Come Back

It seemed like the conversation about Lee Hae-sung was winding down, as the topic gradually shifted to the unpleasant chaebols and powerful figures they had encountered.

Taking advantage of the change in topic, Choi Hong-seo quietly stood up. Director Kang didn’t miss the move and called out to him.

“Hye-an, where are you going?”

“I’m just going to the restroom.”

“Oh, okay. Go out to the hallway and turn right… Wait, you just went, didn’t you?”

Choi Hong-seo nodded and gestured for him to go ahead, then left the room. He hadn’t realized it, but while Lee Hae-sung had been the topic of conversation, he had been sweating a bit.

In the large powder room in front of the restroom, he splashed his face with cold water a few times. When he lifted his face, wiping away the moisture, Park Dong-ha was staring at him from the mirror.

“……”

Choi Hong-seo took a couple of paper towels and slowly turned around, wiping his face.

“Hyung. What was that about earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re the type who doesn’t gain weight, right? Back when we were living at the dorms, even if we were starving after our schedules, we’d go to bed hungry, but you’d order late-night snacks, cook ramen at 2 or 3 AM. I even cried myself to sleep once, smelling ramen through the door.”

“……”

“But now you say you gain weight just from eating? If you didn’t remember, you could have just said so, but why say it like that?”

“That’s…”

Choi Hong-seo grabbed the edge of the sink behind him and bit his lower lip.

“I’m managing, but since you offered me food, I ended up rejecting it, so…”

Park Dong-ha still looked dissatisfied. It wasn’t so much that he was suspicious, but rather that he seemed confused by the changed Yun Hye-an, who had lost her memory.

“You’re telling me you’re managing for the role and working out, but… was that exercise thing real? You don’t need to lie to me.”

Even though Park Dong-ha had already asked once at the dinner table, he seemed intent on confirming it again. Choi Hong-seo nodded.

Park Dong-ha, who had been watching him closely, let out a sigh as if he had no choice, and stepped a little closer.

“I really don’t get it.”

“……”

“When are we going to drink? You said you’d invite me to your place, right? Do you have my number?”

“It’s saved on my phone, yeah…”

“That’s your old number, isn’t it? What’s your new number?”

Choi Hong-seo pulled his phone out of his pocket and went into the contacts list. Park Dong-ha suddenly leaned in close to the screen.

“Let me see. Yeah, this is your old number, isn’t it? I’ll delete this and put the new one in.”

“No, I can do it myself…”

Park Dong-ha grabbed the phone from him and furrowed his brows.

“It’s still an empty contact list. Huh? What’s this? A carrot seller?”

Earlier that day, when he changed his phone, the first number he saved in the empty contact list was Lee Hae-sung’s number. Even if he couldn’t contact him, at least he wanted to have his number saved in his phone, under the same name as before.

Even if someone stumbled upon the contact saved as “Carrot Seller,” no one would ever suspect it was Lee Hae-sung, but for some reason, Choi Hong-seo pursed his lips in a little tension.

“Hyung, do you sell carrots?”

“Oh, that… I was thinking of clearing out some unused luxury goods.”

“Even if it’s unused stuff, you’d throw it away, but Yun Hye-an is selling carrots now?”

It seemed like Park Dong-ha had forgotten that he had promised to input the phone number, as he let his hand drop and stared straight at Choi Hong-seo.

“What? Did you really lose your memory?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, just because someone forgets their memories, does it mean their nature or abilities change?”

“……”

“Isn’t it more like you’ve just become a completely different person, regardless of memory?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“You’ve been studying the script so thoroughly, making character analysis notes? You, Choi Hong-seo? And the director even praised you?”

“……”

“Honestly, just the fact that you’re here today is something impossible for Yun Hye-an. No, the fact that you were even cast is a miracle, isn’t it?”

Park Dong-ha seemed genuinely confused. He scanned Choi Hong-seo’s face roughly and swallowed a dry lump in his throat before continuing.

“I’m not saying anything bad, but let’s be honest. Your acting ability? You really think you could get cast in Director Kang’s movie? Can memory loss suddenly make you a better actor? Is that even possible?”

Park Dong-ha’s confusion seemed reasonable to Choi Hong-seo as well. But he didn’t know what to say in response. He certainly couldn’t admit, *I’m just pretending to be Yun Hye-an while I’m really Choi Hong-seo.*

“Did you really think I was pretending not to remember on purpose? Did you think that all this time, Dong-ha?”

“Honestly… yeah, I did.”

“The person you used to know as me… was someone who could pretend not to remember, even though I remembered everything, someone who could act that way?”

Park Dong-ha, who seemed to be hesitating, finally nodded slowly, as if he had made up his mind.

“Yeah. Not just me, but anyone who knows you would probably think the same.”

“……”

“But at the same time, if I’d pushed you this far, you’d have revealed your true nature. That’s why it’s so strange.”

“……”

“Your face may be the same, but your tone, your expressions… it’s like I’m looking at a completely different person.”

