“Are you really okay?”
Ha Neul asked.
Where we were right now was a small town in Gyeonggi-do.
Honestly, it was a bit ridiculous to even call it a ‘town’ because to find somewhere that actually resembled a town—like a mart, a market, restaurants, franchise fast food places, clothing stores, and shoe shops—you’d have to walk at least twenty minutes from here.
The road was paved, but the weeds that had grown throughout spring and summer had completely taken over the sidewalk, making it seem like it wasn’t a path for people to walk on at all.
But despite being in a mental hospital situated away from places with a lot of people, the building itself was quite neat. Almost as if it had just been built.
“I’m fine. It can’t be helped, right?”
“But still…”
In response to my answer, Ha Neul still hesitated to reply. I let out a dramatic sigh and moved closer in front of her.
Then, looking straight up at her face, I said, “You don’t trust me?”
“……Ugh.”
Ha Neul’s face turned bright red. Lately, Ha Neul seemed to have become notably weak around me. It seemed like the last time I held her face firmly and said a few words was still quite effective. Being somewhat reactive rather than overly aggressive was nice, but thinking of it as a bomb that could explode at any moment was a bit scary.
“That’s right. Sara is so certain about it. As friends, we need to believe her.”
At that moment, Sohee chimed in, sounding just as skeptical as Ha Neul, but I thought she didn’t really have the right to say that. Well, honestly, she probably just wanted to sound charismatic since she was caught up in the same situation as Ha Neul.
“I believe Sara.”
Sua nodded along, saying this.
“You can rest assured that we will never leave you alone again.”
Yang Hye-in said to Ha Neul. …That was somewhat scary in its own way, but I was pretty sure I could trust Yang Hye-in. To be honest, I was a little worried she might go so far as to disregard her own life for my protection, but that was a different concern.
“Well then, shall we go in?”
After everyone shared their thoughts, I said this, and everyone nodded.
I glanced around at my closest allies who had followed me and then turned with determination to enter the mental hospital.
*
Common sense would tell you that it’s hard to imagine someone bribing a psychiatrist to admit someone. No matter how talkative a psychiatrist might be, it’s a field backed by systematically validated theories over a long period. It’s only natural to assume that one wouldn’t forcibly admit just anyone, especially someone with no real issues…
However, looking at the cases, it isn’t always so straightforward.
Patients need to exist for the doctor to get paid, and there are indeed many people who would want to get rid of a family member they dislike by putting them in a mental hospital. If interests align, illegally admitting someone isn’t impossible. If people only refrained from doing things because they were wrong, crime wouldn’t exist in the world.
“Uh…”
The ‘doctor’ facing me looked anxious, his gaze darting everywhere, as if confirming that no one was in the patient room.
In reality, it was just the doctor and me in the room. Ha Neul, Sua, Sohee, and Yang Hye-in were all outside.
Having been kidnapped once during a private meeting, perhaps it was something I should avoid—
“Um, Ye Sara?”
“Yes.”
“Is there really a need to announce a diagnosis in a place where no one else is around?”
The ‘doctor’ asked me with a very awkward expression.
In reality, the paper on the desk wasn’t a prescription; it looked more like a screenplay.
“Officer.”
“Yes.”
“Are you good at acting in your spare time?”
“Um…”
The young officer frowned for a moment, then shook his head.
“No, I do sometimes for stakeouts.”
“Right, and this is a stakeout, too.”
“True.”
In fact, the ‘doctor’ was just an officer dressed in a doctor’s outfit. He was the younger of the two detectives who came to the mansion last time.
Of course, he wasn’t performing any actual medical procedures. That would be illegal. He was just undercover for an important role later, posing as my primary physician.
“Wouldn’t it be better to cooperate with a real doctor instead?”
“I’m worried that a real doctor wouldn’t be able to protect me completely if something goes wrong.”
I was able to act out this doctor role in a real mental hospital because I had, of course, solved it with money. Though we didn’t actually borrow a proper consultation room, we simply decorated one of the empty rooms to look somewhat like an examination room.
“And just because someone is a real doctor doesn’t guarantee they can act well.”
“No, I just don’t get why we need to act as doctors.”
The officer, clearly uncomfortable in the white coat, shifted positions repeatedly. It seemed more psychological discomfort than because of the outfit itself. Was he feeling that way just because he wasn’t actually a doctor but was dressed like one?
“Trying to pretend to do a medical procedure when there’s no one watching… If we can act really well, then that should suffice. As long as we can clearly distinguish between real life and acting, and handle them separately, it should be okay, right? But is that even possible?”
“Hmmm…”
The officer rubbed his fingers over his furrowed brow, then spoke.
“No, that wouldn’t work.”
“Right?”
At my words, he let out a deep sigh.
“But do you really think those people would bite on a bait like this?”
“I think they definitely will. Their sole purpose is me after all.”
I nodded, speaking with conviction.
Choi Na-kyung would not keep me here and just siphon off money. She’d be more inclined to find a way to approach me—to monopolize Sara. That’s her personality.
I had no idea what method Choi Na-kyung would use to do that. That’s why preparations had gone this far, to lure her here by setting up an elaborate scenario.
“Are you saying she would try to get the hospital staff onto her side with money?”
The officer said with a shocked expression.
“Exactly. In fact, I already did that. I paid a huge sum upfront to reserve a room and decorated another one to use as a fake hospital room when I pretend to be admitted.”
If the opponent seems like they will be swayed by money, then the solution is to offer much more money beforehand. It’s not really a bribe; it’s just paying rent for parts of the hospital.
“…I just hope everything goes as planned.”
“I hope things go smoothly as well.”
I sincerely thought that.
*
After days of attending the mental hospital with no response, I began to think that perhaps I had drawn attention by setting it up too grandly. However, only a few people knew about the money, and I had instructed the undercover officer or police to keep their mouths shut as much as possible, but the story could have spread up the grapevine.
Considering Choi Na-kyung hasn’t been caught yet, it seemed that there might be someone at a higher level involved.
But I wasn’t giving up. It takes quite a while to properly assess a mental health issue after all. Originally visiting just a few times a week or month felt different from visiting every single day, and although the observation period might be shortened, if the opponent thought carefully, they could drag it out until the break was over.
“Ye Sara patient.”
After nearly two weeks of this, one day, I saw the officer—no, the ‘doctor’—beam a big smile while talking to me, and I had an intuition.
Clears throat.
He seemed a little embarrassed saying this.
“Based on the counseling content regarding Ye Sara, I can conclude you definitely have Dissociative Identity Disorder.”
Of course, we weren’t just sitting here doing nothing, so a genuine diagnosis like that couldn’t actually happen. After all, I hadn’t even pulled Sara out yet.
“Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s correct… uh, you see…”
The ‘doctor’ flipped through a few pages of paper in front of him.
Of course, there was nothing written there. There had been no prepared lines or anything.
“…You’re talking about the admission procedures, right?”
“Yes, it seems we should proceed with the admission process.”
The ‘doctor’ nodded.
“Have you received consent from two guardians?”
I asked, a bit surprised. I mean, I expected them to bite the bait, but I didn’t actually think they would find a second guardian.
“Well, that’s a bit ambiguous.”
The one acting as ‘doctor’ returned to being an officer as he spoke.
“It was the consent of your biological paternal grandfather. He’s a direct relative, so I’m not sure what the legal validity would be.”
“But we don’t really care whether it has legal validity or not, do we?”
“Well, that’s true.”
The officer in the doctor’s coat laughed with a slightly incredulous expression, and I smiled back at him.
What a scammer he is.
Sara seemed to find that endearing and said something incredulously.
