8
“Now, I understand your confusion. Let’s calm down and talk things through slowly.”
The hospital room was quiet after the commotion had passed. I sat curled up on the bed, wrapped in a blanket over the hospital gown I’d been forcibly dressed in.
The man who had been causing an uproar, saying I was completely insane and needed to be sedated, had disappeared at some point, and his place was now taken by a doctor in a white coat.
The doctor had beads of sweat on his forehead, as if he’d rushed over. Though he was asking me to remain calm, his face was so pale that I thought perhaps it was the doctor who needed to be calmed down.
“I’m not crazy, I tell you. It’s this hospital that’s strange. Completely insane. Does this make any sense? My face, my entire body—none of it is mine. How can you change a person into someone else? This is impossible.”
“So, Cha Sukyung-ssi. Are you claiming that you are not Cha Sukyung?”
“I’m not claiming anything—I’m not Cha Sukyung. I’m Min Jaehee. I don’t even know who Cha Sukyung is. Is Cha Sukyung the name of the guy whose face I now have? I’ve only met him a few times; I don’t even know his name.”
“Hmm. I see. I understand Cha Sukyung-ssi’s claim well enough.”
“I’m not Cha Sukyung!”
Are you even listening to what I’m saying? When I said I’m not Cha Sukyung, he says he understands Cha Sukyung’s claim. If he truly understood, why would he keep calling me Cha Sukyung? What nonsense is this?
“Y-yes. Min Jaehee-ssi. Let’s talk calmly. Then, why do you claim to be Min Jaehee?”
“If I am Min Jaehee, why are you asking me why I claim to be Min Jaehee? What should I answer? Doctor, what’s your name? If I asked you to give reasons why you are who you are, how would you answer? Ask questions that make sense. Think before you ask.”
The doctor sweated profusely at my sharp retort. After several awkward throat clearings, he barely managed to continue.
“Well, let’s approach this from a different perspective. How long has Min Jaehee-ssi been Min Jaehee? That is… when did you start thinking that you were Min Jaehee and not Cha Sukyung?”
“What nonsense. I’ve always been Min Jaehee. I’ve been Min Jaehee since birth. This guy was saying he didn’t want to live and tried to jump off a pedestrian overpass. I tried to grab him to save him, but we both fell. And when I woke up, the people at this hospital had given me plastic surgery to look like him. Could you explain what kind of madness this is? I’m the one who doesn’t understand. I’m the one going crazy with frustration. Is that your goal? Are you really trying to drive me insane so you can lock me up in a mental institution?”
“T-there’s no way that’s the case. We can understand the situation calmly through conversation. Now, take another deep breath…”
“Damn your deep breaths—they don’t help at all. Do you know how many deep breaths I’ve taken since I opened my eyes? How many times I’ve taken deep breaths since the moment I realized my balls were gone?”
With each shout from me, the doctor’s face grew increasingly ashen. Though I knew I was taking out my frustrations on an innocent person, I couldn’t say the doctor was entirely blameless for crawling in here and saying things that only irritated me more.
“I am not Cha Sukyung. Even though I have this face, I’m not Cha Sukyung. It seems like Cha Sukyung and his family have conspired to change my face to Cha Sukyung’s, and I don’t know what they’re planning, but do they think I’ll just accept it? Is this how you treat someone whose life you’ve saved—turning them into this? I’ll send them all to prison. I’ll make sure this hospital shuts down!”
“Cha Sukyung-ssi, please calm—”
“Min Jaehee! It’s Min Jaehee, Min Jaehee. My name is Min Jaehee! Call me Cha Sukyung one more time, and I’ll make your balls go missing too.”
Then you might be able to empathize with at least one of my damned situations. At my warning mixed with threat, the doctor shifted his buttocks slightly backward and pressed his knees together.
“I understand, Min Jaehee-ssi. Then why do you think Cha Sukyung-ssi and his family changed you to look like Cha Sukyung?”
“How would I know? When I opened my eyes, I was already like this. I’m the one who wants to ask: why did they turn me into this after I saved their son’s life? Shouldn’t you be asking this question to Cha Sukyung and his father, who’s supposedly the hospital director, not to me? Great. Since you brought it up, let’s go ask. You’re curious too, right, Doctor? Come on, get up. Let’s go hear the answer.”
Why was I sitting here arguing with a psychiatrist who had nothing to do with this? Somehow I felt like I’d been diverted. I was just wasting my energy.
I threw off the blanket wrapped around me and got down from the bed. The doctor hesitated as he looked at me. Why are you looking at me like that? I said let’s go. I pointed toward the door with my finger, expressing my intention with my gaze, but the doctor quietly shook his head.
