“…..…!”
I widened my eyes in shock. I was certain I had forgotten it—
The language of my past life. But now, I could hear Korean clearly.
And that voice—it was the same voice I had heard in my dreams.
Seeing my reaction, Enoch furrowed his brows and asked,
“Cherrya, what are you hearing?”
“Korean…”
“What?”
“Wait, just be quiet for a moment.”
I focused my hearing, staring into the darkness surrounding me.
[Did you miss me, Inspector? We meet again like this. I recall our dear lawmaker warning you to stop following me unless you were actually longing to see me.]
[Miss you? Like hell. Is it you again? Are you the one who made my key witness disappear?]
This time, I could even hear my own voice from my past life.
A conversation buried in my memories—
A conversation I once had with Yoon Doyoon, the man who constantly interfered with my investigations when I was an inspector.
[Ah, Kim Jinwoo? He suddenly had an upset stomach and urgently needed a restroom. I simply guided him to our company’s public restroom. Would you really call that ‘making him disappear’?]
[Does your company have a public restroom in the middle of the mountains? Where did you bury Kim Jinwoo?]
[You say such scary things so casually. I think you’ve been watching too many movies. Kim Jinwoo is safely back home now. You should check for yourself.]
[If he has even the tiniest scratch on him, you’ll be the first one I throw behind bars.]
[Sure, sure. Go ahead.]
Beyond the darkness, I could now faintly see Yoon Doyoon, shrugging at my past self.
Black hair, dark eyes, a cold and sharp expression—that irritating look of boredom he never bothered to hide.
[Ah, really, our dear inspector never gets tired, does she? You keep trailing after our lawmaker so persistently. And you’re not exactly a pleasant sight to look at. People call me Assemblyman Ahn Hyeongsik’s dog, but at this rate, Inspector, you might just steal that honorable nickname from me. It’s getting hard to tell us apart.]
The corners of his lips subtly lifted, and his voice brightened—only when he was turning my insides upside down.*
[Shut up, for God’s sake. The only day I’ll ever have a real conversation with you is the day you become a whistleblower.]
[Then, will you go on a date with me?]
[If you spill everything about Ahn Hyeongsik, sure. Why the hell not.]
[Do you make that offer to everyone? Did you tell Kim Jinwoo you’d date him too if he testified?]
[Do you think everyone’s like you? You’re the only one who says crap like this to me.]
[Whoa, you scared me. I almost had a heart attack.]
[Bullshit.]
His tone—overly familiar. His actions—strangely harmless toward me.
No matter where I went or what I was chasing, I always ran into him. That irritatingly good-looking face.
And when I finally had decisive evidence and clues in my grasp, he would somehow render them useless before I could act.
That bastard.
[Are you the only inspector in this country? Why are you so fixated on Ahn Hyeongsik? Honestly, I wish you’d just back off. There’s only so much I can do to protect you.]
[Who the hell asked you to protect me? You crazy bastard. Get lost.]
[There’s Inspector Han Daejin too, isn’t there? He’s the one obsessed with our lawmaker. Why don’t you leave Ahn Hyeongsik to him and focus on something else?]
[How do you know about Senior Daejin…? Wait. Don’t tell me—are you the one who did that to him?]
I grabbed him by the collar, glaring up at him. He clicked his tongue, looking down at me.
[Ah, so it’s been dealt with, huh? Our lawmaker must have handled it. The old guy… I wonder how he did it without me knowing.]
For a split second, his sharp gaze flickered—and just as quickly, he masked the flash of unease on his face.
[The one who’s really in trouble because of this isn’t you, Inspector—it’s me. Ah… what should I do? Should I actually become a whistleblower?]
[What?]
[You promised to go on a date with me if I did.]
[Hey, you—…]
[Get a date plan ready. I’ll bring something valuable with me too.]
That was the last conversation I ever had with Yoon Doyoon. The final words we exchanged before I died.
Yes, Yoon Doyoon had promised me.
He said he would hand over everything—proof that Assemblyman Ahn Hyeongsik had ordered the murders of countless people to secure his place as party leader, evidence that my adoptive parents were killed—every last piece of it.
By turning whistleblower, he knew he wouldn’t escape punishment. But he said he was willing to accept that.
I didn’t want to believe it—but I had no choice.
His serious expression, his quiet voice that left no room for doubt—it made every nerve in my body sharpen.
It was real.
‘Yoon Doyoon, that bastard… That poor bastard. Because of me, I pushed him straight into that hell. I’m the only one left who knows, and if I die here…’
I remembered the last words of my senior inspector, who had fallen victim to Ahn Hyeongsik and now lay unconscious in a coma.
There was something about Yoon Doyoon.
Being targeted by Ahn Hyeongsik meant his life was in danger—and yet, my senior inspector didn’t resent him. Instead, he pitied him.
Maybe that’s why I believed him. Why I trusted Yoon Doyoon when he said he would turn whistleblower.
“Why am I seeing this?”
This was my past life. Why was it playing out so vividly in front of me now?
I was Cherrya Emblem—standing here, sword in hand, its hilt engraved with the Emblem crest, wearing the uniform symbolizing the Emblem family, my hair tied tightly with the ribbon my grandfather had given me.
So why—why was my old life, a life that should have faded into forgotten memories, suddenly appearing before me?
“Cherrya.”
At that moment, Enoch called my name in a low voice.
Only then did I realize he was standing right beside me. I quickly turned to look at him.
Could he have seen the same thing I did?
As I widened my eyes in shock, I noticed Enoch staring at the same spot I had just been looking at. His eyes were clouded with confusion.
“…Inspector. That’s what you told me to call you when we were kids, isn’t it?”
“……..!”
“You said it was a nickname that someone used for you.”
“Hey, that wasn’t a nickname, it was just—”
“That woman… is that you?”
I gasped at Enoch’s words.
“The woman speaking in that unfamiliar language… the one with short black hair and brown eyes, wearing strange clothes… Is that you?”
“What… what exactly did you see?”
From my perspective, I could only see Yoon Doyoon. I had no way of seeing myself in my memories.
But Enoch—he was seeing something else.
“That woman… Even though I don’t understand what she’s saying, her tone, her expressions… she looks exactly like you, Cherrya.”
🍓; * ‘Only when he’s turning my insides upside down’ – This metaphor suggests emotional turmoil, possibly confusion, nervousness, or distress caused by him.
