27. Who Are You?
“Ah? When did you wake up? How’s your head? Does it hurt?”
As Se-ah woke up and tried to check on his condition, she suddenly fell backward again. For some reason, she couldn’t move her body.
Turning her head quickly to look behind, she saw the net used to drag Junhyuk yesterday now wrapped tightly around her hands and ankles.
Why?
A stream of question marks floated above her head.
Blinking her large eyes, Se-ah looked up at the islander who, though familiar, felt strangely different overnight—clearly the one who had tied her up.
Junhyuk looked down at her with the same cruel expression he wore while spearing fish and spoke.
“Let me ask again. Who are you? And where is this place?”
“What?”
Still unable to grasp the situation, Se-ah squirmed in her bound state and asked. In response, he issued a low warning.
“Don’t move recklessly if you want to live.”
A cold object was pressed close to her neck. Trembling, she managed to stammer out a response.
“Stop messing around and untie me, please.”
“Messing around? Do you think this is a joke?”
For the first time, she felt a murderous aura emanating from Junhyuk. Goosebumps spread all over her slender arms. Something was definitely wrong.
The Junhyuk she knew would never act this way...
Could someone who looked like Junhyuk have sneaked into the house?
Unable to rub her eyes with her tied hands, Se-ah blinked several times as she observed Junhyuk closely.
Deep eyes like an abyss, a nose sharp enough to put roller coasters to shame, a jawline steeper than a cliff, and slightly red lips.
Though the room wasn’t very bright, the one who had warned her was undoubtedly Junhyuk.
There couldn’t possibly be two faces like this in the world, especially not on a deserted island.
“W-Why are you acting like this, Junhyuk?”
“You know me? How do you know me? Who sent you?”
The moment Junhyuk heard his name, an explosive tension surged from him. His face, leaning in close, was filled with suspicion.
Se-ah had words like 'of course I know you, how could I not?' stuck in her throat. But she knew better than to say something like that in this situation. She wasn’t socially inept.
She rolled her eyes and examined him. Despite his neat appearance, there seemed to be nothing physically wrong with him. She wondered if he had hit his head on a coconut, causing this strange behavior.
It was fortunate that he hadn’t died of a concussion, but it was clear that something serious had happened to him. This could spell serious trouble for her as well, and her face turned pale.
Just yesterday, her chances of survival on the deserted island had been near perfect, but now they seemed to plummet dramatically.
“Don’t you remember? Do you not know who I am?”
Se-ah anxiously waited for his response.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t have tied you up.”
Junhyuk sneered as he replied.
His gaze and attitude confirmed that he had no memory of her at all.
However, since he knew his name was Do Junhyuk, it was likely that only part of his memory was lost, or he had temporarily regressed to past memories.
If it was just a mild concussion, it would soon recover. But if it wasn’t, this could become a serious problem.
Without a doctor or even any medicine, there was no way to treat him.
Se-ah fervently hoped this wasn’t the case.
Although she didn’t know when his memory would return, she needed to establish a friendly relationship with him in the meantime.
Carefully observing him, she cautiously spoke.
“I’m Jin Se-ah. We’re colleagues.”
She didn’t feel the need to mention that she was his ex-wife, so she simplified their relationship to being 'colleagues.' After all, living on this deserted island together technically made them companions.
“We’re colleagues?”
“Yes, we even live in the same house. Don’t you think so? Look, your belongings and mine are together over there.”
Junhyuk, who had raised his sharp eyes, alternated between glancing at the luggage and her face, as if trying to discern the truth. Se-ah, meanwhile, tried to soften her expression to reduce his wariness.
“We were fairly close, so it’s disappointing that you don’t remember.”
Junhyuk’s sharp demeanor softened slightly as he looked at her crescent-moon-shaped smile.
“I don’t remember?”
“Yes, I think you were hit by a falling coconut yesterday evening, which caused it. If you don’t trust my words, you can check the front beach. There should be fallen coconuts there.”
“Then why are you speaking so formally? Is there something you’re hiding?”
