“I’ll give you some time. Try to persuade your father. And if you can’t resolve it on your end, don’t forget that I’ll have to step in.”
“…I understand.”
“As I’ve already told you, I don’t have the capacity to be considerate of others now. I will get your father’s cooperation by any means necessary, Taeui-ssi, and if you don’t want him to go through the worst possible outcome in the process, you’d better do your best.”
Hearing my warning, Taeui nodded, the color draining from his face a little. He must have realized that my words weren’t lies or empty threats. No matter how oblivious or indifferent he might be, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize my ruthlessness.
“…Isn’t it exhausting to live like that?”
Taeui looked somewhat tired of me, but since I had expected that reaction, it wasn’t all that surprising.
After entrusting Taeui with the matter regarding his father, I immediately began searching for the original footage. I had to find the place where my past self had hidden it, based on the contents of the letter I remembered.
The letter left for Cha Woon, instructing him to check it “
If something happens to Jo Inchan
” actually contained no clear information. It simply said that I had left something useful and told him to recall what I had mentioned before. That was pretty much all there was to it.
I probably did it on the off-chance that someone other than Cha Woon might get hold of the original first.
‘No wonder Lim Seunghoon and Kang Hyukwoo haven’t found the original video yet, I didn’t write anything down properly…..’
In the light of the current situation, this was fortunate, but I wasn’t sure whether to praise myself for it or not.
Because I couldn’t remember where I had hidden the important original.
‘Did Han Seungbeom tamper with my memory again?’
I had no idea what Han Seungbeom’s intentions were in tampering with my memories.
In order to make a guess, there should be at least some clues. It was incredibly frustrating to header to the ground
1
without any information. However, I couldn’t blame Han Seungbeom, so I calmly started thinking again.
Just because I couldn’t remember didn’t mean I should give up.
If I carefully thought about the mindset and conditions under which I hid it, I should be able to find some kind of clue.
“…….”
First of all, I realized that I wouldn’t have left it somewhere that anyone could easily access.
‘By some miraculous coincidence, an unrelated third party might find the original…….’
I left the letter to prepare for the possibility that Kang Hyukwoo would once again abuse the video, or that he would, like a water ghost
2
, try to drown Prism in his legal troubles with him. Then why did I bother to leave such a letter instead of simply handing over the original to the members? The reason was obvious.
I didn’t want the members of Prism to know what had happened to Jo Inchan.
Considering that even my memory of the original video was erased, it likely contained something extremely shocking, enough to affect my mental state. And if that assumption was correct, I had a rough idea of how the members would react.
First, Jo Inchan.
The last time I saw Jo Inchan, he was screaming in frustration and helplessness as he watched the other members rise to the spotlight. If I were to completely expose his lowest point in front of them, there was no telling how the situation would change.
Given that the members were still in the dark about what had happened to Jo Inchan, he seemed to want to keep it hidden from them until the very end.
‘If the members end up seeing the original video in the midst of all this, Jo Inchan will…..’
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head as I remembered the distant sight far below the building.
No. That was truly the worst-case scenario.
And I knew there was no way the members of Prism would stay still.
In the first place, why do you think I haven’t told Jay everything yet? Isn’t it because I’m afraid he might impulsively harm Kang Hyukwoo?
“I’m calm! There’s nothing wrong with me! Hyung, are you looking at me like I’m weird too?”
I let out a groan, recalling Jay’s frantic rage as he brandished a shard of the broken vase, looking like he was going to do one of two things: kill me or kill himself.
‘He’s been taking his medications regularly these days, so he’s a little quieter…….’
People who only see what’s shown on the broadcast would dismiss my concerns as nonsense or excessive worry, but I didn’t need to listen to the words of those who were fixated on appearances and blind to the rot beneath.
Even if we leave out that one guy who’s exceptionally impulsive, every single member of the Prism was a very strong-willed and emotional individual. On top of that, they were the type to be awfully protective of each other. Would those rascals really be able to act rationally after seeing that?
No, it was clear as day that they would become extremely agitated and immediately lash out at Kang Hyukwoo. Among Prism, the only one who might not even blink after seeing the video was Seo Yuseong.
“…Huh.”
