But why was I holding the kitchen knife?
Get a grip.
This isn’t good.
Why was I holding the kitchen knife?
Was I going to stab soone?
Shihu?
Or the white-haired woman?
Hmm.
Cooking.
I was cooking, so maybe that's why I had it in my hand.
But the cooking finished hours ago, and there was nothing to chop with the knife.
So why was I holding it?
I need to snap out of this.
Why am I acting like this?
Maybe it's because I haven’t slept.
I haven’t slept.
I can’t afford to sleep if Shihu might sneak out again while I’m asleep.
Am I hurt sowhere?
I check the mirror.
I don’t look like I’m injured.
I’ve been taking the dicine Shihu gave regularly.
There’s nothing wrong.
I see the necklace.
It was a gift from Shihu.
"This..."
Honestly, I don’t care.
I wasn’t particularly interested in the necklace.
I’m not the type who likes to dress up.
"I don’t need this."
I’d rather just be together.
That’s better than receiving gifts.
Shihu told to
keep wearing it.
But now, I don’t want to anymore.
It feels suffocating.
How did I even take it off?
Click.
While I’m thinking about it, I hear the sound of the doorknob turning.
Shihu’s back.
He’s back sooner than I expected.
I rush to the front door to greet him.
"You’re back?"
It’s early.
He’s only been gone for less than 30 minutes.
So, that woman must have told him about .
That I had seen her.
I figured it would be sothing like this.
Is he feeling guilty about sothing?
"...Seo Ah, about yesterday..."
"Yeah."
Explain yourself.
"......"
"Hmm?"
It seems like he’s having trouble explaining.
He looks like he doesn’t know where to start.
"So..."
At this rate, I’ll have to bring it up myself.
I didn’t want to interrogate him like this.
"What’s your relationship with her?"
What could it be?
He doesn’t answer.
So, I keep asking.
Everything that’s been on my mind.
"She’s your coworker, right? What kind of coworker?"
"Why didn’t you tell ?"
"What were you doing yesterday? Why did you co back so late?"
"Is this because of ?"
"What kind of injection did you get? Tell ."
He doesn’t answer.
Why?
Is it really sothing so hard to explain?
"Ugh, I don’t need this necklace..."
Why don’t you just give it to her?
I try to take it off, but Shihu grabs my arm.
"No."
"...Huh?"
"Don’t take it off."
Why?
He’s reacting strangely to this.
It’s my choice to take it off, right?
"I don’t want it. I’m going to take it off."
"Listen to ."
"It’s suffocating. You gave it to as a gift, so it’s mine, right? I can do what I want with it."
Did I say sothing wrong?
It’s a problem if he doesn’t explain why I can’t take it off.
"No, keep wearing it."
"Huh?"
I don’t understand.
Why is he being so commanding about sothing so trivial?
If he tells not to do sothing, I just want to do it more.
Just as I’m about to take it off, Shihu grabs both my arms.
"I told you not to."
"Ugh."
His gaze is intense.
Shihu looks desperate.
"I’m doing this all for you."
"What do you an?"
"So please."
Is there sothing about the necklace?
Why is he looking so uneasy?
Is sothing going to happen if I take it off?
I don’t understand.
If he’s acting like this, I can’t take it off.
Then, I have a suggestion.
"Then, will you stay with ? I won’t take off the necklace."
"......"
"Hmm? What do you think?"
Is the necklace really that important?
I don’t understand anything.
But if I can be with Shihu, that’s all that matters.
"...Okay."
Shihu finally answers.
He’ll stay with .
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Then, I won’t ask anything more. We’ll just pretend everything didn’t happen."
That’s good, right?
Right?
I think it’s a good idea!
Shihu’s expression isn’t great.
Does he really not want to be with like this?
"Shihu?"
"......"
Without saying anything, Shihu takes sothing out.
"Shihu...?"
Shihu is holding a syringe.
Why?
Where did that co from?
"Shihu?"
A sense of foreboding hits , and I step back, trying to distance myself from him.
But my arm is grabbed.
"Shihu...?"
Sothing’s wrong.
He’s planning to use that syringe on .
It’s a syringe he seems to have prepared in advance.
"What... what are you trying to do? Huh?"
He’s trying to inject .
I don’t know what it is, but it feels like I shouldn’t let him do this.
But Shihu would never do sothing bad to .
His grip on my arm doesn’t loosen.
He seems to be hesitating about whether or not to use the syringe.
"I... I just... since you haven’t said anything, I’m worried about you, that’s all."
Did he catch holding the kitchen knife?
Did he realize sothing’s wrong with my mind?
My condition’s been strange lately.
So?
"Ah, uh... it’s..."
Shihu is doing sothing for .
Then, this must be for too.
I don’t know what kind of drug it is, but it must be sothing good for .
If it’s not, if he’s trying to hurt , if he’s just doing this because he doesn’t like ...
Then I’ll just die.