Park Dong-ha, trailing off at the end of his sentence, avoided looking at him. Like before, it seemed he wanted to say something chilling. Perhaps Dong-ha’s reaction was more typical than Yong-jae’s, who had quickly adapted and accepted the situation.

Park Dong-ha entered his phone number and handed the phone back to Choi Hong-seo.

“You switched to an ARA phone? You, who never used to touch Android?”

As Choi Hong-seo looked down at the phone in his hand, Park Dong-ha shook his head slowly.

Then, as he was about to leave the powder room, he sensed no footsteps following him and turned around.

“Aren’t you going in?”

“I’ll go in later. I just want to take a breather first.”

“Why? Are you feeling sick?”

Park Dong-ha squinted at his pale face as he peered closely at him.

“No, it’s just that I’m a bit tense. You go ahead.”

Maybe it was because he was being pressed by Park Dong-ha’s questions.

He felt worse than he had in the restaurant. Though it wasn’t as extreme as the dizziness he felt when he collapsed at the memorial hall, he felt a cold sweat break out and energy drain from his back. He felt weak.

He thought it would get better if he quietly took a breath on his own.

Leaving the powder room, Choi Hong-seo headed down the hallway opposite the restaurant. He came to an entrance that overlooked the entire living room, and to the right was a staircase leading to the second floor.

Laughter suddenly erupted from the restaurant side.

By the time he regained his senses, he was already climbing the stairs, gripping the railing.

He knew it was an impolite action, but… he just wanted to go there once more. The place where he had first met him. And the place where he had officially become his lover.

Since it was a public space like the reception room, not a private area like the bedroom or study… maybe just going there for a moment wouldn’t be so bad? He kept making excuses to himself as he climbed the stairs, his legs heavy, as though he was being chased.

He grabbed the handle of the right door of the reception room and slowly pulled it down.

Click, clink.

“……”

The neatly arranged space felt as if it was buried in the past, frozen in time.

The artworks hanging on the walls, the round dining table to the right, and the sofa set in front of the large windows to the left. Everything was exactly as it had been.

Choi Hong-seo, as if in a trance, slowly stepped into the room.

With each step, it felt like the ghosts of the past were coming back to life.

Director Kang Woo-hyun, irritated by CEO Myung’s unannounced appearance with another actor, the senior actor sitting next to Director Kang, CEO Jo, who had been nothing but deceitful from start to finish, the middle-aged woman who was a director at a conglomerate, and Myung Do-hoon, who had always grovelled before those in power…

Choi Hong-seo stopped where he had stood that day, in front of the sofa set.

The seat directly across from him was the prestigious single armchair.

The VVIP who had sat there, legs crossed, hands neatly clasped on his lap, looked like a framed picture of austerity.

It felt as if he could reappear in that seat at any moment.

A chill ran down his spine, and goosebumps spread all over his body.

“The music, let’s stop it.”

It was the first time he had heard his voice.

“Do you enjoy reading Chekhov, usually?”

It had been the first question he had asked Choi Hong-seo after the acting was done.

He hadn’t forgotten a single part of it. He felt as though he could play every role of everyone who had been in this room that day by himself.

“I hope this project goes well, and I look forward to seeing you again, Choi Hong-seo.”

Looking back, he might have subtly shown his interest from the very beginning. “I hope we meet again.” He wouldn’t have said something like that without meaning it. Now, I know that for sure.

From the start, he never beat around the bush. He didn’t try to test or probe me. But I, like a fool, had been speaking nonsense for so long.

Chuckling bitterly, Choi Hong-seo walked slowly and slumped onto the long sofa where Director Kang and the senior actor had been sitting together.

It was also the chair where he had sat next to me on the day the film production was confirmed.

We had held hands tightly. His forehead had touched the back of my neck. When he touched me, I had struggled to breathe, but I didn’t care because I wanted to stay close to him.

“Do you like me? Not just as a passing fondness?”

I slowly ran my palm over the seat where he had been sitting next to me.

What had clearly been next to me at that time was now absent. I could vividly feel the loss of what had been there, what had slipped away. Now, I completely understood the reason why people say to avoid places filled with memories of a past lover after a breakup.

As if he had just been sitting there, I felt a warm sensation under my palm. Of course, it was probably just a trick of my mind. I even ran my hand over the backrest of the sofa where he had leaned.

If such absurd things were bound to happen, I would have preferred time to rewind rather than waking up in another person’s body. If that had been the case, I could have corrected those foolish moments.

But this wasn’t a . If some omnipotent being had deliberately manipulated this situation, the intention behind it was , .

My brow tightened, and my eyes began to burn with tears.

Even when I saw Hyun-su, I had held back tears, but this time, I couldn’t stop them.

Bowing my head, I trembled and cried quietly. I didn’t wail aloud. I couldn’t cry out like that. Biting my lip, I swallowed the sound, letting the tears flow freely.

“It’s you again.”

“……”

“Isn’t this almost fate?”

There was no need to turn around to identify the voice behind me. It wasn’t some ghost from the past. The man from the past had never spoken to me with such a cold, metallic voice.