Chapter 5
Iseol opened her eyes around noon the next day.
The white ceiling filling her vision and the faint sting of disinfectant in her nose told her she was in a hospital.
Iseol blinked her hazy eyes slowly.
What happened? There was an accident, wasn’t there?
“Iseol, are you awake?”
The voice belonged to Seo Hyesun, Iseol’s attending physician. A psychiatrist and her mother’s longtime friend, Hyesun had been treating Iseol’s anxiety disorder for the past two years.
Iseol raised herself up. She felt weak, but her body was intact, without a single injury. She tried to piece together her memories, but the last thing in her mind was the sight of the truck rushing toward her—nothing remained after that.
She was curious about how she had avoided the accident and how she had ended up here, but Iseol asked Hyesun something else first.
“How did you know to come here?”
“How could I not? The internet’s been in an uproar all night. There’s no way I wouldn’t know.”
Hyesun stroked Iseol’s head as if she were her own daughter. Knowing that Iseol had no family to stay by her side, Hyesun had rushed to the hospital after seeing the news online.
“The internet?”
Had the accident been reported? But I’m perfectly fine, not a scratch on me. What reason is there for such a fuss?
Seeing the curiosity on Iseol’s face, Hyesun asked, “You don’t remember? Sunho saved you from the accident.”
“My husband?”
[Iseol!]
Her husband’s voice, distant and dreamlike, flashed through her mind. But strangely, she had no memory of the accident itself.
“Where is my husband?”
“Well…”
At Iseol’s question, Hyesun trailed off with a troubled expression. A terrible premonition washed over her.
“Sunho was injured.”
—
Though there were no wounds on her body, just to be safe, Iseol decided to stay at the hospital one more day for a thorough examination.
Before going to the room next door where her husband lay, Iseol checked a news portal on her phone. She wanted to recall the accident she couldn’t remember.
The internet had been abuzz all night with news of the accident involving Iseol and Sunho. It was Iseol, who still drew the public’s attention even after retirement, and Sunho, who was watched closely as the successor to Haeseong Group. It was only natural that Sunho’s accident would attract such interest.
Numerous articles had poured out, and even footage from the accident was circulating.
A video less than a minute long.
With trembling fingers, Iseol pressed play.
The video was dashcam footage from another vehicle stopped on the road where the accident had occurred.
A large truck rushing toward Iseol. Iseol standing frozen, unable to move. And Sunho, running desperately toward her.
“Iseol!”
Sunho’s desperate voice calling out to her.
Watching the footage of herself just before being struck, Iseol squeezed her eyes shut.
Then, the screams of people from the video.
In the footage, Sunho embraced Iseol and rolled across the ground. Only Sunho’s body rolled across the cold asphalt; Iseol was wrapped in his broad embrace.
Sitting on the bed, Iseol buried her face in her knees, her eyes trembling as she watched.
“Why on earth…”
Why had he saved her, even at the risk of his own life? Was it because he couldn’t inherit the group without her?
No matter what the reason…
“This just makes me feel even more sorry.”
Moments when she had treated her husband coldly flashed through Iseol’s mind. The times she had deliberately been more heartless, more harsh, more cold—afraid that the boundary between them might crumble.
—
In Sunho’s hospital room was his grandfather, Chairman Cha Taehwan. It was Chairman Cha Taehwan who had written the will requiring Sunho to marry Iseol as a condition for inheriting the group.
“Iseol, are you all right?”
Seeing Iseol enter the room in a hospital gown, Taehwan asked warmly.
“Yes. I’m fine. I’m sorry, because of me…”
When Iseol couldn’t raise her head as if she were a sinner, Taehwan took her hand as if to say there was no need.
“Sunho woke up briefly. He’s a strong child; he’ll be up again soon. Don’t worry too much.”
Just as Taehwan was comforting Iseol—
“Mmm…”
A muffled voice escaped from between Sunho’s lips.
Taehwan and Iseol approached him at the same time.
“Sunho, are you awake?”
Sunho’s eyelids lowered heavily and fluttered open again. And from his lips came a voice thick with sleep.
“Grandfather…”
Iseol, who had been anxiously worrying that her husband might be seriously hurt because of her, found tears plopping down before she could hide her emotions—now that she had confirmed he was safe.
