Chapter 3
“…What?”
“If I lost my mind and didn’t care anymore.”
Sera’s unexpected words caught Ro-un off guard, and his eyes widened slightly. Suddenly behaving differently might raise suspicion, but she didn’t care since she planned to escape anyway. She raised her head defiantly and continued speaking.
“Didn’t you hear that I have amnesia? I really don’t understand why you’re acting like this. So… could you step aside?”
Sera brushed past Ro-un as if he were insignificant. No, that was her intention.
“…Ah!”
Ro-un grabbed her wrist and pushed her against the wall. Thud! When she let out a scream and looked up, he immediately met her gaze. From a distance where their noses almost touched, he spoke harshly.
“Sure, I don’t care what kind of lunatic you are. But you need to know that every time you act up, I’m the one who gets hurt.”
“It hurts… It hurts.”
“Because I want to kill you.”
His eyes, staring at Sera, flickered with a hint of madness. She, who was frozen for a moment, swallowed her saliva and pushed his chest with all her might, using her free hand.
“I understand what you mean, so… let go!”
Finally, Ro-un released Sera. Seizing the opportunity, she turned her back on him as if fleeing. As soon as she entered the room, she collapsed, her strength draining away.
“Sigh… There are all sorts of crazy people, huh?”
She felt threatened by a man for the first time, even though she had grown up experiencing all sorts of things. It was terrifying, even though she had never easily succumbed to anyone. The courage of the original Sera, who never stopped being defiant in the face of any trial, suddenly felt incredibly impressive.
“…I guess it would be better to leave right away.”
Having made up her mind, Sera stood up. With Ro-un’s behavior resembling that of a mentally unstable person, her sense of urgency to leave this place grew stronger.
* * *
“That should be enough.”
Sera locked her large suitcase and let out a brief sigh. It was a tense moment when everyone was asleep, and she had successfully prepared for her escape.
As someone who had seen the dark side of Ro-un living under the same roof, Sera couldn’t imagine continuing to live as Shin Sera. She wanted to leave this dangerous drama as soon as possible.
Since Ro-un seemed to have enough villainous qualities, wouldn’t he make an excellent replacement for her?
With idle thoughts in her mind, Sera pulled her hat down low.
Her plan was to disappear into a provincial area for the time being. Once she was gone, there would be some turmoil for a while, but soon it would quiet down as if nothing had happened. That was the way this irresponsible drama dealt with supporting characters. Before leaving the room, Sera scribbled a half-hearted note.
[Don’t look for me. I will reflect on the foolish mistakes I have made and become a mature adult. You don’t have to worry too much.]
Of course, she had no intention of ever coming back, but just in case someone tried to find her, she forced herself to write those words.
Sera closed the door without any hesitation and cautiously moved the suitcase. It was past midnight, and even the slightest noise echoed loudly, making her heart race for no reason.
With a creaking sound, Sera moved the suitcase to the front door. She took out her mobile phone and looked at the contact list, finding the number of her fiancé, Cha Jae-eon.
She felt like leaving it alone, but Mrs. Song’s shouts of concern about what would happen to her future son-in-law kept echoing in her ears. It seemed appropriate for her to handle this since their engagement was forced by Sera, who had fallen for him.
She wasn’t sure if breaking off the engagement through a text message would be acceptable, but… well, it should be fine since it’s just a shoddy melodrama.
[It’s me, Shin Sera. It may be sudden, but let’s live happily apart from now on.]
She felt like she went straight to the point, but there was no need for kindness or any reason. After hesitating for a moment, Sera added one more line.
[Let’s break off the engagement. You’ve suffered all this time.]
That should be enough of an explanation. Sera set the message to be sent later and turned off her phone. She placed it on the shelf near the front door and quietly opened the main door.
The door that seemed far away gradually drew closer.
Freedom was within reach. As she realized this, a smile appeared on Sera’s face for the first time. Just as she was about to press the automatic door-opening button, she paused.
“…!”
Sudden pain gripped Sera’s heart, reminiscent of the agony she had experienced just before her possession. Her vision blurred in an instant, and her legs, which had been supporting her, gave way. Overwhelmed by dizziness, Sera staggered and collapsed to the ground.
