Chapter 1
“Cha Siwoo! Have you lost your mind?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
A gray newspaper was thrown onto the desk, landing among the neatly organized stacks of documents.
On the front page, taking up most of the space, was a large photograph of a young-faced man kneeling before a middle-aged woman, crying.
“The photo came out well.”
“Is that really all you have to say right now?”
‘Then what else is there to say?’
“Looks like there’s still nobody who can match me when it comes to photography.”
The perfectly composed shot made the subjects stand out even more.
“Hey!”
‘Ah, my ears are itching.’
“Stop shouting. You have high blood pressure, Chief. If you collapse, I’ll be heartbroken.”
“You say that knowing full well what you’ve done?”
Chief Yoo’s face flushed red with escalating anger as he brushed his hair back.
‘He’s angry again.’
Suppressing the smile threatening to escape, I picked up the newspaper.
“‘The Secret Hobby of Chairman Geum of a Major Conglomerate.’ The newspaper really knew how to make a provocative headline.”
Chief Yoo’s brow furrowed deeply as his gaze fixed on the paper.
‘At this rate, those wrinkles are going to get even deeper.’
“Hey, Cha Siwoo.”
“Yes?”
“You know Chairman Geum’s reputation isn’t exactly good, right?”
“I know.”
“You haven’t been in this business for just a day or two. And yet you sold photos of a VVIP to the press?”
‘It’s not like a VVIP puts food on my table.’
“It’s my photograph. I have the right to decide what happens to it.”
Bang!
‘That startled me.’
Chief Yoo slammed his hand onto the desk and let out a rough breath.
“Have you finally gone insane?”
“The insane one is Chairman Geum. How can she treat someone young enough to be her grandson like a slave?”
“And what does that have to do with you?! You’ve never been the type to care about things like that!”
“Come on. I’m full of a strong sense of justice.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Would someone like that work as a paparazzo?”
“There’s no such thing as a lowly job.”
“Unbelievable. It’s about the money, isn’t it? How much did the newspaper offer you?”
‘It was a nice amount.’
Instead of answering, I smiled at him. Every working adult knew.
“You like money that much? There are people you just don’t mess with. You’ve seen every kind of thing in this line of work, so why did you have to target a VVIP?”
“The amount was too big to turn down.”
‘And I didn’t like the way she acted, either.’
Large corporations were excellent prey.
In paparazzi work, the more sensational and attention-grabbing the photo, the higher its value.
Media outlets competed to purchase photographs, and the more famous the subject, the bigger the offers became.
‘It’s a pretty lucrative job.’
The moment they heard it was a photo of Chairman Geum, the newspapers offered nearly twenty times the usual market price.
‘The rarity and risk make the photos worth more.’
Chief Yoo ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply.
“Why are you risking your life for money? We’re all just trying to make a living.”
“I’ve done worse things than this before. I was fine.”
“You’ve got some nerve. One day, it’ll get you killed.”
“I’ll probably outlive you, Chief.”
“There’s no order when it comes to death, you punk! Don’t tell me… Is this because of your sister?”
For a moment, the image of my younger sister lying in the intensive care unit flashed through my mind.
One side of my chest tightened, and my breathing caught.
‘Even while I’m sitting here talking and laughing, she’s probably still suffering.’
“…You already know.”
“Even so, take it easy. You need to stay by your sister’s side for a long time.”
“You should worry less about me and more about your blood pressure.”
“You little…!”
Chief Yoo’s lecture continued for several more minutes.
I let it go in one ear and out the other. Eventually, he sighed and pointed toward the door.
“Get out!”
“Yes, sir. Then I’ll be going.”
The moment I closed the office door behind me, I was greeted by the quiet hallway.
‘Nice and peaceful.’
It had already been five years since I started working as a paparazzo.
After a sudden accident, my parents died, and my sister, eight years younger than me, fell into a vegetative state.
From that moment on, the life I had thought was ordinary changed completely.
I did every job imaginable to earn money.
I worked day and night, but money left my account faster than it came in.
The hospital bills required to keep someone alive had reached a level impossible to cover with ordinary income.
When even my bank account hit its limit, I started working as a paparazzo.
That was how I managed to pay the hospital expenses.
“Wow. Time really flies.”
‘So much has happened over those five years.’
Getting hospitalized from malnutrition and overwork had become an ordinary event.
Because I dealt with celebrities, threats, and intimidation were constant companions.
‘I got plenty of death threats too.’
Heh.
Whenever that happened, all I had to do was look at the money entering my account.
Then everything felt fine.
As long as the pay was good, any threat was welcome.
In an age where money was necessary to save a life, I was willing to do anything to keep my sister alive.
‘She’s my only… family.’
Bzzz. Bzzz.
The strong vibration of my phone snapped me out of my thoughts.
“What now?”
I pulled the phone from my pocket and saw words I hadn’t expected.
[Minhan General Hospital]
‘Why is the hospital calling at this hour?’
The moment I saw the name, PTSD kicked in, and my heart started racing.
After taking a deep breath, I pressed the call button.
“Hello.”
[This is the Intensive Care Unit at Minhan General Hospital. Are you the guardian of Cha Sihyeon?]
“Yes. That’s me.”
