Substitute-Chapter 41

Flashback #2 — Ten Months After the Accident

The detective visited the day after his father’s 49th-day memorial service.

After losing her youngest son and then her husband, Jiwon's mother had barely managed to get through the memorial with sheer willpower. Unable to refuse her sister’s insistence, she had finally agreed to take a brief vacation.

While Jiwon had been oscillating between life and death in the ICU, his mother had become a hollow shell. Even as she left for the trip, she was anxious about leaving her only remaining son alone in the hospital with just the caregiver.

Yoon Jiwon had just managed to get out of the wheelchair. He was in the midst of recovery after multiple genital reconstruction surgeries and an elbow surgery. But calling it "recovery" was an exaggeration. Both his mind and body were in shambles, just like his mother’s. The rehabilitation was agonizingly difficult, and the pain in his mutilated genitals was indescribable.

His self-esteem and confidence had bottomed out.

It had been ten long months.

Jiwon had never imagined that someone as physically fit as himself would end up spending over ten months in a hospital bed.

They said the accident was severe enough to kill the other boy instantly. Yet, Jiwon's external injuries consisted only of a broken leg and a shattered elbow. There was no organ damage, no brain hemorrhage — none of the typical signs of a car crash.

And yet, he had remained unconscious for over a month and then hovered between life and death in the ICU for several more months.

The doctor had explained that, although rare, cases like Jiwon's did occur — where the patient had no visible injuries but remained comatose. The doctor had suggested that it might have been the shock of witnessing the boy’s death that caused Jiwon to shut down.

Since both his attending physician, his mother, and even his now-deceased father had all said the same thing, Jiwon believed it. There was no reason to doubt them.

But it wasn’t the truth.

The doctor and his parents had told Jiwon a well-intentioned lie.

It was only after meeting the detective that Jiwon finally learned the truth.

"That damn detective showed up, and everything went to hell after that."

The moment Jiwon met Detective Kim Kyungseok, he immediately knew that this was the "damn detective" his mother had been talking about. Maybe that’s why he felt so resentful toward him right from the start.

The detective was 44 years old, assigned to the Narcotics Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. He had a boisterous personality, and if not for his cauliflower ear, he wouldn’t have looked like a cop at all — more like a friendly uncle.

"I heard you were in the ICU until recently. It’s a relief to see you recovering so quickly," he said, his deep voice perfectly suited to his broad frame and tall stature.

"If you hadn't been kept in the dark, your father wouldn’t have ended up like that."

Jiwon's mother had spoken as if the detective were solely responsible for her husband’s death.

When Jiwon asked why, his mother had only said, "You don’t need to know. Just focus on getting better," refusing to elaborate further.

There were so many things Jiwon wanted to ask the detective. But at the same time, he didn’t want to know anything at all.

"I'm truly sorry about your father," the detective said, looking genuinely remorseful. "Yesterday was his 49th-day memorial, so I visited the columbarium. Honestly, he was such a healthy man... I never imagined he would end up like that. I’m sorry."

Unexpectedly, he apologized right away.

"But he really wanted to know the truth," the detective continued, saying something that caught Jiwon off guard.

"He wanted to know what really happened to you — why such a smart, young kid like you had to suffer through such brutal treatment. He was determined to uncover the truth, even if it meant losing his badge. And if it hadn’t been me, someone else would have found out eventually."

Brutal treatment? A case?

Now that he thought about it, the detective was from Narcotics, not Traffic or Homicide.

Jiwon furrowed his brow.

"It wasn’t... a car accident?"

The detective’s expression shifted to one of confusion, then discomfort. He rubbed his face with his hand.

"Damn it. You don’t know anything, do you?"

He clicked his tongue.

"It wasn’t a car accident?" Jiwon repeated, his voice rising slightly.

"What do you remember from that day, Sergeant Yoon?"

"Huh?"

The detective fished a cigarette out of his jacket pocket.

"I’ll just hold it. I won’t light it," he said with a playful wink, slipping the cigarette between his lips.

Then he slouched back in his chair.

"Sergeant Yoon, how much do you remember from that day?"

"...If you mean memory..."

