CNC Ch 7

Outside the hospital building, a small smoking area at the end of a short walking path was surrounded by trees. The cicadas’ cries were loud as if they knew summer was coming to an end. Thanks to that, they could momentarily forget that they were in the city.

There were five or six benches in the roofed smoking area. Perhaps due to the midday heat, there were only three people smoking, including Yong-jae.

Yong-jae sat on a bench diagonally across from two guys in patient gowns, who were holding cigarettes between their fingers and staring at their phones. These guys, who barely looked eighteen, had their hair bleached to a pale yellow.

Yong-jae often felt a surge of anger when he witnessed scenes like this, as he had been an athlete, a baseball player, up until high school. He was accustomed to strict team discipline. When he saw scenes like this, he felt an urge to give them a piece of his mind. He usually had a gentle and patient demeanor, but in situations like this, he found it difficult to keep his composure.

“Leave it. Kids these days don’t listen to you.”

“…”

Someone came over and pressed his shoulder, then plopped down on the bench next to him. It was CEO Lim. How did CEO Lim know he was going to go and say something? Yong-jae glanced at CEO Lim with his narrow, slit-like eyes.

“Those punks don’t even flinch when they see your size. They’re the type who live without a care.”

CEO Lim undid his jacket and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket before loosening his tie. Either because of the heat or just his naturally rugged appearance, his face was deeply furrowed.

“What does the doctor say?”

“There is nothing wrong according to the test results.”

“Then why…”

CEO Lim lit his cigarette and exhaled a long plume of smoke into the air before replying lethargically.

“They say there could be something like this even if there’s nothing physically wrong. They explained it all in difficult terms… Something about the mind, you know.”

He took another drag of the cigarette and continued.

“Anyway, they said it’s a relief that there’s nothing wrong physically. They said there’s a good chance it’ll naturally get better with time.”

“…” 

Yong-jae nodded in agreement with a stoic expression, and CEO Lim tilted his head to the side as he puffed on his cigarette.

“But, you know…”

“Yes?”

“Why did it have to be Choi Hong-seo of all people?”

“…”

“Did Hye-an have any contact with that guy, Choi Hong-seo? Did they secretly hang out or something without me knowing?”

Yong-jae shook his head. He found it strange himself.

“No. Before hyung left ‘Titan,’ the only interaction they had was greeting each other when they ran into each other on music shows or something. And that happened only a few times.”

“Even though Choi Hong-seo was doing well at that time, he wasn’t a top star yet. There’s no reason for Yoon Hye-an to be jealous of a guy who wasn’t even a top star. No matter how I think about it, I don’t understand why it had to be Choi Hong-seo, a guy we barely knew.”

“By the way, some people said that those two looked similar.”

“Really? They looked alike? I don’t really see it.”

CEO Lim tilted his head with a more puzzled expression.

“Both of them are tall, and their facial features seem cold, but they become cute when they smile. Some people say they resemble each other.”

CEO Lim had a doubtful expression.

“When was the last time that Hye-an smiled in front of the camera, even if it was just an act? I can’t recall when he ever did that. After meeting Chairman Jo, he started acting all poised and sat with his lips sealed, behaving all arrogant and stuff everywhere he goes. But Choi Hong-seo was different from the beginning, he does everything he’s told by every program to get his group to show up.”

CEO Lim chuckled and took a drag of his cigarette before blowing out smoke along with his words.

“Well, Choi Hong-seo was also Mr. X with that face. Considering what Choi Hong-seo did behind the scenes with that face, the two might look alike.”

“Still, it was concluded that Choi Hong-seo was the victim.”

“Do you believe in trial results? Just because a trial says someone is a victim, does that make them one? Everyone has a past, right? He even worked at a host bar, so he couldn’t have been that innocent from the start.”

“But being not innocent doesn’t equate to committing a crime.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

CEO Lim’s face expressed his frustration as he looked Yong-jae up and down.

“Moreover, that host bar job was orchestrated by this guy named CEO Myeong right from the beginning. After that, he systematically cornered him, you know. Well, with all his weaknesses exposed, it becomes impossible to escape. Choi Hong-seo wasn’t the only one who fell victim to those tactics.”

