A sharp, sterile scent filled the air. The rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor drummed softly in the background.
Ji Hyo's head felt heavy—as if he had been asleep for days.
Slowly, his eyelids fluttered open. The bright white of the hospital ceiling burned his vision for a moment before adjusting.
Where am I…?
Before he could process anything else— A woman's face appeared beside him. Her eyes widened in shock. And then—
"AAAAHHHHHHH!"
The scream pierced through his skull like a bomb detonating next to his ear.
Ji Hyo winced, feeling like his eardrums were about to burst.
"What the hell—?!"
Before he could even react, the woman grabbed his hands, clutching them tightly, her grip surprisingly strong.
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she stared at him with a mix of relief, concern, and frustration.
"Ji Hyo! You're awake! Oh my god, do you know how worried I was?! What happened?! How did you pass out?!"
Her voice was rising too fast for his still half-conscious brain to process.
"Did you not eat enough? Were you skipping meals again?! Is your allowance too small?! Tell me the truth—have you been starving yourself?!"
Her grip tightened even more, borderline painful now. Ji Hyo barely had time to react before her expression suddenly darkened. Her soft, teary eyes sharpened into a deadly glare.
Then, in a chilling, low mutter—
"I swear… I'm gonna tear up your dad's face for reducing your allowance."
The air around her seemed to drop several degrees.
Ji Hyo felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple.
"What…?"
Her aura was terrifying.
For a moment, he swore the temperature in the hospital room actually dropped.
Who is this woman?!
But then, as quickly as it appeared, the darkness in her gaze vanished.
Her expression softened as she looked into his eyes again.
She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, returning to her sweet, concerned demeanor.
"I was so scared, Ji Hyo…" she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.
"I just received a call informing me that you got hospitalized, saying you collapsed out of nowhere… I rushed here as fast as I could."
Her fingers trembled as she held his hand tighter, as if making sure he was really there.
Ji Hyo's confusion only deepened.
Maid? Allowance? His dad?
His brain was scrambling for answers. What the hell was happening? Why was this woman talking like she knew him? His head ached. Nothing made sense. Finally, he managed to find his voice.
A hesitant, confused whisper escaped his lips—"Who… are you?"
The woman froze. Her eyes widened in complete shock. For a second, she didn't breathe.
And then—
Her face went pale. Her lips trembled.
Her body swayed slightly. "W-what…?"
Ji Hyo could only watch in horror as—She collapsed.
-
Jun Ji Hyun was wailing dramatically, sprawled across a hospital bed while an entire team of doctors attended to her—despite the fact that she was completely fine.
At the same time, another group of doctors stood beside Ji Hyo, checking his vitals with mild concern but absolute confusion over the sheer nonsense unfolding before them.
Yet, she acted like she was the one dying.
"WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!"
Jun Ji Hyun's voice echoed through the halls, shaking the very foundations of the hospital.
She was crying but in a way that seemed more like an over-the-top performance than actual sorrow.
Her hands dramatically clutched her chest as if she had just lost a loved one in the most tragic K-Drama imaginable.
Meanwhile, her husband, Nam Su Hyun, stood stiffly beside her, his face stuck between concern and the look of a man who had long given up trying to control his wife's theatrics.
He let out a deep sigh, rubbing his temples.
"Honey… you're acting like someone died."
Jun Ji Hyun's head snapped up so fast that Ji Hyo swore she might have broken something.
"DIED?! DIED?! YEOBO, THIS IS EVEN WORSE!"
She pointed dramatically at Ji Hyo, her tear-streaked face filled with outrage.
"Our precious son— OUR BABY —HAS AMNESIA!"
The entire room went silent for a moment.
Ji Hyo blinked. Slowly.
"…Huh?"
Jun Ji Hyun continued..
"I mean, fine, I get it! People forget things sometimes! BUT HOW COULD HE FORGET ME?!"
She grabbed Ji Hyo's hand tightly, shaking it as if that would bring his memories back.
"I mean, if he forgot about his father or other family, that's totally fine. It's whatever. But ME?! ME?!"
She wailed even louder.
"HOW COULD HE FORGET HIS OWN MOTHER?!"
Ji Hyo's brain flatlined.
His grip on the hospital bed tightened.
His breath caught in his throat.
"…Mother?"
Jun Ji Hyun froze.