[We’re calling because your sister’s condition has worsened.]
“…”
‘No way.’
My trembling hand barely managed to hold the phone.
“How… bad is it?”
[I’m afraid you should prepare yourself mentally. You need to come to the hospital right away.]
‘Damn it.’
“…I’ll be there immediately!”
I tried to stay calm, but my voice shook uncontrollably.
[Yes. Please come to the ICU on the ninth floor as soon as possible.]
My hands trembled so violently that I could feel the vibrations.
I had never once imagined a life without my sister.
Even now, the image of her smiling face from childhood remained vivid in my mind.
‘Prepare myself? There’s no way I can do that.’
Forcing my shaking legs to move, I hurried toward the elevators.
When I pressed the down button and looked up, the floor indicator showed the number 1.
“Damn it! Why is the elevator always on the first floor at times like this?”
Each second it took to come up felt like ten minutes.
Even waiting felt like a waste of time.
‘Forget it.’
I turned toward the emergency staircase beside the elevator.
Creak… Bang!
Using the heavy metal door slamming against the wall as background noise, I began sprinting down the stairs.
My heartbeat pounded in sync with the echoing thuds of my footsteps.
As I raced down the endless staircase, my breathing grew ragged, and it felt as though blood was rising up my throat.
‘Please… let my sister be safe.’
I didn’t believe in gods.
But at this moment, I prayed desperately to every god that might exist.
“I’ll believe in you from now on! I’ll do whatever you want! So please…!”
At that instant, the tip of my shoe caught on the cold concrete edge of a stair.
“Ah… Agh!”
My body lost balance and pitched forward.
My hands clawed at the air, but there was nothing to grab and nothing to lean against.
I fell.
A burning pain pierced through my leg.
“Ugh.”
The cold air filled my nose, mixed with the metallic scent of blood from torn skin.
I tried to get up slowly, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate.
“Damn it! I’m in a hurry here!”
Grabbing the handrail, I forced myself upright and resumed running down the stairs like a madman.
At last, the number 1 came into view.
“Haa… haa…”
I pushed open the heavy emergency exit door and found myself in the familiar first-floor lobby of the company building.
‘I need to get a taxi. Now.’
Pushing through people, I hurried outside.
As the front doors opened, I spotted a yellow taxi in the distance with the vacant sign on, slowly approaching.
“Over here! Taxi! Hurry!”
Perhaps seeing my frantic waving, the taxi accelerated toward me.
The tires let out a low, brief scraping sound against the asphalt.
The moment it stopped, I yanked open the rear door and climbed inside.
“Sir, are you hurt? Why are you in such a rush?”
The middle-aged driver turned around with a puzzled expression.
“Minhan General Hospital!”
“What?”
“Please get me to Minhan General Hospital as fast as possible!”
The driver’s face grew serious the moment he heard the word hospital.
“Ah… Right! Hold on tight. I’ll get you there as quickly as I can.”
The taxi sped off along the smooth road.
My heart, already racing, went even wilder.
‘Please… be safe. I don’t want to prepare myself for anything!’
Outside the window, the dense cityscape rushed past.
The sound of my heartbeat thundered in my ears.
Thump. Thump.
Everything felt unstable.
‘Calm down. There has to be a way. There might still be hope.’
“Hoo… Haa…”
I closed my eyes and slowly exhaled.
That was when…
Screeeeech!
A deafening noise tore through the air.
Craaaash!
The sharp explosion of shattering glass and the impact transmitted through my bones twisted everything out of shape.
“Guh!”
The metallic scent of blood surged up my throat.
For the first time in my life, I felt as though my entire body was being smashed to pieces.
My consciousness faded.
The sound of horns and people shouting grew smaller and smaller.
Then the world turned black.
***
“Ugh… My head.”
A pounding headache washed over me as I held my head and sat up.
My blurred vision slowly came into focus after a few blinks.
“What is this?”
A tiny one-room apartment filled most of my view, consisting of little more than a bed and a small desk.
“I was definitely in a taxi.”
I turned my head and looked around.
The musty smell unique to a semi-basement room lingered in the air.
The blue tape covering a cracked window and the worn flooring looked exactly like the room I had lived in when I was twenty.
A cold breeze slipped through the window gap, instantly clearing my hazy mind.
Suddenly, the memory of that piercing noise echoed in my ears, and goosebumps spread across my body.
“There was definitely… a major accident.”
The horrifying sensation of my entire body being torn apart sent a chill through me.
‘The last thing I remember is taking a huge impact inside the taxi. But when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere completely different.’
Trying to make sense of the impossible situation only brought another wave of headaches.
“No, but why am I here instead of a hospital?”
Feeling a strange sense of incongruity, I brushed my bangs aside.
“No matter how I look at it, this is the place I lived in until I was twenty. What is this? A dream?”
Ding.
As if answering my question, a familiar notification sound rang out.
“…Holy sh–!”
A translucent blue rectangular window suddenly appeared before my eyes.
[Have you regained your senses?]
A chilling sensation ran down my spine.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
For a long moment, I could do nothing but stare at the translucent blue window.
“What now? Am I seeing things?”
[You are not hallucinating. Cha Siwoo, you are dead.]
Comments (0)