Jiwon frowned, trying to recall the events of that day.

But the truth was, he remembered almost nothing.

While discussing his genital reconstruction surgery, his doctor had once referred to Jiwon's lack of trauma as a blessing. Apparently, it was rare for someone who had suffered such a severe accident to have no memory of the incident. Every time Jiwon tried to recall that day, he came up blank. The only memories he could summon were fragmented and unconnected to the accident itself.

On that day — the day of the accident — Jiwon had been drinking. For the first time in a while, he had felt lighthearted enough to join a company dinner.

His younger brother, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had seemed to be rapidly recovering under their mother’s devoted care. Jiwon's mother was finally convinced that her youngest was returning to his old self. The fact that the boy, who had adamantly refused to see their father, had gone down to the family home with their mother and had dinner together as a family of three was proof enough.

According to his mother, the three of them had shared a bottle of soju, enjoying a cheerful, heartwarming evening — just like old times.

— "Hey, I guess you were right after all. He must have felt stifled, being the perfect model student all his life."

His mother had laughed.

— "Oh, right. Jisoo's been going crazy saying he misses you. Want to come over after work?"

‘I have a company dinner tonight.’

— "Are you going to drink?"

‘Of course.’

— "Then let Jisoo pick you up."

‘Who, Jisoo?’

— "Who else? It takes less than an hour for him to get there from home."

‘Nah, he doesn’t need to. I’ll come by tomorrow.’

— "But Jisoo says he wants to go."

‘Is Mom coming too?’

— "Oh, you. Why would Mom go there? Just be ready by 11."

‘Sigh. I was planning to drink all night.’

Jiwon pretended to whine.

The call switched to his younger brother.

‘Hey, Yoon Jisoo. Be careful driving. Don’t get into an accident.’

— "Oh, come on. I’m a better driver than you, hyung."

‘Oh, really? You’re getting cocky now?’

Jisoo chuckled.

‘See you later.’

Jiwon had been utterly wasted, more drunk than he had been in years, by the time Jisoo came to pick him up.

‘Ugh, you’re heavy.’

He heard his brother grumbling as he hoisted Jiwon onto his back. Jiwon laughed.

‘What the hell, if you can’t carry your own brother, you’re not a real man.’

He might have said that.

Did Jisoo take him to the car?

He couldn’t remember that part.

He vaguely recalled hearing shouting and screaming, but that memory was also unclear.

Then there was searing pain. He had opened his eyes, not realizing he was injured, only thinking that he was suffering from a severe hangover. He lost consciousness again, thinking it was a typical post-drinking blackout.

Jiwon believed that was his memory of the car accident.

"There was no car accident," Detective Kim Kyungseok said, sounding genuinely sympathetic.

"What?"

"There was no car accident," he repeated.

Jiwon stared blankly, unable to comprehend what the detective was saying.

"But my parents... my doctor... They told me it was a car accident," Jiwon said, his voice trembling.

"Sergeant Yoon, how much do you know about Yoon Jisoo?"

Instead of answering, the detective shifted the conversation to his brother. Jiwon frowned, struggling to follow the conversation.

"What do you mean it wasn’t a car accident?" Jiwon pressed.

The detective let out a heavy sigh and unbuttoned his suit jacket.

"It’s been a while since I wore a suit. Damn uncomfortable," he muttered, trying to lighten the mood. Then he dragged the chair closer to Jiwon and sat down.

"Alright, I’m going to tell you exactly what I told your father. Are you ready?"

Jiwon hesitated.

His mother had said countless times that his father’s death was because he had met this detective. The detective, on the other hand, claimed that Jiwon’s father had insisted on knowing the truth.

Should he hear it or not?

If his father hadn’t been a cop, would he have never found out?

If that were the case, would his father still be alive? Would he have been spared the shock and not collapsed?

Jiwon shook his head.

Even if his father hadn’t been a cop, he would have fought tooth and nail to uncover the truth if his son had died. And if that death had been a murder instead of an accident, he would have done whatever it took to find out what really happened.

That was the father Jiwon had known all his life.

"Yes. I’m ready," Jiwon said, staring directly at the detective.