Chapter 26
Awakening
Jerry, which had already decayed and smelled terrible, was wrapped in a clean cloth and put in a box.
Minju used up too much energy to cry, so she did not have any left to drive. She took a taxi called by the helper and visited a funeral center specialized in pets.
She wanted to make Jerry’s last road across the rainbow bridge the best because there was nothing to enrich him in his life. Employees of funeral companies dressed in black were also kind and polite as they were paid expensive money.
“You must be a good person. It’s not even your cat, but taking care of its funeral… It’s not an easy task.”
Minju did not understand the employee’s praise at first, but soon understood the meaning.
Customers who wanted to see off the end of their pets who had been living with them for a long time would visit this pet funeral center in a little more special way.
In most cases, their pets would have died at home or in animal hospitals due to illness. Even if they had an accident, who would neglect the dead body of a beloved companion for such a long time?
Jerry’s dead body was cold. It had been a long time since he died, his body was stiff due to post-hardness and had begun to decompose. In addition, since he had already been buried in the ground once, his fur was full of dirt.
The dead Jerry was no longer the Jerry he used to be. He had changed so badly and sadly that even his owner, Minju, could not recognize him. Therefore, it was not unreasonable for the employees to mistake Jerry for a poor cat who died miserably on the street.
Minju was ashamed of herself for not protecting Jerry. She did not even want to imagine where and how Jerry ended.
If she had not met Sang-yeon and came to this house, if she had not disobeyed him and went out, what if she had not opened the door to the room at the end of the hallway on the first floor, where Sang-yeon told her not to enter? Numerous regrets broke Minju’s heart.
Then, suddenly, she realized that Sang-yeon was at the center of all those regrets. Fortunately, after crying and mourning Jerry’s death, it was not too late to notice the nature of the incident that had been blurred for a while.
During the day when she went out, Sang-yeon definitely came home. Yes, Jerry was still alive back then. She had heard Jerry’s cry over the phone. And that night, when she had asked to open the door of the room at the end of the hallway on the first floor to find Jerry, Sang-yeon had opened the door surprisingly easily.
Because Jerry was not in this world anymore at that time. Because it was after he killed Jerry. That was why he knew Jerry could not be in the room!
Minju’s tears stopped.
She was not certain of it, but she had to know. It was impossible to forgive him or accept him as a husband without knowing it. No matter how much she had nothing to put forward.
She needed more information about Sang-yeon. She desperately needed the help of someone who knew much more about him than she did. Minju left for the Evergreen Hospital to meet Dr. Kim.
“Code blue! Code blue! Medical staff capable of CPR, please come to Room 405 immediately!”
A code blue situation, which meant a cardiac arrest patient, occurred in the Evergreen Hospital, where time seemed to have stopped and seemed to be only slow and peaceful. Minju, who arrived at the hospital just in time, witnessed nurses and doctors rushing to Room 405 with equipment for CPR.
‘If it’s Room 405, is it the old woman from then?’
The grandmother who was hospitalized in the room opposite to Hye-ryeong’s, who told Minju the story of Hye-ryeong, seemed to be in critical condition.
The medical staff applied an electric shock to the grandmother’s chest with a heart defibrillator and performed CPR while sweating profusely. Despite more than 30 minutes of effort, the grandmother’s heart did not beat again.
“Baek Sunok passed away at 13:42 on February 1, 2020.”
The doctor pronounced her death in a muffled voice. A white cloth covered the grandmother’s beautiful face.
Minju’s legs, who witnessed death twice in a day, faltered.
There was no significant connection between the two deaths, but Minju felt guilty for some reason. It felt as if the cause of death lied with her. Her heart was heavy because she thought that her curiosity seemed to have taken two innocent lives.
Minju sat on a bench for a while, took a deep breath, and headed to the neuropsychiatric department to meet Dr. Kim. But when she arrived there, she was told by a nurse that today was his day off.
“Choi Minju-nim, it’s not even the date of your treatment today. Please call in advance.”
“Oh, I should have done that.”
“Are you feeling uncomfortable? Should I leave a note for the doctor?”
“Can you do that for me?”
“Of course.”
“Please tell him it’s because of the side effects of the medicine.”
She could not say that she was looking for Dr. Kim for personal reasons.
“Oh, my, is the medicine not working for you? What makes you uncomfortable? Are you sleepy?”
“Oh… Yes.”
Minju was a little embarrassed when the nurse responded too actively to her rough words.
“Did you bring your medicine?”
Minju took the medicine bag out of her bag.
“Do you see the blue round pill here? This is a sleeping pill. If you’re too sleepy, you can skip it or reduce the amount by half.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. I will leave a note to the doctor to contact you.”
Minju lightly bowed to the kind nurse and quietly left the hospital.
The meeting with Dr. Kim failed, but Minju did not want to go back home. She wanted to talk to someone today. She needed someone to share Jerry’s death and sadness with.
