CHAPTER 01
About the Miracle in the Red Dress (1)
A heart that could stop anytime is a real problem. He had never really enjoyed anything in life, so there was nothing he would regret leaving behind. Yoon-gyeol thought about this as he sat in the spinning, crashing car. Because of his heart defect from birth, even his real parents had abandoned him. His adoptive parents, who had taken him in and raised him with all their love, had already passed away.
Now, all that was left were greedy relatives waiting for him to die so they could take his inheritance.
They were probably praying for his broken heart to stop right at this moment.
“Nice to meet you?”
At the moment he gave up on everything, a woman in a red dress appeared and greeted him.
Yoon-gyeol thought he was dead. If he wasn’t dead, how could he explain such a strange scene?
‘I must be dead.’
He accepted that as fact and looked ahead.
“You’re not dead yet.”
“!”
The woman suddenly came close, right up to his face, and his eyes grew wide.
“But in ten seconds, you will be. Your neck will twist like this—snap.”
“Th-that…”
His voice trembled, clearly showing that he didn’t believe her. As if she expected that reaction, the woman just shrugged and snapped her fingers.
“Wha… what the heck!!!”
Everything around them suddenly froze. Only Yoon-gyeol and the woman were moving.
“Do you want to die?”
“Th-that’s…”
Yoon-gyeol looked around in shock, barely managing to make a sound.
“Most people don’t want to die. What about you, Yoon-gyeol?”
Only then did he look deep inside his heart, which he had tried to ignore.
“No… no… I…”
The truth was, he wanted to live. Even if no one else wanted him to live, he still wanted to live.
“I want… I want to live…”
He realized how true that was only after saying it out loud, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
“So, you want to live?”
Even if it was a dream, or just something he saw before dying, his wish to live didn’t change. Even if this woman was just a vision, he wanted to grab onto even her dress and say it: That he had always wanted to live.
Yoon-gyeol nodded.
“Yeah, I thought so.”
The woman snapped her fingers again.
“Then live.”
After saying that, she reached out and covered his eyes with her hand. Her touch was ice cold, and it shocked him so much that he passed out.
“…thank…you…”
As he slowly lost consciousness, he heard bits of the woman’s voice.
‘Is she saving me…?’
That was his last thought before everything went dark. But Yoon-gyeol didn’t die.
“This really is a miracle. Surviving a crash like that without a single injury—and your heart is totally fine.”
His personal doctor, who had cared for him since childhood, called it a miracle. The driver had died on the spot, and the car was completely destroyed.
“Why did you go there? It wasn’t on your schedule. And you didn’t tell me either…”
After Yoon-gyeol was somewhat stable, Mr Kim, the secretary who had always been by his side, asked him.
“Ah… I got a call from my mother’s vacation house on Geoje Island. She used to paint there sometimes.”
“The vacation house?”
“A young manager in charge of the house said they found one of my mother’s paintings there. He asked me to come check it.”
“What are you talking about? A new manager? We didn’t hire anyone new. And how would someone like that have your personal number?”
Hearing Mr. Kim’s words, Yoon-gyeol finally realized how foolish he had been. Mr. Kim always handled all outside work and had been in charge of the vacation house too. Managers there would contact Mr. Kim, not Yoon-gyeol.
Yoon-gyeol had never given them his number. But somehow, a call came directly to his phone.
‘How could I be so stupid…?’
At the time, he felt like he was in a trance and didn’t question anything.
“I’ll trace the call signal. For now, you should rest,” Mr. Kim said gently after seeing how shaken Yoon-gyeol was.
If someone had lured him out on purpose, the answer wasn’t hard to figure out.
“They said there was a painting of my mother’s that hasn’t been shown to the public.”
“But her works have already been…”
“Yes, but they said it was found in a hidden room inside the house.”
“Hm… Alright. I’ll check it myself. You just focus on recovering.”
After their talk, Mr. Kim left the hospital room. The VIP room now felt extra large and quiet. Yoon-gyeol sent a message on his phone, just to make a point to his greedy relatives.
― Hello, this is Ko Yoon-gyeol. I know you must’ve been worried, but I’m recovering well.
He sent it to everyone and then turned off his phone.
‘Let them panic a little.’
Thinking about how desperate his relatives must be to check on his condition made him feel slightly better.
‘…Stupid hospital.’
He had spent nearly half his life in hospitals. Still, his old room had been lively. His adoptive father had been cheerful and talkative—a famous film director. Sometimes, he would surprise them with his camera, making Yoon-gyeol and his adoptive mother flustered. But his energy always filled the room.
His adoptive mother had been a famous artist. She used to paint dark abstract art, but after adopting Yoon-gyeol, she started painting about family and gained even more attention.
