Chapter – 06
On the evening of my third day in the hospital, two doctors came to visit my private room. It was during the brief time when my parents had stepped out to go home.
The reason I called them “doctors” was simple: there were two people who entered the room, and both of them were wearing white coats.
A tall, handsome man and a woman.
They looked so young that they seemed more like university students than doctors at a university hospital. If they hadn’t been wearing white coats, I probably wouldn’t have guessed they were doctors at all.
But… why had they come at this hour? It was far too late for rounds.
Was it really okay for them to talk to me without my parents here? Or had they already spoken to my parents first?
“Ms. Myung Sena.”
Just as I was about to lose myself in my thoughts, the female doctor who had approached me spoke first.
“Are you feeling all right?”
The two of them stood over me, looking down at me simultaneously. It was such a simple question, yet for some reason, I felt as though I were being interrogated.
“Yes. I’m fine…”
“Is there anywhere that particularly hurts?”
“No.”
“When you regained consciousness, you were able to speak right away, correct? And you’re able to move around comfortably?”
“Uh… yes.”
The male doctor busily typed something into the device he had brought with him.
Do they use those to keep records these days? It’s completely different from yesterday.
Meanwhile, the female doctor’s questions continued.
“Ms. Myung Sena, do you happen to remember what happened at the time of the accident?”
“…What?”
I asked again because I didn’t understand at first.
What did she mean by what happened at the time of the accident?
“When the accident occurred.”
Perhaps noticing my confusion, the female doctor spoke more slowly and clearly.
“Last Sunday, at 11:52 p.m., you were riding the last bus home. There were five passengers in total, including you. Exactly ten minutes later, at an intersection, a vehicle that ran a red light crashed into the side of the bus you were riding.”
“…”
“It was a very serious accident. Two people died at the scene.”
The female doctor described the events of that night as though she had personally been there.
The male doctor standing beside her still hadn’t said a word. He simply continued typing something into his device.
Maybe it was because they didn’t seem like doctors, or perhaps because I didn’t know what to say. Either way, I could only stare blankly ahead and listen to what they were telling me.
“You remember, don’t you?”
The female doctor asked me that question.
Only then did I slowly nod.
At the same time, feeling puzzled, I cautiously spoke.
“But if you’re asking about what happened during the accident… it seems like you already know everything. What exactly are you trying to ask me…?”
“Ah.”
The female doctor smiled.
Her rabbit-like front teeth became visible between her lips.
“What I’m asking about is what happened after that. In other words, what you experienced from your own perspective!”
It didn’t take me long to realize what she meant.
“For example… do you remember spending that day somewhere else?”
“……!”
What?
“Oh! Judging by your expression, I guess that’s it!”
The female doctor clapped her hands as she watched me lose my ability to speak.
“But you didn’t tell anyone about this, did you, Sena? Maybe you couldn’t tell whether it was a dream or reality. Or maybe you simply didn’t want to talk about it…”
“…”
“The doctor who came before us didn’t ask you anything like this either, right? Honestly, it’s normal for a doctor to ask a patient how they’re feeling. Asking what you experienced and where you’ve been all this time isn’t exactly normal…”
At that point, the male doctor standing beside her lightly tapped her arm.
The female doctor glared at him for a moment, then noticed his expression and immediately realized her mistake.
“Oh! The reason I know about this is because we’ve been seeing quite a few similar cases lately! It’s something that occasionally happens to patients who briefly lose consciousness after experiencing severe trauma… Yes! That’s what it is. I wasn’t saying there was anything abnormal about you, Sena. Haha… hahaha…”
The female doctor awkwardly trailed off.
I mulled over what she’d just said before timidly asking about the thing that was bothering me.
“Then… are you saying there’s something wrong with my head right now…?”
“No! No! Absolutely not! That’s not what I meant at all. I told you, didn’t I? I said it doesn’t mean you’re abnormal. You’re perfectly, perfectly fine, Sena! From now on, no doubting yourself, okay?”
The female doctor crossed her hands into an X and finally wrapped up her explanation.
“Anyway. We thought it would be worth confirming whether our theory was correct.”
Whether their theory was correct?
To be honest, there was only one answer I could give to that question.
