Memory

I wasn’t that panicked when I fell into the bathtub and started gulping water.

Of course, not being able to breathe is tough and painful, but that’s why Hye-sun-unni comes into the bathtub with me.

I haven’t made a mistake so far, but who can live without making mistakes?

I washed my body before getting into the bathtub, but there must have been some residual bubbles from the body wash, because Hye-sun-unni slipped while holding me and sitting down in the tub, and I slid out of Hye-sun-unni’s arms into the tub like a waterslide.

I went *kkoreureuk* for about a second after falling into the tub, but Hye-sun-unni quickly pulled me out.

“Arang-ah!!!”

I was surprised by suddenly falling into the water, but I wasn’t panicked and didn’t really care.

The problem wasn’t Arang.

,I lost control.’

Until now, I had empathized with Arang’s emotions, but I had never been buried by them.

,Is it trauma?’

My whole body trembled, and water poured out of my nose and mouth, and the food I had eaten for my health came up my esophagus and I started to vomit.

My vision blurred with tears, and Arang’s memories that I hadn’t remembered until now awakened.

A person who looked like a caregiver threw me into the bathtub and laughed as I struggled.

,Those are Arang’s memories. Arang’s first caregiver was a piece of trash.’

Starting with the memory in the bathtub, I could see the starting point of how Arang’s heart closed and her mind broke as the memories awakened one by one.

Fortunately, the caregiver’s atrocities were really short-lived.

Arang’s family, who loved her, were able to quickly check on Arang’s condition, and Hye-sun-unni, who had recommended the caregiver, felt guilty.

,So that’s why she looks at me like that and almost never tries to leave my side 24 hours a day.’

I thought I knew everything about Arang, but I didn’t.

Arang didn’t want to remember these memories, so she sealed them in her memory, so I didn’t know when I first received Arang’s memories.

But the trigger to unlock those sealed memories was falling into the water and not being able to breathe.

Hye-sun-unni is hugging me tightly as I have a seizure, whispering that it’s okay in my ear, and stroking my back.

Hye-sun-unni hugs me without caring about tears, snot, or vomit.

It’s a strange feeling.

It’s like I was controlling a character named me with a game console and then dropped the console.

Until now, I had been fused with Arang, so no matter how strong Arang’s emotions were, they just came out as expressions, but I had never had control taken away like this.

I think it’s because the sealed memories aren’t fused with me. When they are fused, the memories themselves are sealed.

,I thought I understood and accepted Arang’s negative emotions a little bit now… but this was still left.’

I’m already angry because of the nurse who is laughing at Arang, who is suffering, but what makes me even angrier is Arang’s emotions.

Anger? Resentment? Revenge? There’s none of that.

Just helplessness, despair.

,She’s really nice. If it were me, I would have only thought about killing them.’

Even now, if I saw that nurse in front of me, wouldn’t I kill them? Of course, it’s impossible because I don’t have arms and legs.

,Ah, so that’s why I felt helplessness and despair?’

After some time, I felt that I could regain control of my body, but I didn’t.

It just allowed me to feel the warm and soft love of Hye-sun-unni with Arang’s remaining emotions.

,I need to think about what I need to be careful about.’

First of all, it’s water. It’s not just that there’s a problem with taking a shower or a half-bath. I have to be careful about my whole body falling into the water.

Next is fire. That caregiver bastard said that the severed parts of my arms and legs were disgusting, so he seared them with a lighter to make them not visible.

,That crazy bastard.’

I really want to kill them myself, but I heard that the nurse suddenly disappeared.

If I recall the sealed memories, Hye-sun-unni told me directly, so it must be true.

A disappearance? So, after making Arang like this, they ran away?

Next is strangulation. These are the biggest memories among Arang’s sealed memories right now.

,So, what I need to be careful about in my life is… lower abdomen, strangulation, falling into water, burns. Is that about it?’

The seizures gradually decreased. Hye-sun-unni is crying and constantly saying that it’s okay, comforting my dirty self without caring.

,I understood why Arang died before… but there was something even worse left.’

I have to live happily for Arang’s sake.

My eyes are closing.

