Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Awakening to Tragedy
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"Uh, hello? Yeah, I'm almost there now. I'll be at the exhibition hall soon."
You've been working so hard, honey. You haven't even slept properly preparing for the exhibition.
Hearing Hyorin's voice over the phone made me smile involuntarily.
"Nah, you've been the one suffering right by my side. Thank you for always being there."
Ah, I wish you'd hurry back.
Her urging me to come quickly brought a chuckle out of me.
Is she that eager to see me?
"Aren't you rushing it? We saw each other yesterday morning."
That's not it. I have a gift I want to give you.
The word "gift" made me shift in my seat.
"What gift?"
It's a secret. I plan to surprise you after the exhibition ends.
"Come on, at least give me a hint."
A hint? Hmm, it might just be the most precious gift in the world.
"The most precious gift? What could it be? Now I'm really curious."
Come on, it won't be fun if I tell you. Just get through the exhibition schedule, and I'll let you know afterward.
Normally, I would have just said okay and let it go. But for some reason today, I desperately wanted to know that secret.
"Ah, you know I can't stand not knowing. Just tell me a little."
"Just a little? Hmm, alright, one tiny hint then. It has to do with... the hospital visit a few days ago..."
Before Hyorin could finish her sentence.
"Huh?"
A bright light flashed repeatedly before my eyes, followed by the screech of tires assaulting my ears.
Screeeech!
Boom!
Suddenly, my body lifted into the air, and before I could grasp what was happening, I was slammed onto the ground.
Crunch! Crash!
"Ugh!"
An indescribable pain surged through my entire body from the impact.
Beep.
My vision went black in an instant.
And as my consciousness faded, Hyorin's voice grew fainter and fainter.
Hello? What was that noise? Honey! He...
Click.
News article [This morning, artist Kanghyeok Lee collided with a truck driven by a drowsy driver while heading to the exhibition hall featuring his artwork... He was rushed to the hospital immediately after the accident, but unfortunately, he has not regained consciousness... According to the attending physician, the chances of him regaining consciousness are almost nonexistent...]
Am I sleeping? Or have I lost consciousness?
I had no idea how long I'd been like this.
Bubble bubble.
Right now, I was sinking deep into an ocean with no end in sight.
Yet it didn't hurt much.
I was simply gazing at the pitch-black sea.
But at some point...
Beep.
A sound began grating on my nerves.
A faint ringing in my ears.
At first, it was so quiet I barely noticed, but as time passed, it started to bother me.
Beeep!
Sharper and longer.
As if deliberately tormenting me, the sound pierced my ears like a needle.
Beeep! Beeep!
How much time passed amid the ear-splitting pain?
Splash!
The water muffled sounds, but I heard someone swimming toward me.
Splash! Beep!
The ringing and splashing resonated, growing louder, until...
Someone grabbed me.
The pull was so strong we shot upward, parting the water.
Up and up through the endless depths, until light from the surface finally pierced through.
A voice whispered in my ear.
"You idiot..."
It sounded like a reproach, yet full of affection.
"Why were you so late..."
Her final words woke me.
"...Take good care of her."
Flash!
Beep beep! Beep beep!
I opened my eyes to a stark white hospital ceiling.
The incessant ringing that had tormented me was just the intermittent beeping of machines.
"Wh-where... am I..."
My brief disorientation at the unfamiliar place was cut short.
Grip.
An overwhelming sense of loss crashed over me.
"Wh-what's happening all of a sudden..."
Tears streamed down.
I cried for a long while, until just before a nurse noticed I was awake.
Nurses and doctors came and went dozens of times. After endless additional tests.
"Hah."
I learned about my current condition—and some shocking news.
"Even if my body's okay, five years...?"
The doctor said five whole years had passed since the accident.
I had trouble believing it at first.
To me, it felt like I'd just woken up right after the crash. At most, a day or two had gone by subjectively.
"Five years."
It was bewildering, but I accepted it could happen.
It was a massive accident, and the doctor said it was a miracle I was even alive.
With that thought, a small question arose.
"But where's Hyorin?"
Hours had passed since I woke up.
By now, word should have reached her, and knowing Hyorin's personality, she'd rush right over.
Yet she hadn't come. Wondering if no one had told her, I asked the nurses, but everyone dodged the question.
That moment, the dream just before waking haunted me, stirring unease.
A day or two passed like that, and when the doctor suggested rehab for recovery.