But I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
Because I didn’t want to.
I didn’t want to admit that what had happened was actually real.
“…I’m sorry.”
I was sorry, but I couldn’t help it.
“I don’t remember anything right now.”
I’d decided to pretend that day had never happened.
The doctors showed no particular reaction.
The male doctor scribbled something else into his device, while the female doctor slowly nodded.
Then, just as before, she smiled, showing her teeth.
“I see. Understood.”
…That’s unexpected.
They’re accepting it this easily?
Yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of suspicion or disappointment on the female doctor’s face.
If anything, she actually looked relieved, as though she’d gotten exactly the answer she wanted.
“I’m sorry for suddenly coming to see you so late, Sena. And thank you for answering my questions so honestly.”
The female doctor cheerfully waved her hand.
The male doctor, who had been silently standing beside her, gave me a small nod without saying a word.
I accepted their farewell with a bewildered expression.
Honestly? Honestly?
I hadn’t exactly answered their questions honestly.
“Get some good rest now.”
After giving me a warm farewell, the doctors quickly left the room.
Silence settled over everything, as though a storm had just swept through.
I stared blankly at the closed hospital-room door.
And as I sat there, one thought suddenly crossed my mind.
A question that would have been better to remember a little earlier.
“…”
Those doctors just now.
Did they even have name tags?
A few days later, I was discharged from the hospital with my parents.
I’d thought I’d gotten plenty of rest while I was in the hospital, but it was only after I came home that I finally felt at ease.
Apparently, my body had been resting, but my mind hadn’t.
My parents had realized that before I did, and whenever they got the chance, they kept emphasizing that I needed to rest.
“For the time being, don’t do anything. Just rest properly. Don’t stress yourself out for no reason. Got it?”
The doctor hadn’t actually told me that.
And physically, I was doing much better than I’d expected…
But perhaps because I felt guilty as their daughter for making them worry so much, I agreed with them.
Besides, I was unemployed, and doing nothing usually made me feel guilty. Under normal circumstances, I would have checked for responses from the places where I’d submitted my résumé or looked for other jobs.
But eventually, I stopped doing even that and simply stayed home.
When I was hungry, I ate.
When I was sleepy, I slept.
When I was bored, I played my favorite games.
<When I count to three, run.>
Aside from occasionally having nightmares about that day, peaceful days passed by.
Then, a week later, on an ordinary weekday afternoon when my parents had gone to work as usual, I decided to go out for the first time in a while after finishing the housework.
I’d been staying home too much, so I thought I’d go to a nearby café and read for a while.
I put on a beige padded jacket over my workout clothes, slung my bag over my shoulder, and left the house.
The weather had become as cold as winter over the past few days, so if I didn’t want to end up frozen stiff, I needed the padded jacket.
As I left the apartment complex, I went over the route in my head.
Let’s see… I heard there was a place with good scones if I took the bus and got off somewhere near…
There were a few people scattered around the bus stop in front of my apartment.
I squeezed between them and checked the bus arrival time.
Oh. Luckily, it would arrive in five minutes…
Tap.
Just as I was thinking that—
A tall shadow fell over me.
“Ms. Myung Sena.”
Along with an eerily familiar voice.
“…”
My gaze stopped on the timetable.
Not just my eyes.
My entire body froze in place.
That chilling voice.
That razor-sharp atmosphere.
<I’ll come find you soon.>
The nightmare-like memory I’d desperately buried came rushing back all at once, as though a dam had burst at the sound of that one voice calling my name.
The muzzle of a gun pressed against my forehead…
A black skull mask.
“Ms. Myung Sena.”
…That lunatic.
It was that same lunatic.
Only then did I slowly turn my gaze.
I was still terrified, but despite that, I needed to see him.
I needed to know whether this was an illusion created by the aftereffects of the accident, or whether this was actually reality.
My eyes moved sideways, tracing the tall figure from the bottom upward.
Black suit trousers.
An even darker, glossy black coat.
Black leather gloves.
The only thing that stood out in the grim-reaper-like outfit was the stark white collar of his dress shirt.
And above it—
A black skull mask.
The man from my nightmares was standing beside me, looking down at me.