Junhyuk, who seemed to have relaxed, suddenly raised another suspicion.
“Excuse me? I’ve always spoken formally to you since you never asked me to speak casually.”
The implication was that they weren’t close enough for casual speech.
“You seem much older than me, though.”
Junhyuk tilted his head and muttered to himself.
“What? How could you say that? Do I look older than you in any way?”
Se-ah, more shocked by the suggestion that she looked older than his memory loss, began to squirm in her bindings. Her once gentle gaze became fierce.
As Se-ah’s dissatisfaction became evident, Junhyuk rubbed his chin with his hand and asked,
“How old are you?”
“Thirty, this year.”
“Older than me, so why the surprise?”
“How old are you, Junhyuk?”
“Didn’t you say we were colleagues? How could you not know?”
For a moment, Se-ah wondered if she had gotten his age wrong. He should be three years older than her.
Could his profile be wrong?
“Thirty… three, aren’t you?”
“What? You’re saying I’m thirty-three? Who said that? Are you insane?”
“I’m not insane, but... then how old are you?”
“…I’m twenty.”
“What?”
Se-ah’s eyes widened so much it seemed they might pop out.
For a moment, she wondered if Junhyuk hadn’t just lost his memory from being hit by a coconut, but his intelligence as well.
Twenty? How?
“Twenty? That’s ridiculous—wait…”
Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, a realization struck her.
Could this be retrograde amnesia? The kind where you lose memories from before an incident?
“J-Junhyuk, then what year is it right now?”
“2011.”
“What? 2011?”
Se-ah was now certain that Junhyuk had reverted to a point in the past, just as she feared. He wasn’t the type to joke about something like this.
Why did it have to be when he’d just turned twenty? Her head throbbed painfully.
If only they hadn’t picked that coconut...
But it was too late for regrets now.
Sighing deeply, she decided to slowly ease him back into reality.
“Junhyuk… it’s 2024 this year.”
“What?”
“After being hit by that coconut yesterday, it seems like you’ve lost some memories.”
“There’s no way. Don’t say such ridiculous things. You must be the one who’s lost it.”
Junhyuk dismissed her coldly. Se-ah, who hoped more than anyone else that it wasn’t true, stopped herself from retorting as she realized there was no way to prove it.
There were no phones or even calendars on this island.
Rolling her eyes, she gestured with her chin toward the watch on Junhyuk’s wrist. It looked expensive, with various intricate gears. Surely it had the date.
“The watch should show the date. Check it.”
At her urging, Junhyuk glanced at his wrist and frowned.
“Whose watch is this? It’s not mine.”
“Anyone can see it’s yours. It fits perfectly on your wrist. I wouldn’t wear something so big.”
“Even so, it doesn’t have the date.”
When he held out his wrist, she saw that the watch indeed only showed the time and had something like a compass. There was no indicator for the year.
At this rate, she might as well claim she was from the future.
“Anyway, we are indeed colleagues, and it’s 2024 now. So, could you untie me, please?”
Se-ah rolled halfway over like a caterpillar, showing her tied hands and feet to Junhyuk. However, he immediately shook his head.
“Why would I untie you? If you’re thirty, you’re the same age as Do Yeonsoo. Did she put you up to this?”
“Do Yeonsoo? Who’s that…”
Oh!
She suddenly remembered that Junhyuk’s older sister was named Do Yeonsoo. Being half-siblings, they were known to have a tense relationship over company management. But thinking she would go as far as orchestrating something like this was surprising.
Se-ah quickly denied it.
“I don’t even know who Do Yeonsoo is.”
“You don’t? You said we were close, yet you don’t know her?”
“Well, we didn’t really talk about personal matters.”
“Do Yeonsoo is the only one who would pull something like this. It wasn’t long ago she left me stranded in a South American forest, and now it’s an island?”
Junhyuk clicked his tongue as he looked out at the sea beyond the mosquito net.
“She left you in a forest?”
“I was stranded in the jungle for three months. That’s where I learned survival skills.”
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