Chapter 31

I want to wake Kwon Chae-woo. The thought of Kwon Chae-woo occupied him. She could think of nothing else.

“Really…again?” The police officer at the front door was bored. Lee-yeon was stressed. It didn’t matter how many calls she made, nothing ever changed. Every morning when she opened the door, she found roses at the porch. She could feel his tenacious gaze everywhere.

She ran in Hwang Jo-yoon multiple times a day. He seemed to be wherever she was. He would say hello to her. She wouldn’t respond. She was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

I should have called the police when he was clinging on my window. Filth, vile cockroach! Lee-yeon collected the fingerprints from the windowsill with tapes. She even bought and set up a trap for catching animals.

“As I said before, his face and identity cannot be confirmed by the CCTV cameras. Besides, several people other than the man also glanced at your house over the wall.”

“ What about the roses?”

“There is an alibi who can confirm that  Hwang Jo-yoon was already at his work at that time.”

Lee-yeon wiped her face, looking stressed. Her face darkened even more. “Then what am I supposed to do? You are the police! He watches me all day. You are supposed to help me.”

In the end, the police left without offering her any solution. A young policewoman who had been watching everything unfold came up to her. After making sure the policeman was in his car, she whispered to Lee-yeon.

“Local big-shots are involved in this case,” said the policewoman.

“What?” said Lee-yeon. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

“I went to Hospital D to check Hwang Jo-yoon’s alibi, but the authorities immediately contacted our police box, warning us not to mess with them.”

Lee-yeon’s fear had come true. She couldn’t respond.

“I’m sorry.” The policewoman looked at her sympathetically.Lee-yeon nodded. It was no surprise that Director Jo was trying to take advantage of his connections again.

“And there’s a record that you made a false report two years ago, so…” said the policewoman softly. Then she nodded a goodbye and left her. She was telling Lee-yeon that big-shots were involved, and her false report two years ago didn’t work in her favor at all.

So I shouldn’t do anything?

* * *

“Make up your mind before waking him up.” Choo-ja said unexpectedly seeing Lee-yeon in the room watching Kwon Chae-woo intently.

“What do you mean?”

Lee-yeon had become ragged. She had lost so much weight because of all the stress. Choo-ja looked at Lee-yeon with pity in her eyes.

“If you are going to use him, you should give something in return too.”

“What?”

“What I’m saying is that you should make up your mind. If you want to treat him like a murderer to the end, then it doesn’t matter. But if you seek his help… it complicates things.” Choo-ja looked into her eyes. “Forget about the old Kwon Chae-woo, no matter what he did. Treat him like a new man”

Lee-yeon looked at Choo-ja in shock. “He doesn’t remember who he is. His memory is wiped clean. He is nothing right now,” said Choo-ja. Lee-yeon wanted to leave the room.

***

A murderer is a murderer. It doesn’t matter whether he had the memory of the crime he had committed. It doesn’t erase the fact that he had killed someone and lee-yeon had seen him. Just because he doesn’t remember it doesn’t mean he hadn’t committed a crime. A person was dead. Knowing that eased Lee-yeon’s guilt of lying to Kwon Chae-woo a little.

But Choo-ja was telling Lee-yeon to take one step further. “Lee-yeon, that man doesn’t have any memory. Kwon Chae-woo is not the same person you saw at the mountain. He is a completely new person that neither you nor Kwon Chae-woo himself knows.”

So, Lee-yeon didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t as easy as Choo-ja said it was. He wasn’t a ‘new’ person. He was still who he was: A murderer.

If she woke him, it would be easy to convince him. Her problem would be solved if he threatened Hwang Jo-yoon. He would never show his face here again. But…

“I’ll stay in the office until morning.”

“But…”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” said Lee-yeon, “I need to clear my mind a bit.” Lee-yeon crossed the living room and went into the office.

Choo-ja heard a rustling sound, and she found Lee-yeon wearing her latex surgical gloves. It seemed like Lee-yeon was going to spend the whole night making a new fertilizer. She skillfully laid a plastic sheet on the table and pulled a black tin from the mini-fridge. Choo-ja closed the door and left her to her devices.

Choo-ja quietly opened Lee-yeon’s bedroom door. She looked at Kwon Chae-woo peacefully sleeping on the bed. She had recently received a call from the inquiry agency where she had put in a request to verify Kwon Chae-woo’s identity.

“Ma’am, please do not call here again. We are out of this! We do not require you to pay the rest of the inquiry fee. In fact, we will refund your whole money. Please do not contact us again.” The agency had hung up immediately after. When Choo-ja tried to contact them again, their number was out of service. It had confused her immensely.

She had found a clue regarding the mountain behind the Spruce Tree Hospital. The mountain, the unmanaged land around it and the surround trails was of a size equivalent to 1/4 of Hwaido. It was all owned by one person: Kwon Chae-woo.

“Lee-yeon… what kind of a man did you bring to this house?” murmured Choo-ja to herself.