“Well, Cha Su—I mean, Min Jaehee-ssi. I understand what you’re saying. But you know that your view differs from that of your guardian outside, don’t you?”
“Why is that person my guardian? I don’t even know that man. Is it okay for this hospital to arbitrarily designate someone with no relationship to the patient as a guardian and let them make decisions about patient treatment? This hospital gets more outrageous by the minute.”
If someone were to investigate, a lot of dirt would come out. Right? I twisted my lips into a crooked smile as I spoke, and the doctor let out a low sigh.
“The patient is currently in an agitated state. You know that, don’t you? First, try to calm your mind. I’ll go out and talk to your guardian—”
“He’s not my guardian.”
“Yes, yes. Then, the person claiming to be your guardian. I’ll talk with him and come back. In the meantime, please try to collect yourself. Understand? Don’t get excited, just stay calm.”
“Fine. Go talk with that fraudster who claims to be my guardian. I’m also curious about what that person has to say.”
With my permission, the doctor left the room as if escaping. Since the man’s secretary and the caregiver had also left with the man, I was alone in the room.
I could easily guess what the man would do by calling the caregiver outside. Probably trying to silence her. But that’s a bit problematic. If I end up filing a lawsuit later, wouldn’t that caregiver need to testify?
But if I sue, would my occupation be an issue? No, even though I’m a pickpocket, that doesn’t mean I should be subject to crime. I also have the right to be protected by the law.
I got up from the bed, paced around the empty room, and opened the refrigerator door. Before any tests or whatever, I was thirsty. I took out one of the drinks filling the refrigerator and gulped it down.
What would that man say to the doctor? Since the doctor worked at his hospital, there was a high possibility they would be in cahoots. Should I escape from the hospital first? I couldn’t trust anyone in this hospital.
What should I do? What do they want from me? No matter how much I racked my brain, the situation seemed bleak.
While I was anxiously pacing around the room, the door burst open with a bang. The man who had been outside the room entered, fuming, after having some kind of conversation with the doctor.
“This isn’t helping. The guardian knows this too.”
“I can no longer stand by and watch that bastard’s insane behavior. Now he’s gone so far as to bring shame on the family without any sense of embarrassment.”
“The ones who don’t know embarrassment are you people. You’ve reduced me to this state, and you expected me to stay quiet?”
I delivered a sharp rebuke to the man who was arguing with the doctor, but the man only glared at me with a face showing not the slightest remorse.
“You say you’re the guy who fell from the overpass with him? Do you even know where that guy is now? There’s a limit to how much you can pretend to be crazy.”
“Pretending to be crazy? That’s rich. Who’s the one who did the crazy thing here, and now you’re making me out to be the crazy one?”
“Enough! I can’t stand to look at you anymore. If I show you with your own eyes, maybe you’ll stop this insanity. Though I don’t know what nonsense you’ll spout to give me a headache afterward. Fine, follow me. I’ll show you. I’ll show you where and how this Min Jaehee, whom you claim to be, currently is.”
The man gestured for me to follow, wiggling his finger. Though I didn’t know what he intended to show, I decided to follow him for now. I boldly approached the man, and he opened the door and walked out.
“This isn’t good for the patient either. If he receives any more shock here…”
“Who knows? Maybe the shock will bring him back to his senses. I don’t think things can get worse than this current state. Your job is done. You can either follow us or return to your office, do as you please. But I’ll be reporting today’s events exactly as they happened to the hospital director.”
How can every single word be so rude? Tsk tsk, as I clicked my tongue, the man looked at me and let out a hollow laugh.
“Fine. First, let me show you how insane this guy’s claims are.”
The man began to stride ahead, and the doctor, the man’s attendant, and I followed him.
We got into the elevator, and the man pressed a button for some basement floor. No words were exchanged inside the elevator. The attendant silently kept his place, the doctor was busy watching the man’s reactions, the man stared at the tightly closed elevator doors, and I kept glancing around, not knowing what the man was up to.
“Get out.”
“I was going to get out even if you didn’t tell me. Stop speaking in that commanding tone.”
The man clenched his fist at my retort. His splendid face became even more splendidly furrowed, which somehow gave me a satisfying feeling.
Perhaps because we were in the basement, the surrounding air was cool. Our footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, and when we arrived after winding through several turns, someone approached, flustered by our unexpected visit.
“I’m the hospital director’s wife. Confirm it with the hospital director if needed. There’s a body that came in yesterday from the pedestrian overpass, right? Take it out and show us.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
