MEBBMH 1

Chapter 1

‘Did I kill him?’

No way. But still, Heo Narim found herself looking down at her clean hands without realizing it.

Her hands were trembling weakly and uselessly.

“That can’t be true.”

She muttered softly to reassure herself.

Thinking she must have seen it wrong, she looked again. But it was still the face of her ex-boyfriend, Baek Yeo-hyun.

Heo Narim took a deep breath and slowly placed her ear on Baek Yeo-hyun’s chest. It was most likely just her imagination.

But she could not hear any heartbeat. She raised her wrist, trying awkwardly to feel a pulse.

Unlike a sleeping person’s arm, his was stiff and rigid. That fact froze Heo Narim’s movements.

“That can’t be.”

She tried to brainwash herself into feeling safe again.

People don’t die so easily. There were no signs of an attack either.

No blood was seen anywhere around. Finally, she brought her fingers close to his nostrils.

Not even a faint breath touched her fingertips. That made Heo Narim fall into despair.

“Yeo-hyun, Yeo-hyun! Stop joking and wake up! Hey?”

She shook Baek Yeo-hyun’s body hurriedly, shaking his strong bare torso with all her might.

But no matter what she did, Baek Yeo-hyun did not wake up. As if he was in a deep sleep from which he would never awaken.

“N-no way.”

Unconsciously, her hand rose to her belly. It was a habit that appeared whenever she felt surprised or anxious ever since she found out she was pregnant.

Even if she told herself to stay calm, how could she?

Heo Narim squeezed her eyes shut tight.

‘Should I call an ambulance first? Or the police?’

She cried tears at the confusing and unbelievable reality that made her wonder why she even had to think about it.

Her trembling hand wiped her tears but then stopped suddenly. It was because she realized something late.

‘If I report this… what will happen?’

Even if she wanted to claim innocence, their relationship was already tangled. After all, the reason she broke up with Baek Yeo-hyun was because of his cheating.

She still remembered clearly the moment he suddenly told her he was going to marry her own older sister while they were still dating.

She never even got to tell him about the pregnancy and was shocked deeply.

If Baek Yeo-hyun’s corpse was found in front of her house, people would first suspect her.

‘People might think it’s revenge and suspect me. Then what about my child?’

It was obvious. Not only would the child grow up without a father, but the mother would become a murderer.

That life would be even harder than the life Heo Narim had without parents — she didn’t need to see it to know.

She turned her gaze back to Baek Yeo-hyun lying motionless. She couldn’t believe it. He looked like he could open his eyes and get up any moment.

‘Yeo-hyun… Yeo-hyun oppa.’

Since she found out he cheated, she didn’t call him “oppa” anymore. She deliberately kept her distance, and seeing Baek Yeo-hyun’s pained expression was a kind of revenge.

But now, it didn’t matter at all. She felt like nothing mattered anymore.

‘Go to my sister if you want. Even if you used me, it’s okay. Just please wake up.’

No matter how much she hated and was disappointed, he was the man she truly loved. She didn’t want to lose him so meaninglessly.

Tears fell down silently. She had the habit of crying without making a sound since childhood to hide weakness.

‘When I cried like this, oppa would hold me. He said he was sadder. He told me it was okay to cry out loud in his arms.’

She was confused.

That the man she loved suddenly died, and that she might be accused of murder.

But still, she had to report it. Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions with little knowledge that he was dead.

She decided to call 119 (emergency number). Just as Heo Narim was looking down at her trembling phone—

A sad face appeared on the black screen. Behind it, another pair of red eyes appeared.

“Ahhh!”

Heo Narim screamed and tried to run but twisted her ankle and fell.

Her ankle hurt, but all her attention was on her belly. She looked worried if the impact might have hurt her still-flat stomach.

[Don’t report it.]

It was then.

A strange voice she wasn’t supposed to hear reached her.

Heo Narim slowly lifted her head. Someone was standing gloomily inside the house, where she had been alone just moments ago.

The pale skin warned her instinctively that the presence was not human.

[Hide the body.]

The strange voice came not from the mouth but directly into her mind.

She was shocked not only by the ghostly presence of a child but also for another reason.

‘It looks like him.’

The ghost looked terrifyingly like dead Baek Yeo-hyun. Terrified, Heo Narim unconsciously caressed her belly.

Yes, as if it was Baek Yeo-hyun’s son.

[You will be in danger.]

A feeling boiled up inside her. Was it because it looked like Baek Yeo-hyun and seemed worried about her?

Or was it simply annoying to interfere without knowing anything?

“Is me being in danger important? If I go to the hospital now, I might survive. Oppa…! Not dying is more important to me.”

After saying that, she regretted speaking to something she didn’t even understand. But unlike her worries, the boy only stared at Narim silently.

[…….]

His quiet stare was a little scary, so she looked away quickly.

[Narim, do you want to save him even though you were betrayed?]

He muttered in a small voice, but she clearly heard it.

‘How does he know my name…? And how does he know about me and Yeo-hyun?’

She worried if it really had some connection to Baek Yeo-hyun’s spirit.

She soon realized how absurd that idea was and shook her head.

“I want to save him. Even if I hated him, I never wished he would die.”

Her confession was honest and calm. The boy closed his mouth tightly. Then he walked toward Baek Yeo-hyun.

Barefoot, the boy was the complete opposite of Baek Yeo-hyun, who was always neat and elegant. His clothes were shabby and dirty, and his hair was messy.

Only his face resembled Baek Yeo-hyun; his atmosphere and appearance were totally different.

[I can’t save him. Because I will make it so.]

It sounded like he meant to stop her actions.

The boy reached out his hand. It seemed bothered by Narim’s hand that was clutching her belly tightly.

Heo Narim quickly turned away from the pale hand that openly reached for her stomach. The hand stopped in midair and didn’t reach further.

The boy looked back and forth between her hand and her belly, then withdrew his hand. But that action looked like a threat to her.

‘Does that mean if I report it, he’ll harm the baby?’

This unknown being already knew her name and her connection with Baek Yeo-hyun.

So maybe it also knew about her condition, since she was still early in pregnancy.

“What do you want?”

Trembling, Heo Narim asked. She wanted to save Baek Yeo-hyun but right now, her only thought was to protect her baby.

The boy looked down at her as she crouched. Not even a slight chest movement like breathing was seen.

Only then did Heo Narim admit the truth.

[Hide it. So no one can find it.]

The thing in front of her was not human.

Despite feeling it was unreasonable, she had no choice but to obey out of fear. She tried to move Baek Yeo-hyun’s heavy body inside the house, enduring the pain in her leg.

But when he wouldn’t move easily, the ghost boy placed his hand on the back of Heo Narim’s hand. Startled, her arm moved suddenly.

It was as if the ghost was borrowing her hand and moving it by itself.

At the same time, Baek Yeo-hyun’s body was easily moved inside. She stared blankly as the front door closed on its own.

[Where are you going?]

Heo Narim tried to stand up, watching the ghost carefully. It seemed to notice her intention to run away immediately.

She shamelessly lied.

“…You told me to hide it. There’s no place in an ordinary house to hide a grown man.”

She scanned the house with anxious eyes. The only place to hide the body was probably a closet.

If not, maybe stuff it into the washing machine.

‘Why am I even thinking about this?’

She wasn’t a murderer, yet she felt like one.

She felt like throwing up and bent forward. Then the ghost boy quietly crouched nearby and looked up at her.