CNC Ch 4
by Sorai“You don’t remember your name?”
“It’s not that I don’t remember…”
“It’s okay, Hye-an-ssi. Your memory may be temporarily unstable. It’s quite common. There don’t seem to be any specific signs right now, so it’s probably a temporary phenomenon. We’ll conduct further tests starting tomorrow. For today, just focus on keeping your body and mind relaxed, okay?”
It’s not that he didn’t remember.
Rather, he remembers everything in detail.
This time, Choi Hong-seo also felt the misaligned gap. The tiny gap that had allowed a thin stream of light was now widening with a creaking sound, creating more and more space.
That’s why it was daunting to confirm it clearly. It felt like something that should be avoided. It wasn’t a thought but a premonition.
It was just after the doctor and nurse had left the hospital room there were two noisy people burst in.
“Hye-an, you rascal! I knew you’d wake up! A stubborn kid like you would come back from the dead!”
A middle-aged man with freshly trimmed, graying hair burst into the room, almost pushing the door wide open. Despite his aggressive tone, tears were welling up in his eyes, and although Choi Hong-seo tried hard to recall, the face was unfamiliar. Following him was a young man who seemed just a few years older than Choi Hong-seo, standing by the bed with a reddened eye, addressing him as “hyung” (older brother), but he too looked like a stranger.
“Hyung, you have been through a lot. I thought you would wake up.”
A young man standing at his feet called him hyung with reddened eyes, but his face appeared to be at least three or four years older than Choi Hong-seo.
At first glance, the two people in suits that didn’t suit their body type or atmosphere seemed like a gangster duo. However, their outfits and hairstyles didn’t have the typical gangster look. Having dealt with such customers during his time at a host bar, Choi Hong-seo was familiar with these characteristics.
“I’m sorry, but how do I know you?”
“…”
“…”
The faces of the two men flinched at Choi Hong-seo’s question. It was the same reaction as the doctor’s earlier. They were frightened and perplexed as to whether there was something wrong with the awakened patient’s brain.
The middle-aged man first bent down and pushed his round, large face in front of Choi Hong-seo.
“Now, take a good look at my face. I’m ENA’s CEO, Lim Sang-jin! We’ve been in the same boat for ten years! And this is Yong-jae. Goo Yong-jae, your manager. Tiffany was also taken care of by Yong-jae, you punk!”
ENA… ENA… Choi Hong-seo narrowed his eyes and found a clue and quickly searched through his memories. ENA was definitely a word that lingered in his memory.
“ENA…isn’t it the company that ‘TiTan’ belonged to?”
“Yes, ‘TiTan’! You remember! Damn, I was almost scared for a moment there!”
The middle-aged man let out a sigh of relief and took a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. However, this didn’t bridge the gap between his words and Hong-seo’s memories.
He remembered the company ENA Entertainment and the idol group ‘TiTan’. However, Choi Hong-seo himself had nothing to do with the company or the group. At least, that’s how he remembered it now.
Or perhaps, was there some close relationship between the CEO of ENA and the CEO of UB Entertainment, where he belonged? He had never heard such a story…
CEO Myeong. CEO Myeong. Choi Hong-seo’s brow and lips contorted as he remembered that name.
So, what happened to CEO Myeong? If Mr. X’s scandal had erupted properly, even that bastard wouldn’t have escaped this time.
As his blood pressure rose from anger and hatred, an immediate headache followed. Choi Hong-seo frowned at the pain in his temple that felt like being pricked by a needle.
“What would have happened if you hadn’t woken up, you punk? Were you trying to scare Chairman Jo? You fool, did you really think Chairman Jo would bat an eye at your little act? That bastard, he didn’t even contact you once during the months you were lying here, not even a message…!”
“Sir, please stop now.”
“Huh?”
“Remember, the doctor said that getting absolute rest is the priority now.”
The young man stopped the ENA CEO, who was talking about things Choi Hong-seo couldn’t understand in a state of excitement to the point of his face turning red.
“That’s right, that’s right. From now on, just live well. The fact that you woke up is the most important thing, isn’t it?”
Of course, Choi Hong-seo could not understand at all what they were talking about.
“What about mom? My mother… or other family members, do they not know? Or what about our company colleagues… what happened to UB Entertainment?”
“…”
ENA’s CEO’s face once again became contemplative. He kept his gaze fixed on Choi Hong-seo and fumbled to find the arm of the young man standing beside him.
