Once stripped away.
Chapter 1
That child was the only reason Hoyeon lived.
The JK Group, which held the nation’s economy in the palm of its hand and toyed with it at will. Surviving as an illegitimate child in a corporation where unimaginable sums of money flowed was no easy feat.
Seven years old. The main residence of the JK Group, which Hoyeon entered at a tender age, was a crucible of fierce and brutal competition.
‘Lowly thing.’
The cruel, stinging insults and the gazes filled with contempt were things she had to endure throughout her entire upbringing.
While spending a rather unpleasant childhood in that house, the only moments she could smile, however faintly, were with ‘Jung Hana’.
It was when she faced her half-sister, who was six years her junior.
‘Sister!’
Without prejudice. Calling out to Hoyeon.
‘Thank you so much.’
Smiling while meeting her eyes.
‘Sister, you know how I feel, right?’
She liked and trusted her.
Yes. That was how it was.
She truly believed it to be so.
Her father, having seized a moment when the group’s chairwoman—her grandmother, Kang Mohyeon—was in a good mood, brought Hoyeon to Hana’s first birthday party.
That was how she met Hana.
To appease her grandmother’s mood, Hoyeon often fed, dressed, and put Hana to sleep. On such days, her grandmother’s sharp, piercing gaze would soften just a little.
She must have thought Hoyeon knew her place and acted accordingly. Like a nanny.
Regardless, Hoyeon could never forget the moment those chubby, tiny hands had tightly gripped her finger.
“Hana, that is. I…”
In the hospital room, Hoyeon stared blankly at the mirror beside her.
The person reflected in the mirror was not Jung Hoyeon, but Jung Hana.
‘No!’
It was an accident. The day Hana returned home after finishing her studies abroad. She had personally headed to the airport to pick Hana up.
It was an exceptionally sunny day. The sunlight poured down pleasantly, and the deep blue sea rippled beneath the bridge leading to the airport.
Hana was scheduled to join the JK Group and build her career as soon as she returned.
It was something Hoyeon had longed for, but could never achieve because she was an illegitimate child. So, she had planned to support Hana, whom she had practically raised herself.
Hoyeon served as the Chief of the Management Support Office at the JK Group headquarters, overseeing the group’s internal intelligence network.
Though it was called the Management Support Office, it was really about handling matters that took place in the shadows.
Sometimes, she dealt with the reckless antics of the legitimate heirs. She would divert the attention of rival companies with exquisite information or neutralize threats by playing them against each other. It was difficult work, and it was indispensable.
Yet, those so-called ‘legitimate’ heirs glared at her with eyes full of contempt.
Perhaps it would have been different if Hoyeon’s father, Jung Chang-wan, the eldest son of the JK Group, were still alive. It was a ridiculous thing. What did bloodlines even matter? Half of the blood flowing in Hoyeon’s body was the same as theirs.
Even though she was just as much a ‘person’, she was treated as a ‘mutant’ who belonged nowhere.
The royal family despised Hoyeon for having mixed blood, and the employees were busy avoiding her, feeling uncomfortable because she carried the blood of the JK Group.
In that gap, only Hana, who had just been born, looked at Hoyeon without prejudice.
That was why she saved her.
It was a serious accident; the car had been crushed by half. In that split second, she had used all her strength to protect Hana. She had felt intuitively that she was going to die.
It was regrettable and bitter, but she was glad she could save Hana. Truly, that alone made her happy.
But why was Hoyeon inside Hana’s body?
‘I don’t want to hear your nagging anymore.’
Suddenly, the words Hana had said just before the accident came to mind.
Hana had dismissed the advice Hoyeon gave her in preparation for joining the company as mere nagging. Hoyeon had stared at her for a long time, unable to believe the incredibly sour look on her face.
It wasn’t as if her puberty had returned. Just yesterday, when they spoke on the phone about her return, Hana had still been innocent and affectionate.
‘Lower your eyes, Jung Hoyeon.’
Hana had not called her ‘sister’.
The look of contempt she gave her, just like the other people in the JK Group, had been unfamiliar. Hana wasn’t that kind of person. Why on earth would she say that with such an expression?
Unable to understand the situation, she stared blankly at her smooth, white hands.
“Oh my, you’re awake!”
She made eye contact with a nurse who was entering as the hospital room door opened quietly. Outside the door, it was as busy as if an emergency had occurred.
“It’s a relief. You haven’t been able to wake up for about a month.”
Hoyeon shuddered, as if struck by an electric shock. A sense of reality washed over her.
If she was in Hana’s body, then Hana must be in Hoyeon’s body.
“Hana… no. What about Jung Hoyeon?”
When she asked about her condition while calling her own name, which felt awkward on her tongue, the nurse wore a vaguely ambiguous expression.
Could it be? Is she dead?
“…….”
As she rose, forcibly pulling out the IV needle, the nurse ran over with a pale face to stop the bleeding.
“Patient!”
The nurse let out a deep sigh and glanced around cautiously. She seemed to be hesitating over whether she should tell the truth to someone who had just woken up.
“Like me. Was she unconscious?”
“Th-that, well.”
“It’s alright. Tell me.”
As Hoyeon muttered through gritted teeth, the nurse opened her mouth intermittently.
“There was an emergency call 20 minutes ago.”
Hoyeon felt as if her own heart had stopped. She held her breath, then took a slow, deep breath.
Twenty minutes ago would have been around the time she opened her eyes in this body.
“You’ll be fine. So…”
“Lead the way.”
Looking down at her bandaged forearm and clenching her hand a few times, she got out of bed. For some reason, the nurse was guided by her charisma.
Hoyeon fixed her gaze on the hospital room door with her own name on it, then approached the bed where someone was lying.