“Ah, ugh….”
The pain she had felt right before her death as Han Jia overwhelmed her heart once again, as if it could tear it apart. This fact invoked a terrifying fear within her. Gasping for breath, Sera clutched her chest, trying to regain her composure, but it was not an easy task.
‘Could it be that I’m fated to die even in this drama? What kind of absurd situation is this…?’
Her thoughts didn’t linger for long due to her rapidly fading consciousness. Along with the sensation of sinking into an abyss, Sera completely lost consciousness.
* * *
“Mmm….”
She was awakened from a dreamless sleep by the bright sunlight piercing her eyes. She tried to hold onto a little more sleep, but she couldn’t reclaim the already departed slumber. When Sera, who had given up, sluggishly lifted her eyelids, she let out an involuntary scream at the face that greeted her. Irritation filled Ro-un’s face as he watched Sera retreat in a flustered manner.
“What a fuss you’re making.”
“Where am I? And why are you here…?”
“If you wanted to die, you could have done it somewhere else. Did you really have to cause a scene here just to fall down?”
“What are you talking about…?”
Ro-un disappeared without any intention of answering. Caught up in a sense of confusion, Sera belatedly looked around the room.
It was a luxurious space that resembled a hotel—a private room in a hospital equipped with high tech medical systems. Since becoming Shin Sera after the possession, she has been to this place several times, experiencing memory loss and various other reasons. So it was familiar to her.
“Are you awake?”
“Uh… Hello, Professor.”
Professor Kim appeared from beyond the open door. Since he also had a familiar face, Sera greeted him respectfully with a nod, without much thought. But he stopped in his tracks, his expression showing surprise.
…Wasn’t that behavior too uncharacteristic of Shin Sera?
Belatedly, Sera, who was forcing a composed expression, bit her lip, and tried to act as arrogant as possible as she asked.
“Why am I here, exactly?”
“Could it be that you’ve lost your memory again?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Sera narrowed her eyes and searched her memories. She felt severe pain and then fainted without being able to escape secretly. She thought she was doomed, unable to move at all…
“If it wasn’t heart failure, then what was it?”
“I looked at your chart, but I couldn’t find any significant symptoms.”
“That can’t be… It really hurt a lot.”
“You had a recent episode of sleepwalking, and with the memory loss and anxiety symptoms… I’m inclined to think it might be a psychosomatic disorder. Have you experienced severe stress recently?”
If severe stress meant the reality of being possessed by Shin Sera, then yes.
Sera awkwardly smiled.
“Let’s do a thorough examination today.”
After finishing a few more questions and answers, Professor Kim left the room quickly. Left alone, Sera gnawed at her fingernails, lost in thought.
There were no detectable symptoms, but the pain she felt when she collapsed was not an illusion. It was exactly the same as the symptoms she had experienced right before her possession. This was already the second time she had collapsed due to unknown heart pain. That meant she could experience similar pain again and potentially die.
‘What will happen to me if I die even in this place? This might really be the end….’
“Ugh.”
In a moment of intense fear and anxiety, she clenched her nails and bit down hard. The torn nail revealed a gap through which drops of red blood emerged. As she stared at the flowing blood, a sudden realization ignited a fire in her mind.
‘Could it be that I can’t reject Sera’s fate?”
No way, that can’t be true.
She lowered her head, realizing that her thoughts were not functioning properly due to the surreal situation. It didn’t make sense. Was she really on the verge of dying just because she tried to refuse Sera’s fate and run away?
Despite her efforts to dismiss the unease, she couldn’t shake off the anxiety. Instead, her conviction grew stronger that her assumption was correct.
It was at that moment that Sera, lost in despair, absentmindedly stared into empty space. A vibrating mobile phone, left at the front door by someone, signaled the arrival of a message.
[Let’s meet and talk.]
It was a message from her fiancé, Cha Jae-eon.
Only then did Sera recall the man she had completely forgotten. Without considering the consequences, she sent a breakup text, intending to erase him from her life forever. But now her feet were caught in a trap.
How was she going to handle this?
Her head felt like it was about to explode.
