When I covered her lips again, her slender arms came up around my neck, and we sank into a deeper kiss.
Lee Hyesun's face, as she stared into the mirror, was expressionless. She had washed, and her skin was still wet, but she made no move to dry it — only braced herself on the sink and glared at the glass, so hard it looked as if a crack might run through it at any moment.
"...I am sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry for?"
"If I had been at her side..."
"Nothing would have changed even if you had. Shinwoo was quick. He'd already run all the way to the stage before I could react. Everything after that looked perfect to me, too."
"I think so as well. His judgment was swift. The transfer was finished within ten minutes."
Han Gyeo-wool offered the apology from where she stood respectfully behind her, but Lee Hyesun did not take her eyes from the mirror.
"...That Hwang bitch. How should I tear her apart?"
"..."
"My grandchild — and the daughter of the bitch who sent them off like that. How do you think I ought to ruin her?"
"There does not seem to be anything that quite fits."
"A house that's already been stripped of everything has nothing left to give."
"Yes. We have already acquired the hospital as well. And I do not believe firing her would amount to punishment."
"I think so too. She's a woman you grab, twist, and squeeze dry."
"There is one card left on Director Hwang."
"...What?"
Only then did Lee Hyesun pull her gaze from her own reflection and look back at Han Gyeo-wool.
"Hwang Jiyoung."
"...You think she'd hand that over?"
"There will be no other way to settle this. Hwang Jiyoung will already know that herself. The more cards we hold, the better. Is Hwang Jiyoung not precisely the reason Director Hwang has been able to hold out until now?"
"The old man's ghost is still lingering, after all."
"Yes. Because of Chairman Lee's blood. We take that from her. And it is also a way, while we are at it, to make Hwang Jiyoung bear the responsibility."
"...True. There's sense in that."
"If Director Hwang is capable of thought at all, she will not thrash about any further. I expect she will fall in line, if only because she wants to survive."
"...She skimmed off the top after all, didn't she?"
"Yes. Substantially. More than the amount you confirmed at the time. With only the evidence we have secured now, a suit would likely get her fifteen years."
"And your judgment?"
"Looking at the sum alone, it is a small amount to us, so keeping a collar on her from here on seems the better course. For the next five years or so, while the infertility center establishes itself, she has ample value as director. On top of that, if we have the daughter in our grip as well, even a fool will manage to think. If word gets out that she survived by trading on Chairman Lee's blood, Director Hwang is finished."
"Good. Let's do it that way. Well then — shall we see about making Lee Chul-young's little girl wait on our daughter?"
Lee Hyesun's eyes flashed, but the Han Gyeo-wool reflected in the mirror received that look in silence, her own face cold, her lips pressed shut. She stood by and watched as Lee Hyesun wiped the water from her face and repaired her makeup — and then came the moment they stepped out of the restroom.
"...What are you doing? In front of the restroom."
The moment Lee Hyesun emerged, the dozen or so doctors in white coats gathered outside, and Director Hwang standing at the very front of them, broke into a nervous sweat and bowed from the waist. Beside her, Hwang Jiyoung stood meek as a criminal and bent with them.
"...The examination is finished, Chairwoman."
"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?"
"Pardon?"
"You know perfectly well I hate being called Chairwoman, Director Hwang. Why are you trying to make me even angrier?"
"...Yes, yes. It slipped out."
"And the results?"
"...Fortunately, there is nothing seriously wrong with the young lady's body. It was a miscarriage brought on by shock, but we have confirmed dozens of times that, despite the bleeding, there is no injury inside the uterus or the vagina. The pregnancy had progressed unusually quickly, and with the nutritional imbalance and the overwork piled on top of the shock, a pocket of blood formed in the uterus. We judge that it burst with the impact, and that the miscarriage followed. From your daughter's standpoint, it is actually a fortunate case. Whether thanks to the paramedics' treatment or not, even the remains were dealt with cleanly. She is healthy enough that she could be discharged today."
"And that's what you have to say?"
"...I-if you are concerned for her health, she could rest thoroughly for a day..."
"Is that the end of it?"
"...No. What follows concerns my personal responsibility..."
"The doctors behind you may step back."
She cut Director Hwang off and sent away every physician standing in attendance behind her. For a moment the doctors hesitated, watching Director Hwang for a cue, until one of them — a woman who had been looking at Lee Hyesun — spoke.
"It seems you have things to discuss among acquaintances. We'll get out of the way."
"...Yes, Professor."
Lee Hyesun did not spare them so much as a glance. She was busy glaring at Director Hwang, who went on sweating, and the moment the doctors were gone, Director Hwang's lips worked before she managed to open them.
"...Thank you for sparing my dignity."
"Hmph. As if I don't know exactly what you're thinking. So let's hear this personal responsibility of yours."
"I-I believe you are already fully aware..."
"I am. I'm debating whether to sue you this very moment. If you were going to skim, you might have had the sense not to get caught with all of it. Didn't you learn anything from Chairman Lee?"
"I am sorry."
"You know this isn't something an apology settles. Especially—"
Lee Hyesun took one step forward, and Hwang Jiyoung and Director Hwang flinched, swallowing. Lee Hyesun leaned in and murmured, as if whispering, in a very small voice.
The voice was tiny, and her expression hardly changed, but it rumbled like the earth groaning underground, and the color drained from both Director Hwang's face and Hwang Jiyoung's.
"...K-killing..."
"No?"
"Yes, yes. Legally, at the stage of a fertilized egg..."
"Then shall we speak only in legal terms from now on? Are you doing this because you don't understand that this is my last courtesy?"
"...How would you have me take responsibility?"
"What do you even have? You, who don't have a scrap to your name."
At those words Director Hwang bit her lip, then suddenly looked to the side — and, as if something had just occurred to her, thrust out a hand in a rush.