One person came to see me.
Slide.
"Hello."
The kind-faced nun greeted me, and I awkwardly returned it.
"Uh, hello."
"Long time no see. Six years, maybe?"
The woman looking at me warmly, calling it a long time, was Hyorin's mother.
Abandoned by her parents as a child and sent to an orphanage, Hyorin had been raised by Sister Kim Inyoung until adulthood.
Raised in her embrace, they said.
Memories of our wedding day surfaced—her words to me.
A child who had lost everything in this world, so please make her happy.
Why was that coming back now?
"I meant to come right when I heard you woke up, but some matters delayed me a bit."
"Why?"
"Yes?"
She blinked in surprise at my sudden question.
Still wearing a puzzled expression, I pressed.
"Why was I contacted through you instead of Hyorin?"
Her face changed slightly at my words.
"That's why I'm here—to talk about that."
I shook my head firmly at her words.
"No, if it's about Hyorin, I'll hear it from her directly."
Everything felt off.
The nun's expression, the nurses' behavior, the nun coming instead of Hyorin, and that dream.
So I said.
"P-please call Hyorin."
"Kanghyeok, that's..."
"No, I-I don't want to hear it. No matter what, from H-Hyorin directly..."
Before my rambling could finish.
"I'm sorry..."
The nun apologized to me.
"Why are you sorry? Just call Hyorin. So..."
Then she delivered words I couldn't bear.
"I'm sorry, but Hyorin passed away. Two months ago..."
Snap.
That day, I lost my world.
Three months passed since the nun's visit.
I remembered the long period of agony right after.
Crying, crying, crying again, then sleeping from exhaustion, waking to cry more.
It felt like I'd shed every tear I could in a lifetime.
Yet thinking of Hyorin still brought tears.
The nun said her cause of death was a car accident.
Grip.
The driver had two prior DUI convictions and was blackout drunk that day.
When I heard, rage flipped—I screamed I'd find and kill him—but the driver had died on the spot.
With the perpetrator gone like that, all I could do was throw myself into rehab even harder.
After three months of intense rehab, nearly back to normal, I was finally discharged.
The first place I headed after leaving the hospital was Sky Orphanage, where the nun lived.
Vroom, screech.
"We've arrived."
I paid the driver in cash and got out.
Click.
The last time I'd stopped by to see the nun was the day before our wedding.
Six years ago, but the scenery was unchanged.
The only difference now...
Slide.
Feeling tears well up, I shook my head to clear my thoughts and walked inside.
Waaah!
In the orphanage yard, children around five or six played in groups.
Seeing them lifted my mood a bit, so I shook off the gloom and headed to the entrance.
'Why did she ask me to come here, though?'
I recalled the nun's last words from her hospital visit.
Don't go home after discharge—come to the orphanage.
At first, I thought it was to pay respects at Hyorin's urn.
But thinking about it, there was no reason for her to specify that.
After discharge, this was the only place I had anyway.
Home would just be empty.
Jingle.
As I opened the door with those thoughts, the nun, who had been waiting after my call, greeted me with a smile.
"You made it. How's your body feeling?"
"Ah, yes. The doctor said there shouldn't be any major issues with daily activities going forward."
"That's good. Shall we go inside?"
She led me to an inner room.
Click.
And there...
"Come, say hello."
Was Hyorin's urn, her name inscribed on it.
Tears welled up.
"Ah."
I'd tried not to cry...
After five years, I wanted to show a smiling face.
Despite three months of grief, tears came again.
I wiped them repeatedly, trying to smile, but they flowed like an open faucet.
Finally, after a long cry before the urn, I calmed down.
"Whew, sorry."
"It's okay. Cry more if you need to."
"No, I'm really fine now. I have to show Hyorin a smile."
The nun nodded slightly.
Nod.
"Then it's time I really told you."
"Yes? What suddenly..."
"I did mention Hyorin, but... will you follow me?"
Wondering what she meant by stories about Hyorin, I followed.
She took me outside to a spot overlooking the yard.
Then she called loudly to the playing children.
"Daeun! Come here for a moment."
Daeun...
"Yes!"
The girl who came running was a cute five-year-old with pigtails.
"So, how do I explain this..."
"Could this child be my... daughter?"
The nun jumped in surprise.
"H-how did you..."
I knew the moment I heard the name Daeun.
"Warm and gentle love..."
That was the story I'd told Hyorin.