Although they had decided to live together for now, there were several issues to be addressed. Eun Seo mentioned the most urgent one first.

“First, what should we do about the company? If you keep being absent without notice like this, they will get suspicious.”

It had already been a day since he had arbitrarily left the hospital. So by now, they must be searching everywhere for him.

Kwon Seung Joo made a troubled face.

“If I go to work, we’ll get caught, right?”

“Of course.”

There was no way a man who didn’t even know what a smartphone was could carry out the duties of a CEO. To begin with, even his way of speaking was completely different from the original Kwon Seung Joo. After exchanging just a few words, anyone would quickly notice something was off.

If before, his speech was clipped to the point of sounding cold, now it was much gentler and softer. Perhaps his vocalization had changed, but even his voice sounded subtly different. Before, he had a heavy baritone voice, but now the tone was slightly higher, even feeling refreshing.

His expressions were the same. It was clearly the same face, but while before it seemed like ice was dripping from him, now he somehow looked innocent.

Anyway, going to work was impossible. Eun Seo clutched her head, deep in thought.

*

Standing in front of the payphone, Eun Seo emphasized for the umpteenth time:

“As obnoxiously as you possibly can. Make the listener feel completely turned off. Got it?”

Kwon Seung Joo looked slightly hurt.

“Do I really sound that obnoxious?”

“Don’t even say that.”

Eun Seo shook her head vigorously. She should have recorded it.

Picking up the heavy receiver of the payphone, Kwon Seung Joo took several deep breaths as if he was nervous.

“Absolutely no ‘he did this, he did that’. Only use ‘he did this, he did that’ in the formal speech style. And speak in a low voice. Got it?”

After giving her final strong warnings, Eun Seo dialed the secretary’s office number. A moment later, with the clink of a coin dropping, the call connected.

“This is Kwon Seung Joo.”

– President!

The female secretary’s exclamation could be heard even through the receiver. Kwon Seung Joo quickly recited the lines he had practiced several times.

“Cancel the demolition of the Yeonsa-dong house. Leave the tenants as they are too.”

– Yes, I will take care of it right away.

The answer came back so easily it was almost anticlimactic considering how nervous he had been. The fact that she didn’t even ask why hinted at Kwon Seung Joo’s usual style. As long as they followed his orders, unnecessary questions were not permitted.

Of course, she still had to ask where he was.

– But President, where are you?

“I’m thinking of going to the countryside for a while. I’ll be taking a sick leave, so process it that way.”

– What? All of a sudden?

“The aftereffects of the accident are severe, so I need to recuperate for a while.”

It was the excuse Eun Seo had come up with. No matter how much she racked her brain, this was the best she could do.

“I lost my cell phone, so you won’t be able to reach me anyway. I’ll contact you from time to time, so keep that in mind.”

That was all he had to say. Saying anything more would only increase the risk of getting caught. Eun Seo frantically made X signs with her hands next to him, signaling for him to hang up quickly.

– President! President?

The secretary’s urgent voice could be heard even by Eun Seo’s ears.

Even the listener was exhausted from the mere 1-minute call. On the way home, he looked around with unfamiliar eyes.

“The neighborhood has changed so much. That used to be a tteokbokki place, and next to it was a hair salon, and next to that were all detached houses…”

His words brought to mind an old scenery like a photograph. Eun Seo had moved to this neighborhood 15 years ago, and he remembered it from 15 years ago as well. Since the neighborhood had started being developed 10 years ago, they shared memories of the same scenery.

“The cup tteokbokki served in cups with bears drawn on them was delicious. My younger sibling and I used to buy it sometimes.”

“Oh, I ate that just a few days ago too!”

That tteokbokki place had disappeared 10 years ago already.

Kwon Seung Joo, who had looked delighted, suddenly turned gloomy as if he had thought of something.

“Uhm, about my house… Did I really order it to be demolished?”

“That’s what I said.”

“My mom might come back someday, so why would I do that?”

He muttered with an uncomprehending expression.

“How would I know?”

Who was the one who agonized over that to death? When she snapped at him irritably, he flinched and drooped his broad shoulders dejectedly.

Back at home, Eun Seo decided on the room Kwon Seung Joo would stay in from now on. Since he said the room he had slept in last night was originally his room, they decided he would keep staying there.

“What’s this?”

While Eun Seo was laying out the bedding she had brought from the next room, he showed interest in a stack of flyers in the corner of the room.

“It’s my younger sibling.”

The words “The younger sibling you said must have died” rose up to her throat, but Eun Seo swallowed them down. There was no point in being sarcastic when he couldn’t even remember anyway.