A doctor had just covered the face with a white sheet. A medical defibrillator lay scattered, and the traces of a desperate struggle to save a life were visible.
“She has passed away.”
The doctor, confirming that she had regained consciousness, bowed his head silently before stepping aside, allowing the passenger who had been in the accident to pay their final respects.
She approached slowly, curious about the face beneath the white sheet, but she couldn’t easily bring herself to touch it.
The face she had seen in the mirror earlier was Hana’s, not Hoyeon’s. Since she was in Hana’s body, the face under this sheet must be her own.
It was a matter of confirming whether the person who had just died was herself.
“Haa.”
Only after rubbing her dry face with a heavy sigh could she raise her trembling hands. Hoyeon, who had carefully grabbed the sheet, bit her lip firmly and put strength into her hands as if she had made a decision.
The curved white sheet was whipped away, revealing the person lying beneath. No, she couldn’t call her a person anymore.
She parted her lips, but it took time for words to come out.
“This is impossible.”
It felt like a dream. She stared blankly at the corpse before reaching out.
There was still warmth left. She moved her hands, which wouldn’t stop trembling, to trace the face that had its eyes tightly shut.
“Huh…!”
Her chin trembled as if she were shivering in the cold, and her eyelids flickered uncontrollably.
It was her own face, which she had seen every day for 34 years. She traced the neatly groomed eyebrows and the long, jagged scar left by the accident. The dead had no words.
“This is impossible. Why, you.”
Why did something like this happen? I clearly tried to save you. Why did you die and I live?
The strength left her legs. She slumped down right there and looked up at the corpse. She couldn’t think straight.
How long had she been there, her mind fading into a daze?
Suddenly, an accessory hanging around the neck caught her eye.
That necklace was one Hana had gifted to Hoyeon a few years ago. As if possessed, she reached out and took the necklace.
‘I saved up my allowance to buy this.’
She didn’t know how proud she had been when Hana said that with a bright smile. She wasn’t her biological sister, but they had spent a lot of time together. She had thought they had exchanged sincerity.
But.
‘Why are you getting so close to that child born outside the family!’
The voice of her grandmother, JK Group chairwoman Mohyeon, brushed past her ears.
This must be Hana’s memory, not Hoyeon’s.
‘Grandmother.’
In the memory, Hana was wearing a very relaxed smile. With a gaze full of superiority that Hoyeon had never known, Hana curled the corners of her lips.
‘Jung Hoyeon is my dog. What’s wrong with getting close to a dog I cherish?’
She asked if she didn’t know how faithfully she wore the necklace, worth only a few hundred thousand won, that she had gifted her a few years ago.
That it was a dog collar.
‘Don’t worry. Once I graduate, I’ll have the leash firmly in my grasp.’
She told Mohyeon that she knew well that the ‘mask’ of a gentle and cute younger sister was not suitable for leading the company.
And she boasted about the change in her relationship with Hoyeon after graduation.
A dog to assist her when she joined the JK Group after finishing her studies next year.
Someone who wouldn’t mind getting blood on her hands so that Hana could climb to that high position. Someone who would willingly kneel and offer her back so that not a single speck of dust would touch Hana’s feet.
To Jung Hana, that was the purpose of Jung Hoyeon. An existence to whom she could entrust necessary but stain-leaving tasks.
“Th-this is what this is. No…”
Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the necklace tightly. This time, her hands shook for a different reason.
The memory flooding in now must be wrong.
“There’s no, way…”
With her gaze fixed on the necklace, the trembling spread from her hands to her entire body. That Hana, who had smiled so gently in front of her, could say such things.
This is a dream. To begin with, her soul entering Hana’s body didn’t make sense! It was clear she had died and ended up in hell.
She was confused.
Since when had that child, who had been like a mere scrap of flesh, harbored such feelings?
She clutched her dizzy head. She didn’t even know if she was breathing properly due to the overwhelming sense of betrayal.
“Patient. Let’s go back to your room first. Stability is the priority.”
The nurse, who had been waiting outside the door, entered at some point and helped her up. It was the doctor’s instruction not to let her stay here long, as she had just woken up.
And so, Hoyeon, inhabiting Hana’s body, was led by the nurse back to her hospital room.
*** Hoyeon scanned through Hana’s memories while staring at her own funeral portrait.
The funeral hall was bustling, but there was no one from the JK Group. Only Hoyeon’s biological mother was there to greet the mourners.
Hoyeon sat beside her in Hana’s body.
“…….”
She sat with her back straight, staring intently at her hands resting on her knees. Inside her tightly clenched fist was ‘that’ necklace.
She had been a mere one-year-old who couldn’t even speak yet. Hoyeon squeezed her eyes shut as she recalled the day she first saw Hana.
Hoyeon had watched every step of Hana’s growth. At times, she had scolded her, and at other times, she had offered endless encouragement.
Was that why she had always seemed so young? Was it because she had followed her so well, calling her “sister,” that she had kept her eyes closed to the truth?
She had heard that some half-sisters got along well.
She had heard that even those without shared blood could form bonds deeper than those of kin.
She had hoped for familial affection. She had thought it was possible. She had believed it was possible.
“I wish you had lived instead.”
If you were going to reveal your true colors the moment you returned from studying abroad, you should have stayed alive. That way, I could have repaid this betrayal over and over again.
Memories that had been jumbled by the accident seeped back in.
At the time of the accident, Hana had grabbed Hoyeon’s shoulder without hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Like a human shield.
And then, she had screamed at Hoyeon, looking terrified. Even as she was being protected in Hoyeon’s arms inside the half-crushed car.
‘Hey, Jung Hoyeon! Is this the best you can do to protect me? My head is bleeding!’
0 Comments