Chapter 1 The Girl Who Forgot Everything
The rain had been falling for hours.
Not the soft kind.
It came down heavily against the windows of the black SUV, turning the road ahead into a blurry mixture of headlights, darkness, and silver rain.
Jungkook kept both hands on the steering wheel.
His eyes remained fixed on the road, but his mind was somewhere else.
Three hours ago, he had received a phone call.
One phone call.
And everything had changed.
His phone vibrated again on the passenger seat.
Jungkook glanced at the screen.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
His jaw tightened.
He didn't answer.
The phone stopped.
A few seconds later, it started ringing again.
Jungkook finally reached for it.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Only the faint sound of breathing came through the speaker.
His expression hardened.
"Who is this?"
Still nothing.
Then a man's voice finally came through.
Low.
Calm.
Almost amused.
"Did you really think you could hide her?"
Jungkook's fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
His eyes immediately moved toward the rear-view mirror.
The back seat was empty.
He was alone.
But his heartbeat had suddenly become louder.
"Where is she?" the voice asked.
Jungkook didn't answer.
"Jungkook."
His entire expression changed.
The caller knew his name.
"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," the man continued. "Bring her back before she remembers."
The call ended.
Jungkook stared at the screen.
Call ended.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then he stepped on the accelerator.
The SUV disappeared into the rain.
---
Earlier that evening
The city hospital was unusually quiet.
The emergency corridor smelled strongly of disinfectant, and the bright white lights made everything look colder than it actually was.
A doctor hurried through the corridor.
Behind him, two nurses followed.
"Her condition?"
"Stable."
"Conscious?"
"Not yet."
The doctor stopped outside a private room.
Through the glass window, a young woman lay motionless on the hospital bed.
Her face was pale.
A bandage covered part of her forehead.
An IV line ran into her hand.
Machines beside the bed beeped steadily.
The doctor looked at her medical file.
Name: Unknown.
Age: Approximately 24–26.
Identification: None found.
Memory: Unknown.
The doctor sighed.
"She was brought in without a wallet, phone, or identification."
One of the nurses nodded.
"Who brought her?"
The doctor looked toward the end of the corridor.
"That's the strange part."
"Why?"
"He left before the police arrived."
The nurse frowned.
"Did anyone see his face?"
"No."
"Then how did he know she needed help?"
The doctor didn't answer.
Because he had been asking himself the same question.
---
Inside the room, the girl's fingers moved.
Just slightly.
Her breathing changed.
The monitor beside her bed began beeping faster.
Her eyebrows slowly pulled together.
A strange sensation passed through her mind.
Darkness.
Rain.
A car.
Someone shouting.
A hand reaching toward her.
Then—
Nothing.
Her eyes opened.
She stared at the unfamiliar ceiling.
For a few seconds, she didn't move.
She didn't know where she was.
She didn't know why she was there.
She didn't even know—
Who she was.
Her breathing became uneven.
She tried to sit up.
Pain immediately spread through her head.
"Ah..."
The noise attracted the nurse.
The door opened.
"You're awake!"
The nurse rushed toward her.
"Please don't move too quickly."
The girl stared at her.
"Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital."
"Hospital?"
"Yes."
The girl looked around.
The unfamiliar room.
The machines.
The IV.
The bandage on her hand.
Everything felt wrong.
She touched her forehead.
"Why am I here?"
The nurse exchanged a worried look with another nurse.
"You were found unconscious."
"Found?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Near the mountain road."
The girl swallowed.
"Who am I?"
The room became silent.
The nurse slowly pulled a chair beside the bed.
"We don't know."
The girl's eyes widened.
"What?"
"We couldn't find any identification on you."
The doctor entered the room at that moment.
He approached her carefully.
"Do you remember your name?"
She stared at him.
Her mind searched.
Nothing.
"Do you remember where you live?"
Nothing.
"Your family?"
Nothing.
"Your friends?"
Nothing.
She closed her eyes tightly.
Maybe if she tried hard enough...
Something would come back.
A face.
A name.
A place.
Anything.
But all she saw was darkness.
Then suddenly—
A voice.
A man's voice.
Run.
Her eyes snapped open.
"Someone..."
The doctor leaned closer.
"Someone what?"
She looked frightened.
"I heard someone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"What did he say?"
She swallowed.
"He told me to run."
The doctor exchanged another glance with the nurse.
"And then?"
She shook her head.
"I don't remember."
---
Two hours later, the hospital corridor was almost empty.
Jungkook stood near the vending machine, wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled low.
He hadn't slept properly in two days.
He hadn't eaten since morning.
And he had spent the last two hours standing outside that hospital room, trying to convince himself that what he was doing was the right thing.
