Hypnosis Released: Heena's Morning
The sky began to lighten at dawn. As sunlight filtered through the window, the sleeping woman stirred.
"……"
She woke with a tousled face. The moment her eyes opened, she instinctively glanced to her side out of habit.
"Oppa…?"
The word slipped out, and she flinched at an inexplicable sense of wrongness. Oppa? She only had a sister—no close bond that would make her sleep beside her like that. So why had "oppa" come out so naturally? She didn't even have a boyfriend…
Boyfriend…? So… a boyfriend…? Someone she was dating, someone she loved? It felt like there had been one, but she couldn't recall a thing.
Heena furrowed her brow for a long time, desperately trying to dredge up the memory.
-Heena, luck comes to those who put in the effort. If you'd just relied on the family fortune and slacked on practice, that luck wouldn't have found you. And you know world championships aren't just about effort—they require exceptional talent beyond the ordinary.-
A sharp pang stabbed her chest.
It felt like needles pricking her over and over. But she had no idea why.
'Who was that? Who would say something like that to me…' A warm, gentle yet affirming voice echoed in her mind. She clawed at her memories frantically.
She remembered being held by someone, sobbing… and he had embraced her warmly.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
'Wh-what? Why are there tears…' Why did her heart ache so fiercely? What was this memory? And why did the rest of it vanish completely after that? She didn't know who he was, but why did she crave him so intensely?
'Why… why is this happening…'
Riiing! Riiing! Riiing!
The alarm she'd set blared. Heena wiped her tears with the back of her hand, slowly sat up, grabbed her phone, and silenced it.
The instant she picked up the phone, an impossible memory surfaced.
-Oppa, the cherry blossoms are so pretty.
-Shall we take a picture then?
-Yes!
She saw herself walking under blooming cherry blossoms with a tall, well-built man. But for some reason, his face was a blur, shrouded in shadow.
"……"
She opened her gallery. She wasn't one to take many photos, so after scrolling down a couple times, there was nothing left. She scrolled back up— the last photo was just some food from a party during training years ago.
Next, her contacts. She scoured from A to Z. Everyone was familiar. She knew all their names and faces. None matched the man from her memory.
She didn't save many numbers, so like the gallery, a few scrolls and it was done.
'This can't be…'
Anxiety gnawed at her. She didn't know why. The memories were vague, yet she felt so uneasy, so frantic.
Not just contacts and photos—she rifled through every file on her phone. Even unknown folders yielded no clues.
Clutching at the hollow emptiness in her chest, she left her room and descended to the first floor.
What met her eyes were the three maids, who should have been bustling with breakfast prep and cleaning, slumped in chairs like dying women. She'd never seen anything like it.
"What's wrong?"
She asked cautiously. They lifted their heads weakly. Dried tear tracks and bloodshot eyes stared back at her.
"I don't know."
"My chest hurts so much… I can't focus on work. I'm sorry."
"……"
Heeyeon would have raged and fired them on the spot. But Heena wasn't Heeyeon—and more than that, she understood their feelings all too well.
Joo Hye-eun, the most veteran among them, wiped her tears and stood.
"I'll prepare breakfast, miss."
Her voice was cracked from crying. Still, she headed to the kitchen with a clatter.
"No."
Heena stopped her. She had no appetite.
"I'll call if I'm hungry. Rest for now…"
"Miss, are you… feeling it too?"
Heena nodded. In that moment, the four women shared the same emotions and thoughts.
Joo Hye-eun collapsed back down. Leaning against the wall, she hugged her knees and buried her face. Her ample chest made the position uncomfortable, but it hardly mattered now.
Heena turned and left the kitchen. Then another person came to mind: her father. The chairman of Yangho Group.
She headed to him—the one person who could fill the void in her heart.
'Dad will… comfort me.'
"Second miss?"
"Yes. I'm here to see Father."
"Understood. Make way."
She passed the guards and entered her father's study. She wanted to soothe this inexplicable longing in his broad embrace.
She knocked twice and opened the door carefully. Her eyes fell on her father's back and the cigarette smoke rising above his head.
"Dad… me…"
"Heena? Why are you here? Got something to prove your worth?"
His voice was ice-cold and frigid. He didn't even turn.
It wasn't the warm voice she remembered… Heena froze.
'What is this?'
Her father's "warm" voice? Had she ever heard such a thing? He'd always compared her to her sister and withheld approval. No way.
Then why had she come? What had she expected? What was this memory?
Confusion swirled.
"D-Dad…?"
Even so, "Dad" came out instead of "Chairman." She didn't know why. It slipped naturally, like years of habit.
"Hoo…"
Tsssk—
The chairman stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, stood, and turned to face her. His build was only slightly larger than hers, but his peak aura overwhelmed her—like a dwarf before a giant.
"Why come home? To show off some pathetic trick? How old are you?"
'Why… why are you like this? Last time we ate together, you smiled so much.'
Heena startled at the natural thought. Last time? When? The last meal with Father was before she went abroad. Why did that memory feel so real?
"Try to be half the woman Heeyeon is. You come all the way here just to prance around?!"
"Ah… S-sorry."
Without thinking, Heena clasped her hands in front and bowed her head. A reflex from childhood scoldings.
"You never fail to disappoint, not a single day."
-Heena, I'll always support you. Do what you want, and call if you need anything.-
"Heeyeon doubled sales at the U.S. branch and secured her position."
-Hahaha! Heeyeon's amazing, sure, but you're amazing too, Heena. Not everyone can be like her. Don't worry too much—just keep at it.-
"Think swinging a golf club makes you special?"
-My daughter golfs so well. It's a different thrill from watching on TV.-
"Ah… Uh…"
Even as she endured his tirade, Heena reeled in confusion. He had smiled at her last time, she was sure. Asked if she was okay so kindly. And above all, the person who had turned her cold father warm…
"Useless as ever."
"Ah…?"
Something plummeted inside her chest. Her knees buckled.
She was hurled from a sweet, warm dream into cruel reality. No longer the cherished daughter, but a despised burden.
"Get out."
"Fath—Chairman?"
"I said get out!!!"
The chairman bellowed, face twisted. Heena's slender shoulders trembled.
"Ah… Sob… Uh…"
Unable to speak, she fled the study.
"Hic…"
Tears flowed again. Like after her last win, when his incomprehensible abuse had broken her—she wept and wept.
But the familiar warmth that once enveloped her was gone. Only cold silence remained.
After a long cry, she calmed and returned to the mansion. She sat on her bed, endlessly scrolling her phone—no clues.
As if possessed, she tore through the house. She even checked shampoo bottles in the shower, desperately hunting for some unknown trace.
Why? She didn't know why she was ransacking her own home.
It was just a ridiculous instinct that something must be there.
'Nothing.'
Nothing turned up.
'I can't remember.'
The memories wouldn't come. There was someone she'd loved with her life, someone she loved, would love… but no face, no name, no age, no shared moments.
'Remember… please.'
She couldn't stop here. She hadn't repaid even half of what he'd done for her.
So she had to remember.
Thwack! Thwack!
Frustrated, she smacked her head. Nothing.
Exhausted, unable to recall a thing, Heena fell asleep.