Until five years ago, Yoon-gyeol never imagined his hospital room would become this quiet.
Knock knock.
“Mr. Ko Yoon-gyeol, it’s time for your medicine.”
Most of the sounds in the quiet hospital room were like that. Yoon-gyeol took the medicine and felt the full loneliness of the silence.
‘Alright, sleep is the best cure right now.’
He took his pills and tried to sleep. As the world around him slowly faded, he heard the woman’s last voice again—soft and hard to understand.
‘…thank…you…’
What had she said? He thought it was just a dream and regretted not remembering her words. He wished he could see that woman again as he fell asleep.
Click.
The door to his hospital room opened. Even in his sleep, Yoon-gyeol could feel someone moving around.
‘Is it evening already…?’
At first, Yoon-gyeol thought it was his dinner arriving. But then he noticed something strange — there was no sound of the food cart’s wheels.
‘A nurse?’
It was the same nurse who had brought him medicine earlier. He wondered if there was more medicine to take, but then he saw the syringe in her hand. A warning went off in Yoon-gyeol’s mind.
As the nurse, with blank eyes, raised the syringe and moved toward his IV, Yoon-gyeol quickly sat up and pushed her away.
Crash!
The nurse slammed into a table behind her with a loud noise.
“What are you?!”
Yoon-gyeol shouted loudly, hoping someone outside would hear. But strangely, there was no sign of the guards who were supposed to be watching outside.
“Die!”
The nurse screamed in a sharp voice and rushed at him with the syringe. As Yoon-gyeol tried to block the crazy woman’s hand, his heart began to ache.
“Damn it…”
He cursed through his teeth, doing his best to fight her off. Her eyes looked completely insane. Blood vessels had burst around her eyes, and she stared at him with wide, wild eyes, trying to stab the syringe into his own eye with unbelievable strength.
He had survived once — he couldn’t die like this.
Thud!
Grabbing her wrist with one hand, he reached out blindly with the other, grabbed something nearby, and hit her on the head with all his strength. The nurse tilted her head unnaturally but then started grinning with a creepy smile.
‘What… what is this…?’
Goosebumps covered Yoon-gyeol’s body. He remembered someone once saying that facing a truly insane person would make your knees shake. And that’s exactly how he felt.
The madness in the nurse’s eyes was terrifying. This wasn’t something a normal person could handle.
‘I have to run… I have to get away…’
He tried to get out of bed, but his legs gave out. He wanted to run, but it felt like something was holding his legs down.
“Ugh…”
And then, the pain in his heart hit again.
“Why now…”
Every time he forced himself to move, the pain got worse. All he could do was clutch his chest in agony. The nurse walked slowly toward him like she was playing with her prey. He struggled to crawl away, but it was useless.
Knock knock.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Then came the sound of high heels entering the room.
“Should I save you again?”
It was a familiar voice. With great effort, Yoon-gyeol looked up and saw the same woman, this time wearing a red skirt and a flowing blouse.
“Who are you?!”
The nurse screamed angrily at her.
“What do you mean? Just a passerby,” the woman said casually.
“H-huh… you…”
Yoon-gyeol called out to her through the pain, his face twisted in agony.
“Should I save you again?”
Her words echoed in his ears. The nurse suddenly turned and charged at the woman.
“Huh?”
The woman just stood still, watching with a blank face.
“Run…”
Instead of begging to be saved, Yoon-gyeol shouted for her to run. He was scared that she’d be hurt by the crazy nurse. Somehow, he found the strength to move again. Yoon-gyeol, who had been crawling on the floor just moments ago, grabbed the nurse’s ankle as she ran past.
Crash!
The nurse tripped and slammed into the floor hard.
“You’re worse than a bug!”
Bleeding from her face, the nurse screamed and kicked Yoon-gyeol hard with her free foot.
“Quick… ru… run…”
Even as he was being beaten, Yoon-gyeol gritted his teeth and shouted. The woman walked over and grabbed the nurse by the back of her neck.
“Don’t you dare.”
With her hand holding the nurse’s neck, the woman froze her in place.
“Don’t touch him.”
Right after she said that, she threw the nurse into the wall with full force.
Boom!!
She really threw her. The nurse flew through the air, smashed into the wall, and fell down with a loud crash.
Cough—!
The nurse coughed up a huge amount of blood and collapsed.
“Are you okay?”
The woman looked down at Yoon-gyeol with a faint smile.
Huff… huff…
Yoon-gyeol wanted to say he was okay, but he couldn’t breathe well enough to speak.
“Get some rest.”
Just like before, the woman gently covered his eyes and whispered. He had so many questions.
Who was she?
Was what he saw before just a dream?
Why did she save him?
But he couldn’t say a word. And once again, Yoon-gyeol lost consciousness.
