Chapter : 4
During those three months—which could have felt either long or short—
To me, who had lived as an unwanted burden in my big family’s house and lost my true colors along the way, Jaejun had continued to paint me in warm colors.
“Because you’re pretty.”
“Does someone need a reason to like another person?”
“I’ll do everything for you. Let’s date.”
He said there was no reason.
He said he had simply fallen for me at first sight.
At first, I was suspicious when a handsome senior who looked every bit like a young master from a wealthy family, and who was handsome enough to pass for a celebrity, said he liked me.
Then, without even realizing it, I became captivated by him and gave him my heart.
That was actually why, when my big family tried to force me to go to Germany, I had asked him for help.
It had hurt my pride, but I had even borrowed money from him.
Because I thought he wasn’t the kind of man who would look down on me over a mere one million won.
Of course, that help had ended up being completely useless.
No, it was worse than useless.
I had completely repaid his kindness with betrayal.
“Haa.”
Yumin let out a deep sigh.
She felt as if her solar plexus were being tightly squeezed at the thought of meeting the senior she had liked so much in college—and whom she had unintentionally hurt—at a blind date.
What must he have thought when he saw me?
“Where did she sell off her fiancé in Germany that she’s going on a blind date with an old man like that?”
On top of that, Jaejun’s words from earlier kept replaying in her mind.
He seemed to have even misunderstood that she had gone to Germany to meet a fiancé.
He probably thought she was the kind of woman who couldn’t live without a man.
“……This is driving me crazy.”
Yumin stopped where she stood and wildly grabbed at her hair.
Should she go back to the hotel and explain that her big family had forcibly sent her to Germany to study?
Should she tell him that going on a blind date with that bald eagle had also been something she was forced into, not something she had chosen?
But soon, Yumin collapsed onto the spot and buried her face in her knees.
There was no reason to explain herself to Jaejun when they weren’t anything to each other.
They were probably never going to see each other again anyway.
Then… why did they have to run into each other?
Yumin closed her eyes and swallowed her bitterness.
When she returned home, it was just before two in the afternoon.
Yumin entered the house and listlessly took off her shoes.
“……I’m home.”
She announced her arrival without much energy, but there was no response.
Yumin paused and looked at the entryway where she had just taken off her shoes.
The slippers her aunt frequently wore were nowhere to be seen.
She must have gone out.
At least that was a relief.
If Yumin told her in this state that she had ruined the blind date, she would probably get slapped across the face.
For now, Yumin decided to wash her face and think about how she was going to get through this situation, so she headed upstairs.
As she stepped onto the final stair, she heard a bright, giggling laugh from somewhere.
Hong Suji hadn’t gone out?
Thinking she should hurry into her room before Suji started nagging her for no reason, Yumin was about to move when—
“Hey. Isn’t it freaking creepy? They say you’ll die if you get married at twenty-five.”
The strange words stopped Yumin in her tracks.
Get married at twenty-five?
Is she talking about me?
As if drawn by something, Yumin quietly held her breath and walked toward Suji’s room.
Suji didn’t even realize Yumin had arrived and continued chatting happily on the phone.
“Yeah! They said I’m destined to get beaten to death by my husband! That’s why my mom and dad have given that shaman tens of billions of won over the years.”
Oh, so she’s not talking about me. She’s talking about herself?
“Yeah. At first, I thought she was kind of a fraud, too. I didn’t believe her until last year, you know? But I had three accidents last year. The shaman predicted all of them. And last Christmas, she told me I was going to get into a car accident and absolutely not to go outside. But I thought, well, having just one cup of coffee should be fine, right? So I met you guys and had coffee by the café window. Then a drunk driver came crashing through, smashed the window, and I got pinned underneath it. Wow, seriously. Who could possibly predict something like that?”
A chilling sensation swept through Yumin’s entire body.
If what Suji was saying was true, wasn’t Yun Bosal actually quite an accurate shaman?
Naturally, Yumin remembered what Representative Kim Byungtae had said earlier.
“They said there was barely any luck with women in my saju. Yun Bosal found a woman who could make up for that. And that woman is you, baby.”
The fact that Yun Bosal had said she was the woman who would make up for his fate.
What on earth was going on?
“Anyway, ever since that day, I’ve completely believed in the shaman. So today, Hong Yumin is going on the blind date in my place.”
Ah.