Is it because the physical and mental fatigue and stress from the seizure have risen to the extreme that sleep is rushing in.

I just closed my eyes as my body followed and fell asleep in Hye-sun-unni’s arms.

==

I hoped that Arang would never remember when she came to her senses.

It was a short time, but that time was absolutely not supposed to happen to Arang.

As Arang’s illness subsided, I realized when she came to her senses and when she started to like the half-bath in the bathtub that she hated.

Arang doesn’t remember that time.

Hye-sun talked to Anna and discussed Arang’s condition.

The conclusion was to not let her remember those memories.

Now that Arang is recovering mentally and her illness is getting better, if we make her remember those memories, there is a clear risk that she will be greatly hurt mentally.

She took care of Arang as carefully as possible so that Arang would not remember those memories as much as possible.

But was it because her physical condition was not good? In the process of Hye-sun entering the bathtub with Arang, her strength slightly gave out, and because of Arang’s slippery body, she let go of Arang while sitting down.

Arang slid down Hye-sun’s body and fell into the water in the bathtub.

Hye-sun urgently called Arang’s name and lifted Arang up.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be hurt, but there was another problem.

Arang’s appearance of shaking her whole body severely and starting to vomit was the same situation as when she fired the nurse and entered the bathtub to wash Arang for the first time.

Hye-sun, thinking that Arang had remembered that memory, hugged Arang’s seizing body tightly and comforted Arang.

,It’s all my fault… all of it…’

She was trusting.

It was a nurse she had known for quite a long time.

In the past, she had even trusted her to take care of patients who were uncomfortable after surgery.

But…

She did terrible things to Arang. She thoroughly ruined Arang by doing things that a person should never do.

Arang is suffering.

But all Hye-sun could do was hug her and say that it was okay.

Eventually, Arang fell asleep from exhaustion. Hye-sun cleaned Arang’s and her own body, which were dirty from vomit, and laid Arang on the bed.

She calmly told Anna what had just happened so that Anna wouldn’t be surprised, and soon after, Anna returned to Arang’s hospital room, crying.

Anna hugged Arang, who was sleeping soundly, and cried.

“Hmmnya… chicken… Puradak chicken…”

The hospital room, which had been trapped in a swamp of hell, was relieved in an instant by Arang’s one word.

“*Puhut!*”

Anna and Hye-sun both burst into laughter at Arang’s sleep talking.

“Whose sister is sleeping so comfortably like this?”

“She was so terrified until just now…”

==

I woke up in the morning.

But…

Why is there chicken in front of me? It’s Puradak chicken, too.

There was chicken and Anna-unni and Hye-sun-unni were there too.

I turned my head to check the time.

It’s 8 AM.

8 AM, the time I usually wake up these days. Usually, when I wake up at this time, Hye-sun-unni greets me by asking if I slept well and then I eat breakfast.

I thought I had been eating quite healthy recently for my weakened stomach and body health.

But suddenly chicken? And chicken this early in the morning?

“Arang-ah, did you sleep well?”

Anna-unni kissed me on the cheek and picked me up.

“Yeah. I slept well… but what is that…?”

Judging by the steaming, it’s freshly made, warm chicken.

It’s chicken that makes my mouth water just by looking at it.

“I ordered it because I thought you might want to eat chicken after a long time.”

Does a chicken place even open this early in the morning? Especially a Puradak chicken place? I don’t think that’s ever happened before…

Well, I wanted to eat chicken, so wouldn’t it be okay?

“Is it a bit much?”

“No… I’m going to eat it…!”

Anna-unni smiled brightly and sat down in a chair while holding me.

I don’t know why, but there were a total of 5 chickens, and they all only had drumsticks. All different chickens only have drumsticks. As expected, the rich are rich.

I quite like it.

Anna-unni naturally took out the most basic fried chicken, put it on the plate in front of me, and started to debone it with chopsticks.

“There are so many drumsticks. I don’t have any…”

I made a joke about the situation where all the drumstick meat looked delicious and the atmosphere seemed to be down, but I cast a wide-area silence.

,Is this not it? I was trying to lift the mood a little…’