“Thank goodness.”
Hearing her damp voice, Sunho’s gaze slowly shifted to Iseol.
For the first time, Iseol reached out first, clasping her husband’s hand in both of hers.
“I’m sorry.”
It was also the first time she had laid her heart bare before her husband without concealing it. This was the same Iseol who had always drawn a line first to keep her husband at bay, hiding her feelings behind cold expressions and words.
Sunho, who had been silently gazing at her, asked.
As if she were a stranger.
“…Ms. Yoon Iseol? Why are you here…”
At Sunho’s words, Taehwan’s and Iseol’s eyes widened simultaneously.
“…”
“Sunho, what’s wrong. It’s Iseol. Your wife.”
“I… got married?”
Thud. The strength fled from Iseol’s hands, and her husband’s hand fell limply onto the bed.
It felt as though her heart had plummeted right down to her feet along with it.
“Doctor!”
Taehwan urgently called for the attending physician.
—
Sunho had narrowly avoided colliding with the truck, but he had hit his head on the asphalt and suffered bleeding. His consciousness had returned, but he couldn’t remember his wife.
To find the reason Sunho couldn’t remember, Taehwan had every possible test conducted.
The next day. Haeseong Hospital examination room.
Seeing Iseol and Taehwan sitting with anxious faces, the attending physician pushed up his glasses and began to speak.
“There was bleeding from hitting his head on the asphalt, but no abnormalities were found in the brain from CT, MRI, or EEG tests. There were no problems in other examinations either—perceptual function, language function, motor function, and so on.”
“Dr. Kim. Then why can’t Sunho remember his wife?”
Taehwan leaned close to the physician’s desk and asked. Beside him, Iseol fidgeted with her fingertips, waiting anxiously for the answer.
“In Sunho’s current case, only the memories of the past several years are missing. It may have occurred temporarily from the impact to his head during the accident, or if not, there may be a psychological issue.”
In the end, it was a story that the exact cause could not be determined.
Taehwan let out a groan and pressed his hand to his forehead.
“Then when will all his memories return?”
“I’m sorry to say this, but I cannot guarantee that. Each patient’s case is different.”
“Then… is it possible his memories won’t return?”
“Such cases are rare, but they cannot be completely ruled out.”
At the doctor’s words, Iseol lowered her head and gripped her hospital gown pants tightly.
Because of me.
At the thought that her husband, injured because of her, might never regain his memories, Iseol couldn’t raise her head.
“Dr. Kim. I have one request.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“Please keep Sunho’s condition a secret.”
“Yes. I will do so.”
“It must not leak to anyone. Do you understand?”
After emphasizing again and hearing the doctor’s firm answer, Taehwan left the examination room with Iseol.
“Iseol.”
Taehwan took Iseol to a quiet, deserted place and called her softly in a lowered voice.
“I intend to pass Haeseong Group on to Sunho.”
Chairman Taehwan of Haeseong Group had two sons. But now he had only one. His eldest son—that is, Sunho’s parents—had died in an accident on the same day.
In that case, it would be the second son’s turn to inherit Haeseong Group, but Taehwan wanted to pass it to his grandson, Sunho. The second son, Cha Yoohyun, who indulged in women and drink, was not only unreliable but also unable to properly demonstrate management abilities. If Haeseong Group fell into the hands of the second son, who lacked the qualities of a leader, the group’s future would be uncertain.
As Taehwan’s worries deepened, fortunately, Sunho—who had been bright from a young age—demonstrated outstanding management abilities despite his youth. When J Hotel, one of Haeseong Group’s affiliates, was struggling with poor performance, he boldly restructured personnel and invested, raising it to the top position in the industry within three years. The executives who had looked on with disapproval, thinking what could a young pup accomplish, couldn’t help but be surprised by the results Sunho produced.
Sunho didn’t stop there. He succeeded in the duty-free business and overseas expansion one after another. Accomplishing what even his uncle Cha Yoohyun and his cousin Cha Junghyuk couldn’t do, Sunho proved his abilities as a successor without reservation.
“I plan to appoint Sunho as vice president around late January next year.”