Had Yun Bosal sent Yumin to Kim Byungtae in place of Hong Suji, who was supposedly destined to die if she got married at twenty-five?
“She told me to send her with something I considered like a part of myself, so I gave her my ShaX bag. Yeah. It was a little wasteful. It was, but….”
There was a brief silence.
Then came a creepy, snickering laugh.
“When I thought of it as a gift for the substitute who’s going to take the bad luck and die in my place, I felt better about it.”
Yumin’s pupils shook violently.
What did I just hear?
A substitute who was going to die in Hong Suji’s place?
“Hey. Think about it. He’s forty-four and has already been married twice. Apparently, both of his wives died in accidents. I don’t know~ Who knows why? But you know how it is, right? Rich people can easily kill someone and make it look like an accident. Ugh. Hey, I almost ended up in a real-life Bluebeard story. Hahaha.”
Yumin’s legs trembled.
She didn’t know much about shamanism, so she didn’t really understand what an “akbaegi” was or what it meant to serve as one.
But she thought she understood what it meant.
She somehow forced strength into her weakening legs and quietly made her way to her room.
She went inside, locked the door, turned on her phone, and searched for the meaning of “akbaegi.”
“……Someone who takes away bad energy in another person’s place?”
Yumin put down her phone and nervously chewed on her fingernails as she thought.
So, to summarize what Hong Suji had said—
Hong Suji had a fate that meant she would die young, and if she married at twenty-five, she was destined to be beaten to death by the man she married.
To avoid that fate, they had used Yumin as the substitute to take the bad luck.
At that moment, an unpleasant chill pierced through Yumin’s entire body.
“Oh, you poor thing. Come to your big uncle’s house. We’ll raise you just like Suji.”
“Yumin. Do you want to cut your hair like Suji’s, too?”
“Yumin. If you don’t want people to notice that you don’t have a mother, at least try to resemble Suji. Just look at Suji. Doesn’t she look so refined?”
When she was young, after what happened to her father, her big family had brought her into their home and dressed and fed her exactly like Suji.
Was all of that done so that Yumin would take all of Suji’s bad energy in her place?
And then—
Thump, thump.
Footsteps began approaching Yumin’s room.
“Hehehe. Hey. That’s why people used to think we were twins when we were little. We always dressed exactly alike, with the same hair, the same bags, everything. Ah, wait a second. Let me check whether she took that bag.”
Yumin forgot even to breathe as she focused on Suji’s voice.
“What if she didn’t take it? Well… what could happen? I can just tell her to take it when she goes on the second date—huh?”
Click.
The doorknob began to shake.
Soon, Suji’s startled voice and curses could be heard.
“Shit. What the hell? Why did you lock the door? Hey. Hong Yumin. Are you in there? Huh?!”
Yumin held her breath.
Suji ranted for a while, then suddenly Yumin heard her footsteps pounding toward the stairs.
A moment later, she came running back up and began banging violently on the door.
“Your shoes are here! You’re in there, aren’t you, Hong Yumin?! Aren’t you going to open the door?! When did you get here?! Huh?! You met that man, didn’t you? Why the hell are you home so early?!”
Suji’s frantic voice echoed through the hallway.
When Yumin continued refusing to open the door, Suji kicked it and hurled every curse she could think of at her.
Yumin covered her ears and closed her eyes.
Her palms trembled like aspen leaves against her ears.
The reason this family had taken her in and ordered her to stay by Suji’s side every single day was far more inhuman and horrifying than she had ever imagined.
“Open the door, you fucking bitch!”
After Suji’s curses, another voice joined in.
“Sweetie? Why are you acting like this?”
“Mom! Hong Yumin is already back! It’s only been an hour since the blind date! I think she ruined it and came home! What’s going to happen to me if she doesn’t marry that man?! Huh?!”
“What?! That bitch! I’ll get the key, so wait!”
Thump, thump.
Someone’s footsteps headed down the stairs to get the key.
This was different from the resentment Yumin had felt when she lived under the hatred of her big family.
This time, fear seized Yumin to the point where she felt her life was in danger.
What should I do? What do I do?
Her mind went completely blank.
She couldn’t think of anything.
And then—
“You’re the one making a scene. Could you move your head out of the way?”
“Let me see if the woman sitting in front of you is the woman I know.”
Jaejun’s voice, the voice that had saved her from Kim Byungtae, came back to her with startling clarity.
Of all times, it had to be now.