With my head throbbing again, I placed my hand on it and, driven by the feeling of being chased, pushed myself to continue my thoughts.
‘To minimize variables and ensure I can hand the original video to the members at the right time, it would be safest to have someone else take care of it.’
Then the first person who came to mind was.
“…Choi Jeokhyeon.”
There were only three people I trusted and relied on enough to hand over the original.
Lim Seunghoon, Seo Yuseong, Choi Jeokhyeon.
However, since Kang Hyukwoo, who was in cahoots with Lim Seunghoon, was still frantically searching for the original video, he was clearly out of the question. That left me with two choices, and between Seo Yuseong and Choi Jeokhyeon, I just had a hunch that Choi Jeokhyeon was more plausible.
‘No matter how much I rely on him, I might not want to entrust something like that to my younger brother … Am I showing favoritism?’
It was also the best option, logically speaking, because even if Kang Hyukwoo died, he would never be able to rob Choi Jeokhyeon’ house or threaten him to get the original video.
‘Let’s call him.’
I muttered to myself and took out my phone.
Choi Jeokhyeon already knew my identity, and contacting him was incredibly easy. There was nothing to lose, so even though there were some things that bothered me, I figured I should at least give him a call.
Having organized my thoughts, I was about to press the speed dial number when I hesitated.
‘…Choi Jeokhyeon is the one who had the original video all this time but pretending he didn’t.’
I couldn’t help but wonder whether Choi Jeokhyeon would willingly hand over the original video to me.
Choi Jeokhyeon didn’t even consider people he found uninteresting to be worth as much as trash on the street. He wouldn’t blink an eye even if the lives of Prism’s members fell into the abyss. So, would he really just stand by and watch as I dug into this matter for their sake? Especially when there was a chance I could be killed because of that video?
Thinking back to the fact that Han Seungbeom had erased my memories of the original video, it seemed unlikely.
‘How can I get Choi Jeokhyeon to hand it over?’
I absolutely had to get my hands on that footage. But if Choi Jeokhyeon refused to hand it over, everything would fall apart. I couldn’t just storm into a house full of bodyguards and turn a 200-
pyeong
3
mansion upside down. And what was I supposed to do about the safes in that house, when I had no idea how many there even were?
‘I probably entrusted it to him because he seemed the best at dealing with those idiots and their nonsense, but I probably never considered that it would come back to bite me.’
“…Haa.”
With a sigh that felt like my last breath, I tapped my phone. As always, the call was answered almost instantly, before the first ring had even finished.
“What’s going on? You’re calling me at this hour.”
The voice that came through the speaker sounded very affectionate, almost like it had a hint of laughter in it. The calmlness of his voice, in stark contrast to everything I had been through in the past few days, made me feel strangely detached. I unconsciously relaxed my tense nerves for a moment, but then quickly snapped back to reality.
No. Come to your senses.
After mentally steeling myself, I addressed him in a deliberately cold tone.
“…Choi Jeokhyeon.”
“Yeah, I’m listening.”
“How long are you planning on hiding it? The original video.”
It wasn’t a vague question like “
Do you have it
?”. Despite having no evidence other than a strong hunch, I spoke as if I was certain. As if I had remembered everything.
Choi Jeokhyeon must have guessed that there was something wrong with my memory.
Given how terribly I thought of Prism, it was definitely strange that I had never mentioned anything about Jo Inchan’s original video. Someone as perceptive as Choi Jeokhyeon must have sensed something was off. There was even a time when I directly asked him, “
Have there been any times when you couldn’t contact me?
“
The reason Choi Jeokhyeon kept trying to withhold information from me was because I must have forgotten certain
truth
. Every time I spoke about my vague memories, he never gave me any answers.
If I wanted to get the original video back from Choi Jeokhyeon, I just had to pretend my memories had returned. After all, there was no need to hide anything from someone who already knew what was in it.
“It seems like you were worried I might get shocked, but that kind of consideration wasn’t necessary.”
“…….”
“The most important thing to me is for the members of Prism to regain their peace. If you get in the way of that, you’re only making it harder for me, so give it back. Thank you for keeping it safe until now.”
If his response was something like “
What are you talking about?
