Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: Wojo
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So-hee, with wildly shaking eyes, said,
“Uh, so… What did you say?”
She tried to say something, but in the end, as if trying to organize her thoughts, she asked again.
“I’m saying that the Sara you know is not exactly the same as the one standing in front of you right now. To be precise, I am ‘Sara’, but she is another existence. You all probably think of her as Sara.”
“Uh, uh…?”
At ‘Sara’s’ deliberately convoluted words, So-hee made another unintelligible sound.
Watching the scene, Ha-neul ran a hand down her face.
“Simply put, Sara has two personalities. There’s the Sara we’ve known, and then this one is another ‘Sara.’”
“So… ah, so it’s something like multiple personalities, like what you see in movies or dramas?”
When So-hee barely managed to catch up with the conversation and asked that, both ‘Sara’ and Ha-neul nodded simultaneously.
“Then, what do you mean by ‘the original owner of that body’?”
Soo-ah, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, asked, and ‘Sara’ replied,
“It’s exactly what it sounds like. I am the personality who originally inhabited this body. The Sara you know entered my body later, or maybe ‘was born’ would be more accurate. Either way, that’s what happened.”
“Since when?”
When Soo-ah asked further, ‘Sara’ shrugged her shoulders once and said,
“Probably from the moment I took the medicine.”
“…”
The room was enveloped in silence.
“You don’t need to look so serious. It’s not like I actually died. We’re here, talking like this, so isn’t that what really matters?”
“No, that’s not the point…”
Ha-neul, who had been clutching her head in frustration, and Soo-ah, who was deep in thought, were both too lost to respond.
So, So-hee spoke up, representing the group.
“What we’re focusing on is the fact that such a thing happened, so saying ‘it doesn’t matter’ seems a bit off…”
At So-hee’s words, ‘Sara’ stared at her as if she hadn’t expected So-hee to say something like that and said,
“Thanks to me taking the medicine back then, you guys were able to meet her, right? The same goes for me. So I don’t regret taking that medicine. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to live as I do now, and I wouldn’t have been able to speak properly in front of people.”
At the widening gap in understanding, So-hee seemed to be struggling to keep up.
“No, I mean, meeting us was lucky, but… Did you say you died once? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s literally what I said.”
However, her expression was a little more uncertain this time, as if she wasn’t entirely sure.
“I took the medicine, and… maybe, this body died once. In the process of being revived, I fell into a deep unconsciousness, and in the meantime, the Sara you know, who has no memories of me, started using my body.”
“So, you’re saying you’ve already been resurrected once?”
So-hee had now placed one hand on her head.
It seemed she couldn’t process all this information at once, especially since it didn’t conform to the logic of the world.
“That’s how I see it. And she thinks so too.”
“…”
Once again, silence filled the room.
This time, even Ha-neul was looking at ‘Sara’ with a slightly serious expression.
It wasn’t that she believed the story, but more like she was wondering, ‘Is she in her right mind?’
It was a story no ordinary person would believe.
Talking about resurrection seriously is something you’d expect from religious folks who take the Bible literally.
Even those people wouldn’t believe someone claiming to have resurrected.
‘What, does she think she’s Jesus?’
It wouldn’t be surprising if someone said something like that.
“Looks like none of you believe me.”
“Well…”
So-hee murmured, clearly troubled.
That was natural.
Everyone here liked Sara.
Probably, they wouldn’t change their feelings just because the person standing in front of them was this ‘Sara.’
But, no matter how much you like someone, you can’t believe every word they say, especially if it involves something supernatural.
Of course, if you think about it seriously for a moment, ‘the fact that you accidentally saw a girl’s underwear falling from the sky, and then it turned out that the girl was the richest teenager in the world and probably the future owner of the largest company in the world, and that you were getting paid 500 million won a year to work for her’, well, that’s already a fantasy story in itself.
A fantasy no one would believe unless they experienced it firsthand.
But humans tend not to believe things they find ‘unbelievable,’ unless they experience them directly.
“…The hospital test results said everything was normal that day.”
Ha-neul asked ‘Sara.’
Yes, the hospital had said she was normal.
If ‘Sara’ had died and come back to life, the hospital wouldn’t have just labeled her condition as normal and sent her home—it would’ve been something to report to the academic world.
“Didn’t you already know about that?”
When ‘Sara’ asked Ha-neul, Soo-ah and So-hee both turned their gazes toward Ha-neul at the same time.
“I did hear it, but I thought you had been in a coma and then woke up.”
“Oh, really?”
‘Sara’ accepted that as if it were no big deal.
“Can I ask why you believe that?”
For the first time, Ha-neul felt a slight chill as she asked ‘Sara,’ who was talking about her own death with no visible change in expression.
“Because of the bruises on my back.”
‘Sara’ said.
“When a person dies, blood pools in the back. It shows up on the skin as bruises. Naturally, a living person whose heart is still beating wouldn’t have it. Even if they were in a coma, that’s not the same as being dead, right?”
“…”
The room fell silent again.
‘Sara’ seemed to be enjoying the situation a little.
“But I’ve never been abused in a way that would cause such bruises. My stepmother never hit me. She actually thought of me as a delicate, precious jewel that could be scratched even with the slightest touch. That’s why she carefully crafted every aspect of my environment to keep me hidden, so that she alone could possess me.”
‘Sara’ shrugged her shoulders once.
“So, the only situation where I could have gotten a bruise like that was when I died and came back to life. I don’t know exactly how it happened, though.”
Then she turned her head slightly toward the door.
“Isn’t that right, maid?”
“…”
It was only then that the three people in the room realized the door had been slightly ajar the entire time.
The door creaked open with a sound.
Standing there was Yang Hye-in, her face clearly pale.
It was only then that everyone in the room realized it was still morning.
A very early time, before they had even eaten breakfast.
Yang Hye-in must have arrived at the room shortly after So-hee had come upstairs, ready for her tasks.
She had just been hesitating to come in.
“You were the first person to enter the room that day. Why don’t you tell us what happened? I’m curious too.”
‘Sara’ said with a bright smile.
“I was probably too busy screaming to remember.”
Silence.
No one made a sound, not even a breath.
‘Sara’s’ attitude was as if she were asking about something trivial, like, ‘Oh, what happened that day?’
Even the moment when she had decided to end her own life was insignificant to her.
No, to be more accurate, it wasn’t even ‘Sara’s’ experience to begin with.
If what she was saying was true, the Sara they knew had already awakened by that time.
“…I,”
Yang Hye-in tightly clenched her hands.
Her face remained expressionless, but that expression was fragile.
It looked like it could crack at any moment, revealing the emotion underneath.
“I smelled something.”
“Hmm.”
‘Sara’ placed a hand on her chin and said,
“That makes sense. I’ve heard that death doesn’t smell very pleasant.”
Apparently, some people release bodily fluids upon death.
As the muscles relax, so does the control over the sphincters.
The smell Yang Hye-in had detected was probably something like that.
“Still, you did a great job cleaning up. I heard there was no smell when I came back. Even the bed was replaced immediately—”
The ‘Sara’ who was calmly analyzing the situation wasn’t able to finish her sentence.
“—Ugh!”
Suddenly, something huge came at her.
It was soft and big enough to cover her entire face.
It was probably—
“Sara, I’m sorry…!”
…So-hee’s chest.
“Ugh, huh…?”
‘Sara,’ who hadn’t expected So-hee to rush at her, couldn’t comprehend what was happening for a moment.
“What is this…?”