Chapter 6: Shin On-yu-2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 6: Shin On-yu-2
The girl from the convenience store was named Seo Narae.
Since it happened to be time for her shift change, Narae Nuna asked me to wait a moment and quickly finished her handover.
With nothing better to do, I sat at a table outside the store and killed time by sipping on the Choco Emong she had given me.
I waited for about ten minutes.
Narae Nuna came rushing out, her head darting left and right as she searched for me, seemingly worried I might have disappeared.
"I'll walk you home."
"You know where I live?"
"Of course! I went there all the time."
Narae Nuna naturally linked her arm with mine. I stared at her, taken aback, while she looked back at me as if wondering what the problem was.
"What?"
"Nothing. It’s just... you seem to have no sense of personal space. Were we... really close?"
"Ahaha... right. I was just acting like I usually do. You must be confused since you lost your memory. Sorry."
"It’s not that I dislike it; I’m just curious. What was our relationship? Were we lovers?"
"Lovers?!!"
When I met her eyes and asked, she practically jumped.
"No, no! In-ho, you and I weren't like that. We’re just an older girl and a younger guy who know each other from school."
She waved her hands frantically in denial.
"Hey, I get it. No need to get so defensive. You're making me feel awkward."
"I’m not being defensive. I just..."
With her head ducked and her face as red as a ripe persimmon, Narae Nuna muttered to herself.
"Anyway, it’s a relief. I’ve already met two people who know me."
"Two people? Ah... you mean On-yu."
Her face darkened in an instant. Between her reaction earlier and her expression now, she clearly knew something.
"You know about On-yu, right? She told me that she and I were always stuck together. Do you know if that's true?"
I swallowed the phrase 'the truth of her words.' I acted naturally, playing the part of my 'nonchalant self' as if I were merely curious.
"I’m not sure if I should say I know her well or not."
Narae Nuna’s pace slowed.
"Why?"
"Well, I’ve only seen On-yu a few times. I can’t really say what she’s like based on that."
"But you know something, don't you? Judging by your reaction at the convenience store."
"Umm... everything I know about On-yu is just what you told me."
"What I told you?"
"Yeah. It’s what I heard from you before you lost your memory. I don't know if it's actually true. I mean, of course, I trust what you say a hundred percent, In-ho. But... everyone has their own personal perspective, right?"
"So, since I’ve only heard your evaluation of her, I don't think I can be objective... hehe."
She hurriedly tried to smooth over her words.
If what Narae Nuna said was true, then the 'old me' had talked about On-yu, and I could infer that the evaluation wasn't good.
If I had said nice things, she wouldn't have to look so troubled.
Since I had already concluded that On-yu wasn't normal, it didn't matter much whether I got an answer or not. Still, thanks to her, I was able to steel my resolve a bit more.
"Please tell me. What did I say about On-yu?"
"Well..."
*
After returning home, I immediately unwrapped a triangle gimbap to stave off my hunger.
[You complained that On-yu kept clinging to you and that she was annoying because she interfered more than necessary.]
Hearing Narae Nuna’s explanation had left me feeling a bit deflated.
I had thought On-yu and the old me were mortal enemies, but it turned out to be nothing more than the typical friction friends experience at that age.
"Well, she does have a tendency to be overprotective, so I guess we didn't clash well."
Even while I was in the hospital, she treated me like a child. That was likely the cause.
"I should finish the investigation on the computer that I started earlier."
I left the triangle gimbap wrapper haphazardly on the dining table and went upstairs.
Since I didn't know any of my IDs, I started by searching for my account on a major portal site.
I recovered the ID through phone verification and changed the password.
"Let’s see... the inbox..."
Perhaps because the era of using email had long passed, I didn't see anything noteworthy besides spam.
However, the email address was only the beginning.
People usually use the same ID for everything.
I entered the ID into various major portal sites and searched.
It seemed I wasn't very active in online communities, as there were few posts.
At most, there were some questions about games.
It was all very ordinary. So why did I delete my internet history? There didn't seem to be anything worth hiding.
On a whim, I accessed a cloud storage site.
However, it said I wasn't a member, perhaps because I hadn't used the same ID for the cloud.
Was there a difference in the creation dates? Why would I go out of my way to use a different ID?
After verifying via my phone, I scanned the list of files in the storage.
"What is this? They're all Word files."
The filenames were dates.
Was it some kind of record?
When I clicked download, a progress bar appeared.
"I'll go grab some water while these download."
Feeling a bit thirsty, I went down to the first floor and poured a glass of water.
I put the water bottle back in the fridge, picked up the glass, and headed back to my room.
Click.
I locked my bedroom door.
Suddenly, I felt the blood drain from my face, and goosebumps prickled my skin.
The triangle gimbap wrapper I had left on the dining table was gone.