“Since when did you start using such sophisticated language, talking about systematic and all that?”

“I’ve been paying close attention because this incident happened in the industry I work in. Just because someone works in the entertainment industry doesn’t mean they should be exploited like that.”

Yong-jae offered his timid defense, but CEO Lim clicked his tongue and raised an eyebrow.

“You’re all good, but you’re too soft. What’s the use of a nice guy working in this line of work?”

With a nonchalant look that seemed to say he didn’t care about other people’s business, CEO Lim took another drag from his cigarette.

“Anyway, why did it have to be Choi Hong-seo all of a sudden?”

“Hye-an had quite the pride in his looks. Some people occasionally said they looked alike, so he paid a bit of attention to him, but it wasn’t anything serious. There was really no significant connection between them.”

“If he’s going to claim to be someone else, I hope he changes that guy’s personality.”

There was some relief now that Yoon Hye-an had regained consciousness, but it was only temporary.

Over the past few days, the patient had insisted that he was Choi Hong-seo not Yoon Hye-an. He cried, screamed, got angry, and begged them to believe him. As a result, the patient had to undergo various detailed neurological and psychological tests.

“He’s been like that for days now, and I’m starting to think he’d be better off just lying down with his eyes closed.”

After spitting out a short rant, CEO Lim stood up from the bench. How could he say something so terrifying? Yong-jae also glanced at CEO Lim’s broad back and stood up after him.

Picking up his jacket that had been thrown over the bench and dusting it off, CEO Lim suddenly spoke toward the opposite bench.

“Students.”

The two guys with their noses buried in their cell phones reflexively looked over. Lim smiled and gestured with his chin to the butts on the ground.

“You should throw the cigarette butts in the ashtray.”

“…”

“Hurry up?”

The guys frowned. He wasn’t telling them not to smoke, but he was telling them to put their butts in an ashtray. They looked dumbfounded. After alternating glances at the two burly men, they slowly picked up the butts with reluctant faces and threw them into the ashtray.

Only then did CEO Lim smile with satisfaction and start walking toward the hospital building. Someone he didn’t even know. Yong-jae shook his head and followed.

When they entered the hospital room, the patient was standing by the window, rummaging through the drawers in the cabinet. CEO Lim cautiously stepped into the room, not wanting to agitate the patient.

“Hye-ah… No, right, it’s Hong-seo. How are you feeling today?”

Choi Hong-seo paused and fixed his gaze on CEO Lim’s face. No one had listened to him the past few days, no matter how much he insisted that he was Choi Hong-seo, not Yoon Hye-an.

What he saw in the mirror was definitely Yoon Hye-an’s face.

At this point, he was starting to wonder if he was going insane. Maybe he convinced himself that he was Choi Hong-seo during the accident, but now, after everything that had happened, how could he still believe that? That thought had crossed his mind.

However, he remembered everything related to Choi Hong-seo too clearly. Date of birth, family relationship, debut date and activity history… All the information he found on the Internet matched his own memories.

On the other hand, he had no memory of Yoon Hye-an.

As someone in the same industry, he had heard simple information and rumors from here and there. Just in case, he looked through Yoon Hye-an’s Wikipedia carefully, but he didn’t even feel like he could remember anything.

However, as the days passed, Choi Hong-seo had come to accept one thing.

No matter how much he argued that he was not Yoon Hye-an to them, even if he laid out every piece of information and memory related to Choi Hong-seo, no one would ever see him as anything but Yoon Hye-an.

It was inevitable.

Someone else’s soul can inhabit someone else’s body.

If someone claimed the same about himself, he would probably be considered insane. It was a story not fit for TV entertainment programs that go searching for strange people. As long as he didn’t end up in a mental hospital, that would be a relief.

So he resigned himself to it.

Even if he sat in this hospital room and wrote down Choi Hong-seo’s entire life journey, their minds wouldn’t change. It wouldn’t be evidence that he was Choi Hong-seo; instead, it would be evidence that he was a stalker of Choi Hong-seo.

“I, I want to be discharged.”

“Discharged? Why?”

“They say there’s nothing wrong with my legs, and there’s nothing wrong with my head either, so there’s no reason for me to stay here. Plus, it’s a waste of hospital bills.”