“, that was fine by me. I could rule Choi Jeokhyeon out from the suspect list and resume my search for the original video. Right now, I would either obtain the original video from Choi Jeokhyeon or gain certainty that he had nothing to do with this matter.
“…….”
But Choi Jeokhyeon remained silent. As the silence stretched on, I gripped the phone pressed to my ear and began to rack my brain.
‘Was I barking up the wrong tree? Or is he pondering whether my memories has fully returned or not?’
If we had talked face-to-face, I could have at least guessed by looking at his expression. This guy was so hard to read. While I was feeling anxious with that thought, Choi Jeokhyeon finally answered.
“You don’t have to thank me. It was something I promised. It’s only natural.”
‘As expected, Choi Jeokhyeon has it.’
I frowned slightly at his answer.
He was fully aware that Cha Woon was being blackmailed by Kang Hyukwoo, and that I was working my fingers to the bone to resolve Jo Inchan’s issue, yet he kept his mouth shut the whole time? Even if he had no interest in the members of Prism, I never imagined he would hide it from me until things got this dire.
But I knew it was inappropriate for me to have such thoughts, as I was the one asking the favor, so I just kept my mouth shut.
What I asked of Choi Jeokhyeon was probably something like,
“If the members of Prism are in danger, they will come to you to find information about Jo Inchan. When that happens, hand over this material
“. Since the letter I left for Cha Woon was lost along the way, Cha Woon hadn’t come to Choi Jeokhyeon, and in the end, he hadn’t broken the promise.
“I’ll give you back the video if you follow a few conditions. Don’t worry.”
As I listened to Choi Jeokhyeon’ words while trying hard to control my seething emotions, I was suddenly struck by a feeling of unease.
Isn’t something strange?
That guy was so calm.
Despite the existence of a truth he was so keen to keep buried, he didn’t seem shaken at all when I told him that my memories had returned.
Is it because he’s originally someone who doesn’t show his emotions?
Just as I was trying to ignore the uneasiness creeping into my stomach at Choi Jeokhyeon’s attitude, he, uncharacteristically, paused to take a breath before speaking.
“Yutae-ya, even so, no matter the circumstances, please don’t lie to me from now on. I don’t like it.”
“…What lie are you talking about?”
And what followed was,
“….so fine.”
“What?”
“You’re so fine, Yutae-ya.”
His voice sounded like he was barely holding back his anger, or perhaps, like he was on the verge of falling apart.
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Translator’s Corner:
To header to the ground (맨땅에 헤딩):
an idiom to describe
trying something without any knowledge or experience
, basically something that seems impossible because you know nothing about it.
I want to say explain why, but tbh. I don’ know.
Header
here is
headin
g, the move in soccer, when you move the ball with your head. (Btw the ground here used here refers to bare ground, with no pavement.), The thing is, idk anything about soccer. I don’t know and I’m not interested at all … so I can’t explain. Good luck. ↩︎
Water ghost
is a ghost that lives in the water … okay, no. You know, in legends, water ghost would drag people into water and drown them.
You know one of the rule for people whose job is rescuing drowning bodies are, you don’t touch touch a drowning body that stands (?) in the water. Like. The body position is upight. Because urban legend says it’s a water ghost. That’s why if you see something like a hair in the surface of water, you shouldn’t touch it or else you’ll get pulled to drown.
But idk, I’m a coward so if I saw a body in the water, I would scream and get out of there asap. Others people can rescue it, I’m not interested in becoming a character of any genre … I’ll just live as NPC.
Okay, I got distracted. This sentence here means that MC is preparing if someday Kang Hyukwoo got into legal problems (because, duh, he ran illegal businesses), and in his desperate attempt, he would try to drag Prism with him so they’ll die together. ↩︎
A
pyeong
(평) (abbreviation py) is
a Korean unit of area and floorspace, equal to a square kan or 36 square Korean feet.
One pyeong is about 3.3058 square meters. ↩︎
Day 13 … omg, 13 is my favorite number
Sighs my luck strikes again, but well I’m not going to talk about it … here’s the last chapter to end January. Let’s hope February is a good month for everyone~
Who’s excited to watch the original video …. me not …..
Thank you Mielmonster for the Lightstick!