"Okay. I get it. Do what you want. Are you not going to tell what kind of syringe it is?"
"This is..."
"You’re not doing this because you don’t like , right?"
"Never."
I have to believe that Shihu is doing this for .
I shouldn’t entertain the idea of the opposite.
"Then, can’t you tell sothing? I’m scared."
"Ugh..."
Shihu hesitates.
"...It’s a drug that erases mories."
"What? mory?"
"Yeah."
Is he really going to use that on now?
Why?
Is telling this part of the reason?
If I forget, I won’t even rember that I was injected with sothing that erases my mory?
"...Why? Why mory?"
Why erase mories?
Wait, does that an all the weirdness in my mory is because of this drug?
My earlier guess about amnesia turns out to be right.
"What happened? How many tis have you used this on ?"
I’m scared.
What really happened?
"S-So, are you doing this because I saw that white-haired woman? You’re trying to make forget?"
I’m horrified.
This isn’t like him.
The mories that have been erased must have been important.
This isn’t the Shihu I know.
"Did I bother you with questions? Was it because I didn’t listen?"
If this is really erasing mories, that’s a pretty convenient way to handle things.
"...I’m sorry."
"You... you... this isn’t the Shihu I know..."
Shihu wouldn’t act like this.
Sothing’s gone terribly wrong.
"If I just found out a little bit, it could be like this... I’m sorry. Just hold on until everything is resolved. It’s almost over."
"Almost over?"
For the first ti, I see a glimr of hope in Shihu’s expression.
"...We’re almost at the happy ending."
A happy ending.
Well, if Shihu says so, I guess that’s how it is.
I have no idea what part of this is happy.
"It’s paradise. I’m going to create a paradise for us."
"Shihu, you..."
This is really strange.
Sothing is seriously wrong.
"[Definitely.]"
"......"
mories buried deep within start to resurface.
There’s sothing strangely familiar about it.
"I’ll definitely succeed. I’ll do whatever it takes to save you."
The syringe.
The drug.
These are familiar combinations.
And a familiar figure cos to mind.
The sick person.
Yes.
I was sick back then too.
I went to get the dicine.
But it wasn’t the dicine I wanted.
"So, [listen to .]"
I have to listen.
"...Yes."
I’ll listen.
I have no choice.
Why is he speaking like that?
Only that person speaks like that.
Because that person is a good person.
Who?
I an, the doctor.
Is Shihu the doctor?
No, that’s not it...
I was trying to say I should listen to the doctor.
Why couldn’t I think of the word "doctor"?
But why is the doctor here?
Ah, the drug.
Is he here to give the drug?
Plop.
The syringe is inserted.
So, my mory is going to be erased like this.
But I didn’t pay the doctor.
The dicine is expensive.
"Why are you here?"
Let’s ask.
Why is the doctor here?
"I never called you."
Thanks to that, mories start to co back.
But they’ll be erased soon enough.
Think about it.
It doesn’t make sense.
Shihu wouldn’t erase my mories just because things went wrong.
Antipsychotic drugs, delusions, hallucinations, thought disorders.
I rember the scrap of paper I found at ho.
It’s because of the delusions and hallucinations that I saw Shihu as the doctor.
So that’s what was going on.
The white-haired woman too, hallucinations?
It must be.
That’s the only explanation.
I’m so anxious for no reason.
Shihu isn’t the one doing this.
He’s the doctor.
He’s not soone who would think like that.
He wouldn’t trap in my house, or keep erasing my mory until he gets what he wants.
"Ah, where is Shihu?"
Where is the real Shihu?
If the person in front of is the doctor, then where is the real Shihu?
"......"
"Please answer..."
Did I kill Shihu?
Seeing myself holding the knife earlier, maybe I did.
If that’s true, I’ve committed a terrible sin.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry, Shihu.
Even if the person in front of is the real Shihu,
Even if the real Shihu is using drugs on ,
Even if it’s all for and he’s doing strange things for ...
It’s my fault.
It’s because of that Shihu has ended up like this.
"You’re the doctor."
He has to be the doctor.
How did Shihu end up like this?
The drug’s effects are kicking in.
My body feels weak.
The drug that erases mories.
It’s so convenient.
Shihu’s expression is that of soone who’s done sothing they can’t handle.
I see despair in soone who can’t control themselves.
Why are you becoming just like ?
"Happy ending..."
It exists, doesn’t it?
There’s a way to be happy.
I think I was happy once.
Back then...
...What was it like back then?
Ah, I’m sure I was with Shihu back then.
Shihu and I...
We must have done sothing together.
Ah, I can’t rember.
But the truth is, I was happy then.
Even though the place I lived wasn’t great, I was content.
But whose fault is it that this happiness was broken?
It feels like soone kicked Seo Ah into a pit.
Shihu tried to grab her hand.
He followed Seo Ah to pull her out, but now, she falls on her own.
Into a deeper abyss.
It’s too late now.
It seems like no one will escape.
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