Chapter Text
It was the second of June, and she woke up to the sound of a cell phone’s alarm.
Woke up in a strange bed, in an unfamiliar apartment, and just like that, any grogginess she might have had vanished as she scrambled to get her bearings and discovered she didn’t recognize the face in the mirror.
“Well, this is a problem.”
She scrambled around the apartment, searching for any hint as to what was going on.
If she made a bit of a mess along the way, well, whoops, she'd apologize and clean up once she had some answers.
She felt awkward going through the wardrobe of someone she didn't know, but she didn't feel comfortable staying in some stranger's apartment in what felt like pajamas— so she counted her blessings when she found that the wardrobe in the room she'd woken up seemed to be in her size.
...in retrospect, that really should have been her first clue.
The apartment she'd woken up in was small, but well-kept. Only one person seemed to live there, if the the single bed and lone toothbrush in the bathroom were anything to go by. All the shoes seemed to be in one size, everything in the apartment seemed to be situated for someone her height and even before she started to go through the purse she'd found in the living room, she had the sneaking suspicion of what was going on— even if she was too afraid to put it in words, just in case it made it feel real.
Well. More real, at least; as if she wasn't already knee-deep in something big, searching through every scrap of paperwork she could get her hands on to figure out what was going on because she had absolutely no idea otherwise.
...then she found the wallet, and sat back down hard for a moment.
This was it.
If this was what she thought it was, she was in even deeper trouble than she thought, but— it wasn't like she had any other choice, now, did she?
She bit her lip, and clenched her fists for a moment to keep them from trembling. Then she took a deep breath, let it out, and opened it.
According to the school ID card she’d found, her name was Heejung Kim.
…she rolled the name around a few more times, both aloud and in her head, but it still didn’t ring any bells.
Heejung Kim. That was her name, apparently, so she’d better start getting used to it. Somehow.
Wasn’t like she had any other option, anyway, right? So without further ado, she rolled up her sleeves and set to work trying to make do with what she had at hand.
She spent the rest of the day just trying to go through everything she found in the apartment, trying to get a measure of who she used to be.
Now that it wasn’t a mad scramble of trying to get her bearings, it was relatively simple to start putting the pieces together, of just who Heejung Kim was.
Who she was, though, the more she saw, the more she felt like an imposter because it hadn’t even been a full day and already she can tell she would have a hard time trying to fill in Heejung’s shoes.
Because…well.
A cursory look around was enough to confirm that this Heejung was a very good student, clearly very ambitious and diligent and had [had] a bright future ahead of her. The planner she'd found on the well-organized desk showed just how busy she was— between university, a part-time job, cram school, and art club, it really was no surprise that this Heejung didn’t seem to have much of a social life, even before she started to go through her cell phone and other personal belongings.
Said cell phone turned out to be less than helpful— other than a few texts from a handful of peers asking about past projects for class, there was nothing. Nothing personal, at least, nothing that gave any hint as to just who Heejung Kim is.
Was.
Was, they might share the same face, but she highly doubted they had anything else in common, not from what she’s seen. For instance, the material in the textbooks she’d found didn’t interest her in the slightest, whereas she suspected Heejung must have really been passionate about her work with how much time she had blocked out on her planner for studying.
Not to mention the fact that she didn’t know anything about her personally: everything she’d been able to find was centered around work in some way, shape, or form. Not even the few hobbies she’d been able to find were spared: the only thing that didn’t seem to come out of some brochure for model students were the sketchbooks for art club, and even those gave her little insight as to what kind of person she had been— though she couldn't help but appreciate the talent shown in her art. Was Heejung kind to others, or not? Was she passionate about her interests, or cool and detached? What kind of person was she, who had she once been? She didn’t know.
She didn’t know who she was, who she had been.
Worst thing was, she doubted anyone would even notice the difference.
From what she’s found, Heejung Kim didn’t seem to have any close friends, and the only family she seems to have is a mother who last called her half a year ago.
A young woman with a bright future ahead of her was gone, and nobody would even notice she’d taken her place.
The thought gave her a sharp pang, just for a moment.
Then she scrubbed a hand over her face, and shook her head.
Well.
There’s nothing for it: she might not remember anything, but she would try and fill in the role she was given. She doubted she’d be able to successfully accomplish it, considering the type of girl Heejung seemed to have been, but. It was the least she could do.
And who knows? Maybe she might remember something in the future.
It was a long shot— a full day of going through all her belongings in the apartment she’d been apparently renting for the past four years hadn’t sparked any memories, but.
Hope springs eternal, and all that.
Now, she just had to figure out where to go from here.