“Yong-jae, what’s wrong with him? Did he have some head injury? Huh? Should we call a doctor?”
The young man addressed as Yong-jae pushed the CEO aside and approached Choi Hong-seo.
“Hyung, today is all about rest and stability. Don’t think about anything else. Just take it slowly, one step at a time. Understand?”
It seemed they were right. Although he didn’t know why these unfamiliar people were so concerned about him, for now, it seemed more important to assess the situation on his own rather than asking them questions. He now knew this was reality, and there were too many facts he needed to confirm.
The X Group scandal, Lee Seo-kyung, the CEO of UB Entertainment, and… the person he was most curious about.
“What happened to my phone or belongings?”
“When you were found, you had nothing with you—no phone, no wallet, nothing. You were barely wearing clothes. The second phone you had in the office was brought here by Yong-jae.”
ENA’s CEO opened a drawer next to the bed and rummaged through it.
“Yong-jae always kept it charged so that the battery wouldn’t die. He knew you’d search for your phone as soon as you woke up.”
“…”
“But you’re really looking for your phone first, you rascal.”
CEO Lim sighed dejectedly and handed over his cell phone. However, what CEO Lim held in his hand was not the model that Choi Hong-seo used, the ARA Electronics cellphone that ‘he’ gifted him.
Choi Hong-seo could not understand what the two duo were talking about. He licked his dry lips and forced his voice out.
“Thank you. I… want to rest a bit.”
Yeah, yeah. The doctor said even just breathing would tire you out. Sleep well and recover. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“…”
“How ironic is that? I was just wondering if I should give up your apartment today…”
CEO Lim said that with a complicated expression and left the hospital room with Yong-jae.
The appearance and departure of the two strangers felt like a comical play unfolding before Choi Hong-seo’s eyes. Watching the absurd theater without any information, was like missing the first 20 minutes and starting to watch from the middle.
Choi Hong-seo thought to himself.
Did the memory temporarily become unstable after the ‘incident’ as the doctor said? Will I remember the names and faces of those people from a while ago tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?
No, the doctor’s guess was wrong. It wasn’t that I couldn’t remember my name. It wasn’t a lack of memory.
The problem was that their memories and mine were different.
Despite feeling as heavy as if I’d been beaten up, this wasn’t a situation to rest peacefully. I had to check what the misaligned gap was.
The phone’s lock setting was easily unlocked with Choi Hong-seo’s fingerprint. Everything from the background screen to the layout of the app was different from his cell phone. But it wasn’t the time to go through all of that.
First, Choi Hong-seo launched the internet browser and typed his name into the search bar. It was his name that he had compulsively searched dozens of times a day, sometimes even more.
He had scoured all the articles, posts on various online communities, personal blogs, and mentions on social media just to find some relief. Even though he knew it was self-destructive behavior, he couldn’t stop doing it.
Choi… Hong… Seo…
“…”
He typed every letter of his relatively short name, but he couldn’t bring himself to hit the search button easily. Staring at the blinking cursor behind the name for a while, Choi Hong-seo ended up erasing all the characters. Then, he started typing another name.
Lee… Hae… Seong.
His fingers trembled as he tapped the screen, and his heart raced.
The pain in his throat as he swallowed was like passing over a fireball. The short loading time for the results felt cruelly long, and he chewed on his chapped lower lip in anticipation. The fear of finding that all traces of the person he knew as Lee Seo-kyung had vanished from this world haunted him.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen.
At the top of the page was an officially registered profile on a portal site. It was the familiar profile he had seen countless times before.
Lee Hae-seong. Businessman.
Affiliation: Vice President of ARA Electronics Wireless Division.
Family: Father, Lee Woo-hyuk; Mother, Yoo Ha-young; Grandfather, Lee Kang-moon; Sibling, Lee Do-yeon; Sibling, Lee Ju-seong.
Education: Completed Ph.D. program in Business Administration at Stanford University.
There was also a small picture attached next to the profile with only the very basic information indicated.
It was the same picture Heong-seo had seen when he first searched for his name in his room.
The same picture that he had once expressed dissatisfaction with, saying it made him look like a mundane salaryman commuting to Yeouido. It was the promotional picture chosen by the PR department, so he couldn’t do anything about it, but he didn’t like it. He looked slightly awkward, like a boy with a hidden secret trying to appear composed.