Chapter 169
Chapter 169
"Ugh!?"
I jerked awake, and it was night.
It wasn't pitch-black. I could see a light on beyond the curtains, and a faint light was on in here too.
I blinked a few times and looked around.
It looked like I was in a hospital.
......It hasn't even been half a year since I came to this world, and how many times have I ended up in the hospital already? Back when I was a high school student, I barely ever had a reason to come here.
"......."
......Alright, let's stop running away from reality.
Yeah, quit running. You coward, you kissed me and then ran off.
"......."
It was nice to hear Sara's voice ringing inside my head—
Hey, it's not like I woke up on purpose, you know.
Anyway, you still woke up because you were shocked. That's still true.
"......."
Damn. I can't argue with that.
I couldn't help it. I had no idea that in that moment, I'd end up kissing Sara.
I mean, sure, I was the one who got close to her face, but she grabbed my cheeks. And it wasn't something I did; it was something that was done to me.
Honestly, isn't it a situation where a little panic is completely natural?
What, you've never kissed anyone in your past life?
......Damn. Once again, I couldn't argue.
Yeah, I've never kissed anyone.
Don't you need a girlfriend in the first place before you can have a kiss or anything else? In my entire past life, I was single, and honestly, never mind a girlfriend, I didn't even have any female friends.
.......
Just as I was thinking that, Sara, who had been relentlessly teasing me, suddenly went quiet.
And, at the same time, an emotion brushed past the depths of my chest—
Oh, it's not!
—Before I could pin down what that emotion was, Sara shouted inside me.
It's not! It's not!
......What's not?
Anyway, it's not!
Wow. She's the one who planted our lips together, and now she's saying this, so I don't even know what to say.
I scratched my head for no reason and looked around the room again.
It didn't look like the ER. The lights are always on in the ER no matter what time it is. Probably, I was brought to the ER first and then moved up here to a regular room.
My arm felt a little awkward, so I looked down and saw an IV line stuck into my left arm. I followed the line up and saw that the bag was almost empty.
It seemed like quite a bit of time had passed since I got here.
......Well, seeing that it's dark outside, that would be the only explanation. I don't know exactly what time it was when I was taken by Choi Na-kyung, but back then, at least the sky was blue. It didn't really seem like evening, either.
"Nnnn......."
A soft moan of discomfort came from below. I followed the sound and looked down. Ha-neul was there.
She'd pulled out the visitor's cot next to the hospital bed, and she was slumped over it, asleep. As if she were having a bad dream, her brow was deeply furrowed and she was groaning softly.
I was just starting to wonder why she was sitting like that instead of lying down, when the person next to her caught my eye.
Beside Ha-neul sat So-hee. She wasn't in her maid uniform. She was wearing her school uniform, as if she'd rushed straight here from Hwayeong High School.
So-hee was slumped in exactly the same position, groaning away.
And beside her, Su-a was in exactly the same position.
......No wonder there was no room to lie down.
I thought, they sure can sleep like that, even though they look absurdly uncomfortable.
Well, they must be managing it because they care about me, about "Sara", that much.
As I tucked a strand of hair behind Ha-neul's ear, she was the one slumped closest to me, a warm feeling spread through my chest.
Usually, if I got close to the other girls, Sara would openly radiate displeasure. But it seemed that during the time she was controlling the body herself, she'd grown really fond of them.
Oh, I said it's not!?
Nobody said anything. If you say it's not, then fine, it's not.
I could feel Sara grinding her teeth somewhere deep in my consciousness, but I just gave a wry smile and shrugged once.
Maybe Sara sensed that too, because she mumbled,
Just you wait until you come back.......
Oh, I'm so scared.
I took in Sara's sulking, then turned my gaze again. Come to think of it, there should have been one more person there at that time.
I mean......
"Hup!"
Right, Yang Hye-in.
I spotted her standing in the left corner of the bed, still wrapped in black clothes, and I was so startled I let out a noise without meaning to.
The situation was already dim and shadowy, and with her standing in the corner like that, it was straight out of a horror movie.
Not the kind with a ghost.
The thriller kind where someone comes to your house.