The door opened.
The doctor walked toward him.
"She's awake."
Jungkook immediately looked up.
"How is she?"
"Physically, she'll recover."
Jungkook exhaled.
"And her memory?"
The doctor's expression became serious.
"She appears to have retrograde amnesia."
Jungkook said nothing.
"She doesn't remember her name, family, location, or recent events."
"Will she remember?"
"Possibly."
"When?"
"We can't say."
Jungkook looked through the glass window.
She was sitting on the bed now.
Looking outside.
Alone.
Confused.
Vulnerable.
Exactly the way he had feared.
The doctor lowered his voice.
"There is something else."
Jungkook looked at him.
"She keeps asking about a man."
His heart stopped for half a second.
"What man?"
"She says she remembers hearing his voice."
Jungkook's face remained expressionless.
"Anything else?"
"No."
The doctor studied him.
"Do you know her?"
Jungkook didn't answer immediately.
Because technically—
Yes.
He knew her.
Better than most people did.
But he couldn't tell the doctor that.
Not yet.
"She's my..."
He stopped.
The lie felt heavier than he expected.
The doctor waited.
Jungkook finally said—
"She's someone important to me."
---
A few minutes later, the door opened.
Jungkook stepped inside.
The girl immediately looked at him.
Their eyes met.
For the first time that night, Jungkook forgot how to breathe.
She didn't recognize him.
Of course she didn't.
Still, seeing that blank expression on her face hurt more than he had expected.
He walked toward her slowly.
She watched every step.
"Who are you?"
Her voice was quiet.
Jungkook stopped beside the bed.
For a moment, he considered telling her the truth.
Everything.
Her name.
Her work.
The investigation.
The people looking for her.
The reason he had brought her here.
But then he remembered the phone call.
Bring her back before she remembers.
He couldn't risk it.
Not yet.
So Jungkook forced himself to smile.
"I'm Jungkook."
She stared at him.
"Do I know you?"
He looked into her eyes.
Then he said the one thing that would change both their lives.
"Yeah."
He pulled the chair closer to her bed.
"You know me."
She waited.
Jungkook took a breath.
"I'm your boyfriend."
Silence.
Her eyes widened.
"My... boyfriend?"
"Yeah."
She looked at him suspiciously.
"Since when?"
Jungkook almost smiled.
"That's a long story."
She continued staring.
Something about him felt familiar.
She didn't know why.
Maybe it was his voice.
Maybe his eyes.
Maybe the strange sense of safety she felt whenever he was near.
She slowly lowered her gaze.
"What's my name?"
Jungkook's smile disappeared.
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then—
"YN."
She repeated it softly.
"YN..."
Like she was testing whether the name belonged to her.
"Yes."
She looked back at him.
"And you're really my boyfriend?"
Jungkook nodded.
"Unfortunately."
Her eyebrows immediately pulled together.
"Unfortunately?"
He leaned back in the chair.
"You've always been difficult."
She stared at him for another second.
Then, unexpectedly, she smiled.
Just a little.
Jungkook's expression softened.
He had seen that smile before.
Hundreds of times.
But somehow, seeing it now felt completely different.
Because she had forgotten everything.
Everyone.
Even him.
And yet—
She still smiled at him.
---
That night, Jungkook didn't sleep.
He sat in the chair beside her hospital bed.
YN had fallen asleep hours ago.
The room was dark except for the faint light coming from the machines.
Jungkook looked at her.
Then he pulled a small photograph from his pocket.
It was old.
A picture of YN standing beside him.
Both of them smiling.
Except—
There was something strange about the photograph.
The picture had been torn in half.
Someone had deliberately removed another person who had been standing beside them.
Jungkook stared at the missing section.
His phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
«She won't stay safe forever.»
Another message arrived.
«When she remembers, she'll remember everything.»
Jungkook's eyes darkened.
A final message appeared.
«Including what you did.»
He immediately locked the phone.
For the first time that night, fear appeared in his eyes.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for her.
Because there was one truth YN didn't know.
And Jungkook desperately hoped she never remembered it.
He looked at her sleeping face.
"I'm sorry."
His voice was barely a whisper.
"I had no other choice."
Outside, thunder shook the windows.
YN suddenly moved in her sleep.
Her eyebrows furrowed.
Her lips parted.
"Jungkook..."
His head snapped toward her.
She was still asleep.
But she whispered again.
"Don't leave me..."
Jungkook froze.
For a moment, he couldn't move.
Because she had forgotten him.
Forgotten their past.
Forgotten everything.
Yet somewhere deep inside her memory—
She still remembered his name.
And that was the first sign that the truth wouldn't stay buried for long.
TBC.
