Episode 2: A Strange Appearance
When Baek Dong-ha opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the white ceiling of a hospital room.
‘…A dream?’
He didn’t know how long he had been lost in sleep.
But Baek Dong-ha clearly remembered Jo Hak-ju’s final words:
“These children here are not yours.”
It must have been a dream.
It had to be a dream.
No, it was a dream.
His frail body must have conjured up a delusion.
Baek Dong-ha moved only his eyes to survey his surroundings.
Then, he noticed a strange schoolgirl in a uniform sitting beside his bed.
‘A caregiver?’
Most likely a caregiver.
He wasn’t sure why they’d hired a student, but there were many young people supporting their families out there.
Hiring a student was probably some kind of social gesture from a chaebol, good for public image.
At that moment, the schoolgirl, who had been fiddling with her phone, noticed Baek Dong-ha was awake.
As their eyes met, Baek Dong-ha thought to himself, ‘If you see I’m awake, call my family and Jo Hak-ju, quickly!’
Meanwhile, the schoolgirl blinked in surprise, put the phone to her ear, and started talking to someone.
“Mom, he’s awake! He’s awake!”
Mom?
Not Jo Hak-ju, but Mom?
As he was processing this, the hospital room door burst open, and an unfamiliar woman rushed in, tears streaming down her face.
Baek Dong-ha was thrown into confusion again.
The woman threw her arms around him, crying out in a sorrowful voice,
“Jin-woo!”
Who was Jin-woo, and who was this unfamiliar woman?
Baek Dong-ha tried to speak, to tell her she was mistaken.
But he couldn’t.
His weakened body could barely move his lips, and his strength was at its limit.
Held in the woman’s embrace, Baek Dong-ha had no choice but to slip back into sleep, against his will.
***
Days passed.
Baek Dong-ha spent most of his time asleep.
His stamina was nearly depleted, and even moving a single finger was a struggle.
During the brief moments he was awake, he made an effort to move.
Thanks to that, he regained a bit of strength.
Baek Dong-ha strained to sit up, his arms trembling as he gritted his teeth and finally managed to prop himself up.
Sitting upright, he looked around.
He was alone.
The outspoken schoolgirl and the overly affectionate woman were nowhere to be seen.
‘Where the hell am I…?’
This was definitely not the hospital room he had been in.
Baek Dong-ha had been in the VIP room at Jinbaek Hospital, but this was just an ordinary single room.
‘I need to find out.’
Figuring out what was going on was his top priority.
To do that, he needed to meet Jo Hak-ju.
Only then could he sort out this situation.
Baek Dong-ha gripped the bed’s safety rail to climb down.
But something felt off.
The life support devices that had been dangling around him were gone.
And instead of his wrinkled hands, he saw young, smooth ones.
‘Wait, these… are my hands?’
He looked again, and it was the same.
Still smooth hands.
Baek Dong-ha touched his face.
‘No wrinkles?’
The sensation of his skin felt vivid and soft.
He frowned.
‘What’s going on?’
Something extraordinary had clearly happened.
Baek Dong-ha hurriedly got out of bed.
Stumbling, he made his way to a mirror.
He didn’t know what was happening, but an overwhelming urge to look in the mirror gripped him.
The moment he saw his reflection, his heart nearly stopped from the shock.
The person in the mirror wasn’t Baek Dong-ha.
It was an emaciated young man, skin and bones.
“What is this…?”
At that moment, the door opened, and the schoolgirl walked in.
“You’re up? The doctor said you’re okay now, so just rest.”
As the schoolgirl brushed past him, Baek Dong-ha grabbed her arm.
“Who are you?”
The schoolgirl shook her head as if exasperated.
“What? Are you cosplaying amnesia now?”
“…Cosplaying?”
Cosplay—a word he’d heard somewhere before.
He was trying to recall its exact meaning when the schoolgirl’s voice cut through.
“Whatever. If you’re done with the cosplay, just lie down and sleep.”
The schoolgirl pulled out her phone and sat on the chair beside the bed.
Ignoring Baek Dong-ha, she immersed herself in the world of her smartphone.
“Hey, kid?”
“What?”
Baek Dong-ha asked, but the girl didn’t even glance his way.
Her fingers moved busily, as if she were texting someone.
“I asked, who am I?”
“You know it’s embarrassing, so stop with the cosplay.”
“Kid?”
Now, she didn’t even bother responding.
Baek Dong-ha, watching her, let out a sigh.
He wanted to ask nicely.
But it seemed words alone wouldn’t get him answers.
He slowly clenched his fist.
As expected, he had no strength.
His body could barely manage to walk.
But this much strength was enough to teach her some manners.
Baek Dong-ha approached the girl.
“When an adult is speaking, you don’t just—”
“I told you to sleep!”
In that moment, Baek Dong-ha snatched the phone from her hands.
As the girl jumped to her feet, he flung open the window without hesitation.
She shouted in a sharp voice,
“What are you doing?!”
Baek Dong-ha waved the phone toward the window, his voice cold.
“What happens if I throw this out?”
“What?”
“Answer me. What happens?”
The girl’s eyes wavered.
She realized her precious phone was being held hostage.
If Baek Dong-ha threw it, the phone would surely shatter.
Her voice trembled.
“W-Wait… let’s talk. Talk…”
A smile crept onto Baek Dong-ha’s lips.
He wanted to give her a good smack but held back.
Hitting a young student wouldn’t suit his dignity.
“Then answer. Who am I?”
The girl bit her lip, clearly frustrated.
Her fierce expression somehow seemed cute.
***
A little later,
Holding the phone hostage seemed to have worked.
The girl was now obediently answering Baek Dong-ha’s questions.
“So… you’re saying I’m your brother, and that woman is our mother?”