As if summoning the past, Minju’s steps headed to her old neighborhood. After arriving near the Vintage Sound, the musical instrument store where she used to work, Minju wandered in front of the store for a while. There was no one in the store, perhaps the boss had left on a business trip.
Just when she was about to take a step back, she heard a welcome voice.
“Who is this? Minju-ya!”
Kang called Minju’s name with a face almost crying.
“Boss!”
Minju also felt emotional at the tip of her nose.
“You were alive, alive… That’s a relief, really. Let’s hurry up and go in.”
‘What do you mean alive? Did you think I was dead? But did you not receive my letter?’
The store was no different from the last day Minju went to work. As if time had stopped, everything was there as it was before. It might have been weirder for something to change because it was only a month and a half.
“I guess you didn’t hire a new employee.”
“Of course. I don’t know when you’ll come back, so how could I pick up others? You left without notice. And I’m still okay by myself. Listen, the tea is getting cold.”
Minju and Kang began to share warm tea and stories.
“What happened? I thought something really happened, but…”
“Boss, didn’t you receive my letter?”
“Letter? What letter?”
“Ah… I guess it didn’t arrive.”
“Did you send me a letter?”
“Yes, I resigned and wrote a letter to you saying that I had to quit the store suddenly because of some circumstances, but I guess you didn’t get it. You must have thought that I suddenly ran away without a word and cursed inside.”
“What do you mean curse? You were not the kind of person to do that, but I couldn’t contact you and didn’t hear from you, so I was very worried. I even went to the police station to report your disappearance.”
“Oh, you were really worried because of me. I’m sorry.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what happened again?”
“…”
“Don’t mind it. It’s okay as long as you’re fine. I don’t know how nervous I was that you might have been in a bad situation. I was even told that I could not report a disappearance if I was not a family member.”
Kang sighed and tried to take out a cigarette, but he secretly noticed Minju.
“I thought you had stopped smoking.”
“By the way, did you find your money? You lost your check because you were hit by a motorcycle.”
“Did you hear that at the police station?”
“Yes, I took your resume with me to find you, and the police recognized you when they saw your picture. They said you were the woman who lost her check?”
“I didn’t even go home that day, and I sat down all day at the police station.”
“Then, why didn’t you write down my number? Or the store number? You were like an orphan in the world.”
“I thought the police were not interested in my issue, but they remembered everything and told the boss.”
While talking, Minju kept paying attention to Sang-yeon’s return and glanced at the clock on the wall.
“You’re busy, aren’t you? Let’s stop there. This old man talked a lot without realizing it.”
Kang read Minju’s nervousness and stood up first.
“It’s not like that… Well, then I’ll get going now, thank you for the tea. And now, hire a new employee. The boss is old, but it’s hard alone.”
“Okay, I got it.”
As Minju politely greeted and tried to leave the store, Kang called Minju’s name again.
“…Minju.”
“Yes?”
“Come and play the piano whenever you want. Bring Jerry too, okay?”
“Yes, I will. Mr. Kang, you have to be healthy.”
Kang was particularly fond of Jerry. Minju could not bring herself to tell him about Jerry’s death.
“Yes, you too.”
Minju said goodbye holding back her tears.
The mere fact that she met someone who remembered her and Jerry was a great comfort to Minju. Was it this heartbreaking to have a place somewhere in the world? It seemed that the past month and a half was not just happy for Minju.
She left the store and checked the current time again with her cell phone. There were still a couple of hours before Sang-yeon’s return from work.
Since she was in this neighborhood, she wanted to stop by one last place.
Minju headed to the Seokgyeong Police Station to find out the whereabouts of her 20 million won, which she had forgotten for a while.
Fortunately, at the police station, the novice police officer who filed Minju’s case was on duty.
“Hello, I’m the one who was hit by a motorcycle and whose check was stolen not too long ago.”
“Oh, yes. I remember.”
“I’m wondering if the investigation is progressing. You didn’t contact me at all.”
“No, I couldn’t contact you. Didn’t you left after giving me the number of a store? The boss there came to the police station because you had disappeared.”
“My husband called you later in the evening and gave you his cell phone number. He said to please contact him about the motorcycle thief.”
“What are you talking about?”
Minju began to get angry at the police officer’s ignorance.
“Aren’t you really too irresponsible?”
“Hum. We have never received a call from your husband.”
Minju immediately corrected her words, wondering if she had done a mistake.
“Yes, he didn’t say husband, he said he was family. Something like ‘This is Choi Minju’s family who was robbed by a motorcycle during the day. If there is any progress in the investigation, please contact me.’”
“Miss, no, I think it’s Madam, seeing that you have a husband. Madam! I know well because I was on duty that day, but there was no such phone call. Do you get it?”
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The police officer sighed with a face that said he was about to die because he was wrongly accused.
“If we had known your husband’s number, wouldn’t we have called him when the boss came to report your disappearance? Right?”
It was a pretty plausible excuse.
If the police officer was not lying to hide his dereliction of duty, had he really never received such a call from Sang-yeon?
A spider began to web in Minju’s head. It was a mess…