Seung Joo’s eyes widened as he looked at the flyer, then quickly turned sorrowful.

“Did you find your sibling?”

“No. I’m still searching even now.”

After staring at the flyer for a long time as if memorizing it line by line, Seung Joo finally spoke to Eun Seo.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to find them. Stay strong, Eun Seo.”

Faced with a man making completely different remarks with the same face, Eun Seo didn’t know how to respond.

*

Overnight, she had essentially become the guardian of an eighteen-year-old. It weighed heavily on both her shoulders and her heart.

“In movies and dramas, there are many settings where hitting your head a second time brings back your memories. But in reality, memories often don’t return and most people never recover their lost memories until they die…”

The next day at work, Eun Seo sighed after reading the information she had searched on the internet. What if his memories really don’t come back?

To make matters worse, Kwon Seung Joo had neither a wallet nor a cell phone. It was unclear whether he had lost them at the time of the accident or had been unable to retrieve them from the hospital. In other words, he was currently penniless.

Although they had managed to stop the demolition for now, thinking about the future made her head spin. It wasn’t easy to support herself, and now she had another mouth to feed. An eighteen-year-old would be at the peak of their growth, so she wondered if she could even afford the food expenses…

‘Wait, his body is thirty-three years old anyway, right?’

Her mind was in disarray. She hadn’t even made up her mind on whether to view him as eighteen or thirty-three years old. So far, she had been calling Kwon Seung Joo “President” and using formal speech with him. She understood the situation, but she couldn’t bring herself to use informal speech while looking at that face.

While she was lost in thought, a summons came from the CEO’s secretary’s office. Eun Seo steeled herself and went up.

“This way, please.”

Among the several secretaries, the male secretary she had seen at the hospital guided Eun Seo to the reception room. He seemed to be the personal secretary.

As soon as she sat down, Eun Seo took the initiative.

“How is the President doing? Has he not been discharged yet?”

Instead of answering, the secretary asked a question in return.

“Have you had any contact with the President yesterday or today?”

Her heart was pounding, but Eun Seo maintained a clueless expression.

“What? Why would the President contact me…?”

The secretary scrutinized Eun Seo’s expression through his glasses, as if trying to find something in her face.

“Are you sure there was no contact?”

“Yes. You know I had to block his path to work just to meet him after repeatedly trying to reach him. Why would he contact me?”

Only then did the secretary make an expression as if to say, “I guess you’re right.”

“Actually, the President canceled the demolition of Yoon Eun Seo’s house.”

“Really?”

Eun Seo put on her best shocked face.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“I was unable to inquire about the reason. Do you know anything?”

“Of course not! Really, thank you so much. Please make sure to tell the President that I won’t forget this favor and will work even harder from now on.”

Eun Seo abruptly stood up from her seat and bowed deeply to the secretary several times.

Fortunately, it seemed like she had successfully deceived him, but lying really wasn’t her forte. On the way out, her legs were trembling so much that she had to lean against the corridor wall and take several deep breaths.

“Hah…”

Belatedly, doubts began to creep in. Was this really the right thing to do?

*

One of Kwon Seung Joo’s female secretaries entered the room. It was the desk secretary who had directly received his call yesterday, not the personal secretary. Ji Yeon Hwa skipped the greetings and asked urgently:

“Did you say our Seung Joo contacted you?”

“Yes. He called late last night.”

“So where did he say he is now? Huh?”

“He didn’t say where he was, but we traced the payphone number he called from and it was in Yeonsa-dong.”

“Yeonsa-dong?”

“Yes. He also instructed to cancel the demolition of the house in Yeonsa-dong.”

The secretary politely explained with her hands clasped together.

“He said he would be taking a sick leave for a while to recuperate in the countryside due to the aftereffects of the accident, and then he hung up right away.”

“But if he’s sick, he should be in the hospital! Why would he go out of his way to-!”

Yeon Hwa stamped her feet anxiously, even showing tears.

“Anything else? Did he say anything else?”

“He said he lost his cell phone so he won’t be reachable, and that he’ll contact us from time to time. That was all.”

“This kid, not even a single call to his own mother. Just how much does he have to make people worry to be satisfied…!”

Yeon Hwa, who had been beating her chest, eventually wiped away her tears.

“Anyway, if he contacts you again, make sure to let me know first.”

“Yes, Madam. I will do that.”

As soon as the secretary left, the worried look on Yeon Hwa’s face disappeared in an instant. Wiping the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes irritably, Yeon Hwa muttered:

“What’s this, this kid. Could it be that he has caught on to something?”