“Yeah.”
“My name is Lee Jin-woo, and I’m twenty-six?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Your name is Lee Hyun-ji, a high school student, and you’re my sister?”
“Yes! How many times do I have to say it? I’m your sister! Your sister!”
“Sister…”
It made even less sense.
A girl he’d never seen was his sister, and a much younger woman was his mother.
And he, who was nearly seventy, was now supposedly twenty-six…
“Rejuvenated, huh.”
Baek Dong-ha muttered, shaking his head.
‘Am I dreaming?’
The situation was unscientific and unreal.
It had to be a dream.
No, it was highly likely a dream.
Ever since he heard Jo Hak-ju’s nonsense, he must have been dreaming this whole time.
That was the only explanation that made sense.
With that thought, Baek Dong-ha spoke.
“Keep going.”
“You’re a police officer…”
This young man, Lee Jin-woo, was a police officer.
In high school, he was a hikikomori obsessed with games and anime, but after serving in the military, he seemed to have gotten his act together.
“You prepared for the police exam right after and passed.”
“And then?”
“You went on patrol and ran into some thugs…”
“Did I end up in the hospital fighting them?”
“No, you got scared of the thugs and ran away, but then…”
Lee Jin-woo had been hit by a car that came out of an alley.
The problem was, the incident made it to the news.
[Cop Flees from Thugs in Fear]
[Police Abandon Citizens]
[Police Lose Public Trust—Who Can the People Rely On?]
Reporters swarmed to cover the pathetic cop, and apparently, Hyun-ji’s face ended up on the news as well.
That was why she had been so prickly.
“But seriously, you really don’t remember? You’re not just pretending because it’s embarrassing?”
Baek Dong-ha shook his head.
“I didn’t say you could ask questions. Just answer.”
Hyun-ji nodded sharply, like a disciplined soldier.
“Yes!”
Baek Dong-ha began asking the question that truly mattered.
“Baek Dong-ha, the chairman?”
“Huh?”
“Baek Dong-ha.”
“Who’s that?”
“The chairman of Jinbaek.”
“Jinbaek’s chairman? Why do you care about him? He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“What?”
“His funeral’s today, I think.”
“Dead? He’s really dead?!”
Hyun-ji picked up the remote and turned on the TV.
The screen showed Baek Dong-ha’s funeral in progress.
It was a five-day funeral, and today was the final day.
Every news channel was broadcasting specials about Baek Dong-ha’s funeral all day long.
– “Chairman Baek Dong-ha founded Jinbaek Investment Finance at thirty-five…”
As the anchor droned on about Baek Dong-ha’s life, the camera panned to his wife, Jin Woo-ryung’s face.
– “Mrs. Jin Woo-ryung expressed her heart-wrenching pain…”
In that moment, Baek Dong-ha realized.
This wasn’t some damned dream—it was a cruel reality.
Jo Hak-ju and Jin Woo-ryung had been involved, and Baek Dong-ha had been raising someone else’s children like a cuckoo’s foster parent.
“Damn it…”
Baek Dong-ha tossed Hyun-ji’s phone onto the bed.
He began pacing with a restless expression.
He wanted to storm into Jinbaek right then and there.
But in this body, there was nothing he could do.
If he showed up, they’d just call him a lunatic.
After pacing for a while, Baek Dong-ha asked again.
“He’s really dead? This isn’t a dream, it’s reality, right?”
Hyun-ji didn’t answer.
She just stared at him blankly.
And she thought to herself, ‘Is he crazy?’
Come to think of it, this accident had been pretty serious.
The doctors had even warned them to prepare for the worst.
With bloodshot eyes, Baek Dong-ha asked again.
“I’m asking if I’m really dead!”
He was walking around on two legs, yet asking if he was dead.
Now she was certain.
He was crazy.
It was a relief her brother had woken up, but having a cop brother who fled from thugs was embarrassing.
And now, she had a crazy brother.
“Answer me! Am I dead?!”
“No, you’re alive.”
“Then what am I?”
“You’re my brother.”
Hyun-ji answered with utmost kindness.
She figured there was no point in provoking a crazy person.
For now, she had to treat him gently.
“I’m your brother?”
“Yeah, my crazy brother… I mean, the best brother in the world.”
Hyun-ji flashed a bright smile at Baek Dong-ha.
***
Time passed.
Baek Dong-ha was often in a daze.
The hospital gave a simple diagnosis of his condition.
“Amnesia. We’ll monitor his progress…”
And so, Baek Dong-ha was discharged, following the woman who claimed to be his mother.
The place he was to live in was a small apartment on the outskirts of Gyeonggi-do, in an area so rundown it wouldn’t be surprising to see rats.
And it wasn’t even a lease—it was a monthly rental.
“This is your room.”
The tiny room didn’t even have a bed.
Just a single desk.
“Do you remember anything?”
The woman asked cautiously, hoping Baek Dong-ha’s memories would return.
She thought seeing a familiar room might trigger something.
But Baek Dong-ha wasn’t Lee Jin-woo.
He couldn’t recall or remember anything.
“Nothing…”
The woman gave a warm smile and patted his back.
“It’s okay. Just rest for now.”
With that, she left the room.
The door closed, and Baek Dong-ha sat at the desk.
He turned his gaze to the mirror hanging on the wall.
This face still felt unfamiliar.
But he had to accept it.
He was no longer Baek Dong-ha—he had to live as Lee Jin-woo now.
“Lee Jin-woo…”
Staring at his reflection, Baek Dong-ha muttered.
“I am Lee Jin-woo.”
He resolved to become Lee Jin-woo.
And he vowed.
Someday, no matter when, he would make Jo Hak-ju and his family see hell.
In the mirror, Jin-woo’s eyes glinted coldly.