I died.
[...A wave of mourning is sweeping through for film actor An Dongjin. The late An Dongjin, who debuted as a model in 2008 at the age of twenty-nine, began walking the path of an actor through the 2010 drama
TV, the Internet, and every other medium were running special reports on my death.
The patients and medical staff passing through the hospital hallway where I had awakened were grieving over it as well.
"They say An Dongjin is dead. Oh my, tsk tsk."
"I saw the news too. He'd finally finished filming his movie and was just about to have it premiere. It's such a shame."
"Who cares about some movie? Cancer is such a terrifying disease. And of all things, he had to get pancreatic cancer."
An old man with unsteady steps, and a caregiver supporting him.
I made eye contact with those two.
They cast a fleeting glance at me before looking away. Then they slowly passed by.
"Hajun!"
An unfamiliar voice cut through to me.
"How long has it been since you woke up, and you're already wandering around like this? A kid in a cast without even crutches."
A woman nearing sixty held out a pair of crutches.
She had been my mother for about three hours now.
The forty-five-year-old top star An Dongjin was certainly dead.
But he had awakened as Gang Hajun, a twenty-five-year-old aspiring actor.
That was precisely who I was now.