Proof (6): How Should I Accept This Situation?
How should I accept the situation unfolding right before my eyes?
“Welcome home.”
The moment I stepped out of the car, my eyes met my wife’s where she stood waiting at the entrance. The unexpected warmth of her greeting made me freeze for a second, just long enough for the cold mountain wind to sweep across my face. The nights in Gangwon-do carried a chill that rivaled the depths of winter.
The weather was so frigid that even I shivered. How long had she been standing out here waiting?
“...Hello.”
The tip of her pale nose, framed by the red scarf, had turned a vivid crimson. It looked exactly like the first time we had met.
The first day passed without anything particularly unusual. After eating the dinner she had left for me, I arranged the daily necessities the housekeepers had prepared inside my assigned room. By the time I finished showering, it was already late at night. My wife, who seemed to have waited a long time just to see me, simply said that since she had seen my face it was enough, left a message that we would talk tomorrow, and returned to her room.
Her demeanor felt subtly different from before, which left me with a small question, but nothing seemed seriously wrong so I let it pass without much thought. If anything stood out, it was that the cell phone signal barely worked. Because of that, I couldn’t contact Min Soyeon or Gong Haeseon and ended up falling asleep early.
The next day was Saturday morning. Maybe because I had gone to bed so early the night before, I woke up feeling refreshed. I joined the other housekeepers who were already awake and helped prepare breakfast.
That was when I heard something pleasant.
“Really?”
“I’m telling you. The madam personally chose today’s menu.”
One of the housekeepers shared the happy news. After my last visit she had gradually started eating again, and now she had gone so far as to order the menu herself. I wondered if it was all right for a person to change so drastically overnight, but good things were good things, weren’t they?
With a light heart I finished the breakfast preparations, and we began the meal right away. I had originally planned to go upstairs myself, but the other housekeepers sat me down at the table, saying I should eat first and then handle the handover. While the breakfast tray was sent up to the second floor and I was in the middle of eating—
“Jihwan student!”
The housekeeper who had gone upstairs returned to the kitchen with a bright smile.
...Huh?
“Finish the handover quickly and head straight up to the second floor! The madam has been asking for you so much...”
...Does she really want to hear about Soyeon that badly?
I felt a slight doubt at the words “looking for me,” but I would find out once I went up. After finishing the meal and checking the handover items, I prepared some simple refreshments and headed to the second floor.
Creak—
I climbed the old wooden staircase, cleared my throat lightly at the second-floor landing, and knocked carefully on the door. Soon, my wife’s voice came from the other side.
“Come in.”
With her permission granted, I took a deep breath and gently opened the door….
“...Welcome.”
My wife sat by the window with a mysterious smile, looking at me.
...It doesn’t seem like I’m imagining it….
Watching her, I felt a small certainty. My wife had changed. Not in a bad way—in a good way.
The last time I came, she had looked like a living corpse that wouldn’t have been strange if she died at any moment. But today, a faint vitality lingered in the eyes that gazed at me. Now I understood why the housekeepers had been making such a fuss.
“....”
I slightly lowered my head in greeting, then immediately set out the refreshments I had brought. Her favorite tea, coffee cookies, and glutinous rice cakes. The rice cakes weren’t something I had chosen; apparently they were one of the foods she had said she wanted to eat.
Coincidence? Glutinous rice cakes happened to be one of my favorite snacks.
I placed the utensils down one by one. The moment I set down the last fork—
“...Do you like the clothes?”
My wife spoke softly. I glanced at her, then looked down at my own outfit. The clothes she had specially prepared for me—even the underwear. Thanks to her thoroughness, I had been able to enjoy a comfortable morning.
...How did she know my size?
I firmly suppressed the question that rose in my mind and answered her.
“...Yes, they’re good.”
She gave a subtle, satisfied smile and lightly gestured to the seat across from her. A sign to sit. I quietly obeyed and took the opposite seat. She slowly lifted her teacup.
The fluttering floral aroma. It was jasmine tea—Ju Yeonhee’s favorite.
“Haa…”
She let out a satisfied sigh, then turned her eyes toward me. Unlike Min Soyeon’s bright, lively eyes, Ju Yeonhee’s were a deep, vivid crimson, as if blood had been spilled into them. They were the same eyes that had captured me on that day when pure white snow fell.
Unconsciously tense, I swallowed hard and slightly averted my gaze. She also looked away and took a sip of tea. The silence was so complete that the soft horok of her sipping sounded loud.
“...How have you been?”
She asked after my well-being. There had been plenty of events, but none I could speak about here.
“Thanks to you, I’ve been well. How about you, madam? Are you feeling any better?”
She nodded slowly and continued the conversation.
“...Is Soyeon doing well?”
