#2. Eyes Wide Open: Miracle or Disaster?

On the hospital bed, the duvet was raised like a small mountain, squirming continuously. Just then, the bedroom door swung open, and a woman walked in.

"Gah! You scared me! What is wrong with today?"

A student with short hair and round gold-rimmed glasses, Song Hwa-ya, clutched her chest while holding tightly to a water bottle. The squirming lump under the covers slowly rose, and soon the edge of the duvet slid down to the side.

"Are you... awake?"

"Hwa-ya, am I sick?"

"Gasp!"

Hwa-ya stumbled backward in horror. The person she had met for the very first time today was calling her name so naturally, almost as if they had known each other for a long time.

"Excuse me, how do you know my name?"

"Hwa-ya, why are you using formal speech with me? Did you not go down to Gyeongju?"

Hwa-ya gripped her chest. Chills ran down her spine the moment her hometown was mentioned. Was this woman some kind of extraordinary shaman who could see right through people just by looking into their eyes?

"This is crazy! I just met you for the first time today! I went to drop my luggage off at the dorm, saw you stretched out flat on the bathroom floor, and piggybacked you all the way here!"

Hwa-ya despaired at the fact that her new roommate at Seoul National University, whom she had waited three years to finally get matched with, turned out to be a fortune teller type.

"Who on earth are you?"

"My last name is Gyeong, and my first name is Shin. I am your best friend..."

"Oh, brilliant. Student Shin! Do you remember what you did this morning?"

"I don't know."

"What about yesterday?"

"I don't know that either."

Hwa-ya crossed her arms and let out a dry laugh.

"Amnesia? Come on, even modern dramas don't use that trope anymore. It is way too cliché. But how on earth do you know my name?"

"I just know you. I remember... Ugh!"

Suddenly, Shin clutched her head and let out a painful cry.

Frowning in agony, unbelievable words poured from her mouth.

"This is... not just memories from yesterday or today. Strange memories are pouring in all at once."

"Why are you being like this? You are scaring me."

"Being born, going through school, loving someone to the point of madness, and ultimately losing him and dying... It happened three whole times..."

Hwa-ya looked at her with eyes that had completely given up on having a normal conversation.

"You really are something else."

"What is this? Wait, did I seriously recover all the memories from my past lives?"

Shin, who had been performing a solo drama all by herself, suddenly looked refreshed. She reached out and grabbed Hwa-ya by the hands.

"Hwa-ya! If what I am thinking is real, this is a miracle! What is today's date?"

"February 28th, 20XX."

"What? Plus, it is my birthday! Hwa-ya, I really got all my past life memories back! Being friends with you was from a past life too!"

Hwa-ya silently poured a cup of water and handed it to Shin.

"Drink some cold water first and pull yourself together. I should probably set up a psychiatry appointment for you first."

Shin gulped down the water, organizing her thoughts.

"It is real. I don't remember this current life up until I opened my eyes, but the memories of my three past lives are crystal clear."

Hwa-ya let out a sigh and cautiously checked Shin's expression. Outside the window, thunder and lightning raged, making the weather an absolute mess. For a moment, silence settled in, with only the sound of rain filling the hospital room.

Looking as though she had made up her mind, Hwa-ya spoke again.

"Excuse me, Miss Shin. I don't think your past lives are the issue right now."

"Huh?"

"When you were collapsed in the bathroom... a pregnancy test was lying right next to you."

"What?"

Shin's glasses slid all the way down to the tip of her nose. Hwa-ya delivered the final blow with a deep sigh.

"The nurse came by earlier. You will be moving to the OB-GYN department soon. Miss Shin, they say you are pregnant."

= = =

Up until she heard the news about the pregnancy, Shin had been busy realizing that her previous three lives were nothing but pitch-black disasters.

Just as she was wondering about her blank memory in this fourth life and finding it bizarre, out of nowhere, she was pregnant.

At the word pregnant, Shin's hands trembled violently. Weak in the knees, she collapsed onto the bed, lowering her head to catch her breath.

This makes no sense... This is not real. Her voice, trembling as if talking to herself, was soaked with tears.

"Miss Shin, that room is only used by you and me. Unless I am the one pregnant, it has to be you, right? A pregnancy test with two lines was found right there."

Sigh, of course. Thinking that some change had occurred in her unknown current life, Shin let out a hollow laugh.

"Ah, so it was not confirmed? I wondered what you were talking about."

"It is reasonable suspicion."

"That sounds like something you use for a criminal suspect. I didn't commit a crime."

"Maybe my choice of words was exaggerated. Either way, this is a hospital, so we will know once you get checked."

"Fine. But the hospital bill is going to cost a lot."

"Is money the problem here? Person is the problem. Take this opportunity to visit the OB-GYN, and maybe drop by psychiatry too."

Having heard the full context from Hwa-ya, Shin breathed a sigh of relief. In all three of her past lives, she had never been in a proper romantic relationship, and this life was undoubtedly a continuation of her born-single existence. What nonsense was this?

"Do you know someone famous at school? Knowing someone else's personal information inside out in this day and age feels a bit creepy."

"There is no such thing. I told you earlier, these are memories from past lives."

"How can I believe that right now? You are an SNU student, right?"

Realizing the conversation would drag on, Shin drank the remaining water from the glass handed to her earlier. Perhaps because it was cold, her throat chilled instantly.

"First of all, in all three past lives, I majored in music and composition at SNU. Hwa-ya, your hometown is Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, and you have twin younger brothers plus an older sister, right?"

"Gasp! Oh my goodness!"

"Your boyfriend is Gyu-ryeon, who goes to medical school, and you graduated from the Korean Language Education department to take the teacher certification exam..."

"Wait, I am in Mathematics Education, not Korean Language Education."

"Really? Did things change a bit in this life?"

Shin moved toward the table to refill her glass, as if her thirst had not been quenched. She acted nonchalantly, like everything was normal, but every time she opened her mouth, Hwa-ya wore an expression as if facing a disaster.

"Excuse me. That bodhisattva, or monk, or whoever at the temple my mom goes to, sometimes gets things shockingly right too. Except for the major, you got everything right. But I am scared, so I need to change dorm rooms."

Paralyzed with fear, Hwa-ya pulled out her phone and began typing frantically with trembling hands.

"You are bound to live with me anyway."

"Eek!"

In an instant, Hwa-ya's hand movements accelerated to quadruple speed as she stole nervous glances at Shin.