Chapter 64
Yuri clearly remembered it since he had a unique metallic tone, and his voice pierced her ears and shook her mind. She desperately repressed a queasy feeling churning inside her as she broke out in a cold sweat.
Just then, a policeman approached her probably because he thought a shaking woman standing in front of the door looked out of place.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
“No, I’m just unwell.” Yuri shook her head and went back the way she had come.
She finally knew who was behind the threats made to her uncle – In-bae Lee, the former mayor of Jinseong City and the current governor of Gyeonggi Province. The police had moved strictly under his orders from when he was the mayor of Jinseong, so Yuri could not trust the police if he was behind all this.
But why?
As far as she remembered, In-bae Lee and President Jin were in a symbiotic relationship, and Yuri’s father and Hye-yeon were President Jin’s people. So why did In-bae Lee go after them? Tae-jun had told her that President Jin was also dead, and In-bae Lee could be the culprit.
As she processed the new-found information, affirming and negating, her head gradually started to hurt. She, as soon, closed her eyes, and covered them with her hand. But the wheels in her mind refused a respite.
What problems had arisen between In-bae Lee and President Jin? There was no other explanation as to why the two most savage villains of their times, running the most profitable organized crime syndicate in the city, had gone after each other’s throats.
If she wanted to make any progress in this matter, she had to take this detour and find out what went down between the two big bullies. And there was only one person who would know the truth of this matter.
Hye-seong!
When Yuri opened her eyes she knew where she had to go next.
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“You lost your memories?” Hyeon-ah Kim lowered her coffee cup in astonishment.
Once she had zeroed in on the person she could gather info from, Yuri had headed straight to Hyeon-ah Kim’s café. This former associate had welcomed her because she had only been looking at her cell phone.
Then, Yuri had gone on to explain her situation in a calm voice. Even so, the shock the other felt was genuine and but natural.
“Is this the ‘Where am I?’, ‘Who am I?’ situation we see in tv shows?” she asked in incredulity.
Yuri didn’t take those words as ridicule for anyone would react just the same. Amnesia, after all, was more rampant in fiction than in reality. More often than not, people in real life would always think the other was faking it, it was just that implausible.
She shrugged before continuing in a soft voice. “You can say that. In my case, I don’t remember as far as from my father’s accident to the beginnings of the time I spent in America. My doctor says that it’s not uncommon to forget a certain period, a certain person, or a certain incident.”
“What’s the cause? Were you in a car accident?” Hyeon-ah queried. She was no medico to have in-depth knowledge, but she had enough common sense to discern that such an incident always fell in the ‘response to stimulus’ category. For a perfectly normal young girl to abruptly wake up without memories, there had to be a grave reason.
“I don’t know since I don’t remember. My diagnosis is transient global amnesia, which occurs due to psychological shock instead of an external accident.”
Yuri’s memory loss was a defense mechanism of her body to avert the greater harm. As to what that harm was, it was what she needed to find out.
“You really don’t know anything from that time?”
Hyeon-ah still had her suspicions, and Yuri was hesitant to trust her enough to discuss the doubts surrounding her father and Hye-yeon’s death. The woman before her went a long way, she not only knew her father but also President Jin’s family.
Even so, for an inexplicable reason, she felt something stuck in her throat, forbidding her from sharing anything more. It was an omen she could not elucidate, but one that she could not ignore either. Thus, she swallowed down her thoughts and schooled her expression.
“Yes, so you can imagine my surprise when I heard what happened to Hye-yeon, and that I was the last person to see her before she died. Can I know more about her death?” She deftly steered the topic in another direction.
“I don’t know much ‘cause I only heard Hye-yeon talk to you over the phone. She was discovered at the Jinseong River later.” She stated nonchalantly.
“Was an autopsy performed on Hye-yeon?”
“I believe there wasn’t. The circumstances made it unnecessary, and President Jin said he would not do so.” Hyeon-ah took out a cigarette and lit it.
“What happened to President Jin? I heard that he was involved in a gang dispute.”
Taking a long drag, Hyeon-ah puffed out, her vacant gaze trailing the wafting smoke. “On the surface, yes. I personally think In-bae Lee had something to do with it since they were bitter enemies after the Star Road incident.”