As expected, she had been curious about Min Soyeon. I carefully selected things that would be safe to tell her and spoke.
“She’s doing well. The first exam starts on Monday, so she’s probably deep in her studies right now.”
“...I see.”
Perhaps relieved to hear that her daughter was doing fine, she asked no further questions about Min Soyeon.
“...Don’t you need to study for the exams?”
Instead, she asked about me. This much should be all right to say.
“...Actually, I was supposed to study with Soyeon today, but I thought I should come see you, madam, so I broke our promise.”
She gave me a mild scolding, saying I should have taken care of Soyeon instead of coming to her. I understood how she felt about her daughter, but to me, my wife was just as precious. Even though our relationship had become like this, how could I leave my sick wife behind?
At that moment.
“...Here, eat this.”
She speared a piece of glutinous rice cake with the fork and held it out to me.
...Eh?
“I-I’m fine.”
Startled by the sudden offer, I waved my hand in refusal. But she brought the cake right to my mouth and spoke again.
“...It’s from an adult, so eat it quickly.”
“Pardon?”
“...Are you saying you don’t want to eat something given by an auntie like me?”
Good grief…. Where in the world was there an auntie this beautiful? Plenty of people would believe she was in her twenties. The word “auntie” didn’t suit her at all.
“N-no, that’s not…”
The moment I hurriedly denied it, the glutinous rice cake touched my lips.
“...Come on.”
At her urging, I unconsciously opened my mouth, and the cake slid inside.
“Mmph…”
She smoothly pulled the fork back out, then this time lifted the teacup and offered it to me.
“U-umph…”
“Sip.”
Flustered by the continuous offers, I waved my hands saying it was fine, but under her persistent pressure I had no choice but to accept the cup.
This woman really….
I quickly swallowed the cake and pretended to drink the tea. Only then did she look at me with satisfied eyes and speak.
“...From now on, prepare some for yourself as well.”
“...Y-yes…”
And so we shared the refreshments amicably while talking, and I ended up eating every single one of the glutinous rice cakes.
After he fled using lunch as an excuse—
Looking at my husband’s information window, which hadn’t changed much from before, I felt slightly relieved. It seemed he was struggling quite a bit taking care of that child. I wonder who he takes after….
With a short sigh, I closed the information window and began carefully revising my plans, recalling the reactions he had shown today.
Min Sungjae. No… Yu Jihwan didn’t seem to have any intention of revealing his identity. I had sent him signals by preparing clothes and his favorite foods, yet he still wouldn’t tell his own wife. Why?
First of all, the ‘System’ that had never once granted my wishes had suddenly revived my husband. It was probably to achieve some purpose. It must have given him a ‘mission’ just like it had given me, along with corresponding penalties. But among them, there was likely nothing saying he must not reveal his identity.
Why? Because my ‘ability’ was still perfectly intact—there was no way he could avoid being found out.
Then… if there was no reason to hide his identity, why was he doing so?
His beloved wife was this sick, this broken by despair.
“Ah…”
That was when one suspicion rose in my mind.
...Was it because of my ‘room’?
On the first day he came, I had confirmed that the room at the end of the corridor was open. The housekeepers wouldn’t have entered it, so he must have gone in by chance. If he was perceptive at all, he would have realized what those pieces of a body were.
“....”
I started to feel a little uneasy. Had he begun to see me as a crazy woman? Had his affection for me cooled?
To appear as the perfect wife, I had acted for more than ten years. I couldn’t let a mere lump of corpse ruin everything I had built. I needed to find some way… a way to keep my husband by my side once more.
If I am not beside him, my husband will disappear somewhere. Like a balloon floating into the sky, to a place I can never reach again.
I had already let him go once. It had hurt enough. It had been sad enough.
This was the last chance heaven had granted me after all my suffering. I would not miss it again.
After escaping from my wife’s room, I immediately stopped by the kitchen to help with lunch preparations. Today’s lunch was eel seasoned with garlic and abalone porridge.
...This was what she wanted to eat?
The combination was so strange that I couldn’t understand how she could have chosen it. While I stood there momentarily stunned by the unexpected menu, one of the housekeepers gave me an order.
“Jihwan student! Slice some ginger over there!”
“...Yes.”
I decided to move first and think later. As I sliced the ginger to accompany the eel, I reflected on the way my wife had acted.
When she was alive, my wife had been rather affectionate in her own way. To be precise, she had become more so after Soyeon grew up a little. It wasn’t the cutesy, childish charm of little kids, but she had shown me many small affections—feeding me food, frequent skinship, and the like.
But she had only ever shown that side to me. She had never displayed it to anyone else.
Yet she was feeding rice cakes to a boy she had only met twice?
Don’t tell me… had she noticed?