Nam Su Hyun looked away.
The doctors awkwardly stepped back.
The air became unbearably thick.
Jun Ji Hyun's wide, glossy eyes stared at Ji Hyo as if he had just stabbed her in the heart.
"…You're joking, right?"
Ji Hyo gulped.
"I… I don't…" He hesitated, unsure how to continue.
"I don't remember you."
Silence.
A long, heavy silence.
And then—
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
Jun Ji Hyun let out the most dramatic scream yet.
She collapsed back onto the bed, flailing her arms like a fish out of water.
Doctors rushed to her side, panicked.
"MADAM! CALM DOWN!"
"SOMEONE GET HER OXYGEN!"
Nam Su Hyun just rubbed his face in exhausted frustration.
Ji Hyo, watching all of this unfold in complete disbelief, whispered to himself—
"…What kind of life did I have before this?"
The doctor cleared his throat, trying to break through the overwhelming noise of Jun Ji Hyun's emotional breakdown.
"Medically speaking, his condition is stable."
Jun Ji Hyun immediately stopped sobbing.
"Oh, thank god!" she gasped dramatically, wiping her tears away like she had just survived a war.
The doctor continued, unfazed.
"However, his memory loss appears to be caused by psychological shock. It's possible something triggered it, but there's no sign of permanent damage. With time, he may recover."
Jun Ji Hyun stiffened.
And then—her head snapped toward her husband like a possessed demon.
"SEE?! I TOLD YOU THIS WAS YOUR FAULT!"
Nam Su Hyun, who had done absolutely nothing wrong, sighed deeply.
"How… exactly is this my fault?"
Jun Ji Hyun sniffled aggressively, glaring.
"Because! If you hadn't cut his allowance, he wouldn't have been stressed, and if he wasn't stressed, this wouldn't have happened!"
Nam Su Hyun rubbed his temples.
"Do you hear yourself when you talk?"
"YES! AND I AM SPEAKING FACTS!"
"Cutting his allowance does not cause memory loss."
"WELL, OBVIOUSLY IT DID!"
Ji Hyo tuned them out.
At this point, their voices became background noise.
He had bigger problems to figure out.
"Okay… let's go over what I know so far."
First of all his name is Ji Hyo Ha or at least… It used to be, and this woman, Jun Ji Hyun is his mother and Nam Su Hyun is his father then he looks at Nam Su Hyun, a man who looks like he has suffered for years. That means his family name is now 'Hyun.'
"So… does that mean I'm now Ji Hyo Hyun?"
He physically cringed at the thought.
"That sounds so ugly," he muttered under his breath—though, truthfully, he wasn't even sure if he meant the name or just the tacky-looking bedsheet in front of him.
Unfortunately, Jun Ji Hyun's sharp hearing kicked in right on cue.
She turned around from across the room, eyes wide.
"EXCUSE ME?! Did you just say ugly?! Are you calling ME ugly?!"
Ji Hyo blinked in panic. "W-What?! No, no, no! I was talking about the bedsheet! The bed sheet looks ugly!"
Jun Ji Hyun glanced at the bed, then raised a brow.
"...Ah. That's true, actually."
She folded her arms and nodded to herself. "That hideous pattern was your choice, though. You always hated clashing colors—must be your clean freak tendencies acting up again."
Ji Hyo stared at her. "I'm… a clean freak?"
"You used to complain if the cushion didn't align properly with the curtains," she replied, shaking her head with mock exhaustion. "You once threw out an entire set of towels because the blue didn't match the soap dish."
"Wow." Ji Hyo blinked. "I sound dramatic."
"You are dramatic," Jun Ji Hyun said flatly, already turning back toward the hallway.
But even with that small distraction, his mind kept circling back to the same question.
"How the hell did this happen?"
Everything felt too real to be a joke.
His memories were completely blank.
Nothing about his supposed life as Ji Hyo Hyun felt familiar.
And then—
A thought hit him.
"Wait… that dream."
He still remembered it vividly. The endless void. The figure that looked exactly like him—but wasn't him.
And then…
That last sentence.
"He needs my help."
Ji Hyo's hands tightened around the bedsheets. What did that mean? And more importantly…
"What did he say after that?"
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember. But one thing was certain—
That dream wasn't normal.
And somehow…
He had a feeling that this new life, this family, and that mysterious version of himself were all connected.