On top of that, Yang Hye-in was standing in that exact same posture, staring intently at me.
"......Uh......."
"You're awake, Young Lady."
"Yes."
I felt like I absolutely had to answer, so I answered quickly.
Then, in a somewhat cautious voice, I asked,
"......How long have you been standing there like that?"
"Since I returned here."
......So, from what time, exactly.
And "returned"? Did she go somewhere?
I tried to recall the last image I had of Yang Hye-in: her in a black hat, wrapped head to toe in black clothes, crawling into the car with a crowbar in one hand.
At the time, I thought she was incredibly welcome. But thinking back now, she looked terrifyingly scary. And she was also the one who smashed the car window.
......She didn't chase after Choi Na-kyung and put a definite end to her life or anything, did she?
"......Are you okay?"
I couldn't bring myself to ask her that, so I just asked carefully once more.
"Yes, I'm unharmed. More importantly, are you alright, Young Lady?"
"I'm......."
Well, honestly, I wasn't really alright.
My legs and arms still hurt. I was wearing my school uniform, and the blanket covered my lower half, so I couldn't tell if there were any visible injuries. But the pain was definitely there. Choi Na-kyung must have tied me up pretty tightly. At the time, just moving my body at all had been an ordeal.
Plus, my head hurt from ramming it into the car window.
......I hadn't seen it yet, but I was sure it was bruised. The throbbing didn't feel normal.
It seemed like I'd been way too rough with Sara's body.
What nonsense are you talking about.
......Huh?
You said we'd be together forever from now on. So this body is your body too. You got a little hurt trying to escape a crisis. You don't need to feel guilty about that.
No, even so—
I said it's fine. The original owner says it's fine.
"......."
It felt like if I kept saying I was sorry, Sara would get annoyed again, so I decided to just let it go like that.
"......What about the Chairwoman?"
When I asked that, Yang Hye-in bent her waist deeply toward me right away and answered.
"I apologize. Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung fled the scene immediately."
......Was there another car? Oh, did she just drive off in the car Yang Hye-in came in?
"She threw herself into the path of a passing car."
"......."
Uh.......
So there was a car that would hitchhike for her in that situation?
"The police are currently treating it as a vehicle that happened to be passing by, but they are pursuing the matter."
"The police came too?"
"Yes, we called the police immediately afterward."
Hm.......
Well, in this kind of situation, getting the police involved really is the right call.
No matter how much money you slip them, once an incident is this clear-cut, even the police can't just stand by and do nothing. Unlike child abuse that can get buried inside the family with no recourse, this case was a full-on abduction.
And on top of that, the abduction of her own daughter.
"......."
Would it really be okay?
No matter what, that woman was Sara's mother. Of course, I don't want to acknowledge that, but if she were to declare that person "is not my mother," then what about Sara's happy early childhood? The reason Sara called that person mother and loved her was because she couldn't forget that time when she was little.
So, I asked Sara.
Whether it was really okay to go forward with this, to condemn Choi Na-kyung.
......It's okay.
That was all Sara answered.
But inside that voice, I felt so many things.
"I understand."
Then, I'll let this proceed as it will. I'll cooperate fully if the police ask for it.
"Mmm......?"
Maybe our conversation had gotten a little loud. Ha-neul, who was sleeping closest to me, made a small noise.
She lifted her head with a bit of effort, rubbed her eyes with her hands, and then her gaze met mine perfectly.
"......Sara?"
"Yeah."
I smiled and nodded at her, saying,
"I'm back."
"......It's Sara!"
But Ha-neul didn't answer my words.
She didn't answer me. She just lunged forward and wrapped her arms tightly around my neck.
"Sara......!"
And after that, she couldn't finish her sentence, just repeating my name over and over.
"Huh...?"
"Nnn...."
Following that sound, So-hee and Su-a also woke up from their sleep almost at the same time,
"Sara!"
"......Sara......!"
They both cried out like that.
As if they'd all forgotten how to speak, they called my name over and over and threw themselves at me, and I couldn't bear the weight of all three of them and toppled backward.
But that weight was a pleasant weight.
......Ah, I'm back.
Feeling that happy weight, I thought to myself.